How to Reverse the Direction of Replication and Transfer the Protection of Machines to a New Source (4034291)

This article describes a potential issue with replication in AppAssure 5.

Users may need to reverse the direction of replication to make the source core the target of replication, and the original target core the new source core, in order to rebuild the RAID Array (from two raid 5′s to one raid 10 array) on the source (soon to be target) core.

After this, users will need to transfer the protection of machines to the new source core.

To reverse the direction of replication to make the source core the new target of replication and the original target the new source core, here are KBs on how to perform a failover:

• Performing Failover/Failback on the Target Core

When the old source core’s RAID array is rebuilt and the system is ready to reverse the replication (back to how it was originally), here are KBs on how to perform a failback:

• Perform a Failback

Next, to transfer the protection of machines to the new source core (that it is currently replicating), first pause replication for the agent and remove the agent from replication.

This can be done either from the outgoing replication on the source or the incoming replication side on the target.

1. Under the replication tab, expand the incoming/outgoing core, select the checkbox for the agent machine.
2. Under the dropdown arrow, select Remove/Delete
3. A popup will open asking to confirm the agent removal from replication (with or without recovery points).
   1. Note: Users may choose not to remove with recovery points and keep them on the target core repository, and they will appear under Recovery Points Only on the target core.

The following procedure describes how to migrate a AppAssure 5 protected server to a new Core.

In summary, un-protect the agent from the source core so that on the target, the recovery points would be shown as Recovery Points Only. Protect the agent on the once target core in which those Recovery Points Only will then appear under the newly protected agent. Note: this will work so long as an agent repair or reinstallation does not get performed whereby the existing Trusted Certificate for the agent would be re-generated and pairing of those existing Recovery Points Only would not be linked together to that agent.

Prerequisite

Before migrating, back up the Windows registry on the Core. For full directions, see the KB article How to Back Up the Windows Registry. Alternatively, export the AppAssure key as follows:

1. Navigate to the Core and open regedit.
2. Expand the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AppRecovery
3. Right-click on AppRecovery.
4. Click Export.
5. Save the key in a text file to a memorable location.

Also, ensure a second core is ready with its own repository.

To move a server to a new Core, follow the steps listed here.