Overview of Windows instant recovery

To implement Windows instant recovery, you must create a virtual failover client (VFC) for each client you want to protect with this feature. The Unitrends appliance can retrieve the necessary data to create the VFC from eligible local or replicated backups run with agent release 7.3 or higher (7.4 or higher for UEFI-based clients). If no eligible backups reside on the appliance, it must communicate directly with the original client to create the VFC. A virtual failover client cannot be created after a client has failed unless eligible backups for this client reside on the appliance. For details, see About retrieving configuration data for a virtual failover client.

The VFC can reside in one of the following locations:

After you create the VFC, as new backups are run or replicated, the appliance continually updates the VFC by performing virtual restores. After the first virtual restore completes, you can audit the VFC to verify that it boots successfully.

If the original client fails, you can set the VFC to go into live mode and boot it with all of the original client’s data. The VFC can then temporarily replace the original client, and the Unitrends appliance protects it with the original client’s backup and archive schedules. Because the VFC uses the appliance’s resources, you should perform a bare metal recovery to restore the client to new hardware as soon as possible. A VFC running on an external hypervisor does not use any appliance resources, and it can permanently replace the original client if the hypervisor has sufficient resources.

See the following topics for more information about WIR: