Agentless File Restore

After backing up VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines using the Catalogic DPX Agentless Backup, you can restore specific files or directories in these VMs.

See also. For an overview, see instructions about setup or backing up VMs by using the DPX Agentless Backup, see the following sections:

• Agentless Backup for VMware

• Agentless Backup for Microsoft Hyper-V

Prerequisites

Ensure that your systems satisfy the following prerequisites when you plan to back up and restore files by using the DPX Agentless Backup:

• The DPX master server must be version 4.9.2 or later.

• The backup target storage must be Catalogic vStor 4.9.2 or later.

Restrictions. The following backup storage systems are not supported:

• storages formatted in Microsoft Resilient File System (ReFS)

• B-tree File System (Btrfs)-formatted file storages

• Logical Volume Management (LVM)

See also. For the latest system compatibility details regarding supported hardware, file systems, applications, operating systems, and service packs, see the DPX 4.12 Compatibility Matrix.

Creating an Agentless File Restore Job

You can select files or directories in a VM backup snapshot, and download an archive file in .zip format that contains these restored files.

1. Go to Job Manager in the sidebar.

2. Click New Restore Job to open the New Restore dialog.

1. Select Agentless File Restore and click Next.

1. The VM object list shows all VMs you backed up using the DPX Agentless Backup. The available objects to restore can be sorted by Name, Type, associated Job Name, the backup Date/Time, or by Size. Find the VM that contains the files or directories in the VM object list you want to restore. Click Next.

1. From the list of recovery points of the VM object, select the recovery point that contains the files or directories to restore. Click Next.

1. Click Mount Image. After DPX mounts the image, you can see the text label, Image Mounted, and click Next.

Tip. Mounting an image may take a few minutes to complete. If Catalogic DPX fails to mount the image, click Show Details, see the log messages, and troubleshoot.

1. In the File Browsing step, You can browse the partitions in the VM that you selected, as well as directories and child directories in the navigation tree. Select directories or files to restore in the main pane. You can also use the search field to search files or directories in the VM.

1. Click Restore to download the files that you selected. A dialog with a progress bar will appear.

When the download is finished, you will find the selected file or the .zip archive in your browser’s default download folder.

Restrictions. Due to browser limitations, a single downloaded file cannot be larger than 2 GB. This limitation does not apply to .zip archives if the backup is stored on vStor 4.11.

Tip. If you select multiple files to restore, you can download an archive file in .zip format that contains all files to restore.

Use the Absolute option to keep the original directory structure in the archive file. Or use the Relative option to store all files in the root directory of the archive file. For example, assume that you are restoring the file in your Linux system: /home/dee/invoice.txt and /home/cate/flower.jpg in Partition 2. With the Absolute option, the archive file includes these two files with the nested directories: disk2/dev.sda1/home/dee/invoice.txt and disk2/dev.sda1/home/cate/flower.jpg. With the Relative option, invoice.txt and flower.jpg are stored in the root directory of the archive file without creating any child directories.

1. Close the file restore dialog using the “X” symbol in the upper right corner. You will be prompted to either keep the recovery point mounted until the expiration time or clean up right away.

1. You can select either to keep the mounted image for the recovery point until the expiration time or to remove the image immediately. If you select Keep, the recovery point will remain available from the Unfinished Restores tab in the Job Monitor view until it expires.

Additional Features

• Within the expiry time, if you need to restore any other files or directories, click the Browse button at the end of the Agentless File Restore mount or right-click the row and select Browse from the drop-down menu (see above).

• When a mounting point is not necessary anymore, simply wait until it expires. Alternatively, click the Unmount button at the end of the Agentless File Restore mount or right-click the row and select Unmount from the drop-down menu (see above).

Note. The mounted image’s default expiry time is 120 minutes. This setting can be changed to greater in vStor where the VM backup is stored and can be changed in the vStor’s System Settings.

Each time you browse the mounted image, the expiry time is reset and the count starts from the value defined in vStor.

See also. General Settings in vStor 4.12 Documentation.