Source:VMware Sandbox Restore

Overview

Note that the VMware sandbox restore procedure in SEP sesam is version specific. For previous documentation versions, see VMware Sandbox Restore in v. Beefalo/Beefalo V2.

SEP sesam supports online VMware sandbox restore via Restore Assistant (if you have the appropriate permissions, see Restore Assistant) to run tests in an isolated virtual environment without network access to production. You can use the SEP sesam sandbox for VMware as a test environment where you can restore and start one or more virtual machines (VMs), troubleshoot VMs, install new software, updates and patches, verify VM backups, etc.

For example, if you want to verify that the restores work, set up one task to verify the restore of Active Directory (AD) and another to verify the restore of Exchange.

Note that in previous SEP sesam versions, you can perform web VMware sandbox restore in basic or advanced restore mode. Now it's only available in advanced restore mode, but you can easily switch between basic and advanced mode by selecting the Advanced View option, see Setting UI mode.

Prerequisites

• Ensure that you have sufficient restore permissions and access rights.
• Make sure that you use a different network for the sandbox restore to avoid IP address conflicts, as the original VM is usually still active.

Accessing 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 if you have received 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.

Performing VMware sandbox restore

You can perform VMware sandbox restore in the web interface in the advanced UI mode if you have the appropriate permissions.

1. Open the Restore Assistant in the browser.
2. In the Start window, select VMware vSphere. Then select the Advanced View option in the lower left corner and Sandbox restore.


3. In the Virtual Machine window, select the relevant vSphere server and the virtual machine. You can filter VMs by name, location or OS. Click Next.


4. In the Task window, under Task selection, select your source task. A backup task defines the source data that was backed up by the client.
   Then under Backup selection, select the exact backup version you want to restore. You can use the calendar function in the upper right corner to set a date range for the displayed backups.

   	Note
   	The Generation restore option is enabled by default. When selecting incremental or differential backups, it can be disabled if you only want to restore the selected backup and not the entire backup chain.

   Click Next.


5. Select the restore target: vSphere server, Datacenter, and Virtual machine, and then select the appropriate execution option: Do not overwrite an existing virtual machine, Restore an existing virtual machine with a new name, or Overwrite an existing virtual machine. In the latter case, you can also select to automatically shut down the running VM. Click Next.


6. In the Options window, select the following options:
   • Under Virtualization restore options, select the target data mover from the drop-down list.
   
   
   • Under Target options of the virtual machine, select the ESX server, the Data store, and Network interface(s) you want to use for your sandbox restore from the drop-down lists. Optionally, select the target Folder and/or Resource pool/vApp.
   
   
   • Under Recovery options – Sandbox checks, you can select the checks and actions to perform. Clicking the Edit button opens the list of Activated recovery options. Use this list to define additional options or to modify and rearrange the existing options:
     • As you hover over the command, additional icons appear that you can click to customize the list of recovery options.
     • Click the New button to the left of the Action/check name to create a new argument. Type the name of your action/check or click the Actions or Checks buttons to open the drop-down list and select the appropriate option or check. The drop-down lists Actions and Checks contain an extensive list of commands and options that can be used for various sandbox restore scenarios.
       For example, after the start action, enter a new action sleep by selecting sleep from the Actions drop-down list: Sleep N seconds and then define the desired VM uptime in seconds. For example, with sleep=300 a VM can be checked for 5 minutes before it is stopped again (actively running on a host).
     • Use the move up/move down arrows to change the order of the options/checks in the list.
     • Use the recycle bin button to remove the currently selected option/check. The option/check is removed from the Activated recovery options list.
     
     
   • Under the Optional data source selection, you can select your preferred media pool, drive, used media|barcode, and interface from the drop-down lists.
   
   
   • An additional set of options is available under the Options for restore:
   
   
   • Use the Log verbosity level drop-down list to change the restore log level for your specific client, see Setting Log Level.
   • Click the Edit button under the Options for restore to specify the transport hierarchy by adding transport modes to the Selected transport modes list according to your preferences; for details on transport modes, see Selecting the best VMware transport mode for your environment.
   • Use the Restore server options to specify additional options for the SEP sesam Server, for example, sm_restore -v 1 starts a restore with a higher log level.
   • You can specify the retention period for the restore (how long (in days) to keep the restore task). If you want to use this sandbox task as a template, set the retention period to 0 (infinity) so that the task is not deleted.
   • If you want a pre- or post script to be applied to the restore task, select the check box Execute pre or Execute post; for details, see Pre/Post options.
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.

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.