VMware VM backups can be accessed in either of two ways:

• Mount to an existing host
• Mount as a new VM

Mount to an existing host

Mount a VMware image to an existing physical or virtual host. A virtual host is any VMware VM or Compute Engine instance added to the system through the discovery of applications. A physical host is any host added to the system fromManage>Host page.See instructions toAdd a host.

1. From the Backup and DR Service management console, clickApp Manager and selectApplications from the drop-down list.

   TheApplications page opens.

2. Select the VMware application with the image you want to mount,then chooseAccess from the menu at the bottom of theApplications page.

3. TheAccess page opens listing backup images using the timeline rampview. For more information on the view, seeAccess the timeline ramp view of an image.

4. Select the image, then selectMount from the list of accessoperations to open theMount page.

5. Leave the default setting toExisting Host.

6. Select a physical host that is manually added fromManage>Host page or virtual host fromHostdrop-down list. If you need a host that has not yet been added, add it fromtheManage>Host menu, or run Compute Engine orVMware discovery wizard.

7. Enter a unique name associated with the mount inLabel.

8. In the selection forMount Mode, select one of the following. Theseoptions only appear if the selected host is a VMware VM.

   • NFS: This is the preferred method. The VMDKs for the new VM ispresented by the backup/recovery appliance to the ESX host using anNFS Datastore.
   • vRDM (virtual raw device mapping): This presents the backups overiSCSI. Note that by default GCVE does not support iSCSI. VMware snapshotstreat mounted vRDMs asIndependent and are not included in snapshots.Because of this, by default, Backup and DR does not include vRDMs whenprotecting a mounted VM. Backup and DR does provide an option where youcan mark vRDMs asDependent. Although rarely used, when this option isenabled, vRDMs will be included in VMware snapshots. Backup templates cancapture vRDMs marked asDependent.
   • pRDM (physical raw device mapping): This presents the backups overiSCSI. Note that by default GCVE does not support iSCSI.
   Note: These options appear whenever the selected target host is aVMware VM. The default selection is determined based on your choices onthe vCenter and the target VM itself. Either NFS or vRDM is thedefault based on those choices.

   1. FromMap to ESX Hosts, select one of the following options:

      • One: SelectOne if you want to map only to the ESX hostrunning the target VM.
      • Two: SelectTwo if you want to map to two ESX hosts, but notall ESX hosts in the cluster. On selectingTwo, you are giventhe option to choose the second host, or chooseAuto-select.Auto-select choose the second host based on logical pairs of ESX hostsand always selects the partner ESX host for the one running the target VM.

      • All. SelectAll if you want to map to all the ESX hosts presentin the cluster. Note that selectingAll may increase the durationfor the job.

        Note: You can see theMap to ESX Hosts option only when one ormore target hosts are VMware VMs and when you have selected vRDM orpRDM in theMount Mode field.

9. Specify the following additional mount selections:

   • Mount Drive: Windows only. Specifies a drive letter to be assignedto the volume. If the drive letter is not available, the job fails.If multiple volumes are found, then it assigns subsequent drive letters.If noMount Drive is specified, the Backup and DR agent chooses adrive letter itself, if available.
   • Mount Point: The full path at which you want to mount the volume. Ifthe path exists as an empty folder, the Backup and DR agent uses it.If it does not exist, the Backup and DR agent creates it. If itexists as a file or as a folder that is not empty, then the jobfails. If there are multiple volumes to be mounted, the Backup and DRagent chooses the user specified for one of the volumes and for theremaining it appends an underscore (_) followed by a number, for example,user_specified_#.

10. FromSelect Volumes To Mount, select a single volume or multiplevolumes. By default, all volumes are selected, and the first volumecannot be deselected. For an individual file system there may be onlyone volume.Performance and consumption option.

11. ForExisting Host option only, expand theScripts section andapply post-scripts and post-scripts to the image before mounting.

    • In thePre-Script andPost-Script fields, enter the path andrelative filenames. Enter the timeout values to prevent hanging, 300 seconds is a good default timeout value.

12. If required, change the defaultStorage pool to be used for the mountfrom the drop-down list. This only applies to mounts where there is noexisting staging disk, such as direct to OnVault and imported OnVaultimages. Otherwise the default pool where the source image disks are located are always used.

13. Specify theMount Drive andMount Point for each volume you want tomount.

14. ClickSubmit. A job is submitted to mount the image to the selectedhost. You can verify that the mount operation is successful by viewingthe job status inMonitor. Once the mount job is complete, the imagebecomes active and is available in theActive mounts view of theApp Manager.

Mount as a new VM

Rather than mount to anexisting host, you can also create anentirely new VM using a backup. Use the instructions to mount abackup image as a new VM.

1. From the Backup and DR Service management console, clickApp Manager and selectApplications from the drop-down list.

   TheApplications page opens.

2. Select the VMware application with the image you want to mount,then chooseAccess from the menu at the bottom of theApplications page.

   TheAccess page opens listing backup images using the timeline ramp view.For more information on the view, seeAccess the timeline ramp view of an image.

3. Select an image, then selectMount from the list of accessoperations.

   TheMount page opens.

4. Change the default setting toNew Virtual Machine.

5. Use the following selections to configure the virtual machine:

   • VM Name: Enter a name for the new VM that you want to mount.
   • VCENTER: Select a vCenter from the drop-down list for the new VMyou want to mount.
   • ESX HOST: Select an ESX Host from the drop-down list for the new VMyou want to mount.

   • DATASTORE: Select a datastore that has the required storage availablefrom the drop-down list for the new VM you want to mount.

     Note: The target backup/recovery appliance must write configuration data—known as the VMX file—and the VM swap file to the selected datastore.Note: When mounting as a new VM, the VM version, Guest Id, Number of CPUs, Memory, Hardware details are preserved. Backed up VMDK volumes are presented to the new VM using an NFS Datastore or as vRDM or pRDM disks using iSCSI.

6. Enter a unique name associated with the mount inLabel.

7. ForMount Mode, select one of the following:

   • NFS: This is the preferred method. The VMDKs for the new VM will bepresented by the backup/recovery appliance to the ESX host using an NFSDatastore.
   • vRDM (virtual raw device mapping): This presents the backups overiSCSI. Note that by default GCVE does not support iSCSI. VMwaresnapshots treat mounted vRDMs asIndependent and are not included insnapshots. Because of this, by default, Backup and DR does not includevRDMs when protecting a mounted VM. Backup and DR does provide an optionwhere you can mark vRDMs asDependent. Although rarely used, when thisoption is enabled, vRDMs will be included in VMware snapshots. Backuptemplates will capture vRDMs marked asDependent.
   • pRDM (physical raw device mapping). This presents the backups overiSCSI. Note that by default GCVE does not support iSCSI.
   Note: These options appear whenever the selected target host is a VMwareVM. The default selection is determined by user choices on the vCenter,and the target VM itself. Either NFS or vRDM is the default based onthose choices.

8. FromMap to ESX Hosts, select one of the following options:

   • One: SelectOne if you want to map only to the ESX host running the target VM.
   • Two: SelectTwo if you want to map to two ESX hosts, but not allESX hosts in the cluster. On selectingTwo, you are given the optionto choose the second host, or chooseAuto-select. Auto-select choosethe second host based on logical pairs of ESX hosts and always selectsthe partner ESX host for the one running the target VM.
   • All: SelectAll if you want to map to all the ESX hosts presentin the cluster. Note that selectingAll may increase the duration forthe job.
   Note: You can see theMap to ESX Hosts option only when one or moretarget hosts are VMware VMs and when you have selected vRDM or pRDM intheMount Mode field.

9. ForMark Dependent, VMware snapshots treat mounted vRDMs asIndependent and are not included in snapshots. Because of this,by default, Backup and DR does not include vRDMs when protecting amounted VM. Use this setting to mark vRDMs asDependent. Although rarelyused, when this option is enabled, vRDMs will be included in VMwaresnapshots. Backup templates will capture vRDMs marked asDependent.

10. If required, change the default storage pool to be used for the mountfrom theStorage Pool drop-down list.

    This only applies to mounts where there is no existing staging disk,such as direct to OnVault and imported OnVault images, otherwise thepool where the source image disks are located always usedregardless of what is set here.

11. FromSelect Volumes To Mount, select a single volume or multiplevolumes. By default, all volumes are selected, and the first volumecannot be deselected. For an individual file system there may be only onevolume.

    Note: The management console assumes that the first volume of the VM is the boot volume. If the selected first volume is not the boot volume, contact support for further assistance.

12. ClickSubmit. A job is submitted to mount the image to the selectedhost. You can verify that the mount operation is successful by viewingthe job status inMonitor. Once the mount job is complete, the imagebecomes active and is available in theActive mounts view of theApp Manager.

Recover a mounted VMware VM to production storage

After you create a new VMware VM usingmount as new VM, you have theoption to migrate the VMs VMDK data onto the local datastore so thatit is no longer dependent on the backup/recovery appliance. You can do thisusing the VMware migration function. Use the following instructions to migrate theVMs VMDK data onto the local datastore.

1. First mount the VMware VM as anew VM or anexisting VM.
2. From the vSphere client, choose the datastore for the VMDK files and VMconfiguration files.For GCVE this would normally be the vSAN Datastore.

3. From the vSphere client select the mounted VM you want to migrate andthen use theMigrate function in the vSphere client to migrate the VMto the production storage:

   Use theMigrate function in the vSphere client to migrate the VM tothe production storage:

   • Select the option to change the storage. The new datastore cannot be thesame as the source datastore.
   • Change the format of the virtual disk. Leaving it asSame format as source does not work. This option doesn't appearif you are migrating from NFS to vSAN Datastore.
   Note: If both of the criteria are not met, you can have a very fast vMotion that only moves RDM files, or has no action because the source datastore and destination datastore are the same.

4. After the migrate is completed, you can find the mount image inActive Mounts.

Management of the active mounts

Once you have created a mount, you can track the image form theApp Manager >Active Mounts. Ideally, don't leave any image mounted indefinitely. This is because thebackup image that the mount was created from cannot expire until all its mounts havebeen deleted. When you have finished using the mounted image then either:

• Unmountthe image. You canremount it if needed. You can thendeletethe image later when you are certain it is no longer needed.
• Unmount and delete the image. This deletes the mounted image, not the backup that the mount is based on.

The VMware administrator's guide

This page is one in a series of pages specific to protecting and recoveringVMware VMs with Backup and DR.You can find additional information at:

• Backup and DR for VMware VMs
• Configure Google Cloud VMware Engine for Backup and DR protection
• Add vCenter and ESX server hosts to the management console
• Discover and protect VMware VMs
• Apply a backup template to protect a VMware VM
• Configure Application settings for VMware VMs
• Restore a VMware VM
• Mount a VMware image
• Clone an image of a VMware VM
• Create LiveClone workflows
• Move VM management between two backup/recovery appliances