Restore of Bare Metal Restore (BMR) Windows client fails with error message "Unable to Verify Backup" or "Failed to Verify Backup"

Problem

Restore of Bare Metal Restore (BMR) Windows client fails with error message "Unable to Verify Backup" or "Failed to Verify Backup"

Solution

During the Bare Metal Restore (BMR) restore process, the restoring client will attempt to verify that it has a valid backup image to complete the restore. This validation process is failing.  The probable causes include:

1. The backup images have expired.
2. The client was backed up with the wrong policy type. As an example, a Windows client was backed up with a Unix Standard policy.
3. The backup image is missing critical files required for a proper system restore.
4. The client is not authorized to perform list/restore operations on the Master Server.
5. The restore configuration used for the restore has invalid/missing networking information.
6. The NetBackup Master Server is not able to perform proper reverse lookup of the client.
7. The NetBackup client has multiple IP addresses configured on multiple NICs (for example, a Windows Cluster node protected by BMR client)

The best methodology for debugging this error message involves the following steps:

Perform a Prepare To Restore operation from the Administration Console or via command line. If an error is encountered, then one of the first three causes is at fault. Use normal NetBackup catalog query information to verify that a backup image is available using the correct policy type. Also, verify that the System State/Shadow Copy Components were backed up properly and that the Bare Metal Restore software directory on the client was also backed up.

If the Prepare To Restore operation is successful, the backup image information is valid. This in turn points to a problem in the BMR restore environment on the client or a network setting on the Master Server.

Items that need to be verified as good in the restore configuration:

• Check the Network Interfaces section and ensure that the MAC address is correct and is the one being used during the restore.
• Verify that a network cable is attached to correct port on both the client NIC and the switch.
• Check the Hosts section and verify that valid entries (host name and IP address) exist for the NetBackup master and media servers, as required.
• Examine the bmrrst log on the master server to see the progress of the restore.  

To determine the root cause on the restoring client:

• Cancel and exit from the restore wizard.  This should place you in the main menu.
• Move the mouse to a location in the upper left hand corner of the main screen, near the gear icon. When the mouse pointer changes from an arrow to a hand, right-click.  This will open a command line window.
• Execute these commands:
  cd X:\BMR\NBU\bin
bpclimagelist -client $CLNT_NAME -T
echo %ERRORLEVEL%
  
  The echo command will display the return code of the command.

The bpclimagelist command will fail to gather catalog backup image information for the following reasons:

Could not contact the master server (rc=25)

This will happen if the client has the connected on the wrong interface port or has invalid/incomplete hostname and IP address information for the master server.  The fact that the client could initially access the client configuration is not relevant.  At the time of the failure, the client network interfaces were modified to match what was in the restore configuration specified for the restore.  The values entered on the first input page have been modified to match the configuration values.

It has also been observed that when the bpclimagelist client is not interpreting CLIENT_REQUIRED_INTERFACE, the wrong IP address is being used to connect to the master server to fetch the info. To resolve this issue, create a copied configuration from the current configuration in the Bare Metal Restore Management section of Java GUI and disable those NICs which are not used for direct communication and use this configuration to restore the client.  Note:  In this case, after BMR recovery, the disabled NIC will need to be manually configured after a successful client restore.

The master server could not respond back to the client port (rc=23)

Possible causes include missing client reverse lookup information, either in the server's DNS entries or hosts file, or invalid routing back to the client.

The master server does not see the restoring client as a valid client (rc=131, 133, 135)

The IP address used by the client resolves to a different name than in the configuration or the client does not have permission to perform list/restore requests.

One way to resolve this is to place a temporary entry in the hosts file of the master and media servers. This entry must match the data information found in the Network Interfaces section of the restore configuration used for the restore.

Check Host Properties > master server > Client Attributes in the Administration Console to ensure that the client has permission to perform list and restore operations.

The master server does not have a valid backup image (rc=227)

As a general, best practices rule, all BMR restores should make use of fixed IP address information and not make use of DHCP or DNS during the restore.  This can be reset after the BMR restore has completed, if so desired.