Rapid Recovery 6.8 - User Guide

For prerequisites, see Before virtual export to Azure.

Before you can perform a one-time Azure export, you need the following:

You must have a protected machine with at least one recovery point in a Rapid Recovery Core that you want to export to Azure.
Remote access must be enabled on the protected machine for the deployed VM to boot successfully.
You must have administrative access to an account on Azure.
Optionally, before exporting, you can create an appropriate container within your Azure storage account into which the exported data is stored. For more information, see the topic Creating a container in an Azure storage account.

As described in the topic Exporting and deploying VMs for Azure, virtual export to Azure consists of two processes: exporting and deploying.

The process of exporting extracts the necessary set of files from Rapid Recovery, validates them, and uploads them to the specified container in Azure. These files include:

One virtual hard disk (VHD) file for each volume in the recovery point
One XML file, which contains metadata information about each disk (a list of files present on each disk and a flag indicating if a volume is a system disk)
One VHD file containing the backup snapshot

The deployment process combines these files into a bootable virtual machine. Deployment uses direct Azure cloud REST APIs. The original set of files placed on Azure during the export process is read-only in Azure, and consumes space but does not invoke additional Azure charges. When you deploy these files, a duplicate copy of them is created, stored in a separate container you define, and combined into a working virtual machine. From an Azure account perspective, after you deploy you are then charged fees for the VM on its servers. The deployment process also doubles the amount of storage space used in Azure for that virtual export.

For a one-time virtual export, there is no mechanism for deploying as a separate process; thus, for the export to be useful, you should deploy when you create the virtual machine on demand.

When establishing virtual standby for a protected machine on Azure, to avoid use of extra storage space and VM charges, you can export, and continually update the recovery point automatically, without the need to deploy. You can then deploy in Azure only when and if you need to use the VM. For information about deploying a virtual standby in Azure to a functioning VM, see the topic Deploying a virtual machine in Azure.

Complete the steps in this procedure to perform a one-time export to Azure on demand, including deploying to a VM.

In the Rapid Recovery Core Console, in the button bar, click the Restore drop-down menu, and then click VM Export.
The Virtual Machine Export Wizard appears.
In the wizard, from the Select VM Export Type page, select One-time export and then select Next.
On the Machines page, click the row in the Machines grid representing the protected machine that you want to export, and then click Next.
On the Recovery Points page, scroll through the list of recovery points if necessary, and click to select the recovery point that you want to use for the export. Then click Next.
On the Destination page, in the Export a virtual machine to drop-down menu, select Azure.

Enter the parameters for accessing the virtual machine as described in the following table, and then click Next.

Table 130: Azure credentials

Options

Description

Cloud account name

Entering this parameter is optional.

Each time you successfully connect to a cloud account, Rapid Recovery Core caches your credentials so you can use them again.

Do one of the following:

If you previously connected this Core with the Azure account you want to export to, then optionally, from the Cloud account name drop-down menu, select the appropriate Azure subscription name, and then click Next. Skip to step 5.
If no value appears in the drop-down menu, or if you want to export to a different cloud account, provide the credential information requested for your Azure account, starting with Region.

Region

Each Azure portal is associated with a geographic region. Choose the region your portal is accessed from. Options include:

Azure Global Cloud
Azure China Cloud
Azure German Cloud
Azure US Government Cloud

Application ID

Provide the application ID or client ID associated with your Azure Active Directory (AD) web application.

NOTE: If you do not have an Azure AD web application to serve as a connection between your Rapid Recovery Core and your Azure subscription, create one using the steps described in Creating an Azure Active Directory web application. Step 7 describes how to obtain the application ID. Step 10 describes how to create a secret key. Step 11 describes how to obtain the tenant ID or directory ID. Ensure you perform step 12 to provide this application with the Owner role.

If you already have an AD web application to use for the Core and you need the application ID, see Obtaining the application ID for an Azure web application.

Secret key

Each web application must have one or more secret keys that you can use to authenticate using Azure APIs. Provide the secret key (or authentication key) associated with your web application.

NOTE: Immediately after creating your secret key in Azure, be sure to copy the key value and store it in a secure location. Once that page is closed, you will no longer be able to view or obtain the secret key. You can, however, create a new secret key.

For information about creating a secret key, see Obtaining a secret key for your Azure web application.

Tenant ID

Provide the tenant ID, also known as the directory ID.

For information about obtaining this ID, see Obtaining the directory ID for your Azure web application.

Subscription ID

This is the ID associated with your Azure subscription.

For information about obtaining this ID, see Obtaining Azure subscription information.

On the Storage page, from the Storage account name drop-down menu, select the existing Azure storage account name in which you want to store your exported Azure VM.

Optionally, if you want to specify the container and folder names for exporting or deploying, select Show advanced options, and proceed to the next step. Otherwise, skip to step 11.

NOTE: When you complete the one-time VM export, the necessary files are exported to an export folder within an export container in the specified storage account. These files are then copied into a deployment folder within a deployment container, and the VM is then deployed from this second location.

On the Storage page, with advanced storage options displayed, enter information as described in the following table:

Table 131: Continual export to Azure advanced storage options

Option

Description

Export container

Do one of the following:

When using Rapid Recovery for virtual export, each Azure storage account has a default export container named export. If you want to use the default export container, leave that name in this text box.
If you want to specify a different container to hold the exported VM, in the Export container text box, type a new name following Azure's required naming conventions.

NOTE: The container name must be between 3 and 63 characters, starting with a letter or number, and must consist of lower-case letters, numbers, and single hyphens only.

Export folder name

Do one of the following:

By default, the export folder is named after the protected machine from which this recovery point was captured. If you want to use the default export folder name, leave that name in this text box.

If you want to specify a different folder name to hold exported VM components, in the Export folder name text box, type a new name.

NOTE: The export folder name does not have the same naming or character restrictions. Nonetheless, best practice is to name the folder with upper and lower-case letters, numbers, hyphens or underscores. Quest recommends that you avoid using prohibited characters or prohibited phrases.

When the VM is deployed, a copy of the export folder becomes the deployment folder, containing the same name.

Deployment container

Do one of the following:

When your VM is deployed, Rapid Recovery provides a default deployment container named deploy. If you want to use the default deploy container, leave that name in this text box.
If you want to specify a different container to hold the deployed VM, in the Deployment container text box, type a new name following Azure's required naming conventions.

NOTE: The container name must be between 3 and 63 characters, starting with a letter or number, and must consist of lower-case letters, numbers, and single hyphens only.

Resource group

Select an Azure resource group created using Azure Resource Manager.

NOTE: If you only have older resource groups created using Azure Service Manager, stop here and create a new resource group in Azure, since Microsoft no longer supports ASM objects. Then return to this step of the procedure and continue.

When satisfied with your advanced storage options, click Next.

NOTE: If any custom field values do not pass validation, place your cursor over each highlighted text box to see the restrictions. Change the custom values to comply with those rules and then click Next.

On the Virtual Machine Options page, enter the information described in the following table.

Table 132: Virtual machine options

Option

Description

Virtual machine name

Enter a name for the virtual machine.

NOTE: Type a name between 3 and 15 characters, using only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens.

Virtual machine size

From the drop-down menu, select an appropriate VM size.

NOTE: For more information on Azure configurations and pricing, see the virtual machines pricing page on the Azure website. For links to other useful references on Microsoft websites, see Microsoft Azure documentation.

Virtual network

Select a virtual network created in Azure.

You can associate a container created in Azure with a virtual network, as described in the topic Creating an Azure storage account.

NOTE: If you do not yet have a virtual network, stop here and create a new virtual network in Azure. Then return to this step of the procedure and continue.

Click Next.
On the Volumes page, select the volumes to export (for example, the system reserved volume and C:\), and then click Finish to close the wizard and start the export.

NOTE: You can monitor the status and progress of the export by viewing the export queue on the Virtual Standby page, or on the Events page.

Setting up continual export to Azure

For prerequisites, see Before virtual export to Azure.

Complete the steps in this procedure to perform a continual virtual export of the selected machine to a specified container in an Azure cloud account using Rapid Recovery. This process is also known as setting up virtual standby.

NOTE: This process does not include deploying the exported files to create a bootable VM. For steps on deploying, see Deploying a virtual machine in Azure.

In the Rapid Recovery Core Console, do one of the following:
- From the Core Console, in the button bar, click the Restore drop-down menu, and then select VM Export.
  The Virtual Machine Export Wizard appears.
  1. In the wizard, select Continual export (virtual standby).
  2. Click Next.
- From the Core Console, in the icon bar, click (Virtual Standby).
  - On the Virtual Standby page, click + Add to launch the Virtual Machine Export Wizard.
On the Machines page of the wizard, select the protected machine that you want to export, and then click Next.
On the Destination page, from the Export a virtual machine to drop-down menu, select Azure.

Enter the parameters for accessing the virtual machine as described in the following table, and then click Next.

Table 133: Azure credentials

Options

Description

Cloud account name

Entering this parameter is optional.

Each time you successfully connect to a cloud account, Rapid Recovery Core caches your credentials so you can use them again.

Do one of the following:

If you previously connected this Core with the Azure account you want to export to, then optionally, from the Cloud account name drop-down menu, select the appropriate Azure subscription name, and then click Next. Skip to step 5.
If no value appears in the drop-down menu, or if you want to export to a different cloud account, provide the credential information requested for your Azure account, starting with Region.

Region

Each Azure portal is associated with a geographic region. Choose the region your portal is accessed from. Options include:

Azure Global Cloud
Azure China Cloud
Azure German Cloud
Azure US Government Cloud

Application ID

Provide the application ID or client ID associated with your Azure Active Directory (AD) web application.

NOTE: If you do not have an Azure AD web application to serve as a connection between your Rapid Recovery Core and your Azure subscription, create one using the steps described in Creating an Azure Active Directory web application. Step 7 of that procedure describes how to obtain the application ID. Step 10 describes how to create a secret key. Step 11 describes how to obtain the tenant ID or directory ID. Ensure you perform step 12 to provide the web application with the Owner role.

If you already have an AD web application to use for the Core and you need the application ID, see Obtaining the application ID for an Azure web application.

Secret key

Each web application must have one or more secret keys that you can use to authenticate using Azure APIs. Provide the secret key (or authentication key) associated with your web application.

For information about creating a secret key, see Obtaining a secret key for your Azure web application.

Tenant ID

Provide the tenant ID, also known as the directory ID.

For information about obtaining this ID, see Obtaining the directory ID for your Azure web application.

Subscription ID

This is the ID associated with your Azure subscription.

For information about obtaining this ID, see Obtaining Azure subscription information.

On the Storage page, from the Storage account name drop-down menu, select the existing Azure storage account name in which you want to store your exported Azure VM.
Optionally, if you want to specify the export container or provide an export folder name different than the name of your protected machine, select Show advanced options, and proceed to the next step. Otherwise, skip to step 11.

On the Storage page, with advanced storage options displayed, enter information as described in the following table:

Table 134: One-time export to Azure advanced storage options

Option

Description

Export container

Do one of the following:

When using Rapid Recovery for virtual export, each Azure storage account has a default export container named export. If you want to use the default export container, leave that name in this text box.
If you want to specify a different container to hold the exported VM, in the Export container text box, type a new name following Azure's required naming conventions.

NOTE: The container name must be between 3 and 63 characters, starting with a letter or number, and must consist of lower-case letters, numbers, and single hyphens only.

Export folder name

Do one of the following:

By default, the export folder is named after the protected machine from which this recovery point was captured. If you want to use the default export folder name, leave that name in this text box.

If you want to specify a different folder name to hold exported VM components, in the Export folder name text box, type a new name.

When the VM is deployed, a copy of the export folder becomes the deployment folder, containing the same name.

When satisfied with your advanced storage options, click Next.

If you see an export warning indicating that the export will replace files from the previous export, if this is acceptable, confirm to close the dialog box and continue.
On the Virtual Machine Options page, if you want to queue the export job immediately, select Perform initial one-time export. Clear this option if you want the Core to wait until the next forced or scheduled backup snapshot.
When satisfied with your virtual machine options, click Next.
On the Volumes page, select the volumes to export (for example, the system reserved volume and C:\), and then click Finish to close the wizard and start the export.

NOTE: You can monitor the status and progress of the export by viewing the Virtual Standby or Events pages.

The virtual standby parameters you define in this procedure cause the export of the files necessary to create a VM in your Azure account. After every snapshot (forced or scheduled), these files are updated in Azure with any new backup information. Before you can boot these files as a VM, you must deploy the VM on Azure. For steps on deploying, see Deploying a virtual machine in Azure.

Deploying a virtual machine in Azure

Before you can deploy a VM in Azure, you must have a protected machine on a Rapid Recovery Core with at least one recovery point, and you must set up continual export (virtual standby) in the Core Console.

On the Azure side, you must have already created a virtual network.

For more information about setting up continual export, see Setting up continual export to Azure. This process also requires you to have an Azure account with sufficient storage associated with your Core.

When you set up virtual standby for a protected machine to Azure, the latest backup information is continually exported from the Core to your Azure account after every backup snapshot. This process overwrites the previous set of export files stored on the Azure VM in the export folder location with updated backup information. Before you can boot the virtual export as a VM (for example, if your original protected machine has failed), you must first select the appropriate virtual standby machine in the Core Console, and deploy it. This process generates a bootable VM in the deployment container within Azure.

Complete the steps in this procedure to deploy your most recent virtual standby export files to a bootable VM in Azure.

From the Rapid Recovery Core Console, in the icon bar, click (Virtual Standby).
In the Virtual Standby pane, identify the machine in your Rapid Recovery Core that is set up for continual export to Azure.
From the row representing the virtual standby machine you want to deploy, click (More options) and then select Deploy Virtual Machine.
The Deploy to Azure Wizard appears on the Destination page. Several parameters are automatically populated with information.
On the Destination page, do one of the following:
- If you want to use a deployment container that already exists in your Azure account, then from the Deployment container drop-down menu, select the appropriate container name.
- If you want to create a new deployment container in your Azure account, then in the Deployment container text box, type the name for your new deployment container.
From the Resource group drop-down menu, select the Azure resource group with which you want to associate the deployed virtual machine.
Click Next.
The Virtual Machine Options page appears.
On the Virtual Machine Options page, in the Virtual machine name text box, enter a name for the virtual machine.

NOTE: Type a name between 3 and 15 characters, using only letters, numbers, and hyphens. The name must start with a letter and cannot end with a hyphen.

From the Virtual machine size drop-down menu, select the appropriate size for the new VM you want to create within Azure. The size includes a number of processor cores, the desired amount of virtual memory, and the required number of data disks.

From the Virtual network drop-down menu, select the appropriate virtual network controller to associate with your new VM.
Click Next.
The Disks page appears. If multiple disk volumes exist in the source recovery point, each disk appears in a separate row on the Disks table.
From the Disks page, select the disks you want to export to your new VM.

NOTE: Your VM must include a system disk. Accordingly, the system disk is automatically selected and cannot be excluded from the new VM.

When satisfied, click Finish to close the wizard and start the deployment.

The Deploy to Azure Wizard closes and a Deploy job is queued. If resources are available, the deployment begins immediately.

NOTE: If Toast alerts are enabled, you can open the Monitor Active Task dialog box to view the progress. Alternatively, you can monitor the progress of the deployment by viewing tasks on the Events page.

Once the deployment completes, in your Azure account, you can see the new VM in Azure's [Virtual machines] Virtual machines view.

Caution: Once the VM is available, you are also paying fees. To avoid ongoing charges from Microsoft, delete the deployed VM when it is not needed. You can always deploy a VM from the latest set of virtual export files by repeating this procedure.

Managing exports

If your Core has continual export set up, the configuration parameters for each virtual export appear as a row on the Virtual Standby page. From here you can view the status of established continual exports, and manage your virtual standby machines. You can add a virtual standby, force export, pause or resume virtual standby, or remove the requirements for continual export from your Core Console.

When a one-time export takes place, the job is listed in the export queue on the Virtual Standby page. During this time, you can pause, resume, or cancel the one-time export operation.

Virtual export to a virtual standby VM does not occur if the VM is powered on.

Complete the steps in this procedure to manage virtual exports.

On the Rapid Recovery Core Console, in the icon bar, click [Virtual Standby]

(Virtual Standby).

The Virtual Standby page appears. Here you can view two tables of saved export settings. They include the information described in the following table.

Table 135: Virtual standby information

Column

Description

Select item

For each row in the summary table, you can select the check box to perform actions from the list of menu options preceding the table.

Status indicator

Colored spheres in the Status column show the status of virtual standby. If you hover the cursor over the colored circle, the status condition is displayed.

Green. Virtual standby is successfully configured, is active, and is not paused. The next export is performed immediately following completion of the next snapshot.
Yellow. Virtual standby pauses, but the parameters are still defined and saved in the Core. However, after a new transfer, the export job will not start automatically and there will be no new exports for this protected machine until the status changes.

Machine Name

The name of the source machine.

VM Status

This column shows for each virtual standby definition whether continual export has been initiated.

Destination

The virtual machine and path to which data is being exported.

Export Type

This column shows the type of virtual machine platform for the export, such as vCenter/ESXi, VMware Workstation, Hyper-V, VirtualBox, or Azure.

Hypervisor Status

This column displays the availability of the hypervisor host.

Last Export

This column shows the date and time of the last export.

If an export has just been added but has not completed, a message displays stating the export has not yet been performed. If an export has failed or was canceled, a corresponding message also displays.

Settings

The

(More options) drop-down menu lets you perform the following functions:

Edit. Lets you edit the virtual standby settings.
Force. Forces a virtual export.
Pause. Pauses virtual export. Only available when status is active.
Resume. Resumes virtual export. Only available when status is paused.
Remove. Removes the requirement for continual export. Does not remove the exported VM most recently updated.
Start VM. Starts an already-exported virtual machine.

NOTE: New data cannot be written to the virtual standby machine when the VM is started.
Stop VM. Stops an already-exported virtual machine.
Network Adapters. Lets you add or modify virtual network adapters.
Deploy Virtual Machine. For Azure continual export only, this option converts the exported files in your Azure account to a bootable VM.

Table 136: Export queue information
Column	Description
Select item	For each row in the summary table, you can select the check box to perform actions from the list of menu options preceding the table. These options include: Cancel. Cancel the current one-time virtual export. Settings. Lets you update the maximum concurrent exports setting.
Status indicator	Shows as a percentage the status of the current export. When no one-time exports are queued, this column has no value.
Machine Name	The name of the source machine.
Destination	The virtual machine and path to which data is being exported.
Export Type	This column shows the type of virtual machine platform for the export, such as vCenter/ESXi, VMware, Hyper-V, VirtualBox, or Azure.
Schedule Type	Click on to see the schedule type. This shows the type of export as either One-time or Continuous.

To manage saved export settings, select an export, and then click one of the following:
- Edit. Opens the Virtual Machine Export Wizard to the VM Options page. Here you can change the location of the exported VM, change the version of the VM type, or specify RAM or processors for the export. To immediately start the VM export, select Perform initial one-time export.
- Force. Forces a new export. This option could be helpful when virtual standby is paused and then resumed, which means the export job will restart only after a new transfer. If you do not want to wait for the new transfer, you could force an export.
- Pause. Pauses an active export.
- Resume. Resumes the requirement for continue export at the next scheduled or forced snapshot.
To remove an export from the system, select the export, and then click Remove.
The export configuration is permanently removed from the system. Removing the virtual standby configuration does not remove any virtual machine exported as a result of the configuration.
To deploy a VM to Azure, select Deploy Virtual Machine and complete details in the Deploy to Azure Wizard.
Data from the most recent virtual export saved to your Azure account is deployed within your associated Azure account as a bootable VM.
To manage the number of exports that run at the same time, do the following:

Under Export Queue, click Settings.

In the Maximum Concurrent Exports dialog box, enter the number of exports you want to run simultaneously. The default number is 5.

Click Save.
To cancel a one-time or continual export currently listed in the Export Queue, select the export, and then click Cancel.
To add a new virtual standby export, you can click Add to launch the Export Wizard. Completing the resulting wizard results in a continual export for the selected protected machine. For further information about setting up virtual standby for a specific virtual machine, see one of the following topics:
- Setting up continual export to ESXi
- Setting up continual export to VMware Workstation
- Setting up continual export to Hyper-V
- Setting up continual export to VirtualBox
- Setting up continual export to Azure

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Rapid Recovery 6.8 - User Guide

Performing a one-time Azure export

Setting up continual export to Azure

Deploying a virtual machine in Azure

Managing exports