Here's a quick checklist of the things you'll need to have ready for us so that you can hand off a restore job for a Simplified DR backup.
One of the great things about Servosity's Simplified DR backups is that it includes not only fully managed backups, but also fully managed system restores. This means, as long as we have the access and credentials necessary, we're happy to take over the entire restore process from starting the initial restore, until it's ready to boot.
To do this effectively, here's a list of what we need from you.
Physical Hardware
To do a bare-metal restore to physical hardware, we'll need the following:
- You'll need to boot the system into the StorageCraft Recovery Environment (You should be able to find this ISO in your local backup storage under \Servosity\Tools\. Just burn it to USB or DVD and boot to it)
- You'll need to enable the built-in VNC server for remote access into the Recovery Environment
- We'll need access to the local backup images. If they're on a USB drive it should be connected directly to the system. If they're stored on the network, we'll need a username and password that has access to the share saved in Credentials and Keys.
- If a drive has been replaced, the new volume MUST BE at least as large as the source volume that was backed up. The used size doesn't matter, the image contains the full volume size, including all free space, so it cannot be restored on a smaller volume.
- We'll need to know the date and time that you'd like us to restore from, as well as whether any data volumes need to be restored in addition to the system volume.
- We'll need our remote access tool installed on a system within the same network that we can install the VNC client on, and use it to remote into the system being restored.
- This system MUST be set to never sleep, or else valid credentials for this system need to be added to Credentials and Keys.
- We'll need an emergency contact number that we can reach someone on your team in case we run into problems or lose access to the system.
Virtual Hardware
For restoring to a VM the requirements are similar, but a little different:
- We will need access to the host that the VM is running on.
- For Hyper-V this means installing the Servosity Remote Access Tool on the host itself and providing Windows credentials for it.
- For VMWare, this means creating a credential in Credentials and Keys and putting the IP address or hostname of the host in the notes for that credential.
- This allows us to upload the Recovery Environment ISO to the datastore for VMWare, mount it as a virtual DVD on the VM, boot into it, and get remote access to the VM.
- Alternatively, you can boot the VM into the Recovery Environment for us and enable the built-in VNC server, so that we don't need access to the host. We will still need access to another system on the same network in this case.
- If we are not restoring to the production VM (if the host has to be replaced or the VM configuration files are corrupted/encrypted) you will need to create the replacement VM, and ensure the virtual hardware and networking configuration is correct.
- All VM settings and configuration is outside of the scope of Servosity Support.
- All virtual drives MUST BE at least as large as the source volume that was backed up. The used size doesn't matter, the image contains the full volume size, including all free space, so it cannot be restored on a smaller drive. We recommend making the new virtual disk a few GB larger than the source just to make sure we don't have to expand it after a failed restore attempt.
- While it is possible to convert from MBR to GPT and vice versa during a restore, it's important to know the VM compatibility when creating a new VM. For Hyper-V Gen1 VMs must have the system volume restored as MBR, and Gen2 VMs must have the system volume restored as GPT. On VMWare it varies based on the VM settings, so be sure to let us know which your new VM is configured for.
- We'll need access to the local backup images. If they're on a USB drive it can be connected directly to the host, and the VM can be given access via USB Passthrough. If they're stored on the network, we'll need a username and password that has access to the share saved in Credentials and Keys, and the VM must have access to it over the network
- We'll need to know the date and time that you'd like us to restore from, as well as whether any data volumes need to be restored in addition to the system volume.
- We'll need an emergency contact number that we can reach someone on your team in case we run into problems or lose access to the system.
Once all the above has been provided our team is happy to take over the restore and let you get back to all the other important things you've got going on (including sleep! We're available 24/7/365 for emergencies, just email emergency@servosity.com)