| Media Explorer is not the recommended method for performing Disaster Recovery. See Disaster Recovery for other Disaster Recovery scenarios that provide a more conventional method for performing Disaster Recovery. |
In the unlikely event a system has been rendered unusable or inaccessible, Media Explorer can be used to quickly view and recover product-created data from any media.
Media Explorer is pertinent to all supported data types. Familiarize yourself with this information prior to performing any recovery operations.
Normally the system handles media management, making it unnecessary for you to locate or select media for data you want to recover. In the unlikely event a CommCell has been rendered unusable or inaccessible, Media Explorer can be used to quickly view and recover data secured by data protection operations from any supported media. To run Media Explorer, agent software is not required on the machine.
In the absence of the system:
Media Explorer for iDataAgents allows you to retrieve previously backed up data in the case of a disaster. It can retrieve iDataAgent backup data and Disaster Recovery Backup data, allowing you to restore media data to a user-defined destination.
Media Explorer for Windows and NetWare platforms uses a cataloging process to obtain information about the files stored on your media. Media Explorer creates a local catalog database of media archive file entries through which you manually select the archive files containing the data you need to recover.
Media Explorer for Unix platforms uses a script through which you scan a volume for completed jobs to recover.
Media Explorer recovers from either tape media or magnetic/optical volumes. This process involves the following steps:
Physically locate the proper media from which you will be recovering data.
Obtain information about the files stored on your media (i.e., via catalog for Windows platforms or simply log for Unix platforms).
Select the appropriate archive file entries and recover the files that were secured by data protection operations on your media.
Determining the "appropriate" archive file entries needed for the recovery is dependent on the recovery scenario in which you find yourself, and the particular component (CommServe or iDataAgent) you are using.
Understanding your archive files and backup cycles is critical. Regularly running the Jobs In Storage Policy Copies and CommCell Configuration reports prior to the need for a disaster recovery, will dramatically facilitate your identification and location of media archive files. With this information at hand, you can catalog only the tapes you need and not the entire library. The CommCell Configuration report shows the association of a subclient to a storage policy. The Jobs In Storage Policy Copies report shows media associated with each job.
The following should be considered when utilizing Media Explorer:
With Media Explorer, data is encrypted according to the method you select while you configure the client for Data Encryption. When restoring data that was encrypted using a pass-phrase, you must provide the pass-phrase that was in use at the time the data protection operation was run. If you do not provide the pass-phrase, the restore will hang and a message will appear in the DrRecovery Log. For more information, see the information for Data Encryption.
Recovering backup data from a Silo Storage involves two restore operations. First, restore the deduplicated volumes from the Silo Storage to the MediaAgent computer associated with Silo Storage. This restores the deduplicated volumes. Copy the deduplicated volumes to the magnetic mount path on the computer associated with the deduplicated storage policy copy. Then use the Media Explorer to restore the corresponding application data from the deduplicated volumes on the magnetic mount path.
See Recovering Silo Storage Data Using Media Explorer for step-by-step instructions.
Media Explorer supports data from the following: