topic Re: Single File Restore from OnCommand Console in VMware Solutions Discussions

Single File Restore from OnCommand Console

bmbeaulieu — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 06:36:55 GMT

The documentation mentions doing a single file restore from the OnCommand Console. I'm having trouble finding where exactly you'd do a SFR.

I have created policies and datasets .. and we have backups running. I can mount/unmount backups. But I have yet to see the SFR option.

I'm hoping it still exists! I really like that VSC/SMVI clients have been rolled up into OnCommand. The scheduling flexibility in OnCommand is far superior to what we had in VSC.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Brian

Re: Single File Restore from OnCommand Console

crocker — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:39:17 GMT

Hi,

Since you have not gotten an answer, you may want to ask this question in the NetApp Support Community. The current customers, partners and internal Subject Matter Experts are addressing technical product questions there.

Mike

Re: Single File Restore from OnCommand Console

bmbeaulieu — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:11:28 GMT

Thank you! New to using the forums.

Re: Single File Restore from OnCommand Console

chott — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:10:41 GMT

as far as i know there is no sfr for the host package that i guess you are referring to.

the only way to sfr is to mount the backup to the vcenter and then add a vdisk to the virtual machine you want to restore it to.

single file restore is possible in protection manager though, but this is not integrated with vmware on an vmware object level. it works therefore only for shares and exports. ( cifs and nfs) not inside a vm ( i.e. ntfs)

hope that helps.

cheers chris

Re: Single File Restore from OnCommand Console

JANDREWARTHA — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:27:52 GMT

SFR is only available in Virtual Storage Console. Also, NetApp support have said that OnCommand Host will receive no further development and to go back to VSC.

Re: Single File Restore from OnCommand Console

nooshin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:58:49 GMT

I am the product manager for Host Package and would like to make sure that everyone understands that the statement "OnCommand Host Package will receive no further development" is not accurate. We are committed in supporting Host Package along with OC UM 5.x. Primary focus of OC UM 5.x and HP 1.1 is management of 7-mode. Going forward we will be introducing OC UM 6.x for management of cluster mode. Our intention is to have similar level of functionality as that of HP in OC UM 6.x platform, though all of it may not be there in day one. OC UM 6.x has a different architecture from OC UM 5.x. We are trying to make the VM infrastructure discovery and management "agent-less" which means that there will not be a separate installable module like HP 1.1.

With regards to SFR, HP does not have similar level of functionality that there is in VSC for SFR.

Re: Single File Restore from OnCommand Console

JANDREWARTHA — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:10:15 GMT

That's good to hear, but is different to what I was told in case 2003016681 which suggested going back to VSC, and I quote "OC Host will only and that is slight only get break-fix patches and that is if it is only REALLY needed. There will be no further development of the OC Host."

Re: Single File Restore from OnCommand Console

nooshin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:04:46 GMT

Here is the link to the "Guide to Common Workflows for Administrators

for Use with Core Package 5.0 and Host Package" https://library.netapp.com/ecm/ecm_get_file/ECMM1278816

Copying the SFR section:

Restoring a single file from a backup

This workflow shows you how to restore a single file from a backup made in a VMware

environment. You might want to do this if a file, virtual machine, or database has been corrupted.

You can locate the backup, mount, and unmount the backup using OnCommand console, but you

must use the vSphere Client to restore the file.

Before you begin

You must have installed and logged into the following software:

• OnCommand console

• vSphere Client

You must be familiar with the protection concepts of a dataset, protection policy, and backup

schedule. For more information on these concepts, see the OnCommand console Help.

About this task

VMware ESX 4.x currently does not support hot-removal of LUNs. Hot-removal of LUNs can also

affect restore unmounting processes within backup and recovery, as well as destroy datastores within

provisioning and cloning. For more information, see VMware KB article 1015084 or bug report

346071.

Steps

1. Locate a backup on page 26

You must first locate the backup in OnCommand console that contains the file that you want to

restore. This enables you to use the backup version containing the information you want to

restore.

2. Mount a backup on page 26

You can mount a backup using OnCommand console. After the backup is mounted on an ESX

server, you can locate the file that you want to restore. Using the VMware application, you can

restore the file you have selected.

3. Restore a single file using VMware on page 28

After you have mounted a backup using OnCommand console, you can use the VMware

application to restore the single file. After the restore is complete, you must unmount the backup.

4. Unmount a backup on page 28

After you have located the file and restored it, you can use OnCommand console to unmount the

backup. Unmounted backups are not deleted.

Related information

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015084