Retrieving data by using the web user interface

After you archive files and directories, you can use the IBM Spectrum® Protect web user interface to retrieve them to the backup-archive client workstation.

1. On the button bar in the web user interface, click Retrieve.
   In the Archives pane, the archive packages that contain your archive copies on the IBM Spectrum Protect server are displayed.
2. Locate the file or directory that you want to retrieve by browsing the available archive packages or by searching for an object. You can use one of the following methods:

   Method	Steps
   By browsing an archive package	Click the name of an archive package and browse the directories and subdirectories within the archive package. You can also use the breadcrumbs to navigate to different directory levels.
   By searching for files and directories	To search for a file or a group of files with similar names, specify a file name or a pattern to search on: To search for files without specifying options: Enter the search string in the search field. You can enter all or part of a file name. You can use wildcard characters in the search string. Use an asterisk (*) to represent zero, one, or multiple characters. Use the question mark (?) to represent a single character. Optional: Select an archive package or browse to a directory in which to begin the search. If you do not specify an archive package or directory, the search extends across all archive packages and might take some time to complete. Click Search without options. To search for files and directories by specifying options: Enter the search string in the search field. You can enter all or part of a file or directory name. You can use wildcard characters in the search string. Use an asterisk (*) to represent zero, one, or multiple characters. Use the question mark (?) to represent a single character. Optional: Select an archive package or browse to a directory in which to begin the search. If you do not specify an archive package or directory, the search extends across all archive packages and might take some time to complete. Click Options to open the Search Options pane. To search for files, click Search for > files. To search for directories, click Search for > directories. To search for files within a range of archive dates, click Search for objects with archive date and specify a range of dates. You can use the date picker to select the start and end dates. The start date is the earliest archive date and the end date is the latest archive date to search on. You can also specify a single date for the end and start dates by double-clicking a date in the date picker. This action sets the start and end dates to the same date. This option is disabled if you are searching for directories. Click Search with Options to begin the search. The objects that match the criteria are displayed in the file list with their full path names and sizes. Restriction: You cannot search for files and directories in the same query. You can search for files within a date range and select the files to retrieve. Then, begin another query to search for directories within a date range, and select the directories to retrieve. For more information about the search function, see Tips about the search function.

3. From the file list, select the objects to retrieve by clicking the arrow icon that is associated with an object. You can retrieve the following types of objects:

   Table 1. Types of objects in the web user interface

   Icon	Description
   	File
   	Directory
   	Link, junction, or mount point You cannot navigate into a link, junction, or mount point object, but the object itself is processed. The content in the target directory that is linked to is not processed.
   	IBM Spectrum Protect HSM for Windows or IBM Spectrum Protect for Space Management stub file (shown only in the Backup/Archive page) On the Restore and Retrieve pages, stub files are indicated by the file icon.

   Selected objects are added to the Retrieve List section. To remove an item from the Retrieve List section, click the delete icon that is associated with the item on the list.

   You can continue to browse and select more files and directories by adding them to the Retrieve List section. However, to avoid conflicts, you cannot add the same item to the Retrieve List section more than once. If you duplicate an item, you are prompted to remove the existing item in the list or to cancel the operation.

   For example, the \mydir\file.txt file was archived to the IBM Spectrum Protect server. You add the file.txt file to the retrieve list. Then, you add the mydir directory to the retrieve list. The Conflict detected dialog is displayed and you are prompted to resolve the conflict.

4. In the Retrieve List section, retrieve the selected items by using one of the following options:
   • By default, the items in the retrieve list are retrieved to their original locations. To begin the retrieve operation without specifying any retrieve options, click Retrieve.

     If a file exists in the original location, the file is not overwritten. The archive date is appended to the name of the retrieved object to differentiate it from the original object. For example, file1.txt exists in the original location. If the archive date for that file is 27 June 2021 at 17:49:47, the retrieved file name is file1.txt-2021-06-27-17-49-47.txt.

     If a directory exists in the original location, the retrieved content is placed into the destination directory. For example, on your file system, the /dir1/dir2 directory contains files file1, file2, and file3. When you retrieve file dir2/fileA to directory /dir1, the /dir1/dir2 directory will contain files file1, file2, file3, and fileA.

   • To change the default behavior of the retrieve operation, click Options in the Retrieve List section and specify one or more of the following options:
     • To retrieve items to an alternative location, specify the location where you want to place the retrieved items in the Alternate Location field. You can click Browse to browse to a destination on your client workstation or specify a directory.

       The alternative directory must be specified by using valid syntax for a directory path. The directory can be existing or new. If you specify a new directory, it is created during the retrieve operation. The path cannot be a network path.

       If you are retrieving a directory to an alternative location, only the selected directory and all subdirectories are preserved in the new location, not the full path. If you added a file to the Retrieve List in the same operation, that file is also retrieved to the alternative location.

     • To overwrite the original file or directory in the retrieve destination, select Overwrite.

     Click Retrieve to begin the retrieve operation.

5. Monitor the progress of the operation in the Tasks pane.
   The task status is automatically refreshed every 5 seconds. You can click the twistie to expand a task to view its details.

   If the task ended with the Failed status, a number is displayed in the Total objects failed field in the task details. Click the information icon in the Total objects failed field to view detailed information about any objects that were not processed successfully.

   To cancel a task, click the icon.

   When a task completes processing with the Success, Failed, or Canceled status, you can click the delete icon to remove the task from the Tasks pane. This action also removes the task from the database that stores the task information.

   If a long-running task is in progress and you close the web user interface, or the web user interface times out after 30 minutes of inactivity, the task continues. When you log in to the web user interface later, the details of the task are available for review. All tasks are automatically removed 48 hours after completion, or when the backup-archive client web server is restarted.