Restoring Guest Files and Folders

You can restore guest files and folders from virtual machine backups to a physical or virtual machine. You cannot restore files or folders to the source VM.

Windows and UNIX Guest Virtual Machines (VM)

Nutanix AHV does not automatically detect the guest VM operating system, and the Commvault operating system detection logic is only present in backup copy or streaming backup operations. The VM's operating system information is required to route the live browse request appropriately. For live browse operations to work, run a backup copy job or streaming backup job as the initial data protection operation for the VM. For all subsequent IntelliSnap backup jobs, live browse operations work without running another backup copy or streaming backup job.

This limitation applies to UNIX if a Windows proxy and Windows MediaAgent are used. Because the system does not automatically detect the guest VM operating system, the user must pick the appropriate MediaAgent, a Windows MediaAgent proxy for the Windows guest and a UNIX MediaAgent proxy for the UNIX guest, until a backup copy job is run. The backup copy then detects the guest operating system, and live browse operations work accordingly.

Before You Begin

• Restore from an IntelliSnap backup job from one cluster to a different cluster is not supported.

• Restore of an IntelliSnap backup job to a different container than the source is not supported.

• Restoring data to an NFS-mounted file system (UNIX) is similar to restoring from one computer to another, with the following exceptions:

  • The restored data passes through the VSA proxy to the mapped share or file system.

  • The computer that hosts the share or mounted file system does not need to be another client within the CommCell.

  • All data restored to a shared directory assumes the security attributes (such as permissions) of the parent directory where data is restored.

• To live browse and restore files from an ReFS volume from a backup of a Windows 2016 VM, you must use a MediaAgent running on Windows 2016 or later.

UNIX File System Support with the File Recovery Enabler

• To provide UNIX file system support for ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS, JFS, HFS, HFS Plus, and Btrfs file systems:

  • Convert a Linux MediaAgent to a File Recovery Enabler for Linux.

  • Identify the default File Recovery Enabler for the instance.

• For Commvault Service Pack 7 and later, MediaAgents that are able to act as File Recovery Enablers are automatically configured.

• 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.

• A virtual machine that contains the File Recovery Enabler for Linux can be included in backups, and the full VM can be restored, but you cannot recover files from the VM.

• Do not deploy a File Recovery Enabler on a virtual machine that was created from the same VM template as VMs being backed up, or that was cloned from the same VM.

Procedure

1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Client Computers > virtualization_client > Virtual Server > Nutanix AHV > 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. Click 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.

     The Windows MediaAgent selected must be inside the Nutanix AHV cluster.

   • When restoring from backups of Linux VMs:

     1. Select a Linux MediaAgent from the Use MediaAgent list.

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

        The Linux MediaAgent selected must be inside the Nutanix AHV cluster.

     2. Select a File Recovery Enabler from the File Recovery Enabler for Linux list.

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.

7. In the Restore Options for All Selected Items dialog box:

   • 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:

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

     • 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 Browse 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 File Recovery Enabler for Linux:

   1. Click Advanced.

   2. Click the Data Path tab.

   3. Select Use File Recovery Enabler for Linux and select a MediaAgent that is configured as a File Recovery Enabler from the list.

   By default, the restore operation uses the File Recovery Enabler that is configured for the instance.

9. To specify the copy precedence:

   1. Click Advanced.

   2. Click the Copy Precedence tab.

   3. Select Restore from Copy Precedence and select 2 from the list.

10. Click OK to initiate the restore job.