Rapid Recovery 6.4 - Installation and Upgrade Guide

For each new software release, Quest creates Agent repository packages for use on Linux machines. You must use an appropriate package manager (yum, zypper, or apt) to work with these packages. Download the appropriate package for the Linux distribution and version you want to protect.

Linux Agent packages are available for download on the Support website, QorePortal, and the Rapid Recovery License Portal . The Linux repository packages for each distribution include the release number, for clarity.

Each repository package creates a local software repository on your Linux machine, which can retrieve the files necessary to install or remove Rapid Recovery Agent.

When installing the Rapid Recovery Agent software on Linux machines that you want to protect, use the following prerequisites and guidance:

• Prerequisites for installation on Linux machines
• Deploying and installing the Agent software on Linux machines from the Core Console
• Guidelines for installation on Linux machines

Prerequisites for installation on Linux machines

If AppAssure Agent software is currently installed on a Linux machine and you want to upgrade it to Rapid Recovery Agent to take advantage of new features, then note the following:

• Consider backing up the agent ID for each Linux machine before removing AppAssure Agent. Without unique identifiers, you will be unable to connect to existing recovery points saved to the Core for that protected Linux machine. For more information, see Backing up and restoring the AppAssure Agent ID.
• Remove the AppAssure Agent from the machine using the AppAssure installation script. If you have not retained the installer script, you can manually uninstall the legacy version. For more information, see Uninstalling the AppAssure Agent software from a Linux machine.
• The operating system on the Linux machine must be a supported distribution, as listed in the topic "Rapid Recovery Agent software requirements" in the Rapid Recovery 6.4 System Requirements Guide.

Deploying and installing the Agent software on Linux machines from the Core Console

The following items are prerequisites for deploying Agent to Linux machines when you select Deploy Agent Software from the Protect drop-down menu. This action pushes the repository package to the selected Linux machine.

• SSH Server must be running on the Linux machine you want to protect. You can confirm on the Linux machine from the root account by entering the command: netstat -antp | grep ssh.
• The firewall on the Linux machine you want to protect must be disabled, or not blocking port 22.
• The current Linux user must be a non-root user account with sudo privileges. To confirm, make sure that your user account is a member of the sudo, wheel, or root group by entering the command: groups <username>.
• The wget utility must be installed on the Linux machine you want to protect. To confirm, run the command: which wget.

Guidelines for installation on Linux machines

AppAssure Agent software used installer shell scripts to install or remove the Agent software from Linux machines. Rapid Recovery Agent is installed or removed on Linux machines using a package manager utility (such as yum, zypper or apt). The following factors apply:

• You must use the package manager appropriate to your Linux distribution and version. For more information, see the table in Installing or upgrading Rapid Recovery Agent on a Linux machine
• Quest provides an Agent repository package for each supported Linux distribution. For each Linux machine you want to protect, you can download this Linux archive package from the Rapid Recovery License Portal. Pay attention to details to ensure you download the version specific to the Linux distribution and version you want to protect.
• Each Linux archive (repository package) contains the files necessary to set up a software repository (rapidrecovery-repo) locally on the Linux machine you want to protect. The software repository is used for staging files for the relevant package managers.
• After you install the software repository on your Linux machine, the package manager is able to retrieve and install the packages needed for installation or removal of Rapid Recovery Agent software and related components, such as local_mount, rapidrecovery-vdisk, and Mono.

  For each package manager, you can run the appropriate command at the command line to determine if it is configured to download Rapid Recovery packages. These commands are listed in the following table.

• Installations of Agent on a Linux machine with access to the internet are called online installations, and use the process described in the topic Installing or upgrading Rapid Recovery Agent on a Linux machine.
• Each time you upgrade the Agent software on a Linux machine, you must remove the previous local repository and install its replacement. This process is represented by steps 3 and 4 in that topic.
• Installations of Agent on a Linux machine with no access to the Internet (such as air-gapped or secured standalone machines) are called offline installations. For offline installations, you must first download an installation package from a Linux machine with Internet access. Then, move those installation files to the secured computer for installation. For more information, see the topic Installing the Agent software on offline Linux machines.

After configuring the newly installed Agent software on a Linux machine, you must restart the machine. Restarting ensures that the proper kernel module version is used to protect your machine.

Guidelines for upgrading on Linux machines

Previous versions of the AppAssure Agent software must be removed from a Linux machine before installing the Rapid Recovery Agent version and protecting the Linux machine using the Rapid Recovery Core. This requirement applies to both online and offline installations. For more information, see Uninstalling the AppAssure Agent software from a Linux machine.

Thus, the installation process when upgrading from AppAssure to Rapid Recovery involves:

• Backing up the agent ID (optional, but recommended).
• Removing the AppAssure Agent software (not required for first-time installations).
• On each Linux machine, downloading the repository package relevant to that distribution and version.
• Follow the procedure for installing Rapid Recovery Agent using the package manager, which creates the local software repository.
• Run the configuration utility to set ports, configure users, add firewall exclusions, install the kernel module, and start the Agent service.
• Restart the Linux machine.

See the following important information before you begin installation of Agent software.

• Downloading the Linux distribution
• About security
• Location of Linux Agent files
• Agent dependencies
• Linux scripting information

Guidelines for upgrading from Rapid Recovery Agent to a newer Agent version

When you upgrade from one version of Rapid Recovery Agent to another, you must first remove the local software repository. During the installation process, a new local repository is created with the appropriate installation files. Steps are included in the topic Installing or upgrading Rapid Recovery Agent on a Linux machine specific to upgrading.

Thus, the installation process when upgrading versions of Rapid Recovery involves:

• On each Linux machine, downloading the repository package relevant to that distribution and version.
• Follow the procedure for installing Rapid Recovery Agent using the package manager, including removing the existing local software repository for Rapid Recovery files.
• Run the configuration utility to set ports, configure users, add firewall exclusions, install the kernel module, and start the Agent service.
• Restart the Linux machine.

After installation on Linux machines

After installing Rapid Recovery Agent, configure the Agent software as described in the topic Configuring the Rapid Recovery Agent on a Linux machine.