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VM level file and folder restore causing the backups to go in a hung state: DDB backups hangs

  • 8 March 2021
  • 7 replies
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this is a wired issue wherein the guest file and folder recovery of VMs from tape is causing the backups to go in a pending state. 

Case is with Commvault support

this is the second instance of a different customer 

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Best answer by Damian Andre 8 March 2021, 22:58

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Hey @Theseeker , can you private message me the case number?  I want to collect the details for each and document them here along with the solution.

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@Theseeker - assuming you have collect file details enabled on the schedule? as live browse type recovery is not supported from tape. I’m sure you do but checking the low-hanging fruit :grin:

 

Seems like a really odd issue as restores does not require any access to the DDB.

 

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Incident 210303-623 and 210303-623(this one is in open status)

 

so what happens when a customer want to browse the files and folder from VM level tape backups and collection file and folder details is not selected as recommended by Commvault support as it is the faster way to backup the files; what is the flow of file and folder restore from tapes?

“as live browse type recovery is not supported from tape”; collect file details is not selected. 

 

 

Userlevel 7
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Incident 210303-623 and 210303-623(this one is in open status)

 

so what happens when a customer want to browse the files and folder from VM level tape backups and collection file and folder details is not selected as recommended by Commvault support as it is the faster way to backup the files; what is the flow of file and folder restore from tapes?

“as live browse type recovery is not supported from tape”; collect file details is not selected. 

 

 

It's going to mount the tape and then try to perform random access operations on it - i.e mount a tape as a block device to windows and index the files live, which a tape drive’s worst nightmare ;)

You are right - not having collect file detailed will slightly improve performance for backup, as there is a slight penalty to collect and index the file systems, but it's a requirement to be able to recover from tape. For now, I’d try auxcopy the tape job back to disk and re-attempt the recovery so at least you can get the recovery done for the customer(s).

https://documentation.commvault.com/commvault/v11/article?p=32330.htm

Live file recovery can also be used when reducing backup times is a priority. This is a tradeoff; using this feature reduces backup time but increases the time required to browse files and folders.

  • Live file recovery is only supported for recovery from backups using magnetic disk libraries, and is not supported from backups to tape libraries or virtual tape libraries.
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just wondering if the browse option is doing the aux copy automatically..we tape out monthly syn fulls..and the sevrer customer trying to browse from was decomissioned last year; when I see the view media option against the job it is showing the data to be on the onsite MA and in the tape library  ...

 

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we have asked the customer to do vmdk restore and then browse the files in the meantime

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just wondering if the browse option is doing the aux copy automatically..we tape out monthly syn fulls..and the sevrer customer trying to browse from was decomissioned last year; when I see the view media option against the job it is showing the data to be on the onsite MA and in the tape library  ...

 

It should browse in precedence order, and typically tape is the last precedence (ie last copy number in the storage policy. If the data is inaccessible from the disk path then it could be automatically trying the tape copy. You could force a particular copy on the browse and see what happens. 

Having them restore the entire VM disk and then copy the files out is another good workaround.

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