Restoring a backup restores the state of the network at the time of the backup. In addition, the configurations maintained by NSX Manager or Global Manager appliances are also restored. For NSX Manager, any changes, such as adding or deleting nodes, that were made to the fabric since the backup was taken, are reconciled. NSX Managers are called Local Managers (LM) when they are federated with a Global Manager (GM).
DNS entries (name servers and search domains) are not retained when you restore from a backup. To redeploy in a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) deployment using an OVF file, you must use FQDNs for the NSX Manager VM names.
You must restore the backup to a new NSX Manager or Global Manager appliance. Follow the instructions for your specific case.
- If you had a cluster of the NSX Manager appliance when the backup was taken, the restore process restores one node first and then prompts you to add the other nodes. You can add the other nodes during the restore process or after the first node is restored. See the following detailed steps.
- If you had a cluster of Global Manager appliances, you can only restore one node using the restore process. You must create the cluster after the restore of the first node completes. For instructions on restoring a lost active Global Manager, a lost standby Global Manager, or a lost Local Manager, see Backup and Restore in NSX Federation.
Prerequisites
- Verify that you have the login credentials (username and password or the SSH private key matching the public key stored on the backup file server) for the backup file server.
- Verify that you have the SSH fingerprint of the backup file server. Support includes key size 256-bit, 384-bit, and 521-bit. Ensure whatever key size is used at time of backup is used at time of restore.
- Verify that you have the passphrase of the backup file.
- Identify which backup you want to restore by following the procedure in Listing Available Backups. Take note of the IP or FQDN of the NSX appliance that took the backup.
- Ensure the network setup where you are performing the restore has the same set of network connectivity as the system on which you performed the backup. For example, the same VIPs, DNS, NTP communication,and so on. If network connectivity is not same, fix the inconsistencies before adding a second or third node to the restored system.
- Perform a federated restore when both the active and standby Global Managers are down. If this is not the case, see Backup and Restore in NSX Federation.
- Familiarize yourself with the Management Plane upgrade process as part of restoring a backup during an upgrade. For details, see Backup and Restore During Upgrade in the NSX Upgrade Guide.