[Guide] Steps to build a successful BMR plan

Last Updated: Sep 13, 2017 09:32PM CEST

Steps to build a successful BMR plan

Step 1: Create the ISO boot file

1. Open and administrator CMD window on the client machine you want to create a BMR job for. Then navigate to “C:\Program Files\NovaStor\DataCenter\Hiback\vss\BMR\PE-Build” and run CreateWinPE_x64_en.vbs to create the Machine Specific Boot ISO file.
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3. Rename this ISO file to match the computer that is was create on IE: “COMPUTERNAME_USB_BOOT.ISO”. Create a folder on a network share named “NBK BMR ISO Files” or similar. Move the .ISO files created on each machine to this location.
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Step 2: Create the BMR backup job

1. Create the backup job by going to the Backup Jobs tab, right click then choose “New” and select “Bare-Metal Recovery” from the menu.
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5. This will bring up the Job Creation Windows. Here you can select the Node you want to create a BMR job for, storage target and schedule to run. Select “System Partition” to backup just the OS partition or “All Partitions” to grab all drives/partitions on this machine.
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Step 3: Restore of BMR backup

1. Open the “Restore” tab in the GUI. From here you can navigate to the “OS/Machine Name/Job Name/Date of backup”. Select the “Guide” button from the lower right corner.
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5. This window will give you the “Backup ID” and “Device String”. These are the 2 pieces of information that will be needed during the restore process.
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7. Burn the ISO file create in step 1 for the machine you are going to restore onto a USB drive.
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9. Boot PC from this USB stick. Make sure you have a live network cable attached to the machine before booting.
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15. Select N (no) for manual network configuration. The Restore Boot will look for DHCP automatically and should not need to be manually configured if you have one available.
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17. Unless you are restoring to dissimilar hardware you can answer N(no) to the additional drives question as well then hit enter
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19. This is where you will enter the “Backup ID” you gathered from the GUI and hit enter.
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21. You can Hit enter to skip this the next step for “commandline options” - (advanced settings)
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23. This is where you will enter the “Device String” you gathered from the GUI and hit enter.
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25. You will get a list of the Volumes available in this job and be asked to continue. Select Y(yes) when ready to begin the restore process.

From here you will see the restore proceed and data transfer increment in the header of the window.

Once completed you can exit the utility, remove the USB stick and reboot the machine. It should boot back to the OS that was just restored and you can proceed with any file level, SQL or Exchange restores needed.

If the restore fails **DO NOT REBOOT** the machine. Leave the system booted to the USB so the job log can be gathered to find out the reason for failure. This is important because you are booted into a temporary memory disk and will be wiped if reboot. You will need to map a network location as a drive in the command line in order to copy the files from the local USB.