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
- The restore of 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 only supported in GUI mode. For details, see Scheduling Restore.
- You can also perform a single file restore (SFR) using the GUI or the web Restore Assistant.
- Single file restore is only supported in UI mode where all options are available, i.e. Expert UI mode if you perform SFR via the GUI, or Advanced UI mode if you use the web Restore Assistant. For details on switching the UI mode, see Setting the UI mode in the GUI and Setting the UI mode in the Restore Assistant.
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.
- In SEP sesam ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can perform a single file restore in the GUI if your UI mode is set to Expert. As of 5.0.0 Jaglion , you can also perform a SFR via the web Restore Assistant (only in Advanced UI mode).
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:
- The VM configuration is restored to the SEP sesam data mover VM.
- The target VM is created from this.
- The disks on the target VM are created and attached to the SEP sesam data mover VM.
- The data is then restored.
- 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.
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 the GUI
Create a new restore task for the RHEV Manager. You can only restore one VM at a time.
- From the SEP sesam GUI menu bar, select Activities -> Restore. The New Restore Task window opens.
- 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.
- Under Saved in period, specify the time frame for which you want to conduct the search. Click Next.
- 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.
- 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
- 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
- VM restore options
- 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).
- 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
- 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.
Note | |
The Expert Options button is only available in Expert UI mode. To use it, make sure you are runnng the GUI in ExpertUI mode, as described in Selecting UI mode. |
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/.
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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.
- Open the Restore Assistant in the browser.
- In the start window, select Red Hat Virtualization and click Next.
- In the Virtual Machine window, under Selection of the server, select your RHV Nutanix server to restore your data to.
Then, under Selection of the virtual machine select the VM you want to restore and click Next. - 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. - 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:
- Modify or set additional restore options under the Virtualization restore options: Data mover: Select the data mover.
- 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.
Do not overwrite an existing virtual machine: The VM is restored only if it does not already exist on the target system.
Restore an existing virtual machine with a new name: The VM is restored with a new name.
Overwrite an existing virtual machine: If the VM exists on the target server, it will be replaced with the restored version.
Click Next.
Recovery options: Specify whether or not to start the VM after restore.
Under Target options of the virtual machine select RHV from the drop-down list.
Click Next.
Restoring single files (Expert mode only)
With 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, SEP sesam introduces single file restore – item-level restore of files, folders, and volumes from the COPY backup of RHV/OLVM virtual machine by mounting a virtual disk on the device server and browsing the content of a virtual disk file.
Tip | |
If you prefer to watch a video rather than to read a step-by-step guide, you can learn all the steps of the restore procedure by watching Backup and restore of RHV/OLVM on SEP sesam YouTube channel. |
Before starting a restore, check the supported file systems and restrictions.
Mounting RHV/OLVM virtual disk
Create a new restore task for individual item(s) you want to restore.
- From the SEP sesam GUI menu bar, select Activities -> Restore. The New Restore Task window opens.
- 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.
- Under the Saved in period drop-down lists, specify the time frame for which you want to conduct the search. Click Next.
- 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). You can mount any saveset stored to default data store Path, Si3 deduplication store or HPE StoreOnce. Mounting is not possible if the savesets are stored to tapes or if the data is compressed or encrypted. Note that some other restrictions apply.
- Mount is triggered and your virtual disk is mounted to the device server. This may take a few seconds. Click OK.
- In the Select Files window, select the folders or files you want to restore, for example, the home directory, and click Next.
- In the fourth step of the restore wizard (Target Settings), select a restore target where you want to restore your files.
- In the final step of the restore wizard, you can review all the settings of your restore task. You can start your single file restore immediately by clicking Start. If you want to save the restore task, click Save.
- 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 view the status of your restore jobs by selecting Job State -> Restores 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.
As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can also monitor the restore progress using the Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.