Virtual backup and restore of virtual machines

A method for performing a redirected restore of a virtual machine in a cluster environment to a restore destination, the method comprising:

• a backup server identifying a save set corresponding to a virtual machine for restoration on a node in the cluster, the restore destination including the node, the node including a computing device having a hypervisor operating thereon, wherein the save set includes an instance of virtual hard drives and configuration information that was generated during a backup operation using an export mechanism associated with exporting virtual machines without exporting the virtual machine being backed up, the configuration information comprising root directory location data detailing a location of root directories of the virtual machine files associated with the virtual hard drives;
• mounting the save set generated using the export mechanism, including the instance of the virtual hard drives and the configuration information, to the restore destination;
• locating a directory of virtual hard disks associated with the virtual machine and a directory of snapshots associated with the virtual machine in the mounted save set;
• collecting configuration information associated with the restore destination of the save set that is comparable to the configuration information generated by the export mechanism using an instrumentation interface without importing a virtual machine;
• comparing the configuration information associated with the restore destination with configuration information included in the save set to identify differences;
• adjusting the configuration information included in the save set based on the differences to ensure that the virtual machine being restored is compatible with the restore destination;
• and
• restoring the virtual machine by initiating an importing operation associated with an instrumentation interface of an operating system of the restore destination to import the virtual machine mounted to the restore destination to a directory of the restore destination using an import/export mechanism using the virtual machine using the adjusted configuration information.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform operations comprising:

• a backup server identifying a save set corresponding to a virtual machine for restoration on a node in the cluster, the node including a computing device having a hypervisor operating thereon, wherein the save set includes an instance of virtual hard drives and the configuration information that was generated during a backup operation using an export mechanism associated with exporting virtual machines without exporting the virtual machine being backed up, the configuration information comprising root directory location data detailing a location of root directories of the virtual machine files associated with the virtual hard drives;
• mounting the save set generated using the export mechanism, including the instance of the virtual hard drives and the configuration information, to the restore destination of the computing device;
• locating a directory of virtual hard disks associated with the virtual machine and a directory of snapshots associated with the virtual machine in the mounted save set;
• collecting configuration information associated with the restore destination of the save set that is comparable to the configuration information generated by the export mechanism using an instrumentation interface without importing a virtual machine;
• comparing the configuration information associated with the restore destination with configuration information included in the save set to identify differences;
• adjusting the configuration information included in the save set based on the differences to ensure that the virtual machine being restored is compatible with the restore destination;
• and
• restoring the virtual machine by initiating an importing operation associated with an instrumentation interface of an operating system of the restore destination of the computing device to import the virtual machine mounted to the restore destination to a directory of the restore destination using an import/export mechanism using the virtual machine using the adjusted configuration information.