Restoring VMs or VPGs from a Repository

To Restore virtual machines, you can either select a single VM to restore or select one or more VMs to be restored from a virtual protection group (VPG) that has multiple VMs. A Restore recovers the selected virtual machines on the recovery site from a retention set. The virtual machines on the protected site remain as is.

(vCloud Director only) When the recovery site, where the retention sets are stored, is managed by a cloud service provider using vCloud Director, only the cloud service provider can initiate the restore. When you restore a VPG to a recovery vCD site, the retained VMs are created in a vCenter Server and the virtual machines have to be manually imported into vCD.

The Restore operation has the following basic steps:

1. The ZVM creates the virtual machines under the designated host and storage on the recovery site.
2. ZVM uses the VRA to restore the disks from the Repository to the specified datastores.
3. If requested, the restored virtual machines are powered on, and IP Settings are configured.

Restoring VMs or VPGs

Use the following procedure to restore a VM or a VPG from the repository.

To restore a single virtual machine or multiple virtual machines from a VPG:

1. In the Zerto User Interface select ACTIONS > RESTORE.

The Restore wizard is displayed.

2. Select a VM to restore from the Restore from VM drop-down list or type the VM name. Or, select a VPG to restore from the Restore from VPG drop-down list or type the VPG name.

If a VM/VPG was renamed, both the original and new names will appear.

The drop-down lists include VMs or VPGs that are currently configured or were configured/deleted on your site. VMs or VPGs marked with an arrow are VMs/VPGs that were configured on your site and are no longer protected.

3. Click NEXT.

The RESTORE SETTINGS step appears, displaying all the available retention sets for the selected virtual machine or the VPG.

4. From the list of available retention sets, select the retention set to restore, where:
Point in Time:
The date and time the retention set was performed.
Restore Site:
The recovery site where the virtual machine or VPG reside.
VMs:
The number of virtual machines that were retained in this retention set.
Volumes:
The number of volumes that were retained in this retention set, out of the total number of volumes for the virtual machine/s.
Repository:
The name of the repository where the retention set is stored.
ZORG:
(ZCM sites only) The Zerto organization for which the retention set was created. This field only has a value if the Zerto Cloud Manager is connected to the site. For details, see Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
5. When you select a retention set to restore, the list of virtual machines in the retention set appear, displaying the following information:
VM Name: The name of the virtual machine.
# of volumes to be restored : The number of volumes retained, out of the total number of volumes for the virtual machine.
Provisioned VM Size: The total size of the virtual machine.
6. Click NEXT.

The VM SETTINGS step is displayed.

When restoring a VPG, the list of virtual machines that can be restored is displayed.

7. You can specify the following which are then applied to the virtual machine/s to be restored:
Restore on Host: The host where you want the virtual machine/s restored.
Restore on Datastore: The datastore to use for the restored virtual machine/s.
Power On: Select this if you want the restored virtual machine/s to be powered on.

- Or -

Alternatively, you can use the recovery host and storage specified for each virtual machine in the VPG definition by clicking APPLY VPG CONFIGURATION.
8. To change the information in a field, click the field and update the information.
9. To change the host or datastore information for several virtual machines at the same time, select the virtual machines and click EDIT SELECTED.

The Configure VM Settings window is displayed.

You can specify the following values, which are then applied to the virtual machine/s to be restored:

Restore on Host: The host where you want the virtual machine/s restored.
Restore on Datastore: The datastore to use for the restored virtual machine/s.
Power On: Select this if you want the restored virtual machine/s to be powered on.
10. To specify the volume information for each virtual machine, from the Actions column, click Volumes.

The Volumes dialog is displayed:

11. To edit information in a field, click the field and update the information.
12. To edit information for several datastores at the same time, select the datastores and click EDIT SELECTED.

The Edit Selected Volumes dialog is displayed.

If more than one datastore is selected, the path is not displayed.
13. Specify the datastore settings.
Datastore / Raw Disk: The storage or RDM disk where the virtual machine files will be restored.
Thin: Whether the virtual machine disks will be thin‑provisioned or not.
14. Click SAVE.
15. In the Volumes dialog, click DONE.
16. To specify the NIC information for each virtual machine, from the Actions column, click NICs.

The NICs window is displayed:

17. To edit information in one field, click the field and update the information.
18. To edit information for several virtual NICs at the same time, select the NICs and click EDIT SELECTED.

The Edit NIC dialog is displayed.

19. Specify the NIC settings.
NIC Name:
The name of the selected NIC.
Network:
The network to use for the restored virtual machine.
Create new MAC address:
The Media Access Control address (MAC address) to use. The default is to use the same MAC address for the restored virtual machine that was used in the protected site.

Select the checkbox to create a new MAC address on the restore site.
Change vNIC IP Configuration:
Whether or not to keep the default virtual NIC (vNIC) IP configuration.

You can only change the vNIC IP after the restore has completed with VMware Tools installed.
If you select a static IP connection, you must set the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway. Optionally, change the preferred and alternate DNS server IPs and the DNS suffix.
If you select DHCP, the IP configuration and DNS server configurations are assigned automatically, to match the protected virtual machine. You can change the DNS suffix.
IP Address:
The IP for the restored virtual machine. This can be the same IP as the original protected virtual machine.
Subnet Mask:
The subnet mask for the network. The default value is 255.255.255.0.
Default Gateway:
The default mask for the network.
Preferred DNS Server:
The IP address of the primary DNS server.
Alternate DNS Server:
The IP address of the alternate DNS server.
DNS Suffix:
The DNS name excluding the host.
20. Click OK.
21. Click DONE.
22. Click NEXT.

The SUMMARY step is displayed. Review the details of the restore.

23. If this is the retention set which you want to restore, click RESTORE.

The virtual machines are created from the Repository at the recovery site.