Overview of recovery choices - x360Recover

Written By Heather Hootman ()

Updated at October 26th, 2023

Trying to select the best recovery methods and options for a particular situation? We've compiled this index to help you compare choices within one convenient worksheet.

Take a look at our Recovery Playbook


Need a map?

Review these two maps to decide what you are recovering: (You'll review methods below)

MAP#1 - FILES AND FOLDERS
MAP#2 - ENTIRE PROTECTED SYSTEM

"I'm recovering files and folders."

Only a few files? Or many folders with complex permissions? Your choices include restoring to an appliance, a private cloud vault or an Axcient vault.

View options to recover files and folders:

"I'm recovering an entire protected system"

When deciding where and how to recover an entire system: you can export as a virtual disk, recover to bare metal or virtualize for instant recovery.

View options to recover an entire system:




Overview

This article gives a high-level overview of your choices when recovering for your clients.

x360Recover gives you multiple options to restore lost or corrupted files, temporarily run critical workstations or servers, or permanently recover from a site-wide disaster.


Plan for a disaster

As an MSP, you need to consider all potential threats to ensure your clients’ business operations can continue during times of emergencies. For example, your clients might experience the following:

  • Lost or misplaced files or folders.
  • Malware on a critical workstation or server.
  • Temporary loss of a server.
  • Site-wide disaster.

x360Recover provides a recovery option for each of these emergencies, including:

  • Download from the local appliance or Axcient Cloud.
  • Virtualize a protected system on the local appliance.
  • Request a USB Drive shipment containing files or virtual disk images from the Axcient Cloud.
  • Recover in the Axcient Continuity Cloud (separate paid service).
  • Recover in your own Private Cloud datacenter.



Local vs. cloud recovery

The appliance, which sits at the local customer location, serves as your first line of defense. If the appliance is unavailable, or if you are experiencing a site-wide disaster, you might need to recover replicated data from the vault.


Local recovery (appliance)

The appliance is the fastest and easiest way to recover data for a customer location. For example, you can access the following tools from the Appliance Web interface:

File and folder recovery

The following tool is available for file and folder recovery in the appliance:

  • Mount tool—for simple recovery of a few files or folders, you can use the Mount tool to select a Snapshot and browse the file system for a quick restore.
  • Start iSCSI tool—for larger file and folder restore requests, or if you need to perform search operations to locate missing files, you can use the Start iSCSI tool. With this feature, you can launch an iSCSI Initiator application and connect to the target for easy access to files and folders.

Note: When you recover with the iSCSI tool, you have the advantage of maintaining all file and folder permissions present on the original protected system.

Snapshot recovery

The following tools are available for Snapshot recovery within the Appliance:

  • Start VM—this tool lets you launch a Virtual Machine from the Appliance Web interface, allowing you to temporarily start a server or critical workstation while you rebuild or replace hardware. This tool is useful if you still have access to the Appliance at the local customer location.
  • Export Snapshot—this tool allows you to export a snapshot in whichever format you choose, including VMDK, VDI, VHD, VHDX, and more.

Cloud recovery (vault)

If the appliance is unavailable, or if you are experiencing a site-wide disaster, you might need to recover replicated data from the vault.

If you are vaulting to the Axcient Cloud, you can access the following tools from the vault Web interface. To access these tools, you will need to log into the vault with the specific customer login credentials.

File and folder recovery

The following tool is available for file and folder recovery in the vault:

  • Mount tool—for simple recovery of a few files or folders, you can use the Mount tool to select a snapshot and browse the file system for a quick restore.

Snapshot recovery

The following tools are available for Snapshot recovery in the vault:

  • Export Snapshot—this tool allows you to export a Snapshot in whichever format you choose, including VMDK, VDI, VHD, VHDX, and more. Exported Snapshots can be downloaded over the Internet when the image conversion is completed. In the event of a disaster, you might need to temporarily run critical servers and workstations in the Cloud.
    As a first step, you will need to submit a ticket to Axcient Support asking for a Continuity Cloud Node (or CC Node). You can then export a Snapshot from the vault and create a Virtual Machine within the CC Node

Note: Exported snapshots are written directly onto the CC Node storage volume: there is no need to download or copy the files after the Export finishes.

  • Request a Disk Shipment—you can optionally submit a ticket to Axcient Support and request a disk shipment. This service is useful if a Snapshot is too large to transfer over the Internet, or if bandwidth is limited at the customer location.

Private cloud recovery

If you are vaulting to your own Private Cloud, you are primarily responsible for disaster recovery services. Private Cloud vaults have all of the same recovery options as the on-site appliance, including the option to virtualize the protected system directly on the vault.

File and folder recovery

The following tools are available for file and folder recovery in a Private Cloud vault:

  • Mount tool—for simple recovery of a few files or folders, you can use the Mount tool to select a Snapshot and browse the file system for a quick restore.
  • Start iSCSI tool—for larger file and folder restore requests, or if you need to perform search operations to locate missing files, you can use the Start iSCSI tool. With this feature, you can launch an iSCSI Initiator application and connect to the target for easy access to files and folders.

Note: When you recover with the iSCSI tool, you have the advantage of maintaining all file and folder permissions present on the original protected system.

Snapshot recovery

The following tools are available for Snapshot recovery in a Private Cloud vault:

  • Start VM—if you are vaulting to your own Private Cloud datacenter, you have access to the Start VM tool from the vault Web interface. This tool lets you launch a Virtual Machine from a specific Snapshot so that you can temporarily start a server or critical workstation while you rebuild or replace hardware
  • Export Snapshot—this tool allows you to export a Snapshot in whichever format you choose, including VMDK, VDI, VHD, VHDX, and more. If you enable the NFS Exports tool, you can even allow remote systems to connect to the Appliance or vault and mount the Export folder using the NFS protocol.


Recovery methods: 

Recovery method/option

When  to use? How to access Documentation
Direct-to-Cloud (D2C) Local Cache


 When you need fast recovery without an appliance, a local cache acts as  a “big bucket of block data”, avoiding downloads from the internet From Recovery Center attached to the local cache  Local cache for Direct-to-Cloud (D2C)

BDR 

When you need instant virtualization of a protected system from image-based backups located on a local BDR appliance Virtualize the protected system on the local backup appliance Appliance-specific recoveries
 

File and folder recovery


When to use

How to access

Documentation
Click to view a map of options to recover files and folders: Choose a method based on  services in use, number of files/folders to recover and whether to preserve permissions   Types of file and folder recovery

Mount a snapshot and browse the file system Best for quick restore of a few files/folders From an appliance Mount a snapshot

Browse and transfer files with an  FTP client When restoring large groups of files/folders From an appliance
From a private vault 
Use FTPS
Launch an iSCSI initiator application Best for restoring large files/folders or searching for missing files From an appliance
From a private vault 
 
Start iSCSI
Manual partition When performing a manual, partition-by-partition recovery for BDR (not Direct-to-Cloud) x360Recovery Toolkit  (using iSCSI) Manual partition - Only for BDR: NOT for D2C

Bare metal recovery


When to use

How to access

Documentation
 Click to view a map of options when recovering an entire system: When you are recovering an entire protected system image to a new device, either physical or virtual From  local cache or a Virtual Disk Image export Bare Metal Restore Guide
 
BMR from an appliance To recover a protected system from a local appliance From an appliance How-to: From an appliance

BMR  from a vault with local cache When a Direct-to-Cloud (D2C) endpoint has a local cache, and you wish to recover directly from that local cache From  a private vault, located locally on the LAN (because you'll need direct iSCSI connections) How-to: From a vault with local cache

BMR from a vault without local cache When recovering from a vault without Direct-to-Cloud local cache enabled From your vault without local cache if  (a) an appliance-based end point or (b) a D2C endpoint How-to: From a vault without local cache

BMR from a virtual disk image  When no local cache is configured for a D2C system, or when you may have already exported your protected system to a virtual disk image From a virtual disk image

How-to: From a virtual disk image 


Virtualization

 
When to use
 
How to access
 
Documentation
Virtual Office (VO)
Click to view a map of options when recovering an entire system:
Local failover VM used during a disaster to temporarily replace production devices with a VM running in Axcient’s cloud x360Recover Manager

Virtual Office - Get started

Smart Recovery feature Useful when source partition tables and volume topology must be exactly replicated From an appliance
From a private vault
Smart Recovery

Hyper-V VM Export virtual disks and create a Hyper-V VM on the locally installed Hyper-V host Recovery Center

How to perform a Hyper-V recovery

VMware recovery Use the NFS Export feature on an appliance or vault as a temporary data-store  Launch as a VM from an
appliance or VMware
How to perform a VMware recovery

Virtual machine (VM) Launch a VM to temporarily start a server or workstation while rebuilding or replacing hardware From an appliance
From a private vault 
Recovery Center
x360Recover Manager

Virtual machines


Export disks

 
When to use
 
How to access
 
Documentation
Export snapshot 
Click to view a map of options when recovering an entire system:

Choose from a variety of formats to export a virtual disk image, then download the disk with an internet connection From an appliance
From a private vault 
From Axcient Cloud vault
Recovery Center 
Virtual disk export using x360Recover D2C  and Recovery Center
Download exported virtual disks from the cloud When you need to download an exported disk from an Axcient hosted vault From an Axcient Cloud vault and the LFTP local client linked in the KB Segmented download using LFTP for Windows
NFS export Export a virtual disk image, then share the disk on the network From an appliance
From a private vault 
From  Axcient Cloud Vault
Export a protected system disk with the NFS exports tool
Request a disk shipment/USB Request a disk if a snapshot is too large to export/download Use x360Portal to submit an Axcient Support ticket How to request a copy of your hosted data
Instant Cloud Recovery with Scale-Out Cloud Perform a near-instant export and recovery without needing to convert to VHDX or VMDK first Use x360Portal to submit an Axcient Support ticket Scale-Out Cloud with instant cloud recovery