Restore to a Different Host

When you perform a restoration to a different host, you must make configuration changes on the VMware Aria Operations for Logs cluster.

Modifying the configuration files directly from the appliance console is not officially supported in VMware Aria Operations for Logs 3.0 and later releases. See Knowledge Base article 2123058 for information about how to modify these files by using the Web UI interface.

These configuration changes are specific to VMware Aria Operations for Logs builds that can be used with any backup recovery tool.

Recovering to a different host requires manual configuration changes on the VMware Aria Operations for Logs cluster. You can assume that the restored VMware Aria Operations for Logs nodes have different IP addresses and FQDNs than their source counterparts from which a backup was taken.

Prerequisites

Review important information about Planning and Preparation.

Procedure

List all new IP addresses and FQDNs that were assigned to each VMware Aria Operations for Logs node.
Make the following configuration changes on the primary node by using the steps described in Knowledge Base article 2123058.
1. In the VMware Aria Operations for Logs config section, look for lines that resemble the following lines.
```
<distributed overwrite-children="true">
  <daemon host="prod-es-vrli1.domain.com" port="16520" token="c4c4c6a7-f85c-4f28-a48f-43aeea27cd0e">
    <service-group name="standalone" />
  </daemon>
  <daemon host="192.168.1.73" port="16520" token="a5c65b52-aff5-43ea-8a6d-38807ebc6167">
    <service-group name="workernode" />
  </daemon>
  <daemon host="192.168.1.74" port="16520" token="a2b57cb5-a6ac-48ee-8e10-17134e1e462e">
    <service-group name="workernode" />
  </daemon>
</distributed>
```
  The code shows three nodes. The first node is the primary node, which shows <service-group name=standalone>, and the remaining two nodes are worker nodes, which show <service-group name="workernode">
2. For the primary node, in the newly recovered environment, verify that the DNS entry that was used in the pre-recovery environment can be reused.
  - If the DNS entry can be reused, update only the DNS entry to point to the new IP address of the primary node.
  - If the DNS entry cannot be reused, replace the primary node entry with a new DNS name (pointing to the new IP address).
  - If the DNS name cannot be assigned, as a last option, update the configuration entry with the new IP address.
3. Update the worker node IP addresses as well to reflect the new IP addresses.
4. In the same configuration file, verify that you have entries that represent NTP, SMTP, and database and appenders sections.
```
<ntp>
  <ntp-servers value="ntp1.domain.com, ntp2.domain.com" />
</ntp>
 
<smtp>
  <server value="smtp.domain.com" />
  <default-sender value="[email protected]" />
</smtp>
 
<database>
  <password value="xserttt" />
  <host value="vrli-node1.domain.com" />
  <port value="12543" />
</database>
 
```
  - If the configured NTP server values are no longer valid in the new environment, update these values in the <ntp>...</ntp> section.
  - If the configured SMTP server values are no longer valid in the new environment, update these values in the <smtp>...</smtp> section.
  - Optionally, change the default-sender value in the SMTP section. The value can be any value but as a good practice, represent the source from where the email is being sent.
  - In the <database>..</database> section, change the host value to point to the primary node FQDN or IP address.
5. In the same configuration file, update the VMware Aria Operations for Logs ILB configuration section.
```
<load-balancer> 
<leadership-lease-renewal-secs value="5" /> 
<high-availability-enabled value="true" /> 
<high-availability-ip value="10.158.128.165" />  
<high-availability-fqdn value="LB-FQDN.eng.vmware.com" />  
<layer4-enabled value="true" />  
<ui-balancing-enabled value="true" /> 
</load-balancer>
```
6. Under the <load-balancer>...</load-balancer> section, update the high-availability-ip value if it is different from the current setting.
7. Ensure that you also update the FQDN of the load balancer.
8. Restart from the Web UI through the Cluster subtab on the Administration tab. For each node listed, select its host name or IP address to open the details panel and click Restart Operations for Logs.
  The configuration changes are automatically applied to all cluster nodes.
9. Wait 2 minutes after the VMware Aria Operations for Logs service starts to allow enough time for the Cassandra service to start before bringing other worker nodes online.

What to do next

Verify that the restored VMware Aria Operations for Logs nodes have been assigned different IP addresses and FQDNs than their source counterparts from which a backup was taken.