Restoring ESX Server 2.5.x Virtual Machines in ESX Server 3


Overview

This document describes how to restore virtual machines that have been backed up on ESX Server 2.5.x using Vmsnap onto ESX Server 3 using the service console version of the VMware Consolidated Backup Command Line Utilities.

Configuration for VCB/Service Console Utilities

In order to restore ESX Server 2.5.x virtual machines onto ESX Server 3, some pre-defined settings have to be specified in the configuration file:
/etc/vmware/backuptools.conf

VMware recommends that you first follow the generic VCB/service console configuration steps outlined in the document on backing up and restoring virtual machines in ESX Server 3 as found in the Backing up and Restoring Virtual Machines in ESX Server 3 technical note.

For restoring ESX Server 2.5.x legacy virtual machines onto ESX Server 3, the following settings have to be specified:

DSPATH
The datastore path under which the legacy virtual machine will be restored. In order to avoid having to set this option individually for each legacy virtual machine you want to restore, the special string %VMNAME% can be used, which will be substituted by the base name of the virtual machine's .vmx configuration file.

Example: In order to restore legacy virtual machines onto datastore oldvms using the base name of their .vmx file, use the following setting:

    DSPATH="[oldvms] %VMNAME%"

Note: This restores the virtual machine with a .vmx file named myvm.vmx into [oldvms] /myvm.

VMHOST
The host that the virtual machine is going to be associated with. The virtual machine will be powered on this host.

RESOURCEPOOL
The resource pool the virtual machine will be associated with. For a description of this parameter and how to find valid values for it, refer to the section on resource pools about restoring virtual machines to an alternate location in the Backing up and Restoring Virtual Machines in ESX Server 3 technical note.

Note:
You should make sure to pick a resource pool that is valid on the host that you specified under VMHOST settings. However, this is easily done, since the resource pool name also contains the host name of the ESX Server Server host it corresponds to. You can also use the %VMHOST% string in this setting, which will be replaced by the value you have assigned to VMHOST.

FOLDERPATH
This property controls where imported legacy virtual machines will show up in the virtual machine hierarchy of VirtualCenter. For information on how to obtain valid values for this property, refer to the section on folder paths about restoring virtual machines to an alternate location in the Backing up and Restoring Virtual Machines in ESX Server 3 technical note.

Restoring ESX Server 2.5.x Legacy Virtual Machines

After having made all the settings in /etc/vmware/backuptools.conf as described above, ESX Server 2.5.x legacy virtual machines can be restored in the same way as ESX Server 3 virtual machines can be restored.

Restoring ESX Server 3 virtual machines using vcbRestore is described in the section on Restoring Virtual Machines in the Backing up and Restoring Virtual Machines in ESX Server 3 technical note.