Restoring Guest Files and Folders for OpenStack

You can use the Virtual Server Agent for OpenStack to recover files and folders from backups of instances or images, including both Windows and UNIX systems.

Considerations

To browse a Linux VM, you must use a Linux access node.

Windows Restores

• For Windows instance backups, you can browse and recover guest files and folders of the following types:

  • Cinder volumes that were used to create the instance

  • Cinder volumes that were attached to the source instance

• For Windows instances created from an image, the base image files are not included in browse results and cannot be recovered using guest file and folder restores. In addition, a browse for volumes attached to a Windows instance created from an image shows volume labels such as "Volume1" or "Volume2" instead of drive letters.

• For Windows image backups, you can only browse and recover files from raw images. You cannot recover files for Windows qcow2 images.

• The MediaAgent that you use for live browse operations of an ReFS volume must support the version of the ReFS volume on the guest VM. For example, to live browse and restore files from an ReFS volume from a backup of a Windows Server 2016 VM, you must use a MediaAgent running on Windows Server 2016 or later. To browse and restore files from an ReFS volume from a backup of a Windows Server 2019 VM, use a MediaAgent running on Windows Server 2019 or later.

• Windows MediaAgents can support browse and restore operations from backups of Windows instances or images, provided the VSA package is installed on the MediaAgent. You do not need to deploy a separate Linux access node to browse and recover Windows files.

UNIX Restores and File System Support

• For UNIX instance backups, you can restore guest files and folders from instances created from an image or a volume, provided that required packages are available as noted below.

• For UNIX image backups, you can restore guest files and folders from raw or qcow2 images.

• When you perform a live browse operation on Linux files and folders, the Client tab shows logical volumes as volume groups rather than mount paths.

• To provide UNIX file system support for ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS, JFS, HFS, HFS Plus, and Btrfs file systems, deploy a Linux Access Node with OpenStack.

  You can also convert a Linux MediaAgent to a Linux Access Node) to serve as a Linux access node.

  For Commvault Service Pack 7 and later, MediaAgents that are able to act as Linux access nodes are automatically configured.

• Specify the Preferred Node for Guest File Restores for a Virtual Server Instance).

• The following packages must be installed on MediaAgents that are used for guest file browse and restore operations on Glance images:

  • QEMU disk image utility (qemu-img)

  • libguestfs

  • libguestfs-tools

  • Logical Volume Management (lvm)

  These packages are included in the OpenStack Linux access node package.

• If the fstab entry of the volumes is based on the UUID (such as, UUID=xxxx) and not on the volume name (such as, /dev/vdb), then during live browse, the content is shown within the corresponding mount points.

  If the fstab entry is not based on the UUID and is instead based on the volume name, then during live browse, the content is shown withincvlostandfound and not within the corresponding mount points.

Procedure

1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Client Computers > virtualization_client > Virtual Server > OpenStack > backup_set.

2. Initiate the restore from a subclient or backup set:

   • From a subclient: Right-click the subclient, and then click Browse and Restore.

   • From a backup set: Right-click the backup set, point to All Tasks, and then click Browse and Restore.

     The Browse and Restore Options dialog box appears with the Virtual Server tab displayed.

3. Select Guest Files and Folders.

4. On the Advanced Options tab, select the following options based on the virtual machine operating systems:

   • When restoring from backups of Windows VMs, select a Windows MediaAgent from the Use MediaAgent list.

     The Windows MediaAgent must also have the Virtual Server Agent installed.

   • When restoring from backups of UNIX VMs, select the Linux proxy to mount the files from the Preferred node for guest file restores.

5. Click View Content.

6. From the browse results, expand the left pane, select the files or folders to be restored, and then click Recover All Selected.

   The Restore Options for All Selected Items dialog box appears.

7. Provide the following information:

   • Restore ACLs: Select one of the following options:

     • Restore ACLs Only: Restore permissions from the backup and apply them to the files specified for the restore.

     • Restore Data Only: Restore files and folders with the default permissions for the destination path.

     • Restore Both Data and ACLs: Restore files and folders while preserving source file and folder permissions.

   • Unconditional Overwrite: Select this check box to overwrite source files or folders with the same names.

   • Restore Destination: Leave the default settings to restore in place, or modify the following values to restore out of place:

     1. For Destination client, select the VSA proxy to be used for the restore.

     2. For Specify destination path, enter or browse to the location where the file or folder will be restored.

        A file or folder can be restored to an NFS-mounted file system (Unix). Clients with NFS mounted to another machine can restore to that mount. Click the Browse button to see if the mount is visible.

   • Preserve Source Paths: Use the Preserve or Remove options to determine how many levels of parent folders are created for restored files. For example, when restoring a file from the /MEMOS/SALES folder, you can preserve two levels to create both folders, or preserve one level to create only the SALES folder.

   • Impersonate User: Select this option to specify a different user for the restore operation, and enter user credentials in the User Name, Password, and Confirm Password boxes.

8. To specify a Preferred node for guest file restores for Linux:

   1. Click Advanced.

   2. Click the Data Path tab.

   3. On the Data Path tab, from the Preferred node for guest file restores, select the Linux proxy to mount the files.

      By default, the restore operation uses the Preferred node for the guest file that is configured for the instance.

   4. Click OK to save advanced options.

9. Click OK to initiate the restore job.