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Rapid Recovery 6.1.2 - User Guide

Introduction to Rapid Recovery Core Console Core settings Repositories Encryption keys Protecting machines
About protecting machines with Rapid Recovery Support for dynamic and basic volumes 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 Settings and functions for protected Exchange servers Settings and functions for protected SQL servers
Managing protected machines Snapshots and recovery points Replication Events Reporting VM export Restoring data Bare metal restore
Bare metal restore for Windows machines Understanding boot CD creation for Windows machines Using the Universal Recovery Console for a BMR Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines Viewing the recovery progress Starting a restored target server Troubleshooting connections to the Universal Recovery Console Repairing boot problems Performing a file system check on the restored volume
Managing aging data Archiving Cloud storage accounts The Local Mount Utility The Central Management Console Core Console references Command Line Management utility PowerShell module
Prerequisites for using PowerShell Working with commands and cmdlets Rapid Recovery PowerShell module cmdlets Localization Qualifiers
Scripting REST APIs About us Glossary

Performing a bare metal restore for Windows machines

Prerequisites for performing a bare metal restore for a Windows machine

To perform a bare metal restore for Windows machines, perform the following tasks.

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Creating a Windows boot image. This boot CD ISO image will be used to start up the destination drive, from which you can access the Universal Recovery Console to communicate with backups on the Core. See Understanding boot CD creation for Windows machines.
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If you require physical media to start up the destination machine, you need to transfer the boot CD ISO image to media. See Transferring the boot CD ISO image to media.
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In all cases, you must load the boot image into the destination server and start the server from the boot image. See Loading the boot CD and starting the target machine.
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NOTE: This process describes how to manage a boot CD image from the Create Boot CD dialog box. You can also perform these steps from the Restore Machine Wizard, starting from the Boot CD page of the wizard. You access this when you specify Recover to any target machine using a boot CD from the Destination page of the wizard.
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Launch a Bare Metal Restore for Windows. After the destination machine is started from the boot CD, you can launch the BMR. See Using the Universal Recovery Console for a BMR. It involves the following tasks:
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Initiate a restore from a recovery point on the Core. See Selecting a recovery point and initiating a BMR.
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Map the volumes. See About disk mapping for a bare metal restore.
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If restoring to dissimilar hardware, and the necessary storage and network drivers are not present on the boot CD, you may need to load the drivers from a portable media device. For more information, see Loading drivers using the Universal Recovery Console.
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Performing a BMR from the Restore Machine Wizard. Optionally, the processes for managing a Windows boot image and for launching the BMR, including all sub-tasks, can be performed from the Restore Machine Wizard. For information on launching the wizard, see steps 1 through 5 of About restoring volumes from a recovery point.
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Verifying a Bare Metal Restore. After starting the bare metal restore, you can verify and monitor your progress. See .
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You can monitor the progress of your restore. See Viewing the recovery progress.
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Once completed, you can start the restored server. See Starting a restored target server
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Troubleshoot the BMR process. See Troubleshooting connections to the Universal Recovery Console and Repairing boot problems.

Prerequisites for performing a bare metal restore for a Windows machine

Before you can begin the process of performing a bare metal restore for a Windows machine, you must ensure that the following conditions and criteria exist:

•
A 64-bit central processing unit (CPU). The Rapid Recovery boot CD includes the Win PE 5.1 operating system. Rapid Recovery BMRs are not compatible with x86-based CPUs. You can only perform a BMR on a 64-bit CPU.
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NOTE: This requirement is new as of 6.0.
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Backups of the machine you want to restore. You must have a functioning Rapid Recovery Core containing recovery points of the protected server you want to restore
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Hardware to restore (new or old, similar or dissimilar). The target machine must meet the installation requirements for an agent; for details, see the Rapid Recovery Installation and Upgrade Guide.
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Image media and software. You must have a blank CD or DVD and disk burning software, or software to create an ISO image. If managing machines remotely using virtual network computing software such as UltraVNC, then you must have VNC Viewer.
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Compatible storage drivers and network adapter drivers. If restoring to dissimilar hardware, then you must have compatible storage drivers and network adapter drivers for the target machine, including RAID, AHCI, and chipset drivers, as appropriate.
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Storage space and partitions, as appropriate. Ensure that there is enough space on the hard drive to create destination partitions on the target machine to contain the source volumes. Any destination partition should be at least as large as the original source partition.
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Compatible partitions. Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2 operating systems that are booted from FAT32 EFI partitions are available for protection or recovery, as well as are Resilient File System (ReFS) volumes. UEFI partitions are treated as simple FAT32 volumes. Incremental transfers are fully supported and protected. Rapid Recovery provides support of UEFI systems for BMR including automatic partitioning GPT disks.

Performing a bare metal restore using the Restore Machine Wizard

You can use the Restore Wizard to create a boot CD as well as perform a bare metal restore (BMR).

Before performing a BMR, see Prerequisites for performing a bare metal restore for a Windows machine or Prerequisites for performing a bare metal restore for a Linux machine, as appropriate. If starting your BMR for a Windows machine from the Core Console, see Performing a bare metal restore for Windows machines.

The protected machine must have the Agent software installed and must have recovery points from which you can perform the restore operation.

Managing a Windows boot image through the wizard includes the following actions:

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Initiating creation of the boot CD.
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Defining the path for the image on the Core machine.
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Selecting the recovery environment appropriate to the hardware you want to restore on.
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Optionally defining connection parameters for the restored agent for using the network or UltraVNC.
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Optionally injecting drivers for hardware you want to restore on.
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Optionally transferring the boot image to physical media.
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Booting the machine to which you want to restore data from the CD.
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Connecting to the Universal Recovery Console.
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Mapping volumes.
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Initiating the bare metal restore from the selected recovery point on the core.
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NOTE: This process describes how to manage a boot CD image from the Restore Machine Wizard, as part of the process for performing a BMR using that wizard. You can also manage a boot image from the Create Boot CD dialog box. For information on managing a boot CD image outside of the Restore Machine Wizard, see Understanding boot CD creation for Windows machines.
1.
To restore a volume on a protected machine, navigate to the Core Console and click Restore from the Rapid Recovery button bar.
The Restore Machine Wizard appears.
2.
On the Machines page, select the protected machine you want to restore, and then click Next.
The Recovery Points page appears.
3.
Select the recovery point you want to use to restore the machine.
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Optionally, if you want to limit the number of recovery points displayed, you can filter by volumes (if defined) or by creation date of the recovery point. You can also conduct a search for a specific recovery point.
4.
Click Next.
5.
On the Destination page, select Recover to any target machine using a boot CD.
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If you have not yet loaded a boot CD on the machine you want to restore, click Next, and then continue to Step 6.
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If you already loaded a boot CD onto the BMR target machine, select I already have a boot CD running on the target machine, click Next, and then go to Step 16.
6.
On the Boot CD page, in the Output path text box, enter the path where the boot CD ISO image should be stored.
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NOTE: If the shared drive on which you want to store the image is has insufficient disk space, you can create a disk as needed in the path; for example, F:\filename.iso.
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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 case-insensitive. Do not use spaces. No other symbols or punctuation characters are permitted.
7.
Optionally, to set up network parameters for the target machine, or to add UltraVNC capabilities, select Show advanced options, and then complete the following steps:
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To establish a network connection with the BMR target, select Use the following IP address, and then enter the information described in the following table.

Table 145. 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.

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If you have an UltraVNC account and would like to use it to complete the BMR, select Add UltraVNC, and then enter the information described in the following table.

Table 146. UltraVNC connection credentials

Option

Description

Password

The password for your UltraVNC account.

Port

The port you want to use to connect to the BMR target. The default port is 5900.

8.
Click Next.
9.
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To establish a network connection for the restored machine, select Use the following IP address as described in the following table.
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To define UltraVNC information, select Add UltraVNC as described in the following table.

Use this option if you require remote access to the recovery console. You cannot log on using Microsoft Terminal Services while using the boot CD.

Table 147. UltraVNC connection

Option

Description

Password

Specify a password for this UltraVNC connection.

Port

Specify a port for this UltraVNC connection.

The default port is 5900.

10.
When you are satisfied with your selections on the Boot CD page, click Next.
11.
Optionally, on the Driver Injection page, 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:
a.
Download the drivers from the server manufacturer’s Web site and unpack them.
b.
Compress each driver into a .zip file using an appropriate compression utility (for example, WinZip).
c.
On the Driver Injection page of the Restore Machine Wizard, click Add an Archive of Drivers.
d.
Navigate through the filing system to locate the compressed driver file, select the file, and then click Open.
e.
Repeat Step c and Step d, as appropriate, until you inject all necessary drivers.

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

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NOTE: Not all versions of Windows are compatible with automatic driver injection. If your operating system is not compatible, manually save drivers to C:\Program Files\AppRecovery\Core\BootCdKit\Drivers\.
Rapid Recovery creates the boot CD ISO image.
12.
Click Next.
13.
Start the BMR target machine, and then complete one of the following options:
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If you can start the target machine from the boot CD ISO image, do so now.
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If you cannot start the target machine, copy the ISO image to physical media (a CD or DVD), load the disc in the target machine, configure the machine to load from the boot CD, and restart from the boot CD.
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NOTE: You may need to change the BIOS settings of the target machine to ensure that the volume that loads first is the boot CD.

The target machine, when started from the boot CD, displays the Universal Recovery Console (URC) interface. This environment is used to restore the system drive or selected volumes directly from the Rapid Recovery Core. Note the IP address and authentication key credentials in the URC, which refresh each time you start from the boot CD.

14.
On the Connection page of the Restore Machine Wizard on the Core Console, enter authentication information from the URC instance of the machine you want to restore as follows:

Table 148. Authentication options

Option

Description

IP Address

The IP address provided in the URC on the target machine.

Authentication Key

The authentication key provided in the URC on the target machine.

15.
Click Next.
16.
On the Disk Mapping page, if you want to map volumes manually, proceed to Step 10. If you want to map volumes automatically, complete the following steps:
a.
From the Volume mapping drop-down menu, select Automatic.
b.
From the list of volumes, ensure that the volumes you want to restore are selected. All volumes are selected by default.

If you do not want to restore a listed volume, clear the option.

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NOTE: At least one volume must be selected to perform the restore.
c.
On the right side, select the destination disk for the restore.
d.
Click Next.
e.
In the Disk Mapping Preview page, review the parameters of the restore actions you selected.
f.
Go to Step 18.
17.
To map volumes manually, on the Disk Mapping page, complete the following steps:
a.
From the Volume mapping drop-down menu, select Manual.
b.
In the Destination column, select a destination volume you want to restore. Optionally, if you do not wish to restore a listed volume, clear the option.
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NOTE: At least one volume must be selected to perform the restore.
18.
Click Finish.
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CAUTION: All existing partitions and data on the target drive will be permanently removed and replaced with the contents of the selected recovery point, including the operating system and all data.
19.
If the volumes you want to restore contain SQL or Microsoft Exchange databases, and if you are performing a Live Restore, then on the Dismount Databases page, you are prompted to dismount them. Optionally, if you want to remount these databases after the restore is complete, select Automatically remount all databases after the recovery point is restored.
20.
Click Restore.
21.
In the status message, click OK to confirm that the restore process has started.
The restore begins. You can monitor the progress on the Events page. For more information, see Viewing events using tasks, alerts, and journal pages.

Understanding boot CD creation for Windows machines

Understanding driver injection in a boot CD
Creating a boot CD ISO image
Transferring the boot CD ISO image to media
Loading the boot CD and starting the target machine

A bare metal restore for Windows requires a boot image referred to as the boot CD, which you create by defining parameters in the Rapid Recovery Core Console. This image is tailored to your specific needs. You will use the image to start the destination Windows machine. Based on the specifics of your environment you may need to transfer this image to physical media such as a CD or DVD. You must then virtually or physically load the boot image, and start the Windows server from the boot image.

The first step when performing a bare metal restore (BMR) for a Windows machine is to create the boot CD file in the Rapid Recovery Core Console. This is a bootable ISO image which contains the Rapid Recovery Universal Recovery Console (URC) interface, an environment that is used to restore the system drive or the entire server directly from the Rapid Recovery Core.

The boot CD ISO image that you create is tailored to the machine being restored; therefore, it must contain the correct network and mass storage drivers. If you anticipate that you will be restoring to different hardware from the machine on which the recovery point originated, then you must include storage controller and other drivers in the boot CD. For information about injecting those drivers in the boot CD, see .

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