NetWorker: How to perform Bare Metal Restore using the same client name

Describe the steps of how to accomplish the task.

BMR CHECKLIST                 
Using same original hostname for recovery        

NAMES USED IN THIS EXAMPLE

NetWorker Server: networker-server
NetWorker client: bmr-client

SAVE SET STATUS     
The backup cycle to recover must have the following save sets:

Always needed:

• DISASTER_RECOVERY:\
• Critical drive save sets

If available:

• System reserved partition - \\?\VOLUME{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx?\
• (Except for systems without a system reserved partition)

Optional:

• WINDOWS ROLES AND FEATURES:\ 
• (Not created/supported during Block Based Backups)

All save sets in the backup cycle except for System reserved partition have a browsable status and nsrinfo must show the list of files.

TARGET SYSTEM

If not recovering to the same original system, the target system should have identical or similar hardware.

• Disk capacity for each critical drive must be the same or higher.

BMR ISO 
It is recommended to use the latest BMR ISO regardless of the NetWorker version used on the NetWorker server or original client.

IF RECOVERING TO A VM
If using VMware ESX, use e1000 NIC instead of vmxnet/vmxnet3. You can change to vmxnet after the restore completes.
Make sure the target hardware is properly configured with either BIOS or UEFI, as per the source system.

NETWORKER SERVER - CONFIGURATION

# The following must be done on the NetWorker server.

NMC: Make sure bmr-client is properly configured in DNS.
It is recommended to add bmr-client to the NetWorker server host file as the WinPE ISO is not a member of DNS.
If it exists, clear the client peer information for bmr-client from the NetWorker server.
If using a Storage Node, clear the client peer information for bmr-client from the NetWorker Storage Node.

BMR ISO - COMMAND LINE TASK BEFORE USING THE WIZARD 
After booting with the BMR ISO, click on the WinPE command prompt behind the wizard window to access the command line, then do the following:

Disable the WinPE firewall with the following command:
 

wpeutil DisableFirewall

Edit the X:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file and add the IP address, hostname, and aliases of the following:

# Required:

• NetWorker server
• bmr-client

# Only if used for the restore:

• Data Domain
• Storage Node

If there is a firewall, configure the port range with nsrports.

Confirm that the disk configuration is correct by looking in the OSSR_info.xml file.

• The critical disk size shown in the XML files must be the same or smaller than the disk size being used for restore.
• Critical disk numbers must match. Check the disk number in the OSSR_Info.xml xml file (extracted from save set recover of the DISASTER RECOVERYL save set) and compare with the number/size shown by diskpart on the BMR client.

BMR WIZARD
1. WELCOME

• The time zone, date, and time must match the NetWorker time settings. If the NetWorker server is Linux, specify one day before to avoid a client credentials error. For example, if performing the BMR restore on November 10, enter November 9 instead.

2. SELECT NIC

• If needed, load the NIC drivers in this step.
• To avoid conflicts during the BMR restore, disable the NICs that are not used for restore. They will be enabled after the restore.

To get the NIC's name:

ipconfig /all

# To disable a NIC

netsh interface set interface "INTERFACE NAME" disabled

Example:

netsh interface set interface "Ethernet 2" disabled

3. Host and Network

• As we are using a temporary new name not yet on DNS, there is no need to populate "DNS domain". You can ignore the "Empty Optional Fields" pop up after clicking next.

4. Available Disks

• If needed, load the disk drivers in this step.

5. Select Server

• Enter the NetWorker server hostname

6. Select Backup

• Select the backup to be restored

7. Save Sets

• Click on "Perform a quick format of disk"

8. Summary
Select "Backup BMR log files" in case log files must be reviewed.