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About retrieving configuration data for a virtual failover client

The Unitrends appliance retrieves the system metadata used to create the virtual failover client (VFC) in one of the following ways:

By using the data from an eligible backup
By communicating directly with the client

A backup is eligible if it meets all of the following criteria:

It is a successful full, differential, or incremental file-level backup.
It was run with agent release 7.3 or higher (7.4 or higher for UEFI-based clients).
It contains system metadata. This metadata is contained by default unless you exclude it using selection lists. For details, see Using selection lists with WIR and integrated BMR.

When creating a VFC, the appliance first searches for an eligible backup, and if one does not reside on the appliance, it must communicate with the client directly to retrieve the metadata. The original client’s configuration displays immediately if the appliance can obtain it from a backup. If it must retrieve the metadata directly from the client, you see a message stating, “Retrieving client configuration. Please wait.” This can take several minutes.

If eligible backups reside on the appliance, you can create a VFC for a client after it has failed (but it is recommended that you plan for WIR by creating the VFC in advance). However, if eligible backups are not present, the appliance cannot create a VFC for the client without communicating with it directly.

Note:  All successful backups are restored to the VFC, regardless of whether they meet the criteria of an “eligible backup.” These criteria determine only whether a VFC can be created from a backup, not whether the backup can be restored to a VFC. For details, see Virtual restores for Windows instant recovery.