Application Restore
When you click on an application-based backup, you enter a restore screen for that application, e.g., for Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, or VMware.
Exchange Restore
The Exchange Restore screen allows you to restore a Microsoft Exchange server backup. You have the choice to restore the entire Exchange backup or individual items from the Exchange database. At the top of the screen you will see the name of database or storage group, as well as the backup (or backups) that will be restored.
Restore Options
The "Restore" button will take you to the Exchange restore options screen that will allow you to choose from the available types of restore:
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Exchange Server - restores the backup to the original Microsoft Exchange server or
to another server running the same version of Exchange. The target server
must have its database unmounted and marked for overwrite or the restore job will not
be allowed to start.
If restoring a Differential backup, first the Full backup on which the Differential is based will be restored, followed by a restore of the Differential backup.
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Recovery Area - restores the backup to a Recovery Storage Group or
Recovery Database, depending on your Microsoft Exchange Server's version (this feature is not
available in Exchange 2003). When you select this option, Recovery Areas on the
target server will be shown and you then select your restore destination. Note that the
recovery area must be unmounted and marked for overwrite or it will not be available
as a restore destination. If no Recovery Areas exist on the Exchange Server, this option
will not be selectable.
If restoring a Differential backup, first the Full backup on which the Differential is based will be restored, followed by a restore of the Differential backup.
- Alternate Location - allows you to restore the Exchange server backup
files to an alternate client or to the DPU itself, e.g., to the
Samba share. You must specify a target directory name for the restore.
If restoring a Differential backup, only the files that are included in the Differential backup will be restored. To restore the files from the associated Full backup to an alternate location, you should repeat the restore steps for that backup.
At the bottom of the screen is an Options box that includes any advanced options associated with the restore operation. The user may either select the "Cancel" button in order to cancel the operation or the "Restore" button in order to initiate the restore.
Exchange Item-Level Restore
For details about Exchange Item-Level Restore, see Restoring Exchange items.
It is possible to restore selected items from an Exchange backup by selecting the desired Exchange server from the lower right hand status screen, then in the information screen, selecting Restore Items to enter the file-level restore interface. This allows you to restore individual items, rather than a restore of the entire Exchange database.
Important:
- Before performing a file-level restore for the first time, please ensure that you have set up the Samba service on your appliance by typing 'dpu samba' at the command line.
When entering the Item-Level restore interface, the RRC first checks to see if an Exchange image is already constructed, as only one is allowed to exist on the appliance at a time. If one does not exist, the user presses Create to create the image. If an image is already constructed, or after successful construction of a disk image, a set of instructions will appear that tell the user to map a network drive on the appliance's exchange_restore network share directly to the client to which they wish to restore files. Once completed, the user should then disconnect this drive, go back to the RRC, and select Tear Down to remove the image.
SQL Restore
The SQL Restore screen allows you to restore a Microsoft SQL Server backup. At the top of the screen you will see the name of the database and instance, as well as the backup (or list of backups) that will be restored.The available types of restore are:
- Restore of a SQL Full backup of a user database - in this case, the user selects a server from the list of "Available SQL Servers" to restore the database to either the original server or another running the same or a compatible version of SQL Server. After choosing the server, the user then selects the SQL Server instance on that server. The instance must be running for it to be displayed as an available restore target. The user can then either change the restored database's name or not. If restoring to the original client, the target pathname is optional, but if restoring to a different SQL server, it must be specified. The user can either directly enter the path, or browse to the path on the target SQL server. Please use caution when specifying a target path, as this is the location to which the SQL database files will be restored.
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Restore of a SQL Full backup of a system database (e.g., msdb, model, master, etc.)
- in this case, a system database may only be restored
to the original SQL server and instance. The name of the database may not be changed from
the original, but the user can optionally enter an alternate target pathname for the restored database backup.
Unlike other databases, when restoring the master database, the SQL Server instance must not be running. If restoring all of a SQL Server's databases, first restore the master database, then start the SQL Server instance prior to restoring the other databases.
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Restore of a SQL Differential backup - these backups can only be restored to the original server and instance. As
in the previous examples, the target pathname is optional, and if restoring a user database, its name may be optionally changed.
When restoring a Differential backup, the appliance will first restore the Full backup on which the Differential is based, followed by the restore of the Differential backup.
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Restore of a SQL Transaction Log backup - restore of a Transaction Log backup is very similar
to the restore of a Differential backup in that it may be restored to the original server and instance only, the
database name may only be changed if a user database, and an alternate target pathname may optionally be
specified.
You can also restore the SQL Server to a specified point-in-time when restoring Transaction Log backups, with the latest time being the start time of the selected backup and the earliest time being the start date of the previous backup in the SQL restore group (either the prior Transaction Log backup or prior Differential backup, whichever is closest in time to the selected backup). If your desired restore time is outside this range, you should select another Transaction Log backup from the front-page status screen that is closer to your desired restore time. If you plan to use point-in-time restores, it is highly recommended that you synchronize the time on your client and DPU and configure both to use NTP (Network Time Protocol) servers to keep them synchronized. Otherwise, the restore time on your DPU may differ from restore time on your client, which could cause the restore to stop at a point-in-time than is slightly different from what you may expect.
When restoring a Transaction Log backup, first the Full backup on which the Transaction log backup is based will be restored. If you use Differential backups, the Differential backup will be restored next, then subsequent Transaction Log backup(s), leading up to the backup you selected for restore. If you do not use Differential backups, the Full backup will be restored, then all of the Transaction Log backup(s) leading up to the one you selected will be restored.
At the bottom of the screen is an Options box that includes any advanced options associated with the restore operation. The user may either select the "Cancel" button in order to cancel the operation or the "Restore" button in order to initiate the restore.
VMWare Restore
When you click on a VMware backup for restore, you have a choice to restore the entire VM image or individual files from the backup. Clicking Restore goes to an interface to restore the entire VMware virtual machine, while selecting Restore Files goes to a file recovery interface. VMware Instant Recovery can be performed by clicking Restore.
Restore Option
The VMware Restore screen allows you to restore a VMware backup. At the top of the screen you will see the name of the virtual machine and its host ESX server, as well as the backup (or list of backups) that will be restored.The user can select either a Full, a Differential, or an Incremental backup to be restored. For all VMware restores, there will be one additional restore job queued during the process. The most recent backup will be used for this restore, to extract the metadata that defines the targeted backup's virtual machine configuration options. This will then be followed by the restore of one or more backups depending upon whether a Full, Differential, or Incremental backup was selected. If a Full backup is selected, only that backup will be restored, while selecting a Differential backup will trigger a restore of the Full backup on which the Differential backup is based, followed by the restore of the Differential backup. If restoring an Incremental backup, the Full will first be restored, followed by the list of Incremental backups that follow the Full backup.
In each of the VMware restore scenarios, the user will first be asked to select the target ESX server for the restored virtual machine. The determination of the available ESX servers may take some time, so wait for the process to be finished before continuing. Once the user chooses the ESX server, he can then select the datastore on which the virtual machine's data should be stored, then pick the name of the virtual machine. By default, the virtual machine name will be that of the original with _restore appended to it. You may make the virtual machine have the same name as the original; the Virtualization Protector will create a new VM for the restore even if it has the same name as the original and will not overwrite the original VM.
VMware Instant Recovery can be performed by selecting the 'Instant Recovery' checkbox. This feature allows the recovery of VMware systems in just a few minutes. Upon checking the 'Instant Recovery' checkbox a list of ESX servers will be displayed. Selecting an ESX server and a datastore on that ESX server will determine where the virtual machine is restored. Audit mode provides a method to test the functionality of VMware Instant Recovery. Instant Recovery job progress can be monitored by navigating to Tools then Instant Recovery Job Status.
Instant Recovery is not available to versions of ESX/ESXi earlier than 4.0. Instant Recovery is not supported for 32-bit systems. Additionally, a vCenter server with an Enterprise or Enterprise Plus license is needed.
VMware File-Level Restore
It is possible to restore selected files from a VMware backup by selecting the desired one from the lower right-hand-side status screen, then in the information screen, selecting Restore Files to enter the file-level restore interface.When entering the File-Level restore interface, the RRC first checks to see if a VMware image is already constructed, as only one image is allowed to exist on the appliance at a time. If one does not exist, the user presses Create to create the image. If an image is already constructed, or after successful construction of a disk image, a set of instructions will appear that tell the user to connect using iSCSI or map a network drive on the appliance's vmware_flr network share directly to the client to which they wish to restore files.
For Linux clients, a link to a script on the appliance is provided (at https://appliance_ip/iscsi_flr) so that the user can download and run it on the VM to which they want to restore files.
Once the files have been restored, the user should then disconnect the share and the iSCSI target (if this method was used), go back to the RRC, and select Tear Down to remove the image.
Hyper-V Restore
The Hyper-V Restore screen allows you to restore a Hyper-V Server backup. At the top of the screen you will see the name of the virtual machine, as well as the backup (or list of backups) that will be restored.
The available types of restore are:
- Restore to Original Hyper-V Server -This option allows user to restore a VM to the same Hyper-V server and same location. This method involves Hyper-V VSS writer and restores the VM to a point in time when backup was performed. This option is available for restoring VMs in standalone as well clustered environment.
In a clustered VM, the user would use the Hyper-V cluster client in RRC to restore a VM. Typically a VM can be restored to any node of the cluster irrespective of where the VM was running at the time of the backup except in following situation.
A clustered VM using typical Share Volume can only be restored to the node who is the current owner of the resource group containing the VM resource.
If a VM is active on a node in cluster and if the user tries to restore the same VM to another node, restore would fail. The Hyper-V agent would detect this condition and would instruct the user to take the VM and its configuration in cluster offline before performing a restore.
- Restore VM to Alternate Path - This option will allow user to restore a VM to same Hyper-V server but to a different location than original. This method involves Hyper-V VSS writer and restore VM to a point in time when backup was performed.
Since Hyper-V VSS writer deletes the VM before restoring it, this option can’t be used to restore a VM from previous backup while the same VM is currently running. However one can restore the VM files using Restore to Alternate Location and create a new VM using Hyper-V manager.
This option is not available for VMs protected by cluster service.
- Restore to Alternate Location - This option will allow the Administrator to restore VM files only and not restore/create a VM. Such restore would allow the Administrator to restore VM files on the same server or an alternate server. For this the alternate system need not be running Hyper-V server but must be running Unitrends agent. This would work similar to selective restore of files. Once the files are restored, the Administrator can create a VM manually or access the contents of the VHD files through Windows Disk Manager.