Backup and Restore Horizon View Components

Backup/Restore a View Composer Database

View Composer Database backup as well as View Connection Server LDAP database is done by using View Administrator console. View Administrator creates sets of two files, one LDF file to store encrypted LDAP database and SVI file to store View Composer linked clones  desktop configuration.
To restore View Composer Database we can use SviConfig Restore command. First we need to verify backup file location, default is C:\Program Data\Vmware\VDM\Backups, if the location has been changed we can check this from View Connection Server settings. To successfully restore the database we required some information:

DsnName – The DSN which is use to connect to database
UserName and Password – User name that is used to connect to database
BackupFilePath – Location of the SVI backup files

On the server where View Composer is installed, stop the View Composer service.

Copy the backup files to local drive.

Open Command Prompt and change location to C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware View Composer\sviconfig.exe.

Run sviconfig restore command, for example

sviconfig -operation=restoredata -dsnname=ComposerDB -username=Admin -password=Pass
-backupfilepath=”C:\backups\Backup-20161125000010-tkyvcenter01.SVI”

Start View Composer service

Test and validate scheduled backups of Horizon View components

Under View Configuration > Servers click Connection Servers tab, select server from the list and click Edit to access Server settings. Click Backup tab to modify schedule, there are few frequency to choose from > Every 1, 6, 12 hour, every 1 or 2 days, every 1 or 2 weeks and never. Max number of backups type number greater than 0 to specify how many backup copy View Connection server will keep, when maximum number is reached, View deletes the oldest backup file. For example if our requirement is to backup 2 times per day and keep 6 days backup retention, we will choose to backup every 12 hours and Max number of backups 12.
We can change default location where the backup file are stored to centralize location if that is the deployment requirements

Connection Server schedule backup settings

Backup 2 times per day, 6 days retention

Backup/Restore View Configuration Data

To backup View Configuration Data we can use vdmexport command to export content of View LDAP repository. We can run this command on any of the Connection Server instance. Login to Connection server and start Cmd change directory to C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\tools\bin and run

vdmexport -f C:\LDAPBackup\Backup.LDF > this will export the data, by default this file is encrypted
vdmexport -f C:\LDAPBackup\Backup.LDF -v > this will export the data in to plain text file.
vdmexport -f C:\LDAPBackup\Backup.LDF -c > this will export to plain text file but without all sensitive and passwords, we should use this backup file if we plan to use in future to restore data.

To restore backup data to we can use vdmimport command to import View Connection data to LDAP repository. If our backup file is encrypted we need to first decrypt it.

To successfully restore the LDAP data we need to uninstall first all instance of Connection server and AD LDS instance VMwareVDMDS, but first we need to stop View Composer service as well. Next install one View Connection after than we need to Stop VMware Horizon Connection Server service. Open Cmd  change directory to C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\tools\bin and run below command to decrypt backup file:
vdmimport -d -p mypassword -f C:\LDAPBackup\Backup.LDF > DecryptedBackup.LDF
Next we can run import vdmimport -f DecryptedBackup.LDF
Uninstall Connection Server only.
Install Connection Server and login to View Administrator to validate the configuration data. Start up View Composer service and install any required connection Server replicas

Change the Data Recovery Password

We can change Data Recovery Password from within Connection Server settings. Click Change data recovery password and type new password and reminder. Click OK to conform.

Data recovery password change

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