Source: https://wiki.sepsoftware.com/wiki/index.php/VMware_Single_File_Restore
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 22:21:48+00:00

Document:
Welcome to the latest SEP sesam documentation version 4.4.3/4.4.3 Grolar. For previous documentation version(s), check VMware archive.
If you have a problem with your VMware, check the VMware Troubleshooting.
If you are using an older SEP sesam version, refer to VMware archive.
Attach VMDK to a virtual machine.
Configure a virtual host as a SEP sesam client.
Prepare the NFS share on Linux.
Restore a VM using the attached VMDK.
Mount VMDK to a SEP sesam RDS.
Restore a single file using the mounted VMDK.
It is estimated that about three quarters of the typical VMware virtual machine restore cases only require a single file restore rather than a restore of an entire virtual machine. As of version 4.4.3, SEP sesam introduces simple and flexible single file restore that enables you to restore an individual item without any special backup preparation from full/differential/incremental backups. To learn what applies to single file restore and instant recovery, which backup level supports it and how it relates to the disk size usage, see SF & IR support matrix 4.4.3 Tigon.
This article provides information for restoring an individual item from a vSphere backup. For details on how to a restore a single VMware virtual machine, see VMware Restore. For details on how to perform a VMware virtual machine instant recovery, see VMware Instant Recovery.
Before starting a restore, check the supported file systems and restrictions.
SEP sesam can in general recover all file systems as long as the respective operating system offers read/write support for it.
Example 1: A restore of files from ReFS on Windows is only possible if the data mover is able to read the ReFS file system which is supported since Windows Server 2012.
Example 2: A restore of files from a Btrfs is only possible if the data mover is a Linux with Kernel support for it, for example SLES 12.
Example 3: If the file system on OES Linux is NSS, the data mover must be able to read the NSS file system data.
The restore process itself does not differ from the restore of native Linux or Windows files, but the proxy VM must be an OES11 Server. For prerequisites, check Recommendations for Linux proxy.
Files from a native NetWare VM can be restored only to an OES Linux or native Linux target.
To restore trustees, the extended attributes on NSS must be enabled before backup. For details, refer to Novell OES documentation for NSS.
If you restore NSS files to a server in the original tree and on an NSS file system, the restored files will keep the original trustees (regardless of the tree of the proxy OES VM you used for restore).
Trustees from native NetWare VMs cannot be restored because native NetWare has no extended attributes to store the trustees into the file system.
SEP sesam does not support a restore of files from the DOS boot partition of a native NetWare server.
Mounting VMDK to a SEP sesam Server/RDS is not supported.
Attaching VMDK to original virtual machine is not supported if the original disks are still attached (as is typically the case in most scenarios).
The attach method does not work with a virtual SEP sesam Server or a virtual RDS to itself. For example, a virtual SEP sesam Server stores the virtual disk(s) on the SEP sesam data store. It is not possible to attach VMDK to the respective virtual SEP sesam Server; another VM must be used for this.
SEP sesam provides simple restore of individual files without any special backup preparation from VMware CBT snapshot. The following steps represent best practices and latest recommendations from SEP sesam support. Detailed instructions on VMware requirements and backup configuration can be found in related articles VMware Requirements & Restrictions and VMware Backup.
For version 4.4.3, the following limitation applies: Windows SEP sesam Server or Windows RDS is not supported in v. 4.4.3, therefore use Linux SEP sesam Server or RDS. In case of v. 4.4.3 Tigon, Windows can be used as a SEP sesam Server or RDS.
Enable the NFS server on the SEP sesam Server or RDS as described in section Preparing the NFS share.
Install SEP sesam Client to a Linux VM (sandbox for Linux single file restore). VDDK is only required if this VM is also the data mover. In this case, check VMware Requirements & Restrictions.
Add the Linux VM as a client as described in Step 1: Configuring a virtual host as a SEP sesam client. Make sure that you select the check box Client is a virtual machine.
Any operating system can be used except in case that you need a sandbox for Netware single file restore. Search the wiki for Netware reference.
Do not use a productive system as a sandbox!
Install SEP sesam Client to a Windows VM (sandbox for Windows single file restore). No specific Windows version is required. VDDK is only required if this VM is also the data mover. In this case, check VMware Requirements & Restrictions.
Add the Windows VM as a client as described in Step 1: Configuring a virtual host as a SEP sesam client. Make sure that you select the check box Client is a virtual machine.
Follow Step 3: Restore a VM using the attached VMDK : Select the VMware snapshot and select the check box Attach virtual disk(s) (VMDK) to a Proxy-VM via NFS server. Then click Next and under Select VM use the drop-down list to select Linux or Windows sandbox VM.
Attaching VMDK to a virtual machine is the recommended option for single file restore for Windows and Linux that requires only one SEP sesam Server or Remote Device Server (RDS).
SEP sesam provides limited support for single file restore on Windows virtual machines with spanned volumes due to Microsoft's restrictions. Attaching VMDK to the original virtual machine is not supported if the original disks are still attached. You can only attach VMDK to another Windows host, because Microsoft does not allow to use the same volumes twice when having spanned volumes. Then the disks will be marked as Foreign in Disk Management. Only possible workaround is to bring these disks online manually using Disk Management. For details, see section Managing virtual machines with spanned volumes.
Before attempting to attach VMDK and performing a single file restore, all preparation steps have to be performed properly, including configuration and VM backup. Depending on your SEP sesam version, see the relevant VMware guide for details.
SEP sesam Server version ≥ 4.4.3. For the list of supported systems, see SEP sesam OS and Database Support Matrix.
SEP sesam v. 4.4.3 Tigon supports the UNC path (e.g., \\server\folder) for data store.
In SEP sesam v. 4.4.3, data store via UNC path is not supported. A volume must be visible as a locally attached storage (not as a network drive letter). Only iSCSI, SAN and locally connected drives can be used as a locally attached storage.
Backups must not be encrypted or compressed, and they must not be migrated to another media – only the original backup on SEP sesam data store can be used for restore.
At least one virtual host of VMware vCenter needs to be added as a SEP sesam Client ≥ 4.4.3 to attach VMDKs.
Encrypted file systems within the virtual machine can only be read if the system (proxy VM) with the attached virtual disk is able to decrypt the data.
V. 4.4.3 Tigon already includes the NFS server and does not require a regular NFS server provided by Windows.
For SEP sesam v. 4.4.3 with the NFS service on Windows, it is recommended to use Windows 2012 (R2) for providing a higher level of NFS support.
A proxy server (either Windows or Linux VM) should be a non-production environment. For more details, see Recommendations for Linux proxy below.
When using both, virtual Linux and Windows hosts, it is recommended to add one virtual Linux and one virtual Windows host to ensure file system compatibility.
Some versions, for example, VDDK 6.5.x on Windows, might require rebooting the host after the update, followed by running the vstor2install.bat script. For details, see troubleshooting section below.
SEP sesam can restore all file systems for which the respective operating system provides a read/write support. For example, a restore of files on Windows ReFS is only possible if the system with the attached disk is able to read ReFS data. Or, if the file system on OES Linux is NSS, the system with the attached disk must be able to read the NSS file system data.
To be able to attach a VMDK file to a virtual host, SEP sesam needs to know where to attach the VMDK file(s). You have to add at least one virtual host as a SEP sesam client and this system must be assigned to the virtual host.
From Main Selection -> Components -> Topology, select your location and click the New client button. The New client window opens.
Enter the name of the virtual host in the Client name field.
Select the relevant platform from the Platform drop-down list and the relevant OS under Operating system.
Choose the Access mode (SMSSH) for the SEP sesam server-client communication (the default setting is CTRL).
On the left, under the SBC Version info, select the check box Client is a virtual machine.
From the drop-down list on the right,select the name of your vCenter under VM host.
Then select the virtual machine from the VM name list and click Create.
Your new client is displayed in the Topology content pane.
NFS (Network File System) is a client/server application that allows to share files across a network. You have to set up the NFS service on the Linux SEP sesam Server or RDS system, which stores the VMDK files.
SEP sesam automatically creates a VMware data store to attach the VMDK file(s) to a virtual host.
The following overview provides only basic information for configuring NFS on Linux. For details, see relevant Linux documentation, for example, the article How to configure NFS on Linux.
NFS server must be installed and NFS service must run.
Exports will be created dynamically during restore by SEP sesam. Note that exports can also be created manually by editing the /etc/exports file. The exported path has to match the location of the SEP sesam data store or any of its parent directories on the same file system.
All ESX servers must be allowed to mount the directory.
Read/write permission should be set.
Recommended to install the NetIQ eDirectory as a separate tree.
Static IP address (required by NetIQ eDirectory).
Only minimal system is required, X server is not required.
Size of file system only for SLES11 SP3 + OES11 SP2 (or higher versions).
Current SEP sesam client for SLES11.
Install the NetIQ eDirectory as a separate tree.
Do not change the mounted NSS file systems – they are your backup!
Create a new restore task for individual file(s) you want to restore.
Under the Saved in period drop-down list, specify the time frame for which you want to conduct the search. Click Next.
The search results are displayed. From the list of save sets matching your query, select the version from which you want to restore an individual file. Then select the check box Attach virtual disk(s) (VMDK) to a Proxy-VM via NFS server. Click Next.
Under the Select VM, use the drop-down list to select the relevant vSphere server, Sesam client name of the proxy VM and vSphere internal name of proxy VM. The vSphere server is the vCenter where the virtual host – vSphere internal name of proxy VM – is running, which is assigned as a SEP sesam Client – Sesam client name of the proxy VM. If the host that attaches the disk(s) uses multiple network cards, you must also specify NFS interface; otherwise this option does not need to be specified. Click Next.
On the page Select Files only the drives of the chosen VMDK(s) are shown. Note that it might take form 5 to 20 seconds to load the drive list. SEP sesam automatically enables the automount function of Windows on host, which attaches the VMDK(s). The automount function of Windows assigns a drive letter to a new disk drive without interaction of a user. SEP sesam automatically sets all connected drives on this particular host to Online.
If no drives are shown, either an invalid partition was chosen (for example, if a Windows host tries to attach Linux partitions) or the drives did not start in expected time. You can use the refresh button (on the right side of the table) to display the list of all drives, local and the attached ones. Click Next.
On the last Save and Start page of the restore wizard, you only need to select the client and the destination.
You can start your VM restore immediately by clicking Start. If you want to save the restore task, click Save.
You can view the status of your restore jobs by selecting Job state -> Restore from the Main selection. Restore overview provides detailed information on the last run of restore jobs, including the task name, status (successful, error, in queue ...), start and stop time of the last backup, data size, throughput, client and message.
SEP sesam provides limited support for single file restore on Windows virtual machines with spanned volumes due to Microsoft's restrictions. Attaching VMDK to the original virtual machine is not supported if the original disks are still attached.
You can only attach VMDK to another Windows host, because Microsoft does not allow to use the same volumes twice when having spanned volumes. Then the disks will be marked as Foreign in Disk Management. Only possible workaround is to bring these disks online manually using Disk Management.
Open Computer Management -> Disk Management, and click Import Foreign Disks option. This lists one or more disk groups, identified by the name of the computer where they were created. If you expand the details on a disk group, it lists the locally-connected disks.
Select the relevant Disk Group. The dialog box with a list of volumes in the Disk Group opens.
Select the relevant volumes and click OK to add the foreign disks to your system configuration.
The operation is slightly different, depending on whether there are pre-existing online foreign (dynamic) disks on the target computer. For details, see Microsoft support article Description of Disk Groups in Windows Disk Management.
You can mount any non-compressed VMDK save set stored to default data store Path or to Si3 data store to the local system, which is used as a VMware data mover and SEP sesam RDS with a data store.
The target VMDK is mounted to the SEP sesam home directory var\tmp\mnt, e.g., C:\Program Files\SEPsesam\var\tmp\mnt\save_set_ID. This way the VMDK is instantly accessible for browsing and searching before the actual restore is even triggered, providing you with quick access to your data. The mounted VMDK is basically a virtual read-only file system, therefore it cannot be altered or otherwise damaged. Comparing to the attach method, mounting has the advantage of much easier setup and requires less configuration steps.
Mounting is not possible if the save sets are stored to tapes or if the save sets are compressed.
Mounting is not supported on Windows virtual machines with spanned volumes due to Microsoft's restriction.
VDDK 5.5.x must be installed on the system, which is used as a VMware data mover and SEP sesam RDS with a data store. On Windows, VDDK is a part of the SEP sesam installation. SEP sesam version 4.4.3 is using VDDK version 6. If you are using a Linux system or any of the previous SEP sesam versions, you have to install the VDDK manually. For details, see Installing VDDK on Linux.
When using a Linux data mover to mount the VMDK, it must be able to read Linux and Windows systems. Note that mounting Windows VMDKs with Linux data mover might result in ACL-related problems and is therefore not recommended.
When using a Windows data mover to mount the VMDK, it is required to have a second data mover on Linux with installed VDDK 5.5.x which is also a SEP sesam RDS. Virtual Windows hosts must be stored on Windows RDS and Linux virtual hosts must be stored on Linux RDS.
SEP sesam can restore all file systems for which the respective operating system provides a read/write support. For example, a restore of files on Windows ReFS is only possible if the data mover is able to read ReFS data. Or, if the file system on OES Linux is NSS, the data mover must be able to read the NSS file system data.
The search results are displayed. From the list of save sets matching your query, select the version from which you want to restore an individual file. Then select the check box Mount virtual disk(s) via VMware API. A mount action is triggered and your VMDK is mounted to the SEP sesam home directory var\tmp\mnt, e.g., C:\Program Files\SEPsesam\var\tmp\mnt\save_set_ID. Click Next.
On the page Select Files only the mounted VDMK drives are shown (the local drives are not displayed). Select the files you want to restore and click Next.
On the last Save and Start page of the restore wizard, select where you want to restore your files.
You can start your single file restore immediately by clicking Start. If you want to save the restore task, click Save.
If you have problems with VMware, check the VMware Troubleshooting.
This page was last edited on 10 October 2018, at 10:57.

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