Virtualization

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General

Local Virtualization

Cloud Virtualization

What is Virtualization in IDrive BMR?

Virtualization in IDrive BMR allows you to quickly create a virtual instance of your physical machines and VMware VMs, either on your BMR device or on the cloud, in the case of any disaster. With the created virtual instance replacing your production machine, you can achieve business continuity with minimal downtime.

How many virtual machines can I create?

You can create up to 4 local virtual instances on the device, counting the virtual instances of both physical and VMware machines, and assign memory based on the RAM configuration of your device. The solution consumes less memory and CPU resources, which enables multiple virtual machines to run smoothly.

Additionally, you can create up to 4 virtual instances on the cloud, counting the virtual instances of both physical and VMware machines, taking into account the memory available for cloud virtualization.

What are the network source options available for creating virtual instances?

Configure the connection of the new virtual instance to other devices and locations on the network by selecting a suitable network source.

The network source options available for creating a virtual instance are:

• Disconnected
  Isolate a virtual instance from all networks using the ‘Disconnected’ option. The virtual machine will not have any LAN or internet access.
• NAT (Firewalled)
  Create an isolated virtual network with internet access using the NAT (Firewalled) option — Network Address Translation mode. This will permit the virtual instance to have outbound internet access without causing any conflict with the production instance of the machine.
• Bridged
  Connect the virtual instance to the local network that hosts the IDrive BMR device using the Bridged option. The virtual instance will appear within the same subnet as the IDrive BMR device and will be able to detect and communicate with the devices on the network.

Note: Bridged network source is not available for cloud virtualization.

How do I test restore via virtualization without causing conflict with the production machine?

Create the test virtual instance on ‘Disconnected’ or ‘NAT (Firewalled)’ mode to avoid conflict with the production machine. Avoid testing on ‘Bridged’ mode as this can lead to network conflicts. Also, the IDrive BMR device may backup data from either one of the machines as a part of its schedule, thereby causing inconsistencies in the backup. Refer to this FAQ to learn about the network source options that are available.

Can I perform power operations on the virtual machine?

Yes, you can perform power operations on the virtual machine.

To perform power operations,

1. Sign in to IDrive BMR’s device web interface and go to the 'Virtualization' tab.
2. Go to the 'Local Vitualization' or 'Cloud Virtualization' tab.
3. Click 'Connect' corresponding to any machine to power on the machine.

4. Click to power off the machine.

5. You will be prompted with a confirmation window. Click ‘Force Shutdown’.

To restart a virtual machine,

1. Click in the menu of the required virtual machine.
2. You will be prompted with a confirmation. Click ‘Restart’.

What network is the virtual machine provisioned with?

The virtual machines created on IDrive BMR device are assigned to operate in 'Bridged Mode'. These machines will get the IP address from a router/switch in your physical network infrastructure. With this, you can access the VM from any machine in the same local area network.

Are the full/incremental image backups dependent on each other in IDrive BMR? Does inaccessibility of these full/incremental image backups affect virtualization?

IDrive BMR does not follow the traditional data backup method in which every recovery point created during incremental image backup has some dependency on previous ones. In IDrive BMR, the created recovery points will be fully independent of each other and data can be reconstructed using any recovery point, even if the previous full/incremental image backup in the chain is lost. Thus, you can create a virtual machine with any available recovery point without depending on the integrity of the backup chain.

If I virtualize a machine, will the backed up data be affected?

No, the backed up data of a machine will not be affected if you virtualize that machine. The file system used in IDrive BMR device and IDrive Cloud enables instant cloning of the originally backed up data. As the cloned data is used to create virtual machine, the original backup remains unaffected.

I have a client machine that is failing to virtualize. How do I recover my data?

There could be several reasons for virtualization to fail for certain machines. The causes include disk configuration on the client machine, driver incompatibility with BMR's hypervisor platform, firmware type, multiple OS boot loaders on the client machine, etc.

If virtualization fails, contact IDrive BMR support as a first step. This will allow us to investigate the cause thoroughly and we may be able to support issues on a case-by-case basis.

However, you can use the following restore options for recovering data immediately:

• Use the 'File Restore' feature to recover necessary files from the client machine's backup.
• Use the 'System Restore' option to perform bare-metal recovery of the client machine.

I have a Windows 7 client machine backed up to IDrive BMR, which is failing to virtualize. What are the restore options available to me in this case?

There are 2 possible causes for this situation:

• If you are using a 4TB IDrive BMR unit, a combination of hardware and Guest OS compatibility can cause issues in virtualizing your Windows 7 client on the IDrive BMR's hypervisor. In this case, the virtual machine will hang during the boot process with a blank screen.
• If your Windows 7 client machine is running on UEFI firmware, it may fail to virtualize in BMR hypervisor. The newer versions of Windows OS (post Windows 7) work well with BMR hypervisor platform.

Restore options for recovering data immediately:

• Use the 'File Restore' feature to recover necessary files from the client machine's backup.
• Use the 'System Restore' option to perform bare-metal recovery of the client machine.

Can I create a virtual instance of a Mac OS X based VM?

Mac OS X runs on specialized UEFI firmware, thus, it may not be virtualized on the BMR device in all cases. However, you can restore the Mac OS X based VM to the ESXi server without any issue. Additionally, you will be able to perform a file-level restore from the VM, via IDrive BMR VMware's file restore feature.

How quickly can I virtualize a machine with IDrive BMR?

BMR uses KVM hypervisor that provides a better virtualization platform and high performance. With IDrive BMR, you can virtualize a machine instantly and ensure business continuity.

Why am I being prompted to activate my Windows license for the new virtual instance?

Windows licensing links your purchased product key to the hardware configuration of the machine. In the case of a virtualized machine, the hardware for the virtualized machine is provided by the hypervisor which is different from the physical hardware, and this may prompt Windows to re-activate your license.

The solution depends on the type of your Windows license.

Solution for retail license: Windows allows retail licenses to be transferred to another machine. You can simply enter the product key on the new machine and reactivate the Windows license.

Solution for OEM license: OEM license is non-transferrable and links your purchased product key to the motherboard of the original physical computer. To secure license activation for a restored machine, you will need to contact your OEM-license provider. IDrive BMR cannot assist you with third-party licensing issues.

How can I test if the virtual machine from my backup boots successfully without creating any network conflicts?

You can test the success of a VM boot by choosing the ‘Disconnected’ or ‘NAT (firewalled)’ network source in the VM settings.

Can I retain the static IP configurations on a virtualized machine?

Your machine's static IP address is set on your ethernet network adapter. When you create a virtual instance of a machine, the NIC hardware will be different from the original and will reset the IP to DHCP. If your work environment is static-IP dependent, you will need to manually configure the network settings after restore.

How do I create a local virtual instance of my physical machines?

To create a local virtual instance of your physical machine,

1. Sign in to IDrive BMR’s device web interface.
2. On the ‘Local Virtualization’ tab, click the ‘Create a Virtual Machine’ button.

3. A new popup will appear.

4. On the 'Physical Machines' tab, select the required client from the 'Choose a System' drop-down list.
5. Choose a recovery point.
6. Select the number of processors for the virtual machine.
7. Allocate required memory for the virtual machine in the 'RAM' field.
   

   Note: Memory value should be greater than 512 MB. You can decide the memory value depending on the available memory displayed below the 'RAM' field.

8. Select a network source.
9. Next, select the appropriate network model.
10. Choose the required storage controller for the virtual machine. SATA is recommended.
11. Select a graphics option from the dropdown.
12. Click ‘Build Virtual Machine’.

Once this is completed, your virtual machine is built. You can now connect to it and access data.

Note: When a machine with dynamic disks is virtualized, the created virtual instance will have basic disks with randomly assigned drive letters. You may have to sign in to the VM and change the drive letter associations as necessary.

To connect to a virtual instance,

1. Navigate the virtual instance and click the ‘Copy VNC Password’ button on the right-hand side.

2. Click 'Connect' against the virtual instance.
3. In the new window that appears, paste the password. Click ‘Send Password’.

Remote connection to the virtual machine will be established.

Note: All the created virtual instances will be unmounted and the changes made in the virtual machine will be lost when you restart your IDrive BMR device. You can also click to unmount the virtual machine manually.

How do I create a local virtual instance of my VMware machine?

To create a local virtual instance of your VMWare machine,

1. Sign in to IDrive BMR’s device web interface.
2. On the ‘Local Virtualization’ tab, click the ‘Create a Virtual Machine’ button. A new popup appears.

3. In the ‘VMware’ tab, choose the required server from the ‘Choose Server’ dropdown.
4. Select the ESXi Host from the 'Choose ESXI Host' dropdown list.
5. Select a VM from the 'Choose VM' list.
6. Choose a recovery point that will be used to create the virtual instance. LsiLogicSAS is recommended.
7. Specify the boot firmware.
8. Assign the number of processors for the virtual machine from the 'Processors' dropdown list.
9. Allocate required memory for the virtual machine in the 'RAM' field.
   

   Note: Memory value should be greater than 512 MB. You can decide the memory value depending on the available memory displayed below the 'RAM' field.

10. Select a network source.
11. Next, select the appropriate network model.
12. Choose the required storage controller for the virtual machine. LsiLogicSAS is recommended.
13. Select a graphics option from the dropdown.
14. Click ‘Build Virtual Machine’.

Once this is completed, your virtual machine is built. You can now connect to it and access data.

To connect to a virtual instance,

1. Navigate the virtual instance and click the ‘Copy VNC Password’ button on the right-hand side.

2. Click 'Connect' against the virtual instance.
3. In the new window that appears, paste the password. Click ‘Send Password’.

Remote connection to the virtual machine will be established.

Note: All the created virtual instances will be unmounted and the changes made in the virtual machine will be lost when you restart your IDrive BMR device. You can also click to unmount the virtual machine manually.

Is it possible to backup data from local virtual machines?

Yes, you can backup data from the local virtual instances of physical machines. After the local virtual instance is created, data backup continues according to the schedule automatically. You can also perform manual backup from the 'Dashboard' tab. Read steps to perform manual backup.

Note: Backup of virtual instances of VMware machines is a feature expected to be made available in future updates.

How do I resolve Windows OS boot issues during virtualization?

If you have your Windows installation media, you can upload the ISO image of the installation media to the BMR device and attach it to the concerned VM. The VM can then be made to boot via this installation media. As a result, you can try to repair the Windows boot issues in the VM.

How is my cloud storage optimized for virtual instances?

The IDrive BMR cloud infrastructure employs storage devices with NVMe accelerated caching and computing resources, delivering optimized storage and performance of the virtual instances.

How do I create a cloud virtual instance of my physical machines?

To create a cloud virtual instance of your physical machine,

1. Sign in to IDrive BMR’s device web interface. If you are on an external network, refer to How do I create a cloud virtual instance from the IDrive BMR web console?
2. On the 'Cloud Virtualization' tab, click the 'Create a Virtual Machine' button.
3. A new popup will appear.
   
4. On the 'Physical Machines' tab, select the required client from the 'Choose a System' drop-down list.
5. Choose a recovery point.
6. Select the number of processors for the virtual machine.
7. Allocate required memory for the virtual machine in the 'RAM' field, taking into account the memory available for cloud virtualization.
8. Select a network source.
9. Next, select the appropriate network model.
10. Choose the required storage controller for the virtual machine. SATA is recommended.
11. Select a graphics option from the dropdown.
12. Click 'Build Virtual Machine'.

Once this is completed, your virtual machine is built. You can now connect to it and continue working.

Note: When a machine with dynamic disks is virtualized, the created virtual instance will have basic disks with randomly assigned drive letters. You may have to sign in to the VM and change the drive letter associations as necessary.

To connect to a virtual instance,

1. Navigate the virtual instance and click the 'Copy VNC Password' button on the right-hand side.

2. Click 'Connect' against the virtual instance.
3. In the new window that appears, paste the password. Click 'Send Password'.

Remote connection to the virtual machine will be established.

How do I create a cloud virtual instance of my VMware machine?

To create a local virtual instance of your VMware machine,

1. Sign in to IDrive BMR’s device web interface. If you are on an external network, refer to How do I create a cloud virtual instance from the IDrive BMR web console?
2. On the 'Cloud Virtualization' tab, click the 'Create a Virtual Machine' button. A new popup appears.
   
3. In the 'VMware' tab, choose the required server from the 'Choose Server' dropdown.
4. Select the ESXi Host from the 'Choose ESXI Host' dropdown list.
5. Select a VM from the 'Choose VM' list.
6. Choose a recovery point that will be used to create the virtual instance.
7. Assign the number of processors for the virtual machine from the 'Processors' dropdown list.
8. Allocate required memory for the virtual machine in the 'RAM' field, taking into account the space available for cloud virtualization.
9. Select a network source.
10. Next, select the appropriate network model.
11. Choose the required storage controller for the virtual machine. LsiLogicSAS is recommended.
12. Select a graphics option from the dropdown.
13. Click 'Build Virtual Machine'.

Once this is completed, your virtual machine is built. You can now connect to it and access data.

To connect to a virtual instance,

1. Navigate the virtual instance and click the 'Copy VNC Password' button on the right-hand side.

2. Click 'Connect' against the virtual instance.
3. In the new window that appears, paste the password. Click 'Send Password'.

Remote connection to the virtual machine will be established.

What are the points that have to be taken into consideration while virtualizing a machine in the cloud?

The following points must be taken into consideration while virtualizing a machine in the cloud,

• The virtual instances hosted in the IDrive cloud have only outbound internet access.
• The data changes made to the cloud virtual instance cannot be restored back to the production machine.
• The access to the virtual instance is provided over an encrypted VNC web-client based application.
• The virtual instances hosted in the cloud are automatically powered off after 14 days. However, it remains mounted and the data is preserved. To continue using the virtual instance, you will need to power it back on when needed.

I received an error message when I tried to virtualize a backup of a Dell server with UEFI firmware.

If you received the above error message when virtualizing a backup of a Dell server with UEFI firmware, follow these steps to manually select the firmware image and boot the virtual machine:

1. As mentioned on the screen, press 'x' to exit and go to the virtual machine's BIOS.
2. Select 'Boot Maintenance Manager' and select the 'Enter' key.

3. Select 'Boot From File' and select the 'Enter' key.

4. Select the first entry that starts with 'ESP,..' and select the 'Enter' key.

5. Navigate the folder path 'EFI' > 'Microsoft' > 'Boot' and select 'bootmgfw.efi'.

6. The VM will boot into the OS.