Netbackup™ Web Ui Vmware Administrator'S Guide: Release 9.0
Netbackup™ Web Ui Vmware Administrator'S Guide: Release 9.0
VMware Administrator’s
Guide
Release 9.0
NetBackup Web UI VMware Administrator’s Guide
Last updated: 2021-02-18
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Contents
Recover a VM .............................................................................. 48
About VMware agentless restore ..................................................... 53
Prerequisites and limitations of VMware agentless restores ................... 54
Recover files and folders with VMware agentless restore ...................... 55
■ Terminology
■ Usage reporting tracks the size of backup data on your master servers. You
can also easily connect to Veritas NetInsights Console to view and manage
NetBackup licensing.
Self-service recovery
The NetBackup web UI makes it easy for a workload administrator to recover VMs
or databases. For the workloads that support the instant access feature, users can
mount a snapshot for immediate access to a VM’s files or to a database.
Terminology
The following table describes the concepts and terms that are introduced with the
new web user interface.
Term Definition
Term Definition
Classic policy In the NetBackup web UI, indicates that a legacy policy protects
the asset. Legacy policies are created with the NetBackup
Administration Console.
External certificate A security certificate that is issued from any CA other than
NetBackup.
NetBackup certificate A security certificate that is issued from the NetBackup CA.
Protection plan A protection plan defines when backups are performed, how long
the backups are retained, and the type of storage to use. Once
a protection plan is set up, assets can be subscribed to the
protection plan.
Note: The roles that you configure in RBAC do not control access
to the NetBackup Administration Console or the CLIs.
Role For RBAC, defines the operations that a user can perform and
the assets or objects that they can access. For example, you can
configure a role to mange recovery of specific databases and the
credentials that are needed for backups and restores.
Introducing the NetBackup web user interface 10
Sign in to the NetBackup web UI
Term Definition
■ Monitoring jobs
Jobs Lists job information, including the number of active and queued jobs and the status
of attempted and completed jobs.
Certificates Displays the information about the NetBackup host ID-based security certificates or
the external certificates in your environment.
For external certificates, the following information is shown for NetBackup 8.2 and later
hosts:
■ Total hosts. The total number hosts. The hosts most be online and able to
communicate with NetBackup master server.
■ Missing. The number hosts that do not have an external certificate enrolled.
■ Valid. The number of hosts that have an external certificate enrolled.
■ Expired. The number of hosts with expired external certificates.
Monitoring and notifications 14
Monitoring jobs
Tokens Displays the information about the authorization tokens in your environment.
Security events The Access history view includes a record of logon events. The Audit events view
includes the events that users initiate on the NetBackup master server.
Usage reporting Lists the size of the backup data for the NetBackup master servers in your organization.
This reporting is useful to track capacity licensing. Use the drop-down lists in the top
right to select the time period and the view that you want to display. Click on a server
name to see specific details for that server.
Monitoring jobs
Use the Jobs node to monitor the jobs in your NetBackup environment and view
the details for a specific job.
To monitor a job
1 On the left, click Activity monitor > Jobs.
2 Click on a job name that you want to view.
On the Overview tab you can view information about a job.
■ The File List contains the files that are included in the backup image.
■ The Status section shows the status and the status codes that are related
to the job. Click the status code number to view information about this status
code in the Veritas Knowledge Base.
See the NetBackup Status Codes Reference Guide.
3 Click the Details tab to view the logged details about a job. You can filter the
logs by error type using the drop-down menu.
3 In the Filter window, select a filter option to dynamically change the jobs that
are displayed. The filter options are as follows:
■ All
■ Active
■ Done
■ Failed
■ Incomplete
■ Partially Successful
■ Queued
■ Successful
■ Suspended
■ Waiting for Retry
3 Select the server type and enter its host name, and its credentials.
4 Choose a Backup host for validation..
5 Click Save.
NetBackup verifies the updated credentials for the selected VMware server.
Note: If you delete a server, all virtual machines that are associated with the
deleted VMware server are no longer protected. You can still recover existing
backup images, but backups of VMs on this server will fail.
4 If you are sure that you want to delete the VMware server, click Delete.
them to the group. You can then apply protection to the group. Note that an intelligent
group automatically reflects changes in the VM environment and eliminates the
need to manually revise the list of VMs in the group.
To create an intelligent VM group
1 On the left, click VMware.
2 Click the Intelligent VM groups tab and then click + Add.
3 Enter a name and description for the group.
4 Select the appropriate VMware server.
5 Perform one of the following:
■ Select Include all VMs.
This option uses a default query to select all VMs that currently reside in
the vCenter or ESXi for backup when the protection plan runs.
■ To select only the VMs that meet specific conditions, create your own query:
Click Add condition.
6 To add a condition, use the drop-downs to select a keyword and operator and
then enter a value.
The options are described after this procedure: Query options for creating
intelligent VM groups.
The following is an example query:
In this example, the query adds to the group any VM that has prod in its display
name.
To change the effect of the query, click + Condition and click AND or OR,
then select the keyword, operator, and value for the condition. For example:
Managing VMware servers 21
Create an intelligent VM group
This example uses AND to narrow the scope of the query: it selects only the
VMs that have prod in their display name and that also have a tag named eng.
If a VM does not have prod in its display name as well as a tag named eng,
that VM is not added to the group.
To broaden the scope of the query, use OR:
In this example, OR causes the query to add the following to the group:
■ The VMs that have prod in their display name (regardless of any tags).
■ The VMs that have a tag named eng (regardless of the display name).
You can also add sub-queries to a condition, if necessary. Click + Sub-query
and click AND or OR, then select the keyword, operator, and value for the
sub-query condition. For example:
In this example, the sub-query causes the query to narrow the scope further.
From the VMs that have both prod in their display name and a tag named eng,
only the VMs in clusters that start with clust are selected.
Managing VMware servers 22
Create an intelligent VM group
Note: The discovery of VMs in the VMware server occurs at set intervals
according to the VMWARE_AUTODISCOVERY_INTERVAL option. (The default interval
is every 8 hours.) The web UI must discover the VMs on each server before
the query can select from them. If a VMware server was recently added in the
web UI, its VMs may not have been discovered. More information about this
option is available:
See “VMWARE_AUTODISCOVERY_INTERVAL option for NetBackup servers”
on page 28.
To discover the VMs immediately:
See “Discover VMware server assets manually” on page 27.
Managing VMware servers 23
Create an intelligent VM group
Note: When you click Preview or you save the group, the query options are
treated as case-sensitive when the VMs are selected for the group. Under
Virtual machines, if you click on a VM that was not selected for the group,
the Member of virtual machine groups field reads none.
However, when you add the group to a protection plan, some of the query
options are treated as case-insensitive when the protection plan’s backup runs.
As a result, the same VM may now be included in the group and is backed up.
For the case behavior of each option, see Query options for creating intelligent
VM groups.
Keyword Description
cluster The name of the cluster (group of ESXi servers) where the VMs reside.
host The name of the ESXi server. The ESXi host name must match the
name as defined in the vCenter server.
Keyword Description
hostName The VM name that is derived from a reverse lookup of its IP address.
Operator Description
Starts with Matches the value when it occurs at the start of a string.
For example: If the value you enter is box, this option matches the
string box_car but not flatbox.
Ends with Matches the value when it occurs at the end of a string.
For example: If the value you enter is dev, this option matches the
string 01dev but not 01dev99 or devOP.
Contains Matches the value you enter wherever that value occurs in the string.
For example: If the value you enter is dev, this option matches strings
such as 01dev, 01dev99, devOP, and development_machine.
For example: If the value you enter is VMtest27, this option matches
VMTest27 (same case), but not vmtest27, vmTEST27, or VMtest28.
!= Matches any value that is not equal to the value that you enter.
4 If the group is protected, click on the group, scroll down and click the lock
symbol, and click Unsubscribe.
5 Click Remove.
Note: Make sure that NetBackup media server software or client software is installed
on any access host that you add.
Note: The Snapshot resource limit is different from the other resource types.
It sets a limit for the number of simultaneous snapshot-only operations within
a vCenter domain, such as create snapshot and delete snapshot. This limit
applies only during the snapshot creation and snapshot deletion phases of a
backup. It does not control the number of simultaneous backup jobs. This
Snapshot limit can be useful for controlling the effect that multiple snapshot
operations have on the vCenter server. Add a specific vCenter to override the
global snapshot setting for that vCenter.
5 Click Save.
NetBackup displays the updated VMware resource limits. Limit indicates the
number of simultaneous backups that can be performed for the resource type.
For a resource type, this value is the Global limit. For a specific resource, this
value applies only to the resource. Override indicates how many resources
have limits that are different from the Global limit.
6 Use Reset default values to remove all of the overrides and set all global
VMware resource limit settings to their default values.
Managing VMware servers 27
Change the autodiscovery frequency
Note: Automatic discovery of VMs and other objects in the vCenter or ESXi server
begins when server credentials are added or updated through the web UI or an
API. However, the server's VMs and other objects might not appear in the UI
immediately. They appear after the discovery process for the VMware server
completes. Discovery also occurs at set intervals according to the
VMWARE_AUTODISCOVERY_INTERVAL option. (The default interval is every 8 hours.)
More information about this option is available:
See “VMWARE_AUTODISCOVERY_INTERVAL option for NetBackup servers”
on page 28.
Managing VMware servers 28
VMWARE_AUTODISCOVERY_INTERVAL option for NetBackup servers
VMWARE_AUTODISCOVERY_INTERVAL option
for NetBackup servers
This option controls how often NetBackup scans the vCenter servers to discover
virtual machines to display in the NetBackup web UI.
NetBackup attempts autodiscovery first with the same host for which the last
discovery attempt was successful. If autodiscovery fails with that host, NetBackup
tries again with other hosts in the following order:
■ The NetBackup master server
■ The access host, client, or proxy server
■ The media server
Usage Description
Usage Description
How to use Use the nbgetconfig and the nbsetconfig commands to view, add, or change
the option.
Note: These commands require administrator privilege on the NetBackup master
server. For assistance, contact the NetBackup administrator.
You can also use the NetBackup configuration APIs to view, add, or change this option.
Refer to the NetBackup API documentation on SORT for more information:
The default is 8 hours. The minimum is 5 minutes, the maximum 1 year. If set to zero,
autodiscovery is disabled for all the VMware servers.
For example:
VMWARE_AUTODISCOVERY_INTERVAL = 100000
Equivalent Administration No equivalent exists in the NetBackup Administration Console or web UI.
Console property
Chapter 4
Protecting VMs
This chapter includes the following topics:
Note: The RBAC role that is assigned to you must give you access to the assets
that you want to manage and to the protection plans that you want to use.
Adjust the server or host to use for backups, snapshot options, and exclude
options.
■ Advanced options
Change or enable any advanced options for the protection plan.
5 Click Protect.
The results of your choices appear under Virtual machines or Intelligent VM
groups.
Edit the settings for a VM ■ On the Virtual machines tab, click on the
VM that you want to edit.
Edit the settings for an intelligent group ■ On the Intelligent VM groups tab, click
on the group that you want to edit.
5 Click Protect.
Protecting VMs 32
Edit protection settings for a VMware asset
Table 4-1
Option Description
Backup options
Table 4-2 Backup options for protection plans
Option Description
Select server or host to use The host that performs backups on behalf of the virtual
for backups machines. Users can choose Automatic to have NetBackup
pick the media server, based on the storage unit. Or, the user
can select another host from the list. These hosts are other
media servers in the environment or hosts that are configured
as an access host.
If a snapshot exists, perform Specifies the action that NetBackup takes when a snapshot
the following action is discovered before NetBackup creates a new snapshot for
the virtual machine backup. For example, users can choose
to stop a backup if any snapshots exist. If snapshots are not
automatically deleted, the performance of the virtual machine
may eventually decline. Undeleted snapshots can cause
restore failures due to lack of disk space.
Exclude selected virtual disks Specifies the virtual disks to exclude from backups.
from backups
See “Exclude disks from backups” on page 33.
Protecting VMs 33
Edit protection settings for a VMware asset
Advanced options
Table 4-3 Advanced options for protection plans
Option Description
Enable virtual machine By default, I/O on the virtual machine is quiesced before
quiesce NetBackup creates the snapshot. In the majority of cases,
you should use this default. Without quiescing file activity,
data consistency in the snapshot cannot be guaranteed. If
you disable the quiesce, you must analyze the backup data
for consistency.
Allow the restore of This option allows users to restore application data from full
application data from virtual backups of the virtual machine.
machine backups
Note that in NetBackup 8.3 or earlier, application data for
Microsoft Exchange Server or Microsoft SharePoint Server
must be restored with the NetBackup Backup, Archive, and
Restore interface. Data for Microsoft SQL Server must be
restored with the NetBackup MS SQL Client. See the
documentation for your NetBackup database agent for more
details.
Transport mode Specifies the transport mode to use for backups or how to
read the data from the datastore. For more information on
transport modes, see the vendor documentation for your
virtualization environment.
All boot disks Consider this option if you have another means of recreating the boot disk.
The virtual machine’s boot disk is not included in the backup. Any other disks are
backed up. Note: Data files are available in the restored data disks. However, you
cannot start a virtual machine that is restored from this backup.
Protecting VMs 34
Edit protection settings for a VMware asset
All data disks Consider this option only if you have a separate protection plan that backs up the data
disks.
The virtual machine’s data disks are not included in the backup. Only the boot disk is
backed up. Note: When the virtual machine is restored from the backup, the virtual
machine data for the data disk may be missing or incomplete.
Exclude disks based on a Use this option to allow the VMware administrator to use a custom attribute to control
custom attribute which disks are excluded from backups.
The attribute must have comma-separated values of device controllers for the disks
to be excluded. For example: scsi0-0,ide0-0,sata0-0,nvme0-0. The default
value for this attribute is NB_DISK_EXCLUDE_DISK. Or, you can choose your own
value. If you add disks to the custom attribute value between any differential backups,
those disks are excluded from the next backup.
The VMware administrator must use a VMware interface to apply the attribute to the
disks to exclude. See the NetBackup Plug-in for VMware vSphere Web Client Guide
or the NetBackup Plug-in for VMware vSphere Client (HTML5) Guide.
Specific disks to be excluded Use this option to exclude a specific disk by the disk type, controller, and LUN that
represent the virtual device node of the disk. Click Add to specify additional disks.
If you add controllers between any differential backups, their disks are excluded from
the next backup.
Option Description
Maximum length of time to The time, in minutes, to allow the snapshot operation to complete. If snapshots do not
complete a snapshot complete, set this option to a specific period to force a time-out. Use the Maximum
length of time to wait before a snapshot is retried setting to retry the snapshot at
a later time.
Protecting VMs 35
Remove protection from VMs or intelligent VM groups
Option Description
Maximum length of time to The time to wait (in seconds) before the snapshot is retried.
wait before a snapshot is
retried
Note: When you unsubscribe an asset from a protection plan, there is a possibility
that the asset displays Classic policy in the web UI. This situation can happen
when an asset is subscribed to a protection plan and a backup runs for that asset.
Then the asset is unsubscribed from the protection plan while it has a valid backup
image. The web UI displays Classic policy, but there may or may not be an active
policy protecting the asset.
Note: Sorting on assets across asset types, that is, without the Asset Type
filter, returns results grouped by asset types (Virtual Machine and Intelligent
VM groups) and sorted within each asset type.
Note: If the asset has been backed up, but Status indicates it has not, see the
following information.
See “Errors for the Status for a newly discovered VM” on page 59.
4 If the asset is not protected, click Add protection to select a protection plan.
See “Protect VMs or intelligent VM groups” on page 30.
Chapter 5
Instant access
This chapter includes the following topics:
Allow overwrite of If a VM with the same display name exists at the destination,
existing virtual that VM must be deleted before the recovery begins. Otherwise,
machine the recovery fails.
Enable vMotion Starts the migration of the VM after it is created and then displays
progress of the VM migration.
Note: For a NetBackup 8.1.2 storage server, the vMotion option
is not used even if it is enabled.
6 Click Create.
NetBackup makes a snapshot of the VM backup image and creates an instant
access mount point. The snapshot of the image appears on the Instant access
virtual machines tab. You can now use the VM like any other VM on the ESXi
server.
7 For details on the restored VM, click on the VM under the Instant access
virtual machines tab and click View details.
8 When you are finished with the VM, you can click Delete to remove the mounted
VM snapshot. The VM is removed from the ESXi server.
Note: If the storage server is NetBackup 8.1.2, enter the Single File
Full Path and not the Parent Folder Path.
■ Enter the name of the target VM (the default is the original VM) and the
username and password for the target VM.
7 Select the Overwrite existing files check box to overwrite all the existing files.
Note: If the storage server is NetBackup 8.1.2, this option is automatically used
during restore.
4 On the image or the copy of the image that has the option to recover using
instant access, click Recover > Download files and folders.
5 Select the files and click Add to download list.
Click on a folder to drill into it. Use the folder path to navigate back to higher
levels in the hierarchy.
For more information on independent disks and NetBackup, see the following
article:
https://www.veritas.com/docs/000081966
■ This feature does not support VMs that have disks that were excluded from the
backup. In the 9.0 Administration Console, on the NetBackup policy's Exclude
Disks tab, select No disks excluded. Or, in the NetBackup Web UI, in the
protection plan, clear the Exclude selected virtual disks from backups check
box.
■ This feature does not support VMs that have a disk in raw device mapping mode
(RDM) or that have a disk in Persistent mode.
■ If you have to download or restore files or folders from a Windows VM, ensure
that the number of Windows registry hives are less than 10000.
For more information about Registry Hives, refer to the following link:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sysinfo/registry-hives
■ setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1
■ Ensure that the /mnt folder on the storage server is not mounted by any
mount points directly. Mount points should be mounted to its subfolders.
■ Enable the logrotate permission in selinux using the following command:
semanage permissive -a logrotate_t
Instant access 45
Instant access Build Your Own (BYO)
■ Minimum 2.2-GHz clock ■ 16 GB (For 8 TBs to 32 Disk size depends on the size
rate. TBs of storage - 1GB of your backup. Refer to the
■ 64-bit processor. RAM for 1TB of storage). hardware requirements for
■ Minimum 4 cores; 8 cores ■ 32 GBs of RAM for more NetBackup and Media Server
recommended. For 64 than 32 TBs storage. Deduplication Pool (MSDP).
TBs of storage, the Intel ■ An additional 500MB of
x86-64 architecture RAM for each live mount.
requires eight cores.
■ Enable the VT-X option in
the CPU configuration.
How can I enable instant access Perform the steps in the following order:
file browsing (for file download
1 Install the required docker version.
and restore) on BYO after the
storage is configured or 2 Start using the Instant Access feature.
upgraded without the docker For example, you can download files, restore files,
installed? and so on.
How can I enable the VMware Perform the steps in the following order:
instant access feature on BYO
1 Install the required nginx service version.
after storage is configured or
upgraded without the nginx 2 Ensure that the new BYO nginx configuration entry:
service installed? /etc/nginx/conf.d/byo.conf is part of the
HTTP section of the original:
/etc/nginx/nginx.conf file.
How can I resolve the following Perform the steps in the following order:
issue in the vpfs-config.log file
1 Install the policycoreutils and
that is raised from: Verifying
policycoreutils-python packages through yum
that the MSDP REST API
tool.
is available via https
on port 10087 2 Add the following rules that SELinux requires for Nginx
to bind on the 10087 port.
■ semanage port -a -t http_port_t -p
tcp 10087
■ setsebool -P
httpd_can_network_connect 1
Instant Access for BYO uses a To configure the external certificate, perform the following
self-signed certificate by default steps. If the new certificate is already generated (the
and only supports *.pem certificate must contain long and short host names for the
external certificate. media server), go to step 4.
How do I replace it with a 1 Create the RSA public or private key pair.
certificate signed by external CA
2 Create a certificate signing request (CSR).
(*.pem certificate), if required?
The certificate must contain long and short host
names for the media server.
/usr/openv/pdde/vpfs/bin/vpfs_config.sh
--configure_byo
Instant access 47
Instant access Build Your Own (BYO)
How can I disable media Follow the guideline to disable the gnome automount:
automount for the instant
https://access.redhat.com/solutions/20107
access livemount share in
gnome?
How can I resolve the following Perform the steps in the following order:
issue in the
1 Ensure that your NetBackup master server is up and
/var/log/vpfs/vpfs-config.log
there is no firewall blocking the connection between
file?
the NetBackup master server and storage server.
**** Asking the
2 Run the following command on storage server to verify
NetBackup Webservice to
the connection status:
trust the MSDP
webserver (spws) **** /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpclntcmd -pn
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/nblibcurlcmd 3 After the NetBackup master server is up and
failed (1): connection between the NetBackup master server
and storage server is allowed, run the following
command:
/usr/openv/pdde/vpfs/bin/vpfs_config.sh
--configure_byo
Chapter 6
VM recovery
This chapter includes the following topics:
■ Recover a VM
Recover a VM
You can recover a VM to its original location where it existed when it was backed
up or to different location. You can choose to recover from the default copy of the
backup image or from an alternate copy, if one exists. The default copy is also
known as the primary copy.
To recover a VM
1 On the left, click VMware.
2 Locate and click on the VM.
3 Click the Recovery points tab. In the calendar view on the left, select the date
on which the backup occurred.
The available images are listed in rows with the backup timestamp for each
image.
4 On the image that you want to recover, select one of the following image
recovery options:
■ Recover
Recover from the default copy of the backup image. This option is displayed
if only one copy exists.
VM recovery 49
Recover a VM
5 Choose the location to which you want to recover the backup image:
■ Original location: Recovers the backup image to the original location.
■ Alternate location: Recovers the backup image to an alternate location.
■ Create instant access virtual machine: Recovers the backup image to a
new instant access virtual machine. This option is available only if the
backup image has instant access capability. See “Create an instant access
VM” on page 37.
■ Download files and folders: Downloads the files and folders from a VM
backup image. This option is available only if the backup image has instant
access capability. See “Download files and folders from a VM backup image”
on page 40.
■ Restore files and folders: Restores the files and folders from a VM backup
image. This option is available only if the backup image has instant access
capability. See See “Restore files and folders from a VM backup image”
on page 39.
Allow overwrite of Deletes any VM with the same display name that exists at the
existing virtual destination. That VM must be deleted before the recovery begins.
machine Otherwise, the recovery fails.
Note: You must have the Overwrite Asset permission to use
this option. See your security administrator if you need this
permission.
Recovery host Indicate the host that you want to use to perform the recovery.
By default, the recovery host is the one that performed the
backup.
Create a new BIOS Restores the VM with a new BIOS UUID instead of the original
UUID BIOS UUID.
Create a new Restores the VM with a new instance UUID instead of the original
instance UUID instance UUID.
Remove backing For example, this option restores the VM without restoring any
information for ISO file that was mounted when the VM was backed up.
devices
If this option is disabled, the recovery might fail if the backing
information is not longer available for devices, such as
DVD/CD-ROM drives, or serial or parallel ports.
Remove original Removes the NIC cards from the VM. Note that for network
network access, the restored VM requires network configuration.
configuration Enable this option if:
Retain original Restores the VM with its original hardware version (such as 4).
hardware version It retains the original version even if the target ESXi server by
default uses a different hardware version (such as 7 or 8). If the
target ESXi server does not support the virtual machine’s
hardware version, the restore may fail.
Original Restores the VM's virtual disks with their original provisioning.
provisioning
Thick provisioning Configures the restored virtual disks in the thick format. The
lazy zeroed virtual disk space is allocated when the disk is created. This
option restores the populated blocks, but initializes vacant blocks
with zeros later, on demand.
Note: If the vmdk is completely written, VMware automatically
converts a lazy-zeroed disk to Thick provisioning eager
zeroed.
Thick provisioning Configures the restored virtual disks in the thick format. Restores
eager zeroed the populated blocks and immediately initializes vacant blocks
with zeros (eager zeroed). Creation of the virtual disks may take
more time with this option. However, if the restore occurs over
a SAN, the eager zeroed feature may speed up the restore by
reducing network communication with the vCenter server.
Thin provisioning Configures the restored virtual disks in the thin format. Restores
the populated blocks but does not initialize vacant blocks or
commit them. Thin provisioning saves disk space through
dynamic growth of the vmdk file. The vmdk files are no larger
than the space that the data on the virtual machine requires.
The virtual disks automatically increase in size as needed.
Note: If the vmdk is completely written, VMware automatically
converts a thin disk to Thick provisioning eager zeroed.
Transport mode:
Use transport mode Uses the same transport mode that was used when the backup
used for backup was performed.
VM recovery 52
Recover a VM
Limitations:
■ Agentless restores to Windows target VMs can fail if you use an account other
than the built-in Administrator for Windows Guest OS account as the Target
VM Credentials. The restore fails because Run all administrators in Admin
Approval Mode is enabled. More information is available:
https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/article.100046138.html
■ VMware agentless restores can only be used for the restore of files and folders.
■ In some instances, when you perform an agentless restores, orphaned VMs
starting with NB_ are left behind. Using the ESX server credentials to perform
the restore on the target VM even though the vCenter manages the ESX server
can cause this condition. This condition is a known limitation of VMware. To
resolve the problem, register the vCenter in NetBackup and use vCenter
credentials for backups and restores. The orphaned VMs starting with NB_ can
be removed from inventory manually by logging into the vCenter using VMware
vSphere Client.
■ Restore job fails if NetBackup is unable to use the directory that is specified in
the TMP or TEMP environment variable as the staging directory.
■ Restore job fails if NetBackup does not have sufficient privileges to the staging
directory or if there is insufficient space in the staging directory.
■ If you select Flatten existing directory structure and Overwrite existing files
options, you risk an incorrect restore if it contains multiple files with the same
VM recovery 55
Recover files and folders with VMware agentless restore
file name. In this case, the last file that is restored is the one that is present
when the restore completes.
If you select Flatten existing directory structure and you do not select
Overwrite existing files, the restore succeeds, and the first file that is restored
is present when the restore completes. To prevent this issue, do not select
Flatten existing directory structure when restoring multiple files with the same
name.
■ The Flatten existing directory structure and Append string to file names
options are only applicable to files. They are not available for directories.
■ Multiple restore jobs to the same VM are not supported. The user must start
another job as needed for that VM once the first restore job for that VM has
completed.
■ If a backup and a restore occur simultaneously on the same VM, one or both
jobs can have unexpected results. If a backup or a restore exits with a non-zero
NetBackup Status Code, one possible cause is simultaneous jobs occurring on
the same VM.
■ Veritas does not recommend VMware agentless restore if a NetBackup client
already exists on the target VM. The NetBackup administrator must use the
agent based restore in such cases.
■ NetBackup supports the following platforms as the guest operating systems for
the target VM:
■ Windows 2012, 2012R2, 2016
■ Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.8, 7
■ SuSE Linux (SLES) 11, 12
5 On the image you want to recover from, click Restore files and folders.
6 Under Select files, specify the files and folders you want recovered then click
Next.
7 Under Recovery target, specify the target VM to which you want the files and
folders recovered, as well as the administrator credentials for the target VM.
8 On Recovery options, specify additional recovery options for the restored
files and folders.
9 After you click Next, NetBackup performs a pre-recovery check using the
options you specified.
10 Review displays the status of the pre-recovery check along with the options
you selected for the recovery. Once you confirm that they are correct, proceed
with the restore.
Chapter 7
Troubleshooting VMware
operations
This chapter includes the following topics:
Virtualization This error occurs when the NetBackup master server is in a DNAT or a similar setup can access
server credential only a few specified NetBackup hosts (PROXY_SERVERS).
validation fails.
The credentials validation occurs in the following order:
Workaround: When you add the virtualization server credentials, select the proxy server that has
access to the virtualization server as the backup host for validation.
Note: Adding or updating VMware credentials also automatically starts the discovery of the VMware
server. When backup host information is provided in the request, it is used to perform validation of
credentials as well as for performing the discovery. For discovery, NetBackup 8.1.2 is the minimum
version that is supported for a NetBackup media server or client that serves as a backup host. For
older versions, backup host credential validation succeeds, but the discovery of VMware servers
fails.
Unable to This error might occur when VMware server credentials are added, updated, or validated. It occurs
obtain the if the environment is configured to enabled communication between NetBackup (master server,
list of media server, or client) and vCenter, ESX, or any other VMware entity using authenticated
trusted certificates.
Certificate Workaround: Ensure that certificates are installed and are valid.
Authorities.
No VMs or other ■ If the server was added recently, the VM discovery process for that server may not have
objects were completed yet.
discovered for Recommended action: Wait for the discovery process to finish.
the VMware
Note: The discovery of VMs and other objects in the vCenter or ESXi server begins when
server.
server credentials are added or updated through the web UI or an API. However, the server's
VMs and other objects might not appear in the UI immediately. They appear after the discovery
process for the VMware server completes. Discovery also occurs at set intervals according to
the VMWARE_AUTODISCOVERY_INTERVAL option. (The default interval is every 8 hours.)
Table 7-3 Errors encountered when you review Status for a newly
discovered VM
The protection In the NetBackup web UI, the protection status for a newly discovered VM does not indicate that
status of a VM it is backed up until the next backup of the VM has completed.
indicates that it In some circumstances, a new VM is backed up before the discovery of that VM has happened,
has not been as in the following scenario:
backed up.
However, a ■ By default, autodiscovery occurs every 8 hours.
backup job that ■ A new VM is added to the environment.
includes the VM ■ A backup job completes successfully before discovery completes. For example, a backup job
has successfully that uses existing policies where the new VM is included as part of the backup selection criteria.
completed. ■ Later, discovery completes. However, in the NetBackup web UI, the protection status of the VM
indicates that it has not been backed up.
If you encounter a similar situation, you can still browse the recovery points and recover them.
However, it is only after another backup of the VM successfully completes that the protection status
indicates that the VM has been backed up.
To review the protection status of a newly discovered VM in the NetBackup web UI, Veritas
recommends that you wait until the next successful backup has completed. Then, the protection
status of the VM should correctly indicate its protection status.
Chrome: This site can’t be This error can occur for any of the following reasons:
reached
■ The web UI is unable to access the NetBackup media server with the name
Firefox: Server not found or IP address that the NetBackup master server uses to connect to that media
server.
Edge: Hmmm…can’t reach this
For example: If the master server connects to the media server using
page
MSserver1.veritas.com, the web UI must also be able to reach
MSserver1.veritas.com. If the master server uses a short name for the
media server such as MSserver1, the web UI must be able to reach
https://MSserver1/...
Recommended action: Verify that the master server and the web UI use the
same name or IP address to access the media server (check the hosts file).
For example: If the master server uses the media server's short name, add
the media server’s short name and IP address to the hosts file of the PC or
other host where the web UI is running.
The hosts file location on Windows:
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
The hosts file location on UNIX or Linux:
/etc/hosts
■ The web UI is unable to access the NetBackup media server because that
server is behind a firewall.
Recommended action: Contact the NetBackup security administrator.
Issue Explanation
The boot disk was backed up The virtual machine only has a boot disk and no other disks.
even though it was excluded
from the backup. The boot disk is part of a managed volume (Windows LDM or Linux LVM). NetBackup
can only exclude a boot disk if it is fully contained on a single disk.
The virtual machine’s boot disk is an independent disk and has no other disks.
NetBackup was not able to identify the boot disk. The boot disk must include the boot
partition and the system or the boot directory.
A restored boot disk has no The boot disk is an independent disk. NetBackup cannot back up the data in this type
data. of disk.
A restored virtual machine The disk that has missing or incomplete data was excluded from the backup.
has a disk that contains
missing or incomplete data.
A data disk (or disks) was The virtual machine has only one disk (such as C:). In this case, the single drive is
backed up even though it was backed up and is not excluded.
excluded from the backup.
A virtual machine is restored You added a disk to the virtual machine and changed the settings that exclude disks.
to an unexpected state. However, you did not create a backup of the entire virtual machine after you made the
change.
Not all files can be restored If you remove disks from the custom attribute value between the differential backups,
individually. only those files that changed since the last backup can be restored individually.
Alternatively, you can restore the entire virtual disk or the VM. After the next full backup,
you can restore any of the files individually.
If you remove controllers from Specific disks to be excluded between the differential
backups, only those files that changed since the last backup are available for restore.
All files are available for restore after the next full backup.
Troubleshooting VMware operations 63
Restore fails for a virtual machine with multiple datastores
Issue Explanation
Restore fails because the datastore This issue can occur when a virtual machine is
did not have enough space for the configured on multiple datastores and a leftover
.vmdk files. snapshot existed on the virtual machine when it was
backed up. NetBackup tries to restore all .vmdk files
to the snapshot datastore.
Issue Explanation
Cannot see the list of vCenter If you are not able to see the list of the vCenter servers,
servers you might not have access to the vCenter servers under
the Application Servers object group property in RBAC.