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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

Benefits of installing hypervisor tools for agentless protection

When protecting virtual machines (VMs) without using the Rapid Recovery Agent Agent, Quest recommends installing VMware Tools on protected VMs on vSphere or ESXi hosts. In the same way, Quest recommends installing Hyper-V Integration Services on VMs you want to protect on Hyper-V hosts.

Installing these native hypervisor utilities lets Rapid Recovery take full advantage of Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) functionality.

When these utilities are installed on VMs running Windows operating systems, the backups that the Rapid Recovery Core captures can also use VSS. When these tools are not installed, Rapid Recovery still collects snapshots, but only in a crash-consistent state. For more information, see Understanding crash-consistent and application-consistent backups.

The following conditions apply based on whether VMware Tools or Hyper-V Integration Services are installed and on the powered-on state of the VM:

Table 38: Backup type conditions for VMs
Hypervisor Tool VM Powered On Backup Type
Not installed Yes Crash-consistent
Not installed No (dirty shut-down) Crash-consistent
Not installed No (clean shut-down) Application-consistent
Installed Yes Application-consistent
Installed No (dirty shut-down) Crash-consistent
Installed No (clean shut-down) Application-consistent

Understanding crash-consistent and application-consistent backups

When protecting virtual machines agentlessly using the Rapid Snap for Virtual feature, the data in the backup snapshots you capture can be in one of two states:

  • Crash-consistent. At minimum, all agentless backups captured by the Rapid Recovery Core are crash-consistent. The backup is a snapshot in time of all the data and operating system files on each protected volume, at the time those files were captured. If you restore from a crash-consistent recovery point, the VM OS starts and can read and understand the file system, and all files in it.

    If you recover a transactional application from a crash-consistent state, the database returns to the last valid state. That most recent valid state may be from the time of the crash, or it may be from earlier than the crash. If it is from earlier, then the database must roll forward some work to make the data files match the information in the logs. This process takes some time when you first open the database, which causes a delay when starting up the machine.

  • Application-consistent. Application-consistent backups use Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to ensure the consistency of application data when a shadow copy is created. Using VSS writers, pending input/output operations are completed and log files committed prior to snapshots being captured. As a result, if you restore from an application-consistent recovery point, the VM OS starts and can read and understand the file system. Additionally, files for transactional applications such as SQL Server or Exchange are in a consistent state. For example, SQL Server logs match the data files, and the database opens quickly without needing any repairs.

Support for Hyper-V guest cluster

Rapid Recovery can protect shared virtual hard disks in the VHDX format on a Hyper-V host by using agentless protection.

NOTE: Rapid Recovery does not support protection of shared VHD sets.

A shared VHDX is a virtual hard disk on a Hyper-V host that is shared among a cluster of guests. When the   Agent is installed on the Hyper-V host for agentless — or host-based — protection,   protects the shared VHDXs at the host level.   can also protect a shared VHDX at the guest level when the Agent is installed on the guest.

When you select and protect the virtual machines (VMs) available on the host,   protects all virtual hard disks associated with those VMs, including any shared VHDXs. After protection is complete, you can edit the protection schedule and remove or protect shared VHDXs at the host level under Volumes on the Summary page for the host. All recovery points of these shared virtual hard disks are displayed on the Recovery Points tab for the host, not for the individual VMs.

When using agentless protection,   automatically detects new VHDXs and offers the option to protect them. Unprotected disks are displayed in a separate Shared Disks section. Metadata is not gathered for these disks until after they are protected.

On the Summary page for a guest virtual machine, shared VHDXs are listed under Shared Volumes. A clickable icon next to the volume name opens a dialog that displays the VMs that are connected to that disk. If a connected VM is not protected, then the option to protect that VM is available.

Understanding the Rapid Recovery Agent software installer

You can download installers from the Rapid Recovery Core. From the Downloads page on the Core Console, you can choose to download the Agent Installer, the Local Mount Utility (LMU), or an SNMP MIB file For more information about SNMP, see Understanding SNMP settings.

NOTE: For access to the Agent Installer, see Downloading the Rapid Recovery Agent Installer. For more information about deploying the Agent Installer, see the Rapid Recovery Installation and Upgrade Guide.

The Agent installer is used to install the Rapid Recovery Agent application on machines that are intended to be protected by the Rapid Recovery Core. If you determine that you have a machine that requires the Agent Installer, you can download the web installer from the Downloads page of the Rapid Recovery Core Console.

NOTE: You can download the Core, Agent, and other Rapid Recovery software from the QorePortal. Log into the QorePortal at https://qoreportal.quest.com/ and click Settings, and then click [Downloads] Downloads.

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