Rapid Recovery 6.4 - User Guide

If the bandwidth between the source and target Cores cannot accommodate the transfer of stored recovery points, set up replication and specify the use of a seed drive. This process seeds the target Core with base images and recovery points from the selected servers protected on the source Core. The seeding process can be performed at any time. Seeding can be performed as part of the initial transfer of data, which serves as the foundation for regularly scheduled replication. You can also seed data for a previously replicated machine if replication has been paused or deleted. In this case, the "Build recovery point chains" option lets you copy not-yet replicated recovery points to a seed drive.

When preparing for replication, consider the following factors:

• Change rate. The change rate is the rate at which the amount of protected data is accumulated. The rate depends on the amount of data that changes on protected volumes and the protection interval of the volumes. Some machine types typically have a higher change rate, such as an Exchange email server. One way to reduce the change rate is to reduce the protection interval.
• Bandwidth. The bandwidth is the available transfer speed between the source Core and the target Core. It is crucial that the bandwidth be greater than the change rate for replication to keep up with the recovery points snapshots create. For very large data transfers from Core to Core, multiple parallel streams may be required to perform at wire speeds up to the speed of a 1GB Ethernet connection.

  NOTE: Bandwidth that ISPs specify is typically the total available bandwidth. All devices on the network share the outgoing bandwidth. Make sure that there is enough free bandwidth for replication to accommodate the change rate.

• Number of protected machines. It is important to consider the number of machines protected per source Core and how many you plan to replicate to the target. You are not required to replicate every machine protected on the source Core; Rapid Recovery lets you replicate on a per-protected machine basis, so you can choose to replicate only certain machines, if you want. If all protected machines on a source Core must be replicated, the change rate is typically higher. This factor is relevant if the bandwidth between the source and target Cores is insufficient for the amount and size of the recovery points being replicated.

The maximum change rate for WAN connection types is shown in the following table, with examples of the necessary bandwidth per gigabyte for a reasonable change rate.

If a link fails during data transfer, replication resumes from the previous failure point of the transfer (once link functionality is restored).

Depending on your network configuration, replication can be a time-consuming process. Ensure that you account for enough bandwidth to accommodate replication, other Rapid Recovery transfers such as backups, and any other critical applications you must run.

If you experience issues successfully transferring data over the network, especially for certain protected or replicated machines, considering adjusting the rate of data transfer for those machines. For more information, see About modifying transfer settings and Throttling transfer speed.

If you click the Replicate icon from the icon bar, the Replication page appears. This page gives you an understanding of replication from the scope of this Core. It includes two panes:

• The Outgoing Replication pane lists any machines protected in this Core that are replicated on another Core.
• The Incoming Replication pane lists the machines replicated on this Core, and the source Core from which these machines are replicated.

This section describes the information shown in these panes.

Information about outgoing replication from this Rapid Recovery Coreis described in the following table.

Table 84: Information about outgoing replication

UI Element	Description
Select item	For each row in the summary table, you can select the checkbox to perform actions from the list of menu options above the table.
Type	Shows the machine type. You can expand a target Core to show individual replicated machines.
Status indicator	Status of replication. Colored circles in the Status column show whether a replicated machine is online or unreachable. If you hover the cursor over the colored circle, the status condition is displayed. Status conditions include green (replication established and online), yellow (replication paused), red (authentication error), and gray (offline or unreachable).
Replication Name	The display name of the Core machine to which machines from this source Core are replicated.
Machines	Lists the number of machines replicated to the selected target Core.
Sync	The date and time of the last replication transfer to the target Core.
	When you click the More drop-down menu in this column, you see a list of actions to perform to affect the specific replication relationship.

You can perform actions on two or more of the target Cores listed in the Outgoing Replication grid. To perform actions on multiple target Cores, select the checkbox for each Core in the grid, and then, from the menu above the grid, select the action you want to perform. You can perform the actions described in the following table.

Table 85: Global actions available in the Outgoing Replication pane

UI Element	Description
Add Target Core	Lets you define another target Core to replicate machines protected on this source Core.
Refresh	Refreshes the information shown in the table.
Force	Forces replication.
Pause	Pauses established replication.
Resume	Resumes paused replication.
Copy	Opens the replication wizard, letting you copy existing recovery points for selected protected machines to a seed drive.
Delete	Deletes outgoing replication.
Seed Drives	This menu option appears if data was copied to a seed drive when replication was set up. Displays information about the seed drive file, including the data and time the seed drive was saved. Collapsible menus indicate the target Core and the protected machines from which the seed drive files were generated.
	When you click the More drop-down menu in this column, you see a list of actions to perform to affect the specific replication relationship.

Information about incoming replication from another Core is described in the following table.

Table 86: Information about incoming replication

UI Element	Description
Select item	For each row in the summary table, you can select the checkbox to perform actions from the list of menu options above the table.
Type	Shows the machine type. You can expand a source Core to show individual replicated machines.
Status indicator	Status of replication. Colored circles in the Status column show whether a replicated machine is online or unreachable. If you hover the cursor over the colored circle, the status condition is displayed. Status conditions include green (replication established and online), yellow (replication paused), red (authentication error), and gray (offline or unreachable).
Replication Name	The display name of the source Core machine containing protected machines that are replicated on this target Core. This name can be optionally specified when establishing replication on the source Core using the Replication Wizard.
Machines	Lists the number of machines protected on the source Core that are replicated to this target Core.
Sync	The date and time of the last replication transfer from the source Core.
	When you click the More drop-down menu in this column, you see a list of actions to perform to affect the specific replication relationship.

You can perform actions on two or more of the source Cores listed in the Incoming Replication grid. To perform actions on multiple source Cores, select the checkbox for each Core in the grid, and then, from the menu above the grid, select the action you want to perform. You can perform the actions described in the following table.