Instant VM Recovery is a Veeam feature that enable to recover immediately a virtual machine. This feature enables to run the virtual machine from the backup repositories. When you have checked that the VM is running from a backup, you can migrate the VM in the production storage volume.

Thanks to this powerful feature, the RTO is small. Moreover, you can restore quickly your data from recovery points. Before restoring the VM in production, you can verify the integrity of your data. It’s useful against ransomware. In this topic, we will see how to perform an instant VM Recovery. This feature is available from the Standard edition to Enterprise Plus.

Architecture overview

For this topic, I use a 2-node Hyper-V cluster based on Windows Server 2016. The storage is managed my Storage Spaces Direct. I have created two virtual disks called CSV-01 and CSV-02. Each node manages a CSV. I have also deployed a VM called VMBCK01 where I have installed Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5. I have created a share folder in the NAS and I have connected it with Veeam by using SMB protocol.

To write this topic, I have protected with Veeam a VM called VMCTN01 (my container lab). To create a Veeam backup, you can read this topic.

Run the VM from backup repository with Instant VM recovery

To run an instance VM recovery from Veeam, navigate to Virtual Machines, then choose the VM and right click on it. Select Restore and Instant VM recovery.

In the first screen, you should see the VM that you want to restore. You can add other VMs or choose another recovery point.

As you can see below, I can restore my VM from older recovery points.

Next, you can choose if you want to restore the initial VM or if you want change some settings. For this topic, I choose Restore to the original location.

Then you can specify a reason for your recovery. I’m sure you can specify something more useful than my reason :).

Veeam checks if the VM already exists in the virtual infrastructure. If Veeam sees the VM, it informs you that the object exists and it will be deleted.

In summary screen, you can choose to power on the VM after the recovery. Once you have reviewed your settings, you can click on finish to run the instant VM recovery process.

When Veeam says Waiting for user action, you can connect to the VM. In the below screenshot, I have clicked on Open console and I have specified my credentials. From this moment, you can connect to your VM to check if the services work well or if you have recovered your data. Users can connect to the VM as before recovery.

Migrate data to production storage volume

Now you may want to migrate the VM in the production storage volume. While the migration occurs, you still have access to your VM. But it’s useful to recover your VM in production storage volume for maintenance and performance. To migrate the VM to production, navigate to Backup & Replication, and open Instant Recovery. Right click on your VM and select Migrate to production.

Once you have run the migration process, the recovery process continues. The VM data are copied in the production storage volume and will be added to the cluster automatically.

When the recovery process is finished, you can see your VM in the cluster. The VM is running and the service works well.

Conclusion

Veeam provides powerful features with Backup & Replication product. With instant VM recovery, you can restart your service in 2mn. Ok, it is in degraded state, but your service is up! What I love in Veeam software is the ease of the tool. The graphical interface is really good and even if you don’t know Veeam, you can start quickly.