Restore Data Using a Map File

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Map File Type
Map File Format
Map File Contents
Map File Location
Adding Files and Folders with Unicode Characters
Points to Remember While Creating the Map File

Overview

In-place and out-of-place restore options provide the ability to restore all of the selected data to one specific destination. Using a map file allows you to restore individual files and folders to different locations.

The map file contains a list of files to be restored, with their corresponding restore paths. In addition, you can also specify whether the files that were selected for restore during the browse operation, but not specified in the map file, should be restored to the selected restore destination.

Consider the following examples:

You wish to restore a list of files and folders from a computer and each of the files that you wish to restore has different destinations. The following steps can be used to accomplish this objective:
- Start the restore operation from the backup set or subclient level (depending on where the source data was originally available) and select the data to be restored.
- Specify the restore destination.
- Attach a map file containing the list of files to be restored.
- Clear the option to restore unmapped files.
You wish to restore a set of files to a specified location, while some files within that set have to be restored to a different destination or several different destinations. The following steps can be used to accomplish this objective:
- Start the restore operation from the backup set or subclient level (depending on where the source data was originally available) and select the data to be restored.
- Specify the restore destination.
- Attach the map file containing the list of files (with different destinations) to be restored.
- Make sure that the option to restore unmapped files is selected.

The map file restore options are also supported by Restore by Jobs and restores from the command line.

How to Perform a Map File Restore

The following section provides the steps for restoring data using a map file:

Create the map file. See Specifications for the Map File for information on creating the map file.
Run a restore operation. See Restore Data Using a Map File or Restore NAS Data Using a Map File for step-by-step instructions.

Specifications for the Map File

The following sections describe the properties and format of the map file.

Map File Type

The map file should be a text file, in the CSV (Comma Separated Value) format.

Map File Format

The format of the mapping should be as follows:

"<source path>","<destination path>"

For example:

"C:\dir1\file1.txt","E:\dir2\file1.txt"

Map File Contents

The map files can be used to provide the following:

File to file mappings (e.g., "C:\dir1\file1.txt","E:\dir2\file1.txt")
Folder to folder mappings (e.g., "C:\dir2","E:\dir2")
Drive to drive mappings (e.g., "C:\","E:\")
Rename files/folder during restore (e.g., "C:\dir4\file2.txt","F:\dir5\file3.txt")
Filter certain files (e.g., "C:\dir5","" )

Map File Location

For File System iDataAgents, the map file must be located on the client where the files will be restored.
For NAS iDataAgents, the map file must be located on the CommServe.

Adding Files and Folders with Unicode Characters

If the path or the filename contains Unicode characters, the map file must be converted to a format that can be used by the restore operation. This can be done using the cvconvertunicode utility. For a detailed explanation on how to use this tool, see Unicode Conversion Utility.

Points to Remember While Creating the Map File

Consider the following while creating a map file:

The specified paths for both the source and destination should be absolute paths within the same client computer.
If the specified destination folder is not available, the necessary destination folder will be created during the restore.
The source and destination type should be the same. For example, a folder must map to another folder and a file to another file. (The results may be unpredictable if this is not followed.)
Computer names or UNC paths should not be used in the source and destination names.
Wildcards in source or destination path are not supported.
To filter a file, add the source folder and file and then add an empty double quotes as the destination. For example:
"C:\dir5",""
The AIX, HP-UX, Linux and Solaris File System iDataAgents can run map file restores for the following:
- Symbolic links to raw device data (but not the data itself)
- Raw device data whose full path is specified

Best Practices

Consider the following while restoring data using a map file:

Use a map file only when there is a large number of files to be restored with multiple destination paths. Consider the following examples:
You wish to restore 10 files. Within these 10 files, 8 files must be restored to the same location, while 2 files must be restored to separate destinations - in this case select these 10 file in the Browse window, specify the destination path for the 8 files to the common location and only include the 2 files in the map file.
As much as possible, filter the files from the Browse window, rather than filtering the files using a map file.

License Requirements

This feature requires a Feature License to be available in the CommServe^® Server.

Review general license requirements included in License Administration. Also, View All Licenses provides step-by-step instructions on how to view the license information.