Request Virtual Machine Restore

Owned by JM Lopez, created
Last updated: Nov 16, 2023
3 min read

With Virtual Machine Restore Requests, you are able to restore your virtual machine from storage snapshots. This means, if there’s an error or unintended change, you can revert your VM back to a specific point in time.

This how-to provides the steps to perform a Virtual Machine Restore via the Portal and vss-cli:

Each successful Virtual Machine Restore Requests produce a one-time fee based on storage type and provisioned storage. For more information, please refer to the following page: https://eis-vss.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VSSPublic/blog/2023/11/08/1402667017

ITS Private Cloud Portal

  1. Login to https://vss-portal.eis.utoronto.ca

  2. Look for the VM to edit and click 

  3. Click on the Restore button:

  4. Select the Restore Point to submit:

  5. Fill out a reason:

  6. Clock Confirm and you should see a snapshot request number at the bottom of the screen.

  7. You will get a confirmation email for the request submission, and when the request changes status to In Progress and Processed.

  8. In matter of minutes or longer, based on your VM provisioned storage, a new VM will be shown in your dashboard with the naming convention {source-vm-name}-RESTORED-{timestamp}.

In some cases, the VM Restore Request may need to be approved. If that is the case, please reach out to vss@eis.utoronto.ca to expedite the process.

Restored Virtual Machines network adapters are disconnected by default to avoid network collisions. Make sure you connect the right adapters once available.

Command-Line Interface (vss-cli)

The following steps should guide you through the process of requesting a virtual machine restore request using either via https://vss-cli.eis.utoronto.ca or a local VSS CLI install

  1. Run vss-cli configure to configure your VSS credentials. If you have already done this, please go to next step.

  2. List available restore points filtering by timestamp with the following format YYYY-MM-DD as follows

    vss-cli compute vm get {id} restore-point ls -f timestamp=2023-10-28 id timestamp ------ ------------------- 119023 2023-10-28-01-50-00 119222 2023-10-28-05-50-00 119221 2023-10-28-03-50-00 119394 2023-10-28-07-50-00 119542 2023-10-28-09-50-00 119680 2023-10-28-11-50-00 119873 2023-10-28-13-50-00 119996 2023-10-28-15-50-00 120143 2023-10-28-17-50-00

  3. Submit a restore request with vss-cli compute vm res providing the timestamp to restore as shown below:

    vss-cli compute vm res --timestamp 2023-10-28-09-50-00 {vm-id} Moref: vm-xxxx UUID: ... Name: 2207T-Win11-W Folder: VSS > Sandbox > jm Host Name: DESKTOP-689OT6J (Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (64-bit)) IP Address: X.X.X.X MAC Address: 00:50:56:XX:XX:XX Create Date: 2022-07-29 Fri 13:51:25 EDT Are you sure you want to restore the above VM to timestamp 2023-10-28-09-50-00? [y/N]: Y Please provide a restore reason: Operating system corrupted due to unforseen issue

  4. Once the request is submitted, you can follow up the request status with the vss-cli request restore ls command:

    vss-cli request restore ls --sort created_on,desc

  5. You will get a confirmation email for the request submission, and when the request changes status to In Progress and Processed.

  6. In matter of minutes or longer, based on your VM provisioned storage, a new VM will be shown in your dashboard with the naming convention {source-vm-name}-RESTORED-{timestamp}.

Next Steps

Here are a few recommendations after restoring a virtual machine:

Disconnect or power off source virtual machine network adapters.
Power On and Connect restored virtual machine network adapters.
Launch remote console via the ITS Private Cloud Portal, vss-cli or directly on vSphere.

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