Rapid Recovery 6.1.3

A protection schedule defines when backups are transferred from protected machines to the Rapid Recovery Core. Protection schedules are initially defined using the Protect Machine Wizard or the Protect Multiple Machines Wizard.

You can modify an existing protection schedule at any time from the Summary page for a specific protected machine.

NOTE: For conceptual information about protection schedules, see Understanding protection schedules. For information about protecting a single machine, see Protecting a machine. For information about bulk protect (protecting multiple machines), see About protecting multiple machines. For information on customizing protection periods when protecting an agent using either of these wizards, see Creating a custom protection schedule from a wizard in Simple Mode. For information about modifying an existing protection schedule, see Creating multiple protection schedule periods in Advanced Mode.

Complete the steps in this procedure to modify an existing protection schedule for volumes on a protected machine.

In the Core Console, from the list of protected machines, click the name of the machine with the protection schedule that you want to change.

On the Summary page for the machine you selected, in the Volumes pane, expand the volumes of the protected machine, select the applicable volumes, and then click Set a Schedule.

Initially, all volumes share a protection schedule.

To select all volumes at once, click in the checkbox in the header row. Click on (Protection Group) to expand the volumes being protected, so you can view all volumes and select one or more.

NOTE: Typically, it is good practice to protect, at minimum, the System Reserved volume and the volume with the operating system (typically the C drive).

The Protection Schedule dialog box appears.

On the Protection Schedule dialog box, do one of the following:

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To modify the existing scheduling period on the initial page of the dialog, which is called Simple Mode, see the procedure for Creating a custom protection schedule from a wizard in Simple Mode.

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If you previously created a protection schedule template and want to apply it to this protected machine, click Advanced mode, select the template from the Templates drop-down list, click OK to confirm, and then go to Step 7.

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If you want to remove an existing time period from the schedule, clear the check box next to each time period option, and then go to Step 7. Options include the following:

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Weekdays (Mon - Fri): This range of time denotes a typical five-day work week.

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Weekends (Sat, Sun): This range of time denotes a typical weekend.

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If you want to save a new protection schedule as a template, click Advanced mode, and then continue to Step 4.

A period is a specified span of time during which you determine how many minutes should pass between each snapshot taken. When the weekday start and end times are from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM, then a single period exists. To change the start or end time of a defined period, do the following:

Select the appropriate time period.

To change the start time for this period, use the clock icon under Start Time.

For example, use the arrows to show a time of 08:00 AM.

To change the end time for this period, use the clock icon under End Time.

For example, use the arrows to show a time of 06:00 PM.

Change the interval according to your requirements. For example, if defining a peak period, change the interval from 60 minutes to 20 minutes to take snapshots three times hourly.

A blue bar provides a visual representation of this interval.

If you defined a period other than 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM in Step 7, and you want backups to occur in the remaining time ranges, you must add more periods to define protection by doing the following:

Under the appropriate category, click Add Period.

Click the clock icon and select the desired start and end times, as appropriate.

For example, set a start time of 12:00 AM and an end time of 07:59 AM.

Change the interval according to your requirements. For example, if defining an off-peak period, change the interval from 60 minutes to 120 minutes to take snapshots every two hours.

If needed, continue to create more periods, setting start and end times and intervals as appropriate.

NOTE: If you want to remove a period you added, click the trash icon to the far right of that period, and then click Yes to confirm.

To create a template from the schedule you set, click Save as a Template.

In the Save Template dialog box, enter a name for the template, and then click Save.

When your protection schedule meets your requirements, click Apply.

The protection Schedule dialog box closes.

Creating a custom protection schedule from a wizard in Simple Mode

Pausing and resuming protection

When you pause protection, you temporarily stop all transfers of data from the selected machine to the Rapid Recovery Core. When you resume protection, the Rapid Recovery Core follows the requirements in the protection schedule, backing up your data regularly based on that schedule.

You can pause protection for any Rapid Recovery protected machine:

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When establishing protection using the Protect Machine Wizard or the Protect Multiple Machines Wizard.

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From the Protected Machines drop-down menu in the left navigation area of the Rapid Recovery Core (pausing protection for all protected machines).

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From the Protected Machines page (accessible when you click on the Protected Machines menu).

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From a specific protected machine in the Protected Machines drop-down menu.

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From the top of every page for a specific protected machine.

If you pause protection using the Protect Machine Wizard or the Protect Multiple Machines Wizard, protection is paused until explicitly resumed.

If you pause protection outside of a wizard, you can choose whether to pause protection until resumed, or to pause it for a designated amount of time (specified in any combination of days, hours and minutes). If you pause for a period of time, then when that time expires, the system resumes protection based on the protection schedule automatically.

You can resume protection for any paused Rapid Recovery protected machine:

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From the Protected Machines drop-down menu in the left navigation area of the Rapid Recovery Core (resuming protection for all protected machines).

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From a specific protected machine in the Protected Machines drop-down menu.

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From the Protected Machines page (accessible when you click on the Protected Machines menu).

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From the top of every page for a specific protected machine.

Use the procedure below to pause or to resume protection, as appropriate.

In the Rapid Recovery Core Console, to pause protection for all machines, click the Protected Machines drop-down menu in the left navigation area, and then do the following:

Select Pause Protection.

The Pause Protection dialog box appears.

Select the appropriate setting using one of the options described below, and then click OK.

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If you want to pause protection until you explicitly resume it, select Pause until resumed.

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If you want to pause protection for a specified period, select Pause for and then, in the Days, Hours, and Minutes controls, type or select the appropriate pause period as appropriate.

To resume protection for all machines, do the following:

Select Resume Protection.

The Resume Protection dialog box appears.

In the Resume Protection dialog box, select Yes.

The Resume Protection dialog box closes, and protection is resumed for all machines.

To pause protection for a single machine, then in the left navigation area, click the drop-down menu to the right of the machine you want to affect, and then do the following:

Select Pause Protection.

The Pause Protection dialog box appears.

Select the appropriate setting using one of the options described below, and then click OK.

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If you want to pause protection until you explicitly resume it, select Pause until resumed.

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If you want to pause protection for a specified period, select Pause for and then, in the Days, Hours, and Minutes controls, type or select the appropriate pause period as appropriate.

To resume protection for a single machine, do the following:

Select Resume Protection.

The Resume Protection dialog box appears.

In the Resume Protection dialog box, select Yes.

The Resume Protection dialog box closes, and protection is resumed for the selected machine.

To pause protection for a single machine from the machine pages, navigate to the machine that you want to affect.

The Summary page displays for the selected machine.

At the top of the page, click Pause.

The Pause Protection dialog box appears.

Select the appropriate setting using one of the options described below, and then click OK.

▪

If you want to pause protection until you explicitly resume it, select Pause until resumed.

▪

If you want to pause protection for a specified period, select Pause for and then, in the Days, Hours, and Minutes controls, type or select the appropriate pause period as appropriate.

If you want to resume protection, do the following:

At the top of the page, click Resume.

In the Resume Protection dialog box, click Yes.

The Resume Protection dialog box closes, and protection resumes for the selected machine.

About protecting multiple machines

Protecting multiple machines on an Active Directory domain

Protecting multiple machines on a VMware vCenter/ESXi virtual host

Protecting multiple machines on a Hyper-V virtual host

Protecting multiple machines manually

Monitoring the protection of multiple machines

You can add two or more Windows machines for protection on the Rapid Recovery Core simultaneously using the Protect Multiple Machines Wizard. To protect your data using Rapid Recovery, you need to add the workstations and servers for protection in the Rapid Recovery Core Console; for example, your Exchange server, SQL Server, Linux server, and so on.

As with protecting individual machines, protecting multiple machines simultaneously requires you to install the Rapid Recovery Agent software on each machine you want to protect.

NOTE: As an exception to this rule, if protecting virtual machines on a VMware or ESXi host, you can use agentless protection. For more information, including restrictions for agentless protection, see Understanding Rapid Snap for Virtual.

Protected machines must be configured with a security policy that makes remote installation possible.

To connect to the machines, they must be powered on and accessible.

There is more than one method to deploy the Agent software to multiple machines simultaneously. For example:

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You can install the Rapid Recovery Agent software to multiple machines using the Deploy Agent Software Wizard. For more information, see Using the Deploy Agent Software Wizard to deploy to one or more machines.

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You can deploy the Rapid Recovery Agent software as part of Protect Multiple Machines Wizard.

The process of protecting multiple machines includes optional steps that you can access if you select an advanced configuration. Advanced options include repository functions and encryption. For example, you can specify an existing Rapid Recovery repository to save snapshots, or you can create a new repository. You can also specify an existing encryption key (or add a new encryption key) to apply to the data saved to the Core for the machines you are protecting.

The workflow of the Protect Multiple Machines Wizard may differ slightly based on your environment. For example, if the Rapid Recovery Agent software is installed on the machines you want to protect, you are not prompted to install it from the wizard. Likewise, if a repository already exists on the Core, you are not prompted to create one.

When protecting multiple machines, follow the appropriate procedure, based on your configuration. See the following options for protecting multiple machines:

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Protecting multiple machines on an Active Directory domain

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Protecting multiple machines on a VMware vCenter/ESXi virtual host

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Protecting multiple machines on a Hyper-V virtual host

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Protecting multiple machines manually

Protecting multiple machines on an Active Directory domain

Use this procedure to simultaneously protect one or more machines on an Active Directory domain.

On the Rapid Recovery Core Console, click the Protect drop-down menu, and then click Protect Multiple Machines.

The Protect Multiple Machines Wizard opens.

On the Welcome page of the wizard, select one of the following options:

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Typical

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Advanced (show optional steps)

Click Next.

On the Connection page of the wizard, from the Source drop-down list, select Active Directory.

Enter the domain information and logon credentials as described in the following table.

Table 53. Domain information and credentials
Text Box	Description
Host	The host name or IP address of the Active Directory domain.
User name	The user name used to connect to the domain; for example, Administrator or, if the machine is in a domain, [domain name]\Administrator).
Password	The secure password used to connect to the domain.

Click Next.

On the Select Machines page of the wizard, select the machines you want to protect.

The system automatically verifies each machine you selected.

Click Next.

If the Protection page appears next in the Protect Multiple Machines Wizard, skip to Step 11.

If the Agent software is not yet deployed to the machines you want to protect, or if any of the machines you specified cannot be protected for another reason, then the selected machines appear on the Warnings page.

Optionally, on the Warnings page of the wizard, you can verify any machine by selecting the machine and then clicking Verify in the toolbar.

10.

Optionally, on the Warnings page, select After Agent installation, restart the machines automatically.

NOTE: Quest recommends this option. You must restart agent machines before they can be protected.

11.

If the status indicates that the machine is reachable, click Next to install the Rapid Recovery Agent software.

The Protection page appears.

12.

On the Protection page of the wizard, select the appropriate protection schedule as described below.

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If you want to use the default protection schedule, then in the Schedule Settings option, select Default protection (hourly snapshots of all volumes).

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If you want to define a different protection schedule, then in the Schedule Settings option, select Custom protection .

13.

Proceed with your configuration as follows:

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If you selected a Typical configuration for the Protect Machine Wizard and specified default protection, then click Finish to confirm your choices, close the wizard, and protect the machine you specified.

The first time protection is added for a machine, a base image (that is, a snapshot of all the data in the protected volumes) will transfer to the repository on the Rapid Recovery Core following the schedule you defined, unless you specified to initially pause protection.

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If you selected a Typical configuration for the Protect Machine Wizard and specified custom protection, click Next see Creating a custom protection schedule from a wizard in Simple Mode.

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If you selected Advanced configuration for the Protect Machine Wizard, and default protection, then click Next and proceed to Step 15 to see repository and encryption options.

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If you selected Advanced configuration for the Protect Machine Wizard and specified custom protection, click Next, to set up a custom protection schedule. For details on defining a custom protection schedule, see Creating a custom protection schedule from a wizard in Simple Mode.

14.

Click Next.

15.

On the Repository page of the wizard, do one of the following:

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If you already have a repository and want to store the data from this machine for protection in the existing repository, then do the following:

Select Use an existing repository.

Select an existing repository from the list.

Click Next.

The Encryption page appears. Skip to Step 19 to optionally define encryption.

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If you want to create a repository, select Create a Repository, and then complete the following steps.

On the Repository, enter the information described in the following table.

Table 54. Add New Repository settings
Text Box	Description
Repository Name	Enter the display name of the repository. By default, this text box consists of the word Repository and a number, which corresponds to the number of repositories for this Core. For example, if this is the first repository, the default name is Repository 1. Change the name as needed. Repository names must contain between 1 and 40 alphanumeric characters, including spaces. Do not use prohibited characters or prohibited phrases .
Concurrent Operations	Define the number of concurrent requests you want the repository to support. By default the value is 64.
Comments	Optionally, enter a descriptive note about this repository. You can enter up to 254 characters. For example, type DVM Repository 2.

Click Add Storage Location to define the specific storage location or volume for the repository. This volume should be a primary storage location.

CAUTION: Define a dedicated folder within the root for the storage location for your repository. Do not specify the root location. For example, use E:\Repository\, not E:\. If the repository that you are creating in this step is later removed, all files at the storage location of your repository are deleted. If you define your storage location at the root, all other files in the volume (e.g., E:\) are deleted, which could result in catastrophic data loss.

The Add Storage Location dialog box appears.

Click Add Storage Location to define the specific storage location or volume for the repository. This volume should be a primary storage location.

In the Storage Location area, specify how to add the file for the storage location. You can choose to add a locally attached storage volume (such as direct attached storage, a storage area network, or network attached storage). You could also specify a storage volume on a Common Internet File System (CIFS) shared location.

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Select Add file on local disk to specify a local machine, and then enter the information as described in the following table.

Table 55. Local disk settings
Text Box	Description
Data path	Enter the location for storing the protected data. For example, type X:\Repository\Data. When specifying the path, use only alphanumeric characters, the hyphen, and the period (only to separate host names and domains). You can use the backslash character only to define levels in the path. Do not use spaces. No other symbols or punctuation characters are permitted.
Metadata path	Enter the location for storing the protected metadata. For example, type X:\Repository\Metadata. When specifying the path, use only alphanumeric characters, the hyphen, and the period (only to separate host names and domains). You can use the backslash character only to define levels in the path. Do not use spaces. No other symbols or punctuation characters are permitted.

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Or, select Add file on CIFS share to specify a network share location, and then enter the information as described in the following table.

Table 56. CIFS share credentials
Text Box	Description
UNC path	Enter the path for the network share location. If this location is at the root, define a dedicated folder name (for example, Repository). The path must begin with \\. When specifying the path, use only alphanumeric characters, the hyphen, 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.
User name	Specify a user name for accessing the network share location.
Password	Specify a password for accessing the network share location.

In the Storage Configuration area, click More Details and enter the details for the storage location as described in the following table.

Table 57. Storage configuration details

Text Box

Description

Size

Set the size or capacity for the storage location. The minimum size is 1 GB. The default is 250 GB. You can choose from the following:

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NOTE: The size that you specify cannot exceed the size of the volume.

If the storage location is a New Technology File System (NTFS) volume using Windows XP or Windows 7, the file size limit is 16 TB.

If the storage location is a NTFS volume using Windows 8, 8.1, Windows 10, or Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, the file size limit is 256 TB.

NOTE: For Rapid Recovery to validate the operating system, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) must be installed on the intended storage location.

Write caching policy

The write caching policy controls how the Windows Cache Manager is used in the repository and helps to tune the repository for optimal performance on different configurations.

Set the value to one of the following:

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Off

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Sync

If set to On, which is the default, Windows controls the caching. This is appropriate for Windows 10, and for versions of Windows Server 2012 and later.

NOTE: Setting the write caching policy to On could result in faster performance. If you are using Windows Server 2008 SP2 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP2, the recommended setting is Off.

If set to Off, Rapid Recovery controls the caching.

If set to Sync, Windows controls the caching as well as the synchronous input/output.

Bytes per sector

Specify the number of bytes you want each sector to include. The default value is 512.

Average bytes per record

Specify the average number of bytes per record. The default value is 8192.

Click Next.

If you chose the Advanced option in Step 1, the Encryption page appears.

16.

Optionally, on the Encryption page of the wizard, to enable encryption, select Enable Encryption.

Encryption key fields appear on the Encryption page.

NOTE: If you enable encryption, it will be applied to data for all protected volumes for this machine.  You can change the settings later from the Encryption Keys page in the Rapid Recovery Core Console.  For more information about encryption, see the topic Encryption keys.

CAUTION: Rapid Recovery uses AES 256-bit encryption in the Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode with 256-bit keys. While using encryption is optional, Quest highly recommends that you establish an encryption key, and that you protect the passphrase you define. Store the passphrase in a secure location as it is critical for data recovery. Without a passphrase, data recovery is not possible.

17.

If you want to encrypt these protected machines using an encryption key that is already defined on this Rapid Recovery Core, select Encrypt data using an existing Encryption key, and select the appropriate key from the drop-down menu.

Proceed to Step 19.

18.

If you want to add a new encryption key to the Core and apply that key to these protected machines, then enter the information as described in the following table.

Table 58. Encryption key settings
Text Box	Description
Name	Enter a name for the encryption key. Encryption key names must contain between 1 and 130 alphanumeric characters. You may not include special characters such as the back slash, forward slash, pipe, colon, asterisk, quotation mark, question mark, open or close brackets, ampersand or hash.
Description	Enter a comment for the encryption key. This information appears in the Description field when viewing encryption keys from the Core Console.
Passphrase	Enter the passphrase used to control access. Best practice is to avoid special characters listed above. Record the passphrase in a secure location. Quest Support cannot recover a passphrase. Once you create an encryption key and apply it to one or more protected machines, you cannot recover data if you lose the passphrase.
Confirm Passphrase	Re-enter the passphrase you just entered.

19.

Click Finish to save and apply your settings.

The wizard closes.

20.

If the Warning page appeared and you are still satisfied with your selections, click Finish again.

The Rapid Recovery Agent software is deployed to the specified machines, if necessary, and the machines are added to protection on the Core.

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Rapid Recovery 6.1.3 - User Guide

Creating multiple protection schedule periods in Advanced Mode

Pausing and resuming protection

About protecting multiple machines

Protecting multiple machines on an Active Directory domain