Veeam Backup 9 5 Explorers User Guide

Veeam Explorers Series Version 9.5 User Guide May, 2017

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Important!

Please read the End User Software License Agreement before using the accompanying software program(s). Using any part of the software indicates that you accept the terms of the End User Software License Agreement.

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| Veeam Explorers Series | User Guide | REV 3

CONTENTS CONTENTS............................................................................................................................................ 3 CONTACTING VEEAM SOFTWARE....................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 6 WORKING WITH VEEAM EXPLORER FOR MICROSOFT ACTIVE DIRECTORY ..................................... 7 BEFORE YOU START..............................................................................................................................................................

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What's New in v9.5...........................................................................................................................................7 How It Works ...................................................................................................................................................... 8 Prerequisites.......................................................................................................................................................9 ADMINISTRATION

............................................................................................................................................................... 14

First Steps ......................................................................................................................................................... 14 Obtaining Database Files from Backup ................................................................................................ 17 Adding Databases to Veeam Explorer Scope ..................................................................................... 22 Viewing and Restoring AD Objects ........................................................................................................ 24 Obtaining Veeam Explorer Logs .............................................................................................................42

WORKING WITH VEEAM EXPLORER FOR MICROSOFT SQL SERVER ................................................ 43 BEFORE YOU START............................................................................................................................................................ 43 What's New in v9.5........................................................................................................................................ 43 Planning for Database Restore ................................................................................................................44 How It Works ................................................................................................................................................... 45 Prerequisites.................................................................................................................................................... 48 ADMINISTRATION

............................................................................................................................................................... 57

First Steps ......................................................................................................................................................... 57 Obtaining Database File from VM Backup .......................................................................................... 61 Adding Database To Veeam Explorer Scope ...................................................................................... 67 Viewing Database Information ................................................................................................................ 68 Restoring Databases .................................................................................................................................... 69 Exporting Databases .................................................................................................................................... 84 Obtaining Veeam Explorer Logs .............................................................................................................97

WORKING WITH VEEAM EXPLORER FO R MICROSOFT EXCHANGE ................................................. 98 BEFORE YOU START............................................................................................................................................................ 98 What's New in v9.5........................................................................................................................................ 98 How It Works ................................................................................................................................................... 98 Prerequisites.................................................................................................................................................. 100 ADMINISTRATION ............................................................................................................................................................ 106 First Steps .......................................................................................................................................................106 Obtaining Database File from VM Backup ........................................................................................111 Adding Databases to Veeam Explorer Scope ...................................................................................117 Browsing, Searching and Viewing Items............................................................................................ 119 Restore Scenarios ........................................................................................................................................ 123 Obtaining Log Files .................................................................................................................................... 133

WORKING WITH VEEAM EXPLORER FO R MICROSOFT SHAREPOINT ............................................ 134 BEFORE YOU START.........................................................................................................................................................

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What's New in v9.5...................................................................................................................................... 134 How It Works ................................................................................................................................................. 135 Prerequisites.................................................................................................................................................. 136 ADMINISTRATION ............................................................................................................................................................ 145 First Steps .......................................................................................................................................................145 Obtaining Content Database Files from Backup ............................................................................150 Adding Databases to Veeam Explorer Scope ...................................................................................162 Browsing, Searching and Viewing Items............................................................................................ 164 Restoring Data ..............................................................................................................................................167 Obtaining Veeam Explorer Logs ...........................................................................................................180

WORKING WITH VEEAM EXPLORER FOR ORACLE .......................................................................... 181 BEFORE YOU START.........................................................................................................................................................

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What's New in v9.5...................................................................................................................................... 182 How It Works ................................................................................................................................................. 182 Prerequisites.................................................................................................................................................. 184 ADMINISTRATION ............................................................................................................................................................ 197 First Steps .......................................................................................................................................................197 Obtaining Database File from VM Backup ........................................................................................200 Viewing Database Information ..............................................................................................................204 Restoring Database ....................................................................................................................................205 Obtaining Veeam Explorer Logs ...........................................................................................................214

APPENDIX. SQL DATABASE O PERATION SELECTION .................................................................... 215 REVISION HISTORY .......................................................................................................................... 217

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CONTACTING VEEAM SOFTWARE At Veeam Software we value the feedback from our customers. It is important not only to help you quickly with your technical issues, but it is our mission to listen to your input, and build products that incorporate your suggestions.

Customer Support Should you have a technical concern, suggestion or question, please visit our Customer Center Portal at www.veeam.com/support.html to open a case, search our knowledge base, reference documentation, manage your license or obtain the latest product release.

Company Contacts For the most up to date information about company contacts and offices location, please visit www.veeam.com/contacts.html.

Online Support If you have any questions about Veeam Explorers Series, you can use the following resources:

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Full documentation set: www.veeam.com/backup-replication-resources.html

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Community forum at forums.veeam.com


INTRODUCTION Veeam Explorers are tools that extends the functionality of Veeam Backup & Replication, allowing you to view and recover application items from within application VM backup or replica. The popular applications supported by Veeam Explorer series include Microsoft Exchange, Active Directory, SharePoint, SQL Server and Oracle. For that, you do not need to fully restore and start the virtual machine hosting the application server. Instead, Veeam mounts the file system of the backed up application VM to the corresponding server, creating a mount point on it. (Depending on the restore scenario, it can be a target or a staging server.) Application databases are then detected (either automatically, or manually pointed by used), and the corresponding Veeam Explorer displays their content in the navigation tree. This document is designed for backup administrators and other IT professionals who use Veeam Backup & Replication to protect data in managed virtual environments. It assumes that you are familiar with basic operations that can be performed in the Veeam Backup & Replication management console. This guide describes how to configure and use the series of Veeam Explorers, including:

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Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory

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Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL

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Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange

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Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint

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Veeam Explorer for Oracle


WORKING WITH VEEAM EXPLORER FOR MICROSOFT ACTIVE DIRECTORY This chapter describes Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory and explains how to restore Active Directory objects from the backups created with Veeam Backup & Replication.

Before You Start Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory is a tool that extends the functionality of Veeam Backup & Replication, allowing you to browse Active Directory database and recover the necessary items (objects and containers) and their attributes from domain controller backup into production. For that, you do not need to fully restore and start the virtual machine hosting the domain controller. Instead, you can use Veeam Backup & Replication data recovery options to obtain the necessary Active Directory database file ( . DI T), mounting the virtualized DC backup to the local machine. Then you can utilize the following Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory capabilities: 

Use granular browsing and searching capabilities to find any object/container stored in Active Directory database



Export objects/containers to a local folder or network drive



Restore them to the srcinal or different location

With Veeam Explorer, you can restore changed or deleted Active Directory objects and containers: users, groups, computers, account passwords for user, group or computer account, mail-enabled and mailbox-enabled users and groups reconnecting their mailboxes, hard-deleted items and Online Archive mailboxes, Organizational Units (OUs), Group Policy Objects (GPO), Configuration partition objects, and AD-integrated records. Forattributes Active Directory Domain Services 2016, restore of DNS lookup zones and expirationDNS time for linked is also supported.

Note:

Restore of Group Policy objects, AD-integrated DNS records and objects from the Configuration partition is supported in the Enterprise and Enterprise Plus editions only.

What's New in v9.5 The following new features and enhancements were implemented in Veeam Explorer for Active Directory 9.5: 



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Support for Active Directory Domain Services 2016, including restore of passwords, DNS lookup zones, and expiration time for linked attributes. UI enhancements, including ribbon menu, command-specific tabs, and support of display themes as in Veeam Backup & Replication console.


How It Works The basic procedure of searching and restoring Active Directory object with Veeam includes the following steps:

1.

Active Directory database (. DI T file) is extracted from the image-level VM backup or VeeamZIP VeeamtoBackup & Replication restore the file system of the backed up file, VM using is mounted the local mount server - thatcapabilities: is, the machine where Veeam Explorer runs.

2.

The database is added to the Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory scope, its hierarchy and content displayed in the Veeam Explorer window.

3.

Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory is used to find the necessary object/container, export it as .LDF file, or restore it to the srcinal or different server.

Important! Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory requires full access to Active Directory database files for item recovery. Refer to Permissions section for details. So, before viewing and restoring Active Directory objects with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory, the following steps should be taken automatically or manually:

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1.

Active Directory database (. DI T file) is obtained automatically from the mounted imagelevel VM backup, or manually from VeeamZIP file. For details, see Obtaining Database File from VM Backup.

2.

Add the recovered database file to Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory scope (automatically or manually). For details, see Adding Database to Veeam Explorer Scope.


Prerequisites To provide for Active Directory objects restore with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory, the following prerequisites are necessary: 1.

System requirements should be met, as listed in the System Requirements section.

2.

Required permissions should be assigned to the accounts involved, as listed in the Permissions section.

3.

Ports should be configured, as listed in the Required Ports section.

4.

Recovery logic and peculiarities of Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory operation should be considered, as described in the Recommendations section.

5.

Application-aware image-level backup should be successfully created for your Active Directory Domain Services server, as described in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.

System Requirements Veeam Explorer for Active Directory does not require a separate license. It is installed with Veeam Backup & Replication server or standalone management console; all editions including Veeam Backup Free Edition are supported (for details, see the Licensing and Editions section). To install and use Veeam Explorer for Active Directory as a component of Veeam Backup & Replication, make sure that all necessary system requirements for Veeam Backup & Replication are met. System requirements specific for Veeam Explorer are listed below. Specification

Requirement Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory supports database files (. DI T) created with Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services servers (domain controllers):   

Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services

  

Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2

Minimum supported domain and forest functional level is Windows 2003.

Important! Database files created by a domain controller can be open for object recovery with Veeam Explorer for Active Directory only if Veeam Explorer is installed on a Windows machine with OS version same or above the version of that domain controller's OS.   

Software

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Any edition of Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5. Microsoft PowerShell 2.0 and later. Veeam Explorer can restore the relationships between Active Directory objects and corresponding mailboxes - if an object (user or group) was deleted from production Active Directory, Veeam Explorer can restore this

object from Active Directory mailbox security role for thatbackup, object. reconnect Exchange mailbox and restore Veeam Explorer for Active Directory supports restore of both mailbox-enabled objects (including hard-deleted items and Online Archives) and mail-enabled objects for the following Microsoft Exchange versions: o Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 o Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 o Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1 and later For other Microsoft Exchange versions, restore of mailbox-enabled objects is not supported (only mail-enabled objects can be restored).


Specification

Requirement 

To open database files, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory uses a service dynamic link library (esent . dl l ) which is installed together with Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services and can be found in the system directory at %SystemRoot%.

Important! Esent . dl l on the machine where Veeam Explorer runs should be of the same version as Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services used to create database files. 

To restore account password, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory uses the registry database, so if you plan to restore password(s), make sure that Syst emregistry hive is available (default location is %sys t emr oot %\ Syst em32\ Conf i g) . If you restore Active Directory database from Active Directory backup using Veeam file-level restore, then registry hive will be located automatically. Otherwise, for example, if you restore from an imported backup or from VeeamZIP file, make sure the Syst emregistry hive is located in the same folder as . DI T file.

Permissions The account used for connection with target domain controller where objects/containers will be restored needs the following: 



Administrative rights for target Active Directory Membership in the Exchange Organization Management group is required to provide for automatic mailbox re-connect for recovered user or group account

The account can be assigned an appropriate role on the Exchange server in target domain by running the following Exchange Management PowerShell cmdlet: Add- Rol eGr oupMember “Or gani zat i on Management ” – Member “”

Used Ports The following table describes network ports that must be opened to ensure proper communication of the Veeam backup server with the Microsoft Active Directory VM during application-item restore. From

To

Protocol

Port

Notes

Veeam backup server/stand alone console

Microsoft Active Directory VM guest OS

TCP

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Port required for communication between the domain controller and Veeam backup server.

TCP, UDP

389

LDAP connections.

TCP

636, 3268, 3269

LDAP connections.

TCP

1025 to 5000 (for Microsoft Windows 2003)

Dynamic RPC port range used by the runtime coordination process deployed inside the VM guest OS for applicationaware image processing (when working over the network, not over VIX API). For more information, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/92985 1/en-us.

49152-65535 (for Microsoft Windows 2008 and newer)

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Required Backup Job Settings To be able to explore and recover the necessary database using a desired restore scenario, you should have a transactionally-consistent backup of your Active Directory Domain Services server created successfully. For that, you should enable application-aware image processing and specify applicationspecific settings, as described in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide for the corresponding platform.

You may also find useful information in the following articles: 



Backing Up a Domain Controller - the series of post in the Veeam corporate blog Active Directory Backup & Recovery with Veeam - a technical white paper (currently available for v8)

Licensing and Editions Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory requires no special license to purchase; it is shipped with all editions of Veeam Backup & Replication, including Veeam Backup Free Edition. However, the full range of restore capabilities will be available with Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise and Enterprise Plus Edition only. Compare editions: Feature

Free

Standard

Enterprise

Enterprise Plus

Browse

Available

Available

Available

Available

Search

Available

Available

Available

Available

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Save

Available

Available

Available

Available

Send

Available

Available

Available

Available

Export

Available

Available

Available

Available

Single object restore

Available

Available

Available

Available

Container restore

Not available

Not available

Available

Available

Password restore

Not available

Available

Available

Available

Group Policy Object restore

Not available

Not available

Available

Available

ADintegrated DNS records restore

Not available

Not available

Available

Available

Configurat ion Partition Object restore

Not available

Not available

Available

Available

Restore to Active Directory Domain Services server

Considerations and Recommendations To be able to explore and recover the necessary item within the Active Directory database files, make sure that you have a transactionally consistent backup of your Active Directory Domain Services server (domain controller) created successfully. (For details, see the "Transaction Consistency" and "Enable Application-Aware Image Processing and Indexing" sections of Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.) When planning for Active Directory objects restore, please be aware of the considerations and limitation described below. The following logic is implemented in the Active Directory objects recovery process (except for Group Policy objects described later in this topic): 

If a tombstone object exists in the target Active Directory, Veeam will use this object for recovery. This allows you to restore security attribute values including objectSID and objectGUID for recovered objects, which is especially important for security principals (including User, Computer, inetOrgPerson and Group objects).

Important! To be able to restore from tombstone objects, make sure that AD Recycle Bin feature is disabled (default setting) in the target domain. 

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If no tombstone object exists in the target Active Directory, Veeam will create a new object during the recovery process and set all attributes to the same values as in corresponding object in the backup. However, these attributes (including security) will be new, which may result in losing access rights.


Note:

In case you need to restore a business-critical object for which a tombstone is missing, you can perform authoritative restore of entire domain from old DC backups which contain deleted object, and then refresh them using Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory and newer backups. To read more about tombstone objects, refer to Microsoft TechNet at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd379542%28v=ws.10%29.aspx. Also, consider the following when planning for your AD objects restore:

Tip:

1.

To properly restore deleted objects and their attributes including SID and GUID, it is recommended that you carry out the restore procedure using Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory, as explained in this guide, and make sure that recovery was a success.

2.

Always use the backups which are newer than tombstone lifetime interval for Active Directory forest.

To determine this interval, you can use ADSIEdit or Dsquery as described in http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc784932(v=ws.10).aspx. 3.

Remember that when you move an object from one domain to another within a forest (for example, using the Movetree.exe utility or any 3rd party tool), no tombstone for this object will remain in the source Active Directory. Thus, such an object cannot be fully recovered to the srcinal domain.

4.

Consider that when Group Policy objects are restored from the backup, both Active Directory data (storing Group Policy Containers) and %Sysvol %data (storing Group Policy Templates) is involved. Therefore, for successful restore data should be consistent in these two locations. Restore logic is implemented as follows: existing Group Policy objects are deleted from target, and new ones from the backup are written there.

5.

Link attributes without the corresponding back link to deleted objects are not restored, if both deleted objectsthe andrestore links are restored will need to perform once again.in a single restore operation. To work around, you

In case you want to restore Active Directory Domain Services server as a whole, the recommendations provided in the series of Veeam blog posts at https://www.veeam.com/blog/how-to-recover-adomain-controller-best-practices-for-ad-protection.html can be helpful.

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Administration The basic procedure of Active Directory object recovery with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory involves the following main steps: 

Step 1: Obtain Database File from VM Backup

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Step 2: Add Database to Veeam Explorer's Scope

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Step 3: View and Restore AD Objects

First Steps Veeam Explorers are installed together with Veeam backup server or standalone console, and there are several ways of starting a Veeam Explorer tool. If you want to open Veeam Explorer, simultaneously adding the required database to its scope in the automated way, follow the procedures described later in this guide. You may also want to open Veeam Explorer as an individual application - for that, go to the list of applications (or Start menu), and double-click Veeam Explorer icon. By default, it connects to the backup server installed locally. If you are starting Veeam Explorer from the standalone console, you will be prompted for the settings of Veeam backup server to connect to: 



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You can enter Veeam backup server name or IP address, or select it from the list of recent connections. Port number to communicate to - default is 9232 Credentials under which Veeam Explorer will connect to server; if you plan to use the account currently logged on, select Use Windows session authentication.

If you plan to use these settings for future connections, you can click Save shortcut - the shortcut will be saved to your Desktop. When ready, click Connect.

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Getting to Know the User Interface Main Menu The main menu of Veeam Explorer can be opened by clicking its icon in the top left corner of the main window, next to the Home tab. The menu contains commands related to general application settings. In particular, you can perform the following operations: 

Open log file or folder

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Access online Help

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View information about the program

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Exit the program

Main Window On the left of the window there is the navigation pane. It displays content database as a hierarchical structure, including content databases, sites, subsites, libraries and lists. It facilitates browsing for application items you want to restore. When you select a node in the navigation pane, you can browse and search for its sub-nodes in the preview pane on the right. Operation commands in Veeam Explorer are organized into logical groups and collected under the tabs on the ribbon. The ribbon is displayed at the top of the main application window. 



Tip:

The Home ribbon tab p rovides quick access to some common operations. Other tabs contain commands specific for certain entities appear when the corresponding nodes are selected in the navigation pane. For example, if you select a container in the navigation tree, the Container tab displaying buttons for operations with libraries will appear on the ribbon.

Commands for selected entity are also available in the entity's shortcut menu.

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Display Theme When you open Veeam Explorer application, its display theme settings are imported from the Veeam Backup & Replication configuration. So, if you want to change the display theme, you should do it in Veeam Backup & Replication general options, as described in its User Guide, and then re-open Veeam Explorer.

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Obtaining Database Files from Backup Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory works with database files that you obtain from the VeeamZIP file or from database backup or replica of an Active Directory Domain Services Server VM, without a need to restore that VM itself. The file system of the backed up VM is mounted to the local mount server - that is, the machine where Veeam Explorer runs. Being added to Veeam Explorer scope, the database becomes available for browsing, search and restore of Active Directory objects.

VeeamZIP File To obtain the database from the VeeamZIP file, you can use full VM recovery or guest OS file-level recovery (preferred option) for the virtualized domain controller (Active Directory Domain Services server), then in the Veeam Backup browser, locate the Active Directory database file you need. If you want to add the database file to Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory directly from the mounted VM file system, do the following:

Note:

1.

In the navigation tree of the Backup Browser, choose the folder where content database files reside, then on the Backup Browser toolbar, click Open in Explorer. The target directory will be opened in the Windows Explorer.

2.

Copy the full path to the target directory to clipboard. You can now launch Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory and add the database file from backup that was mounted to the Veeam Backup server. For details, see Adding Database to Veeam Explorer's Scope.

If you choose to restore Active Directory objects directly from the mounted VM file system, do not close the Backup Browser until you finish restore operations. Closing the Backup Browser automatically unmounts the file system of the backed up VM.

Backup or Replica To obtain Active Directory database from the backup or replica file, you can use any data recovery feature available in Veeam Backup & Replication: Instant VM recovery, full VM restore, replica failover and so on. These features are described in detail in Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide. The guidelines in this section explain how you can use Microsoft Active Directory Object Restore Wizard to automatically obtain database file and add it to Veeam Explorer scope, or use Guest OS Restore Wizard and Backup Browser for that purpose.

Using Microsoft Active Directory Object Restore Wizard To start the Microsoft Active Directory Object Restore wizard, do one of the following: 

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In Veeam Backup & Replication, open the Backup & Replication view. Go to the Home tab of the ribbon menu and click Restore on the toolbar. In the Restore wizard, select Application items, then select Microsoft Active Directory and click Next.


You will be taken to Step 1 of the Microsoft Active Directory Item Restore wizard. 



In Veeam Backup & Replication, open the Backup & Replication view. Select the Backups node, expand the backup job with the Microsoft Active Directory server in the working area. Select the Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services server VM and click Application items > Microsoft Active Directory from the ribbon. In this case, you will pass to the Step 2 of the wizard. In Veeam Backup & Replication, open the Backup & Replication view. Select the Backups node, expand the backup job with the Microsoft Active Directory server in the working area. Right-click the Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services server and select Restore application items > Microsoft Active Directory objects... . In this case, you will pass to the Step 2 of the wizard. Note that you can use this method only for Microsoft Active Directory backups that were created with VSS-aware image processing enabled.

Step 1. Select a Backup with Microsoft Active Directory In the list of available jobs, select a Microsoft Active Directory VM. If you want to view all VMs included in the job, select the Show all VMs check box. To quickly find VMs in jobs, use the search field at the bottom of the window.

Step 2. Select a Restore Point Select a necessary restore point for the Microsoft Active Directory VM.

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Step 3. Enter a Restore Reason If necessary, enter the reason for performing VM guest file restore and click Next. The information you provide will be saved in the session history so that you can reference it later.

If you do not want Veeam Backup & Replication to display the Reason step next time, select the Do not show me this page again check box at the bottom of the wizard.

Step 4. Restore the Microsoft Active Directory Data base At the last step of the wizard, review the summary and click Finish to start the restore process.

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After you click Finish, Veeam Backup & Replication will automatically perform the following actions: 1.

Mount the selected backup file to Veeam backup server.

2.

Locate the Microsoft Active Directory database in the backup file.

3.

Launch Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory.

4.

Add the Microsoft Active Directory database to the Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory scope, displaying database hierarchy and objects in the Veeam Explorer window.

Using Guest OS Restore Wizard The Guest OS Restore wizard allows you to mount the backup of the Active Directory domain controller and extract the Active Directory database files. When you perform file-level restore of guest OS files, the VM image will not be extracted from the backup but the content of a backup file is mounted directly to the corresponding mount server and displayed in the inbuilt Veeam Backup Browser. After that, you can locate the necessary database file and add it to Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory.

Note:

1.

In the Veeam Backup & Replication console, open the Backup & Replication view, go to the Home tab on the ribbon menu and click Restore.

2.

In the Restore Wizard, select Guest Files > Guest Files (Windows) .

3.

In the list of available jobs, select the backup or replica of the domain controller from which the Active Directory database should be restored.

The domain controller VM requires a backup with VSS enabled. For more information, see the "Enable Application-Aware Image Processing and Indexing" section of the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.

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4.

Select the restore point for the domain controller VM. The details on this VM (including name, size and srcinal host) will be also displayed. Click Next to proceed.

5.

Click Finish to start restoring files. Once restore is completed, Veeam Backup & Replication will open a Backup Browser displaying the file system tree of the restored VM.


Note:

Please note that the names of the restored machine drives may differ from the srcinal ones.

6.

Browse through the contents of the backup and locate the Active Directory database file (NTDS. DI T). If you prefer opening file tree in Explorer, consider that VM disks are mounted under the C: \ veeamf l r \ \ folder; the NTDS. DI T file is located in the %Syst emRoot%\ NTDS folder (see the "Datastore Physical Structure" section in this Microsoft Technet article for more information).

7.

Double-click the file to automatically launch Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory and add the database to Veeam Explorer's scope, or open the Home tab of the ribbon menu, and select Application Items > Active Directory Items.

If you obtain database backup in the alternative way (for example, from VeeamZIP), then you should add the database manually, as described in Adding Database to Veeam Explorer's Scope.

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Adding Databases to Veeam Explorer Scope For users to be able to browse and restore the AD objects, Active Directory database should be added to the Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory scope. 





Note:

If you were using Microsoft Active Directory Object Restore Wizard, this operation will be performed automatically. If you were using file-level restore to mount the contents of the backup file with the database file in it, then you can browse to NTDS. DI T file using Backup Browser and double-click it to automatically open Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory and add the database to its scope. Alternatively, you will need to manually add a database to Veeam Explorer scope.

If you know in which database the necessary objects or containers are located, you only need to add one . DI T file. If you are not sure in which database the necessary objects are located, you can add multiple . DI T files to Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory scope. To manually add a database file to the Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory scope and make it visible in the main Veeam Explorer window, do the following:

Note:

1.

Open Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory and click Add Database on the toolbar.

2.

In the dialog displayed, enter the location of the Active Directory database file and, if required, the folder where corresponding transaction log files (Edb. l og and Edb. chk) are stored. The Active Directory database file ( NTDS. DI T) default location is the %Syst emRoot%\ NTDS folder.

Make sure the System registry hive is located in the same folder as NTDS. DI T.

3.

Click Open and wait for the operation to complete.

To add multiple databases to Veeam Explorer scope when one database is already open, you can run the same command from the menu bar on the Home tab of the ribbon menu, or right-click the root item in the navigation tree and select Add database from its shortcut menu.

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To remove a database from Veeam Explorer scope: 1.

Select the database in the navigation pane.

2.

Click Remove Database on Home tab of the toolbar.

You can also right-click the domain item in the navigation pane and click Remove database in the item's shortcut menu.

Other databases (if added) will remain untouched. The database removed from the Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory scope will be no longer shown in the console.

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Viewing and Restoring AD Objects After adding the Active Directory databases to the Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory scope, you can browse through the database objects and containers, view their attributes, search and restore the objects or containers you need.

Browsing for AD Objects In the Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory navigation pane, you can see Active Directory objects and containers. When you select a container node, you can browse its contents in the working area on the right.

Note:

The content of Domain Controllers node is unavailable for browsing; restore of domain controller objects is not supported. This limitation is due to organizational and security purposes. To browse Active Directory Configuration Partition container and Integrated DNS container, go to the Home tab and click Advanced Features on the toolbar:

For computer objects, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory will also show their shared volumes and/or print queues (if any) after you expand the computer node:

Searching for AD Objects At the top of the preview pane on the right, there is a search field that allows you to find items that match a specified search term. You can select any item in the hierarchy on the left to define your search scope: Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory will search through attribute values of all items within selected container (for example, organizational unit) or within the whole database. You can use logical operators such as AND, OR and NOT (must be typed in uppercase letters). When you search a phrase, the search will by default locate items that contain any search terms in the phrase, not the phrase itself. For example, as shown in the figure below, searching for group policy will return the objects with names and/or attribute values containing the words group and policy (not the group policy as the exact phrase).

24


To find the exact phrase, use double quotes (for our example, “group policy”). Search results are shown in the preview pane; you can right-click the required item and use the ribbon or shortcut menu command to export, restore, view the attributes of the object found, or compare its attributes with the srcinal values.

Using LDAP Queries You can also use LDAP queries to efficiently search for the objects/containers meeting specified criteria. For that, do the following:

25

1.

Select the container you need in the navigation tree.

2.

On the Home tab, click Use LDAP Filter on the toolbar to switch to the corresponding search mode.

3.

In the search field, enter the LDAP query and click the search icon.

4.

Wait for the process to complete, then view the results in the preview pane.


Note:

If you enter LDAP query without switching to the corresponding search mode, your search will return no results. If your LDAP query syntax is incorrect, you will get an error message. For detailed information about LDAP query syntax, refer to http://msdn.microsoft.com/enus/library/aa746475(v=vs.85).aspx.

Viewing Object Attributes Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory allows you to view the attributes of selected object. For that, right-click the item you need and select View Attributes from the shortcut menu.

All attributes, including name and value will be shown in the Attributes window:

26



Select a multi-valued attribute and double-click it to see all values.



Select a linked attribute and double-click it to see the value of attribute linked to selection.


To copy the necessary attributes to the clipboard, select the attribute in the list and press [CRTL]+C on the keyboard. Multiple selection is also supported.

Viewing Changes Viewing All Object Changes To detect the objects which were changed, moved, or deleted since the Active Directory backup, you can use the Compare All Objects menu command from the Home tab. This allows you to compare Active Directory objects in the backup and in the production database.

27


Then you can examine status of the Active Directory objects in the right pane.

Note:

For object comparison, Veeam Explorer will try to access production Active Directory Domain Services server using current account; if it does not have permissions to access Active Directory domain, you will be prompted for domain user name and password to connect to Active Directory Domain Services server. For object attribute statuses to be displayed correctly, make sure the account you supply has enough rights to view object attributes. Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory detects common attribute changes, displaying the object status: Changed, Moved, Tombstone (if a corresponding Active Directory tombstone object exists and can be used for restore), Deleted (if no tombstone object exists). For details on Tombstone and Deleted objects recovery, please refer to the Considerations and Recommendations section. If an object is displayed with the Unknown status, this indicates that a user started browsing the database with Compare mode turned on, then tried to proceed with browsing underlying objects (domain services servers or containers) without sufficient access rights and did not supply credentials when prompted (that is, clicked Cancel in the dialog). To display proper status, make sure the user account has sufficient rights to access the database and underlying objects.

Note:

If some object attributes were changed, and the object was moved, the object status will appear as Moved, Changed (that is, combined). You can also use the Show Changed Objects Only ribbon menu command to display only objects with non-empty Status field.

Note:

Show Changed Objects Only menu command can be used only when you have the Compare command selected (highlighted in the ribbon menu).

Viewing Selected Object Changes To review attribute modifications for a single object, right-click it and from the shortcut or ribbon menu on the Objects tab select Compare Selected Object. (If selected object status has been changed to Tombstone, a corresponding message will be displayed.)

28


Then the Compare Attributes window will be displayed where attribute changes will be presented, showing Name, Backup Value and Production Value for object attributes that were modified. Here the following options can be used: 



To display system attributes (hidden by default), select the Show system attributes check box.



To review changes of linked or multi-valued attributes, double-click on the attribute.



To select one or more attributes from the list, use CTRL and Shift keys.



29

To display both changed and preserved attributes, select the Show unchanged attributes check box; changed attributes will be displayed with bold font.

To restore selected attribute values from backup to production Active Directory, click the Restore button. The 1-Click Restore process will be started, as described in the 1-Click Restore section.


Note:

During this restore process, the "Replace" logic will be applied; when restoring mail attributes, no automatic mailbox re-connect will be performed.

Exporting Objects and Containers With Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory, you can export object(s) or container(s) to a folder in the specified location. Exported objects/containers will be saved using Lightweight Data Interchange Format (LDIF) into .LDF files. You can make a .LDF file available to Active Directory Domain Services server you need by importing it with ldifde utility (see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816781(v=WS.10).aspx for details).

Exporting Objects To export Active Directory object(s), do the following:

30

1.

Select the required object(s) in the preview pane on the right; multiple objects selection using Shift and Ctrl keys is also supported.

2.

Click Export Objects>Export objects... from the ribbon menu on the Objects tab, or use the Export to... shortcut menu command.


Note:

3.

Specify destination location.

4.

Click Save and wait for the export to complete.

If you select several objects and then use Export Objects menu command, the container that includes selected objects will be exported as a whole. Exported object(s) will be saved in LDIF (.ldf) file in the specified destination folder and can be then imported to the Active Directory database of your choice using ldifde utility.

Note:

You can also use this menu command to export computer's shared volumes and/or print queues, as well as objects shown in search results.

Exporting Containers To export selected container including its content into .LDF file, do the following:

31

1.

Select the required container in the navigation tree on the left.

2.

Click Export Container>Export container... from the ribbon menu on the Container tab, or select this command from the container's shortcut menu.


Note:

3.

Specify destination location in the Export to: field.

4.

If you want to save only objects that are included in the selected container and meet specific filtering criteria, click Show settings to set the filter. With the applied filter, exported container will include only selected objects.

5.

Select the Save only objects that suit the following filter check box and enter filtering criteria (see the Searching section for more details). If necessary, select the Use LDAP filter check box to switch to the corresponding filtering mode.

If using LDAP filter, verify the filtering query syntax before you proceed.

6.

32

Click Export and wait for the process to complete.


Note:

Nested containers are exported with the preserved hierarchy.

1-Click Export You can use the Export Object to or Export Container to command from the ribbon or shortcut menu to quickly export selected object(s) or container(s) to the default location.

Initially, default location is current user's Desktop folder ( C: \ User s\ %user name%\ Deskt op). It may change if for the latest export operation a user has specified another target location (that is, performed the restore using Export Objects or Export Container command). If so, that location will be used as a new default target, appearing in the UI menu command.

Restoring Objects and Containers With Veeam Explorer, you can restore Active Directory objects and containers to the srcinal or different location in your production environment. For that, Active Directory Restore Wizard is used, where you can choose target server and restore options. Also, you can use 1-Click Restore feature to quickly recover selected objects or containers to their srcinal location.

Restoring Objects You can restore Active Directory object(s) to the location you specify, or use 1-Click Restore to quickly restore to the srcinal location. To restore objects to the location you specify, do the following:

33

1.

Select the required object(s) in the navigation pane on the right.

2.

Select Restore Objects > Restore to... from the ribbon menu on the Objects tab, or use the object's shortcut menu command.


3.

The restore wizard is launched; follow its steps to specify restore options for the AD object(s).

Step 1. Specify Target Server Specify target settings to be used for restoring Active Directory objects: 





Select target Active Directory Domain Services server from the list, or type in server name. To specify Global Catalog server, click the button on the right. If necessary, select to Use SSL when connecting to the server. Specify the account to be used for connection with LDAP server. You can use the current account under which you are running Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory, or specify another account in the domain\username format, and enter its password.

sure the account you selectfor at this step has sufficient rights to restore objects in the target Important! Make domain. See Permissions section details. If you select to Use SSL, consider that the machine where Veeam Explorer for Active Directory is running should belong to the target domain or have the trust certificate installed (you can install it when prompted).

34


Then click Next, and Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory will verify the connection, using the settings you have specified. If validation fails, an error message will be issued. Check the connection settings and try again.

Step 2. Specify Restore Location Next, specify whether the object(s) should be restored to the srcinal container, or to a different one.

Step 3. Specify Password Restore Options Next, select whether to restore account password for user(s) or computer account(s) you are recovering.

Note:

To restore account password, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory uses the registry database, so if you need to restore password(s), make sure that System registry hive is available (default location is %sys t emr oot %\ Syst em32\ Conf i g). If you are restoring Active Directory database from Active Directory backup using Veeam file-level restore, then registry hive will be located automatically. Otherwise (for example, if you are restoring from an imported backup or from VeeamZIP file), make sure the System registry hive is located in the same folder as .DIT file.

35


Consider the following when making your choice: 

If you are setting a new password for the account being restored, check that it complies with password policy in your production environment. Otherwise, production Active Directory will report the following error which will be written to Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory log: Ext ended LDAP er r or : 0x1325 Unabl e t o updat e t he passwor d. The val ue pr ovi ded f or t he new pass wor d does not meet t he l engt h, compl exi t y, or hi st ory r equi r ement s of t he domai n.

Also, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Active Directory will report an error in the restore summary (warning or failure) displayed after you finish the wizard. 



If you select Restore password or Set password to option, you may also request user to change password at next logon. However, this setting will not take effect if the user is not allowed to change password due to security policy. If you are restoring multiple accounts, this new password will be set for all of them, so it is recommended to enable User must change password at next logon .

Step 4. Select Account State to Apply Next, choose whether account state should be restored as it is in the backup (then it will overwrite account state in production database), or it should be set to Enabled or Disabled.

36


Step 5. Specify Restore Options 1.

Specify what objects should be restored — you can select to restore Changed objects and/or Deleted objects.

If you are working with Active Directory 2016, this dialog will also include the Restore expiration time option for Linked attributes:

37


2.

38

o

With this option selected (default setting), Veeam will restore expiration time for linked attributes, defining it as time remaining to expiration (as set up in the srcinal AD).

o

With this option cleared, restore expiration time will not be set for restored linked attributes.

o

If a linked attribute expires by the moment of restore, it will not be restored to target Active Directory.

Select whether you need to restore Entire objects or Selected attributes only. Consider the following:

o

With the Entire objects option selected and sufficient rights of the account used to connect to target server, Exchange mailboxes will be reconnected, and mailbox security roles will be restored. For details on account rights, see Permissions.

o

With the Selected attributes only option selected, you will be offered to select the attributes to be restored:


If necessary, use the Select All or Clear All buttons, as well as the Select mail attributes link to speed up your choice (this link will be shown only if mail attributes are present in Active Directory Domain Service server backup).

Note:

Users cannot change restore settings for the attributes colored gray — these attributes will be restored or skipped as prescribed by default configuration. For example, the groupType attribute will be always restored from backup, while homeMDB and homeMTA will be skipped (that is, will keep their existing values). 3.

By default, multi-valued attributes will be restored using Replace logic, that is, values from the backup will replace values in production. To proceed with that logic, you can click Restore. To change restore logic for multi-valued attributes, in the Specify restore options dialog, select Merge. (You can get back to that dialog by clicking the Back button after attribute selection.) With Merge option selected, the following logic will be applied when restoring attributes:

4.

o

Security descriptors existing on target will be merged with those of the source (backup) object.

o

Attribute values for single-value attributes on target will be replaced by source ones if source values are not empty, otherwise target values will be preserved.

o

Attribute values for multi-value attributes existing on target will be merged with those of the source (backup) object.

Finally, click Restore and wait for the process to complete.

Veeam Explorer will display the restore summary, notifying you of the number of object(s) that were restored successfully, skipped, restored with warnings or failed to restore. You can view the Veeam Explorer current session log to examine the details. For that, from the main menu, select Current log. To examine any session log you need, select Open logs path.

Restoring Containers To restore an Active Directory container to the srcinal location, you can use the 1-Click Restore.

39


To restore to the location of your choice, take the following steps: 1.


2.

From the toolbar menu commands, select Restore Container > Restore container... from the ribbon menu on the Container tab, or use the container's shortcut menu command.

3.

The Active Directory Restore Wizard will be launched; follow its steps to complete the process.

1-Click Restore This feature allows you to quickly restore Active Directory objects and containers to the srcinal domain. Restore process will be performed with the following settings: 

Both changed and deleted objects will be restored.



All attributes will be restored.



"Replace" logic will be applied when restoring attribute values and security descriptors: attribute values existing in source (backup) database will replace the target (production) values; if no value exists for a source (backup) attribute, and target attribute value is not empty, then target value will be deleted.

Important! User credentials for carrying out the restore procedure will be picked as follows: 





Firstly, Veeam Explorer for Active Directory will try to use the account which is currently logged in. If this account does have sufficient rights to perform the restore procedure, then Veeam Explorer for Active Directory will try the account specified in the backup job settings for application-aware image processing of Active Directory Domain Service server VM (see the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide for details). If this account does not suit either, user will be prompted to supply the necessary credentials. (They will be cached for future restore operations.)

1-Click Container Restore To quickly restore a container to the original server, do the following: 1.

40



2.

Select Restore Container > Restore container to from the ribbon menu on the Container tab, or use the same command from the shortcut menu.

3.

Wait while selected container is being restored to the srcinal location.

1-Click Object Restore 1.

Select the required object in the preview pane on the right. (Multiple selection is also supported.)

2.

Select Restore Objects > Restore to from the ribbon menu on the

Container tab, or use the same command from the shortcut menu.

3.

41

Wait for the process to complete.


Obtaining Veeam Explorer Logs To view current restore session log, go to the main menu and select Current log. To open folder where Veeam Explorer log files are stored, select Open logs path. Default location is C: \ Pr ogr amDat a\ Veeam\ Backup\ Act i veDi r ect oryExp l or er \ Logs .

42


WORKING WITH VEEAM EXPLORER FOR MICROSOFT SQL SERVER This chapter describes Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server and explains how to restore SQL server databases from the backups created with Veeam Backup & Replication.

Before You Start Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server is a tool that extends the functionality of Veeam Backup & Replication, allowing you to view and recover databases from within Microsoft SQL Server VM backup. For that, you do not need to fully restore and start the virtual machine hosting the SQL Server. Instead, you can use Veeam Backup & Replication data recovery options to mount the selected restore point (image-level backup or replica) of Microsoft SQL Server VM to Veeam backup server and then specify how you want your database to be restored. Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server offers the following capabilities: 





Browsing Microsoft SQL Server instances and databases Exporting databases, schema objects and data to a local folder or network drive, including quick and easy 1-Click Export Restoring databases, schema and data to the srcinal server or different server

Veeam supports database and schema restore to the current state (that is, to the moment when currently selected Microsoft SQL Server backup was created), restore to the selected point in time (here transaction log replay will bring the database to the desired point), and restore to the state before selected transaction.

Note:

Availability of these options depends on Microsoft SQL Server VM backup settings (see the corresponding section of this guide). Before you start using Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server to restore your databases, you need to know the following: 

How Veeam Explorer works?



What are system requirements and permissions for its operation?



How to configure your Microsoft SQL Server backup for your preferred database restore scenario?

What's New in v9.5 The following new features and enhancements were implemented in this version Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server: 





43

Support for SQL Server 2016, including AlwaysOnGroups and system-versioned tables. Support for memory-optimized tables in SQL Server 2014 and FileTable tables in SQL Server 2012. UI enhancements, including ribbon menu, command-specific tabs, and support of display themes as in Veeam Backup & Replication console.


Planning for Database Restore Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server supports several database recovery scenarios and offers flexible options for them. First, you should analyze how your backup infrastructure is organized and identify the locations of Veeam backup server, backup repository and production VMs. This will help you to decide on preferable machine for mount operation. For mount operations, Veeam Explorer utilizes the corresponding service (Veeam Mount Service) that can run on Veeam backup server or on Veeam standalone console - both of them include Veeam Explorer in their setup. So, Veeam backup console can work as a mount server in the remote site, eliminating the need to deploy additional Veeam backup server in that site and minimizing traffic at restore. Consider the following recommendations: 



If repository and production (target) SQL Server VM are located in the same site with Veeam backup server, Veeam Explorer will utilize Mount Service running on Veeam backup server for mount operation. If repository and production (target) SQL Server VM are located in a remote site (separately from Veeam backup server), it can be reasonable to deploy Veeam Backup & Replication console in that remote site, and launch Veeam Explorer from that console, initiating mount operation locally in the site where console is running.

Next, to choose a restore scenario, you should consider your organization’s policies and requirements and decide on the following: 1.

Do you need to recover your database to the moment when the certain Microsoft SQL Server VM restore point (backup or replica) was created, or to any point in time, maybe within the interval between two restore points? In the latter case, database will be restored to the closest VM restore point before the moment you specify, and then transaction log replay will bring the database to the necessary state. So,backed you willup need to make Microsoft Server transaction logging is enabled, and logs are according tosure VM backup jobSQL settings

2.

Should you recover to the point in time, or is it necessary to support more granular recovery and be able to roll back to a state before undesired transaction? For the most granular restore, you will need to enable backup of your Microsoft SQL Server transaction logs and ensure the staging SQL Server availability and proper configuration (see the Staging SQL Server section).

3.

Do you plan to restore your database to the srcinal Microsoft SQL Server, or to a different server? Make sure the account you plan to use for restore has sufficient permissions on the target server, and check for proper version (later version database cannot be restored to earlier version server).

To implement the selected scenario, you should, in particular, do the following: 







44

Decide on the required level of restore granularity and configure the necessary SQL Server VM backup job settings Examine relevant considerations and limitations Provide the user account under which Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server will be launched with sufficient rights on your source and target SQL Servers Use the appropriate option when choosing VM’s restore point


How It Works The basic procedure of restoring Microsoft SQL Server database with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server includes the following steps (illustration shows the most common scenario 'Restore to current restore point' that requires no dedicated staging server): 1,2 An IT administrator users Veeam Backup & Replication restore options to obtain database files from the SQL Server's backup and mount it to SQL server. This can be target or staging server, depending on the required restore scenario. 3.

Note:

Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server obtains SQL server hierarchy information (instances and databases) and presents it to user, facilitating browsing of the hierarchy. A user selects the necessary restore scenario. Veeam Explorer supports several scenarios:

o

Restore or export to current restore point (the one currently mounted to the corresponding server)

o

Restore or export to selected point in time

o

Restore or export to the state before selected transaction

For backup job settings required to implement these scenarios, refer to the corresponding section of this guide. 4.

Finally, the database is ‘re-created’ on the target Microsoft SQL server and becomes ready for use. If the export scenario was used, the exported database can be then attached to the SQL server you need.

Generic scenario steps are illustrated in the figure below:

Veeam SQL Restore Service In most scenarios, Veeam installs a runtime component named Veeam SQL Restore Service to the VM guest OS (target or staging server, depending on selected restore or export scenario) - to support restore activities on the SQL server VM guest.

45


Note:

If you are restoring the database to the local SQL server instance, this runtime component is not installed on the SQL server guest OS. This service runs during the restore session; it checks the rights assignment required for database restore, gets information about databases that should be restored, performs the necessary file operations (including database and transaction log copy) and so on. When restore session ends, the service is stopped and removed from guest. Then a new session starts, and the service is installed again. 

The Veeam SQL Restore Service operates under the Local System account.



All service activities are logged to the Veeam. SQL. Ser vi ce_ . l og file stored in Temp folder of the system directory, next to the the Veeam. SQ L. Ser vi ce_. exe file (runtime component installed per session). If

you have enabled extended logging as described in this Knowledge Base article, this log data will be stored in the Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL log. 

Communication between Veeam Explorer and the service is performed using RPC; default TCP port range that should be open on the guest for inbound traffic includes ports 1025 1034. If you need to change this port range, then do the following: 1.

Open Veeam Explorer configuration file named Conf i g. xml located at C: \ Pr ogr amDat a\ Veeam\ Backup\ SQLExpl or er \ on the machine hosting Veeam Explorer (create the file if it is not present).

2.

Locate the tag (create the tag if it is not present):

3.

Supply the necessary values for Agent MinimumPort and

MaximumPort.

Restore and Export Scenarios Restore scenarios are implemented as follows: 



Target SQL Server is used to perform the restore operations. Depending on the scenario, the corresponding backup data is utilized (the restore points closest to the specified time or transaction, and transaction log backups). In the Restore to selected point in time and Restore to the state before selected transaction scenario, transaction log files are copied from backup repository to the Windows machine hosting the target server, so the account used to run Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server will require appropriate permissions (see Permissions for details). Then target server performs log replay with the closest earlier restore point to bring the database to the desired state. Staging SQL Server is used in Restore to the state before selected transaction scenario - it presents transaction records to user who selects the undesired transaction and instructs Veeam to restore database to the state prior to that operation. Staging SQL Server is specified on the SQL Server Settings tab of the Options dialog (open from the main menu). By default, local Microsoft SQL Server deployed together with the Veeam backup server is used as a staging system.

Export scenarios are implemented as follows:

46


•

•

•

In the Export to current restore point (the one currently mounted to Veeam backup server) scenario, database will be exported as .MDF to the specified target SQL Server, schema objects will be exported with .SQL script file; no staging server is needed. For the Export to selected point in time scenario, you will need a staging SQL Server – it will be used for log replay with the closest earlier restore point to bring the database to the desired state. Database file (. mdf ) or script file for schema objects ( . sql ) will be copied to the specified location. The Export to the state before selected transaction scenario also requires a staging SQL Server – to present the list of transactions to user and to replay the logs in order to bring the database to the desired state.

The scenarios involving staging SQL Server are illustrated in the figure below: 1,2 Database files from the SQL Server's backup are mounted to SQL server (staging or target, depending on the required restore scenario). In particular, staging server is used in Restore to the state before selected transaction scenario - it presents transaction records to user who selects the undesired transaction and instructs Veeam to restore database to the state prior to that operation. 3,4 Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server obtains SQL server hierarchy information (instances and databases) and presents it to user. A user chooses the database to restore and specifies target location (srcinal or another server), settings required to access that server, as well as the required point in time or undesired transaction. 5.

Note:

Database files (including log files, if necessary) are then copied from the repository to the Windows machine hosting the target server, the database is attached to target SQL server, put in the desired state (using log replay, if necessary) and becomes ready for use.

See System Requirements for more information on t he staging SQL Server.

47


Mount Operations For restore from backups of Microsoft SQL Server VMs, Veeam Mount Service – a component that is responsible for mount operations – creates an additional mount point on the srcinal VM, and, if necessary, on a staging Microsoft SQL Server. As said, mount to the staging server is used when you perform restore to a specific transaction, or if Veeam Backup & Replication does not have information about databases (for example, if you initiate restore from storage snapshots). To create a mount point on Microsoft Windows machines, Veeam uses the iSCSI protocol. The remote machine (srcinal VM) or staging server acts as an iSCSI initiator. The machine on which the Veeam Explorer runs acts as an iSCSI target. The iSCSI mount point is non-persistent – it is created only for duration of the restore process.

Prerequisites To provide for database restore with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server, the following prerequisites are necessary: 1.

A proper scenario and restore options should be selected, as described in the Planning for Database Restore section.

2.


3.

Required permissions should be assigned to the accounts involved, as listed in the Required Permissions section.

4.

If the restore scenarios you plan to implement involve a staging SQL Server, check requirements listed in the Staging SQL Server.

5.

The corresponding backup job should be properly configured, as described in the Required Microsoft SQL Server Backup Job Settings section.

Also, examine Considerations and Limitations for the solution, as well as edition comparison table provided in the Licensing and Editions section.

System Requirements System requirements specific for Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server are described below. Specification

Requirement The following versions of Microsoft SQL Server are supported as source/target systems for database restore:

•

Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Microsoft SQL Server 2008R2 Microsoft SQL Server 2008

•

Microsoft SQL Server 2005

• •

Microsoft SQL Server

• •

All editions of Microsoft SQL Server are supported. AlwaysOn Availability Groups are supported for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and later. For export to selected point in time and for export/restore to the state before selected transaction, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server uses a staging Microsoft SQL Server. By default, local Microsoft SQL Server deployed with Veeam backup server will be used as a staging system. Other

48

If you plan to use another server as a staging Microsoft SQL Server, then it should have the same or later version as the srcinal Microsoft SQL Server. Besides, if the source database uses any edition-specific features, then staging system should be of the same or higher edition than the srcinal SQL Server. See the Staging SQL Serversection for details.


Also, consider the following: 1.

By default, the AUTO_CLOSE option for SQL Server databases is set to False. However, check that this setting is False for the database you plan to restore (if AUTO_CLOSE is turned on, this may lead to database being skipped from processing).

2.

If you plan to restore database items from an SQL Server VM running Microsoft Windows ReFS, consider that Veeam backup server or management console (that is, the machine where Veeam Explorer and the mount service are running) must be installed on the Microsoft Windows Server 2012 or later.

3.

To restore from a server running Microsoft Windows ReFS 3.x, Veeam backup server or management console (that is, the machine where Veeam Explorer and the mount service are running) must be installed on the Microsoft Windows Server 2016.

See also "Restoring Guest OS Files - Before You Begin" section of the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide and “How It Works” section of this document.

Required Permissions The following rights and permissions are required: 

The user account that you specify for guest processing of the Microsoft SQL Server VM in the backup job should have the sysadmin fixed role assigned on that SQL Server (see the "Creating Backup Jobs>Specify Guest Processing Settings" section of the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide for details on job configuration). This is the recommended setting; however, if you need to provide minimal permissions to the account performing backup operation, you can assign the following:

o

SQL Server instance-level roles: dbcreator and public

o

Database-level roles: db_backupoperator, db_denydatareader, public; for system databases (master, model, msdb) - db_backupoperator, db_datareader,

public o Note:

Securables: view any definition, view server state

If you want transaction logs to be truncated, note that in case log truncation with the specified account is not a success, Veeam will try to perform it using NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account, so for SQL Server 2016, 2014 or 2012 make sure it has sufficient rights (see this Veeam Knowledge Base article for more information). As for SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2, default settings in these versions allow for database log truncation by local SYSTEM account (however, if they were modified, make sure this account is permitted to truncate logs). 



The account you will use to access the target Microsoft SQL server where database will be restored needs sysadmin fixed role on that server. (This account you will specify when working with the Restore Wizard, as described later in this guide.) The account you plan to use for connection to the Windows machine (where database log backup files will be copied for further log replay) will need sufficient permissions to access the administrative share on that machine: Read and Write are minimal required. For restore scenarios, that machine is your target SQL Server. (To read more about scenarios that require log replay, refer to Planning for Database Restore section.)



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The account used to run Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server should have sufficient permissions for the folder where you plan to export the database files: Read and Write are minimal recommended.


Used Ports Backup The following table describes network ports that must be opened to ensure proper communication with the runtime coordination process deployed inside the Microsoft SQL Server guest OS for application-aware processing and transaction logs shipping. From

Veeam backup server or Guest interaction proxy (in Enterprise and Enterprise Plus editions)

Microsoft SQL Server VM guest OS

To


Veeam backup server or Guest interaction proxy (in Enterprise

Protocol Port

Notes

TCP, UDP

135, 137139, 445

Ports required to deploy the runtime coordination process on the VM guest OS.

TCP

4915265535 (for Microsoft Windows 2008 and newer)

Dynamic RPC port range used by the runtime coordination process deployed inside the VM guest OS for application-aware processing (when working over the network).*

TCP

6167

[For Microsoft SQL Server transaction logs shipping.] Port used by the runtime process on the VM guest OS from which transaction logs are collected.

TCP

4915265535 (for Microsoft Windows 2008 and newer)

Dynamic RPC port range used by the runtime coordination process deployed inside the VM guest OS for application-aware processing (when working over the network).*

2500 5000

[For Microsoft SQL Server transaction logs shipping.] Default range of ports used by Veeam data mover service for data transmission over the network.

For more information, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929851/en-us.

For more information, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929851/en-us.

and Enterprise Plus editions) Log shipping server

TCP

* - If you use default Microsoft Windows firewall settings, you do not need to configure dynamic RPC ports: during setup, Veeam Backup & Replication automatically creates a firewall rule for the runtime process. If you use firewall settings other than default ones or application-aware processing fails with the “RPC function call failed” error, you need to configure dynamic RPC ports.

Restore The following table describes network ports open during application item restore. From

To

Protocol Port

Notes

Machine running Veeam Explorer (this can be Veeam backup server or standalone console)


TCP

Port used for communication with the Microsoft SQL Server installed inside the VM during application-item restore. Exact port numbers depend on configuration of your Microsoft SQL server. To learn more, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc646023.aspx#BKMK_ssde.

UDP

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1433,1434 and other

1434


Port used by Microsoft SQL Server Browser Service. To learn more, see

From

To

Protocol Port

Notes https://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/ms181087(v=sql.130).aspx.

TCP

1025 - 1034

Default RPC port range for the runtime component installed on target or staging server guest OS to support restore operations in most scenarios. Port is open only during application item restore (Veeam Explorer session). To learn how to modify default port range, see How It Works.

Target remote machine to which application items are restored, or staging Microsoft SQL Server

Machine running Veeam Explorer

TCP

3260 - 3270

Range of ports opened by Veeam & the Replication for iSCSI traffic during Backup restore to srcinal VM. See Mount Operations for details. Ports are open only during application item restore (Veeam Explorer session).

Licensing and Editions Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server does not require a separate license; it is installed together with Veeam Backup & Replication server or stand-alone management console during the setup. All editions including Veeam Backup Free Edition are supported. However, the full range of restore capabilities will be available with Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise and Enterprise Plus Edition only, as listed in the table below. Feature\Edition

Free

Standard

Enterprise

Enterprise Plus

View database information

Available

Available

Available

Available

Export database

Available

Available

Available

Available

Export database schema and/or data

Available

Available

Available

Available

Restore database to srcinal or different server

Not available

Not available

Available

Available

Restore database schema and/or data to the srcinal or different server

Not available

Not available

Available

Available

Considerations and Limitations 1.

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If you are using SQL Server Express edition (for example, SQL Server 2012 Express included in Veeam setup) as a staging system, consider that databases that exceed 10 GB cannot be attached to this SQL Server due to Express edition limitations (http://msdn.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc645993(v=SQL.110).aspx). If you plan to recover large databases following a scenario that requires a staging server, then it is necessary to configure a fully functional commercial version of Microsoft SQL Server as a staging system.


2.

By default, system databases (master, model, msdb) are skipped from transaction log processing and are not a part of Veeam Explorer restore workflow. These databases can be restored using file-level restore, as described in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide. If you want to exclude other database(s) from transaction log processing workflow, please refer to this Veeam Knowledge Base article. Consider that exclusion configured this way will be treated as a global setting.

3.

Transaction log backup requires that at least one image-level backup of SQL Server VM is performed. This particularly means that transaction log backup will not function after full SQL Server VM restore is performed, or for newly appearing databases, until first image-level VM backup is performed.

4.

Currently, point-in-time restore and restore to the state before selected transaction is not

5.

supported for replica VMs and for restore points created by backup copy job. Transaction log backups is not supported for Windows Server 2008 or earlier guests on Hyper-V 2012 R2.

6.

If you want to restore a database from AlwaysOn availability group node to the state as of prior to selected transaction, all nodes of the group should be located in the same time zone.

7.

Table-level recovery is supported only for database tables with no external dependencies.

8.

If you plan to restore an encrypted database using Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server, consider information provided in this Veeam Knowledge Base article.

9.

If you plan to restore database schema objects, consider that 'Replace' logic is not supported that is, if an object with the same name exists in the production database and in the backup, then a backup object will not replace the existing one, but an object with a different name will be created instead, as described in the Restoring Database Schema and Data. Also, consider that when objects are renamed, relationships between them are not renamed.

10. If both Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Server are installed on one VM, and this VM is processed by a job with log backup enabled for both applications, Veeam Backup & Replication will back up only Oracle transaction logs. Microsoft SQL Server transaction logs will not be processed.

Support for AlwaysOn Availability Groups AlwaysOn Availability Groups are supported for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and later. 



If you want to restore a database from AlwaysOn availability group node to the state as of prior to selected transaction, all nodes of the group should be located in the same time zone. If you are using Basic Availability Groups on Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard Edition, consider that secondary replica node cannot be backed up because the secondary node is not readable. See the following article for more information: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/alwaysonpro/2016/05/02/sql-server-2016-alwaysonavailability-group-enhancements-basic-availability-group-on-standard-edition/.

See also the corresponding section of the "How To Backup and Restore SQL Server Database with Veeam" document at https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/howtosql/how2_sql_always_on.html.

Staging SQL Server To restore or export application item (database, schema or data) to the state as of the current restore point (that is, as of in the VM backup which is currently mounted to Veeam backup server), no extra configuration is needed. However, as described in the How It Works section, to support other scenarios, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server needs a staging Microsoft SQL Server. In particular, it is required for the following operations: 

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Restore to the state before selected transaction




Export to selected point in time



Export to the state before selected transaction

As a staging system, you can use the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express that is shipped with the Veeam Backup & Replication setup (this will be the default staging server).

Note:

Databases that exceed 10 GB cannot be attached to this SQL Server due to Express edition limitations (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645993(v=SQL.110).aspx). Check that the staging system meets the following prerequisites: 1. 2.

Make sure that staging SQL Server has the same or later version as the srcinal SQL Server (the VM processed by Veeam job). If the database you plan to restore utilizes any SQL Server feature that is supported in the certain edition of SQL Server, then the staging SQL Server must be not only of the same (or higher) version as the srcinal SQL Server but also of the same (or higher) edition. For example, if the database was created with Backup Compression built-in feature of SQL Server, then you can use SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition and higher as a staging system, but you cannot use SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition, as it does not support that feature. So, when planning for the staging SQL Server, check for edition-specific features of your source databases and make sure the staging system meets the above requirement.

3.

Specific ports on staging server will be used during restore session, as described in the Used Ports section.

4.

If you plan to add database(s) to Veeam Explorer scope manually, consider domain trusts.

Required Microsoft SQL Server Backup Job Settings To be able to explore and recover the necessary database, you should have a transactionallyconsistent backup of your Server successfully. Backup & Replication User Microsoft Guide for SQL VMware or created for Hyper-V platform.For details, see the Veeam Also, you need to decide whether you need to recover your SQL database items to the latest available restore point only, to any point in time, or to the state before a particular transaction. Then you should configure the corresponding log processing options with Veeam Backup & Replication, using the VM processing settings in backup job properties.

Important! Remember that application-specific log handling options required for your restore scenario are available on the SQL tab of the VM's guest OS processing settings. The SQL tab becomes active only if Veeam Backup & Replication is instructed to process transaction logs for SQL server (not 3rd party application). So you should open the General tab and make sure that the Process transaction logs with this job (recommended) option is selected in the Transaction logs section.

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Then go to the SQL tab and select the option you need: 

Truncate logs – if selected, this option will allow only for the database restore to the state as of currently selected VM restore point (no logs to replay). Any recovery model can be set for SQL server database; logs written by SQL server will be truncated by Veeam Backup & Replication.

Note:

If you want to use this option, note that in case log truncation with the specified guest processing account is not a success, Veeam will try to perform it using NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account, so for SQL Server 2016, 2014 and 2012 make sure it has sufficient rights (see this Veeam Knowledge Base article for more information). As for SQL Server 2005, 2008 and 2008 R2, default settings in these versions allow for database log truncation by local SYSTEM account (however, if they were modified, make sure this account is permitted to truncate logs).

Tip:

An alternative method can be also recommended if you want to prevent storage space from being occupied with growing log files: set the database logging model to simple and use the Don’t truncate logs option (as described below). This method does not involve log truncation, so it does not require specific permission assignment. 

Do not truncate logs – this option instructs Veeam to preserve logs (if any) on the srcinal SQL server (nor they will be truncated, neither will be backed up by Veeam Backup & Replication). With this option selected, your database administrator will have to take care of database logs. Applicable restore scenario – database restore to the state as of currently selected VM restore point.

Important! To prevent log files from growing rapidly, it is strongly recommended NOT to use this option if full or bulk-logged recovery model is set up for your SQL server database; simple recovery model is the recommended setting.

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

Backup logs – if selected, this option will support any database restore scenario (to the state as of in currently selected VM restore point, to any point in time or to the state before particular transaction). Veeam Backup & Replication will periodically ship transaction logs to the backup repository and store them with the SQL server VM backup, truncating transaction logs on the srcinal VM. Make sure that recovery model for the required SQL server database(s) is set to full or bulk-logged. Contact your database administrator, if necessary.

To be able to restore to any point in time or to the state before particular transaction, make sure that recovery model for the database is set to full or bulk-logged. Contact your database administrator, if necessary. The following table lists possible database logging models and Veeam backup options, describing all combinations.

Veeam option: Truncate logs

Do not truncate logs

Backup logs periodically

Applicable option for this mode.

Databases in this mode are skipped from this type of processing.

SQL DB logging model:

Simple

Full

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Databases in this mode are skipped from this type of processing. Though it is a default option, there is no sense in

Log files do not grow (and do not need to be backed up), so

applying it in this case.

this option does not make sense in this case.

Applicable option. Veeam performs “backup to NUL” for log files on guest.

Applicable but not recommended to use without native or 3rd party means of log truncation or backup – otherwise, logs will increase in size.


Applicable option. Log backup files (.BAK) are copied from the temporary folder on SQL Server to Veeam repository. As soon as data is copied to target, .BAK files are deleted from source.

Veeam option: Truncate logs

Bulk-logged

56

Applicable option. Veeam performs “backup to NUL” for log files on guest.

Do not truncate logs

Backup logs periodically

Applicable but not recommended to use without native or 3rd party means of log truncation or backup – otherwise, logs will increase in size.

Applicable option. Log backup files (.BAK) are copied from the temporary folder on SQL Server to Veeam repository. As soon as data is copied to target, .BAK files are deleted from source.


Administration Having your Microsoft SQL Server VM application-aware backup created successfully, with the necessary log processing options applied, you can use Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server to restore the required database, using the preferred scenario. Generic procedure goes as follows: 1.

Recover database file(s) (as well as secondary and log files, if available) from SQL server VM backup, replica or VeeamZip file manually or automatically. See Recovering Database File from VM Backup.

2.

In case of manual recovery, add database to Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server scope. See Adding Database To Veeam Explorer's Scope.

3.

View database information to make sure database backup settings allow you to follow the restore scenario you need. See Viewing Database Information.

4.

To restore or export database(s) to the original location, use 1-Click Restore and 1-Click Export.

5.

To restore or export database(s) to another location, follow the required scenario, as described in the corresponding section later in this document. See Restoring Databases and Exporting Databases.

First Steps This section described the initial steps that will help you to start efficiently using Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server. There are several scenarios of launching Veeam Explorer from Veeam Backup & Replication console using different recovery options they will be described later in this guide. You can also run Veeam Explorer from the Start menu. The application will connect to Veeam Backup & Replication database to obtain the necessary configuration settings - in particular, display theme that will be used by Veeam Explorer. The most common scenario involves Veeam Explorer that is co-installed with Veeam backup server, and Veeam Backup Service is accessed via default port, under current account using Windows session authentication. No special settings need to be configured in this case. Alternatively, if you want to work with Veeam Explorer that is co-installed with the standalone console, you will need to enter several settings to connect to Veeam backup server running on another machine. At launch, specify the following: 

Server name or IP address



Port number used to communicate with Veeam Backup Service (default is 9392)



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User name and password for connection - you can select to Use Windows session authentication if current account has sufficient access rights


Click Save shortcut if you want to store these connection settings for future use as a shortcut on your Desktop.

In This Section 

Getting to Know User Interface



Configuring Staging SQL Server Settings

Getting to Know the User Interface The main menu of Veeam Explorer can be opened by clicking its icon in the top left corner of the Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server main window. The menu contains commands related to general application settings.

In particular, you can perform the following operations using the main menu: Configure Veeam Explorer options, as explained later in this guide 

58






Access online Help






Exit the program


Main Window The navigation pane, located on the left of the window, enables you to easily access application items you want to restore. Operation commands in Veeam Explorer are organized into logical groups and collected under tabs on the ribbon. The ribbon is displayed at the top of the main application window. The Home ribbon tab provides quick access to some common operations. Other tabs contain commands specific for certain entities appear when the corresponding nodes are selected in the navigation pane. For example, if you select a database, the Database tab displaying buttons for operations with databases will appear on the ribbon. If you then select a server node, the Server tab with the corresponding operations will be displayed.

Tip:

Commands for operations with selected entity are also available in the shortcut menu.


Configuring Staging SQL Server You can use the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express that is shipped with the Veeam Backup & Replication setup as a staging system (this will be the default staging server). You can also use another SQL Server instance, either local or remote, as a staging system. 1. 2.

Important!

3.

Make sure the staging system meets the requirements listed in this guide. Make sure the accounts you specify have sufficient permissions to connect to Windows machine and to access SQL server. Consider that specific ports on staging server will be used during restore session, as described in this guide.

To configure a staging system, do the following: 1.

59

Launch Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server, open the main menu and click Options.


2.

Select the necessary SQL Server instance (local or remote) from the list.

3.

Specify user account that will be used to access this SQL server - this can be current account (the one under which Veeam Explorer is running) or another account.

4.

Specify account that will be used to access Windows machine where that SQL server runs. You can also use current account or another account.

Staging Server and Domain Trusts If you plan to add database(s) to Veeam Explorer scope manually, as described later in this guide, consider the following when setting up the staging SQL Server: 





If this SQL Server belongs to an untrusted domain, connection will not be possible. If this SQL Server belongs to a trusted domain, then only SQL Server authentication is possible. If this SQL Server belongs to the same domain as the machine where Veeam Explorer runs, then both Windows and SQL Server authentication methods are possible. In this case, if you plan to use Windows authentication for connection, you will need to configure delegation settings as follows: a)

In Active Directory Users and Computers , select the necessary staging SQL Server.

b) Open its properties and select the Delegation tab. Select Trust this computer for delegation to specified services only and Use any authentication protocol options for the cifs service on the computer where Veeam Explorer runs. c)

After that, restart the staging SQL Server.

d) Select the domain user account that you want to use for connection to the staging SQL Server, and in its properties on the Account tab make sure the Account is sensitive and cannot be delegated check box is cleared.

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Note:

Contact your Active Directory administrator, if necessary.

Obtaining Database File from VM Backup Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server supports database files obtained from the VeeamZIP file or from SQL server VM backup or replica. So, the following operations should be performed: 1.

Obtain database file from the latest or specified restore point (backup, replica or VeeamZIP file) by means of Veeam Backup & Replication.

2. Add this database to the Veeam Explorer scope. You can carry out these two steps in a fully automated way by using the Microsoft SQL Server Database Restore wizard (described later in this guide). In this case, Veeam Backup & Replication will automatically obtain the database from the backup and open it in Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server. Alternatively, you can perform these steps manually: first, obtain the database files from the backup using any other Veeam recovery option (for example, Windows guest OS recovery), then locate the necessary database and add it to Veeam Explorer scope. This course of action is described in the next sections.

Manual Steps for VeeamZIP File To obtain the database file from the VeeamZIP file, you can use full VM recovery or guest OS file-level recovery (preferred option) for the virtualized SQL server. Then in Veeam Backup Browser you can locate the database you want to restore. To add the database file to Veeam Explorer scope directly from the mounted VM file system, do the following: 1. In the navigation tree of Veeam Backup Browser, choose the folder where the primary database file (.mdf ) is located (for information about default file paths, please refer to the http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143547.aspx). 2.

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On the Home tab of Veeam Backup Browser toolbar, select Application Items>SQL Server Databases. The database will be added to Veeam Explorer scope and displayed in its main window.


Note:

If you choose to restore database directly from the mounted VM file system, do not close Veeam Backup Browser until you finish restore operations. Closing Veeam Backup Browser automatically unmounts the file system of the backed up VM.

Manual Steps for Backup or Replica To extract the database from the backup or replica file, you can use any data recovery feature available in Veeam Backup & Replication: Instant VM recovery, full VM restore, replica failover and so on. Data recovery options are described in detail in Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide. We will use Guest OS Restore wizard as a sample method. Guest OS Restore Wizard allows you to mount the backup of the Microsoft SQL server to the Veeam backup server and extract the database files. When you perform file-level restore of guest OS files, the file system of a backed up VM will be mounted to the Veeam mount server and automatically displayed in the in-built Backup Browser. After that, you can locate the necessary database file and add it to Veeam Explorer's scope. Do the following:

Note:

1.

In the Veeam Backup & Replication console, open the Home tab and click Restore.

2.

In the Restore Wizard window, select Guest Files > Guest Files (Windows).

3.

In the list of available jobs, select the backup or replica of the SQL server from which the database should be restored.

This backup must be created by a job with application-aware image processing enabled. For more information, see Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.

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1.

Select the restore point for the SQL server VM. The details on this VM (including name, size and srcinal host) will be also displayed.

2.

Enter restore reason.


3.

Note:

Click Finish to start restoring. Once the restore is completed, Veeam Backup & Replication will open Backup Browser displaying the file system tree of the restored VM.

Please note that the names of the restored machine drives may differ from the srcinal ones.

4.

Browse through the contents of the backup and locate the database file. Consider that VM disks are mounted under the C: \ veeamf l r \ \ folder; the default SQL server instance paths are listed in File Locations for Default and Named Instances of SQL Server article.

5.

Use the Application Items>SQL Server Databases menu command on the Home tab to launch Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server and add the database to Veeam Explorer's scope.

Automated Steps for Backup or Replica This wizard automatically performs SQL Server VM file-level recovery, detects SQL hierarchy, including instances and databases, and adds selected database to Veeam Explorer scope, attaching it to the staging server for further export and restore. To start the Microsoft SQL Server Database Restore wizard, do any of the following: 



63

In Veeam Backup & Replication, open the Backup & Replication view and go to the Home tab. Click Restore and select the necessary VM platform. In the Restore Options window, select Application items, on the next step select Microsoft SQL Server. You will proceed to the Virtual Machine step of the wizard.

In Veeam & Replication, openthe thebackup Select the Backups Backupjob & Replication node, thenBackup in the right pane expand with the SQLview. server you need. Select the SQL server VM, then on Backup tab of the toolbar click Application items > Microsoft SQL Server. In this case, you will pass to the Restore Point step of the wizard.




Note:

In Veeam Backup & Replication, open the Backup & Replication view. Select the Backups node, expand the backup job with the SQL server VM in the right pane. Right-click the SQL server VM and from its shortcut menu select Restore application items > Microsoft SQL databases. In this case, you will pass to the Restore Point step of the wizard.

Consider that you can use this method only for VM backups that were created with VSS-aware image processing enabled. Then follow the steps of the wizard, as described in the next section.

Microsoft SQL Server Database Restore Wizard 1.

64

In the Virtual Machine step, expand the job you need from the list of backup jobs, and select the SQL server VM hosting the required database. To quickly find VMs in jobs, use the search field at the bottom of the window.


2.

Select the restore point to be used. Veeam supports the following restore options: 

Restore from the latest available backup – this is the default option.



Restore from this restore point – with this option selected, you can then choose the necessary restore point from the list.

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3.

Next, enter the reason for SQL server VM restore.

4.

On the Summary page, review the details of your VM to be recovered, and click Finish.


After that, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server will be launched, with the SQL server hierarchy (for the chosen restore point) automatically added to its scope and shown in the navigation tree. Then you can use Veeam Explorer functionality to view, export and restore databases.

66


Adding Database To Veeam Explorer Scope To allow users to browse and restore the necessary data, SQL server database must be added to Veeam Explorer's scope. The following ways are possible: 



If you are using Microsoft SQL Database Restore Wizard to mount the contents of the backup file, then Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server will be launched automatically, with the database added to its scope, and Microsoft SQL server hierarchy will be displayed in the main window. If you are using other Veeam file-level restore option, then you can navigate to the necessary database file in Veeam Backup Browser and use the Application Items>SQL Server Databases menu command on the Home tab to launch Veeam Explorer; Veeam will automatically discover SQL server databases in the mounted backup and add them to scope.



Note:

Otherwise, if you have manually recovered the database from backup or if you are using imported backup, then you should explicitly add database file to the Veeam Explorer scope, making it visible in the console.

If you plan to add the database manually, make sure the staging Microsoft SQL server is configured, as described in the System Requirements section above. Do the following: 1.

Open Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server and click Add Database on the toolbar.

2.

In the displayed window, enter the location of the primary database file, the secondary database and corresponding log files. If necessary, specify BLOB store location.

Manually added databases will be displayed in the navigation tree under the Other SQL Servers

Databases node.

To add multiple databases to scope when one database is already open, you can run the same command from the menu bar, or right-click any item in the navigation tree and select Add database from its shortcut menu. After the database has been added to the Veeam Explorer scope, you can browse through the server instances and databases, view their properties, export and restore the databases, as well as their schema objects.

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Important! Keep in mind that the restore point you have selected when restoring SQL server VM becomes a reference point for the database recovery scenarios (it will be referred to as current restore point). You can remove a database that you have manually added to Veeam Explorer scope. For that, select it in the navigation tree and click Remove Database on the toolbar, or use the shortcut menu command. When prompted, confirm the operation.

Note:

If the database was added automatically (by using Microsoft SQL Item Restore wizard), this command will be unavailable for it.

Viewing Database Information In the Veeam Explorer navigation pane, you can see the hierarchy of SQL server, including all instances and databases added to scope When you select an entity in the navigation tree, you can view its properties in the working area on the right. .



For SQL server - server name and VM name.



For server instance - name and full version





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For each database - name, backup creation date, recovery model, whether in read-only mode, database files location for databases and log files, availability of the restore scenario (if restore to point in time is possible due to backup settings) If current VM restore point was created with AlwaysOn availability group configured for selected database, you can also view availability group name and server role (as for the srcinal server)


Restoring Databases With Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server, you can restore SQL server database(s) to the srcinal or different server instance in your production environment. For that, the Restore Wizard is used, where you can choose target server and restore options. Also, you can use 1-Click Restore feature to quickly recover your database(s) to the srcinal location.

1-Click Restore With 1-Click Restore, Veeam Explorer allows you to quickly restore one or several databases to the srcinal location (that is, the srcinal SQL server instance hosting the database(s)). You can restore selected database(s) to the current state, or to the certain point in time - for that, make sure the SQL Server backup job was set up properly (see Required Microsoft SQL Server Backup Job Settings ) and completed successfully. Restore process will be performed with the following settings: 

Database(s) will be restored to the srcinal VM (files will be copied to the srcinal location and then attached to the srcinal SQL Server instance). AlwaysOn availability groups will be restored in accordance with the source (backup) settings.

Important! If a database with the same name exists on target, it will be deleted and replaced by the database from backup. You will need to confirm this operation before it starts.



User credentials for carrying out the restore procedure (using Windows authentication) will be picked as follows: firstly, Veeam Explorer will try to use the account which is currently logged in. If this account does not have sufficient rights to perform the restore procedure (for example, in case of imported backup), then it will use the account configured for guest access in the corresponding backup job; if this does not work either, user will be prompted to supply the credentials. Remember that the account permissions, should have administrative rights on the necessary target server. For detailed information on required see Permissions.

Restore to the current state You can quickly restore one or several databases as of the current (that is, currently mounted to Veeam backup server) state on the srcinal server. As you remember, when mounting a VM backup to Veeam backup server, you can select the latest or any other state from the list of available restore points. To restore to the current state on the srcinal server:

69

1.

Select the required database in the navigation tree on the left. To restore all databases residing on a server or instance, select the corresponding node.

2.

To restore a single database, on the Database tab select Restore Database > Restore to \ on the toolbar or use the same command from the shortcut menu.


To restore multiple databases, select the required server or instance in the navigation tree on the left, then:

3.

o

If restoring multiple databases of the selected SQL Server, select Restore to - in this case, all databases will be restored to corresponding instances on that (srcinal) server.

o

If restoring multiple databases of the selected instance, select Restore to \ - in this case, all databases will be restored to the specified instance on the srcinal server.

Veeam Explorer will display a confirmation dialog. To start the restore process, click Proceed. Wait for the process to complete.

Restore to point in time To quickly restore one or several database(s) to the certain point-in-time state to the original server, do the following:

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1.

Select the required database in the navigation tree on the left. To restore all databases residing on a server or instance, select the corresponding node.

2.

To restore a single database, select Restore Database > Restore point-in-time state to \ on the toolbar or use the same command from the shortcut menu:


To restore multiple databases, select the required server or instance in the navigation tree on the left, then:

3.

o

If restoring multiple databases of the selected SQL Server, select Restore point-intime state to - in this case, all databases will be restored to corresponding instances on that server.

o

If restoring multiple databases of the selected instance, select Restore point-intime state to \ - in this case, all databases will be restored to the specified instance.

At the wizard step displayed, select the Restore to a point in time option. If restoring a single database, use the slider to select the necessary point. For details on using the time scale, see Restoring to Specific Point in Time.

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If restoring multiple databases, consider that depending on the database recovery model, the following cases are possible:

4.

o

Some database(s) will be restored to the state as not of the specified moment but as of the different time (the closest prior to selection) - this will be shown in the list next to database name

o

Some database(s) cannot be restored as there are no transaction logs for the specified period - this will be mentioned in the list

o

Some database(s) will be restored to the specified moment - they will not appear in the list

Click Restore. Veeam Explorer will display a confirmation dialog. To start the restore process, click Proceed. Wait for the process to complete.

Using Restore Wizard Step 1. Specify restore point Select the state to which the database should be restored: 



Restore to the current restore point option instructs Veeam Explorer to recover the database to the moment when current restore point of SQL server VM was created. With this option selected, you will proceed to step 3. Restore to a point in time option instructs Veeam Explorer to recover the database to the state as of the specified moment.

Use the slider to specify the point in time to which you want the database to be restored. Database will be recovered to the closest VM restore point before the moment you specify on the timeline, and then transaction log replay will bring the database to the necessary state. The timeline includes the following timestamps (relatively to current SQL server restore point):

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o

Beginning – refers to the previous restore point of SQL server VM which contains selected database backup

o

End – refers to the next restore point which contains selected database backup


Note:

Consider the following: 







If the previous restore point (server backup) was not found, or database backup does not exist in it, then Beginning will refer to current restore point. If the next restore point (server backup) and corresponding transaction log backup were not found, or if database backup does not exist in server backup, then End will refer to current restore point. If the next restore point (server backup) was not found, but transaction log backup exists for the preceding period, then End will refer to the latest log backup time. Finally, you can select the Perform restore to the specific transaction check box - this enables you to review major database transactions around the selected time, and restore the database to the moment in time right before the unwanted change. With this check box selected, you will proceed to Step 2, with the check box cleared, you will proceed to Step 3.

Step 2. Fine-tune the Restore Point On this step, you get a list of database operations logged during the time period you have specified.

Select the undesired operation (for example, you can select the row deletion or insertion). The database will be restored to the most recent state preceding the selected operation.

Note:

For the full list of operations for which this process is supported, please refer to the Appendix.

Step 3. Specify target SQL Server connection parameters On this step, specify settings for the target server where the database should be restored:

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a)

Note:

Supply SQL server virtual machine name and SQL server instance where to restore; use the server_vm_name\instance format. You can select server\instance from the drop-down list, or use the Browse button. Enter database name (by default, the srcinal name will be used). Consider that database in mirror mode cannot be used as a target.

Target SQL server must be of the same or later version as the srcinal server. For example, SQL server 2008 database can be restored to SQL server 2008 or 2012, but cannot be restored to SQL server 2005. b)

Specify account to be used for connection with the target SQL server. You can use the current account (under which you are running Veeam Explorer), or specify another account and enter its password.

c)

You can select to Use SQL Server authentication; if this check box is not selected, Windows authentication will be used. Remember that the account used to access target SQL server must be assigned the sysadmin role on that server.

Important! To be able to copy transaction logs to the target server for further replay, the account you specify for server connection (that is, credentials to connect to Windows server) should be granted sufficient permissions to access the administrative share on that machine (e.g., \ \ myser ver \ C$) - Read and Write are minimal required, Full Control recommended. See the Permissions section for information.

Important! If a database with the specified name exists on the target SQL server instance, the restore process by design will delete it and replace with from backup. Thus, when you click Next, a message will be displayed, asking youthe to database confirm the deletion.

Step 4. Specify AlwaysON Restore Options If the specified target SQL server supports AlwaysOn Availability Groups, then you will be offered to click Next and specify AlwaysOn restore options; otherwise, proceed to Step 5.

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



If you plan to use AlwaysOn capability for the database, select the Add the database to the following group check box, then select the necessary availability group from the list. Database will be restored to the primary server (shown in the list of nodes) and replicated to the secondary node(s). If you do not plan to use AlwaysOn capability when restoring the database, clear the the Add the database to the following group check box.

Step 5. Specify Files Location Finally, specify the location to which database and log files will be restored:

Default path depends on the SQL server. For example, for SQL server 2008 R2 it will be: %Pr ogr am Fi l es%\ Mi cr osof t SQL Ser ver \ MSSQL10_50. .

Note:

Default path on target Windows server may be different.

You can click Browse to specify a path you need. After you select the target folder where to copy files, return to the wizard. Finally, click Restore and wait for the process to complete. Veeam Explorer will notify you of the operation results.

Restoring a Database to Current Restore Point This scenario allows you to recover selected SQL database to the moment when the current (that is, currently mounted to Veeam backup server) restore point — backup or replica — was created for the SQL server VM. To implement this scenario, you do not need to configure log backup or recovery settings; check only the following: 1.

You have a successful SQL server VM backup with application-aware image processing enabled.

2.

When recovering database file from VM backup or replica, you have selected the necessary restore point of SQL server VM (see the Obtaining Database File from VM Backup section above).

Also, decide where you will restore the database:

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



To restore to the srcinal server, use 1-Click Restore. To restore to another server, select the required database in the navigation tree on the left, then click Restore Database > Restore to another server... on the toolbar, or use the corresponding database's shortcut menu command.

The Restore wizard will be launched. On the Specify restore point step, select the Restore to the current restore point option.

Then follow the steps of the wizard to configure restore target and perform the restore.

Restoring a Database to Specific Point in Time This scenario allows you to recover your database to specific point in time (which may differ from current SQL Server restore point). Database will be recovered to the closest VM restore point before the moment you specify, and then transaction log replay will be performed on the target server to bring the database to the necessary state. So, to implement this scenario, ensure the following:

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1.

SQL Server transaction logging is enabled - database recovery model must be set to Full or Bulk-logged.

2.

Transaction log handling in the SQL Server VM backup job settings had been configured to keep log backups: the Backup logs option should be selected.

3.

You have SQL Server application-aware backup created successfully.

Restore to Original Server To restore a database to the certain point in time to the srcinal server, do the following: 1.

In Veeam Explorer main window, select the required database in the navigation tree on the left.

2.

Select Restore Database > Restore point-in-time state to \... on the toolbar, or use the same database's shortcut menu command and perform 1-Click Restore.

Restore to Another Server To restore database to specified point in time to another SQL Server, do the following:

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1.

In Veeam Explorer main window, select the required database in the navigation tree on the left.

2.

Select Restore Database>Restore to another server... on the toolbar, or use the same database's shortcut menu command.


3.

After the Restore wizard is launched, select Restore to a point in time option and use the slider to specify the necessary point, as described above. Leave the Perform restore to specific transaction check box cleared.

4.

Proceed to the Specify SQL Server step of the Restore Wizard. Go through the remaining steps of the wizard and wait for restore operation to complete.

Restoring a Database to Specific Transaction This scenario offers the greatest granularity of the database recovery: you can select the undesired operation from the list of database operations (available for the time period you have specified) – for example, user deletion. The database will be restored to the state prior to the transaction containing the specified operation, using log replay on target server. To implement this scenario, ensure the following: 1.

SQL Server transaction logging is enabled - database recovery model must be set to Full or Bulk-logged.

2.

Transaction log handling in the SQL Server VM backup job settings had been configured to keep log backups - the Back up logs option should be selected.

3.

You have SQL server application-aware backup created successfully.

In Veeam Explorer main window, select the required database in the navigation tree on the left, then launch the Restore Wizard: •

•

To restore a database to the srcinal server, click Restore Database > Restore point-in-time to \ on the toolbar, or use the database's shortcut menu command. To restore a database to another server, click Restore Database > Restore to another server on the toolbar, or use the database's shortcut menu command.

Then follow the steps of the Restore wizard:

Note:

1.

On the Specify point step, select Restore to a point in time and use the slider to specify the pointrestore you need.

2.

Select the Perform restore to the specific transaction checkbox.

Remember that these options will be available only if Microsoft SQL Server database recovery model had been set to Full or Bulk-logged and transaction log handling in the SQL Server VM backup job settings had been configured to keep log backups (see the Required SQL Server Backup Job Settings section).

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3.

Next, on the Fine-tune the restore point step, you get a list of database operations logged during the time period you have specified. Select the undesired operation (for example, you can select the row deletion or insertion). The database will be restored to the most recent state preceding the selected operation.

4. Complete the steps of the wizard, as described in Using Restore Wizard. Veeam Explorer will notify you of the restore operation results, displaying a pop-up message.

Restoring Database Schema and Data Veeam Explorer allows you to restore certain database schema objects and data. For that: 1.

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Click Restore Schema > Restore database schema and data on the toolbar, or use the database's shortcut menu command.


2.

Then go through the steps of the restore wizard, specifying the necessary options for the scenario you need.

3.

At the Select database objects step, review the list of database objects. Use the Object and Data check boxes to specify whether a database object and\or data should be restored.

To display only specific objects, click Filters and select the object type:

4.

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Specify object names for the objects after restore. When proceeding to this step, Veeam Explorer checks for object name in backup to exist in the target database:

o

If no duplicates exist, new name will be the same as the srcinal name.

o

If any duplicates are found, you will get a message asking to provide different new name. You can click Auto to create new names automatically - then Veeam Explorer will use the srcinal names followed by suffix (for example, _new suffix). You can edit the name if necessary and click Auto to check for duplicates again. If the check is a success, you can proceed to the next step.


5.

6.

If you are restoring file tables, at the next step you should specify directory names for these tables. You have the following options:

o

Preserve directory names if applicable (use autogenerated otherwise) - Veeam Explorer will use the srcinal names, or, if such a name already exists, a new name will be generated automatically as current name followed by suffix (for example, _new suffix)

o

Use the following directory names - here you can enter a different name for directory.

At the next step, specify additional restore options. Select how the filegroups should be restored for selected schema object(s):

o

Preserve filegroup - with this option selected, srcinal filegroup will be restored. If this scenario is not applicable (for example, no such filegroup exists on target), then default filegroup configured on target will be used.

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o

Use the following filegroup - select the necessary filegroup on target.

Select how partitioned tables should be restored:

o

Preserve partition schema - with this options selected, the table will be restored to the srcinal partition schema (if applicable; if not - default partition schema on target will be used)

o

Use the following partition schema - select the necessary partition schema on target.

o

Use the following filegroup - alternatively, select the filegroup on target to be used at restore.

7.

Finally, click Restore and wait for the restore process to complete.

Restoring Multiple Databases You can use Veeam Explorer to restore multiple databases at once: these can be all databases hosted by the certain SQL Server, or all databases of the certain SQL Server instance. You can restore the databases to the current restore point or to the state as of the selected point in time. Restore to the state prior to selected transaction is not available for that scenario. To restore multiple databases, first check the following: 1.

You have a successful SQL Server VM backup with application-aware image processing enabled.

2.

You have selected an appropriate restore point of SQL Server VM (see the Recovering Database File from VM Backup section above).

Also, Restore. decide where you will restore the databases. To restore to the srcinal server or instance, use 1Click To restore to another server or instance: 1.

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Select the required server or instance in the navigation tree on the left, then click Restore Databases > Restore to another server... .from the ribbon menu or from the shortcut menu.


2.

On the Specify restore point step of the wizard, select the state to which the databases should be restored:

o

Restore to the current restore point option instructs Veeam Explorer to recover all databases to the moment when current restore point of SQL server VM was created.

o

Restore to a point in time option instructs Veeam Explorer to recover the databases to the state as of the specified moment. Depending on the database recovery model, the following cases are possible:

a)

If you are restoring all databases of a server, having selected SQL Server node in the navigation tree, consider that databases will be restored to a single instance on that server. The srcinal database names will be used for restored databases.

b) Specify the account to be used for connection with the target SQL Server. You can use the current account (under which you are running Veeam Explorer), or specify another account and enter its password. c)

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You can select to Use SQL Server authentication; if this check box is not selected, Windows authentication will be used. Remember that the account used to access target SQL Server must be assigned the sysadmin role on that server.


Important! Consider the following: 



4.

If database with the specified name exists on the target SQL Server instance, the restore process by design will delete it and replace with the database from backup. Thus, you will need to confirm the deletion. If the specified target supports AlwaysOn availability groups, and you are restoring the databases belonging to the AlwaysOn group to their srcinal instances, these databases will be restored to the same group on target (this setting cannot be changed). By default, databases will be restored to the primary server and replicated to the secondary node(s). If connection to the Windows machine hosting the target SQL server uses the same credentials that you specified on Step 3, you can proceed with Step 5. Otherwise, supply server connection credentials.

Important! To be able to copy transaction logs to the target server for further replay, the account you specify for server connection (that is, credentials to connect to Windows server) should be granted sufficient permissions to access the administrative share on that machine (e.g., \ \ myser ver \ C$): Read and Write are minimal required, Full Control recommended. See the Permissions section for information.

Note:

By default, database files will be restored to the srcinal paths, for example, for SQL Server 2008 R2 it will be: %Pr ogr am Fi l es%\ Mi cr osof t SQL Ser ver \ MSSQL10_50. .

Default path on target Windows server may be different. 5.

Click Restore. Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server will display a confirmation dialog. To start the restore process, click Proceed. Wait for the process to complete. Veeam Explorer will notify you of the restore operation results.

Exporting Databases With Export Wizard, you can export selected database to a folder in the specified location. Exported database can be then attached to the SQL Server you need.

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Veeam Explorer needs a staging Microsoft SQL Server for several export scenarios: export to selected point in time and export to the state before selected transaction. The staging SQL Server should meet several requirements listed in this document. Refer to the “How It Works” and the “Staging SQL Server” sections for details. You can configure a path to the temporary location on the staging SQL Server where the log files will be stored during these export scenarios. For that, do the following: 1.

Go to the %pr ogr amdat a%\ Veeam\ Backup and Repl i cat i on\ SQLExpl or er folder on the machine where Veeam Explorer runs, and create a new configuration file named Config.xml in that folder.

2.

Add the TempFolderPath configuration parameter to the file content and specify the location you need (default is C: \ t mp):

3.

Save and close the configuration file.

The wizard can be launched by the Export command from the selected database shortcut menu or from the ribbon menu.

Step 1. Specify Restore Point Select the state to which the database should be exported: •

•

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The Restore to the current restore point scenario allows you to obtain database files as for the moment when the VM’s current restore point was created by backup or replication job. With this option selected, you will then be taken to step 5 of the wizard (see below).

The Restore to a point in time scenario allows you to obtain selected database files as for the selected moment (point) in the time interval around the current restore point, generally, from the previous to the next restore point (for details on the timescale, refer to the Restoring to Specific Point in Time section above). Use the slider control to choose the point you need.


Remember that restore to specific point in time is available under the certain conditions listed in the Restoring to Specific Point in Time. With this option selected, you will then be taken to step 3 of the wizard.

•

You can select Perform restore to specific transaction checkbox to review major database transactions around the selected time. Then you can pick the necessary operation and obtain database files as for the moment right before the unwanted change. With this option selected, you will then be taken to step 2 .

Note:

For the last two options, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server will need a staging SQL Server to replay the logs and to present the list of transactions, so make sure your staging server is configured properly. By default, local server will be used as a staging system. See Prerequisites for details.

Step 2. Fine-tune the Restore Point At this step, the list of database operations is displayed. Here you can select the undesired operation, and the database files will be obtained as for the state prior to transaction involving the specified operation.

Note:

Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server database operations as listed in the Appendix.

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Step 3. Specify Database Files Location Next, specify path to the destination folder. Note that the current account (used to run Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server) should have sufficient permissions for the selected folder (Read and Write as minimal recommended).

Finally, click Export and wait for the operation to complete.

1-Click Database Export This capability of Veeam Explorer allows you to quickly export a database to the srcinal location (that is, the srcinal SQL Server instance hosting the database). You can export selected database state as of the current restore point, or the certain point in time, or to the state prior to specified transaction.

87


Export as of Current State To quickly export selected database state as of the current restore point to default location (C: \ User s\ %user name%\ Deskt op), use the Export Database > Export state of to Desktop\ command from the ribbon menu or database shortcut menu.

To export multiple databases, select the server or instance node in the navigation tree, then use the Export Databases > Export state of to Desktop\ (for all databases of selected server) or the Export Databases > Export state of to Desktop\ (for all databases of selected server).

Export as of Point-in-time State To quickly export selected database state as of the certain point in time to default location: 1.

To export single database, select it in the navigation tree, then use the Export point-in-time state to Desktop\ command from the ribbon or database's shortcut menu. To export multiple databases, select the server or instance node in the navigation tree, then use the Export Databases > Export point-in-time state to Desktop\ (for all databases of selected server) or the Export Databases > Export point-in-time state to Desktop\ (for all databases of selected server).

2.

88

On the Specify restore point step of the Export Wizard, select Restore to a point in time option and use the slider to specify the necessary point.


3.


Export as of State Before Selected Transacti on This feature is available only when exporting a single database. To quickly export selected database state as of prior to the specified transaction to default location: 1.

Use the Export point-in-time state to Desktop\ command from the ribbon or database's shortcut menu.

2.

On the Specify restore point step of the Export Wizard, select Restore to a point in time option and use the slider to specify the necessary point. Select the Perform restore to the specific transaction check box.

If exporting multiple databases, consider that depending on the database recovery model, the following cases are possible:

4.

o

Some database(s) will be exported as not of the specified moment but to the different time (the closest prior to selection)

o

Some database(s) cannot be exported as of point in time since there are no transaction logs for the specified period

o

Some database(s) will be exported as of the specified moment

o

System databases will not be processed and will not appear in the list


Exporting Databases to Custom Location Exporting a Single Database To export a single database to a location you need, do the following: 1.

89

Select the required database in the navigation tree on the left.


2.

From its shortcut menu, select Export to another folder..., or use the ribbon menu command on the Database tab.

3.

The Export Wizard will be launched. Here you can use one of the three scenarios similar to those described in the Restoring Databases section above:

4.

o

Export database to the state as of the current restore point

o

Export database to the state as of selected point in time

o

Export database to the state prior to selected transaction

Having selected the option you need, follow the steps of the wizard.

Exporting Multiple Databases To export all database of the selected SQL Server or instance to a location you need, do the following:

90

1.

Select the required node (server or instance) in the navigation tree on the left.

2.

From its shortcut menu, select Export to another folder..., or use the Export Databases > Export to another folder... ribbon menu command.

3.

The Export Wizard will be launched. Here you can select the following options (similar to restore):

o

The Restore to the current restore point scenario allows you to obtain database files as for the moment when the VM’s current restore point was created by backup or replication job. With this option selected, you will then be taken to step 5 of the wizard (see below).

o

The Restore to a point in time scenario allows you to obtain database files as for the selected moment (point) in the time interval around the current restore point, generally, from the previous to the next restore point (for details on the timescale,


refer to the Restoring to Specific Point in Time section above). Use the slider control to choose the point you need.

Depending on the database recovery model, the following cases are possible:

Note:

o

Some database(s) will be exported as not of the specified moment but to the different time (the closest prior to selection)

o

Some database(s) cannot be exported as of point in time since there are no transaction logs for the specified period

o

Some database(s) will be exported as of the specified moment

o

System databases will not be processed and will not appear in the list

For the Restore to a point in time option, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server will need a staging SQL Server to replay the logs, so make sure your staging server is configured properly. By default, local server will be used as a staging system. See Prerequisites for details. 4.

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Next, specify path to the destination folder where database files will be stored.


Default location is the Desktop folder of the current user. If you need to export to another folder, note that current account (used to run Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server) should have sufficient permissions for the selected folder ( Read and Write as minimal recommended).

5.

o

If you are exporting multiple databases of an instance, then consider that by default database files will be stored to a folder named as that instance under Desktop.

o

If you are exporting multiple databases of a server, then consider that by default database files will be stored to the folders with the same names under Desktop\ folder.

Click Export and wait for the operation to complete.

Databases will be available after export in the target folder; if you selected to export point-in-time state, log files will be also exported there to be used for replay. Exported database can be then attached to the SQL Server you need.

1-Click Export of Schema State Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server allows you to quickly export database schema state as of the current restore point to default folder ( C: \ User s\ %user name%\ Deskt op\ ). For that, use the Export Schema > Export database schema s tate of to Desktop\ command from the ribbon or database’s shortcut menu.

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Veeam Explorer will create a folder named and save database schema objects in the .SQL script file in that folder. Then you can run this script for the database where you want to import schema objects.

Exporting Database Schema and Data to Custom Location To export database schema and data to a location you need, select the required database in the navigation tree on the left, and from its shortcut menu select Export Schema > Export database schema and data ..., or use the ribbon menu command. 1.

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The Export Wizard will be launched. First, you should specify what restore point you want to use for export. You can select one of the following scenarios:

o

The Restore to the current restore point scenario allows you to obtain data as for the moment when the VM’s current restore point was created. With this option selected, you will then be taken to step 3 of the wizard.

o

The Restore to a point in time scenario allows you to obtain selected database schema and objects as for the selected moment (point) in the time interval around the current restore point, generally, from the previous to the next restore point. Use the slider control to choose the point you need. Remember that using this scenario is possible under the certain conditions listed in the Restoring to Specific Point in


Time. With this option selected, you will then be taken to step 3 of the wizard.

o

You can select Perform restore to specific transaction checkbox to review major database transactions around the selected time. Then you can pick the necessary operation and obtain database files as for the moment right before the unwanted change. With this option selected, you will then be taken to step 2 .

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2.

At the Fine-tune the Restore Point step, you get a list of database operations logged during the time period you have specified. Select the undesired operation (for example, you can select the row deletion or insertion). The database will be restored to the most recent state preceding the selected operation.

3.

At the Select database objects step, review the list of database objects. Use the check boxes next to column names to select whether a database object and\or data should be restored. To display only specific objects, click Filter and select the object type you want to be shown in the list.

4.

Next, specify name to be assigned to the object after export. By default, the srcinal names are used for exported objects, so if you want a new object to have the same name as the srcinal, select the object and click Default. Alternatively, you can assign a new name by clicking Auto to automatically add _new suffix to the srcinal name, or even manually edit the selected name as you need.


5.

Then specify destination folder where to export selected schema objects. Default location is C: \ User s\ %user name%\ Deskt op. Veeam Explorer will save database schema objects in the .SQL file in that folder.

6.

Click Export to start the process. Veeam Explorer will notify you of the operation completion.

When exporting schema objects, Veeam Explorer creates a single .SQL script for all selected objects. To import exported objects, you can run this script on target database. When exporting data (as tables), Veeam Explorer creates a pair of files (.TXT and .FMT) for each exported table. To import data tables, use the standard SQL Server bcp.exe utility (see https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa337544(v=sql.120).aspx for details).

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Obtaining Veeam Explorer Logs If you need to view current restore session log, go to the main menu and select Current log. To open folder where Veeam Explorer log files are stored, select Open logs folder. Default location is C: \ Pr ogr amDat a\ Veeam\ Backup\ SQLExpl or er \ Logs .

If you want to enable extended logging, refer to this Veeam Knowledge Base article: https://www.veeam.com/kb1247. To view the log created by runtime component on the target or staging server guest OS during restore session, open the C: \ wi ndows\ t emp folder on that server and locate the Veeam. SQL. Ser vi ce_ . l og file.

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WORKING WITH VEEAM EXPLORER FOR MICROSOFT EXCHANGE This chapter describes Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange and explains how to restore Exchange items from the backups created with Veeam Backup & Replication.

Before You Start Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange allows you to browse Microsoft Exchange database files and restore necessary items, such as mailboxes, folders, messages, tasks, contacts and so on. Instead of fully restoring and starting the virtual machine with the Microsoft Exchange Server, you can use Veeam Backup & Replication capabilities to extract the necessary Microsoft Exchange database from the backup file and then use Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange to browse and restore items. If you are using Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365, Veeam Explorer will help you to restore mailbox items backed up from the Exchange Online to the srcinal or different Exchange server, either online or on-premises.

What's New in v9.5 The following new features and enhancements were implemented in this version Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange: 





Support for browsing, search and restore of mailboxes on Litigation Hold or on In-Place Hold. Integration with Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 356 and support of Exchange Online database backups (browsing, search and restore of mailbox items). UI enhancements, including ribbon menu, command-specific tabs, and support of display themes as in Veeam Backup & Replication console.

How It Works The basic procedure of searching and restoring mailbox items with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange includes the following steps:

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1.

Microsoft Exchange mailbox database (.MDB file) is obtained from the image-level VM backup, using Veeam Backup & Replication restore capabilities - the file system of the backed up VM is mounted to the local mount server (that is, the machine where Veeam Explorer runs).

2,3 The mailbox database is added to theitem-level Veeam Explorer Microsoft scope and becomes available for browsing and restorefor with the helpExchange of Extensible Storage Engine. 4.

Then you can use browsing, searching and restore capabilities to find and restore mailbox items in Microsoft Exchange database. Restore options include: 

Exporting mailbox folders and items as Personal Folder Files (. pst )



Saving mailbox items as Microsoft Exchange Mail Documents ( . msg )



Sending mailbox items as attachments via email



Note:

Restoring mailbox folders and items to Exchange server mailbox (available only with Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise and Enterprise Plus Editions)

Account under which Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange is running requires full access to Microsoft Exchange database files for item recovery.

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Prerequisites To provide for Microsoft Exchange items restore with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange, the following prerequisites are necessary: 1.


2.


3.

Ports should be open, as listed in the Used Ports section.

4.

Application-aware image-level backup should be successfully created for your Exchange server, as described in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.

System Requirements Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange does not require a separate license. It is installed with Veeam Backup & Replication server or standalone management console; all editions including Veeam Backup Free Edition are supported (for details, see the Licensing and Editions section). To install and use Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange as a component of Veeam Backup & Replication, make sure that all necessary system requirements for Veeam Backup & Replication are met. Requirements specific for Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange are listed below. Specification

Requirement Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange supports mailbox database (.EDB) files created by 64-bit versions of the following Microsoft Exchange systems:    

Microsoft Exchange

Microsoft Exchange 2016 Microsoft Exchange 2013 SP1 Microsoft Exchange 2013 Microsoft Exchange 2010 SP1, SP2, or SP3

Note: Veeam Backup & Replication quiesces the application and creates a snapshot for the Exchange Server VM, and for restore purposes it communicates with Exchange through the Client Access Server. Thus, restore of mailbox items will be supported regardless of membership of an Exchange Server in the DAG and IP address assigned to the DAG (in particular, in case of IP-less DAG in Exchange 2013 SP1 and later). To open mailbox databases, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange requires a service dynamic link library (ESE. DLL ) which is installed together with Microsoft Exchange.

Software

If you plan to export folders and items as Personal Folder Files (.PST), it is necessary to have a 64-bit version of Microsoft Outlook 2016, Microsoft Outlook 2013 or Microsoft Outlook 2010 installed on the machine where Veeam Explorer runs.

Required Permissions This section describes permissions and access right required for correct operation of Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange.

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1.

The account under which you run Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange requires Read and Write permissions to all files in the folder with the Exchange mailbox database.

2.

To restore folder(s)/item(s) to Microsoft Exchange server, the account used for connection to that server will need sufficient access rights, as described below. They can be granted using the following methods: through impersonation, or by providing that user with Full Access to mailbox.


Important! Consider the following: If the account you plan to use for restore owns a mailbox on target Microsoft Exchange server, then you can use any method (impersonation or mailbox access provisioning). If the account you plan to use for restore does not own a mailbox on target Microsoft Exchange server, then access rights must be granted through Exchange impersonation.





Restore to a Public Folder 1.

The account that is used for restore to a public folder should own a mailbox on target Microsoft Exchange server.

2.

This account should have an Organization Management role on target Microsoft Exchange server. It can be assigned, for example, by running the following Exchange Management PowerShell cmdlet: Add- Rol eGr oupMember “Or gani zat i on Management ” – Member “”

To restore In-Place Hold Items public folder to the srcinal location: 



If the In-Place Hold Items folder already exists, the user account that will be used for restore should have permissions to create, modify and delete items in it. To grant the required permissions, do the following in the Exchange admin center: 1.

In the feature pane on the left, select public folders, then select the In-Place Hold Items folder in the list and click Manage on the right.

2.

In the dialog displayed, make sure the required account is assigned Publishing Editor set of permissions for that folder.

If that folder does not exist, then the user account should have permissions to create folders under the All Public Folders (root node). For that, do the following: 1.

In the Exchange admin center select public folders, then click the … button to set the root node permissions for the required user account.

2.

Make sure that Permission level is set to Custom, and select Create subfolders, Folder visible permissions.

Restore to a Mailbox To restore to a mailbox, account used to connect to target should have corresponding access rights: 

If you plan to use the account that owns a mailbox on target Microsoft Exchange server, make sure it has Full Access for that mailbox. Full Access can be granted, for example, through impersonation or through rights assignment with the following cmdlet: Add- Mai l boxPer mi ssi on –I dent i t y “” - User “” - AccessRi ght s Ful l Access – I nheri t anceType Al l



If you plan to use the account that does not own a mailbox on target Microsoft Exchange server (for example, a service account), then access rights for target mailbox should be granted through Exchange impersonation. For example, you can run the following cmdlet:

New- Management Rol eAss i gnment - Name " " - Rol e Appl i cat i onI mper sonat i on - User " " [ - Cust omReci pi ent Scope " " ]

To recall the assignment after the items are restored to target mailbox, you can run the following cmdlet: Remove- Management Rol eAssi gnment - Name " "

Example 101


The following cmdlet shows how you can narrow the group of users who will be assigned the appropriate role to access the target mailbox at restore. For that, it uses the CustomRecipientScope parameter, with sample Organizational Unit specified as the scope: New- Management Rol eAss i gnment - Name " Exchange Test " - Rol e Appl i cat i onI mperson at i on - User " Test User" - Cust omReci pi ent Scope "spa i n. l ocal / Tar get User s"

Note:

For more details on impersonation, please refer to MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/enus/library/bb204095.aspx).

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Used Ports Backup The following table describes network ports that must be opened to ensure proper communication with the runtime coordination process deployed inside the Microsoft Exchange Server guest OS for application-aware processing during the backup. From

To


Exchange Server VM guest OS

Notes

TCP, UDP

135, 137139, 445

Ports required to deploy the runtime coordination process on the VM guest OS.

TCP

6005-65535

Dynamic RPCprocess port range used by the runtime coordination deployed inside the VM guest OS for application-aware processing (when working over the network).* Note that Exchange 2010 and higher (in particular, Client Access) expands standard Windows dynamic RPD port range - this allows for better scalability. For more information, see https://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/ee332317(v=exchg.141).aspx.


Exchange Server VM guest OS

Protocol Port

TCP

6005-65535

Dynamic RPC port range used by the runtime coordination process deployed inside the VM guest OS for application-aware processing (when working over the network).* Note that Exchange 2010 and higher (in particular, Client Access) expands standard Windows dynamic RPC port range - this allows for better scalability. For more information, see https://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/ee332317(v=exchg.141).aspx.

* - During setup, Veeam Backup & Replication automatically creates a firewall rule for the runtime process. However, if you use firewall settings other than default ones, or if application-aware processing fails with the “RPC function call failed” error, you need to configure dynamic RPC ports manually.

Restore The following table describes network ports that must be opened to ensure proper communication with Microsoft Exchange Server during application-item restore. From

To

Protocol

Port

Notes

Veeam backup server/stan dalone console

Microsoft Exchange 2003/2007 CAS Server

TCP

80, 443

WebDAV connections

Microsoft Exchange 2010/2013/2016 CAS Server

TCP

443

Microsoft Exchange Web Services Connections

Licensing and Editions Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange requires no special license to purchase; it is shipped with all editions of Veeam Backup & Replication, including Veeam Backup Free Edition. However, the full range of restore capabilities will be available with Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise and Enterprise Plus Edition only.

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Features listed below are supported for public and personal folders, and for mailbox items (including hard deleted items, Online Archive mailbox items, In-Place Hold items and Litigation Hold items). Export is also supported for single and multiple mailbox stores. Feature\Edition

Free

Standard

Enterprise

Enterprise Plus

Browse

Available

Available

Available

Available

Search

Available

Available

Available

Available

Export

Available

Available

Available

Available

Save

Available

Available

Available

Available

Send

Available

Available

Available

Available

Restore to srcinal or different Exchange server

Not available

Not available

Available

Available

Considerations and Limitations Sending restored objects to users may fail for items larger than 3MB. To work around, download and install the following fix from Microsoft: https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=30226.

Required Backup Job Settings If you plan to explore and recover the necessary database from the backup of your Exchange server VM, you should enable application-aware image processing for that VM and specify applicationspecific job settings, as described in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide for the corresponding platform.

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Remember that by default Exchange transaction logs will be truncated upon successful backup. If you want to keep them for further processing by a third-party application, then select the Exchange server VM from the list, click Edit and then on the General tab select Perform copy only (lets another application use logs). For more information and recommendations on Exchange backup, you can also refer to the following:

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

White Paper by Michael Van Horenbeeck on how to virtualize and protect Exchange 2016



Veeam Knowledge Base article


Administration To start Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange, you can: 





Select All Programs > Veeam > Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange from the Windows Start menu; no database will be added to Veeam Explorer scope in this case, so you will need to add it manually Go through the steps of Microsoft Exchange Item Level Restore wizard, then Veeam Explorer will be launched automatically, with database added to its scope Obtain the .EDB file manually and open it using Veeam Backup Browser, then launch Veeam Explorer from the Backup Browser window; database will be automatically added to its scope

Generally, usage scenario for Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange involves the following steps: 1.

Performing initial configuration

2.

Obtaining the database file from backup or replica

3.

Adding database file(s) to Veeam Explorer scope

4.

Finding the necessary Exchange item(s)

5.

Restoring Exchange item(s)

First Steps Veeam Explorers are installed together with Veeam backup server or standalone console, and there are several ways of starting a Veeam Explorer tool. If you want to open Veeam Explorer, simultaneously adding the required database to its scope in the automated way, follow the procedures described later in this guide. You may also want to open Veeam Explorer as an individual application - for that, go to the list of applications (or Start menu), and double-click Veeam Explorer icon. it connects toyou the will backup server installed If you are starting Veeam from By thedefault, standalone console, be prompted for thelocally. settings of Veeam backup serverExplorer to connect to: 





You can enter Veeam backup server name or IP address, or select it from the list of recent connections. Port number to communicate to - default is 9232 Credentials under which Veeam Explorer will connect to server; if you plan to use the account currently logged on, select Use Windows session authentication.


In This Section

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

Getting to Know User Interface



Initial Configuration Settings


Getting to Know the User Interface The user interface of Veeam Explorer is designed to let you quickly find commands that you need and perform necessary data protection and disaster recovery tasks.

Main Menu The main menu of Veeam Explorer can be opened by clicking its icon in the top left corner of the Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange main window. The menu contains commands related to general application settings.

In particular, you can perform the following operations using the main menu: 

Configure Veeam Explorer options, as explained later in this guide






Access online Help






Exit the program

Main Window The navigation pane, located on the left of the window, enables you to easily access application items you want to restore. Operation commands in Veeam Explorer are organized into logical groups and collected under tabs on the ribbon. The ribbon is displayed at the top of the main application window. The Home ribbon tab provides quick access to some common operations – for example, adding a mailbox store to Veeam Explorer scope, or removing it.

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Other tabs contain commands specific for certain entities appear when the corresponding nodes are selected in the navigation pane. For example, if you select a folder, the Folder tab displaying buttons for operations with folders will appear on the ribbon. If you then select an item, the Items tab containing buttons for operations with the items will appear on the ribbon.

Tip:



Initial Configuration Settings When you launch Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange for the first time, you need to perform initial configuration. For that, open the main menu and select Options. Here you can: 

Specify location of the ese.dll file used by Microsoft Exchange to create the database file



Configure email settings

On the Extensible Storage Engine tab you can also use the Show size estimation option. With this option enabled (default setting), if you select one or more items when browsing and searching, you can see the estimated size of the Outlook data file as if selected items were to be exported. For more details, see this section. You can clear this option in order to speed up message loading and search.

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Extensible Storage Engine To work with database files, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange requires a special dynamic link library — ese. dl l , supplied with Microsoft Exchange. The ese. dll file should be of the same version as Microsoft Exchange that was used to create database files. Currently, Veeam Explorer for Exchange supports Microsoft Exchange 2016, Microsoft Exchange 2013 and Microsoft Exchange 2010 SP1, SP2 and SP3.

Note:

When you run the Exchange Items Restore wizard on a VM backed up using VSS, the ese. dl l file is located automatically. For more information, see Using the Restore Exchange Items Wizard. To specify the path to the ese. dl l file manually, to the following: 1.

Open the Extensible Storage Engine tab in the Options window.

2.

Click on the link next to Microsoft Exchange version and specify the path to the ese. dl l file. The file can be found on the Microsoft Exchange Server distribution CD at X: \ Set up\ Ser ver Rol es\ Common\ ese. dl l , or in the installation directory of Microsoft Exchange Server. For example: o

for Exchange 2010 default path is %Pr ogr amFi l es%\ Mi cr osof t \ Exchange Server\ V14\ Bi n

o

for Exchange 2013 or Exchange 2016 default path is %Pr ogr amFi l es%\ Mi cr osof t \ Exchange Ser ver \ V15\ Bi n

SMTP Settings To send items recovered from an Exchange database as email attachments, it is necessary to provide mail server information. To configure the email settings, do the following:

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110

1.

Open the SMTP Settings tab in the Options window.

2.

Select the Configure SMTP settings check box.

3.

In the SMTP Server field, specify the DNS name or IP address of the mail server to be used for sending emails. If necessary, you can change the port number. By default, port number 25 is used.

4.

In the From field, specify email address from which emails with attached items will be sent (usually, the sender is the administrator responsible for Microsoft Exchange item recovery). This address will be used as default; you can specify a different email address every time you use emailing as the restore method (see Sending Items)

5.

If necessary, select the Use authentication check box and provide credentials for the

6.

account that will be used to send emails with attached items. If security is an issue, select the Enable SSL security check box to use SSL encryption for transferred data.

7.

In the E-mail field, supply mail recipient's address, then click Send to send a test message.


Obtaining Database File from VM Backup Before starting Microsoft Exchange item-level recovery, you need to perform the following preparatory steps: 1.

Provide a path to the Extensible Storage Engine location.

2.

Obtain the Exchange mailbox database ( . EDB) file from the backup.

Provide a Path to Extensible Storage Engine Make sure Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange is aware of the Extensible Storage Engine location. Extensible Storage Engine is required to access the Exchange mailbox database (.EDB). It runs as a special dynamic link library ese. dl l supplied by Microsoft. Specify path to the ese. dl l in Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange configuration settings: 1.

In the Options window, open the Extensible Storage Engine tab.

2.

Click Browse and specify the path to the ese. dl l file. The file can be found on the Microsoft Exchange Server distribution CD at X: \ Set up\ Ser ver Rol es\ Common\ ese. dl l , or in the installation directory of Microsoft Exchange Server. For example:

o

for Microsoft Exchange 2010 default path is %Pr ogr amFi l es%\ Mi cr osof t \ Exchange Ser ver \ V14\ Bi n

o

for Microsoft Exchange 2013 and Microsoft Exchange 2016 default path is %Pr ogr amFi l es%\ Mi cr osof t \ Exchange Ser ver \ V15\ Bi n

Important! The ese. dl l file should be of the same version as Microsoft Exchange that created database files. Currently, Veeam Explorer supports Microsoft Exchange 2016, Microsoft Exchange 2013 and Microsoft Exchange 2010 SP1, SP2 and SP3.

Publish the EDB file from the Backup and Start Exploring Having configured Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange, you can take the following steps: 1.

Publish the mailbox database file (. edb) from the backup, replica or VeeamZIP file.

2.

Add the database file to the Veeam Explorer scope.

You can carry out these two steps in a fully automated way by launching the Microsoft Exchange Item Level Restore wizard for selected VM backup from Veeam management console. In this case, Veeam Backup & Replication will automatically obtain the Exchange database from the backup and add it to Veeam Explorer scope. As a result, it will be displayed in the Veeam Explorer main window, ready for item search and restore. Alternatively, you can perform these steps manually: first, obtain the database from the backup using any Veeam recovery option (for example, Windows guest OS recovery), then locate the Exchange database and add it to Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange scope. To restore a Microsoft Exchange database manually: 1.

Perform guest OS file-level restore from the Microsoft Exchange server VM backup. Details on performing guest OS file restore are provided in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V platform.

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2.

In the Veeam Backup Browser, locate and double-click the .EDB file, or click Exchange Items on the toolbar.

3.

The selected database will be open in Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange. Now you can browse the database and restore the items you need. To learn more, see Browsing, Searching and Viewing Items.


Using Microsoft Exchange Item Level Restore Wizard To start Microsoft Exchange Item Level Restore wizard, do one of the following: 



112

In Veeam Backup & Replication, open the Backup & Replication view. Go to the Home tab on the ribbon menu and click Restore. In the Restore Options window, select Application items and click Next. Select Microsoft Exchange and click Next. You will be taken to the Step 1 of the wizard. In Veeam Backup & Replication, open the Backup & Replication view. Select the Backups node, expand the backup job with the Exchange server in the working area. Select the Exchange VM and click Application items > Microsoft Exchange on the toolbar. In this case, you will pass to the Step 2 step of the wizard.


•

In Veeam Backup & Replication, open the Backup & Replication view. Select the Backups node, expand the backup job with the Exchange server in the working area. Right-click the Microsoft Exchange VM and select Restore application items > Microsoft Exchange. In this case, you will pass to the Step 2 step of the wizard. Note that you can use this method only for Exchange backups that were created with VSS-aware image processing enabled.

Step 1. Select Microsoft Exchange Server VM In the list of available jobs, select the necessary virtual machine. To quickly find VMs in jobs, use the search field at the bottom of the window.

113


Step 2. Select Restore Point Select the necessary restore point for the virtual machine.

114


Step 3. Specify Restore Reason If necessary, enter the reason for performing VM guest file restore and click Next. The information you provide will be saved in the session history so that you can reference it later. If you do not want Veeam Backup & Replication to display the Reason step next time, select the Do not show me this page again check box at the bottom of the wizard.

Step 4. Finish the Wizard On the last step, read the summary and click Finish. The processes that follow will depend on whether the backup job had application-aware image processing enabled or not: 

If the Exchange Server VM was backed up using application-aware image processing, Veeam will do the following: a)

Automatically obtain the database file from the Exchange Server via File-Level Restore (FLR), mounting Exchange file system to the local machine.

b) Launch Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange. c) 

Add the database to Veeam Explorer scope. You will then be able have to find and restore the necessary Exchange items.

If the Exchange Server VM was backed up without application-aware image processing, Veeam will do the following: a)

Run FLR, mounting the file system of the VM to the local machine.

b) Open Veeam Backup Browser window, from which you will be able to launch Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange. c)

115

You may need to manually configure Veeam Explorer (that is, specify the path to the ese. dl l file), then locate and add the database file to its scope. After that you will be able to find and restore the necessary Exchange items.


Obtaining Database Files Manually To obtain the database from the VM backup, you can use any data recovery feature available in Veeam Backup & Replication, such as Instant VM Recovery, full VM restore, restore of guest OS files from a replica option.and so on. However, the most convenient method is to use the guest OS file-level recovery To obtain a Microsoft Exchange database manually:

116

1.

Perform guest OS files restore for the virtualized Microsoft Exchange server.

2.

In the Veeam Backup browser, double-click the . edb file, or on the Home tab of the ribbon menu, select Application Items > Exchange Items.

3.

The selected database will be open in Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange, so that you can browse the database and restore the items you need. To learn more, see Browsing, Searching and Viewing Items.


Adding Databases to Veeam Explorer Scope If you went through Microsoft Exchange Item Level Restore Wizard to obtain the necessary database file from the backup, this database will be automatically added to Veeam Explorer scope, and you can start browsing and restoring the necessary items straight away. If you obtained the database file(s) from backup manually, then you should manually add the database to Veeam Explorer scope.

Adding a Database Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange supports databases from Microsoft Exchange Server 2016, Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1, SP2 or SP3, and Microsoft Exchange Online. To read about adding Exchange Online databases backed up by Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365, refer to the next section. Before you start the procedure, make sure that Veeam Explorer has access to Ese. dl l supplied with the corresponding version of Microsoft Exchange. For details, see Initial Configuration Settings. To manually add a EDB file to the Veeam Explorer scope:

117

1.

Click Add Store on the Home tab, then select Microsoft Exchange mailbox database , or right-click All Stores in the navigation pane and use the shortcut menu command.

2.

In the Add Store dialog, click Browse and specify a path to the Microsoft Exchange mailbox store (EDB file).

3.

Click Browse below and specify a path to the Exchange logs folder.


Note:

If you are using file-level restore to mount the contents of the backup file with the database file to the Veeam Backup server, VM disks are mounted under the C: \ veeamf l r \ \ folder. Alternatively, you can double-click the necessary Exchange database file to start Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange and add the database to the console automatically. If you mounted the file system of the VM with the database file via FLR, then double-click the file within Veeam Backup Browser, or use Windows Explorer to browse to the necessary database file and double-click it. If the database is in "dirty state", Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange will display a warning. In this case, you will have to recover the database before adding it. To recover the database: 1.

Check the Logs folder field and make sure you have specified the correct folder storing the Exchange database logs.

2.

Click Recover to recover the damaged database.

be able tofor apply Important! To permissions thattransaction database. logs to the database for recovery purpose, you will need Write

Removing a Database To remove a database from the Veeam Explorer scope, select the database in the navigation pane and click Remove Store on the toolbar, or right-click the database name and select Remove Store.

Useful Tips 



If you know in which database the necessary item or items are located, you will only need to add one database. If you are not sure in which database the item or items are located, or they are scattered across a number of databases, consider that Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange allows you to add and work with several databases at the same time. By default, maximum 64 databases can be added to Veeam Explorer during its session, either automatically or manually. If you need to change this value, then open Veeam Explorer configuration file Conf i g. xml at C: \ Pr ogr amDat a\ Veeam\ Backup\ ExchangeExpl or er \ , locate the MaxInstances configuration parameter and supply the necessary value (from 1 to 1024), for example:

118




If the Exchange server VM was hosting more than one database, and you backed up that Exchange server with application-aware processing disabled and then started application item-level restore for it, these databases will all appear in the hierarchy tree in the main Explorer window, having a clock icon near them. This indicator shows that information about these databases was retrieved from VM file system during the mount process (ese. dl l is not involved at this stage), and the necessary database will be fully loaded later on, after you select it in the tree.

Browsing, Searching and Viewing Items After you add one or several mailbox stores to the Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange scope, you can browse and search through their content to find necessary items.

Browsing In the navigation pane, you can see all the containers (added mailbox stores with mailboxes and folders). When you select a folder in the navigation tree, you can browse its contents in the preview pane on the right. Number of items and estimated total size (as if it were to be exported) will be displayed in the status bar in the bottom of the window if you selected the corresponding Veeam Explorer option. 



Note:

In order to preserve all mailbox content (including srcinal versions of modified items, as well as deleted items), the Litigation Hold option can be enabled for a personal mailbox. Veeam Explorer supports the mailboxes with this option enabled: Litigation Hold Items containers (whether empty or not) are displayed in the mailbox store hierarchy, and you can perform restore operations for them. Veeam also supports restore of items from mailboxes and public folders with In-Place Hold enabled – the corresponding containers will be displayed only if they are not empty.

To learn more about Litigation Hold and In-Place Hold, please refer to the Microsoft TechNet article.

Consider the following when you explore the backup of mailbox store with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange: 

119

Mailbox items that were hard deleted will be displayed under the Permanently Deleted Items folder in the navigation tree. You can restore them to destination folder of your choice, as described later in this guide (default location for restore is the mailbox).




Public folder items that were hard deleted (and, therefore, became invisible to users in the mailbox store) will be displayed as items under the corresponding folder in the navigation tree. You can use the search options to find the items you need, and then restore them to the srcinal folder, as described later in this guide.

Searching At the top of the right pane, there is a search field that allows you to search the selected container for items that match a specified search keyword. For example, you can select a user's mailbox and search for veeam software to find all the items that contain the words starting with "veeam" and "software" in the body text, address field, subject field or name of attachments. Search results for databases and mailboxes will include all items (that is, email messages, tasks, contacts and other items).

Note:

When you search for a phrase, the search algorithm will by default look for the items containing words in the phrase, not the phrase itself. To find the exact phrase, use quotes (for example, “veeam software”). You can select the whole database (or several databases) to get more results, or select a folder (for example, Inbox) inside a specific database and mailbox to narrow your search. Also, to narrow your search results, you can specify various search criteria inside the entry field, using the following format: "criteria:value" (for example, from:John, hasattachments:yes, messagesize:<10 KB, received:yesterday and so on). You can use logical operators such as AND, OR and NOT (must be typed in uppercase letters). These search criteria are similar to those used in Microsoft Outlook 2010. For more information, see this Outlook help topic.

Search results will be displayed in the main pane; estimated total size of the items found will be displayed in the status bar in the bottom of the window (if you have enabled the corresponding option). This capability allows you to predict the size of a search query result if it were to be exported, and refine search criteria (or search scope).

Using Advanced Find Capabilities Click Advanced Find on the toolbar to make up a list of necessary search criteria using predefined drop-down menus.

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When configuring search filters, consider that logical operators (AND, OR) will be applied to multiple criteria as described below. 

If you specify alike fields as the search criteria (that is, you want to search through Bcc addresses only, or through Subject fields in all mail items, and so on), resulting search query will be built using OR operator, that is, this filter will search for any of the specified values. For example, to search for either user1 OR user2 as a sender, you should build a filter like this: a)

From the Category list, select Address fields.

b) From the Field list, select From. c)

From the Condition list, select is exactly.

d) In the Value field, enter the user name you want to look for (user1) and click Add to List button. e)

Repeat these steps for user2.

Resulting query will search for user1 OR user2 as email sender. Click Start and wait for the query results to be displayed.



If you specify different fields as the search criteria (for example, you want to search both through subject and date received), resulting search query will be built using AND operator. For example, to search for user1 as a recipient AND for email_subject as a part of email subject line, you should build a filter like this: a)

From the Category list, select Address fields.

b) From the Field list, select To. c)

From the Condition list, select is exactly.

d) In the Value field, enter the user name you want to look for (user1) and click Add to e)

List button. From the Category list, select Frequently-used fields.

f)

From the Field list, select Subject.

g) From the Condition list, select contains. h)

In the Value field, enter email_subject and click Add to List.

Resulting query will search for user1 as email recipient AND for email_subject contained in the subject line. Click Start and wait for the query results to be displayed.

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Therefore, if you try to search for several fields from the same category (both user1, user2 as From address) AND one or several fields from another category (email_subject1, email_subject2 as Subject), then resulting query will search for (user1 OR user2 as a sender) AND (email_subject1 OR email_subject2 as a subject line).

Viewing Items Veeam Explorer allows you to quickly view any item by double-clicking it. The item will be open in a separate window, showing all the necessary details (the Address fields, the Subject field, the body text and so on).

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Restore Scenarios Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange provides the following restore options: 

Exporting folders and items as Personal Folder Files (. pst )



Saving items as Microsoft Exchange Mail Documents ( . msg)



Sending items as email attachments



Restoring folders and items (available only with Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise and Enterprise Plus Editions)

Exporting Items, Folders and Mailbox Stores If you have a 64-bit version of Microsoft Outlook 2016, Microsoft Outlook 2013 or Microsoft Outlook 2010 installed on the computer running Veeam Explorer, you can export folders (or mailboxes) and items as Personal Folder Files (.pst ). Otherwise, you can use other restore options (see Saving Items and Sending Items). If you want export results to be delivered as specially generated reports, you need to configure appropriate settings, as described in Receiving Export Reports.

Important! Windows Search can conflict with exporting of items and folders. If the . pst file to which you are exporting is indexed at the same time, the exporting process may hang up. To avoid this, it is necessary to exclude . pst files from the indexing scope. For this, use the search box in the Windows Start menu to open the Indexing Options window, click Modify to open the Indexed Locations window and clear the Microsoft Outlook check box. Alternatively, you can disable Windows Search completely in the Windows Features dialog box. Also note that if you are exporting . pst files to a shared folder, it is necessary to exclude Outlook files or disable Windows Search on the computer where the shared folder is located.

Exporting a Folder To export a folder as a single . pst file:

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1.

Select the folder in the navigation pane, then on the Folder tab select Export Folder > Export to .pst file.... You can also right-click the folder in the navigation pane and select Export to .pst file... .

2.

Specify the name and location for the target .pst file. If it does not exist, it will be created anew.


3.

You can also click Show settings to show more controls that will allow you to export only items containing the keywords. Select the corresponding check box and enter the necessary keywords. Note that Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange will look for the specified keywords in all message fields (From, To, Subject, Body). Items containing the keywords will be exported to the specified location; if you have configured Veeam Explorer settings to deliver reports on export results, this export operation will be reported with Export type: Search results (see "Receiving Export Reports" section for more information).

4.

Click Export and wait for the operation to complete. Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange will notify you of the operation results.

Exporting a Mailbox Item To export one or several items as one . pst file: 1.

Select the items in the main working area (use SHIFT and CTRL to select multiple items), click Export Items on the toolbar and select Export to .PST file. You can also right-click the items in the working area and select Export to .PST file.

2.

Specify the name and location for the target . pst file. If it does not exist, it will be created anew.

3.

Click Export and wait for the operation to complete. Veeam Explorer will notify you of the operation results.

To export a mailbox store as a .pst file, select the mailbox store in the navigation pane, then on the Home tab of the ribbon menu select Export Store > Export to .p st file... You can also right-click the store and the shortcut menu command. Then take the steps similar to described above.

Exporting Mailbox Stores To export all mailbox stores currently added to Veeam Explorer scope, do the following:

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1.

Select the All Stores (root node) in the navigation tree.

2.

On the Home tab, select Export All Stores > Export to .pst file... , or use the node's shortcut menu command.

3.

Then specify the name and location for. pst file and click the Export button.


To export one store, select the necessary node in the navigation tree and on the Home tab select Export Store > Export to .pst file , or use the node's shortcut menu command. Then follow the steps similar to described above.

1-Click Export For your convenience, Veeam Explorer allows you to quickly export folders and items directly to the .pst file to the previously used location (initially, this is the Desktop folder of the current user). For example, to export a folder, select it from the navigation tree and then on the Folder tab select Export Folder > Export to \.pst , or use the corresponding shortcut menu command. Selected folder including all its subfolders will be exported to the specified destination.

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Similarly, you can export selected mailbox store or all stores currently added to Veeam Explorer scope. To export an item, select it in the preview pane on the right (multiple selection is supported) and then click Export Items > Export to \.pst on the Items tab, or use the corresponding shortcut menu command. Selected item(s) will be exported to the specified destination.

Receiving Export Reports Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange can deliver detailed reports (like shown in the figure below) on export results if you configure appropriate settings: 





To deliver reports to a user who is currently logged on and working with Veeam Explorer, make sure that this user has a valid email address and that SMTP settings are configured appropriately in Veeam Explorer options (as described here). If you have configured email settings in Veeam Backup & Replication options for a different user account, that user will also receive reports by email. Note that if you enable these global settings during current Veeam Explorer session, they will take effect only at the next session, so you may need to close current restore session and then begin a new one. In addition, if you want export report to be included in the . pst archive, you should make sure that a user currently working with Veeam Explorer has a valid email address. To view this report, open the exported . pst archive in Microsoft Outlook and expand Inbox in that archive - it will contain an email message like shown in the figure below; From and To addresses will contain current user email.

Such a report can be generated upon 1-Click export or standard export operation; it provides detailed information on the operation performed.

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Report fields include the following information: 

Performed by - software component that performed export operation, that is, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange.





Version - Veeam Explorer build number. To discover it, in Veeam Explorer main menu click About and in the splash screen check the second number (after slash). Percent complete - number of items included in the exported . pst file, calculated as percentage of the root object (all stores, mailbox store, mailbox, or folder). For example, if a folder contained 10 items, and 6 of them were exported due to search criteria, this value will be 60%. If the whole folder was exported, it will be 100%.



Started by - export initiator, that is, account under which Veeam Explorer runs.



Start time, End time - report generation start and end time.



Root - relative path to the object (entity in the mail database) from which data was exported. In the example shown in the figure above, this is MBase01. edb\ MB01\ Dr af t s , that is, the Dr af t s folder in the mailbox MB01 of the MBase01. edb mail database.



Path - full path to exported .pst file.



Export type - there are 3 types of export operations, depending on the export scope: o

All items – the whole container selected for 1-click or regular export.

o

Selected items – one or several items were selected for 1-click or regular export.

o

Search results – only for regular export. This type of export takes place if you invoke the Export to .pst command for selected container and then in the Export dialog click Show settings, select the Save only items containing keywords check box and enter the keywords you want to search for (see Exporting Folders and Items and Browsing, Searching and Viewing Items for details on using the keywords). After you click Export in this dialog, Veeam Explorer will look for the items containing the keywords and export them to the specified location.



Stores - datastore(s) containing exported items; in the example this is MBase01. edb.



Mailboxes to search - mailbox(es) containing exported items; in the example this is MB01. If, for instance, you select the whole datastore as a root object for export, all mailboxes in that datastore will be reported in this field.

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

Mailboxes searched successfully, Mailboxes not searched successfully - results for Mailboxes to search.



Size - total size of exported items



Items - X (of N) - number of exported items (of overall items number in the corresponding container).



Errors - number of errors that occurred during export.

If you exported the search results (see above for this export type explanation), then consider the following: 





The report will be entitled "Email export completed partially" (as generally only a part of the container is exported). The Percent complete field will contain the corresponding value (depending on how many items from the search scope matched the search keywords). The last field in the report will be Keyword hits. It will include the table showing:

o

Keyword - search criteria

o

Hits - number of items that matched the search keywords and thus were exported

o

Mailboxes - number of mailboxes comprising the search scope

Saving Items Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange allows you to save any item as a Microsoft Exchange Mail Document (. msg file) to a specific location or directly to the user's desktop. To save an item: 1.

Browse to the necessary folder or use the search field to see a list of items in the main working area.

2.

Select the required item (or use SHIFT and CTRL keys to select multiple items) in the main working area, select Save Items > Save to .msg file on the Items tab. You can also right-click the item(s) in the working area and select Save to .msg file.

3.

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Specify the location for the file or files and click OK.


1-Click Save Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange allows you to quickly save . msg files directly to the previously used location (initially this is current user's Desktop). For that, you can select an item and then click Save Items > Save to on the Items tab, or use the shortcut menu command. By default, the name of the file will be the same as the subject field of the item.

Sending Items The most common scenario involves finding an email message and delivering it to the owner. Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange allows you to send items as attachments to emails. To be able to send items as attachments, it is necessary to specify email settings. For details, see Initial Configuration Settings. To send an item as an email attachment:

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1.

Select the item (or use SHIFT and CTRL keys to select multiple items) in the preview pane on the right and click Send Items >Send to on the Items tab, or use the item's shortcut menu.

2.

By default, From address will be filled in with that specified in the Veeam Explorer settings. If you are sending one or several items from a user's mailbox, then Veeam Explorer will try to obtain that user's email address using Active Directory information. If resolved successfully, this address will appear in the To field; otherwise, as well as if you selected to send items from


different mailboxes, Veeam Explorer will put the same address in both From and To fields. You can also select Send to and then specify the email address manually. 3.

In the Send To dialog you can also edit the subject and text of the email message - to edit the body text, click More details.

4.

Finally, click Send.

Restoring Folders and Items Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange allows you to restore mailbox folders and items into their srcinal location (that is, directly to the production Exchange server). This is a convenient way of restoring lost data without any additional actions. Veeam Backup & Replication supports recovery of hard deleted items, including those from public folders and mailboxes, and recovery of items from/to Online Archive mailbox.

Important! Direct restore of folders and items to the Exchange server is available only in Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise and Enterprise Plus editions. To restore a folder or mailbox to the Exchange server, do the following: 1.

Select the necessary mailbox, folder or item (or use SHIFT and CTRL keys to select multiple folders or items) in the main working area. Note that mailbox hard deleted items are displayed under the Permanently Deleted Items folder, and public folder hard deleted items are displayed under the corresponding items folder. Click Restore Mailbox, Restore Folder or Restore Items on the corresponding tab and select Restore to. You can also right-click the item(s) in the working area and select Restore

to.

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2.

Specify the target mailbox and domain account to be used. You can either use the current account or specify a different one. Make sure the account has sufficient rights to access that Exchange server.

3.

Specify the target mailbox server and folder. You can restore to srcinal folder or specify a different one. Consider the following:

o

If specified folder does not exist on the target server, it will be created anew. When restoringto a public foldersettings. to such a target folder, security permissions will be restored their srcinal

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o

Hard deleted items from public folders will be restored to the srcinal location.

o

Hard deleted items from mailbox (shown in the Permanently Deleted Items folder) can be restored to the folder that corresponds to the srcinal folder type for example, the incoming mail items will be restored to the Inbox folder, and calendar items like appointments, meeting requests and others will be restored to


the Calendar folder. You can also specify a different location - if it does not exist on target, it will be created.

o

4.

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To restore Online Archive mailbox items, make sure that corresponding Online Archive mailbox is configured on the target server. Online Archive mailbox items can be restored to the srcinal folder (for example, Online Archive - User1 > Drafts), or to a different folder - if it does not exist on target, it will be created.

Specify additional restore options and click Restore to begin the restore process.


Obtaining Log Files To view current restore session log, go to the main menu and select Current log. To open folder where Veeam Explorer log files are stored, select Open logs folder. Default location is C: \ Pr ogr amDat a\ Veeam\ Backup\ ExchangeExpl or er \ Logs .

If you want to enable extended logging, refer to this Veeam Knowledge Base article: https://www.veeam.com/kb1247.

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WORKING WITH VEEAM EXPLORER FOR MICROSOFT SHAREPOINT This chapter describes Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint and explains how to restore items, sites and lists from the backups created with Veeam Backup & Replication.

Before You Start Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint is a tool that extends the functionality of Veeam Backup & Replication, automating documents restore from virtualized Microsoft SharePoint Servers backed up by Veeam. It allows you to browse Microsoft SharePoint content database and recover the necessary items (such as libraries, documents, images, webpages and so on) without a need to fully restore and start the virtual machine hosting SharePoint content database. Instead, you can use Veeam Backup & Replication data recovery options to quickly extract the necessary Microsoft SharePoint content database file (.MDF) from the virtualized server image-level backup, and then use Veeam Explorer to find and restore the documents you need. Available with all editions of Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint provides granular browsing and searching capabilities to find any item or a bunch of items stored in any number of Microsoft SharePoint content databases. You can save them to a local folder or network drive, or send as e-mail attachments. With Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise and Enterprise Plus edition, you can also use Veeam Explorer to restore them to the srcinal or different SharePoint server; authorized users (for example, Microsoft SharePoint administrators) can also import content database files (exported by Veeam Explorer) to SharePoint database using PowerShell cmdlets.

What's New in v9.5 The following new features and enhancements were implemented in Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint: 





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Support for Microsoft SharePoint 2016. UI enhancements, including ribbon menu, command-specific tabs and support of display themes as in Veeam Backup & Replication console. Report on site (and site collection) restore session results.


How It Works Veeam Backup & Replication allows backup administrators to have the backups of Microsoft SharePoint always at hand, and Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint makes it possible to find and restore a particular SharePoint document, library or site that was deleted or modified. Basic procedure of restoring Microsoft SharePoint items includes the following steps:

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1.

An administrator uses Microsoft SharePoint Item Restore Wizard to perform auto-discovery for the SharePoint farms that were backed up with application-aware image processing enabled, and to initiate mount operation. During auto-discovery, Veeam Backup & Replication retrieves information about SharePoint sites, corresponding database server VMs and their restore points.

2.

To support browsing and search, guest file system of the discovered SQL server VM is mounted directly from the backup to a staging Microsoft SQL Server. This operation is performed by the mount service running on the local machine (mount service is deployed together with Veeam Explorer during Veeam backup server or standalone console setup). To create a mount point, Veeam Backup & Replication uses the iSCSI protocol:

o

The remote machine (staging server or target VM, as explained below) acts as an iSCSI initiator.

o

The machine on which the Veeam Explorer runs acts as an iSCSI target. The iSCSI mount point is non-persistent — it is created only for duration of the restore process.

3.

Content database (. mdf ) from the mounted restore point is attached to staging Microsoft SQL server, and SharePoint content (libraries, webpages, etc.) becomes available for browsing, search and other operations with Veeam Explorer.

4.

Users can find and restore SharePoint documents, lists or sites they need: save them to selected folder, e-mail to the specified recipients, export to XML and restore to production system. For restore, Veeam creates an additional mount point on the target (srcinal or different) VM. When the restore session is over, the mount point is removed.


After a user finishes working with SharePoint content and closes Veeam Explorer, content database will be detached from the staging Microsoft SQL Server, and the mounted guest files are unmounted. Similar process takes place when Veeam Explorer is launched from the standalone Veeam console.

Prerequisites To provide for SharePoint items and lists restore with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint, the following prerequisites are necessary: 1.


2.


3.

Recovery logic and peculiarities of operation should be considered, as described in the Considerations and Limitations section.

4.

Application-aware image-level backup should be successfully created for your SharePoint server by the backup job set up as described in the Required Microsoft SharePoint Backup Job Settings section.

System Requirements Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint does not require a separate license. It is installed with Veeam Backup & Replication server or standalone console; all editions including Veeam Backup Free Edition are supported. So, to install and use Veeam Explorer, make sure that all necessary system requirements for Veeam Backup & Replication are met. System requirements specific for Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint are listed below. Specification

Requirement The following versions and editions of Microsoft SharePoint Server (virtualized either on VMware or Hyper-V platform) are suppported:

Microsoft SharePoint

  

Microsoft SharePoint 2016 Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Microsoft SharePoint 2010

All editions are supported (Foundation, Standard, Enterprise).

Software

Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint is installed on the machine running Veeam Backup & Replication server or standalone console; all editions including Veeam Backup Free Edition are supported. For requirements to Veeam Backup & Replication software, see Veeam Backup & Replication documentation at https://helpcenter.veeam.com.

Microsoft SQL Server

For requirements for staging system and remote BLOB store support, see Staging Microsoft SQL Server.

Staging Microsoft SQL Server To perform Microsoft SharePoint item recovery, Veeam Explorer requires a Microsoft SQL Server that will be used as a staging system. On this staging system, Veeam Explorer creates temporary Microsoft SharePoint content databases by attaching restored content database files. Below are the requirements for staging server:

136

1.

The staging Microsoft SQL Server can run on the machine where Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint is installed, or on another machine.

2.

The staging system must have the same or a later version of Microsoft SQL Server as the server that hosts restored Microsoft SharePoint content databases. For example, if the


Microsoft SharePoint server uses Microsoft SQL Server 2008, then the staging system can run Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or later. You can use Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint options to configure staging Microsoft SQL Server settings.

Note:

As a staging system, you can use the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express that is shipped with the Veeam Backup & Replication setup (this will be the default staging server). However, consider that content databases that exceed 10 GB cannot be attached to this SQL Server due to Express edition limitations (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645993(v=SQL.110).aspx).

Remote BLOB Stores Support To be able to work with remote BLOB stores (RBS) of the SharePoint content database, make sure that you have your remote BLOB store virtualized on the corresponding platform (VMware or Hyper-V). Also, make sure that it is either included in the SharePoint backup created by Veeam Backup & Replication (for automated discovery), or stored on the local machine running Veeam Explorer and staging SQL server (for manual discovery).

Important! The 3rd-party RBS providers are not supported in the current version.

Make sure the staging SQL Server configuration meets the following requirements: 1.

FILESTREAM should be enabled on the database server, and filestream settings should be enabled at database level, as described in Microsoft documentation:

2.

o

For SQL Server 2014: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645923.aspx

o

For SQL Server 2012: http://msdn.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc645923(v=sql.110).aspx

o

For SQL Server 2008R2: http://msdn.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc645923%28v=sql.105%29.aspx

RBS Client Library should be installed on the database server. For Microsoft SQL Server 2014, the Remote Blob Store setup is included in the installation media; for other versions you can use corresponding Microsoft SQL Server Remote Blob Store setup package (RBS.msi) available at Microsoft website:

o

For SQL Server 2012: http://www.microsoft.com/enus/download/details.aspx?id=35580

o

For SQL Server 2008R2: http://www.microsoft.com/enus/download/details.aspx?id=16978

Permissions 1.

The user account that you specify for guest processing of the Microsoft SharePoint in the backup job should be a Farm Administrator for the corresponding SharePoint farm (see the corresponding section of the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide for Hyper-V or for VMware).

2.

This account should also have the sysadmin fixed role assigned on the Microsoft SQL Server Server where the content database is stored. This is the recommended setting; however, if you need to provide minimal permissions, you can assign the following to this account:

o

137

SQL Server instance-level roles: dbcreator and public


o

Database-level roles: db_backupoperator, db_denydatareader, public; for system databases (master, model, msdb) - db_backupoperator, db_datareader,

public o 3.

When configuring a staging SQL server, remember that current user account (under which Veeam Explorer runs) can be used to access Windows machine where staging SQL server runs only if you have local staging server. If you plan to use a remote staging server, you will need to specify credentials for connection explicitly, providing user name and password - that is, even if you want to use the account currently logged on, you should select Use the following account option and supply credentials. See Configuring Staging SQL Server Settings for more details.

4.

The account used for working with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint requires membership in the sysadmin fixed server role on the staging Microsoft SQL Server.

5.

When planning for the account under which Veeam Explorer will connect to target SharePoint server, consider the following:

6.

7.

138

Securables: view any definition, view server state

o

If you are using ADFS as authentication provider, consider that in case of Windows Authentication you can either use current account or specified account.

o

In case of Forms Authentication, only the specified account can be used (not current account), and you should enter the corresponding user name and password.

The account used for connection with target SharePoint server where document item(s)/list will be restored needs the following:

o

If permissions of the item being restored are inherited from the parent item (list), Full Control for that list is required.

o

If permissions are not inherited, and restored item will replace an existing item,

Contribute for the item and Full Control for its parent list are required. The account used for connection with target SharePoint server where a site will be restored needs Full Control for that site. If this user account does not have site administrator or system account rights, and this user selects Restore permissions option, consider that this user's permissions will be skipped (not restored).


Used Ports The following table describes network ports that must be opened to ensure proper communication of the machine where Veeam Explorer runs with the Microsoft SharePoint VM guest OS. From

To

Protocol

Port

Notes

Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint

SQL Server

TCP

1433,1434 and other

Port used for communication with the Microsoft SQL Server hosting content database. Exact port numbers depend on configuration of Microsoft SQL server. To learn more, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc646023.aspx#BKMK_ssde.

SharePoint web application

As recomm ended by Microsof t

As recommen ded by Microsoft

For recommended port numbers and protocols for SharePoint web application, refer to Microsoft documentation on the corresponding SharePoint version – for example, for SharePoint 2010 see https://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc262849(v=office.14).aspx To discover ports currently used by your SharePoint web application, follow the steps described in this article: https://msdn.microsoft.com/enus/library/hh167832(v=nav.70).aspx

If you plan to restore content database items or lists to Microsoft SharePoint running in a DMZ, consider that ports used by SharePoint web application will be utilized. The following table describes range of ports opened by Veeam Backup & Replication for iSCSI traffic during content database item restore to the srcinal location. See How It Works for details. From

To

Protocol Port

Notes

Target remote machine to which application items are restored or staging SQL server

Machine where Veeam Explorer runs

TCP

Ports are open only during application item restore (Veeam Explorer session):

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3260 3270






Target server operates as iSCSI initiator. During restore, iSCSI initiator connects to the iSCSI target via one of the ports from this range. Also, in several situations (e.g., during restore from a SAN snapshot), additional iSCSI mount may be required. In that case, the staging SQL server becomes an additional iSCSI initiator, and during restore it also connects to the iSCSI target via one of the ports from this range.”

Required Microsoft SharePoint Backup Job Settings To be able to explore and recover the necessary database, you should have a transactionallyconsistent backup of your Microsoft SharePoint created successfully. For that, select the Enable application-aware image processing option on the Guest Processing step of the backup job wizard when configuring your SharePoint backup.

Note:

If you have different servers in your SharePoint deployment - that is, an SQL Server hosting the content database, and web server hosting SharePoint application - make sure that backup for each of these virtualized servers is created with application-aware processing enabled.

The user account that you specify for guest processing of the Microsoft SharePoint (in the Guest OS credentials section at this step of the wizard) should meet the requirements stated in the Permissions section of this document. For details on backup job settings, see also the "Administration > Creating Backup Jobs > Step 9. Specify Guest Processing Settings > Application-Aware Processing" section of the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide for the corresponding platform (for Hyper-V and for VMware).

Licensing and Editions Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint requires no special license to purchase; it is shipped with all editions of Veeam Backup & Replication, including Veeam Backup Free Edition. However, the full range of restore capabilities (including recovery to Microsoft SharePoint server in production environment) will be available with Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise and Enterprise Plus Edition only.

140


Compare editions: Feature

Free

Standard

Enterprise

Enterprise Plus

Browse

Available

Available

Available

Available

Search

Available

Available

Available

Available

Save

Available

Available

Available

Available

Send

Available

Available

Available

Available

Export

Available

Available

Available

Available

Restore to srcinal location

Not available

Not available

Available, including restore of sites and site collections

Available, including restore of sites and site collections

Considerations and Limitations When planning for the recovery of Microsoft SharePoint application items, pay attention to the following considerations and limitations: 

Status Recovery Limitations



Restoring Documents, Libraries and Lists



Restoring List Items



Restoring List Items with Link Attachments



Restoring Surveys



Restoring Sites



Export and Import



Data Type Limitations



Workflow-related Considerations

Status Recovery Limitations Consider the following when planning for the recovery of the documents/list items: •

•

•

If a document/item was in Check Out state when the backup was created, item's last version will not be restored to the target SharePoint but will be available for viewing only; previous versions (if any) will be restored. If Declare this item as a record action was srcinally applied to list item, the corresponding status will not be preserved; instead, restored item status will be set in accordance with the target list/library content approval workflow. Original status On Hold will not be restored

Restoring Documents, Libraries and Lists 

Restore of custom document libraries and lists is not supported.



Versioning settings of SharePoint lists are not preserved on restore.



141

Restoring Generic List and Pages Library may fail with the “No content type 'XXX' found in web YYY” error.



Modified By field of restored documents is updated with the account performing restore.



Some Rating Settings of Discussion lists values are not restored.


Restoring List Items Consider that when restoring a list item, Veeam Explorer works in the following way: 1.

Deletes an existing item

2.

Creates item's latest version anew using data from the backup.

3.

Checks whether it is declared as a record.

4.

If the check is a success, the process finishes.

5.

If not, the created version is deleted, and item versions are restored sequentially.

This logic leads to several peculiarities of list item restore, as described below. If a list or list item(s) column is used as a lookup column in the dependent list, consider that restoring an item from the source list causes corresponding item(s) deletion in the dependent list. If a lookup column in the dependent list has the enforced relationship behavior set to Cascade Delete, then restoring an item from the source list may cause item deletion in the dependent list - due to Microsoft implementation described at https://support.office.com/en-au/article/Create-listrelationships-by-using-unique-and-lookup-columns-80a3e0a6-8016-41fb-ad09-8bf16d490632 To prevent this issue, it is recommended to turn off enforced relationship behavior. As a work-around, you can roll-back the SharePoint database using Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SQL Server (as described in the corresponding section of this guide), or roll-back the whole SharePoint server VM to the desired state using any Veeam Backup & Replication recovery option. Also, the following limitations should be considered: 





If a lookup column in the dependent list has the enforced relationship behavior set to Restrict Delete, then item restore with Veeam Explorer will fail. If an .ASPX page references an item using ItemID, this reference may fail to restore (as the item will be created anew with a different ItemID). If a list item cannot be deleted (for example, site's "Welcome" page), consider that restore process will recover all versions of the item sequentially without deletions, adding them to Version History.



Restored Issue list items are assigned new Issue ID.



Restore of Time Card list is not supported.

Restoring List Items with Links (Attachments) Consider the following when planning for the recovery of list items with links (attachments): 





If the retention policy for target list/document library was configured to Declare record automatically, only the last version of the item will be restored to target list/library. Target retention policy settings will be applied to restored item ( Declare record). However, links (attachments) will not be restored. Alternatively (with different retention policy settings), all versions of the srcinal item will be restored to target list/library; item links (attachments) will be restored only if such item does not exist on target SharePoint. If Declare this item as a record action was srcinally applied to list item, such item will not be restored.

Restoring Surveys Consider the following limitations when planning for the recovery of surveys, survey questions and responses:

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







Survey item(s) can be restored to a new survey, created automatically by Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint in the specified destination instead of the previously deleted survey. However, if a new survey is created by user from scratch (not replacing a deleted one) – items cannot be recovered to such a survey. A survey can be restored to an existing target survey only if that target survey includes at least one item (question) same as survey questions stored in the content database. If a survey question was not answered completely in the source survey, after restore the response status in the target survey will be set to Completed, anyway. When restoring a single response to a survey, target response item with the same number will be deleted, and restored item will be placed in the target survey after the last numbered response. For example, if the target survey has responses #1-15, and you try to restore a response that used to be #6 on source – then target response #6 will be deleted, and restored response will be assigned #16.

Restoring Sites 1.

Note:

If you plan to restore SharePoint site pages, consider that Veeam Explorer does not support recovery of items which are not stored in the SharePoint content database (in particular, pages, page references and items based on default templates). Such items cannot be restored (neither by Restore nor by Save menu option), except for data from Wiki Content (text and images) which is stored in the database. Thus, site pages containing only text and/or images can be restored and displayed properly; other data (Web Parts, App Parts, etc.) cannot be restored and will not appear in the site pages after recovery.

Consider the following: In case you attempt to restore such items, the following error message will be logged: ”Item is skipped: restoration of items based on SharePoint default template is not supported.” In case you attempt to save such items, the following error message will be logged: “Unable to save document . Document content is not available.”

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2.

Web features restore is not supported for SharePoint 2010 sites.

3.

Restore of site navigation is not supported in the current version.

Export and Import 

Importing exported Picture Library may result in IDs changed for some items.

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Importing exported Project Tasks list does not preserve column order.



Importing exported SharePoint list does not preserve Validation Settings.

Data Type Limitations Consider the column (field) data type when planning for the recovery of your SharePoint libraries/lists: 

If source column (field) data type was set to Lookup, but the referenced list/library was deleted, such columns (fields) will not be restored even if you recover that referenced list. The reason is that if referenced list is deleted, the reference (link) to that list is no longer valid.

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If source column (field) data type was set to Managed Metadata, such columns (fields) will not be restored.


Workflow-related Considerations You may need to restore the item(s) srcinally belonging to a list with no content approval required, to another list. If you try to restore such item(s) to a list that requires content approval, item version and status will be modified in the following way: a.

If a target list is configured to include major versions only – then all versions of restored item will become major (despite the srcinal versioning); item status will be set to Pending.

b.

If a target list is configured to include both major and minor versions – then all versions of restored item will become minor (despite the srcinal versioning); item status will be set as follows:

o

If the last version (srcinal) was major – status will be set to Pending

o

If the last version was minor – status will be set to Draft

Also, consider the following when planning for the recovery of list items (with or without content approval srcinally required):

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a.

If the retention policy for target list/document library is configured to Declare record automatically, only the last version of the item will be restored to target list/library. Target retention policy settings will be applied to restored item ( Declare record). Besides, if Require content approval for submitted items was enabled for the srcinal list, then after recovery item status will be set to Pending.

b.

Alternatively (with different retention policy settings), all versions of the srcinal item will be restored to target list/library. Besides, if Require content approval for submitted items was enabled for the srcinal list, then after recovery item status in the content approval workflow will be also restored, except for the states listed (see "Status Recovery Limitations" above).


Administration Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint allows you to restore sites, lists and separate list objects from Microsoft SharePoint content database files. To be able to browse and search for the necessary item within the content database files, you should perform the following steps: 1.

Configure the staging SQL Server settings. For details, see Configuring Staging SQL Server Settings

2.

Configure SMTP settings. For details, see Configuring SMTP Settings.

3.

Recover Microsoft SharePoint content database (.MDF) from the image-level VM backup or VeeamZIP file. For details, see Recovering Content Database Files from Backup.

4.

Add the recovered Microsoft SharePoint content database files to Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint scope. For details, see Adding Database to Veeam Explorer's Scope.

Then you can search and restore SharePoint items.

First Steps This section described the initial steps that will help you to start efficiently using Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint. There are several scenarios of launching Veeam Explorer from Veeam Backup & Replication console using different recovery options they will be described later in this guide. You can also run Veeam Explorer from the Start menu or the list of applications. The application will connect to Veeam Backup & Replication database to obtain the necessary configuration settings - in particular, display theme that will be used by Veeam Explorer. The most common scenario involves Veeam Explorer that is co-installed with Veeam backup server, and Veeam Backup Service is accessed via default port, under current account using Windows session authentication. No special settings need to be configured in this case. Alternatively, if you want to work with Veeam Explorer that is co-installed with the standalone console, you will need to enter several settings to connect to Veeam backup server running on another machine. At launch, specify the following: 

Server name or IP address



Port number used to communicate with Veeam Backup Service (default is 9392)

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User name and password for connection - you can select to Use Windows session authentication if current account has sufficient access rights



Getting to Know the User Interface Main Menu The main menu of Veeam Explorer can be opened by clicking its icon in the top left corner of the Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint main window, next to the Home tab. The menu contains commands related to general application settings.

In particular, you can perform the following operations using the main menu: 

Configure Veeam Explorer options, as explained later in this guide






Access online Help

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

Exit the program

Main Window On the left of the window there is the navigation pane. It displays content database as a hierarchical structure, including content databases, sites, subsites, libraries and lists. It facilitates browsing for application items you want to restore. When you select a node in the navigation pane, you can browse its contents in the preview pane - for example, having selected a document library on the left, you can see all its documents on the right. Operation commands in Veeam Explorer are organized into logical groups and collected under the tabs on the ribbon. The ribbon is displayed at the top of the main application window. 

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The Home ribbon tab p rovides quick access to some common operations. Other tabs contain commands specific for certain entities appear when the corresponding nodes are selected in the navigation pane. For example, if you select a document library in the navigation tree, the Library tab displaying buttons for operations with libraries will appear on the ribbon. If you then select a document in the preview pane, the Document tab with t he corresponding menu commands will be displayed.


Tip:

Commands for selected entity are also available in the entity's shortcut menu.

Display Theme When you open the Veeam Explorer, its display theme settings are imported from the Veeam Backup & Replication configuration. So, if you want to change the display theme, you should do it in Veeam Backup & Replication general options, as described in its User Guide, and then re-open Veeam Explorer.

Initial Configuration Settings To perform initial configuration, take the following steps after launching Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint: 1.

Open the main menu and select Options.

2.

On the SQL Server Settings tab, configure the staging server.

3.

If you plan to restore documents and send them by e-mail, then use the SMTP Settings tab to configure the mail settings.

Configuring SMTP Settings To send items recovered from a SharePoint content database as email attachments, you need to configure SMTP server settings. Do the following:

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1.

Click the main menu icon in the top left corner of the Veeam Explorer main window, select Options, then go to the SMTP Settings tab.

2.

Select the Configure SMTP settings check box.

3.

In the Server field, specify the DNS name or IP address of the mail server that will be used for sending e-mails.

4.

In the Port field, enter the SMTP communication port (by default, port number 25 is used).


5.

In the From field, specify the email address of the sender (for example, email address of the administrator responsible for Microsoft SharePoint item recovery). When you choose to send restored items as e-mail attachments, this email address will be used by default in the From field of the message.

6.

If your SMTP server requires SMTP authentication for outgoing mail, select the Use authentication check box and provide credentials for the account that will be used to send emails with attached items.

7.

For SMTP server with SSL support, select the Enable SSL security check box to enable SSL data encryption.

8.

To test if email settings have been configured correctly, enter an e-mail address in the Send test e-mail section and click the Send button. Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint will send a test email message to the specified address.

9.

Click Apply and close the dialog.

Configuring Staging SQL Server Settings To perform Microsoft SharePoint item recovery, Veeam Explorer requires a Microsoft SQL Server that will be used as a staging system. You can use Veeam Explorer options to specify Microsoft SQL Server instance (local or remote) for that purpose. Do the following: 1.

In the Options dialog, open the SQL Server Settings tab.

2.

In the Use the following SQL server field, specify the SQL server instance that will be used as a staging system. You can click the Browse button to locate the necessary server instance among local or network servers.

Important! Remember that selected server must meet all requirements specified in the System Requirements section.

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3.

Note:

Specify user account that will be used to connect to Windows machine where the staging SQL server runs - this can be current account (the one under which Veeam Explorer is running) or another account:

o

If you are configuring a local staging server, then both options will be available for you - select the one you need.

o

If you are configuring a remote staging server, then only the second option will be available (Use the following account), so you should enter user name and password. Even if you want to use the account currently logged on, you will need to specify credentials for connection explicitly, providing user name and password.

Make sure the accounts you specify have sufficient permissions to connect to Windows machine and to access SQL server.

If you plan to add content database(s) to Veeam Explorer scope manually, consider the following when setting up the staging SQL Server: 

If SQL Server belongs to an untrusted domain, connection will not be possible.

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If SQL Server belongs to a trusted domain, then only SQL Server authentication is possible.



If SQL Server belongs to the same domain as the machine where Veeam Explorer runs, then both Windows and SQL Server authentication methods are possible. In this case, if you plan to use Windows authentication for connection, you will need to configure delegation settings as follows: a)

In Active Directory Users and Computers, select the necessary staging SQL Server.

b) Open its properties and select the Delegation tab. Select Trust this computer for delegation to specified services only and Use any authentication protocol options for the cifs service on the computer where Veeam Explorer runs.

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c)

After that, restart the staging SQL Server.

d) Select the domain user account that you want to use for connection to the staging SQL Server, and in its properties on the Account tab make sure the Account is sensitive and cannot be delegated check box is cleared.

Note:

Contact your Active Directory administrator, if necessary.

Obtaining Content Database Files from Backup Before you start restoring SharePoint items and libraries, you need to obtain a content database file (. mdf ) from the VeeamZIP file or backup file.

VeeamZIP File To obtain the content database from a VeeamZIP file, you can use full VM recovery or guest OS filelevel recovery. However, the most convenient method is the guest OS file-level recovery option. So, you have to do the following:

Note:

1.

Perform guest OS files restore for the virtualized Microsoft SharePoint server. See Veeam Backup & Replication documentation for details on performing guest OS file restore.

2.

On the Veeam Backup Browser toolbar, click Open in Explorer, then locate the Microsoft SharePoint content database files from which you want to restore data (see Locating Content Database File). Copy the path to clipboard and click SharePoint Items to start Veeam Explorer.

3.

Manually add selected database to Veeam Explorer scope, providing path to database file, as described in the Adding Database to Veeam Explorer Scope section.

If you choose to restore SharePoint items directly from the mounted VM file system, do not close Veeam Backup Browser until you finish restore operations. Closing Veeam Backup Browser automatically unmounts the file system of the backed up VM.

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If you need to keep SharePoint content databases hosted on the staging Microsoft SQL Server for a period of time that is longer than a File-Level Restore session, it is recommended that you copy the database files to a different location rather than restore them directly from the mounted VM file system. To copy Microsoft SharePoint content database files: 1.

In the Backup Browser, open the File view.

2.

In the navigation tree, locate the folder where content database files reside.

3.

Select Microsoft SharePoint content database files ( . mdf ) and associated log files (. l df ).

4.

On the Backup Browser toolbar, click Copy To.

5.

In the Choose folder window, specify the location to which files will be copied and click OK.

6.

Open the folder to which files were copied and copy the full path to the target directory to clipboard. You can now launch Veeam Explorer and add the database file from backup that

was copied. For details, see Adding Database to Veeam Explorer Scope.

Recovery from Backup or Replica Before adding content database files to Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint, it is necessary to extract them from the backup or replica file. To do this, you can use any data recovery feature available in Veeam Backup & Replication: Instant VM recovery, full VM restore, replica failover and so on. Data recovery options are described in detail in Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide. When

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you perform file-level restore, the VM image is not extracted from the backup. The content of a backup file is mounted directly to the Veeam backup server and displayed in the inbuilt Veeam Backup Browser. After the backup file is mounted to the Veeam backup server, you can either add the necessary SharePoint content database files to Veeam Explorer directly, or copy the files and then add them to Veeam Explorer scope. In particular, Microsoft SharePoint Item Restore Wizard can be launched if you select Application Recovery option in the File-Level Restore Wizard. Another option is to use Guest OS Restore Wizard.

Using Microsoft SharePoint Item Restore Wizard During its work, the wizard will do the following:

Note:

1.

Build SharePoint topology for the available backups created with application-aware image processing enabled (to read more about this option, refer to Veeam Backup & Replication documentation).

2.

Perform auto-discovery of the SharePoint web sites and corresponding SQL server VMs hosting content databases.

3.

Display the list of available restore points for the SQL server VM.

If you plan to use this automated workflow, make sure your SharePoint backup jobs have application-aware image processing enabled.

Step 1. Launch the Wizard To automatically detect Microsoft SharePoint content database files and add them to Veeam Explorer scope, you can do any of the following: 

In the Veeam Backup & Replication console, go to the Home tab, and click Restore. In the

Restore Wizard window, select Application Items. You will proceed to the Select Application step of the wizard.

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In Veeam Backup & Replication, open the Backup & Replication view. Select the Backups node, and in the working area on the right expand the backup or replication job with the SharePoint server you need. Select the SharePoint server VM and click Application items > Microsoft SharePoint on the toolbar. Note that this course of actions can be used for regular and imported backups.

You will be taken to the Content Database step of the wizard. 

In Veeam Backup & Replication, open the Backup & Replication view. Select the Backups node, expand the backup or replication job with the SharePoint server in the working area. Right-click the SharePoint server VM and select Restore application items > Microsoft SharePoint content....

You will be taken to the Site step of the wizard.

Note:

This method can be used only for backup or replica that was created with VSS-aware image processing enabled. Also, consider that it is intended for regular backups (for imported backups this command is not available in the shortcut menu; instead, use the methods described above).

Step 2. Select Application In the Select Application step, select Microsoft SharePoint.

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Wait while Veeam builds SharePoint topology for available SharePoint farm backups. Click Next to proceed to the Step 3. Select SharePoint Site.

Step 3. Select SharePoint Site In this step, you can select the necessary Microsoft SharePoint site from the automatically populated list of available sites; use the search field to look for the site you need.

Note:

Veeam Backup & Replication performs auto-discovery for the SharePoint farms that were backed up with application-aware image processing enabled.

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During auto-discovery, Veeam Backup & Replication retrieves information about SharePoint sites, corresponding database server VMs and their restore points. If, for some reason, database VM cannot be discovered, Veeam Backup & Replication will display a warning, notifying you that database should be recovered manually using file-level restore capabilities. Then you can manually locate the content database and open it with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint.

Step 4. Select Restore Point With auto-discovery, the VM hosting SQL Server instance with the SharePoint content database will be picked automatically. From the list of available restore points, select the restore point containing the database you want to restore.

Step 5. Specify Restore Reason If necessary, enter the reason for performing restore. The information you provide will be saved in the session history so that you can reference it later.

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Step 6. Finish Working with the Wizard Finally, review the restore settings. Due to auto-discovery of SharePoint topology, detailed information about SharePoint farm, including primary content database (. mdf ), associated log file (. l df ) and BLOB storage (if any) will be presented:

Click Finish to start the restore process. Veeam Backup & Replication will automatically perform all required operations (mount the selected restore point, launch Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint and add the necessary database to its scope). Alternatively, you can manually locate the content database and open it with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint. After that, you can browse the database and restore the items you need.

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Using Guest OS Restore Wizard Another way to obtain a content database file from the VM backup is to perform guest OS file recovery using Veeam Backup & Replication File-Level Restore (FLR) wizard. When you perform file-level restore, the VM image is not extracted from the backup - the content of a backup file is mounted directly to the corresponding mount server. Then it is displayed in the inbuilt Veeam Backup Browser, and you can copy the files and then add them to Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint. This section will guide you through the steps of the File-Level Restore (FLR) wizard necessary to mount the backup file to the Veeam backup server and extract the content database files.

Step 1. Launch the Restore Wizard To obtain Microsoft SharePoint content database files using guest OS restore wizard, open the Veeam Backup & Replication console and do any of the following: 





On the Home tab, click Restore. In the Restore Wizard window, select Guest Files > Guest Files (Windows). Open the Backup & Replication view and select the Backups node. In the working area, expand the necessary backup job, select the VM whose guest OS files you want to obtain, and click Application Items > Microsoft SharePoint on the toolbar. You will be taken to Restore Point step of the wizard. Open the Backup & Replication view and select the Backups node. In the working area, expand the necessary backup job, right-click the VM whose guest OS files you want to obtain, and select Restore guest files (Windows). You will be taken to Restore Point step of the wizard.

Step 2. Select a VM In the list of available jobs, select the backup of the VM from which the content database should be restored. To quickly find VMs in jobs, use the search field at the bottom of the window.

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Step 3. Select a Re store Point At this step of the wizard, select the restore point for the virtual machine. The details on this VM (including name, size and srcinal host) will be also displayed.

Click Next to proceed.

Step 4. Specify Restore Reason If necessary, enter the reason for performing restore. The information you provide will be saved in the session history so that you can reference it later.

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Click Next to proceed.

Step 5. Finish Working with the Wizard Click Finish and wait for the process to complete. Veeam Backup & Replication will open Veeam Backup Browser displaying the file system tree of the restored VM. Then you can click SharePoint Items on Browser toolbar to launch Veeam Explorer and mount the discovered database files automatically, or manually locate the required database(s) and then add them to Veeam Explorer scope.

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Locating Content Database File Manually Once you have mounted the VM hosting content database using Guest OS Restore Wizard, you can locate the database files with the content which you want to restore. Content database files location depends on the SharePoint deployment scenario: 1.

If a dedicated Microsoft SQL server was used, the location is as follows:

o

For SQL Server 2016:

%Pr ogr amFi l es%\ Mi cr osof t SQL Ser ver \ MSSQL13. MSSQLSERVER\ MSSQL\ DATA o


% Pr ogr l es% cr LSERV osof t ER\ SQL Ser ver am \ MFi SSQ L12.\ MiSSQ MSSQL\ DATA o


%Pr ogr amFi l es%\ Mi cr osof t SQL Ser ver \ MSSQL10. \ MSSQL\ DATA o

For SQL Server 2008 R2:

%Pr ogr amFi l es%\ Mi cr osof t SQL Ser ver \ MSSQL10_50. \ MSSQL\ DATA o


%Pr ogr amFi l es%\ Mi cr osof t SQL Ser ver \ MSSQL11. \ MSSQL\ DATA 2.

In the SharePoint deployments that use built-in database, .MDF files reside by the default path:

o

For SQL Server 2008 Express (included in SharePoint 2010 setup):

%Pr ogr amFi l es%\ Mi cr osof t Of f i ce Ser ver s\ 14. 0\ Dat a\ MSSQL10. SHAREPOI NT\ MSSQL\ DATA o

For SQL Server 2008 R2 Express (included in SharePoint 2013 setup):

%Pr ogr am Fi l es%\ Mi cr osof t Of f i ce Ser ver s\ 15. 0\ Dat a\ MSSQL10_50. SHAREPOI NT\ MSSQL\ DATA Next, to make the content database file available to Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint, you can perform the following steps:

Note:

1.

In the navigation tree of the Backup Browser, locate the folder where content database files reside.

2.

Select the . mdf file you need, open the Home tab of the ribbon menu and select Application Items > SharePoint Items. Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint will be launched, and selected content database will be automatically added to its scope.

If you choose to restore SharePoint items directly from the mounted VM file system, do not close Veeam Backup Browser until you finish restore operations. Closing Veeam Backup Browser automatically unmounts the file system of the backed up VM. If you need to keep SharePoint content databases hosted on the staging Microsoft SQL Server for a period of time that is longer than a File-Level Restore session, it is recommended that you copy the database files to a different location rather than restore them directly from the mounted VM file system. To copy files, do the following:

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1.

In the Backup Browser, open the File view.

2.

In the navigation tree, locate the folder where content database files reside; select Microsoft SharePoint content database files (. mdf ) and associated log files (. l df ).

3.

On the Backup Browser toolbar, click Copy To.

4.

In the Choose Folder window, specify the location to which content database files will be copied and click OK.


5.

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Open the folder to which files were copied and copy the full path to the target directory to clipboard. You can now launch Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint and add the database to its scope, as described in this section.


Adding Databases to Veeam Explorer Scope For users to be able to browse and restore the SharePoint items, Microsoft SharePoint content database should be added to the Veeam Explorer scope. When this operation is performed automatically, Veeam Explorer mounts the VM file system to the mount server and then attaches the database to the staging Microsoft SQL server, creating a temporary Microsoft SharePoint content database from which you can recover the necessary items. For example, if you have used Microsoft SharePoint Item Restore Wizard to perform the restore, the content database will be added to Veeam Explorer scope automatically and become available for browsing right away. If the server VM was hosting several content databases, and you backed up that server with application-aware processing disabled and then started application item-level restore for it, these databases will all appear in the hierarchy tree in the main Veeam Explorer window, having a clock icon near them. This indicator shows that information about these databases was retrieved from VM file system during mounting process (no SQL engine-related operations like database attach were involved at this stage), and database will be attached to the staging server later on.

Actually, attach will be performed after you initiate this operation by selecting the certain database for browsing (clicking on the arrow next to it) or search purposes (entering search parameters in the search field). Veeam Explorer will report on attach operation progress in the pop-up window; clock icon for the corresponding database will no longer appear.

Note:

This approach was introduced in version 9.5 of Veeam solution to optimize the performance.

Adding Databases Manually In case you have used Microsoft SharePoint Item Restore Wizard to perform the restore, the content database will be added to Veeam Explorer scope automatically and become available for browsing. Alternatively, you can add the required database to Veeam Explorer scope manually. In this case, you will need to configure staging SQL Server settings as described in this section.

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Note:

To successfully attach the database to staging SQL server, you should ensure that SQL server service account has sufficient rights to access the database files. Otherwise, you will get the following message displayed: "SQL server cannot access sharepoint database file. SQL Server account: ". If so, provide the access rights to the specified account. To add a database file to the Veeam Explorer scope manually and make it visible in the console:

Tip:

1.

Open Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint and click Add Database on the toolbar.

2.

In the displayed window, specify the location of the Microsoft SharePoint primary content database file (. mdf ); corresponding secondary database and transaction log file (. l df ) will be also added. If necessary, you can also add the remote BLOB (binary large objects) stores (RBS).

3.

Click OK and wait for the operation to complete. Database hierarchy will be displayed in the navigation tree of the Veeam Explorer window. Now you can view its content and carry out the actions you need (search, export, restore and so on). If you know in which database the necessary Microsoft SharePoint items are located, you only need to add one .mdf file. If you are not sure in which database the necessary Microsoft SharePoint items are located, or these items are scattered across a number of databases, you can add multiple .mdf files to Veeam Explorer's scope (no limitations are applied).





Removing a Database To remove a content database from the Veeam Explorer scope: 1. Select the database in the navigation tree. 2.

Click Remove Database on the toolbar. The database will be removed from the Veeam Explorer scope, no longer shown in the console, automatically detached from the staging SQL server and unmounted from the mount point.

After you add one or several Microsoft SharePoint content databases to the Veeam Explorer scope, you can browse through the contents of these database(s), find and restore necessary Microsoft SharePoint items.

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Note:

The same operations (detach and unmount) will be performed if you finish the restore session by closing Veeam Explorer.

Browsing, Searching and Viewing Items Using Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint, you can: 

Browse through the contents of the database



Open the document or view its properties



Use simple or advanced search capabilities to find the necessary documents or list items

This functionality is supported supported in all editions of Veeam Backup & Replication.

Browsing In the Veeam Explorer navigation pane, you can see all the containers in the hierarchical structure, including content databases, sites, subsites, libraries and lists. When you select a container node, you can browse its contents in the preview pane.

Veeam Explorer also allows you to browse to associated Microsoft SharePoint items — attached files and document versions. For example, if you maintain version history for documents, you can rightclick the item you need and select View History to examine the list of all stored document versions. If you want to open the list of attachments for an item, from its shortcut menu select View Attachments.

Viewing Properties and Opening Files To view properties of a document or an item, right-click it in the preview pane on the right and select

View Properties. Properties will be displayed in a separate window.

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To open a document, right-click it in the preview pane and from the shortcut menu select Open. The document will be opened in the associated application.

Searching At the top of the preview pane, there is a search field that allows you to find items matching a specified search term. For example, you can select a document library and search for veeam software to find all the documents that contain the words starting with 'veeam' or 'software' in the document name or document text. Search results for content databases and sites will include all child items (that is, subsites, lists and list objects).

Note:

When you search for a phrase, the search will by default locate items that contain any search terms in the phrase, not the phrase itself. To find the exact phrase, use double quotes, for example, “veeam software”. You can select the whole content database or several databases at once to get more results. You can select a specific node (for example, a document library) inside a specific database and a site to narrow the search. You can further narrow your search results by specifying various search criteria inside the search box in the criteria:value format. For example, to find in the list of decisions all items that require approval, you can use the following search query: status:pending approval. You can also use logical operators such as AND, OR and NOT (must be typed in uppercase letters) and wildcard characters such as * and ?. These search criteria are similar to those used for searching in Microsoft SharePoint. For more information, see, for example, this Microsoft SharePoint help topic.

Using Advanced Find Capabilities You can also use the Advanced Find command, which is available from the ribbon menu. With this option, you can apply flexible search criteria to selected document library/item list, like document author, creation or modification date, file extension, and so on, easily building any search query you need. For example, to find all files modified prior to the certain date, you can do the following:

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1.

Select the required node from the content tree on the left, then click Advanced Find. In the Define search criteria section of the search window on the right, select the Category for the new search filter. This will instruct search to look through the corresponding content property fields. You can search through Document fields, Frequently Used fields, and so on.

2.

From the Field list, select the field to filter by (for example, Last Author).

3.

From the Condition list, select the one you need – this can be less than (chosen for this example), equal to, between, and so on.


4.

Specify the Value for the date to look for, and click Add to List. Configured filter will be shown in the above pane.

Click Start to search using the new filter. The results will be displayed in the main pane.

To remove a filter, click on the cross mark next to it; to remove all configured filters, click Reset.

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Restoring Data Veeam Explorer provides the following restore options for Microsoft SharePoint items: 

Saving documents and libraries to the selected folder



Sending documents and libraries as e-mail attachments



Exporting libraries and lists for further import to Microsoft SharePoint





Restoring documents and lists to Microsoft SharePoint (if used with Enterprise or Enterprise Plus Edition of Veeam Backup & Replication) Restoring sites and site collections

Saving Documents and Libraries Veeam Explorer allows you to save Microsoft SharePoint document library or separate document(s) you select to a location of your choice, or to your desktop (default destination).

Saving a Library 1.

Browse to the necessary document library, or use the search field to locate the one you need.

2.

Highlight the library in the navigation tree and use the Save Library command from the Library tab of the ribbon menu. You can also use the library shortcut menu command.

3.

By default, all documents contained in the selected library will be saved to your Desktop. You can specify a destination folder of your choice.

4.

Veeam Explorer will notify you of the operation completion.

Saving a Document To save a document to a location of your choice, do the following: 1. Browse to the necessary document, or use the search function.

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2.

In the preview pane on the right, select the required document and click Save Document on the toolbar. You can also right-click the selected document in the working area and select the shortcut menu command. If necessary, use SHIFT or CTRL keys for multiple selection.

3.

Specify destination location for saving the document(s) and wait for the operation to complete.


Note:

Access permissions for the saved document will be inherited from the destination folder (to which the document is copied).

E-mailing Documents and Libraries Veeam Explorer for Microsoft allowsasyou to send restored document documents to their owners orSharePoint other recipients e-mail attachments. To use thislibraries feature, and make sure you have configured SMTP settings in the program options, as described in this section.

Sending a Library Consider that when you are sending a document library, all documents it contains will be attached to the e-mail. To send a document library, do the following:

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1.

Browse to the necessary library in the navigation tree.

2.

Select the library you need and click Send Library on the toolbar; you can also use the shortcut menu command for the selection.


3.

4.

In the Send Items dialog, provide the necessary values:

o

By default, the sender address will be taken from the SMTP settings you have configured in the program options.

o

Specify the e-mail addresses of the recipient; if needed, edit the subject of the email message - default is SharePoint Documents Recovery.

o

Library documents will be displayed as the attached files.

o

You can also click More details to see the message body field and edit the text as necessary.

When finished, click Send.

Sending a Document To send a document as an e-mail attachment, do the following:

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1.

Browse to the necessary document library in the navigation tree on the left, or use the search field on the right.

2.

Select the required document in the preview pane on the right (you can use SHIFT and CTRL keys for multiple selection) and click Send Document on the toolbar. You can also use the shortcut menu command for the selection.

3.

In the Send Items dialog, provide the necessary values: specify the e-mail addresses of the recipient; if necessary, edit the subject of the e-mail message and the body text. The document being sent will be displayed as the attached file.

4.

When finished, click Send.

Exporting Document Libraries and Lists With Veeam Explorer, you can export the whole document library or list to a folder in the specified location (export of items is not supported in this version). Exported content will be saved in XML files and can be then imported to the SharePoint database of your choice using PowerShell cmdlets. To export a library, do the following:

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1.

Select the required library in the navigation pane of Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint.

2.

Click Export Library or Export List on the toolbar, or use the corresponding shortcut menu command.


3.

Specify destination location.

4.

Wait for the export to complete. Veeam Explorer will notify you on the operation completion.

Exported content appears as .DAT and .XML files in the sub-folder of the specified destination folder:

You can make this folder content available to SharePoint server you need, importing it by means of PowerShell command.

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Importing Exported Content To import document library/list you have exported from the SharePoint content database, run the appropriate PowerShell cmdlet locally on the SharePoint server, as described below: If using PowerShell snap-in, run the following:

Add- PsSnapi n Mi cr osof t . Shar ePoi nt . Power Shel l I mpor t - SPWeb - I dent i t y "ht t p: / / / si t es/ " - Pat h "C: \ " - NoFi l eCompr essi on –I ncl udeUser Secur i t y If using SharePoint Management Shell, run the following:

- I dentr i_nam t y e>/ si t es/ " - Pat h "I m htpor t p:t -/ /SPW " - NoFi l eCompr essi on –I ncl udeUser Secur i t y where: 

— destination web server;



— destination web site;



— source folder containing exported library/list content.

To get extended Help on the Import-SPWeb command, run the following PowerShell cmdlet:

Get - Hel p I mpor t - SPWeb - f ul l

Restoring Libraries, Lists and Documents to Microsoft SharePoint You can use Veeam Explorer to restore a SharePoint document/item or the whole document library/item list to the specified location on the SharePoint server in your production environment. Note that this capability is supported for Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise and Enterprise Plus Editions only.

Restoring Document Libraries and Lists To restore a document library/list, do the following:

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1.

Select the required library/list in the navigation pane of Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint.

2.

Click Restore Library or Restore List on the toolbar, or use the shortcut menu command.


3.

The restore wizard is launched; follow its steps to specify restore options for the document library/item list.

Step 1. Specify Target SharePoint Specify target settings to be used for restoring SharePoint content: 



Note:

Target SharePoint server's URL (as ht t p: / / ser ver _name) and site path. Domain account to be used for connection. You can use the account under which you are running Veeam Explorer, or specify another account in the domain\username format. Make sure this account has sufficient rights to access the specified server (see Permissions).

If you are using ADFS as authentication provider, consider that in case of Windows Authentication you can either use current account or specified account; in case of Forms Authentication you can only use the second option and specify user name and password.

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Step 2. Specify Target List Next, specify whether the library/list should be restored to the srcinal one, or to a different library/list.

Step 3. Specify Restore Options Then specify the restore options you want to be applied — you can select to restore Changed items and/or Deleted items, as well as Restore permissions. If Restore permissions option is cleared, then permissions for the recovered document library/list will be set as follows: 



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In case such library/list does not exist on target, Veeam will create it from the backed up library/list, inheriting permissions from the parent object. In case such library/list already exists on target, permissions will be preserved.


Note:

When configuring restore options, consider some peculiarities described in the Considerations and Limitations section. Click Restore and wait for the operation to complete.

Restoring Documents and List Items To restore a document/item, take the following steps:

175

1.

Browse to the necessary document/item list in the tree on the left, or use the search field on the right.

2.

Select the required document/item (you can use SHIFT and CTRL keys for multiple selection) in the preview pane and click Restore Document or Restore Item on the toolbar. You can also right-click the selection and use the shortcut menu command.

3.

The restore wizard is launched; follow its steps to specify restore options for the document/item.


Step 1. Specify Target SharePoint Specify target settings to be used for restoring SharePoint content:

Note:

1.

Target SharePoint server's URL (as http://server_name) and site path.

2.

Domain account to be used for connection. You can use the account under which you are running Veeam Explorer, or specify another account in the domain\username format. Make sure this account has sufficient rights to access the specified server (see Permissions).


Step 2. Specify Target Location Next, specify whether the document/item should be restored to the srcinal location or to a different location.

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Step 3. Specify Restore Options Then specify the restore options you want to be applied — you can select to restore Changed items and/or Deleted items, as well as Restore permissions. If Restore permissions option is cleared, then permissions for the recovered document/list item will be set as follows: 



Note:

In case such document/list item does not exist on target, Veeam will create it from the backed up document/item, inheriting permissions from the parent object. In case such document/list item already exists on target, permissions will be preserved.

There are some peculiarities of SharePoint item recovery with Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint. For example, you may need to restore the item(s) srcinally belonging to a list (with no content approval required) to another list. If you try to restore such item(s) to a list that requires content approval, item version and status will be modified. For more details, refer to the Considerations and Limitations section. Click Restore and wait for the operation to complete.

Restoring Sites You can restore SharePoint sites to the location of your choice.

Note:

Using Veeam Explorer, you can restore sites to the corresponding site collections existing on target. However, new site collection creation will not be supported (sites cannot be restored to a collection that is present in the backup but does not exist on target). Also, consider some other site restore peculiarities described in the Considerations and Limitations section. Take the following steps: 1.

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Select the necessary site in the database hierarchy on the left, and use the Restore Site command from its shortcut menu or ribbon menu.


2.

Note:

Specify target SharePoint site URL and account to be used for connection. You can use the account under which you are running Veeam Explorer for Microsoft SharePoint, or specify another account in the domain\username format and enter password. Make sure the account has sufficient rights to access specified target SharePoint site (Full Control required); see Permissions section above.


3.

Next, specify the restore options. By default, all these options are enabled (including restore of changed and deleted items, permissions and subsites).

o

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If Restore permissions option is cleared, then permissions for the recovered site/collection will be inherited from the parent (root site) on target SharePoint where it is recovered.


o

4.

If Restore subsites option is cleared, then restored site will contain only document libraries and lists (subsites hierarchy and content will not be recovered).

Click Restore and wait for the restore process to complete.

Report on Site Restore Results Veeam Explorer creates a detailed report on the site restore results. It displays the following detailed information (which can be also found in the program log) in a user-friendly interface window: 



Note:

Restore summary – site restore results: number and types of objects restored with success and failure Restore details for restored object (subsites, libraries, lists) – object name, restore result indicator (success, warning or error), problem description (for warnings and errors) and object URL

Documents and list item objects do not appear in the list. If restore of such object completes with error or warning, this result will be bubbled to the upper-level object whose status will be changed accordingly (to error or warning). You can use filter options to view success, warning or error results.

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To save the report as plain text, you can click the Copy To Clipboard button and then paste to the text file. You can also use the Export button to save the report as a TXT file.

Obtaining Veeam Explorer Logs To view current restore session log, go to the main menu and select Current Log. To open folder where Veeam Explorer log files are stored, select Open Logs Folder. Default location is C: \ Pr ogr amDat a\ Veeam\ Backup\ SharePo i nt Expl or er \ Logs .

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WORKING WITH VEEAM EXPLORER FOR ORACLE This chapter describes Veeam Explorer for Oracle and explains how to restore Oracle databases from the backups created with Veeam Backup & Replication.

Before You Start Veeam Explorer for Oracle is a new tool that extends the functionality of Veeam Backup & Replication, allowing you to view and recover databases from within Oracle server VM backup. Veeam Explorer can restore databases from backups created by backup jobs, from imported backups and from storage snapshots. Both Windows-based and Linux-based VMs are supported. For database-level recovery, you do not need to fully restore and start the virtual machine hosting your Oracle server. Instead, you can use Veeam recovery capabilities to mount the selected restore point of Oracle server VM to Veeam backup server and then specify how you want your database to be restored. Veeam Explorer for Oracle offers the following capabilities: 



Browsing Oracle database hierarchy Restoring databases to the srcinal server or different server, including quick and easy 1-Click Restore

Veeam supports several database restore options:

Note:



To the current point in time (that is, to the moment when currently selected Oracle VM



backup was created) To the selected point in time (here log replay will bring the database to the desired point)



To the state before selected transaction

Availability of these options depends on Oracle VM backup settings (see the corresponding section of this guide). Before you start using Veeam Explorer for Oracle to restore your databases, you need to know the following:

181



How Veeam Explorer for Oracle works?



What are system requirements and permissions for its operation?



How to configure your Oracle server backup for your preferred database restore scenario?


What's New in v9.5 The following new features and enhancements were implemented in Veeam Explorer for Oracle 9.5: 





Support for SLES 11 and SLES 12. UI enhancements, including ribbon menu, command-specific tabs and support of display themes as in Veeam Backup & Replication console. Oracle databases restore using PowerShell.

How It Works Veeam Explorer for Oracle is installed together with Veeam backup server and management console or with the remote console. The basic procedures of restoring Oracle database with Veeam Explorer for Oracle are very similar for restore to current restore point and for restore to point in time or selected transaction. Restore workflow is generally as follow:

1.

A user starts Veeam Explorer for Oracle using Veeam Backup & Replication console. Veeam Explorer obtains Oracle hierarchy information (see the next section for details) and presents it to user who then utilizes Veeam Explorer to: a)

Select the database to restore

b) Specify target location (srcinal or another server) and settings required to access c) 2.

The ‘Restore’ command initiates mount of Oracle VM file system from the backup stored in the repository to the Oracle server. Mount is performed using a machine where Veeam Mount Service runs (here it is the local machine hosting Veeam Explorer for Oracle). Typically, production Oracle server is used as a mount target. When a VM is mounted to the specified server, a corresponding folder is created on it: 

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that server Invoke the 'Restore' command (through 1-Click Restore or restore wizard)

C: \ VeeamFLR folder on Windows system




3.

Note:

/ t mp/ Veeam. Mount . XXX on Linux system

Veeam utilizes native Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) to perform database restore operations. For that, it communicates database file paths and other necessary information to RMAN. After database files are restored (database is ‘re-created’) on the target Oracle server, it becomes ready for use.

If a user follows restore scenario that requires log replay, this operation is performed on target server.

Veeam Oracle Restore Service In most scenarios of restoring Oracle on Windows, Veeam installs a runtime component named Veeam SQL Restore Service to the VM guest OS (target or staging server, depending on selected restore or export scenario) - to support restore activities on the Oracle server VM guest.

Note:

If you are restoring the database to the local Oracle server, this runtime component is not installed on the server guest OS. This service runs during the restore session; it checks the rights assignment required for database restore, gets information about databases that should be restored, performs the necessary file operations (including database and transaction log copy) and so on. When restore session ends, the service is stopped and removed from guest. Then a new session starts, and the service is installed again. 



The Veeam Oracle Restore Service operates under the Local System account. All service activities are logged to the Veeam. Or acl e. Ser vi ce_. l og file stored in the subfolder of the Temp folder of the system directory, next to the Veeam. Or acl e. Ser vi ce_. exe file (runtime component installed per session). If you have enabled as described this log data will be stored in extended the Veeamlogging Oracle Explorer log. in this Knowledge Base article,



Communication between Veeam Explorer and the service is performed using RPC; default TCP port range that should be open on the guest for inbound traffic includes ports 1025 1034. If you need to change this port range, then do the following: 1.

Open Veeam Explorer configuration file named Conf i g. xml located at C: \ Pr ogr amDat a\ Veeam\ Backup\ Or acl eExpl or er \ on the machine hosting Veeam Explorer (create the file if it is not present).

2.

Locate the tag (create the tag if it is not present):

3.

Supply the necessary values for Agent MinimumPort and MaximumPort.

Obtaining Database Information To present Oracle database hierarchy to user, Veeam Explorer uses different ways of retrieving application-specific information from image-level backup: 

183

If application-aware image processing is enabled in the Guest Processing settings of a backup job, then Veeam Explorer can obtain application-specific Oracle database information


from Oracle VM backup metadata. For that, Veeam Explorer communicates with Veeam backup server that keeps this information in the configuration database. 

If application-aware image processing is disabled in the Guest Processing settings of a backup job, then Veeam Explorer will need a staging Oracle server to mount selected imagelevel Oracle VM backup (with the databases and redo logs) to that staging server and collect the necessary information through guest scan and Oracle infrastructure analysis.

Using application information retrieved from backup, Veeam Explorer displays Oracle database hierarchy in its navigation pane where you can select the database to be restored and start 1-Click Restore or use the Restore wizard.

Mount Operations 



To create a mount point on Microsoft Windows machines, Veeam Backup & Replication uses the iSCSI protocol. The remote machine (srcinal VM) or staging server acts as an iSCSI initiator. The machine on which the Veeam Explorer runs acts as an iSCSI target. The iSCSI mount point is non-persistent — it is created only for duration of the restore process. To create a mount point on Linux VMs (for Oracle running on Linux), Veeam Backup & Replication uses fuse.

Prerequisites To provide for database restore with Veeam Explorer for Oracle, the following prerequisites are necessary: 1.

A proper scenario and restore options should be selected, as described in the Planning for Database Restore section.

2.


3.


4.

The corresponding backup job should be properly configured, as described in the Required Microsoft Oracle Server Backup Job Settings section.

Planning for Database Restore Veeam Explorer for Oracle supports several database recovery scenarios and offers flexible options for them. To choose a scenario, consider your organization’s policies and requirements and decide on the following: 1.

Do you need to recover your database to the moment when the certain Oracle server VM restore point (backup or replica) was created, or to any point in time, maybe within the interval between two restore points? In the latter case, database will be restored to the closest VM restore point before the moment you specify, and then log replay will bring the database to the necessary state. So you will need to make sure that: a) ARCHIVELOG mode is enabled for the Oracle database b) Logs are not truncated due to VM backup job settings

184

2.

Should you recover to the point in time, or is it necessary to support more granular recovery and be able to roll back to a state before undesired transaction? For the most granular restore, you will need to keep backups of the Oracle database redo logs and ensure the staging Oracle server availability and proper configuration.

3.

Do you plan to restore your database to the srcinal Oracle server, or to a different server? In both cases check for the following:


a)

The accounts you plan to use for restore have sufficient permissions on the target server (and, if necessary, on the staging server)

b) Source, target and staging Oracle server (if required) have the same Oracle database version. To implement the necessary scenario, you should, in particular, do the following: 1.

Configure Oracle database settings and Oracle server VM backup job settings.

2.

Make sure you have the necessary VM restore point created (or imported) successfully.

3.

Provide sufficient access rights for the user accounts that will be involved in the restore process.

Restore Scenarios

Scenario 1: Restore to Current Restore Point This scenario allows you to restore a database to the state as of at the moment when selected restore point was created. Consider the following: 





You will not need to perform Oracle redo logs replay, so ARCHIVELOG can be turned on or off for the Oracle database. If it is turned on, you can select any log handling option on the Oracle tab of the VM guest processing settings in the backup job. Use the Oracle Database Restore Wizard to specify the necessary VM restore point and automatically add it to Veeam Explorer scope. During database restore process, selected restore point will be mounted to the specified Oracle server (this can be srcinal or different server) and recovered with RMAN and Veeam Backup & Replication restore capabilities, as described in this guide.

Scenario 2: Restore to Selected Point in Time This scenario allows you to restore a database to the state as of at the selected point in time. Consider the following: 1.

Veeam Explorer will need to perform Oracle redo logs replay, so ARCHIVELOG must be turned ON for the Oracle database.

2.

You can select any log handling option on the Oracle tab of the VM guest processing settings of the backup job. However, if you select any of Truncate logs options, remember that this will turn on log truncation on VM guest file system (that is, within image-level backup). So, in this case you can either: 

Select to Backup logs to Veeam repository, or



3.

Make sure that truncation conditions are configured so that logs required for replay will be available when necessary.

Use the Oracle Database Restore Wizard to specify the necessary VM restore point and automatically add it to Veeam Explorer scope, as described in the “Automated Recovery” section below.

4.

Database will be recovered to the closest VM restore point before the moment you specify, and then log replay will be performed on the target Oracle server to bring the database to the necessary state.

Important! Current version does not support this scenario for replicas or backups archived to the secondary location using backup copy jobs.

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Scenario 3: Restore to Selected Transaction To restore a database to the state as of prior to selected transaction, you will also need a staging Oracle server. The process will go as follows:

1, 2 To present the list of transactions to user, Oracle database is mounted to staging server, and redo log backups are also copied there, so consider the recommendations listed in points 1 and 2 for Scenario 2. 3 A user selects the undesired transaction, instructing Veeam to restore database to the state prior to that operation. 4, 5 After a user invokes the Restore command, database backup is mounted to the target Oracle server, and log files are copied there. Log replay is performed with the closest earlier restore point on target Oracle server to bring the database to desired state. After the database is ‘re-created’ the Oracle server, it becomes ready for use.

Note:

You can use the same Oracle server as a staging system and as a target server.

System Requirements Veeam Explorer for Oracle is included in Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise and Enterprise Plus editions. Free and Standard editions do not support Veeam Explorer for Oracle. System requirements are described below. Specification

Requirement Oracle Databases on the following operating systems are supported (32-bit and 64-bit architecture):

Operating system

   

186

Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2


Specification

Requirement       

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2 CentOS 5 or later RedHat 5 or later Oracle Linux 5 or later SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 (Oracle 12c only) SLES 11 SP2, SLES 12 (Oracle 12c); SLES 11 (Oracle 11g)

The following versions of Oracle Database are supported as source/target systems for database backup and restore: 

Oracle Database 12c (for Windows or Linux OS)

Oracle Database 11g (for Windows or Linux OS) Automatic Storage Management (ASM) is supported for Oracle 11g and later, requires ASMlib present. 

Oracle Database

Currently, Oracle Database Express Edition is supported for Windows-based machines only. Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) are not supported. Veeam Backup & Replication

9.5 Enterprise or Enterprise Plus edition

Staging Server Staging server is used to fine-tune the restore point in case a user needs to restore database to the state before specific transaction. At the first launch of Veeam Explorer it tries to obtain the staging Oracle server settings using the built-in algorithm. You can specify another staging server, either local (for Windows VMs only) or remote (for both Windows and Linux VMs), as described in the Configuring Staging Server section. The following requirements apply to staging server: 1.

A staging server must have the same Oracle database version as the source (srcinal) and target Oracle server.

2.

If you plan to restore databases with Automatic Storage Management enabled, the staging and target servers should have ASM enabled, too.

3.

Oracle Database Express Edition cannot be used as a staging system.

Required Permissions When preparing for Oracle database backup and restore, you should plan for the user accounts required for the following operations: 

Connection to Source Server



Connection to Target Server



Connection to Staging Server

Connection to Source Server For application-aware processing of an Oracle VM, user account will need sufficient permissions to access VM guest OS and to connect to Oracle database on that guest. The following ways are possible: A.

187

Use the account specified in the Guest Processing step of the job wizard for guest OS processing for both operations (accessing VM guest and connection to Oracle database).


B.

Access VM guest using the account specified in the Guest Processing step of the job wizard, and connect to Oracle database using the account specified in the Oracle tab of the Oracle server processing settings.

Scenario A: Single Account Specify the necessary account in the Guest OS credentials section on the Guest Processing step of the job wizard:

Then on the Oracle tab of the VM processing settings select Use guest credentials from the dropdown list:

188


Oracle on Windows VM If the job will process Oracle on Windows-based VM, this account needs the following privileges: a)

Sufficient rights to connect to VM guest OS and access file system (including administrative share) on that machine. You can include this account in the local Administrators group on source VM. Check that this account is granted appropriate permissions to access Oracle database files hierarchy on source VM (Read and Write are minimal required, Full Control recommended).

b) Membership in the ora_dba local group on the source VM. Contact your database administrator if needed. Oracle on Linux VM If the job will process Oracle on Linux-based VM, this account needs the following privileges: 1.

Note:

This should be a root account or account elevated to root and added to sudoers.

You can use authentication by private key. When elevating account to root and adding it to sudoers, current settings will be used by default (in particular, root password). Consider that if account privileges should be recalled after backup/restore process, you will need to do it manually. 2.

It requires membership in the oinstall and, if necessary, in asmadmin group for the source Oracle server. Contact your database administrator if needed.

Scenario B: Two Different Accounts You can specify one account in the Guest OS credentials section of the wizard step, and select or enter another account on the Oracle tab of the VM processing settings:

189


Oracle on Windows VM 1.

Account specified in the Guest OS credentials section on the Guest Processing step of the job wizard should have sufficient rights to connect to VM guest OS and access file system (including administrative share) on that machine. You can include this account in the local Administrators group on source VM. Check that this account is granted appropriate permissions to access Oracle database files hierarchy on source VM (Read and Write are minimal required, Full Control recommended).

2.

Account specified on the Oracle tab of the application server settings should have SYSDBA rights to connect to Oracle system on the source VM - they can be assigned, for example, through membership in the ora_dba group on the source VM.

Important! Consider that you will need identical accounts (with the same user name, password and sufficient access rights) for all Oracle databases on the source server. Contact your database administrator if necessary. Oracle on Linux VM 1.

Note:

Account specified in the Guest OS credentials section on the Guest Processing step of the job wizard should be the root account, or account elevated to root and included in sudoers file; it should be included in the oinstall group on source VM to access Oracle database files hierarchy, and, if necessary, to asmadmin group.

You can use authentication by private key.

2.

190

Account specified on the Oracle tab of the application server settings should have SYSDBA rights to connect to Oracle system on source VM - they can be assigned, for example, through membership in the dba group.


Important! Consider that you will need identical accounts (with the same user name, password and sufficient access rights) for all Oracle databases on the source server. Contact your database administrator if necessary.

Connection to Target Server The account to be used for connection with the target Oracle server at restore – the current account under which you are running Veeam Explorer for Oracle, or another account you specify – must have rights to access target server guest OS. Oracle on Windows VM User account requires sufficient rights to connect to VM guest OS and access file system (including administrative share) on that machine. You can include this account in the local Administrators group on source VM. Check that this account is granted appropriate permissions to access Oracle database files hierarchy on source VM (Read and Write are minimal required, Full Control recommended).

Oracle on Linux VM Account used to connect to target Linux server should be a root account or account elevated to root and added to sudoers (for that, click Advanced and select the corresponding options). You can use authentication by username and password or by private key.

Note:

When elevating account to root and adding it to sudoers, current settings will be used by default (in particular, root password). Consider that if account privileges should be recalled after backup/restore process, you will need to do it manually.

191


Connection to Staging Server You may need to configure a staging server using Veeam Explorer Options - in particular, to restore database to the state before selected transaction. In this case, you will have to specify user account for staging server access. You can either use current account (under which Veeam Explorer is running) or specify another one. Oracle on Windows VM User account should have local Administrator rights on the specified machine, as it will be used to access administrative shares, and sysdba rights on target server. If you plan to use Oracle 12c as a staging system, you may also need to enter a password to access Oracle Home on that machine. Oracle on Linux VM This should be a root account or account elevated to root and added to sudoers - for that, click Advanced and select the corresponding options; if necessary, enter Root password and click OK to save the settings and close the dialog. This account should also be a member of dba and, if necessary, of asmadmin group for the Oracle server.

Note:

When elevating account to root and adding it to sudoers, current settings will be used by default (in particular, root password). Consider that if account privileges should be recalled after backup/restore process, you will need to do it manually.

Used Ports The following table describes network ports open during application item restore. From

To

Machine running Oracle on Veeam Explorer (this Windows can be Veeam server backup server or standalone console)

192

Protocol

Port

Notes

TCP

4915265535

Recommended dynamic RPC port range for Microsoft Windows 2008 and later. For more information, refer to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/832017.

TCP

1025 1034

Default port range for the runtime component installed on VM guest to support restore operations in most scenarios. Port is open only


From

To

Protocol

Port

Notes during application item restore (Veeam Explorer session). To learn how to modify default port range, see How It Works.

Oracle on Linux server

TCP

22

Default SSH port used as a control channel.

TCP

2500 5000

Default port range for data transmission.

The following ports are open on Windows machines in case of restore to the srcinal VM (remote machine) or restore scenario that requires staging server (see How It Works section). From

To

Target remote VM Veeam to which application Explorer for items are restored, Oracle or staging server

Protocol

Port

Notes

TCP

3260 3270

Range of ports opened by Veeam Backup & Replication for iSCSI traffic. Ports are open only during application item restore (Veeam Explorer session). For more information, refer to Mount Operations.

Considerations and Limitation 1.

32-bit Oracle running on 64-bit operating systems is not supported.

2.

Oracle XE on Linux is not supported.

3.

Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) are not supported.

4.

Database restore to current restore point is supported for restore points created by Veeam backup job, replication job, for VeeamZIP, as well as for imported backup and storage snapshot.

5.

Restore to selected point in time and to selected transaction is not supported for replicas and backups stored to DR site by backup copy job, as well as for backups stored to cloud repository, as such repositories cannot be used as a destination for archived logs backup in current version of Veeam Backup & Replication.

6.

Veeam Explorer for Oracle operation in the standalone mode is not supported: it can be installed and launched only with Veeam backup server or with Veeam backup standalone console.

7.

If a Windows 2003 server is used for mount operations (for example, as a staging system), it requires Microsoft iSCSI Initiator service to be installed; if this service is not found, an error message like the following will be displayed: "ExplorerManagementService: Failed to wait for OIB mounted. MountID , Timeout (sessionID ). Microsoft sSCSI Initiator service is not installed."

8.

When using a Linux server for mount operations (for example, as a staging system), make sure its kernel version is the same or later than kernel version of the source server. Otherwise, file system compatibility issues may occur.

9.

Database restore may fail if backed up Oracle server version and target server version have different patch levels.

10. If OS authentication on Oracle server is disabled on target, then databases with enabled ASM cannot be restored. If OS authentication on Oracle server is disabled on staging system, user will be unable to view the list of transaction and perform restore to selected transaction in case of database with enabled ASM.

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Required Oracle Backup Job Settings To be able to explore and recover the necessary database using a desired restore scenario, you should have a transactionally-consistent backup of your Oracle server created successfully. For that, you should enable application-aware image processing and specify application-specific settings, as described in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide. To provide for future restore of the Oracle database with Veeam Explorer to the moment the backup was created, the database should be in the OPEN state at the moment of backup. Otherwise, the following warning message will appear in the backup job session: “Oracle database instance state is not valid for property collection”. Please consider that having a database in the MOUNT or SHUTDOWN state at backup (not in the OPEN state) may cause problems in auto-discovery that Veeam Explorer will perform when you try to restore.

Note:

If application-aware image processing is disabled in the Guest Processing settings of a backup job (a crash-consistent backup is created), then you will be able to restore the database only to the state as of in the currently selected VM restore point. Also, consider that in this case Veeam Explorer will need a staging Oracle server – to mount selected image-level Oracle VM backup (with the databases and redo logs) to that server and collect the necessary information through guest scan and Oracle infrastructure analysis. Also, you need to decide on preferred restore scenario, that is, whether you need to recover your Oracle database to the latest available restore point only, to any point in time, or to the state before a particular transaction. You should configure the corresponding log processing options with Veeam Backup & Replication, using the VM processing settings in backup job properties. Application-specific log handling options are available on the Oracle tab of the VM's guest OS processing settings. This tab becomes active only if Veeam Backup & Replication (not 3rd party application) is instructed to process transaction logs for Oracle database. So you should open the General tab and make sure that the Process transaction logs with this job (recommended) option is selected in the Transaction logs section.

Then go to the Oracle tab and configure the necessary settings:

194


1.

Specify a user account with SYSDBA privileges that will connect to Oracle database and perform Oracle logs backup and/or deletion. You can select Use guest credentials - then Veeam will use the account specified for guest processing in the job configuration for both guest OS access and for connection to Oracle database. Make sure the account you specify here has sufficient - see the Permissions section for details.

2.

In the section, specify whether archived logs should be deleted on the Oracle logs Veeam should back them up them to repository. Veeam Backup & server Archived VM, and whether Replication supports the following options:

o

Do not delete archived logs – this option instructs Veeam to preserve logs (if any) on the srcinal Oracle server. With this option selected, your database administrator will have to take care of database logs. Applicable restore scenario – database restore to the state as of currently selected VM restore point, to selected point in time and to selected transaction.

o

Delete logs older than hours / over GB – with any of these options selected, Veeam will wait for the image-level backup to complete, and then it will trigger deletion of the archived logs, using the specified condition (log age or size). If log deletion is not possible for some reason, then archived logs will remain untouched on the VM guest until the next start of the Veeam runtime process.

o

With any of these options, you can also use the Backup logs every minutes check box – if selected, Veeam Backup & Replication will periodically ship archived logs to the backup repository and store them next to the Oracle server VM backup. Make sure that Oracle ARCHIVELOG mode is turned on (contact your database administrator, if necessary). This option will support any database restore scenario: to the state as of in currently selected VM restore point, to any point in time or to the state before particular transaction.

Important! If you plan to use this option together with archived logs deletion from Oracle VM guest, make sure that these settings are consistent: logs should be deleted after they are backed up to repository, not vice versa. Thus, you need to set up backup schedule and log removal conditions appropriately. Default log backup interval is 15 minutes, maximum interval is 480 minutes.

195


Consider that if it is possible to establish a direct connection between the VM guest OS and backup repository, log files will be shipped directly from the VM guest OS to the backup repository. This is the optimal method, as it does not involve additional resources and puts less load on the VM guest OS. Otherwise, files will be shipped via log shipping server(s). You can instruct Veeam Backup & Replication to choose a log shipping server automatically from the list of available ones, or to use a specific server.

Note:

If direct connection is possible, files will be always transferred from VM guest to repository directly (regardless of the configured log shipping server, as this server will not be involved). This approach helps to optimize performance at file transfer. 3.

If you selected to backup transaction logs, specify how long they should be kept, using the Retain log backups options.

Important! It is recommended to keep logs Until the corresponding image-level backup is deleted ; otherwise, you should manually check and ensure that your database and log backup retention policies are consistent, providing all the VM restore points and log backups required for database restore. To be able to restore to any point in time or to the state before particular transaction, make sure that ARCHIVELOG mode is enabled for the database, and archived logs are available for the required period of time.

196


Administration Having your Oracle VM application-aware backup created successfully, with the necessary log processing options applied, you can use Veeam Explorer for Oracle to restore the required database, using the preferred scenario. Generic procedure steps are as follows: 1.

Recover database file(s) (as well as secondary and log files, if available) from Oracle server VM backup, replica or VeeamZip file manually or automatically. See Recovering Database File from VM Backup.

2.

View database information to make sure database backup settings allow you to follow the restore scenario you need. See Viewing Database Information.

3.

To quickly restore database to the srcinal location, use 1-Click Restore.

4.

To restore database to another location, follow the required scenario, as described in the corresponding section later in this document. See Restoring Databases.

If necessary, configure a custom staging server, as described here.

First Steps This section described the initial steps that will help you to start efficiently using Veeam Explorer for Oracle.

Getting to Know the User Interface Main Menu The main menu of Veeam Explorer can be opened by clicking its icon in the top left corner of the Veeam Explorer main window. The menu contains commands related to general application settings.

In particular, you can perform the following operations using the main menu: Configure Veeam Explorer options, as explained later in this guide 

197






Access online Help






Exit the program


Main Window The navigation pane, located on the left of the window, enables you to easily access application items you want to restore. Operation commands in Veeam Explorer are organized into logical groups and collected under tabs on the ribbon. The ribbon is displayed at the top of the main application window. The Home ribbon tab provides quick access to some common operations. Other tabs contain commands specific for certain entities appear when the corresponding nodes are selected in the navigation pane. For example, if you select a database, the Database tab displaying buttons for operations with databases will appear on the ribbon. If you then select a server node, the Server tab with the corresponding operations will be displayed.

Tip:



Configuring Staging Server Staging server is required to fine-tune the restore point in case a user needs to restore database to the state before specific transaction. If necessary, the staging server will be also involved in presenting database hierarchy to user (see below for details). You can specify a local (for Windows VMs only) or remote (for both Windows and Linux VMs) staging server, as described below.

Important! If you plan to use a server other than srcinal or target Oracle server as a staging system, make sure it has the same version as the source (srcinal) and target Oracle server. If you plan to restore databases with Automatic Storage Management enabled, the staging and target servers should have ASM enabled, too.

198


To configure a staging server, do the following: 1.

Make sure the server you plan to use meets system requirements; also, check considerations and limitations.

2.

In Veeam Explorer for Oracle, open the main menu and click Options.

3.

For Windows-based server, do the following: a)

Specify staging Server name.

b) Specify user account to connect to Oracle server. You can either use current account (under which Veeam Explorer is running) or specify another one. Make sure is has sufficient permissions, as described here. c)

4.

Specify path to Oracle Home folder to be used. You can click Browse, and Veeam Oracle Home Browser will find the corresponding folder for you. If you plan to use Oracle 12c as a staging system, you may also need to enter a password to access Oracle Home on that machine.

For Linux-based VM, only a remote server (not the one where Veeam Explorer is running) can be used as staging system. Do the following: a)

Specify staging Server name and SSH port – default is 22.

b) Specify account to connect to staging server. You can use authentication by username and password or by private key. Make sure the account has sufficient permissions, as described here.

199


c)

To elevate specified account to root and to add it to sudoers, click Advanced. Select the options you need; if necessary, enter root password and click OK to save the settings and close the dialog.

d) Specify path to Oracle Home folder to be used. You can click Browse, and Veeam Oracle Home Browser will find the corresponding folder for you. e)

Return to Options and click OK to save configuration settings.

Obtaining Database File from VM Backup Veeam Explorer for Oracle supports database files from the VeeamZIP file or from Oracle server VM backup or replica. So, the following operations will be performed in a fully automated way:

200

1.

Database files will be obtained from the latest or specified restore point (backup, replica or VeeamZIP file).

2.

This database will be added to Veeam Explorer scope.


These two steps are performed in a fully automated way by Oracle Database Restore wizard - Veeam Backup & Replication will automatically obtain the database from the backup and open it in Veeam Explorer for Oracle. To start the wizard, do one of the following: 



In Veeam Backup & Replication, open the Backup & Replication view, then on the Home tab select Restore. Select the necessary platform (VMware or Hyper-V), then from the restore options select Oracle database. You will be taken to the Virtual Machine step of the wizard.

In Veeam Backup & Replication, open the Backup & Replication view and select the backup you need under the Backups node. Then in the right pane expand the backup job with the Oracle server you need. Select the Oracle server VM, and on the toolbar select Restore > Application items > Oracle, or use the Restore application items > Oracle database shortcut menu command. You will be taken to the Restore Point step of the wizard.

Note:

Using Restore application item>Oracle database command is recommended for VM backups that were created with VSS-aware image processing enabled.

201


Oracle Database Restore Wizard Then follow the steps of the wizard, as described in the next section. 1.

In the Virtual Machine step, expand the job you need from the list of backup jobs, and select the Oracle server VM hosting the required database. To quickly find VMs in jobs, use the search field at the bottom of the window.

2.

Select the restore point to be used. Veeam supports the following restore options:

o

Restore from the latest available backup – this is the default option.

o

Restore from this restore point – with this option selected, you can then choose the necessary restore point from the list.

202


203

3.

Next, enter the reason for Oracle server VM restore.

4.

On the Summary step, review the details of your VM to be recovered, and click Finish.


After that, Veeam Explorer for Oracle will be launched, with the Oracle database hierarchy (for the chosen restore point) automatically added to its scope and shown in the navigation tree. Then you can use Veeam Explorer for Oracle functionality to restore databases.

Viewing Database Information In the Veeam Explorer for Oracle navigation pane you can see navigation the Oracle hierarchy, including Oracle home and databases. When you select an entity in the tree, you can view itsserver, properties in the working area on the right: 

For Oracle server - server name, OS version and VM name.



For Oracle home - name, version, path and home info.



For each database - name, Oracle SID, log mode, backup creation time, listener port, available restore period, and database files location for control files, data files, log files and temp files.

If current restore point was created with ASM configured for selected database, file paths will be displayed having ‘+’ prefix.

204


Restoring Database With Veeam Explorer for Oracle, you can restore Oracle server database to the srcinal or different servers in your production environment. For that, a special wizard is used, where you can choose target server and restore options. Also, you can use 1-Click Restore feature to quickly recover your database to the srcinal location.

1-Click Restore With 1-Click Restore, Veeam Explorer for Oracle allows you to quickly restore a database to the srcinal location (that is, the srcinal Oracle server hosting the database). You can restore selected database to the current state, or to the certain point in time - for that, make sure the Oracle backup job was set up properly (see Required Oracle Server Backup Job Settings) and completed successfully. To launch 1-Click Restore to srcinal server, in the navigation tree select the database you need, then from the shortcut menu select Restore state of or latest state to . You can also use the similar command from the ribbon menu. Restore process will be performed with the following settings: 

Database as of selected state will be restored to the srcinal VM (files will be copied to the srcinal location and then mounted to the srcinal Oracle home). Database from backed up ASM group will be restored to the srcinal ASM group.

Important! If a database with the same name exists on target, it will be deleted and replaced by the database from backup. You will need to confirm this operation before it starts.



For Windows-based VMs, user credentials for carrying out the restore procedure will be picked as follows: o Firstly, Veeam Explorer for Oracle will try to use the account which is currently logged in.

205

o

If this account does not have sufficient rights to perform the restore procedure (for example, in case of imported backup), then it will use the account configured for guest access in the corresponding backup job;

o

If this does not work either, user will be prompted to supply the necessary credentials.




For Linux-based VMs, user credentials will be picked as follows:

o

If this account does not have sufficient rights to perform the restore procedure (for example, in case of imported backup), then it will use the account configured for guest access in the corresponding backup job;

o

If this does not work, user will be prompted to supply the necessary credentials.

Important! The account used to access target server should have administrative rights on that server. For detailed information on required permissions, see Permissions. For other restore scenarios, you will need to go through the steps of the Restore Wizard.

Using Restore Wizard Step 1. Specify Restore Point Select the state to which the database should be restored: 



Restore to the current restore point option instructs Veeam Explorer for Oracle to recover the database to the moment when current restore point of Oracle server VM was created. With this option selected, you will proceed to Step 3. Restore to a point in time option instructs Veeam Explorer for Oracle to recover the database to the state as of the specified moment.

Use the slider to specify the point in time to which you want the database to be restored. Database will be recovered to the closest VM restore point before the moment you specify on the timeline, and then log replay will bring the database to the necessary state. The timeline includes the following timestamps (relatively to current Oracle server restore point): o Beginning – refers to the previous restore point of Oracle server VM which contains selected database backup

o Note:


Consider the following: 

206

If the previous restore point (server backup) was not found, or database backup does not


exist in it, then Beginning will refer to current restore point. If the next restore point (server backup) and corresponding log backup were not found, or if database backup does not exist in server backup, then End will refer to current restore point. If the next restore point (server backup) was not found, but log backup exists for the preceding period, then End will refer to the latest log backup time.





•

Finally, you can select the Perform restore to the specific transaction check box - this enables you to review major database transactions around the selected time, and restore the database to the moment in time right before the unwanted change. With this check box selected, you will proceed to Step 2, with the check box cleared, you will proceed to Step 3.

Step 2. Fine-tune the Restore Point On this step, you get a list of database operations logged during the time period you have specified. Select the undesired operation (for example, you can select the row deletion or insertion).

The database will be restored to the most recent state preceding the selected operation. For more information, refer to Scenario 3: Restoring a Database to Specific Transaction

Step 3. Specify Target Server Here you should specify connection settings for target server where the database should be restored. If you are restoring a database from a Windows-based Oracle server, specify the following:

207


Note:

1.

Enter the name of target Oracle server where the database should be restored.

2.

Specify the account to be used for connection with the target Oracle server. You can use the current account (under which you are running Veeam Explorer for Oracle), or specify another account and enter its password. Windows authentication will be used. Remember that the account used to access target Oracle server must have the sysdba rights on that server.

To be able to copy archived logs from backup to the target server for further replay, the account you specify for server connection (that is, credentials to connect to Windows server) should be granted sufficient permissions to access the administrative share on that machine (e.g., \ \ myser ver \ C$):

Read and Write are minimal required, Full Control recommended. See the Permissions section for information.

If you are restoring a database from a Linux-based Oracle server, specify the following:

1.

208

Target server name and SSH port – default is 22.


2.

Account to connect to target Linux server – this should be a root account or account added to sudoers - then you need to elevate it to root (for that, click Advanced and select the necessary options). You can use authentication by username and password or by private key.

After you click Next, Veeam Explorer will validate the specified account settings; you will be able to proceed after successful validation; otherwise, enter another account. See also the Permissions section of this document.

Step 4. Specify Oracle settings You can select one of the following options: 



Note:

Restore to the srcinal location. Restore to alternative location; in this case you should also specify Oracle Home, Global Database Name and Oracle SID where to restore the database from backup. You can click Browse to use Oracle Home Browser and select the necessary entity.

If database specified exists on the backup. target Oracle the restore process by design will delete itwith andthe replace with name the database from Thus, home, when you click Next , a message will be displayed, asking you to confirm the operation.

Step 5. Specify Database Files Location

209


Finally, specify the location to which database and log files will be restored. You can select a listed item and edit it appropriately.

Click Restore and wait for the process to complete. Veeam Explorer for Oracle will notify you of the operation results.

Scenario 1: Restoring a Database to Current Restore Point Use this scenario to restore the Oracle database to the state as of the currently selected restore point. 



To restore database to the srcinal server, use 1-Click Restore. To restore to another server, select the required database in the navigation tree on the left, then click Restore Database > Restore to another server... on the toolbar or use the corresponding database's shortcut menu command. ,

The Restore wizard will be launched. On the Specify restore point step, select the Restore to the current restore point option.

210


Then follow the steps of the wizard to configure restore target and perform the restore.

Scenario 2: Restoring a Database to Specific Point in Time This scenario allows you to recover your database to specific point in time (which may differ from current restore point). Database will be recovered to the closest VM restore point before the moment you specify, and then log replay will be performed on the target server to bring the database to the necessary state. So, to implement this scenario, ensure the following: 1.

ARCHIVELOG mode is turned on for the Oracle database.

2.

Log handling in the Oracle Server VM backup job settings had been configured properly to keep log backups at hand, as described in the Required Oracle Backup Job Settings section.

3.

You have an Oracle Server image-level backup created successfully.

Restore to Original Server To restore a database to the certain point in time to the srcinal server, do the following: 1.

In Veeam Explorer for Oracle main window, select the required database in the navigation tree on the left.

2.

Select Restore Database > Restore or latest state to ... on the toolbar, or use the same database's shortcut menu command.

3.

On the Restore wizard step, select Restore to a point in time . Use the slider to specify the point in time to which you want the database to be restored. Database will be recovered to the closest VM restore point before the moment you specify on the timeline, and then log replay will bring the database to the necessary state. The timeline includes the following timestamps (relatively to current Oracle Server restore point):

211

o

Beginning – refers to the previous restore point of Oracle Server VM which contains selected database backup

o



Note:

Consider the following: If the previous restore point (server backup) was not found, or database backup does not exist in it, then Beginning will refer to current restore point. If the next restore point (server backup) and corresponding log backup were not found, or if database backup does not exist in server backup, then End will refer to current restore point. If the next restore point (server backup) was not found, but log backup exists for the preceding period, then End will refer to the latest log backup time.







4.

Click Restore. Veeam Explorer for Oracle will display a confirmation dialog. To start the restore process, click Proceed. Wait for the process to complete.

Restore to Another Server To restore database to specified point in time to another Oracle Server, do the following:

212

1.

In Veeam Explorer for Oracle main window, select the required database in the navigation tree on the left.

2.

Select Restore Database>Restore to another server... on the toolbar, or use the same database's shortcut menu command.

3.

After the Restore wizard is launched, select Restore to a point in time option and use the slider to specify the necessary point, as described above. Leave the Perform restore to specific transaction check box cleared.


4.

You will be taken to the Specify Oracle Server step of the wizard. Go through the remaining steps and wait for restore operation to complete.

Scenario 3: Restoring a Database to Specific Transaction This scenario offers the greatest granularity of the database recovery: you can select the undesired operation from the list of database operations (available for the time period you have specified) – for example, user deletion. The database will be restored to the state prior to the transaction containing the specified operation, using log replay. To display the list of transactions, you will need a staging server. So, to implement this scenario, ensure the following: 1. ARCHIVELOG mode is turned on for the Oracle database. 2.

Log handling in the Oracle Server VM backup job settings had been configured properly to keep log backups available at the moment.

3.

You have an Oracle Server image-level backup created successfully.

4.

You have properly configured staging Oracle server settings (this can be a target server, an srcinal server, or a dedicated server).

In Veeam Explorer for Oracle main window, select the required database in the navigation tree on the left, then launch the Restore wizard: 



To restore a database to the srcinal server, click Restore Database > Restore point-in-time to on the toolbar, or use the database's shortcut menu command. To restore a database to another server, click Restore Database > Restore to another server on the toolbar, or use the database's shortcut menu command.

Then follow the steps of Restore wizard: 1.

Note:

On the Specify restore point step, select Restore to a point in time and use the slider to specify point in time closely to the undesired transaction. Then select the Perform restore to the specific transaction check box.

Remember that these two options will be available only if you have archived log backups available at the moment (see the Required Oracle Server Backup Job Settings section for details).

213


2.

Next, on the Fine-tune the restore point step, you get a list of database operations from the log backup, starting with those closer to the specified point in time. Select the undesired operation (for example, row deletion or insertion). The database will be restored to the most recent state preceding the selected operation.

3.

Complete the steps of the wizard, as described in Using Restore Wizard.

Veeam Explorer for Oracle will notify you of the restore operation results.

Obtaining Veeam Explorer Logs If you need to view current restore session log, go to the main menu and select Current log. To open folder where Veeam Explorer log files are stored, select Open logs folder. Default location is C: \ Pr ogr amDat a\ Veeam\ Backup\ Or acl eExpl or er\ Logs .

If you want to enable extended logging, refer to this Veeam Knowledge Base article: https://www.veeam.com/kb1247. To view the log created by runtime component on the target or staging server guest OS during restore session, open the C: \ wi ndows\ t emp folder on that server and locate the Veeam. Or acl e. Ser vi ce_. l og file.

214


APPENDIX. SQL DATABASE OPERATION SELECTION As described above, the database can be restored to the state prior to transaction that involves selected operation. The table below lists the SQL Server database operations and their display names that appear in the process of fine-tuning database restore. Entity

Operation

Display Format

CREATE

Created[/Modified] Table

DROP

Deleted Table

ALTER

Column added Table

Constraints

INSERT INTO

Inserted row [/table_ID] Table

Table name will not be displayed for deleted table, only table ID will be shown.

DELETE FROM

Deleted row [/table_ID] Table

Table name will not be displayed for deleted table, only

Table

table ID will be shown.

View

UPDATE

Modified >[/table_ID] Table

Table name will not be displayed for deleted table, only table ID will be shown.

TRUNCATE

Truncated Table

Table name and ID will not be displayed for deleted table.

BULK INSERT

Inserted row [/table_ID] Table

CREATE

Created View

DROP

Deleted Table

ALTER

Modified View

CREATE

Created Index

DROP

Deleted Index

Index

215


Entity

Procedure

Function

Schema

User

Trigger

216

Operation

Display Format

ALTER

Modified Index

CREATE

Created Procedure

DROP

Deleted Table

ALTER

Modified Procedure

CREATE

Created Function

DROP

Deleted Table

ALTER

Modified Function

CREATE

Created Schema

DROP

Deleted Schema

ALTER

Modified Schema

CREATE

Created User

DROP

Deleted User

ALTER

Modified User

CREATE

Created Trigger

DROP

Deleted Trigger

ALTER

Modified Trigger


Constraints

Schema cannot be detected.

REVISION HISTORY Revision # Revision 1

Date

Change Summary

10/12/2016

Initial version of the document for Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5.

1/24/2017

Information about permissions required for restoring InPlace Hold Items public folder to the srcinal location added to Permissions section for Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange. Information about temporary location of .BAK files added to Required SQL Server Backup Job Settings section.

Revision 2

Information about permissions needed for transaction log truncation modified in Required Permissions section. Limitation regarding Oracle Data Guard added to Considerations and Limitations section. 5/12/2017 Revision 3

217

Information about temporary location for the log files on the staging SQL Server used at export added to Exporting Databases section.


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Veeam Backup 9 5 Explorers User Guide

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