topic Re: Recovering file from snapmirror snapshot in Data Protection

Recovering file from snapmirror snapshot

ABisht — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 11:29:17 GMT

Hi Team,

I am trying to recover a file from a snapshot on the snapmirror volume. I am running following command from my primary volume

snapmirror restore -destination-path SVM:primary_vol -source-path backup_SVM:backup_vol_gtbsl -source-snapshot daily.2024-04-07_2000 -file-list /largefile.txt,@/largefile_restored.txt

Error: command failed: Original request was to restore the entire contents of a Snapshot copy. Attempting to restart request to restore a list of files or LUNs of a Snapshot copy.

Could not find anything helpful on net. Any advice will be much appreciated.

Re: Recovering file from snapmirror snapshot

Tas — Thu, 23 May 2024 12:47:05 GMT

I presume you mean the snapmirror destination. You can force the volume online, but will then encounter issues with resuming SM. It becomes more difficult if you are running an SVM-DR.

The way I do it,is:

I have a Recovery SVM on the Backup array setup for access by admins with a CIFS and NFS server setup.

I then clone the snapmirrored volume using a snapshot I am interested in recovering from, to the Recovery SVM. Export or share as usual, copy back your data, and then;

Delete the clone, or else it will cause you snapshot rotation to fail on the destination.

There was a third party software tool that allowed you to recovery via a File Explorer type interface, but has not progressed to FlexGroups which we are very heavily invested in. It is also an extra cost item.

Hope this helps

TasP

Re: Recovering file from snapmirror snapshot

ABisht — Thu, 23 May 2024 23:26:03 GMT

Thank you Tas for taking time to respond.

Could you please elaborate a bit on clone process u mention below -

"I then clone the snapmirrored volume using a snapshot I am interested in recovering from, to the Recovery SVM. Export or share as usual, copy back your data, and then;"

Thank you

Re: Recovering file from snapmirror snapshot

Tas — Fri, 24 May 2024 12:42:37 GMT

Well, you can create a share of the volume, however, you have a limited amount of time to get your data off. The problem is if it an SVM-DR, you can't bring the volume online.
So on the destination SVM:

Run xxx:>> snapshot show -vserver XYZ -volume ABC
(Select the snapshot date/time you would like to recover from)
XXX:>> volume clone create -vserver ONLINE_SVM -flexlone TEMP_VOL_NAME -parent-vserver XYZ -parent-volume ABC -parent-snapshot (The one you selected) -junction-path /TEMP_VOL_NAME
XXX:>> share create -vserver ONLINE_SVM -share-name (temp_shr) -path /TEMP_VOL_NAME

Then mount the share from your Windows server and look for the data you would like to recover. If it isn't there, the snapshot you selected was probably taken after the date/time of the data you are looking for. Reverse the above steps:
Delete the share
Offline and delete the clone
Select another snapshot date/time and try again.

Anastasios A Papadopoulos (Tas)
IT Storage Architect

[cid:image002.png@01DAADB6.51548E40]
Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP)