Restore the Failed vCenter Server Virtual Machine to the Original Location

You can restore to the original location the full image backup of a virtual machine that contains a vCenter Server instance manually by using the Restore backup wizard.

Note: This procedure describes the steps by using vSphere Data Protection 6.1.3. The steps might vary if you use a different version of vSphere Data Protection.

Prerequisites

• Deploy and configure the vSphere Data Protection Appliance.
• Back up a virtual machine with running vCenter Server. See Use vSphere Data Protection to Back Up a vCenter Server Environment.
• Use the vSphere Web Client to log in to the vCenter Server instance that manages your environment. Log in as the user with administrator privileges that was used during the vSphere Data Protection configuration.
• Verify that the virtual machine you want to restore is powered off.

Procedure

1. On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click vSphere Data Protection.
2. Click the Restore tab.
3. (Optional) Filter the backups to narrow your search.
4. Select a virtual machine listed in the Name column, and select one or more backup items that you want to restore.
   When you select a virtual machine, you can see the list of the performed backups for that virtual machine.
5. Click Restore to start the Restore backup wizard.
6. On the Select Backup page, verify that the list of backups is correct, remove the backups that you want to exclude from the restore operation, and click Next.
7. On the Set Restore Options page, leave the Restore to Original Location check box selected.
   Important: If the virtual disk of the original virtual machine has been removed or deleted, you cannot restore the virtual machine to its original location. The VMDK must be restored to a new location.
8. (Optional) Under Advanced options, select a new datastore to power on the virtual machine after it is restored and to reconnect the NIC.
9. Click Next.
10. On the Ready to complete page, review the summary of your restore requests, and click Finish to start the restore operation.
    Note: If you selected to reconnect the NIC during the restore process, verify that the network configuration for the newly created virtual machine is correct. The NIC of the new virtual machine might use the same IP address as the original virtual machine, which causes conflicts.
11. Verify that no vCenter Server services are running.
    • For a vCenter Server Appliance, run the service-control --status --all command in the appliance shell.
    • For a vCenter Server instance installed on Windows, from the Windows Start menu, select Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.
12. Run the vcenter-restore script to complete the restore operation and start all the vCenter Server services.

    Option	Action
    For a vCenter Server Appliance	Run the vcenter-restore script in the appliance shell. vcenter-restore -u psc_administrator_username -p psc_administrator_password
    For vCenter Server installed on Windows	From the Windows command prompt, navigate to the vcenter-restore script. By default, the script is located in C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\. Run the vcenter-restore script. vcenter-restore -u psc_administrator_username -p psc_administrator_password Note: If you do not provide arguments three subsequent times, the script closes after notifying you that the required arguments were not provided.

    Here, psc_administrator_username is the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user name which must be in UPN format.

13. Verify that all vCenter Server services are running.
    • For a vCenter Server Appliance deployed as an appliance, run the service-control --status --all command in the appliance shell.
    • For a vCenter Server installed on Windows, from the Windows Start menu, select Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

Results

An information dialog box confirms that the restore operation was successfully initiated. You can monitor the restore progress in the Recent Tasks pane.