Agent Based Veeam Restore Process of Guest VMs on StorMagic SvHCI – StorMagic

This article is intended for administrators wishing to understand how to restore VMs to SvHCI with VEEAM agents.

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Resolution/Information

Restore of Guest Virtual Machines on SvHCI

The following article will cover a scenario of restoring two Guest VMs from Veeam Backups to an SvHCI cluster.

- one Windows 2022

- one Ubuntu 22.04

These two approaches cover the two different ways these VMs can be restored using Veeam and SvHCI.

Assumptions

All devices/appliances are local to each other.

Seeded backups, proxy agents or any other details are not covered by this document.

This document is providing a simple example of restoring complete VMs from backup.

Environment

1x Veeam server running on Windows 2022 and hosting the Veeam Backup and Replication Console as well as the Veeam repository utilizing IP address: 10.10.129.42.

2x SvHCI nodes running in same subnet as each other, however may be different, alongside being in a different subnet to the Veeam node.

Both SvHCI nodes running 1.3.0 code (January 2025)

There are two Virtual Machines running on the SvHCI node, a Windows Guest, and a Linux Ubuntu Guest.

Both have been backed up with Veeam, using guest agents in both VMs.

The backup process, including the setup of Agent Groups, is covered in the below backup article here:

Agent Based Veeam Backup of Guest VMs on StorMagic SvHCI – StorMagic

For this document, both VMs have been backed up per the above link.

We will delete them, and then restore them using Veeam agents for both Windows and Linux.

Restoring these two different types of operating systems can be done in multiple ways. As Veeam itself is installed in Windows, it can be used as a helper to assist in the restore of Windows guests, however it is also possible, for Windows or Linux guests, to initiate the restore from a new virtual machine that is to then "replace" the original.

When Veeam works with Microsoft Hyper-V or VMware vSphere, the Veeam software/console is able to log into those hypervisors and create VMs, inject data, and even stop/start those VMs, by providing Veeam with access credentials to hypervisor cluster.

SvHCI in 1.3.0 does not yet have this functionality, therefore a more manual approach is required.

This document details a manual restore workflow. This is due to interoperability not currently present between Veeam and SVHCI.

It is advised to complete some preparation work due to the above, ahead of time:

Backup/Restore Checklist for SvHCI

Guest Virtual Machines ares backed up and data accessible within the Veeam Repository or a shared folder
Configuration is saved by the user and accessible alongside backup data
- e.g. Guest VM number of vCPUs, total RAM, number of NICs and their MAC addresses, disk layout, size and storage controller used
- a complete picture of the VM minus its actual data - this is super important!
Veeam Agent Recovery Media loaded as ISO into the SvHCI cluster

Method 1. Restoring VMs (Linux in this example) using Veeam Recovery Media

This process works for all Guest OS versions, ensure you select and download the correct Veeam Recovery Media for your Guest OS (Windows, Linux)

For details on creating recovery media for your VMs, see here:

Creating Veeam Recovery Media - Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows Guide

Ensure that the backup has completed and that you have accurate data to be backed up.
Download the Veeam Recovery Media from their website according to the guest OS to be restored. For linux, pay attention to the Kernel Version specified. My guest VM is ubuntu 24.04 and therefore uses the 6.x Kernel, dictating which version of the recovery media i should download.

Index of /backup/linux/agent/veeam-recovery-media/x64/

Upload this media to SvHCI, making it an ISO image, protecting so it's available on both nodes

Using your configuration data saved alongside your backups, recreate the VM with its original settings on SvHCI:

Note: the disk is created and protected (mirrored) here, but it is left empty.

Note: MAC address is editable. For guest VMs where this needs to remain constant, ensure it is set correctly here at creation

Add the Veeam Recovery Media as a CDROM drive, and then boot into it.

HERE

HERE

Accept license terms to continue

The recovery Media is very basic, but does contain a few tools that are useful for setting things up. Instructions from Veeam for this process can be found here:

Restoring from Veeam Recovery Media - Veeam Agent for Linux User Guide

This system can be used as indicated to restore either the entire machine (volume) or individual files.

Note: file level restore is always an option, and can be initiated directly from the Veeam server.

First, ensure network is setup and can ping the Veeam server, as it has received a DHCP address, I will first just go to the shell and try to contact it:

Should there be any issues pinging the Veeam server, resolve those with the built in "Configure Network" tool where all details can be edited. See here for more details:

Step 2. Configure Network Settings - Veeam Agent for Linux User Guide

CTRL+C to stop the ping, and then type "exit" to quit to main menu

Select Restore Volumes

Then select Add VBR Server and fill in the connection and authentication details:

HERE

Once in, the view will display all backups compatible with the Linux Restore Agent. Note that no windows backups will show here, as this agent cannot restore them

HERE

Select the backup (ENTER) and then the restore point you wish to recover

HERE

Press Enter to select the Device, and then select "Restore from..."

HERE

HERE

Press ENTER again to select the volume so that both sides of the screen are populated and match, as below:

Press "S" to start recovery

Finally press ENTER to begin the process and await completion of the task

Once complete, press ESC to return to the main menu, and then SHUTDOWN the VM.

HERE

Finally, remove the recovery media CDROM from the VM and then boot it as normal, congratulations, you now have a fully restored virtual machine from your Veeam Backup.

HERE

2. Restoring Windows VMs directly into an ISCSI target from SvHCI.

This second approach is for Windows VMs only. It involves mounting an ISCSI target from SvHCI directly to the Veeam Server and injecting the backup contents as if it was an externally connected hard drive, and then removing this from the Veeam server and using it as the main OS disk of our restored VM.

Checklist for this process:

Full backup of your Windows VM
Configuration is saved from the original VM, i.e. CPU count, Memory, Bios, storage driver, nic version, Mac address, etc etc.
Remember - Windows REQUIRES UEFI to activate, this is a hard requirement for newer Windows operating systems, see here: UEFI firmware requirements | Microsoft Learn

Restoring Windows VMs to an ISCSI disk mounted to the Veeam server:

Re-create your VM with all its original settings, including MAC address and virtual hardware settings

Go to Storage and then select the newly created Windows disk

Click on Initiators on the left

Add the initiator of the Windows Veeam server to the target ACL. You will need to get this from the ISCSI CPL on the Veeam Server

On the Veeam server, add and mount the target presented from SvHCI. You may need to enable ISCSI on your management interface to acheive this, depending on your infrastructure and layout. This guide assumes flat network same subnet as per initial conditions above. I have added a second NIC on my Veeam server in the ISCSI subnet which is routable to the ISCSI interfaces on the SvHCI nodes.

As per below, both my SvHCI ISCSI interfaces are routable from the Veeam server on this second nic

Add the target as per any other ISCSI device, connect both with MPIO.

The disk appears in Disk Manager as below:

Online, initialise and then leave as-is for the restore.
Back in the Veeam Console, we will begin by starting the Agent Restore process from the main menu:

Select "Disk Restore"

And then on "Volume Restore"

Select the VM and backup and restore point to be restored:

HERE

Select the Veeam host. In this case, I have added it as a standalone machine and in its own protection group called DR VMs.

Select "Customise disk mapping"

Right click on the new disk, and then "apply disk layout" and then "Disk 0" as below. This applies the partition layout to the ISCSI disk, as per the original disk of your backed up VM.