NVP vProxy: How To Restore VMs From Offline vCenter to An Alternate vCenter.

Summary: NetWorker VMware Protection (NVP) vProxy backups were performed from one vCenter; however, the vCenter is no longer accessible. Virtual Machine (VM) restores must be performed to an alternate vCenter. ...

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Instructions

Requirements:

  • Both the source and target vCenters must exist in NetWorker. The VM backups are associated with the source vCenter's "NSR hypervisor" resource. If the source vCenter does not exist as a NetWorker resource, you cannot select it as a "source vCenter." If the source vCenter does not exist in NetWorker, it can be added back, using the same name it was previously used in NetWorker. This is explained in the process steps outlined below.
  • The target vCenter must have at least one NVP vProxy appliance that is registered and online. 
  • Port communication between the NetWorker server, target vCenter, target vProxy, and Data Domain must be working correctly. The port requirements are available through: NVP vProxy: Troubleshooting Network Connectivity For Backup and Restore Operations
NOTE: It is recommended to perform VM restores from the NetWorker Web User Interface (NWUI) when there are offline vCenters. If recovery is performed from the NetWorker Management Console (NMC), an error appears during target vCenter selection since the source vCenter is inaccessible. For more information, see: NVP vProxy: DR NetWorker server/vCenter produces error "Waiting before reattempting to get Hypervisor environment, because last attempt was failed" during VM restores

Process:

1. From an administrator or root command prompt, confirm that VM backups are available for the VM:

mminfo -kot -q vmname=vmname

2. Log in to the NWUI or NMC.
3. Go to Protection -> VMware View (NMC) or VMware vCenters (NWUI), ensure that both the source (offline) and target (online) vCenters exist.

NOTE: If the source vCenter was removed from NetWorker, it must be added back. Without the source hypervisor resource, you cannot select the source VMs. if the source vCenter is still online, you can add it back to NetWorker from the NMC or NWUI. If vCenter is offline, errors regarding not being able to communicate with the vCenter appear. This is expected; the below section details how to bypass these connection failures. Communication with the source vCenter is not required. Once the vCenter is added back to NetWorker, it is available as a source vCenter in the restore wizard.
 
You can identify the name of the source vCenter based on the media database with the following commands:
Linux: 
mminfo -kvot -r client | sort | uniq
Windows (PowerShell): 
mminfo -kvot -r client | Sort-Object -unique
Example:
mminfo output showing vCenter names found in media database
In the above example, this is the source vCenter of the available VM backups on the NetWorker server. In order to perform VM restores, this vCenter must exist in the NMC (even if offline).
 

Adding the offline vCenter resource back:

If the original vCenter does not exist in NetWorker, it must be readded. Perform the following steps from an elevated prompt on the NetWorker server.
  1. Access the NetWorker Server Resource Database (NSRDB) in offline mode:
Linux: 
nsradmin -d /nsr/res/nsrdb
Windows (Default): 
nsradmin -d "C:\Program Files\EMC NetWorker\nsr\res\nsrdb"
NOTE: Offline mode must be used because if the offline vCenter is not resolvable or accessible, it may fail to add through other methods (such as nsradmin (online mode), NMC, or NWUI). For Windows NetWorker servers, specify the full path to the nsrdb if a nondefault installation location is used.
  1. From the nsradmin prompt, create the hypervisor resource for the offline vCenter:
create type: nsr hypervisor; name: OFFLINE_VCENTER_NAME; username: ANY_USERNAME; password: ANY_PASSWORD
  • OFFLINE_VCENTER_NAME: Must match the original vCenter resource name exactly.
  • ANY_USERNAME and ANY_PASSWORD: You can specify any credentials here since it will not authenticate. These fields are required to create the resource and must contain some data.
  1. Confirm the creation: yes
  2. Exit the nsradmin prompt: quit
  3. Restart NetWorker services:
Linux: 
systemctl restart networker
Windows (PowerShell): 
net stop nsrd ; net start nsrd
NOTE: Changes to the NSRDB in offline mode require a service restart to push the changes into the nsrd accessible database.

 

4. Go to Devices -> VMware Proxies (NMC) or Protection -> VMware Proxies (NWUI). Ensure a vProxy is enabled in the target vCenter.

NOTE: If there are no vProxies deployed on the target vCenter, instructions for how to deploy the vProxy can be found in the NetWorker VMware Integration Guide. The vProxy OVA and VMware Integration Guide are available through: https://www.dell.com/support/home/product-support/product/networker/

5. Go to the Recover tab and initiate VM recovery.

a. Select the restore type: Virtual Machine Recovery
b. From the drop-down, select the source vCenter where VM backups occurred.
c. Specify the VM needed for restore.
d. Select a backup from the list of available backups.
e. Select a recover type: Instant Recover or Virtual Machine Recovery
NOTE: Other restore methods can be used, but process assumes that you are restoring a full VM to the new vCenter. Virtual Machine recovery restores the VM directly to the VMware datastore. Instant Recovery restores the VM to a temporary datastore on the Data Domain, the restore completes almost instantly, and the VM can be powered on. The VM must be vMotioned from Data Domain to a VMware datastore to complete the restore.
f. Select "Browse the vCenter server" to select recover location. In the drop-down, change the vCenter to the alternate target vCenter.
g. Expand the vCenter and select a ESXi host or cluster, then pick an available datastore from the Virtual Machine Files and Datastores drop down.
h. Specify a name for the VM and select whether the VM should be powered on and network connection once restore completes.
i. Select the recovery source Data Domain. 
j. Perform the recovery.

Additional Information

NVP-vProxy: How to use health check tool ProxyHC on vProxy appliance
NVP-vProxy Triage Guide: NetWorker VMware Protection vProxy Triage and Log Collection Guide 

Affected Products

NetWorker

Products

NetWorker Family, NetWorker Series
Article Properties
Article Number: 000204462
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 12 Feb 2026
Version:  12
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