How to convert a disk backup to a virtual machine

5 Recovery

5.5 How to convert a disk backup to a virtual machine

Rather than converting a TIB file to a virtual disk file, which requires additional operations to bring the virtual disk into use, Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 performs the conversion by recovery of a disk backup to a fully configured and operational new virtual machine. You have the ability to adapt the virtual machine configuration to your needs when configuring the recovery operation.

With Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Agent for Windows, you can recover a disk (volume) backup to a new virtual machine of any of the following types: VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC, Parallels Workstation, Citrix XenServer Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) or Red Hat Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM).

Files of the new virtual machine will be placed in the folder you select. You can start the machine using the respective virtualization software or prepare the machine files for further usage. The Citrix XenServer Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) can be imported to a XenServer using Citrix XenCenter. You can move the files of the Kernel-based Virtual Machine to a machine running Linux; from there, you can run this virtual machine by using the Virtual Machine Manager program. The VMware

Workstation machine can be converted to the open virtualization format (OVF) using the VMware OVF tool.

With Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Agent for Hyper-V or Agent for ESX(i), you can recover a disk (volume) backup to a new virtual machine on the respective virtualization server.

Tip. Microsoft Virtual PC does not support disks that are larger than 127 GB. Acronis enables you to create a

Virtual PC machine with larger disks so that you can attach the disks to a Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machine.

To convert a disk backup to a virtual machine:

1. Connect the console to the management server or to a machine where Agent for Windows, Agent for Hyper-V or Agent for ESX(i) is installed.

2. Click Recover to open the Recover data (p. 119) page.

3. Click Select data (p. 121). Use the Data view tab or the Archive view tab to select the disks or volumes to convert.

4. In Recover to, select New virtual machine.

5. [Only if the console is connected to the management server] Click Browse. Select the machine with agent that will perform conversion.

6. In VM type, select the resulting virtual machine type and location.

7. [Optional] In Virtual machine settings (p. 145) you can change the path to the new virtual machine, rename the machine, change the disk provisioning mode, the allocated memory, and other settings.

The same type of machines with the same name cannot be created in the same folder. Change either the VM name or the path if you get an error message caused by identical names.

8. The destination disk for each of the source disks or source volumes and MBRs will be selected automatically. If required, you can change the destination disks.

On a Microsoft Virtual PC, be sure to recover the disk or volume where the operating system's loader resides to the Hard disk 1. Otherwise, the operating system will not boot. This cannot be fixed by changing the boot device order in BIOS, because a Virtual PC ignores these settings.

9. In When to recover, specify when to start the recovery task.

10. [Optional] In Task parameters, review Recovery options and change the settings from the default ones, if need be. You can specify in Recovery options > VM power management whether to start the new virtual machine automatically, after the recovery is completed. This option is available only when the new machine is created on a virtualization server.

11. Click OK. If the recovery task is scheduled for the future, specify the credentials under which the task will run.

You will be taken to the Backup plans and tasks view, where you can examine the state and progress of the recovery task.

Post-conversion operations

The resulting machine always has SCSI disk interface and basic MBR volumes. If the machine uses a custom boot loader, you might need to configure the loader to point to the new devices and reactivate it. Configuring GRUB is described in "How to reactivate GRUB and change its configuration" (p. 147).

Tip. If you want to preserve logical (LVM) volumes on a Linux machine, consider the alternative method of

conversion. Create a new virtual machine, boot it using bootable media and perform recovery just like you do on a physical machine. The LVM structure can be automatically recreated (p. 38) during recovery.

5.5.1 Virtual machine type / virtualization server selection

The new virtual machine can be created either on a virtualization server (this requires Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Agent for Hyper-V or Agent for ESX(i) to be installed) or in any accessible local or networked folder.

To select the virtualization server the new virtual machine will be created on

1. Choose the Place on the virtualization server that I select option.

2. In the left part of the window, select the virtualization server. Use the right part of the window to review details on the selected server.

3. Click OK to return to the Data recovery page.

To select the type of virtual machine

1. Choose the Save as files of the VM type that I select to the folder that I specify option.

2. In the left part of the window, select the virtual machine type. Use the right part of the window to review details on the selected virtual machine type.

3. Click OK to return to the Data recovery page.

5.5.2 Virtual machine settings

The following virtual machine settings can be configured.

Name

Default name: New virtual machine

Enter the name for the new virtual machine.

Storage

Initial setting: the default storage of the virtualization server if the new machine is created on the virtualization server. Otherwise the current user's documents folder.

This is the place where the new virtual machine will be created. Whether you can change the storage on the virtualization server or not, depends on the virtualization product brand and settings. VMware ESX may have multiple storages. A Microsoft Hyper-V server enables creating a new virtual machine in any local folder.

Memory

Initial setting: if not contained in the backup, it is the default setting of the virtualization server. This is the amount of memory allocated to the new virtual machine. The memory adjustment range depends on the host hardware, the host operating system and the virtualization product settings. For example, virtual machines may be allowed to use no more than 30% of memory.

Disks

Initial setting: the number and size of the source machine's disks.

The number of disks is generally equal to that of the source machine. It might be different if the program has to add more disks to accommodate the source machine volumes because of limitations set by the virtualization product. You can add virtual disks to the machine configuration or, in some cases, delete the proposed disks.

When adding a new virtual disk, along with interface and capacity, you can specify its format.



Thin format. The disk occupies as much storage space as the data it stores. This saves the storage space. To enable thin format, select the Thin provisioning (for ESX), or Dynamically expanding disk (for Hyper-V) check box.



Thick format. The disk occupies all the provisioned storage space. This improves the virtual machine performance. To use thick format, clear the Thin provisioning (for ESX), or Dynamically expanding disk (for Hyper-V) check box.

The default setting is thick format if a physical machine was backed up. When recovering from a virtual machine backup, the software tries to reproduce the format of the original machine's disks. If this is not possible, thick format is used.

Implementation of Xen machines is based on Microsoft Virtual PC and inherits its limitations: up to 3 IDE disks and 1 processor. SCSI disks are not supported.

Processors

Initial setting: if not contained in the backup or if the backed up setting is not supported by the virtualization server, it is the default server's setting.

This is the number of processors of the new virtual machine. In most cases, it is set to one. The result of assignment of more than one processor to the machine is not guaranteed. The number of virtual processors may be limited by the host CPU configuration, the virtualization product and the guest operating system. Multiple virtual processors are generally available on multi-processor hosts. A multicore host CPU or hyperthreading may enable multiple virtual processors on a single-processor host.

In document Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 (Page 143-146)