NetVault Bare Metal Recovery 11.1 - User Guide for Plug-ins

Prerequisites for restoring to a physical machine with Plug-in Live Client for Windows

The restore procedure for a Plug-in Live Client backup is a delicate operation. Before setting up and running a restore, the following prerequisites must be met.

Volumes that are encrypted using BitLocker on Windows Server® 2008 clients lose encryption after restore. If you are using BitLocker, enable encryption again when you restore the machine.

Windows® uses VSS persistent snapshots to implement shadow copies in Windows Server® 2008. When restored, Windows does not properly recognize these shadow copies. They can become orphaned and consume disk space.

Microsoft® does not recommend backing up shadow copies. However, the Plug-in Live Client performs backups at the block level so there is no way to prevent the backup of snapshot files. Manually delete the snapshot files and enable shadow copies on the recovered volume again.

For instructions on deleting shadow copies, see: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc776119.aspx

For instructions on enabling shadow copies, see: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc776483.aspx

In addition, Dell recommends limiting the amount of space allocated to shadow copies to 300 megabytes (MB). This step deletes the cache files. Alternatively, disable shadow copies.

For further information on Microsoft-recommended best practices for shadow copies, see: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753975.aspx

Windows Server® 2008 automatically assigns drive letters to new-found partitions following a restore. This behavior can be controlled by using the diskpart.exe command. For more information, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773140.aspx.

The target device name on the NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client, for example, “Disk 0 (IDE),” must be the same as it was at the time of backup.

Boot the target NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client with the Plug-in Offline Client to prepare it for the restore of a DR image. To complete the boot process, perform the steps covered in Booting a NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client with Plug-in Offline Client.

Have the information noted in Verifying Disk Geometry and Device Size for use with Plug-in Live Client for Windows handy to complete the restore. This information helps ensure that you back up the correct data.

The NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client machine that is to serve as a target for the restore must be accessible to the Plug-in Server. The topic that follows outlines the required steps for this verification.

NOTE: Dell recommends that the target machine for the restore has the same hardware configuration as the original machine.

Restore procedure for restoring data with Plug-in Live Client for Windows

The following topics illustrate how to restore a Plug-in Live Client backup to a physical machine.

The final steps include setting additional options on the Schedule, Source Options, and Advanced Options pages, submitting the job, and monitoring the progress through the Job Status and View Logs pages. These pages and options are common to all NetVault Backup Plug-ins. For more information, see the Dell NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide.

TIP: You can also click Choose, and then locate and select the applicable client in the Choose the Target Client dialog box.

NOTE: Be aware of the following: • When entering a name in the Restore Name field, ensure that the value used is the NetVault Backup machine name for the target machine, taking case sensitivity into account. The NetVault Backup machine name can be found in the Manage Clients page. • As mentioned earlier, route a restore of this type through the NetVault Backup Server to use its locally installed Plug-in Server components. This step writes all restored data to the machine named in the Restore Name field, not to the NetVault Backup Server. • If you select either of the inject driver-related options, NetVault Bare Metal Recovery attempts to inject the drivers into every disk during the restore process. • After you restore the system, it displays the Windows® Error Recovery screen when it is started the first time. This behavior is expected, and you can opt to start Windows normally.

Restoring data as a VMDK Image with Plug-in Live Client for Windows

The following topic details the procedures required to recover a Plug-in Live Client backup to a VMDK Image, which you can then attach to a VM created from a VMware. This process lets you convert the backup of a physical machine to a VM.

Plug-in Server must be installed on the NetVault Backup Server.

This procedure includes the steps outlined in the following topics:

Selecting data for a restore as a VMDK Image with Plug-in Live Client for Windows

IMPORTANT: If restoring to a VMDK Image, select both Master Boot Record & System Partition and the individual partitions or the restore job fails.