Physical Linux server Restored to Linux VM

[wojo]

I'm participating in a POC that has me taking backups from a physical Linux Enterprise Client and restoring them to a newly built Linux VM. Other than having the Netbackup Linux client SW installed and recreating the required storage, are there any "issues" that I need to be aware of.............?

I believe the files should restore as any other standard client restore via the GUI and being handled by the associated master/media.

Am I missing anything that would prevent the restores from taking place? At this time I am not worried about speed, just recoverability.

Thanks,

wojo

[SymTerry]

I will assume the backup type is standard backup and you will be doing a redirected restore to the VM with the client software installed on it. If that is the case, this setup should work just fine. 

HOWTO43883 has a walkthough of this process.

[RiaanBadenhorst]

Would this be a full system, or only data restore? Sort of sounds like you're trying to do BMR P2V since its a POC. Restoration of data between client should not require a POC.

[wojo]

I believe that the backup is a standard with some directories going to tape and now I hear that some will be put to NAS. I'll be restoring just the needed directories for the SAP environment. The tape restore should be no problem, but Im thinking that the NAS might be a problem if the VM is built without an HBA. Might need to attach it to the master/media and see if it can be restored.

As far as being a POC, I agree......let me put it on a VM in the lab and let me try different scenarios before spending money on a full test. But, not my call.

[RiaanBadenhorst]

Hi,

Please confirm if you're moving an Enterprise Client (netbackup client that has access to tape / disk storage devices directly) from physical to virtual?

Tape is not supported in most virtual environment, so that is one consideration. You can check the guide here http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH127089

If its just a client and you're just restoring some files, not full OS, its not an issue at all.

[Jaime_Vazquez]

You can perform this action using BMR, if it has been set up for the physical client.  See these TECH articles for information and best practices:

Methodology for performing Dissimilar System Restore (DSR) for UNIX/LINUX servers 
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH62678

Performing Physical to Virtual (P2V) restores using BMR
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH211500 

There is also an article that I just recently posted/had published on this forum for doing full system restores of Unix/Linux clients without using BMR. One aspect of files restores is that Unix/Linux systems do not tolerate overwritting active OS system files by the file restoration process. Think libc.a/libc.so for this. A kernel panic is the typical result.

[Jaime_Vazquez]

The article can be found on this site. Go to the "articles" section for Backup and Recovery and filter out for only NetBackup.  My article should be visible there.

[wojo]

The current machine is a Linux box which is configured as en Enterprise Client. It backs itself up to both dape and disk. A new VM will be built at another location with a like OS annd storage will be added to duplicate existing LUNs. Required directories will be made, and    the linux NBU client SW will be installed. Once done, I will attempt to restore only the ffiles needed to bring up  oracle database and  start SAP.

I'll look at JV's article at this time.

Thanks again to all for your help.

[Marianne]

Article mentioned above:

 Full System Recovery of Unix/Linux client without BMR

[wojo · Accepted solution]

POC went fine as we were only restoring flat files once VMs were blt and only recovered needed DB files.

SOLUTION PROVIDED. Thanks all!