Documentation V11 SP6
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Browse and Restore - Solaris File System

Restore Data Browse and Restore Find Data
Table of Contents

Understanding the Restore Options Window

Browse lets you search and restore data by navigating through a tree structure similar to Windows Explorer. It also offers an optional flat view that shows all backed-up files from a point you select, recursively to the bottom of the backup.

You can open the browse and restore window from the backup set or subclient level. The sub-levels displayed depend on where you start the browse operation.

Selecting Objects from the Restore Window for Restore

The restore window displays objects and consists of two parts:

  • The left pane displays the object tree at the selected level.
  • The right pane displays the contents of the selected object.

Note that the window displays only the data that was obtained by a backup. Data that is excluded by a filter, or data which did not exist as of the specified browse time does not appear in the window.

Selections follow these rules:
  • All selections are recursive.
  • Clicking a box again causes the selection to be cleared.
  • If you select an object in the left pane, then all of its contents are selected.
  • You can select a specific object in the right pane.

Selection status is revealed by the selection icons as follows:

Indicates that the object is not selected for restoration.
Indicates that a portion of the object is selected for restoration. i.e., only some of the child object(s) within the selected object.
Indicates that the entire object, including all of its child objects, are selected for restoration.

View Pie Charts and Size Distribution during Browse

The Show Size Distribution option displays the sizes of files and folders, as both a list and a pie chart. The depiction shows the nine largest single entities (files and folders) sorted by size (largest first), followed by a tenth item showing the sum of the remaining entities. If this option is selected, the browse results are sorted by file and folder size, largest first. If this option is not selected, the results are sorted as for Windows Explorer (folders by name on top, then files by name).

This option is applicable to File System and OnePass-enabled clients.

Viewing and Exporting the Distribution Pie Chart

You can view the pie chart and see size distribution, and then export the pie chart.

Procedure

  1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Client Computers > client > agent.
  2. Right-click backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  3. In the Browse and Restore Options dialog box, click View Content.
  4. In the upper-right corner of the Client window, click the Browse Pie Chart button.

    You can view any folder's pie chart and size distribution by selecting that folder.

  1. To export the chart as a file, click one of these icons to the left of the chart:
    • PDF
    • MHTML
    • Excel

Browse and Restore Latest Data

Follow the steps given below to view the latest data backed up by a backup set:

  1. In the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers > client > Agent.
  2. Right-click a backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  1. Click View Content.

The latest data backed up by all the subclients is displayed in the Client Browse tab.

Browse and Restore Data before a Specified Backup Time

Follow the steps given below to browse the data backed up before specified time. This will display data from all cycles that fall under the specified time range.

  1. In the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers > client > Agent.
  2. Right-click a backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  1. Select Time Range.
  2. Under Absolute Time do the following:
    1. Select the Time Zone.

      For Oracle agents the default Time Zone is the client's time zone. For all other agents the default Time Zone is the CommServe time zone.

    2. Select End Time and enter a date and time to browse and restore data before it.
  3. Click View Content.

Browse and Restore Data between a Specified Backup Time

Follow the steps given below to browse data between specified time:

  1. In the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers > client > Agent.
  2. Right-click a backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  1. Select Time Range.
  2. Under Absolute Time do the following:
    • Select Start Time and enter a date and time.
    • Select End Time and enter a date and time.

    Data in between the time specified here will be browsed and restored.

  3. Click View Content.

Browse and Restore Data Backed Up in the Past n Days

You can specify a relative time for Browsing data for Restores. This provides flexibility in trawling backed up data from a wider time span rather than the need to remember an exact time range in which something was backed up.

Follow the step given below to Browse Data from a relative time:

  1. In the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers > client > Agent.
  2. Right-click a backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  1. Select Time Range and click Relative Time.
  2. Enter a number in the Last field and select Day, Week, Month or Year to browse and restore data.
  3. Click View Content.

Browse and Restore from Copies

By default, when a browse operation is requested, the software attempts to browse from the storage policy copy with the lowest copy precedence. If the data that you want to browse was already pruned from the primary copy, the software searches the other copies of the storage policy, starting from the copy with the lowest copy precedence to a copy with the highest copy precedence.

This feature is useful in the following conditions:      

  • The media containing protected data for a particular copy has been removed from the storage library, you can choose to browse from a copy whose media are inside the library.
  • Allows browsing from a copy that accesses faster disk media rather than slower tape media.
  • When media drives used by a particular copy are busy with another operation, this helps in browsing from a different copy to avoid resource conflicts.
  1. In the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers > client > Agent.
  2. Right-click a backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  1. From the Restore Options dialog box, click the Advanced Options tab.
  2. Select Browse from copy precedence checkbox and specify the preference number.

    If you specify a copy precedence number for a browse operation, the software searches only the storage policy copy with that precedence number in all storage policies used for securing the data. If data does not exist in the specified copy, the browse operation fails even if the data exists in another copy of the same storage policy.

  3. Click View Content.

List Media

List media option is useful to predict media required to restore the index required to browse data. This is useful when the index is not available in the index cache.
This option is also used to list media associated with data protection operations up to the specified date and time range.

The following section describes how to perform this operation.

  1. In the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers > client > Agent.
  2. Right-click a backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  1. Click List Media.

    You can use the Latest Data to list media associated with the most recent data protection cycle.

    Or Specify Browse Time to list media associated with data protection operations up to the specified date and time range.

  2. From the List Media dialog box, click List Media for restore within specified time range.
  3. Click OK.
  4. The appropriate media is listed in the Media dialog box.

Image and No-Image Browse and Restore

Image browse displays the structure of the entity as it existed as of some specified time. When you browse data in the image mode, the system by default returns the requested data based on the latest image available. The image browse can only restore the latest version. If the requested version was deleted before the most recent full backup, the default browse will not find the data.

The no-image browse is useful for retrieving data that may have been deleted at some unknown time. It is also useful to retrieve a previous backup version and show deleted files across cycles.

  1. In the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers > client > Agent.
  2. Right-click a backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  1. From the Restore Options dialog box, click the Advanced Options tab and select one of the following options:
    • Click and select the Show Deleted Items option to perform a no-image browse of the data.
    • Clear the Show Deleted Items option to perform an image browse of the data.
  2. Click View Content.

Browse and Restore Multiple Versions of a File

By default, the system allows you to browse and recover previously backed up versions of data. This feature allows you to restore more than one version of the same file by restoring each version individually.

If a time range browse is performed, versions are shown across cycles.

  1. In the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers > client > Agent.
  2. Right-click a backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  1. Click View Content.
  2. From the Browse Window, right-click the file with multiple versions and then click View All Versions.

The All Version dialog box displays the available versions for the file.

Establish the Page Size for a Browse

The Page Size option allows you to specify the number of objects to be displayed in the browse window. You can browse through each page list by selecting the appropriate page number in the Browse window. Once the default is changed, it uses the same page size which was used in previous browse request until changed again.

  1. In the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers > client > Agent.
  2. Right-click a backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  1. From the Restore Options dialog box, click the Advanced Options tab.
  2. Enter a value for Page Size.
  3. Click View Content.

Browse and Restore Using a Specified Path

The Browse Path option allows you to specify the starting point for the browse operation.

  1. In the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers > client > Agent.
  2. Right-click a backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  1. In the General tab, enter the browse path in Starting Path text area.
  2. Click View Content.

Browse and Restore Using MediaAgent

Data can be restored from any compatible library and drive type in the CommCell. By default, the system automatically identifies and restores data from any configured library in the CommCell, even if the media is not available in the original library in which the data protection operation was performed. Use this procedure to Browse using a specific MediaAgent.

If a MediaAgent is selected for browse, the library and media that are required for restore operation must be accessible to this MediaAgent for restore. The Restore may fail if it is not accessible.

  1. In the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers > client > Agent.
  2. Right-click a backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  1. From the Restore Options dialog box, click the Advanced Options tab and choose the MediaAgent that must be used to perform the browse.
  2. Click View Content.

Browse and Restore Using Filters and Wildcards

Filters allow you to specify parameters to include specific files and folders when browsing data. You can specify filters for filename, modified date, file size, stubbed files, failed files and folder size for the files you need to browse.

Wildcard expressions can be used with filters to match specific file name patterns. This function provides the ability to restore files and/or folders/directories that have a common naming convention. For example, msde2.txt and msj4j.txt.

Note that a combination of wildcards in a single expression (e.g., access?.h*) can also be used. If the expression is specified by itself, without a path (*.txt), the system searches for and returns all data within the backup set that satisfies the expression. By preceding the expression with a path, the scope of the restored data can be narrowed. For example, specifying sys:\data\*.txt, would restore only those files and directories within the sys:\data directory with extensions of .txt.

When restoring directories, if a wildcard pattern that matches the name of a directory was specified, the system restores the directory, but none of the directory's contents. For example, if the wildcard restore string is tem?, the system restores any and all data named with a four-character string starting with the letters t, e, and m. If a directory name satisfies the wild card condition (e.g., sys:\temp) then only the directory would be restored; however, none of the files or any subdirectories contained therein are restored.

See Supported Wildcard Characters for a list of wildcards supported.

Use the procedure below to browse using the available filters:

  1. In the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers > client > Agent.
  2. Right-click a backup_set, then click All Tasks > Browse and Restore.
  1. From the Restore Options dialog box, click the Filter tab.
  2. Select Add from Filter Criteria and choose a desired filter.

    If more than one filter is used in the browse request, the objects qualifying all the filters will be displayed in the browse results.

  3. Click View Content.

Supported File System Filters

The following filters can be used to include files and folders when browsing data:

Filter Description

File Name

 You can filter files by name patterns. For example:
  • *.doc
  • *.*
  • data*.*

    • Each asterisk (*) represents zero, one or many characters.

You can enter multiple keywords by separating them with AND or OR logical operators, entered in all capital letters. Examples:

  • *.docx AND data*
  • *.txt OR *.xlsx
  • *.docx data*
  • Windows* OR Name*

    • Notes:

    • Patterns separated by spaces (without a logical operator) have an implied AND relationship.
    • While you can use more than one operator, combining AND and OR operators is not supported.

Keywords containing spaces are supported by entering them enclosed in double quotation marks ("). For example, to find a file named my data, enter:

  • "my data"

    • This form of keyword entry does not support wild cards.

Modified Date

 You can filter files based on modification date. Options include:
  • Today
  • Yesterday
  • This Week
  • This Month
  • This Year

All folders that satisfy this filter are shown.

File Size

 This can be used to filter files based on a size range in KB, MB or GB.

Comparison options provided are:

  • greater than
  • less than
  • greater than or equal to
  • less than or equal to

Stubbed Objects

 Use this to filter stubbed files that were backed up.

Contains

 This filters file content against the words you enter. The results differ with different combinations of backup and content indexing jobs that ran on the client, as follows:
  • This filter retrieves more-precise results when Content Indexing is enabled, and at least one Content Indexing job has been run after the last backup job.
  • When Content Indexing is enabled, and other filters are used along with this filter, the results are retrieved from the combination of what got backed up and content indexed.
  • If Content Indexing is not enabled, the reference copy job waits for Content Indexing to run on the source subclient.

    If data is pushed to multiple Content Indexing servers, data from the most-recent Content Indexing server is processed.

Two or more filter words or phrases can be combined by placing AND operators or OR operators (but not a combination of ANDs and ORs) between the words.

Supported Wildcard Characters

Wildcards Description Examples
* Any number of characters.

This wildcard is used in the following scenarios:

  • Filter all files of a specific extension
  • Filter all files under a specific directory
  • Filter all files of a specific extension where the file name starts with a specific pattern.
 *.doc will filter all files with the extension .doc (e.g., status.doc, mission.doc) on all partitions on the client computer.

/Test/*.doc will  filter all .doc files only in the /Test directory

a*.so will  filter all files with the extension .so (e.g., alsvc.so, advdcc.so) on the client computer which have the name beginning with "a".

/Finance/Test/* will  filter all the files and directories in the "Test" directory under the "Finance" directory on the / partition. Any sub-directories under the Test directory will not get backed up.

? Any one character.

This wildcard can be used in the following scenario:

All files (or directories) for which any one character in the file name or the directory name is variable.

 /access? will  filter any directory or file on the machine for which the name begins with- "access" followed by any one character such as access1 or access5. However, access12 or access15 will not get backed up because the last two characters in the name are variable.

/Class/report? will  filter any directory or file under /Class directory for which the character in the place of ? is variable. For example: /Class/report1 and /Class/report2 will get backed up. However, /Class/report15 will not get backed up.

[] Set or range of characters. /[a-m]*.doc will  filter any file with .doc extension on the / partition for which the name begins with the letters "a" through "m”.

/[AEIOU]*.doc will  filter any file name that ends with .doc and begins with the letters A, E, I, O, or U.

/Finance/report[1-47-9] will  filter files report1, report2, report4, report7, report8, report9 under Finance directory.

/Department-[A-CS] will  filter files Department-A, Department-B, Department-C and Department-S.

[!] The negation of a set or range of characters. You can use the wildcard in the following scenario:

Filter all files in a directory except the files for which the name starts with any character from the specified set or range of characters.

 /root/[!AEIOU]*.doc would filter all .doc files in the /root directory that start with a letter other than A, E, I, O, or U.
** Any number of characters across any number of path levels. /**/move.cpp - the file named move.cpp located at any directory level. (e.g., /root/newapp/move.cpp/opt/kde3/src/move.cpp)

/etc/** - will  filter all directories and files under /etc. All the sub-directories under these directories will also be included.

When you use wildcards to specify the subclient content, the content path appears in Italics.

If you want all the files with the file extension ".doc" to be  filtered from any level, then specify the content as *.doc. If any subclient content doesn’t start with /, then /**/ will be prefixed to the content to match at any level. E.g., *.doc will be /**/*.doc

If user wants to treat *, ?, [ ] as literals in the subclient content and not as wildcards, then the user can escape the wildcard by adding ‘\’ before the wildcard. E.g., /Report\[2011-2012\]/*.doc  filters all the .doc files under /Report[2011-2012]

More than one type of wildcard can be used when specifying subclient content (e.g., /Dcvol?/oracle[1-47]/**/*.log).

Frequently Asked Questions

How are filters applied to file names and folders?

Filters for folder level property are applied first. Once a folder is shown for browse other filters for file level properties will be applied. However, you can specify only one item in each filter you select, multiple items in a single filter (with use of operators) will not be honored.

Can I use any MediaAgent while browsing using filters?

Filtered browse is supported with MediaAgent of versions 10.0 and above. If a MediaAgent from a previous version of the software is used, all browse data would be shown and no filters will be applied to the browse results.

Can I use wildcards to specify a pattern of file names in the browse filters?

Yes, you can use wildcards in file names while specifying browse filters.

However, if file names or folder names have wild card characters as part of their name and the same are being used in the file name filter while browsing, it will not yield desired results.

How can I know if one or more index is not available?

A caution icon is displayed at the root level when one or more index is not available at the time of browse.

Why do I see folders when I only specified file name filters?

Matching folder names will also get displayed when file name filters are specified as it will display everything matching the specified name.

How do I optimize my browse?

The performance of filtered browse operations may be slow while drilling down multiple folders. To get faster results, make sure to enter the path of the data in the Specify Browse Path in the browse window.

How do I distinguish the deleted files in my browse results?

Deleted files appear with a cross icon in the Browse results.

Why do not I see the file size of failed files?

File size is not recorded for failed files, hence if you specify both Failed Files and File Size filters together, it may yield unexpected results.

Why do not I see deleted files when I browse using the modified date filter?

If a file was deleted in between backups, the deleted version of the file is not considered in modified date filter results. Hence, the file will not show up in the browse results.