File Level Recovery (VMs and Physical Servers)

Overview 

This article will cover the steps required to recover a file or folder from a virtual machine (VM) or Physical Server using the Cohesity data protection service. 

Note: In order to restore directly to the server, root credentials are required to restore files and folders back to the VM. The easier and suggested method is to download the file / folders directly (described below) to your workstation. You may then copy / move them to the system via standard file transfer methodology.

Information 

To begin recovering files and folders go to Cohesity and login with your Duck ID.

  1. From the Dashboard, go to Protection > Recovery.
    1. If you're in the new UI, you need to select Data Protection > Recoveries on the side panel.  
  2. Select Recover and select Files or Folders on the top-right corner.
  3. Locate the files / folders you want to recover
    1. Select Browse and enter the name of the server/vm in the search bar, then select the Browse button to the right of the correct host (in this example, I'm restoring from the is-nsxtest VM)
    2. Select through to the name of the file / folder you want to restore. You can drill down through the file system by selecting the folder names until you get to the folder / file you want to recover, then checkmark it.  
    3. You can select the edit icon next to the path at the top and paste in the path to your file / folder as well
    4. Select the recover point you wish to restore from (all available restore points are listed at the top right of the window)  
    5. If there is more than one file/folder you wish to restore, you can browse to other files / folders and checkmark them to add them to the list on the right side of the page
  4. Select Download Files to download these files directly to your local system
    1. This will take you to the recoveries page where you can monitor the status of the recovery
    2. When it is done, select on the recovery to open it up and select the Download Files button to download your file or a zip of the files
    3. You can then use SCP or some other file transfer method to copy the files from your workstation to the server. 
  5. If you wish to recover to the server directly, instead select Next which will open up a verification window. Note: This option requires local root or administrator credentials due to VMware tools limitations.​​​​​​​ 
    1. Select Recover to Server
      1. Enter root credentials for Linux VMs and administrator credentials for windows VMs.
      2. It is recommended that you uncheck Recover to Original Path  
      3. Rename the Recover To: if you don't like the recovery name Cohesity provides.
      4. The Recovery Options default to the suggested options. Only change them if you are sure of the impact.  
      5. Select Recover Files and it will take you to the recovery status window.

Need help?

If there are any issues, please submit a ticket to Data Protection Support.

Print Article