How to restore vCenter Server without a vCenter Server

Challenge

The vCenter Server is not available and the vCenter Server VM needs to be restored.

Solution

To restore the vCenter Server, you will need to add one of the individual ESX(i) hosts to Veeam Backup & Replication, allowing you totarget that host directly to restore the vCenter VM.

Possible ESXi name conflict

When adding the standalone ESXi host to Veeam Backup & Replication, if you receive the error:

VMware ESXi with name '<hostnme/fqdn/ip>' already exists.

Please try an alternative method to connect to the server. For instance, if you attempted to add the ESXi host using its hostname/FQDN, try using the ESXi server’s IP address instead. Conversely, if you initially used the IP address, add the ESXi host using its hostname/FQDN. If the DNS functionality is not operational during the attempt to add the standalone ESXi by its hostname, create a temporary hosts file entry for that alias on the Veeam Backup & Replication server and any VMware Backup Proxy that will be utilized for the restore.

1. Add the standalone host to Veeam Backup & Replication.

2. Restore the vCenter VM to the standalone host:

Note: Be sure to select the option “Restore to a new location, or with different settings”

3. After the vCenter VM is restored, remove the standalone host that was added to Veeam Backup & Replication to facilitate the restore.

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