File level recovery of OES/NSS Volumes – Veeam Agent for Linux (VAL)
It was observed that when attempting to use Veeam B&R to deploy and manage a Veeam Agent for Linux backup job, that Veeam does not display any data within those volumes when attempting to perform a file-level recovery of that backup data. Furthermore, Veeam does NOT back up any of the data on those volumes. To effectively back up and restore the data on an OES/NSS volume, we have found the following process to be successful. While you will not be able to utilize the Veeam Explorer/File Level Recovery wizard to perform restorations of those files, the veeamconfig commands make it quick and easy to perform file-level recovery of data on OES/NSS volumes. Build the Backup Job with the Veeam Backup & Replication console Job Mode Select Server type here, and agent managed. It is critical that we build the job in Managed by agent mode; if we select the job to be managed by the backup server, we will be unable to mount the backup later in the restoration process due to file permission restrictions. Name the job to your desire, and select the appropriate machines to be backed up. To better understand creating protection groups for your VAL servers, please refer to Veeam’s documentation here — Creating Protection Groups – Veeam Agent Management Guide. Backup Mode For backup mode, we will select file level backup with the option checked to backup directly from the live file system. Objects For objects, this is where you will select the NSS volumes in which you desire to be backed up. For this demonstration, we will specify two directories that we need to be protected. Target For the target location for the backup, we are using the Veeam Backup & Replication server in which we are using to build the job. This is to your desire, though for centralized backups, we recommend keeping all backups on your main backup repository. Guest Processing For guest processing, we want to enable Application Aware Image Processing. This will utilize the credentials configured in the protection group for the agent’s installation. After the backup has processed, we can proceed to the next section, where we will restore files from the CLI of the machine in which we are protecting. Restoring Files and Folders on Linux protected by the Veeam Agent for Linux (VAL) The following text was excerpted from the Veeam Agent for Linux 5.0 official documentation, which can be viewed here — Restoring Files and Folders with Command Line Interface – Veeam Agent for Linux User Guide If some files and folders on your computer get lost or corrupted, you can restore them from backups. For file-level restore, you can use backups of any type: When you perform file-level restore, Veeam Agent publishes the backup content directly into the computer file system. You can browse to files and folders in the backup, restore files and folders to their initial location, copy files and folders to a new location or simply target applications to restored files and work with them as usual. With the Veeam Agent command line interface, you can restore files and folders in a more flexible way than with the use of the File Level Restore wizard. In particular, you can specify a directory in which Veeam Agent should mount the backup file content for file-level restore. You can also mount several backups to different directories to work with files and folders restored from different backups simultaneously. Before You Begin Before you begin the file-level restore process, check the following prerequisites: Step 1. Locate Backup To view a list of backups created by Veeam Agent, use the following command: In the list of backups, Veeam Agent displays information about all Veeam Agent for Linux backups stored in all backup repositories. If Veeam Agent is connected to a Veeam backup server, all Veeam Agent for Linux backups that are kept on Veeam backup repositories managed by this server also appear in this list. The –all parameter is optional. If you do not use this option, Veeam Agent displays information about backups created by the current Veeam Agent computer only. For security reasons, if you work with Veeam Agent connected to a Veeam backup server as a member of a protection group for pre-installed Veeam Agents, the veeamconfig backup list –all command will display backups created only by the current Veeam Agent computer with the current connection settings. For each backup, Veeam Agent displays the following information: Parameter Description Job name Host name of the computer on which the backup job was configured and name of the job by which the backup was created. Backup ID ID of the backup. Repository Name of the backup repository in which the backup was created. Imported backups are marked as Imported in the Repository column. Created at Date and time of the backup creation. For example: Step 2. Explore Backup Content For file-level restore, you can use backups of any type: To view detailed information about specific backup, use the following command: where: <backup_id> — ID of the backup for which you want to view detailed information. For a volume-level backup, Veeam Agent for Linux displays the following information: Parameter Description Machine name Host name of the computer on which the backup job was configured and name of the job by which the backup was created. Name Name of the volume in the backup. Device Path to the block device that represents the volume FS UUID File system ID Offset Position of the volume on the computer disk Size Size of the volume in the backup For a file-level backup, Veeam Agent for Linux displays the following information: Parameter Description Machine name Host name of the machine on which the backup job is configured and the name of the job. Backed up Backup scope for the file-level backup job For example: Step 3: Mount Backup To mount a backup for file-level restore, use the following command: where: <backup_id> — ID of the backup that you want to
