5 1 0:KVM QEMU Restore
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Overview
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SEP sesam provides efficient data protection for libvirt-based KVM virtualization by integrating into the libvirt layer of the virtualization system. KVM/QEMU integration allows you to back up and restore KVM/QEMU virtual machines on the single host systems.
Key features
- The restore of KVM VMs is simple, guided and similar to regular file system restore. Note that you can only restore one VM at a time.
- There are two ways to restore your KVM/QEMU virtual machines (VMs) in SEP sesam: using the GUI restore wizard or via the web interface Restore Assistant. Although most options are the same in both restore interfaces, the web Restore Assistant is more intuitive and offers additional advanced options.
- Scheduling restore is only supported in GUI mode. For details, see Scheduling Restore.
- Restore options:
- Restore of complete VM and its configuration.
- Restore of VM configuration.
- Restore into new VM instances.
- SEP sesam also provides a simple and flexible single file restore (SFR) for KVM via the GUI restore wizard or via the web interface Restore Assistant if you have the appropriate permissions. For more details on SFR, see KVM QEMU Single File Restore.
Prerequisites
Before you perform KVM/QEMU restore, check the following prerequisites:
- Depending on what you want to restore, make sure that you have the proper restore permissions and access rights. For details, see User Roles and Permissions.
- Make sure that there is sufficient free space on the target system to which you are restoring your data.
Restoring a KVM/QEMU virtual machine
Depending on the interface you are using, follow the appropriate procedure to restore a KVM VM:
Typically, you would restore a VM to its original location if the original VM is unusable. By restoring a complete VM backup, you create a new VM with the identical content and configuration as when the backup was made. You can also restore your VM under a new name or to a different location.
For details on how to configure a restore task and a description of different restore options, see Standard Restore Procedure and Restore Assistant. Only KVM/QEMU-specific steps and options are described in this section.
VM restore via the GUI
- From the SEP sesam GUI menu bar, select Activities -> Restore. The New Restore Task window opens.
- Select what you want to restore. You can search savesets by task name or filename or path.
- When searching by task name, use the drop-down list of available tasks and select the one you want to restore from. This option is selected by default.
- If searching by filename/path, select the option Filename or path in saveset and enter your search expression in the search pattern field.
- Under Saved in period, specify the time frame for which you want to conduct the search. Click Next.
- The search results are displayed. From the list of savesets that match your search query, select the task you want to restore. The restore types Complete restore of selected task and Generation restore are selected by default and cannot be deselected. Click Next.
- Review your restore task configuration and set additional options, if required. Details of the selected saveset are displayed at the top and at the bottom (Optional data source selection) of the window.
- In the Target Settings dialog box, check the configuration of your restore task and set additional options as needed. The name of the restore task is automatically generated in the Restore task name field. You can edit the name and add a comment below it.
- Target data
- You can restore your KVM to the original VM (if the Target node is the same server from which the data was backed up, i.e., the source and target server are the same) or under a new VM name.
- If you want to restore the VM under a different name, select the option Restore with new VM name and enter a new VM name or use the Browser button to select a new target location; then select Create new version under the VM restore options.
- Target node
- It shows the target server where the data will be restored. By clicking Change VM target selection, you can restore a task to a different target (location) by selecting the appropriate target node and data store from the drop-down lists. If no target path is defined, the VM is restored to the default (original) location.
- VM restore options
- Do not overwrite existing items (default): VM will be restored only if it does not exist on the target server.
- Overwrite existing items: If a VM with the same name exists on the target server, it will be replaced with the restored version. Note that if two VMs with the same name exist on the target server, the restore fails with: Error: Restore failed. A virtual machine with the same name already exists.
- Create a new version: Restore the VM under a new name.
- You can also select whether the VM should be started automatically after the restore by selecting Start virtual machine after restore/Do not start (selected by default).
- Click the Expert Options button allows you to specify additional options for the restore, such as changing the log level settings, define the pre/post script for the restore, etc. For details, see the Restore wizard.
- In the last step of the restore wizard, you can check all the settings for your restore task. You can also edit the settings by using the Change Selection button. If you want to start the restore immediately, click Start. If you want to save the restore task, click Save.
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| The Expert Options button for specifying advanced restore options is available only in advanced UI mode. To use Expert Options, make sure your UI mode is set to advanced. For details, see Selecting UI mode. |
{{<note|A restore task can be scheduled like any other task. If you want to add a restore task to the schedule, see Scheduling Restore.}}
VM restore via the Restore Assistant
You can access the Restore Assistant in one of the following ways:
- via the GUI: by clicking the Restore Assistant icon in the toolbar or from Activities -> Restore Assistant
- from SEP sesam Web UI: left menu -> Restore Assistant
- or by entering the following address in the browser bar: http://[sesamserver]:11401/sep/ui/restore/.
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Steps
The following steps are performed in basic UI mode. They cover the most common restore cases and are the recommended method for performing a restore. For more experienced users, some additional restore options are available in advanced restore mode. For details, see Standard Restore Procedure.
- Open the Restore Assistant in the browser.
- In the start window, select KVM/QEMU and click Next.
- In the Virtual Machine window, under Selection of the server, select your target server to which the data will be restored.
Under Selection of the virtual machine select the VM you want to restore and click Next. - In the Task window, under Task selection, select your source backup task.
Under Backup selection, select the exact backup version you want to restore. Note that Generation restore is selected by default. You can use the calendar function in the upper right corner to set a date range for the displayed backups.
Click Next. - In the Target window, under Target selection select your target environment for restore: select the KVM server and VM from the drop-down list. Execution options:
- Modify or set additional restore options under the Virtualization restore options: Recovery options: Specify whether or not to start the VM after restore.
- Use the Log, Special Options tab to change the log level for your specific restore, see Setting Log Level. You can specify additional commands that may be useful for specific options of the sbc command. For details about the commands, see SBC CLI.
- Use the Retention, Generation, Pre/Post tab if you want to specify the retention period parameter for the restore (how long (in days) the restore task is kept), enable/disable a generation restore, and specify whether to apply a pre- or post-script to the restore task, see Pre/Post options.
- Click Next.
- In the last step, check the summary of your restore task (restore type (based on task type, selected backup, its date and details, restore options, etc.) and click Start restore.
Only the option Do not overwrite an existing virtual machine is available, i.e. the VM is restored only if it does not already exist on the target system.
Click Next.
Under Advanced restore options, you can further refine your restore:
Monitoring restore
You can monitor the restore progress using the Web UI (Monitoring -> Restores) or view the status in the GUI (Main Selection -> Job State -> Restores). The restore overview provides detailed information on the last run of restore jobs, including task name, status (successful, error, in queue...), start and stop time of the last backup, data size, throughput, etc. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI or Restores by State in the GUI.
See also
KVM QEMU Single File Restore – Standard Restore Procedure – Restore Assistant – KVM QEMU Backup