File restore from Linux VM

[ddeboer120]

Can a Single File Restore be done of a Linux VM and if so what are the limitations if any?  Like file system type (ext3/4) or limit of vmdks for a VM, we have many Linux VMs with 10+ vmdks.  And what's the process, in a nutshell, same as the Windows demo I've seen?  About 2/3 (300 VMs) of our VM environment is Linux and almost all of file level restores are from those Linux VMs, so this functionality is a big check mark when shopping around for new storage.  Thanks.

[ntriantos42 · Accepted solution]

Hi Daryn,

File restore from Linux can be a bit tricky and the process can vary depending on distro, filesystem type and whether or not there's LVM involved. The later can complicate things quite a bit. That said here are some things that will help starting with the obvious

1) Clone the datastore and present it to the vSphere host

2) Attach the cloned VMDK to the Linux VM and make sure you note the vSCSI adapter number (0:1). In this case, lets assume it's 0.

3) Inside the Linux VM discover the cloned disks.

echo "- - -" > /sys/class/scsi_host/hostX/scan (hostX = vSCSI adapter number)

4) run fdisk -lu /dev/xxx to make sure you can see the partitions

5) If no LVM then create a directory and mount the device

# mkdir /mnt/clone 

# mount /dev/sdcX /mnt/clone

6) If you use LVM, then it gets hairy in that the vmdk you're attempting to mount belong to a Volume Group and will have a VG ID and label that will conflict with the original disk. Even outside of virtualization this is hairy situation using Unix volume managers. The way to resolve this is to run

vgimportclone -n newvg /dev/sdcX

7) Run vgchange & lvdisplay to activate the newvg and identify the logical volumes

# lvchange -ay newvg (-a = availability -y=activate it) - can also use lvchange to activate a specific Logical volume

# lvdisplay  (lists the Logical volumes)

  --- Logical volume --- 
  LV Name                /dev/newvg/LV22 
  VG Name                vg12snap 
  LV UUID                kmbb-bn0W-lue6-q7Vn-ikmb3-lkmn3-RBjkgA
  LV Write Access        read/write 
  LV Status              available  
  LV Size                35.63.88 GB 
  Current LE             5385 
  Segments               1 
  Allocation             inherit 
  Read ahead sectors     auto 
  --- Logical volume --- 
  LV Name                /dev/newvg/LV23 
  VG Name                vg12snap 
  LV UUID                Unm9kl-tkn0-Rlm9-cbnm-1z9om-a9kn-89iklM 
  LV Write Access        read/write 
  LV Status              available 
  LV Size                12.1 GB 
  Current LE             238 
  Segments               1 
  Allocation             inherit 
  Read ahead sectors     auto 

Identify your LV, create a directory & mount. You should be able to access the files
# mkdir /mnt/LV22 
# mount /dev/newvg/LV22 /mnt/LV22 

After you're done go the opposite direction.

Unmount the Logical volume

vgremove -f newvg

pvremove /dev/sdcX (sometimes you may need to use -f)

Remove the cloned vmdk from the vm

rescan ..."echo - - -"

Hope this helps

Nick