Restoring instances

HYCU for Google Cloud enables you to restore an entire instance or its individual disks to a specific point in time or multiple instances or disks belonging to multiple instances in a single session.

Prerequisites

Only if you plan to specify post-restore scripts.

• Access to the instance file system must be enabled. For instructions, see “Enabling access to data”.

• A script must be available in an accessible folder.

• The user account must have permissions to run a script on the instance.

Considerations

• Only one restore task can run at the same time for the instance.

• Only if you plan to specify post-restore scripts. The scripts are run from the home directory of the user account that HYCU for Google Cloud uses for running the scripts.

  Depending on the operating system on the instance, the following user accounts are used:

  • GNU/Linux:

    • The instance has no credential group assigned in HYCU for Google Cloud: The HYCU Managed Service Account (HMSA).

    • The instance has a credential group assigned: The user account specified in the credential group.

  • Microsoft Windows: The user account that is assigned to the instance in HYCU for Google Cloud by means of a credential group.

When you restore an instance or its disks, you can select among the following restore options:

Restore option	Description	Instructions
Restore Instance	Enables you to restore an instance and its disks to the original location with the same settings.	“Restoring an instance”
Clone Instance	Enables you to restore an instance and its disks by creating a clone of the instance.	“Cloning an instance”
Restore Disks	Enables you to restore instance disks and attach them to the same instance.	“Restoring disks”
Clone Disks	Enables you to restore instance disks by creating their clones and attaching them to the same or a different instance.	“Cloning disks”
Export Disks	Enables you to restore instance disks to the same or a different projects or zone without attaching them to an instance.	“Exporting disks”

When you restore multiple instances or disks belonging to multiple instances in a single session, you can select between the following options:

Restore option	Description	Instructions
Restore Instances	Enables you to restore multiple instances by creating clones of the instances.	“Restoring multiple instances in a single session”
Restore Disks	Enables you to restore multiple instance disks on multiple instances at once.	“Restoring multiple disks in a single session”

Restoring an instance

You can restore an instance and its disks to the original location with the same settings. In this case, you replace the original instance with the restored one.

Considerations

• Any data changes after the last successful backup are not protected and therefore cannot be restored.

• If you are restoring an instance with three or more disks, HYCU for Google Cloud by default performs the parallel restore, which speeds up the entire instance restore process. For instances with fewer than three disks, the sequential restore is performed.

Procedure

1. In the Instances panel, click the instance that you want to restore to open the Details section.

   n Note  The Details section appears only if you click an instance. Selecting the check box before the name of the instance does not open the Details section.

2. In the Details section that appears at the bottom of the screen, select the desired restore point.

3. Click  Restore Instance. The Restore Options dialog box opens.

4. Select Restore Instance, and then click Next.

5. From the Restore from drop-down menu, select which tier you want to use for the restore. Your restore point can contain one or more tiers among which you can select:

   • Automatic: This option ensures the fastest and most cost-effective restore.

   • Backup (Snapshot)

   • Backup (Target)

   • Copy

   • Archive—(daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)

6. From the Disks drop-down menu, select the instance disks that you want to restore.

   n Note  All disks of the instance are preselected for the restore. With such selection, the entire instance is restored. The boot disk is restored even if you do not select it.

7. Optional. In the Post-restore script field, enter the path to the script or a command that HYCU for Google Cloud should run on the instance after the restore.

   n Note  You can enter any command that the command-line interface of your instance supports.

8. Click Restore.

Cloning an instance

You can clone an instance by restoring it to its original or a new location with custom settings. In this case, you create a new instance containing the restored data alongside the original instance. When cloning an instance, you can change the following properties: the selection of the backed up disks, the destination project, region, and zone, and the instance network configuration.

Limitation

You cannot restore instances that belong to a deleted Google Cloud project. Such instances are not listed in the Instances panel of the HYCU for Google Cloud web user interface.

Considerations

• If you are restoring an instance with three or more disks, HYCU for Google Cloud by default performs the parallel restore, which speeds up the entire instance restore process. For instances with fewer than three disks, the sequential restore is performed.

• Only if you plan to replicate disks.

  • The boot disk cannot be replicated.

  • Standard persistent disks smaller than 200 GiB cannot be replicated.

  • Regional disks can be replicated only across two zones in the same region. One of these zones must be the same as the zone of the target instance.

  • If the region or zone of the target instance changes, all regional disks are automatically converted to zonal disks. In this case, the procedure of replicating the disks must be performed again.

Procedure

1. In the Instances panel, click the instance that you want to restore to open the Details section.

   n Note  The Details section appears only if you click an instance. Selecting the check box before the name of the instance will not open the Details section.

2. In the Details section that appears at the bottom of the screen, select the desired restore point.

3. Click  Restore Instance. The Restore Options dialog box opens.

4. Select Clone Instance, and then click Next.

5. In the New instance name field, specify a new name for the instance.

6. From the Restore from drop-down menu, select which tier you want to use for the restore. Your restore point can contain one or more tiers among which you can select:

   • Automatic: This option ensures the fastest and most cost-effective restore.

   • Backup (Snapshot)

   • Backup (Target)

   • Copy

   • Archive—(daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)

7. Optional. In the Post-restore script field, enter the path to the script or a command that HYCU for Google Cloud should run on the restored instance after the restore.

   n Note  You can enter any command that the command-line interface of your instance supports.

8. From the Target project drop-down menu, select the project to which you want to restore the instance. The original project of the instance is preselected. You can choose from projects that belong to the currently selected protection set and that your user account can access.

9. From the Target region and Target zone drop-down menus, select the Google Cloud region and zone to which you want to restore the instance. The original region and zone of the instance are preselected.

10. Under Disk name, do the following:

    1. Select the instance disks that you want to restore.

       n Note  All disks of the instance are preselected for the restore. With such selection, the entire instance is restored. The boot disk is restored even if you do not select it.

    2. Edit the disks as required. For each selected disks, do the following:

       1. Click  Edit Disk.

       2. Only if you do not want HYCU for Google Cloud to automatically generate a name for the restored disk device or disk . Do the following:

          1. In the New device name field, enter a name for the restored disk device.

          2. In the New disk name, enter a name for the restored disk.

       3. If you want to change the disk type, from the Disk type drop-down menu, select one of the available disk types for the restored disk (Standard persistent disk, Balanced persistent disks, or SSD persistent disk). By default, the original disk type is selected.

       4. If you want to replicate data between two zones in the region of the instance, make sure the Replicate this disk within region check box is selected, and then, from the Replica zones drop-down menu, select to which two zones you want to replicate data. If the selected disk was regional at backup time, the two zones across which the disk is replicated are shown, otherwise, a list of all zones in the region of the instance is shown.

       5. If you want to add labels to the restored disk, click Add Tags, enter a key and a value, and then click Add for each label that you want to add.

          n Note  If the selected disk already has one or more labels added, they are listed under Labels. If you want to delete any of the added labels, clickxnext to it.

       6. Click Save.

11. Under Network interfaces, review the list of networks that the original instance was configured in at the time of backup. The list shows the following for each such network:

    • Subnetwork name (for VPC networks and shared VPC networks) or network name (for legacy networks)

    • Only in case of a shared VPC network. Name of the host project of the network

    • Network type: Subnet for VPC networks and shared VPC networks, Legacy for legacy networks

    For each configured network interface, you can separately adjust its external and internal IP address types. By default, the external IP address configuration of the original instance is kept.

    Modifying network settings

    If you want to modify network settings, you can add an additional network interface, edit an existing network interface, or delete a network interface:

    • Click Add network interface to add a network interface or click  Edit next to the network interface that you want to edit, and then follow these steps:

      1. From the Target network drop-down menu, select the target network.

      2. Only if you are adding a network interface. From the Virtual network drop-down menu, select the virtual network for the network interface.

         n Note  The list of available virtual networks includes only the ones within the region you selected for the restored instance.

      3. In the External address type field, select the external IP address for the network interface. You can select among the following options:

         Option	Description
         None	The network interface does not use an external IP address. This option is preselected if the network interface of the original instance did not use an external address.
         Ephemeral	The network interface uses an automatically allocated external IP address. This option is preselected if the network interface of the original instance used an external IP address.
         Static (Reserved)	The network interface uses a static external IP address that was reserved in Google Compute Engine in advance.
         Static (New)	The network interface uses a static external IP address that is allocated at the time of the restore. If the allocation fails, the instance is assigned a temporary external IP address. Such fallback also sets the restore task status to Done with errors.

      4. In the Internal address type field, select the internal IP address for the network interface. You can select between the following options:

         Option	Description
         Ephemeral (Automatic)	The network interface uses an automatically allocated internal IP address. This option is selected by default for the preselected network interfaces.
         Ephemeral (Custom)	The network interface uses an internal IP address that is defined by you. i Important  Use of this option might result in IP address conflicts.
         Static (Reserved)	Not available for legacy networks. The network interface uses a static internal IP address that was reserved in Google Compute Engine in advance.
         Static (New)	Not available for legacy networks. The network interface uses a new static internal IP address that is defined by you. n Note  Allocation of the IP address in Google Compute Engine is performed at the very beginning of the restore. If the allocation fails, the restore task is terminated without being logged.

      5. Click Add or Save.

    • Click  Delete next to the network interface that you want to delete. Keep in mind that you cannot restore the instance without a network interface.

12. If you want to add tags and/or labels to the restored instance, click Add Tags and then for each and/or tag that you want to add, do the following:

    1. From the Available options drop-down menu, select whether you want to add a label, a network tag, or a custom metadata tag.

    2. Enter a key and a value, and then click Add.

       n Note  If the selected instance already has one or more labels, network tags, and/or custom metadata tags added, they are listed under Labels. If you want to delete any of the added labels, network tags, and/or custom metadata tags, clickxnext to it.

13. Click Restore.

Restoring disks

You can restore instance disks and attach them to the same instance. In this case, you replace the original disks with the restored ones.

Procedure

1. In the Instances panel, click the instance whose disks you want to restore to open the Details section.

   n Note  The Details section appears only if you click an instance. Selecting the check box before the name of the instance will not open the Details section.

2. In the Details section that appears at the bottom of the screen, select the desired restore point.
3. Click  Restore Instance. The Restore Options dialog box opens.
4. Select Restore Disks, and then click Next.

5. From the list of disks that are available for the restore, select the ones that you want to restore, and then click Next.

   n Note  If you select the boot disk, the instance will be shut down and restarted when the disks are restored.

6. From the Restore from drop-down menu, select which tier you want to use for the restore. Your restore point can contain one or more tiers among which you can select:

   • Automatic: This option ensures the fastest and most cost-effective restore.

   • Backup (Snapshot)

   • Backup (Target)

   • Copy

   • Archive—(daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)

7. Optional. In the Post-restore script field, enter the path to the script or a command that HYCU for Google Cloud should run after the restore on the instance to which the restored disks are attached.

   n Note  You can enter any command that the command-line interface of your instance supports.

8. Click Restore.

Cloning disks

You can create clones of instance disks by restoring them and attaching them to the same or a different instance. In this case, the original disks will not be overwritten.

Limitation

You can attach the restored disks only to an instance that is running the same operating system as the original instance and that belongs to the same protection set as the original instance.

Considerations

• Only if you plan to replicate disks.

  • The boot disk cannot be replicated.

  • Standard persistent disks smaller than 200 GiB cannot be replicated.

  • Regional disks can be replicated only across two zones in the same region. One of these zones must be the same as the zone of the target instance.

  • If the region or zone of the target instance changes, all regional disks are automatically converted to zonal disks. In this case, the procedure of replicating the disks must be performed again.

• For details on how the restored disks are named, see “Appendix A: Objects created by the service”.

Procedure

1. In the Instances panel, click the instance whose disks you want to restore to open the Details section.

   n Note  The Details section appears only if you click an instance. Selecting the check box before the name of the instance will not open the Details section.

2. In the Details section that appears at the bottom of the screen, select the desired restore point.
3. Click  Restore Instance. The Restore Options dialog box opens.
4. Select Clone Disks, and then click Next.
5. From the list of disks that are available for the restore, select the ones that you want to restore, and then click Next.

6. From the Restore from drop-down menu, select which tier you want to use for the restore. Your restore point can contain one or more tiers among which you can select:

   • Automatic: This option ensures the fastest and most cost-effective restore.

   • Backup (Snapshot)

   • Backup (Target)

   • Copy

   • Archive—(daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)

7. Select the project and the zone that contain the instance to which you want to attach the restored disks, and then select the instance to which you want to attach the restored disks.

8. Optional. In the Post-restore script field, enter the path to the script or a command that HYCU for Google Cloud should run after the restore on the instance to which the restored disks are attached.

   n Note  You can enter any command that the command-line interface of your instance supports.

9. Edit the disks as required. For each selected disks, do the following:

   1. Click  Edit Disk.

   2. Only if you do not want HYCU for Google Cloud to automatically generate a name for the restored disk device or disk . Do the following:

      1. In the New device name field, enter a name for the restored disk device.

      2. In the New disk name, enter a name for the restored disk.

   3. If you want to change the disk type, from the Disk type drop-down menu, select one of the available disk types for the restored disk (Standard persistent disk, Balanced persistent disks, or SSD persistent disk). By default, the original disk type is selected.

   4. If you want to replicate data between two zones in the region of the instance, make sure the Replicate this disk within region check box is selected, and then, from the Replica zones drop-down menu, select to which two zones you want to replicate data. If the selected disk was regional at backup time, the two zones across which the disk is replicated are shown, otherwise, a list of all zones in the region of the instance is shown.

   5. If you want to add labels to the restored disk, click Add Tags, enter a key and a value, and then click Add for each label that you want to add.

      n Note  If the selected disk already has one or more labels added, they are listed under Labels. If you want to delete any of the added labels, clickxnext to it.

   6. Click Save.
10. Click Restore.

Exporting disks

You can export instance disks by restoring them to the same or a different project or zone. In this case, the disks will not be attached to any instance.

Prerequisite

Only if you plan to restore disks to a different project . The default network must be set for the project to which you plan to restore disks, or the project to which you plan to restore disks must have the same network as the instance whose disks you plan to restore.

Considerations

• Only if you plan to replicate disks.

  • The boot disk cannot be replicated.

  • Standard persistent disks smaller than 200 GiB cannot be replicated.

  • Regional disks can be replicated only across two zones in the same region. One of these zones must be the same as the zone of the target instance.

  • If the region or zone of the target instance changes, all regional disks are automatically converted to zonal disks. In this case, the procedure of replicating the disks must be performed again.

• For details on how the restored disks are named, see “Appendix A: Objects created by the service”.

Procedure

1. In the Instances panel, click the instance whose disks you want to restore to open the Details section.

   n Note  The Details section appears only if you click an instance. Selecting the check box before the name of the instance will not open the Details section.

2. In the Details section that appears at the bottom of the screen, select the desired restore point.
3. Click  Restore Instance. The Restore Options dialog box opens.
4. Select Export Disks, and then click Next.
5. From the list of disks that are available for the restore, select the ones that you want to restore, and then click Next.

6. From the Restore from drop-down menu, select which tier you want to use for the restore. Your restore point can contain one or more tiers among which you can select:

   • Automatic: This option ensures the fastest and most cost-effective restore.

   • Backup (Snapshot)

   • Backup (Target)

   • Copy

   • Archive—(daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)

7. From the Target project drop-down menu, select the project to which you want to restore the disks. You can choose from the projects that belong to the currently selected protection set.

8. From the Target region and Target zone drop-down menus, select the Google Cloud region and zone to which you want to restore the disks.

9. Edit the disks as required. For each selected disks, do the following:

   1. Click  Edit Disk.

   2. Only if you do not want HYCU for Google Cloud to automatically generate a name for the restored disk device or disk . Do the following:

      1. In the New device name field, enter a name for the restored disk device.

      2. In the New disk name, enter a name for the restored disk.

   3. If you want to change the disk type, from the Disk type drop-down menu, select one of the available disk types for the restored disk (Standard persistent disk, Balanced persistent disks, or SSD persistent disk). By default, the original disk type is selected.

   4. If you want to replicate data between two zones in the region of the instance, make sure the Replicate this disk within region check box is selected, and then, from the Replica zones drop-down menu, select to which two zones you want to replicate data. If the selected disk was regional at backup time, the two zones across which the disk is replicated are shown, otherwise, a list of all zones in the region of the instance is shown.

   5. If you want to add labels to the restored disk, click Add Tags, enter a key and a value, and then click Add for each label that you want to add.

      n Note  If the selected disk already has one or more labels added, they are listed under Labels. If you want to delete any of the added labels, clickxnext to it.

   6. Click Save.
10. Click Restore.

Restoring multiple instances in a single session

You can restore multiple instances by using a single restore specification. After the restore specification is generated, you can use it immediately or further modify it according to your needs.

Limitation

You can use only the latest restore point to restore multiple instances. Other restore points are not available.

Procedure

1. In the Instances panel, select the instances that you want to restore.

2. Click  Bulk Restore. The Bulk Restore Options dialog box opens.

3. Select Restore Instances and then click Next. The Restore Instances dialog box opens.

4. From the Target project drop-down menu, select the project to which you want to restore the instances. You can choose from projects that belong to the currently selected protection set and that your user account can access.

5. From the Target region and Target zones drop-down menus, select the Google Cloud region and zone to which you want to restore the instances.

6. Optional. Enter the target instance postfix and the target disk postfix to add a postfix to the names of the target instances and disks.

7. Optional. In the Post-restore script field, enter the path to the script or a command that HYCU for Google Cloud should run on the restored instances after the restore.

   n Note  You can enter any command that the command-line interface of your instance supports.

8. Enable the Overwrite existing switch to overwrite the existing instances. By default, this option is disabled and the restore of the instance fails if an instance with the same name exists in the target region and zone.

9. Only if you want to start the restore immediately. Click Restore.

10. Only if you want to edit the restore specification before executing it.

    1. Click Edit Restore Spec. The restore specification generated by HYCU for Google Cloud for all selected instances is displayed, together with the POST method URL. You can edit the specification or copy it to the clipboard by clicking Copy to clipboard, and then edit it with a text editor of your choice.

       For details on the generated restore specification and the options used, see “Appendix C: Bulk restore specifications”.

    2. Click Execute to execute the modified restore specification.

Restoring multiple disks in a single session

You can restore disks belonging to multiple instances by using a single restore specification. After the restore specification is generated, you can use it immediately or further modify it according to your needs.

Limitation

You can use only the latest restore point to restore disks belonging to multiple instances. Other restore points are not available.

Procedure

1. In the Instances panel, select the instances whose disks you want to restore.

2. Click  Bulk Restore. The Bulk Restore Options dialog box opens.

3. Select Restore disks, and then click Next. The Restore Disks dialog box opens.

4. From the Target project drop-down menu, select the project to which you want to restore the disks. You can choose from projects that belong to the currently selected protection set and that your user account can access.

5. From the Target region and Target zones drop-down menus, select the Google Cloud region and zone to which you want to restore the disks.

6. Optional. Enter the target disk postfix to add a postfix to the names of the target disks.

7. Enable the Overwrite existing switch if you want to overwrite existing disks. By default, this option is disabled and the restore fails if a disk with the same name exists at the instance to which the disks are attached.

8. Only if you want to start the restore immediately. Click Restore.

9. Only if you want to edit the restore specification before executing it.

   1. Click Edit Restore Spec. The restore specification generated by HYCU for Google Cloud for all selected instances is displayed, together with the POST method URL. You can edit the specification or copy it to the clipboard by clicking Copy to clipboard, and then edit it with a text editor of your choice.

      For details on the generated restore specification and the options used, see “Appendix C: Bulk restore specifications”.

   2. Click Execute to execute the modified restore specification.