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Is it possible to maintain the MAC address on a VM restore?

arctics2
Level 5

We have an application that ties its license to the MAC address of the VM.  Rather than maintaining a list of MAC addresses for each VM, we would like the ability to restore, and maintain the MAC address.  Is this possible?

If it's not possible, is it possible to determine the original MAC address on the restored VM?

3 REPLIES 3

Thiago_Ribeiro
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

Hi,

Take a look this. From NetBackup Admin Guide for VMware

Network Connections and Other Recovery Options dialog box (restore to alternate location)

For restore into vSphere, this dialog displays all of the networks that the restored
virtual machine can connect to.

For restore into vCloud Director, this dialog displays the networks that the virtual machine was connected to (if any) at the time of the backup. For vCloud Director: If the virtual machine was not connected to any networks during backup, or if none of those networks are currently available, the dialog states: "No networks available for selected virtual machine." In that case, if a network connection is required, create it after the restore completes.

Retain original network configuration

If possible, this option retains the original MAC address and other configuration settings of the virtual machine. Note that vCenter assigns a new MAC address if the original exists. This option configures the virtual machine with its original
network labels, even if those networks are not available at the restore location. When you select this option, any network names that are shown in this dialog are ignored.

If this option is unselected, the virtual machine's original network settings are discarded. You can select available networks under Network Names.

Network Names
The available virtual networks are displayed in addition to physical networks.
Select the networks that you want the restored virtual machine to be connected
to. This option creates new network adaptors for the selected networks.

Note: On the restored virtual machine, the network adapters are not configured.
Note: Click the Network Names check box to select or unselect all the networks in the list.


Use Move Up and Move Down to reorder the networks. The order in the list
determines the order of the corresponding virtual network adapters (NIC cards) for the virtual machine.

When the virtual machine is backed up, its network connections (physical or virtual) are recorded in the NetBackup catalog. For vSphere, NetBackup determines what networks currently exist at the restore
location and lists the network names as follows:

■ If a network that was recorded in the backup catalog for the virtual machine
still exists, it is listed on this screen and automatically selected.

■ If a network is available that was not listed in the NetBackup catalog, it is
listed on this screen but not selected.

■ If a network was recorded in the backup catalog but is not currently available,
it is not listed.

Hope can help you.

 

Regards,

 

Thiago Ribeiro

shahzeb1
Level 3

Very well quoted by Thiago above. Do you have any other questions or you can mark the thread as solved?

sdo
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Certified

AFAIK NetBackup can always restore a VM with the original MAC address.  And if you recover your VM via NetBackup BMR then this requires (sort of, for easy process) that the MAC address of the VM is the same as a the original, and NetBackup BMR records this anyway.  i.e. in neither case does NetBackup change the MAC address.  Your problem with MAC address management is a Microsoft Hyper-V issue.

AFAIK, Hyper-V has an option for permanenent fixed static MAC address.  Use this for the servers with apps that require fixed/static MAC.  And, you don't have to stick with the fixed/static randomly sequential MAC address assigned by Hyper-V.  So, intead, it would be better to kind of run your own pool/range of MAC addresses, e.g. for all instances of your applications which requires fixed MAC address then  start at 20:00:00:00:00:01 and work your way upwards.  All you need to manage this is a text file or spreadsheet somewhere.