vRanger 7.8 - User Guide

Performing a full restore of a physical machine

Like the restore process for a VM, the restore process for a physical machine uses the vRanger Job Wizard. While the process of restoring physical machines is similar to the VM restore process, some of the preliminary preparations are different.

For information about performing a full restore from a savepoint manifest, see Restoring from manifest.

To perform a full restore of a physical machine, complete the following tasks:

•	Creating the boot media

•	Booting the target server

•	Selecting a savepoint

•	Mapping disks

•	Mapping disks

•	Setting the recurrence schedule

•	Configuring email notifications

•	Starting the restore job

Creating the boot media

To restore a savepoint to a physical machine, you must first boot the target server into the vRanger restore environment using the vRanger Restore images — ISO for CD, IMG for a bootable USB drive. You can download the restore image files — vzRestore-<version>.iso and vzRestore-<version>.img — from the Quest website.

To create the boot media, complete one of the following procedures:

•	Creating a bootable CD

•	Creating a bootable USB drive

Creating a bootable CD

Complete the steps in the following procedure to create a bootable CD.

 

IMPORTANT: The procedures for creating a bootable CD differ widely depending on the operating system and software used. The following procedures show how to use the native Windows® 7 utility to create a bootable CD. If you have a different image burning application, follow the instructions for that application.

 

NOTE: This procedure requires a blank CD/DVD and a writable CD/DVD drive.

To create a bootable CD:

1	Insert the blank CD/DVD into the writable drive.

2	Download the vRanger BMR Restore Image (ISO CSD) file from http://support.quest.com/vranger/

3	If necessary, copy the vzRestore-<version>.iso file to the machine with the writable CD/DVD drive.

4	Right-click the ISO file, select Open with, and then click Windows Disk Image Burner.

5	From the disk burner drop-down list, select the drive containing the blank disk.

6	Click Burn.

Creating a bootable USB drive

Complete the steps in the following procedure to create a bootable USB drive.

 

NOTE: There are no native Windows® utilities for creating a bootable USB drive from an IMG file. The following procedure was created using a freeware application, Image Writer for Windows. Follow the instructions for your application.

To create a bootable USB drive:

1	Insert a blank USB drive into your USB port.

2	Download the vRanger BMR Restore Image (IMG Bootable USB Drive) file from http://support.quest.com/vranger.

3	If necessary, copy the vzRestore-<version>.img file to the machine with the blank USB drive.

4	In the Image Writer for Windows UI, browse to the vzRestore-<version>.img file.

5	In the Device drop-down list, ensure that the correct USB drive is selected.

6	Click Write.

7	Click Exit.

Booting the target server

IMPORTANT: The vRanger restore CD is not compatible with UEFI. Please ensure that the target server is not configured to boot into UEFI.

For vRanger to detect the target server, the target server must be booted into the vRanger restore environment and have a valid IP address. The vRanger Restore image is configured to use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) by default. If you are using static IP, some additional steps are required.

To boot the target server, complete one of the following procedures:

•	Booting into the restore environment using DHCP

•	Booting into the restore environment using static IP

Booting into the restore environment using DHCP

Complete the steps in the following procedure to boot into the vRanger restore environment using DHCP.

To boot into the restore environment using DHCP:

1	Using the boot media created in the previous steps, boot the target server into the vRanger restore environment.

When the boot is complete, a list of available network devices and their connection status appears.

2	Do one of the following:

▪	If a DHCP server is available, the restore environment obtains its IP configuration automatically, and a prompt appears with the IP information. Record this information to use during the restore job creation process.

▪

If no DHCP server is detected, each Ethernet device shows as “Disconnected.” Select the preferred network device. If only one device is present, it is automatically selected. Press Enter to select the highlighted network interface. You are then prompted to select either Use DHCP, which attempts to obtain an IP address again, or Configure Static IP.

3	[Optional] If the vRestore environment does not contain the correct drivers for your hardware, enter a Linux® command prompt by pressing F1, and add them manually.

 

IMPORTANT: Do not reboot the target server or the IP configuration is lost.

Booting into the restore environment using static IP

Complete the steps in the following procedure to boot into the vRanger restore environment using a static IP address.

To boot into the restore environment using static IP:

1	Using the boot media created in the previous steps, boot the target server into the vRanger restore environment.

When the boot is complete, a list of available network devices and their connection status appears. If no DHCP server is detected, each Ethernet device shows as “Disconnected.”

2	Select the preferred network device.

If only one device is present, it is automatically selected.

3	Press Enter to select the highlighted network interface.

You are then prompted to select either Use DHCP, which attempts to obtain an IP address again, or Configure Static IP.

4	To configure a static IP address, select Configure Static IP.

5	In the Setting Static IP dialog box, enter the IP address, subnet mask, and gateway information, and then select Submit.

The target server is configured with the selected IP information.

6	[Optional] If the vRestore environment does not contain the correct drivers for your hardware, enter a Linux® command prompt by pressing F1, and add them manually.

 

IMPORTANT: Do not reboot the target server or the IP configuration is lost.

Selecting a savepoint

The savepoint is from where the data for the physical machine is restored.

To select a savepoint:

1	In the main vRanger UI, click My Repositories.

2	Select the repository in which the savepoints for the server you want to restore are stored.

3	In the Working Repository pane, select a savepoint to restore.

 

NOTE: For the procedures on restoring from a manifest file, see Performing a full restore from manifest for VMware VMs.

4	You can automatically restore the machine to the latest savepoint. To do so, right-click on the machine row and click Restore Latest.

To select a different savepoint, expand the machine row and select the desired savepoint. Right-click the savepoint, and click Restore, or click Restore on the vRanger toolbar. The Restore Wizard starts.

5	On the Job Information page, enter the Job Name and Job Description.

Click Next.

Mapping disks

The Disk Mapping page of the wizard lets you map the protected disks in the savepoint to the existing physical disks on the target server.

To map disks:

1	On the Disk Mapping page, in the Restore Machine IP Address field, enter the IP for the target server; for more information, see Booting the target server.

2	Click Map Disks.

The page lists the disks in the chosen savepoint.

3	For each disk you want to recover, select the appropriate target disk in the Restore to Disk drop-down menu; for disks that you do not want to recover, select Skip this Disk.

4	Click Next.

The Recurrence Schedule Selection page appears.

Setting the recurrence schedule

The Recurrence Schedule Selection page lets you indicate whether the job should be done on demand — at this moment — or at a future time. To schedule a future occurrence, you must define the start time, recurrence pattern, and range of recurrence.

To set the recurrence schedule:

1	On the Recurrence Schedule Selection page, select from the options described in the following table.

 

This will be an On Demand job…	There is no need to define a schedule. The job runs on demand.
Start Time	The time of day at which to run the job.
Recurrence Pattern	In this section, you establish how often the report should be generated. There are five options within this section: • Daily: The daily option can be scheduled to run the report every weekday or every x number of days. • Weekly: vRanger can be configured to run on weekly intervals, from every week to every 99 weeks. The day of the week on which to run reports can be configured. • Monthly: The monthly option offers the following configurations: ▪ Day [x] of every [y] month: x can be any value from 1 to 31. This value determines the day of the month on which the job occurs. y can be any value from 1 to 99. This value determines the monthly interval — for example, every two months sets the job to run every other month. ▪ The [f] [d] of every [y] month(s): f can be either: first, second, third, fourth or last. d can be: weekday, weekend day, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. y can be any value from 1 to 99. This value determines the monthly interval — for example, every two months sets the report to run every other month. • Yearly: The yearly option offers the following configurations: ▪ Every [m] [x]: m is any month of the year. This value determines the month of the year in which the report occurs. x can be any value from 1 to 31. This value determines the day of the month on which the report occurs. ▪ The [f] [d] of [m]: f can be either: first, second, third, fourth, or last. d can be: day, weekday, weekend day, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. m is any month of the year. This value determines the month of the year in which the report occurs. • Interval: The interval option lets you select the number of days, hours, and minutes that should pass between jobs. NOTE: The interval selected must be greater than or equal to five minutes.
Range of Recurrence	Select the starting date and ending date: • No end date: The job recurs until it is stopped. • End after: Select the number of occurrences. • End by: Select the date by which to end the recurrence.

2	Click Next.

Configuring email notifications

The Email Notification Selection page lets you select the email addresses to which notifications should be sent for this job. You can also request that a report be sent to the recipients identified after the job is complete.

To add or edit email addresses, see Setting up the SMTP server.

To configure email notifications:

1	On the Email Notification Selection page, in the Selected column, select the address to which notifications should be sent.

 

TIP: To select all email addresses, select the check box in the Selected column header.

2	Click Next.

Starting the restore job

The final page in the Restore Wizard displays a summary of the selections you made for the job.

To start the restore job:

1	On the Summary page, review the data displayed in the tree view.

2	If you want to begin the job automatically after completing the wizard, select Run the Job after Finish is clicked.

 

NOTE: If this option is not selected, the job is saved and begins at the time determined during the Setting the Recurrence Schedule procedure.

3	Click Finish.

4	If you did not opt to begin the job automatically after clicking Finish, and this job is an on-demand job, do the following:

 

NOTE: If this job is not an on-demand job, the job begins at the scheduled time.

a	In the main vRanger UI, in the My Inventory view, select the server or host for the server you want to restore, and then select the job from the Working Inventory pane.

b	On the View toolbar, click Run.

c	In the Confirm Run Job dialog box, click Yes.

5	To check progress or confirm completion, click My Jobs, and then click Recent Jobs.

Performing an FLR on Windows

You can restore a file from a savepoint by accessing the File Level Restore command in the My Repositories view. FLR is accessible regardless of how the savepoints are sorted. You can right-click the savepoint in the Working Repository pane to select the command or you can click to select the savepoint and then click the FLR icon on the toolbar.

There is no need to copy or recreate the contents of the disk. The data remains compressed. When you make an FLR request, only the relevant files are moved from the repository to the designated computer.

A key component of the vRanger FLR is the vRanger catalog functionality. While you can use FLR without cataloging enabled, it is much easier to find a preferred file by using a catalog search than through manual browsing of savepoints.

 

NOTE: If the volume was created on Windows Server ® 2012 or later, the vRanger machine must also use Windows Server 2012 or later to complete FLR. Older systems may not show data on GPT disks. VMs with dynamic disks are not supported for FLR.

Performing an FLR using Catalog Search

Cataloging lets you search and browse savepoints for files inside the backup archives. Cataloging must be enabled at the start of the backup job to function, and also enabled globally in the Configuration Options dialog box.

Catalog Search has the following parameters:

•	When cataloging a full backup, all files in the system are stored in the database.

•	When cataloging an incremental backup, only the files that were modified since the last backup are stored in the database.

•	When cataloging a differential backup, only the files that were modified since the last full backup are stored in the database.

 

NOTE: When it comes to reporting the status of a backup task, cataloging is not considered a critical function. The cataloging portion of the task can fail, and the task is still considered successful.

To perform FLR using Catalog Search:

1	On the main vRanger UI, navigate to the My Repositories pane, and then select the repository in which you want to search.

2	Do one of the following to start the Catalog Search function:

▪	Click the Catalog Search Icon .

▪	On the Menu Bar, click the Tools menu, and then click Catalog Search.

The Catalog Search & Browse dialog box appears.

Entering a search string in the Catalog Search Criteria field searches all repositories and savepoints for the string.

3	To refine the scope of the search further, click Advanced.

The Advanced option lets you limit the search to a repository or VM (savepoint).

4	Select the repository or VM you want to search, enter the search string, and click Search.

5	Select the preferred savepoint, and click FLR for File Level Restore, or Restore for the Full Restore.

 

NOTE: Catalog searching supports the traditional wildcard character (*) in any position. The search string can be as short or as long as you prefer; however, the shorter the string, the longer the search takes. SQL Server® Express is limited to one CPU and 1 GB of RAM; a short search string — for instance, “dot” — could result in very slow searching, and SQL Server Express could run out of memory. To minimize performance issues during Catalog Search, make the search string as specific as possible.