Image Disaster Recovery Agent

The Image Disaster Recovery Agent in UltraBac is the same agent that is used in UBDR. The functions and screens are the same, as well as the instructions.

 

The UltraBac Image Disaster Recovery Agent uses "snapshot" technology to take a sector level backup of a physical disk or partition. The UltraBac Locked File Backup Agent is integrated with the Image Disaster Recovery Agent, ensuring the backup is a complete and consistent snapshot of the selected disk(s). An Image Disaster Recovery Agent backup is used to quickly restore a failed disk or operating system without the need for re-installing the operating system.

 

NOTE:  For information on performing a Static Mirror Image backup using the Image Disaster Recovery Agent, please visit the "Static Mirror Image" section of the User Manual:

 

UltraBac User Manual:  Static Mirror Image

 

NOTE:  The UltraBac Image Disaster Recovery Agent supports Windows software RAID only when configured as RAID-0 or RAID-1.

 

NOTE:  For information on what an image backup is, please see the UltraBac Knowledge Base:

 

UBQ000024:  What is an Image Backup?

 

NOTE:  Starting with UltraBac v.9.5.0 the Single File Restore (SFR) option has been modified to use mountable image backups, and only supports writing to BackupPath devices.

 

 

NOTE:  The Single File Restore (SFR) option to "Upload to a copy of the cloud device" currently only supports Amazon S3, Wasabi, and Google Cloud Storage.

 

NOTE:  UltraBac cannot restore to smaller GPT partitions. If it is a necessity, you will need to plan ahead as this cannot be done in a disaster situation. Using Windows Device Manager, right click the partition in question and select "Shrink Volume." Enter a size that is smaller than the partition size you wish to restore to. Once the volume size has been reduced, run an image backup. You can now restore this new backup to the smaller GPT configuration.

 

Setup and Configuration

NOTE:  To create an image backup of a remote system, the UltraBac Image Disaster Recovery Agent must be installed on the system being imaged. For more information on installing the Image Disaster Recovery Agent, please visit the "Installing UltraBac" section of the User Manual:

 

UltraBac User Manual:  Installing UltraBac

 

Creating an Image Set
  1. Launch the Backup Wizard by selecting the Backup tab, and clicking "New."

  2. Click "Image Disaster Recovery Agent" to highlight the option, and click "Next."

  3. Set the Image Agent options, and click "Next."

     

    ub_agents_image_options.jpg

    Fig. 1 - Disaster Recovery/Image Agent Options.

     

  4. Type a set description, as it will appear in the backup log, into the "Set Description" field. Click "Next" and "Finish."

     

    ub_agents_image_fileviewer.jpg

    Fig. 2 - Image set loaded in the File Viewer.

     

  5. Save the set by clicking "Action"/"Save Backup Set" from the main "Backup Set" menu.

Image Agent Options

Options for image backups:

 

 

NOTE:  With "Enable Incremental or Differential backup" checked, a full backup must be performed before a incremental/differential backup can be run.

 

 

 

NOTE:  For more information on creating a VHD / VHDX / VMDK files during an image backup, please visit the "Writing to VHD / VHDX" , " Writing to Microsoft Azure ", or " Writing to VMDK " section of the User Manual:

 

UltraBac User Manual:  Writing to VHD / VHDX

UltraBac User Manual:  Writing to Microsoft Azure

UltraBac User Manual:  Writing to VMDK

Restoring an Image Backup

An image backup can be restored several ways:

 

 

NOTE:  An active operating system partition cannot be overwritten by an image restore.

Partition/Disk Restore

A full image restore through the UltraBac Management Console requires the target disk be prepared before restore.

 

 

NOTE:  Only one disk or partition can be restored per restore job.

 

To begin the restore process:

 

  1.  
  2. Launch the Restore Wizard by selecting the Restore tab, and selecting the index source.

  3. Select and load the index for restore.

  4. Select the disk or partition for restore.

  5. Click "Action"/"Restore this Backup."

     

    ub_agents_image_restorewizard.jpg

    Fig. 4 - Disaster Recovery Image Restore Wizard.

  6. Choose either Express Mode or Advanced Mode. Express Mode chooses the "Source Information" by default, while Advanced Mode allows the user to select the "Source Information." Click "OK."

     

    NOTE:  Single File Restore (SFR) is only displayed if the image was taken with SFR enabled.

     

  7. After the restore completes, reboot the system to activate the restored disk or partition.

 

NOTE:  After performing a dissimilar hardware restore, additional steps may be required on certain Operating Systems. Please see: UBQ000268:  Additional steps for UBDR restore of Windows 7, 2008 R2, and newer Operating Systems.

 

Single File Restore

This option is available only if "Enable Single File Restore" is checked during the creation of the image set. If the preference was selected, you will be able to mount each partition.

 

To begin the restore process:

 

  1.  
  2. Launch the Restore Wizard by selecting the Restore tab, and selecting the index source.

  3. Select and load the index for restore.

  4. Select the disk or partition(s) for restore.

  5. Click "Action"/"Restore this Backup."

  6. Click "Single File Restore Options."

     

    ub_agents_image_sfr.jpg

    Fig. 8 - Single File Restore Index loaded in the File Viewer.

    ub_agents_image_sfr_restore_options.jpg

    Fig. 9 - Single File Restore options.

     

  7. Select the correct "Hard disk" and "Volume" to be mounted. Click "Mount."

  8. Once the volume is mounted, a Windows Explorer window will be opened to the mounted RAM disk drive letter.

  9. Copy the files or folders needed.

  10. Click "Unmount All" when you are finished.

 

NOTE:  If the set or UltraBac is closed before the backup is unmounted, simply launch UltraBac Management Console and click on “Unmount All Volumes” located at “Tools” / “UBDR.” This will unmount any UltraBac mounted Image SFR, Hyper-V, or vSphere agent backups. Alternatively, follow the same steps required to mount a backup until the "Unmount All" option button is visible.

RAID Array Strategies and Considerations

There is no distinguishing difference in the process of backing up and restoring to a RAID array or restoring to an ordinary IDE drive. There are some limitations to be aware of when imaging and restoring RAID arrays: