ViewStor Explorer, aka Point-In-Time Explorer, presents a browsable view of an archive restore point in a Windows Explorer like interface.
From it you can drill into the folder structure of protected directories, and drag and drop or restore files and directories, for data recovery.
ViewStor Explorer runs as a service, either as ArchiveIQ Viewstor or DATASTOR Shield ViewStor. It requires Webclient service to be running, also.
Viewstor presents a virtual file system by reading an xml file and displaying the folders and files listed there in a window. Viewstor integrates with WebDAV and treats the xml file as a web file system with read only access.
The Webclient service in Windows 2003 listens on port 80 and receives ViewStor requests and returns results. The Webclient port is not configurable in Windows 2003. The Webclient service in Windows 2008 can listen on another port and by default ViewStor will communicate on port 8500, which will relieve port conflicts with other services that may be listening on port 80. Install the Desktop Experience feature in Windows Server 2008 to install the Webclient service.
Because ViewStor integrates with WebDAV, Internet security settings affect the ViewStor service, and may be involved in non-functionality.
To access ViewStor Explorer, open Archive Manager, select a Store, expand it, select the Archives folder, expand it, and select your desired archive. In the Actions pane, select the Restore action. In the center pane, select the calendar date you desire, select the restore point, then select the Explore button.
When you click on the Explore button you may receive an error that services are not running, you may be prompted for credentials repeatedly, or you may receive a message that an error was encountered trying to build the view. You may also receive an error that a file or folder was not found while browsing.
Viewstor Explorer may not function for several reasons. Some are listed below.
- Required services may not be started.
- Internet security may be preventing proper functionality.
- A port conflict between the Viewstor service and another service on the server may occur.
- A timeout condition may be reached in the webclient service before the xml file can be generated.
- The account with which you are logged into the server may not have permission to access the archive.
Verify the DATASTOR Viewstor service and the Webclient service are started in the services MMC. If the Webclient service is running, do not stop and start the Webclient service, or you may need to reboot the system to restore functionality. Click on Start, Run, and type services.msc to open the services console. You may edit the properties of the Viewstor service. On the Recovery tab, set the First failure and Second failure action to Restart the service. On Windows Server 2008, you may additionally specify to wait before trying to restart the service. Some customers report setting this to a few minutes allows the service to start during system start up, on systems that experience a start up issue. On Windows Server 2008, you must install the Desktop Experience feature to install the Webclient service.
Internet Security must be properly configured. The first time you click the Explore button to view a restore point in ViewStor Explorer, the software checks to see that http://localhost and http://[machinename] are present in the Internet Security, Local Intranet zone. If not present, the software will add them. The software may not be able to add to the Local Intranet zone if the checkbox to require HTTPS is checked. Verify both URL addresses are present. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools, Internet Options, Security tab, and select the Local Intranet icon. Click the Sites button. If both entries are not present, enter them. Also check the Custom Level of security settings. Highlight the Local intranet icon, and click Custom Level. Scroll to the bottom and verify that User Authentication, Logon, is set to Automatic logon only in Intranet zone.
On Windows XP and Windows 2003, ViewStor is designed to coexist with IIS on port 80. However, if Front Page extensions are installed, Viewstor will not work. If IIS is installed and running, the archiveiqviewstor.log file will indicate that another service was found listening on port 80. To quickly determine whether IIS is causing a problem, stop the website that is listening on port 80 in IIS Management Console, usually the default website. Then, restart the ViewStor service and attempt to explore a restore point. If ViewStor Explorer works, there is a conflict with IIS. Check to see whether the root website is configured to allow only secure connections, as when Exchange 2007 is installed. Although ViewStor is explored at http://machinename/Viewstor/, Webclient sends requests all the way down to the root website regardless of the starting path being explored, e.g. http://machinename. Does IISAdmin have the correct permissions? (See KB article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899965)
Is a third party firewall installed blocking port 80 requests?
Is the system drive full? (WebClient caches files to the system drive temp, including the directory listings from PropFind requests)
Is another service other than IIS running on the system? (e.g. Apache or Skype) You may configure other services to run on a port other than port 80, in that case. See Viewstor explorer is not functional when apache is installed and Resolving incompatibility issues for instructions. These instructions only apply to XP and Windows Server 2003.
When you click the Explore button you may receive a message to please wait while the view is created. After a minute, a pop up may say there was an error creating the view. It is possible that the webclient on XP and Windows Server 2003 has timed out before the view could be created. This may occur when an archive with a large number of protected files is explored. The xml file used to browse the restore point may not finish being written before the webclient times out. However, the Viewstor process will still be generating the xml file in the background. To verify, open Task Manager and watch the CPU usage on the ArchiveIQViewstor.exe process. When it drops to zero, click the Explore button for the same restore point once. A ViewStor Explorer window will open this time. The software will automatically extend the timeout setting for webclient on Windows Server 2008. For more information, see How to resolve error attempting to explore a restore point.
You may receive an error when you drag and drop a file from ViewStor Explorer to Windows Explorer or the desktop that reads, Error 0x80070780: The file cannot be accessed by the system. This is an access denied error. ArchiveIQViewstor.log will list the Access Denied error. However, if you right click the file and select ‘Save As’, you can successfully save the file. Restore also works. This error results when user logged onto the Archive Server does not have sufficient permission for the web site content, i.e. the file that is to be restored. For example, Windows 2003 Small Business Server creates user folders with permissions restricted to the user himself. In this case, use an alternate restore method. Once restored, if necessary take ownership of the files and change permissions on the files so the backup operator can manage the files.
When you restore files that are larger than 50 MB from a workstation that is accessing restore points through Internet Explorer via URL http://[machinename]/Viewstor/, you may receive an error: Cannot Copy File Name. A registry edit for the workstation performing the restore is available. For instructuions, see Cannot copy file name.