4 4 3 Beefalo:RHV Restore

Overview

SEP sesam backup solution for RHV* environments was developed together with Red Hat. SEP sesam uses RHV Manager backup (libvirt) API to perform snapshot-based backups of virtual machines (VMs) in RHV environments and enables consistent, agentless backup and restore of all RHV VMs.

As of v. 4.4.3 Beefalo, the RHV module also provides support for oVirt-based platforms within Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager (OLVM) in the same way as for RHV environments. For more information, see OLVM.

*RHV is a rebranding of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV).

Key features

• Restoring RHV VMs is simple, guided, and similar to regular file system restore. Note that you can only restore one VM at a time.

• There are two ways to restore your RHV virtual machines (VMs) in SEP sesam: via the GUI restore wizard or via the web Restore Assistant. Although most options are the same in both restore interfaces, the web Restore Assistant interface is more intuitive and offers additional advanced options.

• Scheduling restore is supported only through the GUI (it is not possible to schedule restores in the Web UI). For details, see Scheduling Restore.

• You can perform a single file restore (SFR) using the web Restore Assistant or the GUI. SFR is supported only in advanced UI mode (formerly expert mode in the GUI).

Restore options

• You can restore your RHV VM to the original location or to another location with the same or a different VM name using relocation.
• You can restore your VM to the same or a different single RHV server or RHV cluster.
• You can perform a simple path restore of the selected RHV VM configuration directly to a directory on any system instead of restoring and importing VM to the RHV environment.
• You can perform a SFR in the GUI. The Mount option is shown only in advanced UI mode (formerly expert mode in the GUI). For details on switching the UI mode, see Setting the UI mode in the Restore Assistant and Setting the UI mode in the GUI.

	Note
	Mount is used to restore individual files. Mounting is not possible if the savesets are stored on tapes or if the data is compressed or encrypted. Some other XPRFS restrictions also apply to mounting.

Restore workflow

The restore process uses the following workflow:

1. The VM configuration is restored to the SEP sesam data mover VM.
2. The target VM is created from this.
3. The disks on the target VM are created and attached to the SEP sesam data mover VM.
4. The data is then restored.
5. The disks are detached from the data mover VM and attached to the target VM.

Prerequisites

To ensure error-free operation of SEP sesam and improve performance, make sure that the following conditions are met:

• Check the RHV support matrix for the list of supported RHV versions.
• Make sure that your RHV environment is set up properly, as described in RHV Configuration.
• Make sure that there is enough free space on the target system where you want to restore your data.
• Single file restore (SFR) of backups from virtualization platforms requires the guestfs-tools package to be installed on Linux in order to access and mount VM disk image on Linux. If the package is not installed on your SEP sesam Server or Linux RDS, it is not possible to mount VMDK and perform SFR. Refer to Installing guestfs-tools on Linux.

	Note
	During restore, the virtual disk will consume complete thick provisioned space on the target storage. For example, if you have backed up 1 TB VM disk, 1 TB must be free on the target pool where the VM is created.

Restoring an RHV virtual machine

Depending on the interface you are using, follow the appropriate procedure to restore a RHV VM:

• VM restore via GUI
• VM restore via Restore Assistant

VM restore via the GUI

Create a new restore task for the RHEV Manager. You can only restore one VM at a time.

1. From the SEP sesam GUI menu bar, select Activities -> Restore. The New Restore Task window opens.
2. Select what you want to restore. You can search savesets by task name or filename or path.
• When searching by task name, use the drop-down list of available tasks and select the one you want to restore. This option is enabled by default.
• If you are searching by filename/path, select the option Filename or path in a saveset and enter your search expression in the search pattern field.
3. Under Saved in period, specify the time frame for which you want to conduct the search. Click Next.


4. The search results are displayed. From the list of savesets that match your search query, select the task you want to restore. The restore types Complete restore of selected task and Generation restore are selected by default and cannot be deselected. Click Next.


5. In the Target Settings dialog box, check the configuration of your restore task and set additional options if required.
Details of the selected saveset are displayed at the top and at the bottom (Optional data source selection) of the window. The name of the restore task is automatically generated in the Restore task name field. You can edit the name and insert a comment below.

Target data

You can restore the RHV VM to the original VM (if the Target node is the same server from which the data was backed up, i.e., the source and target server are the same) or under a new VM name.

If you want to restore the VM under a different name, select the option Restore with new VM name and enter a new VM name or use the Browser button to select a new target location; then select Create new version under the VM restore options.

Target node

It shows the target server where the data will be restored. By clicking Change VM target selection, you can restore a task from a cluster to another standalone server by selecting the appropriate RHV target node and data store path from the drop-down lists. If no target path is defined, the VM is restored to the default location of the RHV server or cluster.

VM restore options

Select one of the following from the drop-down list:
• Do not overwrite existing items (default): The VM will not be restored if a VM with the same name already exists on the target server. In this case, the following error is displayed: Error: Restore failed. A virtual machine with the same name already exists.
• Overwrite existing items: If a VM with the same name exists on the target server, it will be replaced with the restored version. Note that if two VMs with the same name exist on the target server, the restore fails with: Error: Restore failed. A virtual machine with the same name already exists.
• Create a new version to restore the VM under a new name.
• You can also select whether the VM should be started automatically after the restore by selecting Start virtual machine after restore/Do not start (selected by default).




6. Optionally, if you want to restore only the actual size of the VMs, you can use the dd utility to create a thin-provisioned (sparse) disk file: Click the Expert Options button and enter the following under Restore options: -a use_dd

	Note
	The Expert Options button is available only in advanced mode (formerly expert mode in the GUI). If you are running the GUI in simple mode (formerly basic GUI mode) and want to access Expert Options, change UI mode to advanced, as described in Selecting UI mode.




7. In the last step of the restore wizard, you can check all the settings for your restore task. You can also edit the settings by using the Change Selection button. If you want to start the restore immediately, click Start. If you want to save the restore task, click Save.

A restore task can be scheduled like any other task. If you want to add a restore task to the schedule, see Scheduling Restore.

VM restore via the Restore Assistant

You can access the Restore Assistant in one of the following ways:

• via the GUI: by clicking the Restore Assistant icon in the toolbar or from Activities -> Restore Assistant
• from SEP sesam Web UI: left menu -> Restore Assistant
• or by entering the following address in the browser bar: http://[sesamserver]:11401/sep/ui/restore/.

Note

If you cannot access the web Restore Assistant, check that you have been given the appropriate permissions for online restore. The operations and options available after logging in may differ depending on the user type. Other Web UI display restrictions may depend on the custom roles with specific permissions and the UI mode. For details, see About Authentication and Authorization and User Roles and Permissions.

Steps

The following steps are performed in basic UI mode. They cover the most common restore cases and are the recommended method for performing a restore. For more experienced users, some additional restore options are available in advanced restore mode. For details, see Restoring VMs in advanced UI mode.

1. Open the Restore Assistant in the browser.
2. In the start window, select Red Hat Virtualization and click Next.


3. In the Virtual Machine window, under Selection of the server, select your RHV server to restore your data to.
   Then, under Selection of the virtual machine select the VM you want to restore and click Next.


4. In the Task window, under Task selection, select your source backup task.
   Under Backup selection, select the exact backup version you want to restore. Note that Generation restore is selected by default. You can use the calendar function in the upper right corner to set a date range for the displayed backups.
   Click Next.


5. In the Target window, under the Target selection select your target environment for restore. You can use the drop-down list to select or filter VMs by name.
Then set additional restore options under Execution options:
Do not overwrite an existing virtual machine: The VM is restored only if it does not already exist on the target system.
Overwrite an existing virtual machine: If the VM exists on the target server, it will be replaced with the restored version.
Click Next.


6. Modify or set additional restore options under the Virtualization restore options:
Data mover: Select the data mover.
Recovery options: Specify whether or not to start the VM after restore.
Under Target options of the virtual machine select Storage Domain from the drop-down list.
Click Next.
7. In the last step, check the summary of your restore task (restore type (based on task type, selected backup, its date and details, restore options, etc.) and click Start restore.

Restoring single files

You can perform single file restore (SFR) – item-level restore of files, folders, and volumes from the COPY backup of RHV virtual machine by mounting a virtual disk on the device server and browsing the content of a virtual disk file.

	Note
	SFR of backups from virtualization platforms requires the guestfs-tools package to be installed on Linux in order to access and mount VM disk image on Linux. If the package is not installed on your SEP sesam Server or Linux RDS, it is not possible to mount VMDK and perform SFR. Refer to Installing guestfs-tools on Linux.

The Mount option is shown only in advanced UI mode (formerly expert mode in the GUI). For details on switching the UI mode, see Setting the UI mode in the GUI.

GUI single file restore

Make sure your UI mode is set to advanced (formerly expert) and create a new restore task for the individual item(s) you want to restore.

1. From the SEP sesam GUI menu bar, select Activities -> Restore. The New Restore Task window opens.
2. Select what you want to restore. You can search savesets by task name or by filename or path.
   • When searching by task name, use the drop-down list of available tasks and select the one you want to restore from. This option is selected by default.
   • If you are searching by filename/path, select the option Filename or path in a saveset and enter your search expression in the search pattern field.
3. Under Saved in period, specify the time frame for which you want to conduct the search. Click Next.
4. The search results are displayed. From the list of savesets matching your query, select the version from which you want to restore an individual file. Then select the check box Mount virtual disk(s).

   Note

   To be able to access and mount VM disk image on Linux, the guestfs-tools package must be installed on your SEP sesam Server or Linux RDS. If the guestfs-tools package is not installed on your SEP sesam Server or Linux RDS, it is not possible to mount VMDK and perform SFR. Refer to Installing guestfs-tools on Linux. Mounting is not possible if the savesets are stored on tapes or if the data is compressed or encrypted. Some other XPRFS restrictions also apply to mounting.



5. The mount is triggered and your virtual disk is mounted to the device server. This may take a few seconds. Click OK.


6. In the Select Files window, select the folders or files you want to restore, for example, the home directory, and click Next.


7. In the fourth step of the restore wizard (Target Settings), select a new restore target to which you want to restore your files..
8. In the last step of the restore wizard, you can check all settings of your restore task. You can start your SFR immediately by clicking Start. If you want to save the restore task, click Save.
9. Click OK to unmount the saveset and close your restore session.

	Note
	A restore task can be scheduled like any other task. If you want to add a restore task to the schedule, see Scheduling Restore.

Monitoring restore

You can monitor the restore progress using the Web UI (Monitoring -> Restores) or view the status in the GUI (Main Selection -> Job State -> Restores). The restore overview provides detailed information on the last run of restore jobs, including task name, status (successful, error, in queue...), start and stop time of the last backup, data size, throughput, etc. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI or Restores by State in the GUI.