To restore your vCSA from a backup, you need the installation image of the vCenter Server containing the same vCSA version that you are about to restore. The restoration process installs a fresh new vCSA server and then performs a restoration from the backup location. It does not repair the existing vCSA, as follows:
- Based on your operating system, launch the installation wizard.
- From the main menu, select Restore.
- The wizard follows the same steps as the installation itself. In the third step, you need to specify the backup location. You do not need to provide the full path to the backup. A first-level backup folder will do the trick.
- Once you click Next, the backup browser will appear. Select the folder containing the backup you want to restore.
- Once you have selected the backup folder, you can confirm the selection in the backup review.
- The next steps are the same as for the clean installation. Select the deployment target, configure the VM name and the root password, and select the deployment size, and the datastore where the vCSA will be deployed.
- You do not need to configure the network settings since the information from the backup file will automatically populate them.
- In the last step, you may review all the settings and, once ready, click Finish.
Once the first stage of the installation is complete, you can continue with the second stage. For this stage, you need to provide a password. If you have selected Encrypted Backup, everything else is already preconfigured.
If the original vCSA is still available, shut it down as the wizard suggest to avoid any network conflicts, as shown in the following screenshot:
Once the restoration is done, you will be able to access your original vCSA at the configured FQDN with all the hosts in the inventory and all the performance metrics until the time that the backup is available.