OS File Level restore from Tape Backup

[EnerconIT]

We have Veeam 9.0 update 1 running on a VMware Esxi 5.1 environment with a Dell TL2000 Tape drive connected with SAS to a Windows Server 2012 physical server. I am trying to do a File level restore from a Tape backup. Per Veeam documentation I should be able to choose a specific file to restore from the Objects to Restore screen. The only file types that are listed when I Add an object are .vbk, .vib, and .vrb files. No specific OS files are listed or available. After the restore of those files is completed Veeam documentation says that the files will be in the Backups Disk(imported) location under Backup and Replication portion of Veeam but none are listed there for me to attempt to restore individual OS files. Does an OS file restoration from tape require us to mount the VM and start the VM to recover the file? Am I missing another step in the process?

[PTide]

Hi,

Does an OS file restoration from tape require us to mount the VM and start the VM to recover the file?

If you used backup to tape job then yes, you need to restore the VM backup and perform FLR from it. If you want to be able to restore files directly from tape then you should use file to tape job. For more info please check the guide.

Thanks

[EnerconIT]

Does restoring the VM and mounting it in Veeam require a Virtual Lab or can it be mounted directly to Veeam and then do a FLR from it?

[Dima P.]

No need to restore the original VM into production or test lab: you can just restore a backup file to the staging repository and then perform a file level recovery within VBR console.

[Jaques(JC)]

Hi there,

WIth 9.5 it talks about direct restore from tape without staging, my question is then how am I supposed to configure the tape out job to allow me to browse the content of the backups on tape, select on a file level what I want to restore, insert the tapes required for the restore, and then restore directly to the original location without having to stage/import the backup file to disk first?

[foggy]

Hi Jaques, if you're talking about FLR (VM guest OS files restore) from tape, then you still need to restore the backup file to repository first. Direct restore from tape is available for entire VMs only.

[hkito]

Hi,

I can select "Restore guest files" under "Disk", but no this selection under "Tape".

Could anyone help ?

Thanks

[Mike Resseler]

Hi Hkito,

I assume you are doing a VM backup to tape? In that case you need to restore the VM first to the repository (call it staging area) so you can restore guest files. The reason is we can't mount the backup on a tape device so we cannot get inside the VM and get that file out of there.

Hope it helps
Mike