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NetVault Plug-in for FileSystem 13.1 - User Guide

Performing Network Share Backups

Currently, the support for network share backups is limited to Windows network shares. Several problems might be encountered if you use this feature to back up CIFS-compatible shares, such as Samba, Snap Appliance Filers, or Mac OS X Shares. The problems include the inability to back up files with certain filename encoding or lengths, changing the filename while backing them up, and not restoring the permissions correctly.

The procedure for performing network share backups includes the steps outlined in the following sections:

•
Prerequisites
•
Configuring a network share
•
Configuring a login account for network share
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Backing up network share data
Prerequisites

Before you start a Network Share Backup, verify that the following requirements are met:

•
Use the “soft” mount option: When backing up NFS shares, use the “soft” mount option for mount points.
When you use the “soft” mount option, the Plug‑in for FileSystem terminates an operation and reports an error when an NFS request is timed out. Thus, if the plug-in is trying to access a stale mount point, the operation is terminated after the request is timed out.
With the “soft” mount option, you can set the timeo=<value> and retrans=n options:
•
The retrans option determines the number of times a request is retried before an error is reported. The default value for retrans is three.
•
The timeo option specifies the number of seconds to wait before a retransmission is sent. The default value for timeo may vary depending on the OS, but it is typically 600 seconds.
After setting these options, we recommend that you perform a test by browsing a stale mount point (use the command ls <mount point>) to verify that the request is timed out after the specified interval.
For more information about the mount command and the available options, see the relevant OS documentation.
When you use the “hard” mount option, an NFS request is tried indefinitely, causing the plug-in to wait indefinitely.
If you use the “hard” mount option and the machine exporting the NFS share is not on the network, the plug-in job accessing the “stale” mount point stops responding. When this issue occurs, kill the nvfs process using kill -9 or end the process from the Windows Task Manager. The Job Manager Process associated with the job terminates after the timeout period (usually 300 seconds). Until this timeout has elapsed, you cannot use the Run now method to run the job because the instance is considered active until the Job Manager exits.
•
Grant “change” privileges for Incremental Backups: When performing Incremental Backups of network shares, the user that has been configured to log on to a particular share must be given “change” permissions to the shared folder. If you do not grant this permission, the job instance repeatedly backs up the modified files because the plug-in is unable to update the file attribute to indicate that the file has been backed up.
Configuring a network share

To back up a shared folder on a non-NetVault Client, you must configure a network share on the NetVault Client from which you want to perform the backup job.

To configure a network share:
1
Start the Backup Job Wizard, and click Create New next to the Selections list.
2
On the NetVault Selections page, open the applicable client, and then open File System.
•
Select Network Shares and click Add Network Share.
3
In the Add New Network Share dialog box, specify file path for the shared drive in the following format:
\\<IP Address or Resolvable Network Name>\<Share Name>\
 
* 
NOTE: It is not recommended to execute Backup and Restore jobs on the hidden share locations. For example, \\<IP Address or Resolvable Network Name>\C$\, where C$ is the hidden share location.
4
Click Add to add the network share and close the dialog box.
Configuring a login account for network share
To configure a user account to log on to the network share:
1
On the NetVault Selections page, select Network Shares, and click Connect As.
2
In the Connection Details dialog box, provide the following information:
•
Domain: Type the Windows Domain name for the system that contains the shared folders.
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Username: Type a Domain Administrator user name. The network share backups must be performed using a Domain Administrator account to fully retrieve the file and directory permissions during a restore. A user belonging to the Administrators Group does not have the Domain Administrator privileges.
 
* 
NOTE: If a Non-Domain Administrator account is configured for backups, the file and directory permissions must be set manually after a restore.
•
Password: Type the password for the user account.
3
Click OK to save the connection details and close the dialog box.
Backing up network share data
To back up network share data:
1
On the NetVault Selections page, double-click Network Shares.
2
Select the data that you want to back up.
•
Back up all network shares: Select the Network Shares node.
•
Back up individual shared folders: Select the check boxes corresponding to the items that you want to back up.
•
Back up individual items: Open the parent node. Browse through the directory tree, and locate the items that you want to back up.
To include a file or a directory, select the corresponding check box. When you select a parent node, all the child items within the node are automatically included in the backup.
•
Exclude child items: To exclude a file or directory within a selected parent node, click the corresponding check box to replace the check mark with a cross.
Click Save to create a Backup Selection Set.
3
On the Backup Job Wizard page, specify a name for the job.
4
Complete Step 4 through Step 6 in Performing Full Backups.
5
To perform Incremental or Differential Backups, see Performing Incremental and Differential Backups

Performing System State Backups

To back up System State data:
1
Start the Backup Job Wizard.
2
In Job Name, specify a name for the job.
3
Click Create New next to the Selections list, and then on the NetVault Selections page, open System State.
4
Select the data that you want to back up:
•
Back up System State data: To back up only the System State data, select System State.
•
Back up for disaster recovery: To use the backup for disaster recovery purposes, select Fixed Drive or C Drive and System State.
 
* 
NOTE: The Plug‑in for FileSystem lets you select individual System State components, but we recommend that you back up all System State components together.
 
* 
IMPORTANT: On Domain Controllers, you must always include C Drive in System State backups and restores. When you include the C Drive, all information about the Group Policy Objects (GPOs) is included during backups and restores.

If you back up or restore only the System State data, you cannot edit the GPOs that are restored from the backups. When you try to edit the restored GPO, the following error message is displayed:

“Failed to open the Group Policy Object. You may not have appropriate rights.”

5
Complete Step 4 through Step 6 in Performing Full Backups.
System State backups: Additional notes
•
Only the SYSVOL and System Files components can be truly included in an Incremental or a Differential Backup. The remaining components are always backed up in full regardless of the backup type you select. Similarly, when you perform a backup consolidation using the Plug-in for Consolidation, the new reference point only applies to the SYSVOL and System Files components.
•
On Windows Server 2008 and Windows 2008 R2, a fault in the VSS can cause the plug-in to randomly omit files from a System State Backup. This issue occurs when the ImagePath property for a service entry in the Windows Registry uses a forward slash character (“/”) or a relative path in the file path. This issue may also be observed in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
To resolve this issue, you must identify and correct the invalid entries in the Windows Registry. You can use the Microsoft System Information (Msinfo32.exe) Tool and Windows Registry Editor (regedit.exe) for this purpose.
To correct the registry entries:
1
Click Start on the taskbar. Point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click System Information.
Alternatively, click Start on the taskbar, and select Run. In the Run window, type msinfo32, and then click OK.
2
Under System Summary, click Software Environment, and then select Services.
3
Examine Path on the right-hand pane.
4
After identifying the invalid entries, open the Windows Registry Editor (regedit.exe) to edit the ImagePath.
To open the registry editor, click Start on the taskbar, and select Run. In the Run window, type regedit, and then click OK.
5
In the Registry Editor window, locate the invalid entries. These entries are usually located under the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services.
 
* 
NOTE: The ImagePath property stores the path to the executable program for a service. The path to the executable program can also be viewed on the General tab of the Services console which can be accessed from Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.
6
Replace the forward slash character (“/”) with the backslash character (“\”), and change the relative paths to absolute paths.
•
On Windows 2008, if a System State Backup fails with the error “Failed to add extra items to the selection tree,” it could be due to the following reasons:
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The VSS system writer is missing, modified, or in an unstable state.
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The plug-in does not have sufficient permissions for enumerating or accessing the VSS writer.
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The plug-in is forced to use the VSS writer provided by an application, such as SQL Server or Exchange Server.
For more information about this issue and possible solutions, see the KB article https://support.quest.com/kb/SOL81588.

 

Restoring data

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Restoring data using the plug-in
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Searching for files in savesets
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Restoring an item using the Quick Save feature
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Viewing media list
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Renaming and relocating data during restore
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Restoring data to an alternate client
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Restoring System State Backups

Restoring data using the plug-in

To restore data using the plug-in:
1
In the Navigation pane, click Create Restore Job.
On the Create Restore Job — Choose Saveset page, the saveset table provides a list of available savesets. The table shows the saveset name (Job Title and Saveset ID), creation date and time, saveset size, and saveset status.
The saveset status is indicated using the following icons.
 
Icon
Description

Saveset is online (all segments are online).

Saveset is partially online (some segments are online).

Saveset is offline (all segments are offline).

The saveset list is sorted alphabetically by saveset name. You can sort the list by a different column or reverse the sort order by clicking the column heading. The arrowhead next to the column name indicates the sort order.
You can click Load more to load the next set of records, if available. Each load action fetches a maximum of 5000 records. This button is disabled if there are no more records to load.
By default, the table is sorted by creation date and time. You can sort the table by one or more columns, as required.
NetVault web application supports multiple-column sorting for the tables. However, the first sorted column takes the highest precedence over the sorting of other columns. For example, if the table is sorted by the ‘Start Time’ as the primary sort, selecting sort options on the ‘ID/ Instance/ Phase’ column does not affect the list order.
To sort by a column, click the column header; to change the sort direction, click the column header again. Repeat this step for other columns by which you want to sort the table.
The arrowhead next to the column name indicates the sorting order (up for ascending order and down for descending order). A blue arrowhead is used to indicate the sort order for the primary column.
To remove a sort, click the column header for the corresponding column until the arrowhead is no longer displayed.
To choose the following actions in a column, click the column menu:
 
Option
Description

Sort Ascending

Sorts the column in ascending order.

Sort Descending

Sorts the column in descending order.

Columns

Select/ clear to show/ hide the required column (s).

To set the filter options, view the page size setting, sorting order in the table, export the records, or edit table settings, click the icons at the lower- right corner of the table.
For more information, see the topic on customizing tables in the NetVault WebUI in the Quest NetVault Administrator’s Guide.
2
Select the saveset that you want to use, and click Next.
When you select a saveset, the following details are displayed in the Saveset Information area: Job ID, job title, tag, server name, client name, plug-in name, saveset date and time, retirement setting, Incremental Backup or not, archive or not, and saveset size.
3
On the Create Selection Set page, select the data that you want to restore:
•
Restore entire saveset: Select the primary or the root node.
•
Restore individual items: Open the parent node. Browse through the directory tree, and locate the files that you want to restore. To include a file or a directory, select the corresponding check box. When you select a parent node, all the child items within the node are automatically included in the restore job.
•
Exclude child items: To exclude a file or directory within a selected parent node, click the corresponding check box to replace the check mark with a cross.
 
* 
NOTE: To restore data from a persistent snapshot, no additional steps are required. The plug-in automatically obtains the snapshot information from the backup index. If the snapshot is available, the plug-in mounts it locally and restores the selected data from the snapshot. If the snapshot is unavailable, the plug-in restores the data from the storage media. For persistent snapshot only, restore fails if snapshot is unavailable.
4
On the Create Selection Set page, click Edit Plugin Options, and configure the following options.
 
Table 6. NetVault Restore Options
Option
Description

Overwrite Newer Files

By default, the plug-in overwrites existing files on the restore destination with the backed-up version in the saveset.

If you do not want to overwrite the existing files, clear this check box.

Reset File Timestamps

By default, timestamps for restored files are reset to what is recorded in the backup saveset.

To restore the files with current timestamp, clear the check box.

Reset Directory Timestamps

By default, directories are restored with current timestamp.

To reset the timestamp to what is recorded in the saveset, select this check box. To use this option, you must also select the Reset File Timestamps check box.

Attempt to Restore Hard Links

To re-establish the links when you restore hard-linked files, select this option. This check box is only available on the Linux and UNIX OS.

Restore Files Modified During Backup

To restore the files that were marked “in flux” during backup, select this check box.

Path to Restore Log

To generate a restore log file, type the filename. The log file provides a list of files that are selected for a restore. The files that are restored successfully are marked with an “o” and the others are marked with an “x.” If you specify an existing filename, the plug-in overwrites the file. The log file is created in CSV file format (.csv), and includes details such as file size, date modified, and file type.

Exclusion List Path

To use an exclusion list, type the full path to the file.

For more information about exclusion lists, see Exclusion lists.

Restore Meta Data

To restore the metadata on Linux and UNIX systems, select the appropriate option:

•
Compatible: By default, the plug-in restores the metadata only if it is compatible with the current file system. On Mac OS X, at least one of the following requirements must be met to use this option:
Both the backup source and the restore target should be running Mac OS X 10.4.0 or later.
Both the backup source and the restore target should be running the same major version of Mac OS X. For example, you can restore backups from Mac OS X 10.3.2 to 10.3.5.
•
Force: Select this option to force the plug-in to restore the metadata regardless of its compatibility with the current file system. On Mac OS X, the following requirements must be met to use this option:
- The backup should be from a Mac system.
- The backup should not be old.
•
Discard: If you do not want to restore the metadata, select this option.
5
Click OK to save the settings, and then click Next.
6
On the Create Restore Job page, specify a name for the job. Assign a descriptive name that allows you to easily identify the job for monitoring its progress.
A job name can contain alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric characters, but it cannot contain non-Latin characters. There is no length restriction. However, a maximum of 40 characters is recommended on all platforms.
7
In the Target Client list, the client from which data was backed up is selected by default. Do not change this setting.
8
Select or create the Schedule Set, Restore Source Set, and Advanced Options Set. For more information about these sets, see the Quest NetVault Administrator’s Guide.
9
Click Submit to submit the job for scheduling.
You can monitor the job progress from the Job Status page and view the logs from the View Logs page. For more information about these functions, see the Quest NetVault Administrator’s Guide.
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