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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

Understanding driver injection in a boot CD

The boot CD image requires storage drivers to recognize the drives of the server, and network adapter drivers in order to communicate with the Rapid Recovery Core over the network.

To suit this purpose, a generic set of Windows10 x64 storage controller and network adapter drivers are included automatically when you generate a boot CD for Windows. These generic drivers satisfy the requirements of many newer systems. Data restored from the recovery point also includes drivers from the hardware previously in place. If restoring to the same or similar hardware, the included drivers or restored drivers may be sufficient.

Creation of a successful boot CD can be a trial and error effort. When creating the boot CD, you can use driver injection to facilitate interoperability between the recovery console, network adapter, and storage on the target server. If performing a BMR to dissimilar hardware, or if restoring an older system, you may need to inject storage controller or network adapter drivers when creating the boot CD. If you discover the boot CD you created does not contain the drivers necessary to complete the restore, you can also load drivers on to the target machine using the URC. After successfully completing the restore process and booting the OS, you can download and install any additional drivers needed by the OS to interact with its new hardware. For more information, see Loading drivers using the Universal Recovery Console.

Using UltraVNC for remote access

You cannot log onto the BMR target remotely using Remote Desktop Services while using the boot CD. To remotely access the BMR target and interact with the Universal Recovery Console, you can use UltraVNC (a third-party tool).

UltraVNC is an open-source utility that lets users access a computer remotely as if they were in front of it. Use of this product with Rapid Recovery to perform BMR requires two components, VNC Server and VNC Viewer. If you need to remotely access the BMR target machine, then UltraVNC Server can be added to the boot CD when you create it in the Rapid Recovery Core Console.

Before you can select the option to embed UltraVNC into the boot CD, you must have a qualifying version of UltraVNC installed on the Core machine.

For this release, supported VNC versions include 1.1.8.9, 1.0.9.6, 1.0.9.6.1, 1.0.9.6.2, and 1.1.9.3. Install both the UltraVNC Server and UltraVNC Viewer components.

You can visit https://www.uvnc.com/downloads/ultravnc/ to download UltraVNC for x64 architecture.

After installing, copy the executable file for the server component only (winvnc.exe) to the following path: C:\Program Files\AppRecovery\Core\BootCdKit\Tools\UltraVnc_x64.

NOTE: Do not move the executable from its original installation location. Place a duplicate copy in the specified directory.

Creating a boot CD ISO image

A boot CD is the term Rapid Recovery uses to refer to the ISO image reserved for performing a bare metal restore (BMR) for Windows machines. The image includes the Rapid Recovery Universal Recovery Console (URC).

To perform a BMR on a machine, you must start the machine from the boot CD, which launches the URC. The URC enables you to connect the BMR target to the recovery point you want to use to complete the restore.

You cannot log onto the BMR target machine using Remote Desktop Services while using the boot CD. If you need to connect remotely to the BMR target machine, see Using UltraVNC for remote access.

NOTE: You can also create a boot CD image from the Restore Machine Wizard workflow. When you select Recover to any target machine using a Boot CD, the next steps in the wizard let you create a boot CD. If you create a boot CD from that wizard, this task is not required.

Use this procedure to create a boot CD for a Windows machine independent of the Restore Machine Wizard.

  1. From the Rapid Recovery Core Console where the server you need to restore is protected, in the icon bar, click the (More) menu, and then click Boot CDs.
  2. On the Boot CDs page, click + Create Boot CD.
    The Create Boot CD dialog box displays.
  3. In the Create Boot CD dialog box, in the Output path text box, enter the path in which you want to store the boot CD ISO image. For example, to create a boot CD for a protected machine named Protected Machine 1, enter the path C:\ProgramData\AppRecovery\Boot CDs\ProtectedMachine1-BootCD.iso.

    NOTE: If you want to store the image on a shared drive which has insufficient disk space, you can create a disk as needed in the path; for example, F:\filename.iso.

    NOTE: The file extension must be .iso. When specifying the path, use only alphanumeric characters, the hyphen, the backslash (only as a path delimiter), and the period (only to separate host names and domains). The letters a to z are not case sensitive. Do not use spaces in the name of the boot CD image. No other symbols or punctuation characters are permitted.

  4. Under Connection Options, do one of the following:
    • To obtain the IP address dynamically using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), select Obtain IP address automatically.
    • To specify a static IP address for connecting to the URC on the BMR target, select Use the following IP address, and then enter the information described in the following table.
      Table 143: Network connection options
      Option Description
      IP address The IP address for the restored machine.
      Subnet mask The subnet mask for the restored machine.
      Default gateway Specify the default gateway for the restored machine.
      DNS server Specify the domain name server for the restored machine.

      NOTE: You must specify all four of these parameters.

  5. UltraVNC is a third-party utility that lets you manage the URC remotely. If you require remote access to the recovery console, and you have UltraVNC installed, under UltraVNC Options, select Add UltraVNC, and then enter the information described in the following table.

    Table 144: UltraVNC connection credentials
    Option Description
    UltraVNC password Define a password. You must enter this password to connect from the boot CD using UltraVNC.
    UltraVNC port The port you want to use to connect to the BMR target. The default port is 5900.

  6. If you plan to restore to dissimilar hardware, inject the appropriate storage controller and other drivers for your target system by completing the following steps:
    1. Download the drivers from the server manufacturer’s website and unpack them.
    2. Compress each driver into a .zip file using an appropriate compression utility (for example, WinZip).
    3. In the Create Boot CD dialog box, in the Drivers pane, click Add an Archive of Drivers.

      The Choose File to Upload dialog box appears.

    4. From the dialog box, navigate through the filing system to locate the compressed driver file. Select the file, and then click Open.

      The Choose File to Upload dialog box closes. The driver file you selected appears in the Drivers pane of the Create Boot CD dialog box.

    5. Repeat step c and step d, as appropriate, until you add all necessary drivers.
    6. In the Drivers pane, select the drivers that you want to inject.

    NOTE: Automatic driver injection is supported by Windows 8.1 and higher, and Windows Server 2012 R2 and higher. If creating a boot CD ISO image for earlier versions of Windows, manually save drivers to C:\Program Files\AppRecovery\Core\BootCdKit\Drivers\.

    For more information about injecting drivers, see Understanding driver injection in a boot CD.

  7. Click Create Boot CD.

    Rapid Recovery creates the boot CD and saves it with the file name you provided.

  8. To monitor the progress of this task, go to the icon bar and click the [Events] Events icon.

    For more information about monitoring Rapid Recovery events, see Viewing events using tasks, alerts, and journal pages.

    When the ISO image creation is complete, a record of the image appears on the Boot CDs page, which you can access from the [More] (More) menu in the icon bar.
To access the ISO image, navigate to the output path you specified or click the link on the Boot CDs page. Then save the image to a location from which you can then load it onto the new system, such as a network drive.

Transferring the boot CD ISO image to media

When you create the boot CD file, it is stored as an ISO image in the path you specified. You must be able to mount this image as a drive on the server on which you are performing a bare metal restore.

You can burn the boot CD ISO image onto compact disc (CD) or digital video disk (DVD) media accessible at system startup.

When you start the machine from the boot CD, the Universal Recovery Console launches automatically.

If performing a BMR on a virtual machine, this step is not required. Simply load the ISO image in a drive and edit settings for that VM to start from that drive.

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