Restore Guest File Index

[StephanF]

Hi,

I replaced our backup server and took the chance to renew the whole configuration. So no data was reused from the old server.
Then I imported and cataloged the tapes that where written by the old server. This worked perfectly.

Now I noticed, that The backups itself where cataloged but the guest file indexes of the VMs on tape are missing. Is there a way to recreate/reimport the guest file indexes for the backed up VMs?

Greetings,
Stephan

[Shestakov]

Hi Stephan,

Indexes are stored in the catalog on the VBR server.
To get the indexing catalog you need to restore and import VMs from tapes.

Thanks!

[Dima P.]

So no data was reused from the old server.

It looks like you want a part of configuration backup to be restored, without making an actual configuration restore

[StephanF]

To get the indexing catalog you need to restore and import VMs from tapes.

Had no time to test this today. I will try tomorrow if importing the VM from tape to disk will bring back the guest file index.

It looks like you want a part of configuration backup to be restored, without making an actual configuration restore

This seems to be right but reading the linked article this is not possible at the moment because this always restores alot of configuration data and not only the catalog data.
Additionally this is only possible if you have a valid configuration backup.

So if I understand correctly this is the time for two feature requests:
1. Option to restore the tape catalog data (which tapes exist, their content, guest file index) from an existing configuration backup without restoring the configuration data itself.
Use case: You want to setup a brand new backup server but transfer the known data of existing tapes (and containing backups) to this server.

2. Function to reindex the guest files of backed up VMs from tape. Catalog operation is already possible. This could be an separate function.
I think reindexing directly from tape will not be possible so in fact this should do the following: Temporarily restore backup from tape to disk, mount backup, index guest files, delete data from disk.
Use case: You have lost your backup server and everything but have left over a bunch of tapes. You can then recatalog them (already possible) and rebuild the guest file indexes.

I hope I got everything right.

[Dima P.]

Thanks for the detailed explanations!

1. Option to restore the tape catalog data (which tapes exist, their content, guest file index) from an existing configuration backup without restoring the configuration data itself.

Right now, you can run a “catalogue tapes”, which will recognize all the contents. Tapes are placed in the “imported media pool”, however, its impossible to continue to use the started tapes unless its “marked as free” or erased.

Function to reindex the guest files of backed up VMs from tape. Catalog operation is already possible. This could be an separate function.
I think reindexing directly from tape will not be possible so in fact this should do the following: Temporarily restore backup from tape to disk, mount backup, index guest files, delete data from disk.

I wonder have you tried restoring the backup to the new backup repository and importing the backup to new console?