Avamar: How to restore data on a replication target from an Avamar client.

Summary: This article provides the steps on how to perform a client initiated restore from the command line of data from a replication target grid.

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Instructions

Run the following command from the Avamar client:

avtar -x --server=<target-grid-name-or-IPaddr> --id=<user> --pswd=<password> --path=/REPLICATE/<source-grid-name-or-IPaddr>/<path-to-client> --target=<target-directory> <file-or-directory-to-be-restored>
 

Example:

avtar -x --server=avamar-grid-02 --id=MCUser --pswd=MCUser1 --path=/REPLICATE/avamar-grid-01/clients/linux/client123 --target="/tmp/restore1" /home/admin/myshoppinglist.txt 
avtar -x --path=/REPLICATE/avamar-grid-01/clients/linux/client123 --target=/tmp/restore1  /home/admin/myshoppinglist.txt 
avtar Info <5551>: Command Line: /usr/local/avamar/bin/avtar.bin --flagfile=/usr/local/avamar/etc/usersettings.cfg --id=root --vardir=/usr/local/avamar/var --password=**************** --server=ave02.ddsrt.lab --bindir=/usr/local/avamar/bin --vardir=/usr/local/avamar/var --bindir=/usr/local/avamar/bin --sysdir=/usr/local/avamar/etc -x --account=/REPLICATE/avamar-grid-01/clients/linux/client123 --sequencenumber=6 --target=/tmp/restore1/home/admin/myshoppinglist.txt
avtar Info <7977>: Starting at 2025-07-03 21:42:26 PDT [avtar Jan 12 2022 15:38:04 19.4.100-124 Linux-x86_64]
avtar Info <6555>: Initializing connection
avtar Info <5552>: Connecting to Avamar Server (avamar-grid-01)
avtar Info <5554>: Connecting to one node in each datacenter
avtar Info <5583>: Login User: "root", Domain: "default", Account: "/REPLICATE/avamar-grid-01/clients/linux/client123"
avtar Info <5580>: Logging in on connection 0 (server 0)
avtar Info <5582>: Avamar Server login successful
avtar Info <10632>: Using Client-ID='e2adcd2a7da2882b5d9a2fabcc3b96a8f2828728'
avtar Info <5550>: Successfully logged into Avamar Server [19.4.0-124]
avtar Info <5295>: Starting restore at 2025-07-03 21:42:26 PDT as "admin" on "client123" (2 CPUs) [19.4.100-124]
avtar Info <41359>: Backup #6 had been created by avtar version 19.4.100-124 as plugin 1001-Filesystem
avtar Info <5949>: Backup file system character encoding is UTF-8.
avtar Info <8745>: Backup from Linux host "/REPLICATE/avamar-grid-01/clients/linux/client123" (ave01) with plugin 1001 - Linux Filesystem
avtar Info <5538>: Backup #6 label "My_backup_99_20230727_3" timestamp 2023-07-27 21:43:24 PDT, 1 files, 341.5 MB
avtar Info <5291>: Estimated size for "/home/admin/myshoppinglist.txt" is 341.5 MB
avtar Info <19108>: Verified restore target space ok. freespace:38456332288 estimate:358051840 checkpath:"/tmp"
avtar Info <5260>: Restoring files from "/home/admin/myshoppinglist.txt" to directory "/tmp/restore1".
avtar Info <5267>: Restore of "/home/admin/myshoppinglist.txt" completed
avtar Info <7925>: Restored 214.6 MB from selection(s) with 341.5 MB in 1 files
avtar Info <6090>: Restored 214.6 MB in 0.02 minutes: 768.3 GB/hour (3,666 files/hour)
avtar Info <7883>: Finished at 2025-07-03 21:42:27 PDT, Elapsed time: 0000h:00m:00s
avtar Info <6645>: Not sending wrapup anywhere.
avtar Info <5314>: Command completed (exit code 0: success)
 
The requested file, or files should now be present in the specified restore location (in this example /tmp/restore1/myshoppinglist.txt),
 
 

Notes:

  • To verify the correct name of "source-grid-name-or-IPaddr" run the following on the target grid:
avmgr getl --path=/REPLICATE
 
  • By default, if a label number is not specified, the restore is performed on the most recent backup. To use a different backup, use the "--labelnum=x" option:
avtar -x --server=<target-grid-name-or-IPaddr> --id=<user> --pswd=<password> --path=/REPLICATE/<source-grid-name-or-IPaddr>/<path-to-client> --labelnum=x --target=<target-directory> <file-or-directory-to-be-restored>

Example:

avtar -x --server=avamar-grid-02 --id=MCUser --pswd=MCUser1 --path=/REPLICATE/avamar-grid-01/clients/linux/client123 --target="/tmp/restore1" --labelnum=6 /home/admin/myshoppinglist.txt
 
  • To determine the backups on the replication target (which also provides the label numbers):
avmgr getb --path=/REPLICATE/<source-grid-name-or-IPaddr>/<path-to-client>
 
  • To determine "file-or=directory-to-be-restored", perform a list operation first (specifying the label number if required):
avtar -x --server=<target-grid-name-or-IPaddr> --id=<user> --pswd=<password> --path=/REPLICATE/<source-grid-name-or-IPaddr>/<path-to-client>
avtar -x --server=<target-grid-name-or-IPaddr> --id=<user> --pswd=<password> --path=/REPLICATE/<source-grid-name-or-IPaddr>/<path-to-client> --labelnum=x

Additional Information

The switches --acnt and --path are interchangeable.

Affected Products

Avamar, Avamar Server
Article Properties
Article Number: 000014384
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 07 Jul 2025
Version:  6
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