Restore

Restore your VM or files from virtual disk to the Original location or Alternate location.

Key:

Field Description
Select what to restore For VM, one option is available, ie. 'Choose from files as of job'.
Show backup job(s) outside retention Displays all backup jobs, including deleted ones.
Restore raw files Save the VMDK, XML, VDDK files on your hard disk.
Restore virtual machines to There are two options: 'Original location' and 'Alternate location'.
Run Direct This option will be shown when you restore VMware backup. This feature will allow the user to restore virtual machine by mounting the backup destination as a data store, where the VM will be run backup directly from the backup data. The Run Direct check box is enabled by default.
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With the Run Direct option enabled while the VM is running, the %edition_name% application interface is required to turn on.

Auto migrate after Run Direct is running With the Run Direct option enabled, there is a process to mount the backup destination as a NAS data store on a VMware host. The VM will then be run directly from the backup data until it is moved to its target restore destination.
Auto power on after Run Direct is running To power on the virtual machine after the Run Direct is running.
Use existing storage as VM working directory to improve performance To improve the performance of the VM before migrating the VM back to its original data store.
Temporary directory for storing restore files This is the temporary directory for files to be restored to.

There are three restore scenarios for VMs stored on the vSAN which apply to both Normal and RunDirect Restore:

To perform a Normal Restore

  1. Click on the destination that you want to restore the backup from.
  2. Option: Tick 'Show backup job(s) outside retention' if you want all backup jobs to be displayed.
  3. Select the backup snapshot from the 'Select what to restore' drop down box. If you choose 'Choose from files as of job', you can select the date and time of the backup from the date and time drop down box.
  4. Select the VM that you want to restore from the file tree. Click on the [+] in the file tree to expand the tree, [-] to collapse the tree. Click on the check box, all the files will be selected.
  5. Select 'Restore files to' to choose restore location.

    For Original location:

    For Alternate location:

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    Note:
    When restoring a VM to the vSAN, it is important to select the host which will run the guest VM from the vSAN cluster. Then select the datastore to be used as storage.

    For Alternate location (Raw File):

    After restore as raw file, users need to place the files under the sub-folder together with the files in the root folder, in order for the restored VM to start up normally when users import these raw files directly back to ESXi or vCenter.

  6. Click on Restore to begin the restore process.

To perform a RunDirect Restore

  1. Click on the destination that you want to restore the backup from.
  2. Option: Tick 'Show backup job(s) outside retention' if you want all backup jobs to be displayed.
  3. Select the backup snapshot from the 'Select what to restore' drop down box. If you choose 'Choose from files as of job', you can select the date and time of the backup from the date and time drop down box.
  4. Select the VM that you want to restore from the file tree.
  5. Select 'Restore files to' to choose restore location.

    For Original location:

    For Alternate location:

  6. Click on [Restore] to begin the restore process.

To migrate virtual machine back to the VMware datastore (only applicable if "Auto migrate after Run Direct is running" is unselected):

  1. When the Run Direct is enabled after the VM is powered on, you can click "Manage all Run Direct virtual machines" from the bottom left corner.
  2. Select the VM that you need to manage.
  3. In the Migrate Information, click on the [Browse] button if you want to change the data store location that you want to migrate to.
  4. Click on [Migrate Virtual Machine] to permanently restore VM to VMware host.


To perform a Granular Restore

  1. Click on the VM or virtual disk(s) that you want to restore the backup from.
  2. Select Restore individual files inside virtual machine (Granular Restore). The Granular Restore option is only applicable to backup sets with Granular Restore feature enabled.
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    "Mount virtual disks automatically" option is selected by default. If the guest VM contains multiple virtual disks and you only require restore of files from a single virtual disk, then unselect this option to speed up the virtual disk mounting. Otherwise, granular restore will connect and mount all available virtual disks and this process could take longer.

    You can also click [Show advanced option] to select the Granular Restore Read Time Limit.

  3. You will be prompted to install drivers if you perform Granular restore for this backup set on this machine for the first time. Make sure you click Yes to proceed.
  4. Option: Tick 'Show backup job(s) outside retention' if you want all backup jobs to be displayed.
  5. Select the backup snapshot from the 'Select what to restore' drop down box. If you choose 'Choose from files as of job', you can select the date and time of the backup from the date and time drop down box.
  6. Select the VM that you want to restore from the file tree.
  7. Select the Temporary Folder path by clicking the [Browse] button
  8. Click on [Restore] to begin the restore process.
  9. Click to mount the virtual disk you wish to restore files from if the "Mount virtual disks automatically" option is unselected. Otherwise the virtual disks will be automatically mounted.Can click to unmount the virtual disk.
  10. !

    There might be needed to wait for the process virtual disk(s) being prepared for mounting on the %edition_name% machine, and the waiting time is dependent on the size of the virtual disk, network bandwidth and storage location.

  11. The backup image will then be mounted and you can click to expand to see the available volume(s), to collapse.
  12. There are two options to restore individual files.
  13. Option 1: Restore Using %edition_name% File Explorer

    This method allows you to use the file explorer in %edition_name% to browse through the files from the backup up image mounted and select those you wish to restore.


    Option 2: Restore Using Windows File Explorer

    This method allows you to browse and/or copy the files from the backup image mounted through the file explorer on the machine where you have %edition_name% installed on.

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    Granular restore of VMware backup sets performed using Windows File Explorer:

    1. Will not show up on the [Restore Status] tab in Live Activities of the backup service provider server web console.
    2. Will not generate restore reports or report email on backup service provider server web console.
    3. Will not generate restore log on %edition_name%.
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As a result of the limitation of the virtual file system library, the mapped drive will only be unmounted from your machine when you exit %edition_name%. In other words, each Granular restore session on %edition_name% can only mount and unmount once.

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Please note that the add network drive feature is not supported in the 'Restore raw file' option. This option can only select network drives which have already been setup in Windows.