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Rapid Recovery 6.6 - User Guide

Introduction to Rapid Recovery The Core Console Repositories Core settings Protecting machines
About protecting machines with Rapid Recovery Understanding the Rapid Recovery Agent software installer Deploying Agent to multiple machines simultaneously from the Core Console Using the Deploy Agent Software Wizard to deploy to one or more machines Modifying deploy settings Understanding protection schedules Protecting a machine About protecting multiple machines Enabling application support Settings and functions for protected Exchange servers Settings and functions for protected SQL servers
Managing protected machines Snapshots and recovery points Managing privacy Encryption Credentials Vault Replication Events Reporting VM export Restoring data Bare metal restore
About bare metal restore Differences in bare metal restore for Windows and Linux machines Understanding boot CD creation for Windows machines Managing a Linux boot image Performing a bare metal restore using the Restore Machine Wizard Using the Universal Recovery Console for a BMR Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines Verifying a bare metal restore
Managing aging data Archiving Cloud accounts Core Console references REST APIs Glossary

Rapid Recovery Core settings

The Settings pane contains a navigation column on the left side, listing each Core setting. Click any link in this list, or scroll down on the right side of the page to see all configuration options for each Core setting.

When you click on a setting you want to change, that setting becomes an editable control. Do one of the following:

  • When the control is a drop-down menu, click the downward arrow to list the options, and select the desired option from the menu.
  • When the control is a text field, enter a value.
  • When the option displays Yes or No, click the value, which is replaced by a check box. For a setting of Yes, select the check box. For a value of No, clear the check box.
  • When the option displays a time value (for example, showing hours, minutes, and seconds), you can click on each component and type a new value or use the up and down arrows to select new values.

For each setting, when satisfied with your changes, click [Checkmark] to confirm and save the change and exit edit mode, or click [Cancel] to exit edit mode without saving.

The Rapid Recovery Core settings that you can configure are described in the following table. Each setting has a link to a relevant topic with more information.

Table 18: Rapid Recovery Core configurable settings
Configuration Setting Description

General

General settings include configuration options that apply generally to the Rapid Recovery Core, including display options and ports for the web server and for the Rapid Recovery service.

For more information about the general settings for Rapid Recovery Core, including how to configure these settings, see Configuring Core general settings.

Updates

Update settings control aspects of the automatic update feature, which checks for updated versions of Rapid Recovery software.

For more information about settings for updating the Rapid Recovery Core, including how to configure these settings, see Configuring update settings.

Nightly Jobs

Nightly jobs settings are automated tasks which the Core performs daily. You can configure the time the jobs begin and which jobs are performed. Quest recommends scheduling the jobs outside of normal business hours to reduce load on the system when demand for resources is high.

For more information, see Understanding nightly jobs, Configuring nightly jobs for the Core, and Customizing nightly jobs for a protected machine.

Transfer Queue

Transfer queue settings control the number of times transfer operations are attempted if jobs fail due to unavailability of resources. You can establish the maximum number of concurrent transfers and the maximum number of retries for transferring data.

For more information about transfer queue settings, see Modifying transfer queue settings.

Client Timeout

Client timeout settings determine the length of time before that specific connection requests or read and write operations should be attempted before timing out.

For more information about client timeout settings, see Adjusting client timeout settings.

DVM Deduplication Cache

Deduplication ensures that unique blocks of information are stored only one time in your repository, creating references to repeated data blocks. The references are stored in a deduplication cache. If encryption keys are used, then deduplication occurs within each encryption domain.

DVM deduplication cache settings let you configure the size and specify the locations for the primary and secondary cache, as well as the location for the metadata cache.

For more information about deduplication cache, see Understanding deduplication cache and storage locations. For information about adjusting the settings, see Configuring DVM deduplication cache settings.

Replay Engine

Replay engine settings control information regarding the communication channel for the Replay engine, such as IP addresses and timeout settings, to help adjust the performance specific to your network needs.

For more information about engine settings for Rapid Recovery, see Configuring Replay engine settings.

Deploy

Deploy settings let you set options for deploying the Rapid Recovery Agent software from your Core to the machines you want to protect.

For more information about configuring deployment settings, see Configuring deployment settings.

Database Connection

Rapid Recovery stores transactional information in a MongoDB service database that is installed locally by default on the Core machine. You can configure these settings to change how long information is retained in the database, or to change the connection pool size to allow for more or fewer concurrent connections.

For more information about establishing or modifying database connection settings for the service database, see Configuring database connection settings.

Local Database Settings

Rapid Recovery displays information about Core tasks, events, and alerts on the Events page. Rapid Recovery stores this transactional information in a MongoDB service database that is installed locally on the same machine as the Rapid Recovery Core.

You can configure credential information (user name and password) for the local Mongo service database using the Local database settings. For more information about adjusting local database settings, see Modifying local database connection settings.

SMTP Server

Configure Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server settings for the Core to send Core event information by email.

For more information about configuring an SMTP email server, see Configuring an email server.

NOTE: To send event information by email, you must also configure notification group settings. For more information about specifying events to receive email alerts, see Configuring notification groups.

Cloud Accounts

The Cloud Accounts settings let you specify configuration settings for supported cloud accounts. These settings do not create cloud accounts. Instead, they associate existing external cloud storage or cloud service provider accounts with your Rapid Recovery Core to facilitate actions such as archiving Rapid Recovery information. For information about setting timeout settings for cloud accounts, see Configuring cloud account connection settings.

For more information about managing cloud accounts in the Rapid Recovery Core Console, see Cloud accounts.

Reports

Report settings include configuration parameters that allows you to select the font used when a report is generated from the Rapid Recovery Core. You can also set the paper size and page orientation for reports.

For more information about changing report settings, see Managing report settings.

Attachability

Attachability settings let you specify whether to perform SQL attachability checks on the protected machine, or whether to use the SQL Server instance on the Core. If specifying SQL on the Core, you must provide credential information.

For more information about managing SQL attachability settings for the Core, see Managing Core SQL attachability settings.

Jobs

Core jobs are automatically created whenever you initiate operations such as replication. You can specify settings for each job using the Jobs settings for the Core.

You can configure the number of jobs to run at one time. In case network or other communication errors prevent any job from succeeding the first time, you can set how many times a job should be attempted using the Try Count setting.

For more information about Core jobs, which jobs are available, and how to configure them, see Core job settings.

Licensing

From the Core console, Rapid Recovery lets you change the license associated with your Core, limit the number of daily snapshots, view license pool information, and contact the license server.

For more information about managing licenses from the Core, see "Understanding Rapid Recovery licenses" in the Rapid Recovery Installation and Upgrade Guide.

For more information about managing licenses, see the Rapid Recovery License Portal User Guide.

NOTE: The Rapid Recovery License Portal has a different release cycle than Rapid Recovery software. For the latest product documentation, see the Quest Technical Documentation website.

SNMP Configuration

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a protocol for managing devices on an IP network. You can configure the Rapid Recovery Core as an SNMP agent. The Core then can report information such as alerts, repository status, and protected machines.

For more information about using SNMP with Rapid Recovery, see Understanding SNMP settings.

vSphere

vSphere Core settings apply only for users of the agentless protection of virtual machines. If using a vSphere host, these settings include connection settings that apply to the VMs.

For more information about vSphere settings for VMware or ESXi agentless protection, see Configuring vSphere settings.

VMware Proxy

A VMware proxy service installed with the Core lets users set service timeouts associated with VMware disk storage. For more information about these settings, see Managing VMware proxy settings.

QorePortal

If managing two or more Cores, you can integrate your Core server with the QorePortal This feature, particularly useful for managed service providers, lets you manage multiple Cores; access a dashboard where you can monitor tasks and events, view repository status, and check system health; generate reports; and perform a growing list of other functions from a single web-based user interface. To enable or disable access to the portal, use this setting.

vFoglight

Quest Foglight for Virtualization (vFoglight) helps administrators monitor, analyze, and optimize hypervisors across VMware, Hyper-V, and OpenStack environments. For customers managing VMs using vFoglight and protecting them on a Rapid Recovery Console, this Core setting lets you integrate navigation for the two products. After successfully entering vFoglight settings, by clicking the vFoglight URL on the Summary page for VM in the Core Console, users navigate to the corresponding page for that virtual machine in vFoglight.

For more information about the vFoglight Core settings, see Configuring vFoglight settings. For more information about vFoglight, see the vFoglight product page on the Quest website.

Synthetic incremental

When enabled, this feature compares the data on a protected machine with the data that is in the previous backup stored in the repository and only sends the difference to the Core server, which significantly reduces the amount of repository space needed to store the backup and thereby reduces the amount of time needed to re-replicate or re-export that recovery point.

For more information, see https://support.quest.com/rapid-recovery/kb/331728/rapid-recovery-synthetic-incremental-feature-overview.

You can also access Core tools such as viewing a summary of system information, or downloading Core log files. For more information, see Core-level tools.

Configuring Core general settings

General settings for the Rapid Recovery Coreinclude the Core ID, display name, the web server port, service port, locale (the Core console display language), and the display color theme.

  1. Navigate to the Rapid Recovery Core Console.
  2. On the icon bar, click [Settings] (Settings), and then do one of the following:
    • From the list of Core settings on the left side of the Settings page, click General.
    • Scroll down on the right side of the Settings page until you can see the General heading.
  3. Click on the general setting you want to change.

    The setting you selected becomes editable, as a text field or a drop-down menu.

  4. Enter the configuration information as described in the following table.
    Table 19: General Settings information
    Text Box Description
    Core ID Each Core has a unique Core ID. This ID is used, for example, to integrate your Core with the QorePortal to provide reporting or management of two or more Cores. The Core ID is now listed in General settings.

    NOTE: This field is not configurable.

    Display name

    Enter a new display name for the Core. This is the name that will display in the Rapid Recovery Core Console and (if enabled) in the QorePortal. You can enter up to 64 characters.

    Web server port Enter a port number for the Web server. The default port is 8006.

    NOTE:Quest recommends using the default port.

    Service port Enter a port number for the Rapid Recovery Core service. The default port is 8006.

    NOTE: Quest recommends using the default port.

    Locale

    From the Locale drop-down list, select the language you want to display.

    NOTE: If changing the languages, confirm the message indicating that the Rapid Recovery Core service must restart before the updated language can display in the Core Console. You can restart this service using the Restart Core Service button from the top of the Core Settings page.

    Theme

    From the Theme drop-down list, select the style you want to apply to the Core Console. Three themes are available:

    • Dark. This theme features a solid dark gray background throughout the interface (left navigation menu, top button bar, and primary pane). Text elements and text buttons not in focus appear in off-white, or white when in focus. Clickable links appear in a medium blue. Occasional buttons have white text over a medium blue background.
    • Hybrid. This theme features the familiar dark gray background for the left navigation menu and button bar at the top of the Core Console. Text elements in these areas are white. The primary pane has a white background with off-white highlights, with text elements and text buttons in black. Clickable links appear in a dark blue. Occasional buttons have white text over a blue background.
    • Light. This theme features a clean white background throughout the interface (left navigation menu, top button bar, and primary pane). The Quest logo and some design elements are orange. Text elements are dark gray, with titles in black. Clickable links appear medium blue on hover. Occasional buttons have white text over a medium blue background.

    Agree to use of personal data

    To change the setting that allows the application to use personal information, from the Agree to use of personal data drop-down list, select Yes or No, as appropriate. In the resulting dialog box, select and register the appropriate license file.

    When you upgrade or install Rapid Recovery Core, you have the option to set sharing of personal information. If you agree to share information with Quest, you can use features such as automatic update and the QorePortal (which is then enabled by default).

    If you decline to share information with Quest when installing, you are prompted to register a non-phone-home license. You must have access to the non-phone-home license to save to confirm the change.

    NOTE: Regardless of the option you selected during installation, you can change the Agree to use of personal data setting in Core General settings. Ensure you have access to the non-phone-home license, since this action prompts you to upload the non-phone home license.

    In release 6.6, when you change this setting from "Yes" to "No," the following applies:

    1. You are prompted to upload the non-phone-home license file.
    2. After confirming the non-phone-home license, Updates settings for your Core automatically adjust to never check for or install Core updates.
    3. The QorePortal setting Enable connection to QorePortal is set to "No."

    However, the reverse is not true. When you change this setting from "No" to "Yes," you give the Core permission to share your information, but no information is shared until you explicitly change the license to phone-home mode and update the appropriate Core settings. For example:

    1. The non-phone-home key remains registered until you explicitly upload a standard phone-home key (which you can obtain from the license portal).
    2. To use automatic update, change "Check for new updates" from "Never" to "Daily," "Weekly," or "Monthly." Optionally, change "Install updates" to notify you or to automatically install updates.
    3. To share information with the QorePortal, set Enable connection to QorePortal to "Yes."

      NOTE: If you configure this first, you are prompted to upload a phone-home license.

    To understand the effect of sharing personal information, see Managing privacy, including the topic How Rapid Recovery uses personal information.

    For more information about the functions you cannot perform when using non-phone-home mode, see the topic Non-phone-home license restrictions.

    To request a license for non-phone-home mode, see Obtaining and using non-phone-home licenses.

  5. For each setting, when satisfied with your changes, click [Save] to save the change and exit edit mode, or click [Cancel] to exit edit mode without saving.

Configuring update settings

Rapid Recovery includes the automatic update feature. When installing the Rapid Recovery Core , you can choose whether to automatically update the Rapid Recovery Core software when new updates are available, and how frequently the system should check for updates.

NOTE: The automatic update feature requires a license using the standard phone-home mode. If using a software license in non-phone home mode, your Core does not have permission to communicate with the Rapid Recovery License Portal and cannot update the Core or notify you of available updates. For more information, see Managing privacy.

Rapid Recovery release numbers typically include four chunks of information, separated by decimal points: the major release number, minor release number, revision, and build number. For example, the first rebranded release of Rapid Recovery was 6.0.1.609. The next release was 6.0.2.142.

The automatic update feature compares all digits in a release number. If you enable automatic update, the Core software is only updated without intervention when the major and minor release numbers are identical. For example, automatic update would occur from Core version 6.0.1.609 to 6.0.2.142 (both start with 6.0). On the same machine, the Core would not update automatically from 6.0.2.142 to 6.1.1.XXX, because the digits after the first decimal are not equal. Instead, you are notified (by a banner at the top of the Core Console) that an update to the Core software is available. This notification gives you an opportunity to review release notes, and determine if updating to the latest Core version is appropriate for your needs.

NOTE: For information on installing Rapid Recovery Core software, see the Rapid Recovery Installation and Upgrade Guide.

You can view and change the settings the system uses to check for updates at any time.

Caution: When using replication, configuring your system to install updates automatically could result in upgrading the source Core before the target Core, which may result in replication failure or the inability to set up new replication between Cores. For replication users, Quest recommends administrators apply automatic upgrades only to the target Core, and then manually upgrade the source Core, and lastly upgrade the protected machines.

Complete the steps in this procedure to configure update settings.

  1. Navigate to the Rapid Recovery Core Console.
  2. On the icon bar, click [Settings] (Settings), and then do one of the following:
    • From the list of Core settings on the left side of the Settings page, click Updates.
    • Scroll down on the right side of the Settings page until you can see the Updates heading.
  3. Click on the setting you want to change.

    The setting you selected becomes editable.

  4. Enter the configuration information as described in the following table.
    Table 20: Update settings information
    Text Box Description
    Check for new updates Select how frequently Rapid Recovery checks for and installs updates. You can choose from the following options:
    • Never
    • Daily
    • Weekly
    • Monthly

      If you choose automatic updates, after the selected threshold of time passes, if an update is available, it is installed after nightly jobs have completed.

    Install updates Specify the handling of available updates by choosing one of the following options:
    • Never check for updates
    • Notify me about updates, but do not install them automatically
    • Automatically install updates
    Status The status indicates whether any new updates are available.
    Last check The Last check field indicates the date and time the system last checked for an update.

    Click Check Now to immediately verify whether a software update is available. This check occurs regardless of the frequency you have set.

  5. For each setting, when satisfied with your changes, click [Save] to save the change and exit edit mode, or click [Cancel] to exit edit mode without saving.

Understanding nightly jobs

Nightly jobs are daily automated tasks that occur at a predetermined time outside of normal business hours. These jobs are memory-intensive, and include various integrity checks and data consolidation tasks that are best conducted when the Rapid Recovery Core is less active.

All the nightly jobs, and the scope for which they can be applied, are described in the following table. Nightly jobs can be managed at the Core level (which applies to all machines protected on the Core). Those nightly jobs which can also be applied for a specific protected machine list the scope as "Protected machine."

Table 21: Nightly jobs information
Job Name Scope Description

[Change] Change

N/A

This control opens the Nightly Jobs dialog box, where you can enable, disable, or change settings for each nightly job.

Nightly jobs time

All

This setting represents the time that nightly jobs are scheduled to start running. Quest recommends configuring your Core to run nightly jobs during a time of low activity.

The default time is 12:00 AM.

Check attachability of SQL Server databases

Protected machine

Checks the integrity of recovery points containing SQL databases. For more information, see Managing Core SQL attachability settings.

Check checksum of Exchange databases

Protected machine

Checks the integrity of recovery points containing Exchange Database (EDB) files.

NOTE: This option does not appear if you are not protecting an Exchange Server in your Core.

Check integrity of Oracle databases

Core or protected machine

Checks the integrity of Oracle databases using the DBVERIFY utility.

Process:

  • Mount the latest recovery point for every protection group.
  • Enumerate the files and folders for each volume.
  • Examines the recovery points to ensure that data files are valid and data blocks are not corrupted.
  • Dismount the recovery point.

Check integrity of recovery points

Core or protected machine

Checks the integrity of recovery points for each protected machine.

NOTE: By default, the Check integrity of recovery points option is not enabled.

Process:

  • Mount the latest recovery point for every protection group.
  • Enumerate the files and folders for each volume.
  • Examines the recovery points to ensure that they are valid.
  • Dismount the recovery point.

Clean orphaned registry keys on Hyper-V agents

 

For Hyper-V hosts using Rapid Recovery release 6.1.x agentless protection, this nightly job cleans orphaned keys made in the Windows registry for each attach and detach operation. The registry entries are harmless, but over time can accumulate, leading to slower performance.

NOTE: As of Rapid Recovery release 6.2, an improved approach to obtaining storage metadata for Hyper-V agentless protection precludes creating registry entries.

Consolidate VMware snapshots for protected virtual machines

Core or protected machine

This nightly job is relevant if you use native VMware APIs to protect machines without the Rapid Recovery Agent software.

You should periodically consolidate VMware snapshots. Enabling this nightly job lets you perform these consolidations on a daily basis. This nightly job contains one parameter, Maximum simultaneous consolidations, which must be set to a number between 1 and 100.

Deferred delete

Core

This setting lets you defer removal of recovery points from the repository until the time specified in your Core to perform nightly jobs. When enabled, then after other nightly jobs run, Core processing is dedicated to running the "Deleting records previously flagged for deletion" job. That job removes marked recovery points from the repository until they are all removed, or until four hours have passed from the nightly jobs execution time. Nightly jobs then end, and other queued jobs resume. Any remaining deletions occur in the background, concurrent with other tasks, until the next day's nightly jobs run.

NOTE: By default, the Deferred Delete option is not enabled.

Quest recommends leaving this nightly job disabled unless you are encountering transfer performance issues related to backed-up recovery point deletions.

If you enable this option, Quest recommends reviewing your Core jobs to ensure most recovery points marked for deletion are removed from the repository within a one-week period. This approach helps to balance maximum transfer performance with maximum reclamation of repository space.

Delete old events and jobs

Core

Maintains the scale of the events database by removing old events. The number of days is configurable, defaulting to 30 days.

Log truncation for Exchange

Protected machine

Maintains the size of Exchange logs by truncating the exchange database transaction log to match the last recovery point.

NOTE: This option does not appear if you are not protecting an Exchange server in your Core.

Log truncation for Oracle

Protected machine

Controls truncation for Oracle logs. When enabled, truncation occurs when nightly jobs run, according to the deletion policy selected.

  • You can select the Core Automatic deletion policy. When this policy is in effect, then when nightly jobs run, all of the locally stored Oracle archivelogs included in the last recovery point are truncated. Business logic prevents archivelogs not included in a snapshot from truncation. New archive logs that are captured in a subsequent snapshot become eligible for automatic truncation when the next nightly job is run.
  • You can select a custom deletion policy for a specific protected Oracle server. The Keep newest policy lets you specify the duration of time before which Oracle logs are truncated, and the Keep specified number policy lets you keep a specified number of log files before truncating the older ones.
  • When this nightly job is disabled, substantial accumulation of log files occurs. In such cases, users can also truncate log files manually, as described in the topic Manually truncating Oracle database logs.

Log truncation for SQL Server

Protected machine

Maintains the size of SQL Server logs by truncating the database transaction log to match the last recovery point.

NOTE: This option does not appear if you are not protecting a SQL Server in your Core.

Rollup

Core or protected machine

Applies the retention policy to your backed-up data by combining or "rolling up" recovery points on the schedule dictated in the policy. You can customize the policy on the Core, which applies by default to all protected machines. By default, the rollup job is run for the whole Core; or click [Expand] [Expand] to expand the view of protected machines. You can then define the set of protected machines you want to roll up using the Core policy.

For more information about using a retention policy on a protected machine that differs from the default policy set in the Core, see Customizing retention policy settings for a protected machine.

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