A live browse operation gets information about guest files and folders during a restore operation. To browse and recover files, you must have information about the files and folders included in a backup. This data is discovered during the browse operation as you select content for a restore. You use live browse during restores for both Windows and Linux VMs.
To read data for advanced Linux file systems, you can use a Linux access node to browse and restore data from backups of Linux guest VMs.
When performing an NTFS Browse using a mount on a Unix MediaAgent, Windows Alternate Data Stream (ADS) file restores are supported for the following cases:
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Agentless restore: With a Windows proxy used as a destination client and files restored to the same or a different Windows VM
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Agent-based restore: With a Windows proxy used as a destination client and files restored to the same Windows proxy
To avoid overloading the CommServe computer or provisioning additional access nodes during a browse operation, you can browse and restore NTFS files from a Linux MediaAgent.
Live Browse Process
The software executes a live browse request during a restore operation using a specific entity, based on the CommCell environment:
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If the MediaAgent is installed with Windows, the software uses the MediaAgent to live browse.
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If the MediaAgent is installed with Linux and there is a Windows access node, the software uses the Windows access node to live browse.
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If the Windows access node is configured in the subclient properties, the software uses the Windows access node to live browse.
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If the Windows access node is configured in the instance properties and no access node is configured in the subclient properties, the software uses the Windows access node to live browse.
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If the MediaAgent is installed with Linux and there is no Windows access node, the software uses the Linux MediaAgent to live browse.
Software Requirements
The following software is required to live browse using a Linux MediaAgent:
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NTFS-3G package installed on the Linux MediaAgent (NTFS-3G is installed automatically when you install or upgrade to Commvault 11.23)
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Commvault Feature Release 11.23 or later installed on the MediaAgent
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One of the following operating systems must be installed on the MediaAgent:
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RHEL 7.x, 8.x, or 9.x
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Oracle Linux 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, or 8.7, or 9.x
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Note
To use a RHEL 8 or 9 VM or Oracle Linux VM that is configured to use the UEFI Secure Boot method as a Linux access node, you must enroll Commvault keys with the UEFI MOK (Machine Owned Key) list on the VM. For more information, see Use Commvault Driver Modules on a Linux Computer with UEFI Secure Boot Option Enabled.
Limitations
Live browse operations using Linux MediaAgents are supported only for the NTFS file system. The operations are not supported for IntelliSnap.
For VMware, a proxyless live browse for IntelliSnap will automatically switch to a traditional proxy-based live browse.
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Dynamic volume types such as spanned, striped, mirrored, and RAID-5 are not supported.
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You cannot restore files with advanced encryption attributes using a Linux MediaAgent. For live browse of IntelliSnap backups, you must use a Windows MediaAgent to browse. The ACL of NTFS files is preserved during cross-platform restore operations only if the destination client is installed with Windows.
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Alternate Data Streams (ADS) are not retained for the following cases:
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Agentless restore - with a Unix proxy used as a destination client. In this case, only the file is restored, but none of the other/Alternate Data Streams (ADS) are retained.
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Agent-based restore - with a Unix proxy used as a destination client In this case, only the file is restored but none of the other/Alternate Data Streams (ADS) are retained.
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