Backup Software

NAKIVO Backup and Replication v7.4 Instant File Recovery to Source

The new NAKIVO Backup and Replication v7.4 Instant File Recovery to Source is a great new feature that allows directly recovering files to the source server where the image-level backup was taken.

As we have already covered, there are many great new features released with NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4.ย  One of the powerful features introduced was the Instant File Recovery to Source feature.ย  Prior to the 7.4 release, you had to either Download or Email the recovered file to be able to restore it.ย  While this certainly fits a number of use cases and needs, most will want to recover files directly to the source server where the file restore is needed. The new Instant File Recovery to Source shortcuts that process and allows immediately restoring the file where the restoration needs to happen – the source server. Let’s take a closer look at NAKIVO Backup and Replication v7.4 Instant File Recovery to Source and how the Instant File Recovery to Source process works.

NAKIVO Backup and Replication v7.4 Instant File Recovery to Source

One of the great things to point out about NAKIVO Backup & Replication is that it uses VMware’s CBT technology which means the image-level backups are extremely efficient.ย  Only those blocks that have changed since the last backup are copied over in the new backup iteration.ย  File level restores work off this backup efficiency that is built into NAKIVO Backup & Replication.

NAKIVO-Backup-Replication-efficiently-uses-VMware-CBT-to-incrementally-store-changes-to-servers
NAKIVO Backup & Replication efficiently uses VMware CBT to incrementally store changes to servers
Beginning-the-NAKIVO-Instant-File-Recovery-to-source-process
Beginning the NAKIVO Instant File Recovery to source process

This begins the process of theย File Recovery Wizard in the NAKIVO console.ย  This is a quick and easy five step process that allows the quick file recoveries to source servers.ย  Step 1 in the process is where you select the server backup and then also the specific backup recovery point you wish to recover files from.

Starting-the-File-Recovery-Wizard-in-NAKIVO
Starting the File Recovery Wizard in NAKIVO

Inย Step 2, we find the new functionality of the Instant File Recovery to source.ย  You can now choose the option toย Recover to the following server (Beta).ย  To use this option, you need to haveย credentials that are able to authenticate to the server and interact with the guest operating system.ย  If you have not already added credentials that will authenticate to the guest operating system, choose theย Manage credentials link at the bottom of theย Recovery Server screen.

Choosing-the-Recovery-Server-in-NAKIVO-Backup-Replication-File-Recovery-Wizard
Choosing the Recovery Server in NAKIVO Backup & Replication File Recovery Wizard

This will take you to theย Manage Credentials dialog box where you select theย Add Credentials button.

Adding-Credentials-to-the-Manage-Credentials-Dialog-box
Adding Credentials to the Manage Credentials Dialog box

After adding the username and password for the new user that has permissions to the guest operating system to recover files, click theย Save button.

Adding-a-new-username-and-password-to-the-NAKIVO-credential-manager
Adding a new username and password to the NAKIVO credential manager

You will now see the newly added credentials in theย Manage Credentialsย box.

After-adding-the-credentials-you-will-see-them-listed-in-the-NAKIVO-credential-manager
After adding the credentials you will see them listed in the NAKIVO credential manager

Now, you can choose theย Recovery Server which is the target of the file recovery operation (source of the files when the backup was ran) to restore the files to.ย  Theย Username allows pulling down the dropdown and selecting the credentials you just added in the Manage Credentials dialog box.ย  You can then run theย Test Connection process which allows testing authentication to the server.

Selecting-the-Recovery-Server-and-Credentials-to-connect-to-recover-to-source
Selecting the Recovery Server and Credentials to connect to recover to source

You should quickly see a “blue checkbox” as shown below which verifies NAKIVO can authenticate to the guest operating system running in the virtual machine.

The-connection-to-the-NAKIVO-recovery-server-is-successful
The connection to the NAKIVO recovery server is successful

Moving on toย Step 3, this is where you can browse theย Files that are contained in the backup and recovery point.

NAKIVO-files-dashboard-in-Step-3-of-the-File-Recovery-Wizard
NAKIVO files dashboard in Step 3 of the File Recovery Wizard

Select the file(s) that you wish to recover using the NAKIVO File Recovery Wizard.ย  Here we are simply selecting a small “desktop.ini” file to test functionality.ย  After selecting the files to restore, selectย Next to move onto theย Options screen in the File Recovery Wizard.

Expanding-the-folders-and-files-to-choose-files-to-recover
Expanding the folders and files to choose files to recover

There are a couple of options in the initialย Optionsย screen:

  • Recovery to original location
  • Recover to custom location
The-NAKIVO-File-Recovery-Wizard-Options-Screen-choosing-file-recovery-location
The NAKIVO File Recovery Wizard Options Screen choosing file recovery location

In theย Overwrite behavior you can control the behavior of the file recovery process if the file already exists in the destination.ย  The options are:

  • Rename recovered item if such item exists
  • Skip recovered item if such item exists
  • Overwrite the orginal item if such item exists
NAKIVO-File-Recovery-Wizard-Overwrite-behavior
NAKIVO File Recovery Wizard Overwrite behavior

If Recover to custom location is selected, the overwrite options are the same.

Restore-to-a-custom-location-and-overwrite-behavior
Restore to a custom location and overwrite behavior

After selecting the restore location and the overwrite behavior options, clicking next takes you to the final screen –ย Finish.ย  This initiates the actual file recovery operation.ย  Also, in this screen, you will see theย Activities hyperlink that takes you to the jobs status screen, showing progress of the file recovery operation.

Finishing-the-File-Recovery-Wizard-process-and-starting-the-file-recovery
Finishing the File Recovery Wizard process and starting the file recovery

As you can see below, theย File recovery to “win2016test” VMย shows to beย Running.

The-NAKIVO-Activities-dashboard-shows-the-running-recovery-process
The NAKIVO Activities dashboard shows the running recovery process

After a few moments the status changes toย Completed.ย  At this point the file recovery operation is complete, with the file being restored to the desired state from the NAKIVO image-level backup.

The-NAKIVO-File-Recovery-Process-completes
The NAKIVO File Recovery Process completes

If you click on the hyperlink for theย Past Activitiesย job name, you can eitherย Restart orย Remove the task from the activites.ย  This is extremely handy, if you have a file that needs to be repeatedly reset, perhaps in relation to a development environment, etc.

Restart-or-Remove-the-job-in-the-NAKIVO-Activities-screen
Restart or Remove the job in the NAKIVO Activities screen

Takeaways

The new NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4 functionality that includes instant file recovery to source is a great new addition to the already long list of new features v7.4 contains. Being able to restore files to the source server without having to first either download the file or email the file to an email account, is a welcomed addition. While there are use cases where the former may be handy, being able to restore directly to the source server is typically what most environments will want to do. Additionally this eliminates any issues with either browsers or email accounts if the file is extremely large.ย  This newly added feature in v7.4 brings NAKIVO on par with the other major players in the data protection field as they are certainly listening to the needs of the customers.ย  Stay tuned for more detailed coverage of NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.4 functionality.

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Brandon Lee

Brandon Lee is the Senior Writer, Engineer and owner at Virtualizationhowto.com, and a 7-time VMware vExpert, with over two decades of experience in Information Technology. Having worked for numerous Fortune 500 companies as well as in various industries, He has extensive experience in various IT segments and is a strong advocate for open source technologies. Brandon holds many industry certifications, loves the outdoors and spending time with family. Also, he goes through the effort of testing and troubleshooting issues, so you don't have to.

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