--- title: "NEA Recovery" slug: "nea-recovery" tags: ["Configuration", "Disaster Recovery", "Nasuni Edge Appliance", "Troubleshooting"] updated: 2026-10-23T20:34:48Z published: 2026-10-23T20:34:48Z canonical: "docs.nasuni.com/nea-recovery" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nasuni.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # NEA Recovery The [Nasuni Edge Appliance Recovery Guide](https://docs.nasuni.com/docs/nasuni-edge-appliance-recovery-guide) contains the complete procedure for recovering a Nasuni Edge Appliance. There are a number of reasons for performing a recovery of a Nasuni Edge Appliance, including: - Changing virtual machine platforms (Nutanix AHV, Scale HyperCore, Google Cloud, Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware, Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2). - Nasuni Hardware Appliance or virtual machine hardware refresh. - Human error. - Hardware and software failures. - True disaster. > [!CAUTION] > ***Warning****:* **Do not attempt to restore from a virtual machine snapshot or backup.** With Nasuni’s data services, your data is safely stored offsite in data centers of your choosing. Nasuni’s system of automatic, scheduled Nasuni snapshots protects your data, with no need for additional backups. Nasuni snapshots provide a full recovery image of your data, as frequently as every minute. This data is available at any time to any location. You can rapidly get access to your data. For details on restoring data, see [Restore Guide](/v1/docs/restore-a-volume-directory-or-file). To recover your Nasuni Edge Appliance, you follow the simple steps of downloading the virtual machine again from Nasuni.com, installing the product, and then completing the recovery process. If you have your encryption keys, the whole procedure takes about 15 minutes for a total recovery. ## Use Side Load to Preserve Cache During Recovery The Recovery process enables you to recover the Nasuni Edge Appliance after a true disaster, such as the loss of a data center. However, most of the time, you perform the Recovery process in order to change from one platform to another. In such a situation, there is already an operational Nasuni Edge Appliance that contains active data in its cache. Performing the Recovery process results in a new Nasuni Edge Appliance that has an empty cache. You must then manually re-populate the new cache with data, which requires considerable inbound bandwidth from the cloud, and which can take days, weeks, or even months to complete. The Side Load feature enables you to transfer cache data directly from the original source decommissioned Nasuni Edge Appliance to the new destination Nasuni Edge Appliance. To view unprotected files in the cache, see “[Unprotected Files](/v1/docs/chapter-12-status-page#unprotected-files)”. > [!TIP] > ***Tip****: Only the Admin user can perform the Side Load process.* ## Requirements Before Recovering the Nasuni Edge Appliance The [Nasuni Edge Appliance Recovery Guide](https://docs.nasuni.com/docs/nasuni-edge-appliance-recovery-guide) contains the complete procedure for recovering your Nasuni Edge Appliance. This section is a summary of suggestions before you recover your data with the Nasuni Edge Appliance. > [!CAUTION] > ***Warning****:* **Before attempting to recover a Nasuni Edge Appliance, you must ensure that you have all of the encryption keys for all of the volumes for the Nasuni Edge Appliance. You must have all of the encryption keys for both local volumes and remote volumes.** > [!WARNING] > ***Important****: To perform a recovery procedure, one of the following must be true:* > > - *The original source Nasuni Edge Appliance must have at least one local volume, and at* *least one Nasuni snapshot of the local volume must have completed.* > - *A backup key must have been generated or uploaded. For more details, see “*[*Backup Keys*](/v1/docs/chapter-11-configuration-page#backup-keys)*”.* > [!CAUTION] > ***Warning****:* **If the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance has any data in the cache that has not yet been protected in cloud object storage, performing a recovery procedure can cause that data to be lost.** > > **Before proceeding, perform a manual Nasuni snapshot.** > > **To verify that a snapshot has been completed (both data phase and metadata phase), see “**[**Verifying Snapshots**](/v1/docs/appendix-e-verifying-snapshots)**”.** > [!WARNING] > ***Important****: Internet connectivity (HTTPS port 443) to the new destination Nasuni Edge Appliance is a prerequisite for setting up the Nasuni Edge Appliance, or to update software during the installation.* > > *For details about ports and firewalls, see* [*Firewall and Port Requirements*](/v1/docs/firewall-and-port-requirements)*.* > [!WARNING] > ***Important****: The version of the Nasuni Management Console must support the version of the Nasuni Edge Appliance that the Nasuni Management Console is to manage. If this Nasuni Edge Appliance is joined to a Nasuni Management Console, update the Nasuni Management Console software before updating the Nasuni Edge Appliance software.* > > *For details, see “*[*NMC version*](/v1/docs/chapter-3-common-screen-elements#nmc-version)*”.* > [!TIP] > ***Tip****: Download your generated encryption keys to a safe location before shutting down the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance or performing a recovery procedure on the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance. See “*[*Downloading (Exporting) Generated Encryption Keys*](/v1/docs/chapter-11-configuration-page#downloading-exporting-generated-encryption-keys)*” for details.* > [!TIP] > ***Tip****: If you are planning on trying the recovery functionality during* *trial mode, download your encryption keys to a safe location first.* > [!CAUTION] > ***Warning****:* **Do NOT save encryption key files to a volume on a Nasuni Edge Appliance. You will NOT be able to use these to recover data. This is NOT how to upload encryption keys to a Nasuni Edge Appliance. To upload encryption keys to a Nasuni Edge Appliance, see “**[**Adding (Importing or Uploading) Encryption Keys**](/v1/docs/chapter-11-configuration-page#adding-importing-or-uploading-encryption-keys)**”.** > [!NOTE] > ***Note****: If you were using a* *hardware appliance, and you require a replacement appliance, notify your Account Manager to request a replacement appliance. You can then continue with the following procedure, which allows you to install and operate a virtual appliance to access your data.* > [!NOTE] > ***Note****: Downloading and executing the installation program for the virtual appliance is contingent upon the virtual platform you are using.* > [!NOTE] > ***Note****: For any volume that is either Pending Delete or Pending Delete* *Approval, the pending deletions might be canceled after the volume's Nasuni Edge Appliance is recovered.* > [!TIP] > ***Tip****: To perform the Side Load procedure, the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance must be:* > > - *Running.* > - *Decommissioned.* > [!TIP] > ***Tip****: On Azure-based Edge Appliances only, during a reboot or recovery procedure, it is necessary to connect with IP address 169.254.169.254 in order to obtain information about the Azure VM instance. If you have configured an HTTPS proxy, this attempt to connect can cause a delay of several minutes. To avoid this delay, add the IP address 169.254.169.254 to the “Do Not Proxy” section of the HTTPS Proxy configuration.* > [!TIP] > ***Tip****: The following settings, if configured, are not retained after the Recovery procedure. You should record your settings so that you can reconfigure these settings after the Recovery proc**edure.* > > - *Escrow passphrase.* > - *Automatic Software Updates.* > - *T**ime Zone settings.* > - *NTP Time Server settings.* ## Prepare the Original Source Edge Appliance for Recovery The [Nasuni Edge Appliance Recovery Guide](https://docs.nasuni.com/docs/nasuni-edge-appliance-recovery-guide) contains the complete procedure for recovering your data. This section is a summary of steps for preparing the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance (if available): 1. Verify that the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance is installed and properly configured on your network. 2. Verify that the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance has at least one local volume, and that at least one Nasuni snapshot on the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance has successfully completed on a local volume. Alternatively, verify that a backup key has been generated or uploaded. For more details, see “[Backup Keys](/v1/docs/chapter-11-configuration-page#backup-keys)”. 3. If performing the Side Load procedure, verify that the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance is running and not yet decommissioned by using a Web browser to navigate to the hostname or IP address of the Nasuni Edge Appliance. The Nasuni Edge Appliance should appear and not display the “Filer Decommissioned” message. 4. On the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance, record the information for volumes for later verification. 5. If running the Side Load procedure, record the hostname or IP address of the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance. Also, record the username and password of an administrative user on the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance. 6. If any of the Nasuni Edge Appliance’s owned volumes have “custom” Remote Access Permissions configured for other Nasuni Edge Appliances on your account, change those Remote Access Permissions to Read/Write before performing the recovery procedure. This is because the Remote Access Permissions are set based on the Edge Appliance GUID, not on the Edge Appliance serial number: when the Edge Appliance GUID gets replaced during the recovery procedure, the Edge Appliance loses its rights to those “custom” Remote Access Permissions. After the recovery procedure, the Remote Access Permissions can be changed back to “custom”. 7. Remove the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance from control of the Nasuni Management Console (NMC). 8. On the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance, download any generated encryption keys for both local and remote volumes. > [!CAUTION] > ***Warning****:* **You MUST have all of the encryption keys for all of the volumes for the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance in order to recover the Nasuni Edge Appliance.** 9. If you escrowed any encryption keys with Nasuni, your options include the following: > [!CAUTION] > ***Warning****:* **You MUST have all of the encryption keys for all of the volumes for the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance in order to recover the Nasuni Edge Appliance.** - Use your escrow passphrase. - Obtain your encryption keys from your own safekeeping. - Obtain a special one-time-use recovery key from Nasuni. 10. If the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance was under the control of the Nasuni Management Console (NMC), download the encryption keys for the NMC. 11. Obtain the Serial Number and Authorization Code for the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance. You use these in step 8 of [Recovering the Nasuni Edge Appliance](/v1/docs/chapter-14-recovery#recovering-the-nasuni-edge-appliance). > [!WARNING] > ***Important****: Authorization codes (also called “Auth codes”) are intended for a single use, and are not permanent. Authorization codes change if the associated serial number is used successfully, if the authorization code is refreshed via the NMC (Account Status --> Serial Numbers, then click Refresh), and if the authorization code is regenerated.* *You can regenerate a serial number by using the Serial Numbers page of* [*portal.nasuni.com*](http://portal.nasuni.com)*.* 12. Perform Nasuni snapshots on all volumes. > [!TIP] > ***Tip****: This process can take considerable time, depending on the size of the cache and the amount of changed and new data in the cache.* > [!CAUTION] > ***Warning****:* **If all Nasuni snapshots have not completed, some data might not be protected in the cloud.** > > **To verify that a snapsho****t has been completed (both data phase and** **metadata phase), see “**[**Verifying Snapshots**](/v1/docs/appendix-e-verifying-snapshots)**”.** 13. If the NEA was NOT running Global File Acceleration (GFA): Perform the `preparedr` procedure command on the console of the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance. > [!TIP] > ***Tip****:* [*For Microsoft Azure, this article describes how to enable the service console:*](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/virtual-machine-serial-console-access/) *https://* *azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/virtual-machine-serial-console-access/.* > [!CAUTION] > ***Warning****:* **During the PREPAREDR command procedure, the SMB volumes on the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance are set to read-only, and any necessary final Nasuni snapshots are performed. This processing temporarily impacts access to data on this Nasuni Edge Appliance.** > [!TIP] > ***Tip****: To revert back to previous settings after running ‘preparedr’ on the console, reboot the appliance and reset the CIFS Administrative Users. For details, see “*[*Configuring CIFS (SMB) settings*](/v1/docs/chapter-11-configuration-page#configuring-cifs-smb-settings)*”.* 14. If performing a Side Load procedure using the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance, DO NOT shut down the Nasuni Edge Appliance. 15. If NOT performing a Side Load procedure, perform a shutdown of the original source Nasuni Edge Appliance. ##