Replacing/Restoring a Virtual Machine from an OVF File

Replace a virtual machine (VM) from a ztC Edge-created Open Virtualization Format (OVF) file if you want to restore (that is, recover) a VM on your ztC Edge system by overwriting the VM with a previous backup copy. (If you want to import a VM from a different system, see the overview in Creating and Migrating Virtual Machines.)

Typically, importing a VM creates a new instance of the VM with unique hardware IDs. Restoring a VM creates an identical VM with the same SMBIOS UUID, system serial number, and MAC addresses, if provided in the VM image, that your guest operating system and applications may require for software licensing. The hardware ID, though, of the restored VM is unique. If an identical VM already exists on the ztC Edge system, restoring the VM allows you to replace the VM and overwrite it with your previous copy.

You can restore a VM that already exists on a ztC Edge system only if you have previously exported a VM (see Exporting a Virtual Machine ) from a ztC Edge system to OVF and Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) files on a supported network share or a USB device. Copy these files to your management PC, or mount the USB device or network share on the target ztC Edge system as described in Mounting a USB Device or Network-mounted Folder on the ztC Edge System, and then use the ztC Console on the target ztC Edge system to restore the OVF and VHD files from your management PC.

Caution: Consider backing up your existing VM on the ztC Edge system before overwriting and restoring it. If you export the VM to create the backup, ensure that you do not overwrite the OVF and VHD files that you want to restore.
Notes:  
Prerequisites:  

To restore a VM

  1. Log on to the ztC Console on the target ztC Edge system.
  2. On the Physical Machines page (see The Physical Machines Page) of a system licensed for two nodes, verify that both PMs are in the running state and that neither PM is in maintenance mode or in the process of synchronizing.
  3. If you are restoring a VM from a USB device or network share (instead of the PC running the ztC Console), mount the device or share on the ztC Edge system as described in Mounting a USB Device or Network-mounted Folder on the ztC Edge System.
  4. On the Virtual Machines page (see The Virtual Machines Page), select the VM that you want to restore in the upper panel.
  5. In the lower panel, click Restore or click Import/Restore near the top pane.
  6. Select one of the following:

  7. Select Restore. (Scroll down the window, if necessary.) A warning message appears, stating that Restore will overwrite all existing data and configuration details and that you should proceed with caution.
  8. Click Continue to proceed.

  9. If prompted, add VHD files.
  10. Review the information and make any desired edits, if necessary:

  11. Optionally, clear the check box for Auto start Virtual Machine after restore if you need to reprovision the VM before starting it for the first time.
  12. Click Restore to begin restoring the VM. When the transfer is complete, click Done to close the wizard.

    Note: Restored volumes begin to appear on the Volumes page of the ztC Console while the restore process is still in progress. Do not attach or remove any of these restored volumes until the restore window reports that the process is complete; otherwise, the restore process fails.
  13. If applicable, use the Reprovision Virtual Machine wizard to allocate additional resources to the VM, as described in Reprovisioning Virtual Machine Resources.

    When you are finished reprovisioning the VM, click Start to boot the VM.

After you verify that the restored VM is functioning properly, the restore process is complete; however, the ztC Edge system may continue to synchronize data between PMs to enable High Availability (HA) or Fault Tolerant (FT) operation.

Note: Your restored VM and its associated volumes may be marked with warning symbols until the data has been synchronized and the VirtIO drivers are running.

Related Topics

Creating and Migrating Virtual Machines

Managing Virtual Machine Resources

Managing the Operation of a Virtual Machine