Scheduled backups are not visible to edit (after a VMware migration, reinstall, or restore)

ISSUE

If you perform a vCenter deployment, restore, or migration that was not performed in textbook VMware practice, you may find that communications between Unitrends and vCenter will get disrupted, as well as your schedules will appear to have vanished and have become orphaned.

You can verify your schedules are orphaned by looking at the Legacy User Interface, in the Legacy Enterprise Scheduler (see step 3 in Resolution section). Any schedule for the vCenter-RRC that has a paper symbol is an orphaned schedule.

RESOLUTION

It is best to have all ESXi servers that may have Guest VMs that you will protect, added to the Unitrends system (in addition to vCenter) to ensure the proper workflow is set off that updates tables related to the Guest VMs and their related backups. It will also help you retain and access your data should the vCenter become corrupted or the need to delete the vCenter from the Unitrends Protected Asset/Clients page.

1) You will want to be sure your Unitrends system is on 9.0.11 or higher (current version is 9.0.0-15). This is the preferred method and makes it easier and safer to perform the steps that follows

How do I upgrade my appliance to Unitrends version 9.0+

How to upgrade the appliance via Unitrends' media (AirGap / Offline updates)

2) Verify all ESXi hosts related to the Guest VMs your protect have been manually added using the native 'root' user and its password. This is one thing that vCenter can't provide and is the reason you must add it manually. In addition, add the ESXi hosts activates the workflow that populates critical tables that allow the Unitrends to map the Guest VMs and their backups to the current ESXi host the Guest VM resides. This comes into play later.

3) You will need to use the Legacy Administrative Interface and delete the orphaned schedules.

Click on the Unitrends server name in the Navigation pane, then click on the large Backups button.
In the center, right window, click on the last icon labeled Schedule. This presents all schedules.

Click on the Column named Clients and locate all schedules related to the vCenter-RRC.
For the schedules related to vCenter-RRC, note the symbol on the left.
- If it has a purple server, it is a good schedule. No action is required. Please continue.
- If it has a paper symbol (says "file-based" when cursor is over it), select it, and delete it.

If this resolves the issue you are having you can stop here. However, if you are also having difficulty removing the old vCenter or can no longer get Unitrends to communicate or update it, you will need to delete the entry in the Unitrends system by using the process below.

If you are Archiving or using Backup Copy - Cold, review the Archive schedules and remove the vCenter-RRC from the schedule and re-save the schedule or delete the schedule if it is dedicated to the vCenter-RRC.
Once you have added the ESXi hosts, and deleted the orphaned schedules, you can delete the defunct vCenter Client from the Client page.

By performing this entire KB process, you will limit the loss to only items that were left related to the old vCenter or that were corrupted. The VMs that were migrated to use the new vCenter or on an ESXi hosts that you added should not be affected. You can resave the new vCenter and refresh the VMs list (or perform an Inventory Sync in new HTML5 interface) , and create the new schedules.

ISSUE

RESOLUTION

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