By browsing and restoring files and folders from VM backups, you can restore specific data without restoring the entire VM.
File restores use live browse to temporarily mount backup data and discover the file structure. For large data volumes, restoring the full VM or attaching disks might provide better performance than a file restore.
Requirements
-
You must have a completed backup of the VM.
-
File indexing must be enabled.
Agentless file restore
Agentless file restore lets you restore files and folders from VM backups without installing a Commvault package on the source VM.
Depending on the hypervisor and restore scenario, you can use either native guest file restore capabilities or the Restore via CV tools option.
Native agentless restore
For supported workloads, files are restored by using platform-specific mechanisms without deploying a Commvault package to the destination VM.
Selected files are staged on an access node and then transferred to the destination VM. After the restore completes, temporary data that was created for the restore operation is removed automatically.
Restore via CV tools
The Restore via CV tools option extends agentless file restore to environments where native guest file restore support is unavailable or limited.
When you select Restore via CV tools, Commvault deploys the File System Core package to the destination VM and uses it to restore the selected files.
Requirements
For destination VMs:
-
The destination VM name must be resolvable from the control plane, or the VM name and IP address must be added to the control plane hosts file.
-
The firewall on the destination VM must allow communication that is required for the restore operation.
For Windows destination VMs:
-
OpenSSH Server must be installed and running.
-
TCP port 22 must be accessible.
-
A Windows access node with a software cache or remote cache must be available to deploy the File System Core package. Linux access nodes cannot deploy the package to Windows guest VMs.
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and Server Message Block (SMB) communication requirements
Some Restore via CV tools operations use RPC and SMB communication between the access node and the destination VM.
Direct network connectivity is required between the access node and the destination VM. Network configurations that rely on NAT or floating IP addresses might not be supported.
Requirements
-
Allow TCP ports 135, 445, 5985, 5986, and dynamic RPC ports (49152-65535) between the access node and the destination VM.
-
Verify that the following Windows services are running on the destination VM:
-
Remote Procedure Call (RpcSs)
-
DCOM Server Process Launcher (DcomLaunch)
-
Windows Management Instrumentation (Winmgmt)
-
Windows Remote Management (WinRM)
-
Configure Windows Firewall to allow RPC, SMB, WinRM, and dynamic RPC traffic.
-
Verify that the security groups allow the required traffic.
OpenStack requirement
For OpenStack environments, use a Windows VM as the hypervisor access node in the same tenant network as the destination VM.