Two VM host exist with same Dsiplay name

[Abhisheknetback]

Hi Friends ,

I have one quiry please clrify the same .

I have single domain master server fro Head Office and DR site , there is two Vcenter  one for each site , we have configure backup policy by VM Display Name to salect the client name  ,

Question is that there is two VM client with same display name one in HO vcenter  second one in DR Vcenter being backup . Today ,i noticed that 

Now i want to know how restore will work ???

Can we identify which host was backed up from which Vcenter ???

How will come to know that we are restoring vm clinet belongs to which Vcenter ??

Please Assist

Thanks You !!

[V4]

You can come to know from which vCenter did you backed up.. It does shows its primary location. Hence you can differentiate from there.

Also while recovering you must rename VM with different display name as i believe vCenter won't allow duplicate objects in its inventory thus NBU won't be able to restore it. 

UUID and Display names must be unique  while recovering VM. You  do get flexibility to change this prior in recovery wizard.

Give a try .. (keep admin guide for vmware handy as it helps alot)

Let us know how it goes.

[Abhisheknetback]

Hi Jack,

As i said, i have already backup of two vm client (Vm Display Name ) with same name, from two diffrent Vcenter ,

Now my worry is that during restore i give the source vm client name (Vm Display Name ) by which it's been backed up but two vm client name is same .

How will i come to know that which host data is being restored ???

Thank You !!

[Abhisheknetback]

Is it recoverable ??

[Mark_Solutions]

Can i assume that this is actually the same client which has been replicated to the secondary site using HA in vCenter?

If so you need to add to your client selection query to only backup powered on clients (as the replica should not be powered on)

If it is not a replica then one needs its display name changing to prevent this issue.... the only way i can really see you can differentiate prior to starting the restore wizard will be based on its backup time .. other than that you will see when starting the wizard where the one you have selected was backed up so can tell from that.

If it is not a replica then get its name changed.

[Abhisheknetback]

Hi Mark ,

It is not the same client .I explane you .

There was one policy runing for DR site which VM Display name is SFTPAEHO1

and one policy runing for  Head Office it was SFTPAEHO , VM team migrated  SFTPAEHO with windows 2008 and by mistake during migration they assigned SFTPAEHO01 display name which was already configured for DR site now since last one week backup is runing for both vm host in a diffrent diffrent policy one for Head Office One for DR at the same schedule time , and my NBU in a single domain .

Both Vm is in diffrent diffrent Vcenter

Now suppose i have to restore

what will happen ??

Thank You!!

[V4 · Accepted solution]

both site have own vCenter and perhaps ESXi hypervisors (hope this has different hostnames)

there will be datastores names 

This would let u differentiate between VM which you backed up

We are suggesting you to open up BAR gui and just REVIEW configuration. (Reviewing it won't restore it  so don't panic , unless you hit Restore and backup media are available ;)

NBU and vmware are amazing when they are integrated. while backing up VM it gives alot meta data information for NBU to give more flexibility for admins during recovery.

[Mark_Solutions]

I assume that was a typo in your post as those do not actually have the same name!!

But either way there is no real issue (though i would have them rename it anyway) .. as we have been saying you willl be able to see which is which when you start the wizard so can decide whether to continue or not.

[Abhisheknetback]

Mark ,

Which When you start the wizard , you mean that we can diffrentiate by the backup start time ???

Jack,

tomorrow i will chek your suggestion and let you know the update .

Thanks You !!

[Mark_Solutions]

You can query the client backups / catalog to see which client was backed up at which time so that you know which backup image (green orb) to select in the BAR GUI

AND / OR

You can select one to restore and when the wizard starts if you select restore to alternate location it will load all of its original information (datastore etc etc) so you can clearly see which one you have selected .. if it is the wrong one you just cancel and select the next image (green orb in the BAR GUI) and try that one.

[DG-2005]

you can also do a bpimagelist -c DISPLAY_NAME -d 01/01/1999 -U

and that will not only list the policy assosiated with the backup (which you can determine which vCenter backed up each version) This will also give you the backup id.

[Abhisheknetback]

Mark ,

Thing is that both Policy Schedule time is same .

[Mark_Solutions]

So are you saying that both backups run at exactly the same time?

I really doubt that to be honest as by the time they have been submitted, done their snapshot and fired off the backup if they ran at exactly the same time it would be pretty amazing .. especially as each gets an image id based on unix time and there is no way two could get the same ID or the catalog wouldn't work .. so there must be at least a second between them which would be enough to differentiate them.

Please take a look at your reports to see what we are saying

[Abhisheknetback]

Hi Mark,

Yes, Both Backup Runs At same Time, I will post you Policy Details tomorrow for both , Both Policy starts at 10 PM as Per Local Timing, Few seconds gap could be possible , I will check and update you .

Thank You

[Abhisheknetback]

Hi Mark ,

Find the start and end time of backup and snapshot  for both policy .

Backup	Done	0	26658	7/17/2014 22:01	7/17/2014 22:27	35445725
Snapshot	Done	0		7/17/2014 22:00	7/17/2014 22:27
Backup	Done	0	4903	7/17/2014 22:02	7/18/2014 0:01	33866641
Snapshot	Done	0		7/17/2014 22:00	7/18/2014 0:02

[INT_RND]

For the answer to your question I point to the document:

"Recovery Options dialog box" for VMWare:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO44461

"The display name must be unique for the vCenter Server where the virtual machine is restored."

[Mark_Solutions]

We don't see the seconds there ...

You can see more if you run an images on media report from the admin console - every backup gets an image id which is unique and based on unix time . so for example vmclient_1395402215 would be different to vmclient_1395402216 by a factor of 1 second and could help you identify which was which as this report also shows the policy and schedule name. Then in the BAR GUI when you hover your mouse over a green orb to select which backup you get to see the date and time, down to the second so you will know which is which.

In the above example the 1395402215 relates to Fri, 21 Mar 2014 11:43:35 - which you can get converted here to make life easy: http://www.onlineconversion.com/unix_time.htm

But either way you need to have this dealt with as soon as possible as you should not have both using the same name - or change to not using the Display name if that is not possible - the above is just to help you out if you had to restore one that is already done.

[Walker_Yang1]

hi,

"Now i want to know how restore will work ???

Can we identify which host was backed up from which Vcenter ???

How will come to know that we are restoring vm clinet belongs to which Vcenter ??"

---

according to your configuration, you could distinguish different VM client belongs to which vcenter on the basis of the "Policy Name" when selecting VM client to restore.

Thanks

[V4]

Why ain't you try invoking restore wizard and check what details do you get to differetiate between VMs across different vCenter and ESXi and datastore as well.

You would surely have separate NBU domain for DR site taking care of DR vCenter farm. If AIR is enabled it does replicate catalog (if configured to do so) You do can differentiate BEWEEN VMs backed up between sites.

give a try on opsCenter too..It does have different fields to populate enough information what you need.

[Abhisheknetback]

Hi Jack ,

I tried ,but, i got the same information that is why i am confused that may be the same host been added in both Policy by mistake , to diffrentiate the same i am going to take dr vm host backup seprately and will try for restore , will see that what Vcenter and Data store information is coming there .

if it is diffrent than production then can conform that the same host was added in both policy by mistake

Thank You !!