Restoring a virtual machine using Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R3 fails with the error: invalid configuration for device 2

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot restore a virtual machine using Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R3
• Restoring a virtual machine using Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R3 fails
• The restore operation fails at the create virtual machine state
• In vCenter Server or the vSphere Client connected to the host, you see the error:
  
  invalid configuration for device 2
  
  
• In the Backup Exec logs, you see the error:
  
  0xe000957e – Unable to create the new virtual machine
  
  
• The virtual machine is configured with a vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDS)
• Restoring a virtual machine that is not configured with a vDS completes successfully

Environment

VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0

Cause

This issue occurs because Backup Exec fails to create the virtual machine if the network card is configured on a vDS.

Resolution

This is a known issue with Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R3. For more information, see the Symantec Knowledge Base article TECH184653.

Note: The preceding link was correct as of April 17, 2012. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

To resolve this issue, contact Symantec support.

To work around this issue:

Warning: This workaround is not supported by VMware. VMware recommends you to contact Symantec for a supported workaround.

1. Instead of selecting the ESX/ESXi host as target for the restore operation, select a directory on the Backup Exec server. The restore using a directory as the target completes successfully.
   
   Note: You can set up an NFS share that is accessible by both the ESX/ESXi hosts and the Backup Exec server and use this as the target for the restore from within Backup Exec. In this case, you need not copy the files to the ESX/ESXi hosts and instead add them to inventory from the NFS share.
   
   
2. After the files are restored, copy the files to the required directory on the ESX/ESXi host using the datastore browser or SCP/SFTP.
3. Add the virtual machine back to the inventory using the datastore browser. For more information, see Registering or adding a virtual machine to the inventory (1006160).

Additional Information

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