File Search

Definition

The file search functionality allows the user to search for files and folders located on a chosen VM in a workload in one or more Backups.

Navigating to the file search tab in Horizon

The file search tab is part of every workload overview. To reach it follow these steps:

  1. Login to Horizon

  2. Navigate to Backups

  3. Navigate to Workloads

  4. Identify the workload a file search shall be done in

  5. Click the workload name to enter the Workload overview

  6. Click File Search to enter the file search tab

Configuring and starting a file search Horizon

A file search runs against a single virtual machine for a chosen subset of backups using a provided search string.

To run a file search the following elements need to be decided and configured

Choose the VM the file search shall run against

Under VM Name/ID choose the VM that the search is done upon. The drop down menu provides a list of all VMs that are part of any Snapshot in the Workload.

VMs that are no longer activly protected by the Workload but are still part of an existing Snapshot are listed in red.

Set the File Path

The File Path defines the search string that is run against the chosen VM and Snapshots. This search string does support basic RegEx.

The File Path has to start with a '/'

Windows partitions are fully supported. Each partition is its own Volume with its own root. Use '/Windows' instead of 'C:\Windows'

The file search does not go into deeper directories and always searches on the directory provided in the File Path

Example File Path for all files inside /etc : /etc/*

Define the Snapshots to search in

"Filter Snapshots by" is the third and last component that needs to be set. This defines which Snapshots are going to be searched.

There are 3 possibilities for a pre-filtering:

  1. All Snapshots - Lists all Snapshots that contain the chosen VM from all available Snapshots

  2. Last Snapshots - Choose between the last 10, 25, 50, or custom Snapshots and click Apply to get the list of the available Snapshots for the chosen VM that match the criteria.

  3. Date Range - Set a start and end date and click apply to get the list of all available Snapshots for the chosen VM within the set dates.

After the pre-filtering is done all matching Snapshots are automatic prechosen. Uncheck any Snapshot that shall not be searched.

When no Snapshot is chosen the file search will not start.

Start the File Search and retrieve the results in Horizon

To start a File Search the following elements need to be set:

  • A VM to search in has to be chosen

  • A valid File Path provided

  • At least one Snapshot to search in selected

Once those have been set click "Search" to start the file search.

Do not navigate to any other Horizon tab or website after starting the File Search. Results are lost and the search has to be repeated to regain them.

After a short time the results will be presented. The results are presented in a tabular format grouped by Snapshots and Volumes inside the Snapshot.

For each found file or folder the following information are provided:

  • POSIX permissions

  • Amount of links pointing to the file or folder

  • User ID who owns the file or folder

  • Group ID assigned to the file or folder

  • Actual size in Bytes of the file or folder

  • Time of creation

  • Time of last modification

  • Time of last access

  • Full path to the found file or folder

Once the Snapshot of interest has been identified it is possible to go directly to the Snapshot using the "View Snapshot" option at the top of the table. It is also possible to directly mount the Snapshot using the "Mound Snapshot" Button at the end of the table.

Doing a CLI File Search

workloadmgr filepath-search [--snapshotids <snapshotid>]
                            [--end_filter <end_filter>]
                            [--start_filter <start_filter>]
                            [--date_from <date_from>]
                            [--date_to <date_to>]
                            <vm_id> <file_path>
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