File restore prerequisites

Before you restore files with the Tivoli® Storage Manager file restore interface, ensure that your environment meets the minimum prerequisites.

VMware virtual machine prerequisites

The following prerequisites apply to the VMware virtual machine that contains the files to be restored:

VMware Tools must be installed on the virtual machine.
The virtual machine must be running during the file restore operation.
The virtual machine must belong to the same Windows domain as the data mover system.
When a virtual machine is deleted from a Windows domain and then restored later, the virtual machine must rejoin the domain to ensure the domain trust relationship. Do not attempt a file restore from the virtual machine until the domain trust relationship is restored.
If the user does not own the file to be restored, the Microsoft Windows Restore Files and Directories privilege must be assigned to the user for that virtual machine.
The virtual machine firewall access must be off.
On a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 operating system, the ChallengeResponseAuthentication option in the sshd daemon configuration file (/etc/ssh/sshd_config) must specify YES or be commented out. For example, either of the following statements are valid:
```
ChallengeResponseAuthentication yes
```
```
#ChallengeResponseAuthentication no
```
Restart the sshd daemon after you modify this option.

Data mover prerequisites

The data mover system represents a specific backup-archive client that "moves data" from one system to another.

Windows operating systems The data mover system must belong to the same Windows domain as the virtual machine that contains the files to be restored.

Mount proxy prerequisites

The mount proxy system represents the Linux or Windows proxy system that accesses the mounted virtual machine disks through an iSCSI connection. This system enables the file systems on the mounted virtual machine disks to be accessible as restore points to the Tivoli Storage Manager file restore interface.

Linux operating systems provide a daemon that activates Logical Volume Manager (LVM) volume groups as these groups become available to the system. Set this daemon on the Linux mount proxy system so that LVM volume groups are not activated as they become available to the system. For detailed information about how to set this daemon, see the appropriate Linux documentation.

Microsoft Windows domain account prerequisites

The following prerequisites apply to Windows domain accounts:

Windows domain administrator credentials are required to access the network share. An administrator enters these credentials in the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI configuration wizard or notebook to enable the environment for file restore operations.
A file owner accesses the remote virtual machine (that contains the files to be restored) with Windows domain user credentials. These credentials are entered in the Tivoli Storage Manager file restore interface during login. Domain user credentials verify that the file owner has permission to log in to the remote virtual machine and restore files into the remote virtual machine. These credentials do not require any special permissions.
If a file owner uses a Windows domain user account that limits access to specific computers (instead of access to all computers within the domain), ensure that the mount proxy system is included in the list of computers that are accessible to this domain user account. Otherwise, the file owner is unable to log in to the Tivoli Storage Manager file restore interface.

Tape media prerequisites

File restore from tape media is supported. However, recovery of individual files generates random read request patterns. As a result, processing might be slow when a sequential-access device (such as tape media) is used. File restore from disk storage is the preferred method.

Consider moving target virtual machine backup data from tape media to disk storage before you attempt a file restore operation. You can do move data with the Tivoli Storage Manager server MOVE NODEDATA command. You can also run traditional full VM backups regularly.

For more information related to tape media, see Tape media guidelines.