5 1 0:Installing guestfs-tools on Linux

Overview

On Linux, SEP sesam single file restore (SFR) from virtualization platform backups, e.g., VMware vSphere, requires the guestfs-tools package to be installed to be able to access and mount the file system of an image on Linux. If the package is not installed on your SEP sesam Server or RDS Linux server, you cannot mount the VMDK and consequently, perform a single file restore.

To learn more about the guestfs-tools, see libguestfs tools for accessing and modifying virtual machine disk images.

Installing guestfs-tools package

Use the command line to install the guestfs-tools package according to your specific Linux distributions, i.e., SLES, Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL, or CentOS. For details on Linux installation, see SEP sesam Quick Install Guide.

Depending on your Linux distribution, specify the relevant command:

• On SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server)

zypper install guestfs-tools

• On Debian and Ubuntu

apt-get install libguestfs-tools

• On RHEL and CentOS

yum install libguestfs-tools

Restrictions and extra steps required on RHEL/CentOS

Due to restrictions on RHEL mounting Windows VMs will not work. Check the libguestfs FAQ for more information.

Additional steps are required on RHEL and its derivatives for single file restore to work:

1. Open /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf and change the variable user from qemu to root.
2. Restart the service libvirtd, by using

 systemctl restart libvirtd

3. Add a new line to /usr/lib64/guestfs/supermin.d/packages containing libgpg-error.
4. Remove old guestmount appliances

 rm -rf /var/tmp/.guestfs-*

5. Test if the guestmount appliance builds without error by running the following

 libguestfs-test-tool 

This has to exit with

 ===== TEST FINISHED OK =====

If selinux is set to enforcing, guestfs-tools cannot access the virtual hard disks provided by SEP sesam, so mount will still fail.

Extra steps required on SUSE

1. Install augeas augeas-lenses e2fsprogs on your SEP sesam Server or RDS Linux server.
2. Add new lines to /usr/lib64/guestfs/supermin.d/packages containing the following

 libaugeas0
 augeas
 augeas-lenses

To use guestmount on SLES 15 SP4, run the following commands on the SEP sesam Server:

• echo '/usr/lib64/libgcrypt.so*' > /usr/lib64/guestfs/supermin.d/zz-libgcrypt
• echo '/usr/lib64/libgpg-error.so*' > /usr/lib64/guestfs/supermin.d/zz-libgpg-error

Checking the guestmount capabilities on your system

To check whether guestmount works on your system, run

libguestfs-test-tool

If the last line is

===== TEST FINISHED OK =====

guestmount works correctly.

You can check what things guestmount currently supports on your system, by running

guestfish -a /dev/null run : supported

on your SEP sesam Server or the SEP sesam RDS, where the savesets you want to mount are located.

This will show you whether VMs with filesystems like btrfs or ntfs can be mounted. You may add this functionality by installing the required packages on your system. You also have to add lines for these package names to

/usr/lib64/guestfs/supermin.d/packages

on the system.

Known issues

If you have problems with VMs single file restore, check the Troubleshooting Guide.

External reference

libguestfs tools for accessing and modifying virtual machine disk images

See also

Web Single File Restore for Virtual Machines – SEP sesam Quick Install Guide

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