Windows operating systems

Vmexpireprotect

This option is used to protect virtual machine snapshots so they cannot be expired while an instant restore or instant access operation (of VMware VMs) or a file-level restore (of a Hyper-V or VMware VM) is in progress.

During a mount or restore operation, the snapshot on the Tivoli® Storage Manager server is locked to prevent it from expiring during the operation. Expiration might occur because another snapshot is added to the snapshot sequence. This option specifies whether to prevent or allow snapshot expiration during a mount or a restore operation.

Supported Clients

Windows operating systemsThis option can be used with supported Windows clients that are configured to restore virtual machines.

Options File

For restoring VMware virtual machines, set this option in the client options file (dsm.opt) or on a restore vm command where the vmrestoretype option is set to instantaccess or instantrestore.

For restoring file-level backups for virtual machines, specify this option in the client options file, or on the restore vm command.

Syntax

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram
                    .-No--.   
>>-VMEXPIREPROTECT--+-Yes-+------------------------------------><

Parameters

Yes
Specify Yes to protect the snapshot from expiration. The snapshot on the Tivoli Storage Manager server is locked and the snapshot is protected from expiration during a mount or a restore operation.
No
Specify No to disable expiration protection. This value is the default. The snapshot on the Tivoli Storage Manager server is not locked and the snapshot is not protected from expiration. If the snapshot that is being mounted or restored is expired, the result of the mount or restore operation is unpredictable. For example, the mount point can become unusable or contain errors. However, expiration does not affect the current active copy of the virtual machine. The active copy cannot expire during an operation.

When the snapshot is on a target replication server, the snapshot cannot be locked because it is in read-only mode. A lock attempt by the server causes the mount or restore operation to fail.

To avoid the lock attempt and prevent such a failure, disable expiration protection by specifying No, or by allowing this option to default.

Examples

Client options file:
VMEXPIREPROTECT YES
Command line:
Run an instant access operation for a VMware virtual machine:
dsmc restore vm vm1 -vmname=new_vm1 -vmrestoretype=instantaccess  
  -vmexpireprotect=no
To restore files from a virtual machine backup, use the Tivoli Storage Manager recovery agent GUI. For information about the Tivoli Storage Manager recovery agent, see the Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments documentation.