Full VM restores directly to the ESX server fails with "Access to resource settings on the host is restricted to the server"

Problem

Full VM restores directly to the ESX server fails with "Access to resource settings on the host is restricted to the server". Restores using the Virtual Center works without a problem.

Error Message

Snippet from bpVMutil log:

15:46:07.012 [5352.5160] vmwareLogger: WaitForTaskCompleteEx: Access to resource settings on the host is restricted to the server '###.###.###.###' which is managing it. <188>
15:46:07.012 [5352.5160] vmwareLogger: WaitForTaskCompleteEx: SYM_VMC_ERROR: TASK_REACHED_ERROR_STATE
15:46:07.012 [5352.5160] vmwareLogger: WaitForTaskCompleteEx: returning 0X24
15:46:07.012 [5352.5160] vmwareLogger: CreateVm: SYM_VMC_ERROR: TASK_REACHED_ERROR_STATE
15:46:07.027 [5352.5160] vmwareLogger: CreateVirtualMachine: SYM_VMC_ERROR: TASK_REACHED_ERROR_STATE
15:46:07.027 [5352.5160] <2> createVMwareVM: Create virtual machine failed for XXXXXX.XXXXX.XXX with 36
15:46:07.027 [5352.5160] <2> bpVMutil main: Create VMware VM failed
15:46:07.027 [5352.5160] checkBackupRegEntry: looking registry for KeepVMXmlFiles
15:46:07.027 [5352.5160] RegQueryValueEx failed with 2
15:46:07.027 [5352.5160] <2> bpVMutil main: EXIT STATUS 5: the restore failed to recover the requested files

Also might see:

access to resource settings on the host is restricted to the server that is managing it: '<name or IP of vCenter>'. <265>

Cause

vSphere 5 does not allow operations to be performed directly on an ESX host managed by a virtual center.

Solution

VMware does not support restoring a virtual machines directly to an ESX 5.x server that is managed by vCenter. If the ESX host is managed by a virtual center, it is necessary to select the virtual center during the restore process.

However if the ESX restore credential exist for the ESX host, NetBackup will only use the virtual center to create the VM and it will use the ESX host for the writing operation.

This is covered in the Veritas NetBackup™ for VMware Administrator's Guide:

• "For large environments with hundreds of hosts, NetBackup may not need full access to the vCenter server. With the restore ESX server type, you can give NetBackup full access to a single ESX server that is dedicated to restore."

Applies To

vSphere 5.x