The below discussion is related to VMware converter, I'm posting it on Netbackup site because it is realted to Netbackup Intergration with VCB backups.
Recently got stuck while doing a VM restore of VCB backup using Netbackup.
The automated restore using VMware Converter which is not that consistent and fails frequently. Also If using the supported version of Converter 3.0.2 U2 , Win2K8 VM's restores are not successful and the converter complains of "unrecognised operating system"
We upgraded the converter to Standalone version 4.0.1 which successfully restores the Win2K3 R2 VM but still the attempts were not successful.
We decided to restore the VM using vcbRestore tool available from the ESX console and restored the VM to staging location on the VCB server.
Moved the restored files from VCB to the target ESX and tried to run the command vcbRestore, but were shocked to see the below error which haunted us for almost 2 days.
==========================
[2010-10-21 18:11:40.257 F4EC9B60 info 'vcbRestore'] DISK: scsi0:0: scsi0-0-0-Test-VM.vmdk --> [SG1VM-LUN06] Test-VM/Test-VM.vmdk
[2010-10-21 18:11:40.276 F4EC9B60 info 'vcbRestore'] Filenames: /vmfs/volumes/4be125f2-cc8b9ec0-d011-18a9055997a6/test-vm/scsi0-0-0-Test-VM.vmdk --> /vmfs/volumes/SG1VM-LUN06/Test-VM/Test-VM.vmdk
[2010-10-21 18:11:40.288 F4EC9B60 info 'DiskLib'] DISKLIB-DSCPTR: Failed to read descriptor: Invalid extentLine '"scsi0-0-0-Test-VM.vmdk"' for encoding windows-1252.
[2010-10-21 18:11:40.288 F4EC9B60 info 'DiskLib'] DISKLIB-DSCPTR: Failed to parse embedded descriptor file in normal mode:
[2010-10-21 18:11:40.294 F4EC9B60 info 'DiskLib'] DISKLIB-LINK : "/vmfs/volumes/4be125f2-cc8b9ec0-d011-18a9055997a6/test-vm/scsi0-0-0-Test-VM.vmdk" : failed to open (Disk encoding error).
[2010-10-21 18:11:40.295 F4EC9B60 info 'DiskLib'] DISKLIB-CHAIN : "/vmfs/volumes/4be125f2-cc8b9ec0-d011-18a9055997a6/test-vm/scsi0-0-0-Test-VM.vmdk" : failed to open (Disk encoding error).
[2010-10-21 18:11:40.295 F4EC9B60 info 'DiskLib'] DISKLIB-LIB : Failed to open '/vmfs/volumes/4be125f2-cc8b9ec0-d011-18a9055997a6/test-vm/scsi0-0-0-Test-VM.vmdk' with flags 0xe (Disk encoding error).
[2010-10-21 18:11:40.295 F4EC9B60 error 'vcbRestore'] Error: Failed to open the disk: Disk encoding error
[2010-10-21 18:11:40.303 F4EC9B60 trivia 'SOAP'] Sending soap request to [TCP:172.16.80.51:443]: logout
=========================
At last, the below trick worked and were successful in restoring the VM and this time all attempts were successful. :)
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/289848
Hope it could be useful to others.
Thanks!
Satkay Satish
