How to use NetBackup to perform a complete restore of Windows servers without IDR or BMR

Description

Use NetBackup to perform a restore for a total and complete recovery of Windows client(s) that include C: (and other system) drive(s), Shadow Copy Component, and/or System_State from a reliable full MS-Windows backup without IDR or BMR in the event of a Disaster .

How to use this guide: 

This guide is provided as a general / generic template that would be applicable for most restores, and may require trial-and-error and multiple attempts.  Most of the time using the following steps the way it is, will result in good bootable system. 

The guide is intended for restore back to the original machine.  If the machine is damaged and replaced with another machine (regardless of being 99.999% identical make/model) this is no longer considered the original machine. If target is not the original, the larger the difference from the original machine, the lower the success rate of a bootable system. 

This guide is NOT intended for system cloning.  It is intended for Disaster Recovery of a client back to original hardware, or a near identical new hardware should the original no longer be available. 

It may require to re-activate the Windows after the system is restored due to Microsoft's requirement.

Pre-Requisites:

• This is for a client system restore only.
• This procedure will restore your computer's system files and data files to a pre-disaster state except those protected by one of the NetBackup database agents, such as the Exchange agent or SQL agent. If any of your data is protected by NetBackup agents, refer to the section on restoring the data protected by the agent before beginning disaster recovery.
• This procedure does NOT utilize NetBackup Bare Metal Restore (BMR) or NetBackup Intelligent Disaster Recovery (IDR) but instead makes use of standard MS-Windows backups of all local drives including Shadow Copy Components.
• The success of a full restore will depend on a "reliable" full system backup.  So if System State or Shadow Copy Components backups complete with a Status ONE (1), then it is not reliable for a Disaster Recovery Scenario.
• This procedure requires Windows installation media from Microsoft in order to perform re-installation of the operating system.  The same version/suite must be used.  For example, if the original version is Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 at the time of backup, that same version must be installed for disaster recovery.  In most cases, critical hotfixes provided by Microsoft (Was installed at the time of backup) will be required to be installed before restore to perform a successful restore. e.g., VSS rollup patches. 
• All related hardware drivers that are required to reinstall Windows and configure networking must be available and ready. Network functionality after Windows is booted up is a requirement.  Note:  For a higher success rate, install the same drivers (and applications which install drivers) the system had when the backup was made.  Failure to do so can result in a post-restore reboot loop.

Note: You may have to [re]install drivers even after a successful restore and reboot.

When using an imaging software to rebuild the box, please verify it is supported by Microsoft.

Other options to consider:

• NetBackup Bare Metal Restore (BMR) protects client systems by backing them up with a policy configured for BMR protection. For a complete description of BMR backup and recovery procedures, see the Bare Metal Restore System Administrator's Guide.
• If you installed and configured NetBackup Intelligent Disaster Recovery (IDR) on the client system, refer to the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume II, for recovery procedures instead of the instructions below.

Solution

Setup and Install Windows.

• Install the original version of Windows. This basic Windows installation is necessary to provide NetBackup with a target to which it can restore the system.
• The computer name, Windows directory, and the file system type (such as NTFS) must be the same as it was on the previous Windows installation.
• This installation will be overwritten by the recovered version, which will restore your original system configuration, application settings, and security settings.
• After setup, install the necessary service packs to bring Windows to the same level as was previously installed.

NOTE ABOUT HARD DRIVE PARTITIONS:

• If you are recovering from a disk failure, use Windows Setup to partition and format the new disk during installation.  
• Use the same partition layout or larger as was on the previous drive. 
• If smaller partition sizes are configured, this can cause a restore failure and or BSOD on boot post-restore. 
• Format the partitions with the same file system type as before the failure.
• Make sure to install the same version and architecture of the Windows Operating System with same service pack and patch level which was installed at the time of backup.
• Please do not recover any other data drive during this restore unless there were programs installed in it before backup.
• Other data from other drives may be recovered after the system is up and running.
• Do not access the client from RDP. Rather access the client physically or VMware console or using server console (iLO, RSA, DRAC etc.)
• Make sure to install same version of the NBU client (Same as during backup) in another directory (Not the same during backup). Do not install a newer (higher) version than the master server.

For example, if NetBackup client was installed in default location of C drive during backup, please perform a Custom Install and install NetBackup client on D drive or E drive if there aren't any programs installed in those drives during backup.

If the client version is not known, the version file ( <install_path>\VERITAS\NetBackup\version.txt) can be restored from the backup image of the client to an alternate location on the master or a media server and checked.

• Make sure that NO antivirus is installed in the OS before restore.
• Also make sure that the machine is NOT connected to a domain before restore.

Configure Network.

Reinstall Network Interface Card (NIC) drivers (same version) if Windows does not have built-in support for the NIC.  The same IP and hostname must be used.

Note: Consult your Windows administrator, network administrator, NIC hardware/installation manual and/or NIC vendor support channel for additional information regarding driver support and configuration under Windows.

Boot the system in recovery mode.

Boot the machine in "Active Directory Repair" mode before recovery. This option is available even if the machine is not joined to a domain.

• Click Start > Run > msconfig
• Go to "Boot" tab > Check mark "Safe Boot" and select "Active Directory Repair" > Click OK.
• It will provide two options – (1) Restart Now (2) Restart Later >> Click Restart Later.
• Then shut down the server.

Notes on servers configured with UEFI instead of BIOS (1)

• For servers using UEFI, boot to the firmware and make “Secure Boot” option to Disabled >> Save settings and reboot.

For example, see picture below. A similar option should be present in the UEFI firmware of the destination server. Representation may be different.

• For servers running on BIOS, please ignore the above UEFI settings and reboot the server.
• The next time you boot the server, it should boot in "Active Directory Repair" mode as intended.
• In this mode, we will have network connectivity and can share files (Logs) after restore (Before reboot).
• Once you are in "Active Directory Repair" mode, enable logs in the client.

Enable NetBackup client logs:

• In the logs folder, create these three subfolders: bpinetd, bpcd, and tar.
• Open the Backup, Archive and Restore (BAR) GUI console from the client: Start > All Programs > Veritas NetBackup > Backup, Archive and Restore (Run As Administrator).
• Select File > NetBackup Client Properties > Troubleshooting (tab).
• Under Debug Levels, set General to a value of 2, TCP value of 3 and Verbose to a value of 5.
• Stop / Restart the NetBackup client service via the Windows Services console. (Start > Run > type services.msc)  Find NetBackup Client Service, highlight, and Stop.  After it has stopped, restart it with Start.
• Please enable bptm, bpdm, bpbrm logs in the media server at VERBOSE 5
• To do this, create correct logs folders in .../NetBackup/Logs location.
• Open Media Server host properties > Logging > Global Logging > 5 (Maximum).
• Make sure that bptm, bpdm and bpbrm is also at 5 in the same page.

Start the restore process.

• Before starting restore, run the below command (Administrator command window) in the Windows client.

           <install_path>\VERITAS\NetBackup\bin\w2koption -restore -same_hardware 1

Start the restore from Master.

• In the Backup, Archive and Restore GUI, select "C" drive data at the right pane (Program Files, Windows folders etc. But do not select the C drive directly on the left pane).
• Enable the overwrite option before restore.
• Do NOT select to restore the System State/Shadow Copy Components at the same time while restoring C drive data.
• Warning: DO NOT REBOOT after the system drive(s) restore is completed.
• Run the below command again (Administrator command window) in the Windows client again.
• <install_path>\VERITAS\NetBackup\bin\w2koption -restore -same_hardware 1
• Similarly, perform the restore of any other drive (e.g. D:) as well if that had other programs installed before backup.
• Warning: DO NOT REBOOT after the system drive(s) restore is completed.
• Run the below command again (Administrator command window) in the Windows client again.
• <install_path>\VERITAS\NetBackup\bin\w2koption -restore -same_hardware 1
• Now select the "System State" or "Shadow Copy Components" in the Backup, Archive and Restore GUI completely and run the restore.
• Once the restore is completed, DO NOT REBOOT THE SERVER YET.
• Repeat the w2koption command as done earlier.
• <install_path>\VERITAS\NetBackup\bin\w2koption -restore -same_hardware 1

++ Recovering the EFI partition may not be needed for this restore.

Note: After the Restore job completes, the NetBackup process named bpinetd.exe has pending registry-merge responsibilities post-restore. It will perform the queued registry-merge tasks upon graceful shutdown of the process. Killing the process (bpinetd.exe) using Task Manager or other tools will prevent the registry merge from happening. This will cause a post-restore boot failure.

Also note that some systems will not need the secondary w2koption -restore operation. If a recovery was attempted with this step and failed, perform a new recovery and skip the second w2koption -restore step (the last step listed in the list above).

Stop the services named "NetBackup Client Service (bpcd)" and "NetBackup Legacy Client Service (bpinetd)" from Services.msc in the client or use "net stop" commands to stop. Do NOT kill the processes.

Transfer logs which are generated from restore before rebooting (Access "\\Client_IP_Address\E$" Assuming NBU client is installed in E drive).

Once the logs are transferred, shutdown the server.

Notes on servers configured with UEFI instead of BIOS (2)

• Boot to the UEFI firmware and revert the “Secure Boot” option to Enabled.
• Save settings and boot the server.
• For servers running on BIOS, please ignore the above UEFI settings and reboot the server.

The server should now boot in normal mode.

If it boots in Recovery Mode, please revert changes which were performed in msconfig at the beginning of restore (Screenshot above).

After the recovery, if it shows BCD errors during boot, kindly involve the Windows Admin to fix the BCD issue.

Once the machine is up and running and connected to master and media, please go ahead and restore other data from other data partitions.

Related Links:

After performing total recovery of NetBackup client, the backup job may fail with Status 7641 (Fail to find a common CA Root for secure handshake.)

https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100068778

Restoring system drive or System State fails on Windows Server when Windows Defender is enabled.

https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100049387