vCenter 6.5 file based Backup and Restore process

-
                         vCenter 6.5 file based Backup and Restore process


Hello Everyone,

This article is for how to take VCSA 6.5 file based Backup and Restore process in case of vCenter server appliance got failed due to any O/S or application issues.

VCSA 6.5 has in-built feature available with management interface of vCenter server appliance 6.5 (VAMI) page. With this native Backup and Restore VCSA 6.5 features removes the dependency on third-party native backup tools to backup and restore vCenter server appliance. Native Backup feature of VCSA 6.5 supports the backup and restore of vCenter server appliance and also can take backup and restore of platform services controller.
This native backup and restore feature of VCSA 6.5 helps you to protect vCenter data and helps us to reduce the downtime required for to restore the vCenter management stack. Backup of VCSA 6.5 process collects the important files into tar bundle and compress the bundle to reduce the load on the network. You have option to encrypt the compressed file before transmission the backup files to the backup storage location as well. You can specify the password during encryption and specify the same password to decrypt the file during the restore process.
First of all, we will start with the backup of VCSA 6.5 appliance through VAMI console of vCenter appliance.

In the Summary tab, Click on “Backup” to start the backup of the vCenter Sever appliance.



VCSA backup can be backed and sent up to different location using different protocols:
·         FTP
·         FTPS
·         HTTP
·         HTTPS
·         SCP




Here, I choose SCP option for backup. Choose SCP from drop down and fill all details.

CLICK NEXT







During VCSA backup, Minimum set of data needed to restore the appliance will be backed up by default. This includes the data such as OS, VC services, vCenter Server database,  inventory and configuration. In addition to that, you can also choose to backup additional things such as Historical data( Stats, Events, alarms and tasks ) in the vCenter Server database.

CLICK NEXT




Review the backup option selection and Click on Finish.



CLICK FINISH



Backup Task finished successfully.




So, backup task completed successfully. Now, we look at the backup folder which files are stored there. See below snap-in.





Restore vCenter Server Appliance 6.5


We are done with the backup of the vCenter server appliance 6.5. Restore the VCSA 6.5 from the backup file if it is required. Restore process is the straight forward process. Restore needs to be performed from the VCSA 6.5 installation media.  

 There is a important point here to make a note that VCSA 6.5 installer versions should be the same as the current VCSA 6.5 version then only we can restore the VCSA otherwise Restore process can not be initiated.

 For Example- If your current VCSA 6.5 version is 15259038 then you need to run the same version installer for restore process.
Launch the VCSA 6.5 installer, Click on Restore to restore VCSA from a previously created vCenter Server appliance backup.


Specify the backup location details and credentials to retrieve the backup metadata information. 

Restores option will restore vCenter server appliance to a brand new appliance with the existing backup data.

In this Restore process, it will first deploy new VCSA appliance and then copy the backup data to this new brand VCSA appliance.

That's all, stay tuned, Cheers...






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to migrate the N-VDS as the host switch to VDS 7.0 in NSX-T 3.x

-
Image
  Hello There, In this article, i am covering how to migrate the ESXi host switch from N-VDS to VDS 7.0 switch in NSX-T 3.2.x version. When using N-VDS as the host switch,  NSX-T  is represented as an opaque network in  vCenter Server . N-VDS owns one or more of the physical interfaces (pNICs) on the transport node, and port configuration is performed from  NSX-T Data Center . You can migrate your host switch to  vSphere  Distributed Switch (VDS) 7.0 for optimal pNIC usage and manage the networking for  NSX-T  hosts from  vCenter Server . When running  NSX-T  on a VDS switch, a segment is represented as an  NSX-T  Distributed Virtual Port Groups. Any changes to the segments on the  NSX-T  network are synchronized in  vCenter Server. We have an NSX-T environment running with NSX-T 3.2.2.1 version. this environment was designed and implemented with NSX-T 2.x version and that time we used the N-VDS as host switch configuration on the transport nodes bcuz VDS was not supported that time. 
Read more

vROPS appliances password remediation tasks failed from SDDC manager

-
Image
Issue details:-   Password remediation tasks on SDDC manager getting failed with below error. However, we are able to connect SSH with root password on the vROPS appliances, no issues with credentials. I checked Operations logs on SDDC manager and found below logs, indicating the SSH connectivity issues from SDDC to vROPS appliances. Tried to do SSH vROPS appliance from SDDC manager, getting below error... Seems some issue with ECDSA key.. Resolution:- SSH to vROPS appliance and retrieve the ECDSA ssh keys as below. Now, we have 2 options to update the correct SSH keys for vROPS appliance on SDDC manager known_Hosts files located at below location.   /root/.ssh/known_hosts   /etc/vmware/vcf/commonsvcs/known_hosts   /home/vcf/.ssh/known_hosts   /opt/vmware/vcf/commonsvcs/defaults/hosts/known_hosts First option is manually copy and paste the SSH key on all the known_hosts files and restart the SDDC manager services and then try to remediate the password again. it will be successful this
Read more

How to Import/Register a VM into vRA portal

-
Image
You can import an unmanaged virtual machine to a vRealize Automation environment. An unmanaged virtual machine exists in a vCenter but is not managed in a vRealize Automation environment and cannot be viewed in the vRA portal . Once you import an unmanaged virtual machine, the virtual machine is managed by using the vRealize Automation management interface. you can see the virtual machine on the Managed Machines tab or the Items tab. Please follow below steps to Import/Register VM into a vRA portal. Log in to vRealize Automation as a fabric administrator and as a business group manager. If you are importing virtual machines that use static IP addresses, prepare a properly configured address pool.  If you use bulk import to import a virtual machine with a static IP address that is allocated to another virtual machine, the import fails. Create a Blueprint and should not have even network attached as well. See below snapin. Create Network profile that shoul
Read more