You can use ADSM to restore backup versions of specific files, a group of files with similar names, or entire directories.
You can choose the files you want to restore either by using a file specification (the path, name, and extension of the file) or choosing the files or directories from a directory list, or by using a subdirectory path to restore a directory and its subdirectories.
If you have the ADSM HSM client installed on your workstation, you can set the RESTOREMIGSTATE option to restore migrated and premigrated files to a migrated or resident state. For more information about using the RESTOREMIGSTATE option, see Restoremigstate. Also see ADSTAR Distributed Storage Manager Using the UNIX Hierarchical Storage Management Clients for detailed information about restoring migrated files.
Your administrator determines how many backup versions ADSM maintains for each file on your workstation. Frequently, the administrator has ADSM maintain more than one version of each file. Having multiple versions of a file allows you to restore older versions in case the most recent backup is damaged.
ADSM considers the most recent backup version to be the active version. The most recent backup version is considered an inactive version if the file was deleted or excluded at the client and an incremental backup was run. Any other backup version is considered an inactive version.
Every time ADSM backs up your files, it marks the new backup version the active backup, and it changes what used to be the active backup to an inactive backup. When the maximum number of inactive versions is reached, ADSM deletes the oldest inactive version.
If you want to restore a backup version that is inactive, you need to tell ADSM to show both active and inactive versions. Do this by clicking on the View menu; Show active and inactive files item. You can change back to showing only active versions using Show active files only from the same menu.
If you try to restore both an active and inactive version of a file at the same time, only the active version is restored.
You can copy a version of a backup file from a storage pool to your workstation or file server without affecting the backup copy in the storage pool. If you know the name of the file you want to restore, or you know at least part of the name, you can use the name to restore the file. Restoring a file using a name is much like backing one up. The windows are similar, except you are selecting files to restore rather than to back up. To restore a file by its file name:
If the directory structure does not exist at the target of the restore, it is created before any file is restored.
You can use a directory tree to display only those backup versions that match search criteria you specify. Restoring a file by filtering the directory tree is similar to backing one up. To restore a file using directory tree filtering:
If you want to restore backup versions of individual files or subdirectories:
This section discusses some advanced considerations for restoring data. You do not need to understand this information in order to use ADSM for basic work.
You can use the RESTORE command to restore files. Indicate the file you want restored and where you want to restore it. If you do not indicate a destination, the files are restored to their original location.
For example, to restore the /home/jones/h1.doc file to its original directory, use:
dsmc restore /home/jones/h1.doc
To restore it under a new name, use:
dsmc restore /home/jones/h1.doc /home/jones/h2.doc
If the file you are restoring no longer resides on your workstation, and you have run an incremental backup since deleting the file, there is no active backup of the file on the server. In this case, you need to use the LATEST option to tell the server to restore the most recent backup version. If you do not want the most recent version, use the PICK and INACTIVE options to get a list of backups from which you can choose.
For example, if you want to restore the latest version of the deleted file /home/jones/h1.doc, use:
dsmc restore /home/jones/h1.doc -latest
Add the SUBDIR=YES option to the command if you need to restore the files in a directory and all of its subdirectories. For example, if you are recovering an entire file system (the /home file system in this case), you can restore all of the files using:
dsmc restore /home/ -subdir=yes
When an entire directory or directory tree is restored, and the inactive, latest, pick, todate, and fromdate options are not specified on the restore command, ADSM keeps track of which objects have been restored. If the restore process is interrupted for any reason, you can restart the restore at the point of interruption by issuing the restart restore command. It is possible to create more than one restartable restore sessions. Use the query restore command to display a list of your restartable restore sessions in the server database. The existance of a restartable restore inhibits further backups of that file system until the restartable restore is completed using the restart restore command or the restartable restore is dropped using the cancel restore command.
See Restore for more information.
You can authorize another user on the same workstation or a different workstation to restore backup versions or retrieve archive copies of your files. This allows you to share files with other people or with other workstations that you use with a different ADSM node name. To authorize a user on another workstation to restore or retrieve your files, the other workstation must be running one of the ADSM UNIX clients.
To authorize another user to restore or retrieve your files:
You can also work with your authorization list using the SET ACCESS command. Use the QUERY ACCESS command to see your current list, and DELETE ACCESS to delete users from the list.
For more information on the commands, see:
After users grant you access to their files on the server, you can restore or retrieve those files to your local system. You can display another user's filespaces on the ADSM server, restore the other user's backup versions, or retrieve the other user's archive copies to your local drives.
If you are using commands, use the FROMNODE and FROMOWNER options to indicate the node name and the name of the user who owns the files.
For example, to restore files to one of your own file systems that were backed up from a workstation named Cougar and owned by a user named Jones, enter:
dsmc restore -fromn=cougar -fromo=jones "/home/proj/*" /home/smith/
Use the QUERY FILESPACE command to get a list of file spaces (see Query Filespace). For example, to get a list of file spaces owned by Jones on Cougar, use:
dsmc query filespace -fromn=cougar -fromo=jones
For more information about using the FROMNODE and FROMOWNER options with the RESTORE command, see Restore. See Retrieve for the RETRIEVE command.
ADSM lets you restore or retrieve files you back up from your own workstation when you are using a different workstation. You must know the ADSM password for your original workstation.
To restore or retrieve files to another workstation, use the VIRTUALNODENAME option to specify the node name of the workstation from which you backed up the files. VIRTUALNODENAME cannot be set to the hostname of the machine which ADSM is running on. You can either use the VIRTUALNODENAME option when starting ADSM, or update the client user options file. (Use the VIRTUALNODENAME option on the dsm command if you are borrowing someone else's machine so you do not change their configuration).
For example, if your node name is cougar, use:
dsm -virtualnodename=cougar
ADSM prompts you for the password for your original workstation. After you enter the correct password, ADSM displays all file systems from your original workstation in the File Systems for Restore/Retrieve section of the File System Information window. You can then restore or retrieve files as if you were working on your original workstation.
Attention: When you use this method to access files, you have access to all files backed up and archived from your workstation. You are considered a virtual root user by ADSM.
You can use VIRTUALNODENAME on ADSM commands, too. For example, you can restore your projx files using:
dsmc restore -virtualnodename=cougar "/home/jones/projx/*"
If you do not want to restore or retrieve the files to the same directory name on the alternate workstation, enter a different destination.
The considerations for retrieving files are the same as for restoring them.
ADSM can recover your files only if you can run the ADSM client. If the file system that contains the client is lost (from theft or hardware failure, for example), you must reinstall the client before you can recover your files. If you also lose the file system that contains the operating system and communication software, you must recover them before you can connect to the ADSM server.
To protect yourself against these kinds of losses, you need to put together a set of installation media that you can use to restore your system to a state that permits you to contact the ADSM server and begin recovering data. The installation media should contain:
The exact files you need differ depending on the communication package you use. Consult your operating system and communication software manuals for help in setting up your installation media.
If you also have ADSM HSM installed on your workstation, your installation media should include the ADSM HSM command-line client. For information about restoring migrated files, see Using the UNIX HSM Clients
| Note: | Your ADSM administrator can schedule restore operations. This can be especially useful when you need to restore a large number of files. |
If you need to restore a large number of files, you can get faster performance by using the RESTORE command instead of the GUI. In addition, you can improve performance by issuing multiple RESTORE commands at one time.
For example, to restore all the files in your /home file space, you could enter:
dsmc restore /home/ -subdir=yes -replace=all -tapeprompt=no
However, if you issue multiple commands for the directories in the /home file space, ADSM can restore the files faster.
For example, you could issue these commands:
dsmc restore /home/jones/ -subdir=yes -replace=all -tapeprompt=no dsmc restore /home/smith/ -subdir=yes -replace=all -tapeprompt=no dsmc restore /home/brown/ -subdir=yes -replace=all -tapeprompt=no
You can also choose to use the QUIET option with the RESTORE commands to save processing time. However, you will not receive informational messages for individual files.
| Note: | If you already have the appropriate values set for the SUBDIR, REPLACE, TAPEPROMPT, and QUIET options in your client user options file, you do not need to include those options in the commands. |
When you issue multiple commands to restore your files, you must specify a unique part of the file space in each RESTORE command. Be sure that you do not use any overlapping file specifications in the commands.
To display a list of the directories in a file space, use the QUERY BACKUP command. For example:
dsmc query backup -dirsonly -subdir=no /usr/
As a general rule, you can issue from two to four RESTORE commands at one time. The maximum number you can run at one time without degrading performance depends on factors such as how much memory you have and network utilization.
The speed at which ADSM can restore the files also depends on how many tape drives are available, and whether your administrator is using collocation to keep file spaces assigned to as few volumes as possible.
For example, if /home/jones and /home/smith are on the same tape, the restore for /home/smith must wait until the restore for /home/jones is complete. However, if /home/brown is on a different tape, and there are at least two tape drives available, the restore for /home/brown can begin at the same time as the restore for /home/jones.
If your administrator is using collocation, the number of sequential access media mounts required for restore operations is also reduced.
If your ADSM administrator gives you the authority, you can delete entire file spaces from the server. When you delete a file space, you delete all the files, both backup versions and archive copies, that are contained within the file space. For example, if you delete the file space for your /home/jones file system, you are deleting every backup for every file in that file system, and every file you archived from that file system.
Carefully consider what you are doing before you attempt to delete a file space. You cannot delete individual backup versions kept on the ADSM server.
Click on Utilities if you do not need a file space. Then click on Delete filespaces. A delete confirmation request prompt displays.
You can also remove a file space using the delete filespace command.
A point-in-time restore filters files that were backed up to a server and restores these files. The filtered file can exclude files that an incremental backup reports as deleted or excluded at the client. A point-in-time restore can eliminate the effect of data corruption, or recover a basic configuration to a prior condition.
To start a point-in-time restore from the ADSM backup-archive GUI, select the Point-in-Time date from the Restore window. A point-in-time restore can be started from the ADSM backup-archive command line client using the pitdate and pittime command line options.
A point-in-time restore is supported on the filespace, directory, or file level. When a point-in-time restore is performed, files that were created on the client after the point-in-time date are not deleted.
Perform incremental backups on an ADSM V3 server in order to support a point-in-time restore. The ADSM server is only notified when files are deleted from a client filespace or directory during an incremental backup. Selective and incremental by date backups do not notify the server about deleted files. Run incremental backups at a frequency consistant with possible restore requirements. A point-in-time restore will restore files deleted after the point-in-time date, but not files deleted before. ADSM restores file versions from the most recent backup before the specidifed point-in-time date. Ensure the point-in-time date and time is not in the middle of a backup.
The point-in-time command line options, pitdate and pittime, are used with the query and restore commands. For example, when pitdate and pittime are used with the QUERY BACKUP command, the date and time values specified in the pitdate and pittime parameters are used to establish the point-in-time for which file information is returned. When pitdate and pittime are used with the RESTORE command, the date and time values specified in the pitdate and pittime parameters are used to establish the point-in-time for which files are returned. If pitdate is specified without a pittime value, pittime defaults to 23:59:59. If pittime is specified without a pitdate value it is ignored.
The point-in-time restore function is also available on the Restore window of the ADSM client GUI. To use this function, select the Point-in-Time button from the Restore window. Select the Date, Time, and Use a Point in Time date during restore options on the Point in Time Restore window. Select OK.
The WebShell client Restore Selection web page provides both restore information and actions. It states the name of the accessed workstation. It lists the file spaces backed up to the ADSM server and the date and time of their last incremental backup. By default the file spaces listed will be those of the accessed workstation. However, via the Change Node action, the file spaces displayed will be those of the specified node. The Restore Selection web page also provides two types of actions: actions relative to a selected file space and general actions.
The actions relative to a selected file system are:
| Note: | An input field is provided so that you can enter the fully qualified path name of a directory to view via View Restore Menu. |
The general actions are:
The date and time of the last successful incremental backup for each file system on the accessed workstation is displayed. If none of the dates and times are present, then one of the following conditions might exist:
If some of the dates and times are not present, then there have been no successful incremental backups for those file systems.
The purpose of WebShell client View Restore Menu is to list the directories and files that have been backed up for the selected file system, so as to obtain the backed up versions from the ADSM server.
Use the built in file manager to traverse the directories of this accessed workstation that are stored on the ADSM server. To change directories within the selected file system (e.g., from TCPIP to ADSM):
Displayed within the Directories selection box and the Files selection box are the directories and files, respectively, contained within the top directory of the selected file system. When a directory is changed, the directories and files displayed will be those contained within the changed directory.
Restore Path will display the fully qualified path from the top of the selected file system.
File Filter allows the display of files to be restricted. For example to only display the C++ source files within a directory, type *.cpp . Or to only display versions of config.sys, type config.* .
The and its sub-directories option will recursively descend directories allowing files within sub-directories to also be restored. The Overwrite existing files option overwrites a file if it is found to already exist during the restore operation. The Different destination directory option restores the selected objects to the directory entered. To turn one of these options, check its box. To turn it off, check its box again.
From the View Restore Menu you can restore:
To restore a specific file or a group of files:
To restore a specific directory (that is all the files within that directory):
To restore a specific tree (that is all the files within that directory and all its sub-directories):
To restore the files within the file system:
The results of the Restore operations will be displayed immediately following the redisplay of this Restore Operation form.