The failback option allows you to switch from a VM replica back to the original VM or restore a VM from a replica in a new location. Failback is performed by means of the Failback wizard. This section will guide you through all steps of the wizard and provide explanation on offered options.
Important! You can perform failback for a VM replica in the Failover state. The VM replica is put to the Failover state when you fail over to it from the original VM. To see all VMs in the Failover state, open the Backup & Replication view and select the Active node under Replicas in the inventory pane.
Step 1. Launch the Failback Wizard
To launch the Failback wizard, do one of the following:
• On the Home tab, click Restore. If you already have Hyper-V and VMware servers in the list of managed servers, the Restore button will offer a choice of hypervisors. In the Restore from replica section, select Failback to production.
• Open the Backup & Replication view and select the Replicas node. In the working area, expand the necessary replication job, select the VM and click Failback to production on the toolbar.
• Open the Backup & Replication view and select the Replicas node. In the working area, expand the necessary replication job, right-click the VM and select Failback to
production.
• Open the Backup & Replication view and select Active under the Replicas node. In the working area, select the necessary replica and click Failback to production on the toolbar or right-click the replica and select Failback to production.
Step 2. Select VM Replicas to Fail Back
At this step, you should select one or more VM replicas from which you want to fail back. Click Populate to display all existing replicas in the Failover state. Leave check boxes selected only for those replicas from which you want to fail back.
Step 3. Select the Failback Destination
At this step of the wizard, you should select failback destination.
Veeam Backup & Replication supports three possible failback destination variants. Note that the Failback wizard displays a different set of steps for every failback variant.
• Select Failback to the original VM if you want to fail back to the original VM residing on the source host. In this case, Veeam Backup & Replication will restore the original VM to the current state of its replica.
If this option is selected, you will only need to complete Step 9 of the wizard.
• Select Failback to the original VM restored in a different location if you have recovered the original VM from a backup in a new location, and you want to switch to it from the replica. In this case, Veeam Backup & Replication will restore the recovered VM to the current state of the replica.
If this option is selected, you will only need to complete Steps 8-9 of the wizard.
• Select Failback to the specified location if you want to restore the original VM from a replica – in a new location and/or with different settings (such as VM location, network settings, virtual disk and configuration files path and so on).
If this option is selected, you will need to complete Steps 4-9 of the wizard.
Note that if you fail back to the original VM or to the original VM restored in a new location, only differences between the existing virtual disks and their state will be transferred over to the original VM. Veeam Backup & Replication will not transfer replica configuration changes, such as a different IP address or network settings (if replica re-IP and network mapping were applied), new hardware or virtual disks added while the replica was in the Failover state.
If you choose to perform advanced failback, the entire VM replica, including its configuration and virtual disks content, will be restored in the selected location.
Tip You can choose an SMB3 shared folder as a destination for the VM. Select the VM in the list and click Path at the bottom of the window. Type a path to the SMB3 shared folder in the search field at the bottom of the Select Folder window. The path should be specified in the UNC format, for example: \\172.16.11.38\Share01.
Note that the host or cluster you selected to register the VM should have access to the SMB3 shared folder you specified. If you are using SCVMM 2012, the server hosting the SMB3 share must be registered in SCVMM as a storage device. To learn more, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj614620.aspx.
Step 4. Select a Failback Destination Host
This step of the wizard is only available if you have chosen to perform advanced failback. To specify a destination host, select one or more VMs in the list and click Host. From the virtual environment, choose a standalone or clustered host where the selected VMs should be registered.
To facilitate selection, use the search field at the bottom of the window: click the button on the left of the field to select the necessary type of object that should be searched for (SCVMM, Cluster or Host), enter an object’s name or a part of it and click Start search on the right.
If you choose to register a restored VM on a host being a part of a Hyper-V failover cluster, you can register it as a cluster resource. Select a VM in the list and click Resource. In the Cluster Resource Settings section, choose Register VM as a cluster resource – in case the destination host is brought offline or fails for any reason, the VM will fail over to another node in the cluster.
Step 5. Select a Failback Destination Datastore
This step of the wizard is only available if you have chosen to perform advanced failback. When restoring a VM from a replica, you can place an entire VM to a particular location or choose to store configuration files and disk files of a restored VM to different locations.
To specify a destination location, select one or more VMs in the list and click Path. If configuration and disk files of a VM should be placed to different locations, expand the VM in the list, select the necessary file type, click Path and point to the necessary folder. To create a dedicated folder for storing files of the restored VM, use the Make New folder button at the bottom of the window.
Tip You can choose an SMB3 shared folder as a destination for the VM. To do that, select the VM in the list and click Path at the bottom of the window. Type a path to the SMB3 shared folder in the search field at the bottom of the Select Folder window. The path should be specified in the UNC format, for example: \\172.16.11.38\Share01.
Note that the host or cluster you selected to register the VM should have access to the SMB3 shared folder you specified. If you are using SCVMM 2012, the server hosting the SMB3 share must be registered in SCVMM as a storage device. To learn more, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj614620.aspx.
Step 6. Select a Destination Network
This step of the wizard is only available if you have chosen to perform advanced failback. If you plan to fail back to VMs to a new location – another site with a different set of networks – you can map the DR site networks to the production site networks. Veeam Backup & Replication will use the network mapping table to update configuration files of VMs on the fly, during the restore process.
To change networks to which restored VMs will be connected, select one or more VMs in the list and click Networks. If a VM is connected to multiple networks, expand the VM, select the network to map and click Network. The Select Network section displays all networks to which the destination host or cluster is connected. From the list of available networks, choose a network to which the original VMs should have access upon failback. To facilitate selection, use the search field at the bottom of the window: enter a network name or a part of it and click Start search on the right.
To prevent the original VM from accessing networks upon failback, select the VM or its network connections in the list and click Disconnected.