Veritas™ System Recovery 23 User's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): System Recovery (23.0)
  1. Introducing Veritas System Recovery
    1.  
      About Veritas System Recovery
    2.  
      The components of Veritas System Recovery
    3.  
      Accessing Help and Support for Veritas System Recovery
    4.  
      Sending your feedback regarding Veritas System Recovery 23
    5.  
      Accessing Veritas QuickAssist (VQA)
    6.  
      Updating Veritas System Recovery with Veritas Update
  2. Installing Veritas System Recovery
    1.  
      System requirements for Veritas System Recovery
    2.  
      Supported file systems, disk types, disk partition schemes, and removable media
    3.  
      Feature availability in Veritas System Recovery
    4.  
      About the trial version of Veritas System Recovery
    5. Installing Veritas System Recovery
      1.  
        Activating and setting up Veritas System Recovery after installation
      2.  
        Activating Veritas System Recovery after the trial period
    6.  
      Uninstalling Veritas System Recovery
    7.  
      System requirements for Veritas System Recovery Manager
    8.  
      Installing Veritas System Recovery Manager
  3. Ensuring the recovery of your computer
    1. Creating a new Veritas System Recovery Disk
      1.  
        Welcome Panel
      2. Creation Options
        1.  
          Veritas System Recovery Disk recovery matrix
        2.  
          Veritas System Recovery Disk customization support matrix
        3.  
          Non-availability of the Typical option
      3.  
        Download and install Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK)
      4.  
        Languages Options
      5.  
        Veritas System Recovery Disk Storage Media/Destination Options
      6.  
        Licensed Features Options
      7. Storage and Network Drivers Options
        1.  
          Adding a Storage or Network Driver
      8.  
        Startup Options
      9.  
        Network Options
      10.  
        Setup LightsOut Restore Options
    2. Customizing an existing Veritas System Recovery Disk
      1.  
        Welcome Panel
      2.  
        Recovery Disk Source Options
      3. Veritas System Recovery Disk Storage Media/Destination Options
        1.  
          How to add new drivers or driver versions to the Veritas System Recovery Disk
      4.  
        Licensed Features Options
      5. Storage and Network Drivers Options
        1.  
          Adding a Storage or Network Driver
      6.  
        Startup Options
      7.  
        Network Options
    3. About restoring a computer from a remote location by using LightsOut Restore
      1. Configuring LightsOut Restore
        1.  
          Welcome Panel
        2.  
          Source Location Options
        3.  
          Licensed Features Options
        4. Storage and Network Drivers Options
          1.  
            Adding a Storage or Network Driver
        5.  
          Startup Options
        6.  
          Network Options
        7.  
          Setup LightsOut Restore Options
    4.  
      Testing the Veritas System Recovery Disk
  4. Getting Started
    1.  
      How to use Veritas System Recovery
    2.  
      Starting Veritas System Recovery
    3.  
      Configuring Veritas System Recovery default options
    4. Setting up default general backup options
      1.  
        Setting a default backup destination
    5.  
      Improving your computer's performance during a backup
    6.  
      Enabling network throttling
    7.  
      Setting default options for the Windows notification area
    8. File types and file extension
      1.  
        Adding new file types and extensions
      2.  
        Renaming file types and extensions
      3.  
        Restoring default file types and extensions
      4.  
        Deleting a file type and all of its extensions
    9.  
      Removing or changing the unique name for an external drive
    10.  
      Configuring default FTP settings for use with Offsite Copy
    11.  
      Logging Veritas System Recovery messages
    12.  
      Enabling email notifications for product (event) messages
    13.  
      Setting up your first backup using Easy Setup
    14.  
      Home page
    15.  
      Status page
    16.  
      Tasks page
    17.  
      Tools page
    18.  
      Advanced page
    19.  
      Using Veritas System Recovery RESTful Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
  5. Best practices for backing up your data
    1.  
      About backing up your data
    2.  
      Best practices for backing up data
    3.  
      What to do when a backup is finished
    4.  
      Tips for running defined backups
    5.  
      Backup destinations
    6.  
      Backing up dual-boot computers
    7.  
      Manually validating recovery points
  6. Backing up entire drives
    1. Defining a drive-based backup
      1. USB disk rotation
        1.  
          How USB disk rotation works
      2.  
        Rules for network credentials
      3.  
        Running command files during a backup
      4.  
        Editing backup options
      5.  
        Verifying the integrity of a recovery point
      6.  
        Viewing the progress of a backup
      7.  
        Recovery point encryption
    2.  
      Compression levels for recovery points
    3.  
      Running a one-time backup from Veritas System Recovery
    4.  
      Running a backup from Veritas System Recovery Disk
    5.  
      How Offsite Copy works
  7. Backing up files and folders
    1.  
      Backing up files and folders
  8. Running and managing backup jobs
    1. Running an existing backup job immediately
      1.  
        Running a backup to create an alternate type of recovery point
    2.  
      Adjusting the speed of a backup
    3.  
      Stopping a backup or a recovery task
    4.  
      Verifying that a backup is successful
    5.  
      Viewing the properties of a backup job
    6.  
      Editing backup settings
    7.  
      Enabling event-triggered backups
    8.  
      Editing a backup schedule
    9.  
      Disabling or enabling a backup job
    10.  
      Deleting backup jobs
    11.  
      Adding users who can back up your computer
    12.  
      Configuring access rights for users or groups
  9. Backing up remote computers from your computer
    1. About backing up other computers from your computer
      1.  
        Adding remote computers to the Computer List
      2.  
        Adding local computers to the Computer List
      3.  
        Removing a computer from the Computer List
    2. About the Veritas System Recovery Agent
      1.  
        Using the Veritas System Recovery Agent
      2.  
        About managing the Veritas System Recovery Agent through Windows Services
    3. About deploying the Veritas System Recovery Agent
      1.  
        Preparing a computer in a workgroup environment to deploy the Veritas System Recovery Agent
      2.  
        Deploying the Veritas System Recovery Agent
      3.  
        Manually installing the Veritas System Recovery Agent
    4. Best practices for Veritas System Recovery services
      1.  
        Opening Windows services
      2.  
        Starting or stopping the Veritas System Recovery Agent service
      3.  
        Setting up recovery actions when the Veritas System Recovery Agent does not start
    5.  
      Viewing Veritas System Recovery Agent dependencies
    6. About controlling access to Veritas System Recovery
      1.  
        Enabling users or groups to access Veritas System Recovery
      2.  
        Changing permissions for a user or a group
      3.  
        Disabling access for users or groups to Veritas System Recovery
      4.  
        Running Veritas System Recovery using different user rights
  10. Monitoring the status of your backups
    1. About monitoring backups
      1.  
        Refreshing the information that displays about hard disk configuration changes
    2.  
      Icons on the Home page
    3.  
      Icons on the Status page
    4.  
      Configuring Veritas System Recovery to send SNMP traps
    5.  
      Customizing the status reporting of a drive (or file and folder backups)
    6.  
      Viewing drive details
    7.  
      Improving the protection level of a drive
    8.  
      About using event log information to troubleshoot problems
  11. Managing and Monitoring the backup status of remote computers using Veritas System Recovery Manager
    1.  
      About
    2.  
      Configuring Windows firewall exceptions for Veritas System Recovery Manager
    3.  
      Starting Veritas System Recovery Manager
    4.  
      Icons on the Veritas System Recovery Manager console
    5.  
      Configuring Veritas System Recovery Manager default options
    6.  
      Viewing Veritas System Recovery Dashboard
    7. Adding a remote computer to All Computers
      1.  
        Importing a text file to add multiple remote computers to All Computers
    8.  
      Searching a remote computer from All Computers
    9.  
      Modifying the logon credentials for the remote computers
    10.  
      Running or Deleting Backup Jobs for the Remote computers
    11.  
      Removing a remote computer from the All Computers
    12.  
      Viewing the backup protection status of a remote computer
    13.  
      Viewing the backup protection status for a remote computer
    14.  
      Viewing the Protection Status report
    15. About Backup Tasks
      1.  
        Recovery Point Set and Independent Recovery Point in backup job
      2.  
        Tips for creating recovery points
    16.  
      Creating Backup Jobs
    17.  
      Editing Backup Jobs
    18.  
      Removing Backup Jobs
    19.  
      Applying Backup Jobs
  12. Exploring the contents of a recovery point
    1.  
      About exploring recovery points
    2. Exploring a recovery point through Windows Explorer
      1.  
        Mounting a recovery point from Windows Explorer
    3.  
      Opening and restoring files within a recovery point browser
    4.  
      Dismounting a recovery point drive
    5.  
      Viewing the drive properties of a recovery point
  13. Managing backup destinations
    1.  
      About backup destinations
    2.  
      Differences between drive-based backups and file and folder backups
    3.  
      Cleaning up old recovery points
    4.  
      Deleting a recovery point set
    5.  
      Deleting recovery points within a recovery point set
    6.  
      Copying recovery points
    7. About managing file and folder backup data
      1.  
        Viewing the amount of file and folder backup data that is stored on a backup destination
      2.  
        Manually deleting files from your backups of files and folders
      3.  
        Finding versions of a file or folder
    8.  
      Automating the management of backup data
    9.  
      Moving your backup destination
    10.  
      About support of OneDrive for Business
  14. Managing virtual conversions
    1.  
      Defining a virtual conversion job
    2.  
      Running an existing virtual conversion job immediately
    3.  
      Viewing the properties of a virtual conversion job
    4.  
      Viewing the progress of a virtual conversion job
    5.  
      Editing a virtual conversion job
    6.  
      Deleting a virtual conversion job
    7.  
      Running a one-time conversion of a physical recovery point to a virtual disk
  15. Managing cloud storage
    1. Direct to cloud
      1.  
        Providing the OpenStorage destination path
      2.  
        OpenStorage destination options for backups
      3.  
        OpenStorage destination options for recovery
    2.  
      Downloading OpenStorage Files
    3.  
      How Offsite Copy works for cloud storage
    4. About creation of Amazon Machine Image (AMI) in Amazon from Veritas System Recovery backups
      1.  
        How to create an Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
      2.  
        How to view the conversion tasks and AMI status
    5. About S3-Compatible Cloud Storage
      1.  
        Using S3-Compatible Cloud Storage in Veritas System Recovery
    6. About Veritas System Recovery supporting Veritas Access
      1.  
        Using Veritas Access Storage in Veritas System Recovery
    7.  
      About the Cloud Instance Creator Utility
  16. Recovering files, folders, or entire drives
    1.  
      About recovering lost data
    2.  
      Recovering files and folders by using file and folder backup data
    3.  
      Recovering files and folders
    4.  
      Recovering a secondary drive
    5.  
      Recovering a drive
    6.  
      Exploring files and folders on your computer by using Veritas System Recovery Disk
    7.  
      Recovering files and folders by using Veritas System Recovery Disk
  17. Recovering a computer
    1.  
      About recovering a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)-based computer
    2. Booting a computer by using the Veritas System Recovery Disk
      1.  
        Configuring a computer to start from a USB device or DVD
    3.  
      Preparing to recover a computer by checking the hard disk for errors
    4.  
      Recovering a computer
    5.  
      Recovering a computer from a virtual disk file
    6.  
      Recovering a computer with different hardware
    7. About using the networking tools in Veritas System Recovery Disk
      1.  
        Starting networking services
      2.  
        Mapping a network drive from within Veritas System Recovery Disk
      3. Configuring network connection settings
        1.  
          Setting a status IP address to enable recovery from a recovery point on a network share or drive
        2.  
          Getting a static IP address if pinging is unsuccessful
    8.  
      Viewing the properties of a recovery point in the Veritas System Recovery Disk
    9.  
      Viewing the properties of a drive within a recovery point in the Veritas System Recovery Disk
    10.  
      About the Support Utilities
  18. Copying a hard drive
    1.  
      Preparing to copy a hard drive
    2.  
      Copying one hard drive to another hard drive
  19. Using the Veritas System Recovery Granular Restore Option
    1.  
      About the Veritas System Recovery Granular Restore Option
    2. Best practices when you create recovery points for use with the Granular Restore Option
      1.  
        Protecting your Microsoft Exchange server for successful backups
    3.  
      Starting the Granular Restore Option
    4.  
      Starting Granular Restore Option and opening a specific recovery point
    5.  
      Restoring a Microsoft Exchange mailbox
    6.  
      Restoring a Microsoft Exchange email folder
    7.  
      Restoring a Microsoft Exchange email message
    8.  
      Restoring files and folders using Granular Restore Option
  20. Appendix A. Backing up databases using Veritas System Recovery
    1.  
      About backing up databases using Veritas System Recovery
    2.  
      Creating a manual cold (offline) backup
    3.  
      Creating an automatic warm backup
    4.  
      Creating a hot (online) backup using Veritas System Recovery
  21. Appendix B. Backing up Active Directory
    1.  
      Tips for protecting a domain controller in Active Directory
  22. Appendix C. Backing up Microsoft virtual environments
    1.  
      About backing up Microsoft virtual hard disks
    2.  
      About backing up and restoring Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines
  23. Appendix D. Using Veritas System Recovery 23 and Windows Server Core
    1.  
      About Veritas System Recovery 23 and Windows Server Core
    2.  
      Installing Veritas System Recovery 23 on Windows Server Core using commands
  24.  
    Index

Creating Backup Jobs

You can automate the creation of recovery points with a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. If you create a recovery point set, you can also specify that certain events, like logging on or off a computer, create incremental recovery points.

To create a Backup Job

  1. On the Veritas System Recovery Manager console, click Manage Computers tab in the left pane.
  2. Click Create in the Backup Tasks tab.
  3. On the Create Backup Job window, select any Backup Type.
  4. On the Drives panel, set any drive option you want.

    All drives on selected computers

    Lets you define a backup job for two or more drives. You should select this option to protect all drives (including hidden or unmounted), that exist on the client computers.

    By Drive

    Lets you select the drives that you want to back up on the selected client computers.

    Hidden drives are not displayed in the By Drive list. Also, by checking the Other option, you can add any single drive and also multiple drives by separating with semi-colon. For e.g. E or for multiple drives E;F;G

    Sometimes a selected drive letter is not available for backing up on a particular client computer. The drive has been deleted or the entire hard disk has been removed from the client computer since Veritas System Recovery was installed. In such cases, when the recovery point is created, it does not include the drive.

  5. In the Destination pane. Specify the path to a local drive or a network share.

    User name

    Lets you specify the user name to a destination folder that is located in a network path.

    Password

    Lets you specify the password to a destination that is located in a network path.

  6. Veritas recommends that you use AES encryption when you define a backup to prevent unauthorized access to the files.

    Enable password protection

    Sets a password and enables AES encryption on the recovery point when it is created.

    This check box is selected by default.

    Password

    Lets you specify a password for the backup. Passwords can include standard characters. Passwords cannot include extended characters, or symbols. (Use characters with an ASCII value of 128 or lower.)

    Confirm password

    Lets you retype the password for confirmation.

    AES encryption

    Encrypts recovery point data to add another level of protection to your recovery points.

    Note:

    If the Use Password check box is selected, you must define AES encryption.

    Choose from the following encryption levels:

    • Standard 128-bit (8+ character password)

    • Medium 192-bit (16+ character password)

    • High 256-bit (32+ character password)

    While higher strengths require longer passwords, the result is greater security for your data.

  7. On the Schedule panel, check the Schedule check box and set the schedule options you want.

    The available scheduling options depend on the backup type that you selected.

    Schedule tab options for a recovery point set

    Schedule

    Lets you select the days and a start time for when the backup should run.

    Start time (24 hour format)

    Lets you customize the start time of the backup .

    Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

    Lets you customize the days of the week for the backup to run. The default is to run the backup Monday through Friday.

    Run more than once per day

    Lets you run the backup more than once a day to protect the data that you edit or change frequently.

    Time between backups

    Lets you specify the maximum time that should occur between backups.

    Number of times

    Lets you specify the number of times per day that the backup should run.

    Automatically optimize

    Lets you select how often optimization should occur for the backup destination to manage the used disk space.

    You can choose from the following options:

    • Never

      Indicates that no deletion of incremental recovery points is performed.

    • Every four hours

      Indicates that a deletion of incremental recovery points that are four hours old (or older) is performed every four hours. Also, after the first incremental of the day is taken, all incremental files from two days previous are consolidated to a single file.

    • Every twelve hours

      Indicates that a deletion of incremental recovery points that are 12 hours old (or older) is performed every 12 hours. Also, after the first incremental of the day is taken, all incremental files from two days previous are consolidated to a single file.

    Start a new recovery point set

    Lets you select how frequently a new recovery point set should be started.

    Your options for starting new recovery point set (base) include the following:

    • Weekly

      Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup of the week.

    • Monthly

      Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup of the month.

    • Quarterly

      Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup every three months from the date when you selected this option.

    • Yearly

      Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup of the year, once a year, on the date that you selected for this option.

    • Custom

      Lets you set specific weekly or monthly options for starting a new recovery point set.

    Custom

    Lets you customize the start time, and the days of the week or month to run the backup.

    Note:

    If you choose to archive recovery points, consider creating recovery point sets more frequently to keep the size of your recovery point sets smaller.

    Schedule options for an independent recovery point

    Automatically create a recovery point

    Lets you specify a weekly or monthly backup schedule.

    The scheduling options include the following:

    • No Schedule

      Saves all of the backup jobs settings except a schedule. You can later apply the backup jobs at your convenience by assigning a schedule to the job.

    • Weekly

      Creates a new, independent recovery point on each day of the week that you check, and at the specified time. When you create independent recovery points one or more times per week, large amounts of disk storage space may be required.

    • Monthly

      Creates a new, independent recovery point on each day of the month that you check, and at the specified time.

    Start time (24 hour format)

    Lets you customize the start time of the backup .

    Days of the week

    Lets you customize the days of the week for the backup jobs to run.

    Days of the month

    Lets you customize the days of the month for the backup jobs to run.

  8. On the Advanced Options panel, in the Compression list, set the compression level for the recovery points.

    None

    Indicates that compression is not used on the recovery point.

    You can choose this option if storage space is not an issue. If the recovery point is saved to a busy network drive, high compression may be faster than no compression because less data needs to be written across the network

    Standard (recommended)

    Lets you use low compression for a 40 percent average data compression ratio on recovery points. This setting is the default.

    Medium

    Lets you use medium compression for a 45 percent average data compression ratio on recovery points.

    High

    Lets you use high compression for a 50 percent average data compression ratio on recovery points. This setting is usually the slowest method.

    When a high compression recovery point is created, CPU usage may be higher than normal. Other processes on the computer may also be slower. To compensate, you can adjust the operation speed of the backup process. Speed adjustments may improve the performance of other resource-intensive applications that you run at the same time.

  9. On the Advanced Options panel, use the below options and click Apply.

    Limit the number of recovery point sets (bases) saved for this backup (Recovery point sets only)

    or

    Limit the number of recovery points saved for this backup (Independent recovery points only)

    Specifies the maximum number of recovery points or recovery point sets that are saved for each drive.

    When this limit is reached, each successive recovery point or set is first created and stored. The oldest, previously created recovery point or set is then deleted (including all associated incremental, if applicable) from the same storage location.

    Ensure that you have enough hard disk space to accommodate the number of recovery points or sets you specify, plus one additional recovery point or set.

    If you run out of hard disk space before the number is reached, the recurring recovery point process cannot complete successfully, and a current recovery point or set is not created

    Divide into smaller files to simplify archiving

    Splits a recovery point into two or more smaller files. This feature is useful if you create or export a recovery point that you want to copy to removable media later for safekeeping. The recovery point is split into smaller, more manageable files. You can then copy the files onto separate, removable media, such as a DVD or CD.

    If Veritas System Recovery creates an .sv2i file in addition to the .v2i files, you need to save the .sv2i file on the same media as the first .v2i file.

    If you create a recovery point of volumes with thousands of files on a computer that has low memory, splitting the recovery point into smaller segments can help speed the process.

    If a recovery point is divided into multiple files, the file names for subsequent files are appended with _S01, _S02, and so forth. For example, if the default file name were Dev-RBrough_C_Drive.v2i, the second file name would be Dev-RBrough_C_Drive_S01.v2i, and so on.

  10. Click Create

    Note:

    Create button will be disabled if all the required fields are not entered properly.