cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

VMWare ESX Host and VM backup using Netbackup

Sacha_Brown
Level 5
Partner Accredited

I recently implemented NBU 7.1 to a VMWare ESX host machine and also backup the Virtual Machines within the host. I am aware that the NBU Enterprise client license is required. We have this already. I followed the steps in the link provided below:

http://www.symturk.com/symlog/?p=114

 

My concern here is, I'm backing up the Virtual Machines inside the host but I'm not able to do a restore since the agent wasnt installed. Where am I going wrong. Do I have to install the agent on the client in order for me to do a restore? What about the Host? How do I back up and restore the Host.

 

This is my first with VMWare Host and VM backups.

 

Any help would be appeciated.

 

Thanks

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

austin_lazanows
Level 4
Certified

So When you say restore - are you saying an individual file you want to place back inside the VM? Or are you referring to restoring the VM entirely? 

 

So the quick answer on this is:

  • VMWare VSphere API backups with Netbackup do not require a netbackup agent to perform the backup or to perform a VM-level restore.
  • VMWare VSphere API backups with Netbackup REQUIRE an agent to restore an individual files from the backup, back inside the VM guest itself.

The alternative is to restore the individual files to a different client (or your media server is a good choice) and then move the file via network file protocols instead.

View solution in original post

14 REPLIES 14

austin_lazanows
Level 4
Certified

So When you say restore - are you saying an individual file you want to place back inside the VM? Or are you referring to restoring the VM entirely? 

 

So the quick answer on this is:

  • VMWare VSphere API backups with Netbackup do not require a netbackup agent to perform the backup or to perform a VM-level restore.
  • VMWare VSphere API backups with Netbackup REQUIRE an agent to restore an individual files from the backup, back inside the VM guest itself.

The alternative is to restore the individual files to a different client (or your media server is a good choice) and then move the file via network file protocols instead.

pikachu
Level 6
Employee Certified

or restore back to a UNC path on the VM, which requires the client through which you restore back to be running as an ad admin account.

austin_lazanows
Level 4
Certified

Yep - that too:)

Lee_C
Level 5
Admins tend not to backup the Esx hosts themselves. They are normally easy to rebuild and are considered somewhat disposable.

pikachu
Level 6
Employee Certified

We only support installing the NBU 6.5.x client on the ESX server. We dropped the support for 7 on the ESX server.

Sacha_Brown
Level 5
Partner Accredited

Ok...so my question is..do I have to install NBU client on the Virtual Machines to restore files?

Mark_Solutions
Level 6
Partner Accredited Certified

If you want to restore individual files or folders directly to a client hosted with a VMWare environment then you would need a NetBAckup client to be installed on it

As other have mentioned you can restore it elsewhere and copy it across to the original host or restore it to the Media Server but use a UNC path which will direct it to the original client as long as the client service account on the Media Server has sufficient rights to copy the file across.

Usually easiest to restore elsehwre and copy across

Sacha_Brown
Level 5
Partner Accredited

What about if I have NBU Enterprise Client License?

Lee_C
Level 5

I'm not sure if I understand your question, but you might want to investigate capacity based licensing.  For us it's cheaper than licensing per client.

Mark_Solutions
Level 6
Partner Accredited Certified

Just noticed that this thread is still open ....

The vSphere API allows host servers to be backed up and as well as the vmdk's the individual files can also be backed up in a single granular backup.

However, the same api does not allow the individual files to be restore to the client that they came from

You can restore an entire servers (vmdk files) no problem but individual file restores need to be directed using traditional NetBAckup processes, so you need a client somewhere to direct them to

This doesn't have to be on the original server - it can be another client or even the Media or Master Server, but once restored you will need to copy then back to the priginal server manually

You can of course install a client on the original server but it will only be used for restores, not during backups

Hope this clarifies things for you

Dally
Level 2

Are you using the "Mapped Full VM backup" option in your policy? This option supports both granular file and full vmdk restoration without the need to install the NBU client software.

Dally
Level 2

Are you using the "Mapped Full VM backup" option in your policy? This supports both granular file and full vmdk restore options without the need to install the NBU client software.

Altimate1
Level 6
Partner Accredited

bauer-ab
Level 2

yes, with NBU 7.x you are able to do an single file restore.