Restoring Guest Files and Folders for Amazon EC2

You can restore guest files and folders from an Amazon EC2 instance to a specified proxy client.

Before You Begin

• 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 Linux Access Node.

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

    From AWS Marketplace, you can deploy the Commvault Cloud Access Node BYOL to serve as a Linux access node and as the preferred access node for restores of guest files. This AMI contains all the components that are required to support Linux operations in the Commvault environment. For more information, see Deploying a Commvault Access Node from AWS Marketplace.

    MediaAgents that are able to act as Linux access nodes 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.

• 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.

• Starting with Feature Release 22, for Windows VMs, you can use direct read backups to perform a live browse from the snapshot copy by reading data directly from the snapshots, without the need to create and attach volumes to the access node.

• If you initiate multiple browse or restore requests from backups that do not use deduplication, you might see a spike in CPU utilization and a delay in displaying results. To avoid this issue:

  • To the MediaAgent that is used for Amazon, add the nCloudNumOfReadAheadThreads additional setting as shown in the following table.

    For instructions on adding additional settings from the CommCell Console, see Adding or Modifying an Additional Setting.

    Property	Value
    Name	nCloudNumOfReadAheadThreads
    Category	MediaAgent
    Type	Integer
    Value	0 (do not read ahead)

• You can use agentless file recovery when the total restore size is less than 10 GB and you are restoring fewer than 10,000 files.

• To restore virtual machine files and folders when the total restore size is larger than 10 GB or has more than 10,000 files, use a restore-only file system agent installed in the destination client or virtual machine.

Procedure

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

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

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

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

3. In the Browse and Restore Options dialog box, select Guest Files and Folders and click View Content.

4. From the list of backed up instances, select files or folders to be restored and click Recover All Selected.

5. In the Restore Options for All Selected Items dialog box, provide the following information:

   Restore ACLs	Select to preserve the source file or folder permissions.
   Unconditional Overwrite	Select to overwrite files or folders with the same name.
   Restore Destination	Proxy Client - Select a proxy to restore to a specific client. Specify destination path - Enter a path on the proxy or click Browse to select a path.
   Preserve Source Paths	Select one of the following options: Preserve - Select this option and specify the number of folder levels to preserve. Remove - Select this option and specify the number of folder levels to remove.
   Impersonate User	Select this option to provide credentials for the destination client, then provide the user name and password.

6. Click OK.

Related Topics

For SP13 and later, you can restore files and folders directly to the original instance or to a different instance, from streaming or IntelliSnap backups of Windows or Linux instances. This feature is supported only from the Command Center. For more information, see Configuring Agentless File Recovery.