504 - How to do a restore using a task file

Modified on Mon, 21 Jul at 1:06 PM

This article explains how to do a restore directly on the Storage Platform by using a special task file. This will instruct the Storage Platform to restore directly to a local or UNC path, without using the Data Management Agent at all.

Advantages

Multi-threaded for faster restores
No Agent required

Disadvantages

Requires some technical knowledge
No file permissions/rights are restored

Requirements

Windows operating systems only
The account GUID
The account encryption key
Full access to the StorageServer where the backup data resides
Write access to the target location where the data must be written

Instructions

1. Create a text file with an extension .Restore, e.g. Local.Restore. The file must not have a .txt extension.

Note:

The file extension .Restore is case sensitive.
Do not create the file in the TaskQueue folder. It will be read before you can populate it.

2. Open the file in Notepad, paste in the following contents and modify as necessary.

AccountGuid=???
BackupDate=
Key=encryptionKey
Target=X:\RestoreLocal
Path=C:\Program Files\Attix5 Backup Professional SE\log*
CheckDiskSpace=true
AllowConcurrency=true
OverwriteExisting=false
Script=

Examples of taskfile contents

Key	Example	Description
AccountGuid	79e8e23c-6741-470a-9f37-c34640e7f6e3	GUID for the Backup Account. Can be found in the Console or StorageServer logs.
BackupDate	20100331235959	The backup date to restore from. If left out, it will restore from the last backup. A list of dates is in the backups folder under GUID.
Key	secret	Encryption key for the backup account (required).
Target	X:\RestoreLocal	This is where the data will be written to. At the start of the restore, the service will check if it can write to the specified target and abort if it cannot. If a UNC path is used, ensure the StorageServer service is running as a user with write access to the UNC folder.
Path	C:\folder1\file* will match C:\folder1\file4.txt C:\folder1\files\readme.txt PLUGIN:\29* will match all files from plugin 29 (VSS)	The data to restore. If the path ends with , it will match all files that have a full path starting with whatever is before the , including files in all subfolders. If the path does not end with , it will match a file that has a full path equalling the path parameter (e.g. C:\folder1\file4.txt). will restore everything. *.txt will not work.
CheckDiskSpace	true	Checks if enough free space is available on the target. This is on by default.
AllowConcurrency	true	Restores in multithreaded mode (faster). This is on by default.
OverwriteExisting	false	If target files exist, should they be overwritten? The default is false. The number of skipped files will be reported.
Script	c:\scripts\after_restore.ps	An optional PowerShell script to run after the restore. This will only be executed if the restore was successful.

3. Save the file and drop it in the TaskQueue folder on the correct StorageServer. Task progress can be seen in the Storage Platform Console.

Creating a task file using REST

The task file on the StorageServer can also be created by making a REST call to the StorageServer, e.g. https://192.168.1.1:8443/api/tasks/queue/restore?AccountGuid=xxx&Date=yyy&Key=zzz

In order for this to work, you will to need to authenticate the HTTPS request on the StorageServer using the admin key (master password).

Doing multiple restores simultaneously

The Storage Platform is able to do multiple restores simultaneously - simply create a single task file per restore. Call each task file <guid>.Restore or <account_name>.Restore. As soon as a restore is done, its task file will be deleted. Limit the number of active tasks to what the server can handle. A restore task can be cancelled from the Console by right-clicking on the progress.