Veritas NetBackup™ Commands Reference Guide

The ID of the backup image to use to create the parameters file to restore a VMware virtual machine disk or disks, in clientname_backuptime format. The backuptime is the decimal number of seconds since January 1, 1970.

Use this option with the -restorespecout option. Do not combine it with the -s or -e option.

Contacts the BMR server to carry out tasks related to virtual machine creation from client backup.

The name of the virtual machine as identified in the backup. For example, if the policy backed up the virtual machine by its host name, specify that host name.

To restore to a different location, use the -vmserver and -R options.

Specifies the BMR configuration name. The default name is current. Applies only to the BMR VM conversion.

Specifies which media server performs the Instant Recovery.

This option is useful if NetBackup storage is configured over several media servers, such as for load balancing. Without the -disk_media_server option, the Instant Recovery job may select any of the available media servers to do the restore. If only one of the media servers is configured for Instant Recovery, specify that server with the -disk_media_server option.

Suppresses the confirmation prompts.

Starts the Instant Recovery of the specified virtual machine. For VMware, the command mounts the backup image as an NFS datastore. The virtual machine is instantly recovered when the virtual machine data is accessible on the VM host.

Deletes the specified restored virtual machine from the ESX host and releases the NetBackup media server resources. The -force option suppresses the confirmation prompts.

Completes the virtual machine instant recovery job after the data is migrated. It removes the NetBackup storage and releases the media server resources. The NetBackup storage is the datastore that is mounted on the ESX host.

Lists details about the virtual machines that are activated by instant recovery.

Reactivates a restored virtual machine by remounting the NetBackup NFS datastore. It also registers the restored virtual machines on the ESX host from the temporary datastore on the ESX host.

ir_identifier is the virtual machine's numeric identifier from the -ir_listvm output.

The -force option suppresses the confirmation prompts.

Restarts an interrupted instant recovery job for all virtual machines on the ESX host and NetBackup media server combination.

Specifies the name of an existing file in which to write progress information. This option applies to vSphere restore and Hyper-V restore.

Only default paths are allowed for this option and Veritas recommends using the default paths. If you cannot use the NetBackup default path in your setup, you should add custom paths to the NetBackup configuration. The following are the default paths:

UNIX systems: /usr/openv/netbackup/logs/user_ops/proglog

Windows systems: install_path\NetBackup\logs\user_ops\proglog

For more information on how to add a custom path, see the "BPCD_WHITELIST_PATH option for NetBackup servers and clients" topic in the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume I.

Specifies the media server on which the NFS datastores that contain the backup images were mounted when you reactivate virtual machines. This option is used only with the -ir_reactivate_all function.

Overwrites the VMs and associated resources if they already exist with the same name. The resources are entities such as virtual machine disk format files (VMDKs) that explicitly belong to the existing VM. If -O is specified, the VMware server is requested to remove the VM before the VM is restored. If not specified, the restore may fail. This option is used with the VClient restore, the Hyper-V restore, and the BMR VM conversion.

Specifies an absolute directory path to a rename file, which is used to restore a VMware virtual machine. The rename file indicates that the restore is to be redirected to an alternate location and specifies details about the alternate client location. For VMware, the rename file can include any of the following entries:

change /first_vmdk_path to /new_first_vmdk_path 
change /second_vmdk_path to /new_second_vmdk_path 
...
change /n'th_vmdk_path to /new_nth_vmdk_path 
change vmname to NEW_VM_NAME 
change esxhost to NEW_ESX_HOST 
change datacenter to NEW_DATACENTER 
change folder to NEW_FOLDER 
change resourcepool to NEW_RESOURCEPOOL 
change datastore to NEW_DATASTORE 
change network to NEW_NETWORK
change organization to NEW_ORGANIZATION
change orgvdc to NEW_ORGVDC
change vcdserver to NEW_VCDSERVER
change vcdvapp to NEW_VCDVAPP
change vcdvapptemplate to NEW_VCDVAPPTEMPLATE
change vcdvmname to NEW_VCDVMNAME
change vcdcatalog to NEW_VCDCATALOG

Instant Recovery uses the following subset of this list:

change vmname to NEW_VM_NAME
change esxhost to NEW_ESX_HOST
change resourcepool to NEW_RESOURCEPOOL
change network to NEW_NETWORK

The following are notes regarding these entries:

With NetBackup 7.7.2 and later, only default paths are allowed for this option and Veritas recommends to use the default paths. If you cannot use the NetBackup default path in your setup, you should add custom paths to the NetBackup configuration.

For more information on how to add a custom path, see the "BPCD_WHITELIST_PATH option for NetBackup servers and clients" topic in the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume I.

Creates a new virtual machine and restores the NetBackup client and disks that you specify in the filename to the new VM. The filename is a text file that uses the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format.

The text file must be in UTF-8 character encoding.

You can use the -restorespecout option to create the JSON-formatted text file. You can edit the text file so that it contains only the virtual machine disks that you want to restore.

The following is an example of the restore parameters that the -restorespec option requires:

{
  "ClientType": "VMware",
  "ClientName": "VM-client-name",
  "RestoreType": "SelectiveDiskRestore",
  "BackupImageSelection": {
    "MasterServer": "Master-server-name",
    "StartDate": "mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss",
    "EndDate": "mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss",
    "BackupId": "clientname_timestamp"
  },
  "VMwareRestoreParameters": {
    "vCenterServer": "vCenter-name-for-restore",
    "VMwareRecoveryHost": "Recovery-host-name",
    "DefaultDiskProvisioning": "thin",
    "TransportMode": "san:hotadd:nbd",
    "VMwareVirtualMachineDestination": {
      "VMName": "Restore-vm-name",
      "AttachDisksToExistingVM": "No",
      "PowerOn": "No",
      "Datacenter": "Path-of-Datacenter-for-destination-vm",
      "ESX": "Hostname-of-the-ESX-host",
      "Folder": "Path-to-destination-VM-folder",
      "ResourcePool/Vapp": "Path-of-vApp-or-resource-pool-destination",
      "VmxDatastore": ""
    },
    "VMwareVirtualDiskDestination": [
      {
         "VirtualDisk" : "/DS1/BackedupVM/BackedupVM.vmdk",
         "OverwriteExistingDisk": "No",
         "Datastore": "[Datastore-name]",
         "Path": "",
         "Provisioning": "thin"
         "Controller": "scsi0-0"           },
      {
         "VirtualDisk": "/DS2/BackedupVM/BackedupVM_1.vmdk",
         "OverwriteExistingDisk": "No",
         "Datastore": "",
         "Path": "[datastore_name] MyVm/MyVM_1.vmdk",
         "Provisioning": "eagerzeroed"
         "Controller": "scsi0-1"           }
    ]
    "VMwareAdvancedRestoreOptions": {
      "DeleteRestoredVMOnError": "No",
      "VMShutdownWaitSeconds": 900
    }
  }
}

The following itemized lists describe the five sections of the filename. The optional sections or optional fields that you do not want to use must be omitted from the filename.

First section (required): The opening section of the filename provides the required information about the client that contains the disks that you want to restore.

Second section (optional): The BackupImageSelection section of the filename specifies the information required to identify the backup image to restore. If this section is not specified, NetBackup restores from the most recent backup. The following are the fields that describe the BackupImageSelection:

Third section (required): The VMwareRestoreParameters section of the filename specifies the VMware attributes of the virtual disk to be restored. All of the fields in this section are optional; however, the section is required because it also contains two required subsections. The following are the fields that describe the VMwareRestoreParameters:

Fourth section (required): The VMwareVirtualMachineDestination section of the filename specifies the destination parameters for the restore. This section is subordinate to the VMwareRestoreParameters section. It contains the following fields:

Fifth section (required): The VMwareVirtualDiskDestination section of the filename is an array that specifies the disks to restore and the restore parameters for those disks. This section is subordinate to the VMwareRestoreParameters section. It can contain one or more sets of the following fields, one set per virtual machine disk. A comma must separate fields in a set, and a comma must separate sets.

Sixth section (optional). The VMwareAdvancedRestoreOptions section of the file specifies parameters to restore to an existing VM. This section is subordinate to the VMwareRestoreParameters section.

Specifies the pathname of the file in which nbrestorevm writes the parameters of the individual virtual machine disk or disks that you want to restore. By default, nbrestorevm creates the file in the current working directory. To specify the backup image from which to obtain the parameters, use the -backupid option or the -s and -e options. If you specify the -s and -e options, NetBackup uses the most recent backup in that date range.

Edit the file so that it contains the appropriate information. Ensure that the VMName field contains the name for the new VM. Ensure that the VMwareVirtualDiskDestination section of the file contains only the virtual machine disk or disks that you want to restore. Use the edited file as the input file for the -restorespec option, which restores the virtual machine disk or disks that are identified in the file.

By default, nbrestorevm creates the file in the current working directory. To create the file in a different directory, specify a pathname for the filename. That path must be in the NetBackup whitelist of paths. For more information on how to add a custom path, see the "BPCD_WHITELIST_PATH option for NetBackup servers and clients" topic in the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume I:

Specifies a different master server to restore a virtual machine from a backup that was made by that master.

Limits the selectable backup images to those with timestamps that fall within the specified period. NetBackup selects the latest suitable backup image within the range. Specifies the start date (-s) and end date (-e) for the listing. The start date and end date signify the time range to search for a valid backup image. The latest valid backup image within the specified time range is used to perform restores. These options are used with all functions except the BMR VM conversion.

Specifies a temporary datastore on the VM host server where all writes occur until the virtual machine is restored. All writes occur on this datastore until Storage vMotion is complete or until you are finished with the virtual machine (such as for troubleshooting). This datastore must exist before you run nbrestorevm. This option can be used only with -ir_activate. This option is used only with Instant Recovery.

Validates the virtual machine disk restore parameters in the filename. The -restorespec option is required, and it must follow the -validate option.

For a description of the filename, see the -restorespec option description.

Restores a vCloud virtual machine. This option is required when you restore to the original location or to an alternate location in vCloud.

Restores a vCloud virtual machine by using the datastore with the largest available space. This option applies only to the restore operations that are not directed to the original location.

Overwrites the existing vCloud vApp.

Redirects the vCloud restore.

Removes the vApp if you use the -vcdtemplate option to save the vApp as a template.

Restores a vCloud virtual machine to an existing vCloud vApp. This option is required when you restore to an existing vApp including an original location restore.

Restores a vCloud virtual machine as a template.

Full (absolute) file path that contains the virtual environment details in param=value format. A veconfig file typically contains the following entries:

esxhost="bmresx.xyz.com"
name="Test_NBRestoreVM"
network="VM Network"
nbrestorediskformat="ThinVdisk"
toolsIsoPath="C:\B2V\windows_esx5.iso"
datacenter="/Test/XyzDatacenter"
folder="/Test/XyzDatacenter/vm"
resourcepool="/Test/XyzDatacenter/host/bmresx.xyz.com/Resources/resourcepoolname"
harddisk=0:"B2V_4TB"
harddisk=1:"storage1 (2)"
harddisk=2:"storage2 (1)"

The following are notes regarding these entries:

Disk format of the restored disk will be 'eager zero'

Restores the VMDK files as flat disks.

Specifies the VM host on which the virtual machines were mounted when you reactivate virtual machines.

Restores a Hyper-V virtual machine at the original location.

Restores a Hyper-V virtual machine to a new location.

Restores Hyper-V virtual machine files to a staging location.

Restores the BIOS UUID of the virtual machine instead of creating a new one.

For VMware: Restores the BIOS UUID of the virtual machine instead of creating a new one.

For Hyper-V: Restores the GUID of the virtual machine instead of creating a new one.

Retains the Instance UUID of the original virtual machine (note that the Instance UUID is a vCenter specific unique identifier of a virtual machine). The virtual machine is restored with the same Instance UUID that it had when it was backed up.

If the restore of the virtual machine is to a standalone ESXi host, this option is ignored.

If a virtual machine with the same Instance UUID exists at the target restore location, NetBackup assigns a new UUID to the virtual machine.

Retains the hardware version upon recovery. This option applies only to VMware VM recovery.

Generate new virtual machine disk UUIDs during an instant recovery. Use this option with the - ir_activate option.

The VMs that activate with this option do not retain the new vmdk UUID during a subsequent - ir_reactivate operation. In such a scenario, the VMDKs revert to their UUIDs at the time of the backup.

Specifies that you do not want to restore the common files when you restore the Hyper-V virtual machine.

Automatically powers up the virtual machine after the restore operation.

Specifies the VMware access host. It overrides the default VMProxy used for backing up the virtual machines.

Storage lifecycle policies (SLPs) can use Auto Image Replication to replicate a virtual machine backup image to another NetBackup domain. To restore the virtual machine from the replicated image, you must include the -vmproxy option. Use the -vmproxy option to specify the backup host (access host) that is in the domain where the virtual machine was replicated.

Removes any mounted removable devices such as cd-rom or dvd-rom images.

Specifies a different target location for the restore operation (for example, ESX server or vCenter). It overrides the default VM server used for backing up the virtual machines. To restore to the same vCenter where the virtual machine originally resided, omit this option.

Strips the network interface of the virtual machine.

Strips the VMware tags from the restore.

Disk format of the restored disk will be 'thin'.

Specifies the VMware transport mode. An example of the format of vm_transport_mode is san:hotadd:nbd:nbdssl.

Allows the VMware VMDK files to be restored to the same datastore where the VMX file is specified. A rename file that assigns a different vmdk file path overrides this option.

Restores a VMware virtual machine.

Causes NetBackup to wait for a completion status from the server before it returns you to the system prompt.

The required date and time values format in NetBackup commands varies according to your locale. The /usr/openv/msg/.conf file (UNIX) and the install_path\VERITAS\msg\LC.CONF file (Windows) contain information such as the date-time format for each supported locale. The files contain specific instructions on how to add or modify the list of supported locales and formats.

See the "About specifying the locale of the NetBackup installation" topic in the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume II.

You can optionally specify a wait time in hours, minutes, and seconds. The maximum wait time you can specify is 23:59:59. If the wait time expires before the restore is complete, the command exits with a timeout status. The restore, however, still completes on the server.

If you specify 0 or do not specify a time, the wait time is indefinite for the completion status.