Restore error 2880 - Attribute xsi:nil not allowed on element ns2:diskMode, which is not nillable

Problem

A virtual machine that consisted of 2gbsparse disks had been backed up.
Although it is possible to back up the VM, it would not be possible to power on the VM or restore the VM as this type of disk is not supported by VMware on ESXi 4.1 hosts and above.

 

Error Message

A bpVMutil log may show  :
11/10/2015 16:33:39 - Info bpVMutil (pid=9552) INF - vmwareLogger: CreateVirtualMachineExAPI: SYM_VMC_ERROR:  SOAP_ERROR
11/10/2015 16:33:39 - Info bpVMutil (pid=9552) INF - vmwareLogger: CreateVmExAPI: SYM_VMC_ERROR:  SOAP_ERROR
11/10/2015 16:33:39 - Info bpVMutil (pid=9552) INF - vmwareLogger: SOAP 1.1 fault: "":ServerFaultCode [no subcode]
11/10/2015 16:33:39 - Info bpVMutil (pid=9552) "
11/10/2015 16:33:39 - Info bpVMutil (pid=9552) Attribute xsi:nil not allowed on element ns2:diskMode, which is not nillable.
 
The following log line from bpVMutil was used to determine the disk type:
15:54:18.294 [88580] <2> virtlogcallback: vmwareLogger: CreateDiskDeviceConfigSpec: type=Vim25Api.VirtualDiskSparseVer2BackingInfo

Solution

Check VMs for this disk type and convert these disks per the VMware knowledge base articles below.  This will allow successful backup, restore and also allow the VM to be powered on.  If the file recovery option was selected within the policy at backup time then individual file recovery should still be possible 

Cannot power on a virtual machine with mounted twoGbMaxExtentSparse disks
  https://kb.vmware.com/kb/20456161

Types of supported Virtual Disks on  ESXi/ESX hosts
  https://kb.vmware.com/kb/1022242