Rapid Recovery 6.1.3

About retention policies for replication

Retention policies on the source and target Cores are not synchronized. Rollup and on-demand deletion perform independently on each Core on initial action, as well as when running nightly jobs.

For more information on retention policies, see Managing retention policies.

Viewing incoming and outgoing replication

If you click the Replication icon from the icon bar, the Replication page appears. This page gives you an understanding of replication from the scope of this Core. It includes two panes:

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The Outgoing Replication pane lists any machines protected in this Core that are replicated on another Core.

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The Incoming Replication pane lists the machines replicated on this Core, and the source Core from which these machines are replicated.

This section describes the information shown in these panes.

Information about outgoing replication from this Rapid Recovery Core is described in the following table.

Table 99. Information about outgoing replication
UI Element	Description
Select item	For each row in the summary table, you can select the checkbox to perform actions from the list of menu options above the table.
Type	Shows the machine type. You can expand a target Core to show individual replicated machines.
Status indicator	Status of replication. Colored circles in the Status column show whether a replicated machine is online or unreachable. If you hover the cursor over the colored circle, the status condition is displayed. Status conditions include green (replication established and online), yellow (replication paused), red (authentication error), and gray (offline or unreachable).
Replication Name	The display name of the Core machine to which machines from this source Core are replicated.
Machines	Lists the number of machines replicated to the selected target Core.
Sync	The date and time of the last replication transfer to the target Core.
	When you click the actions drop-down menu in this column, you see a list of actions to perform to affect the specific replication relationship.

You can perform actions on two or more of the target Cores listed in the Outgoing Replication grid. To perform actions on multiple target Cores, select the checkbox for each Core in the grid, and then, from the menu above the grid, select the action you want to perform. You can perform the actions described in the following table.

Table 100. Global actions available in the Outgoing Replication pane
UI Element	Description
Add Target Core	Lets you define another target Core to replicate machines protected on this source Core.
Refresh	Refreshes the information shown in the table.
Force	Forces replication.
Pause	Pauses established replication.
Resume	Resumes paused replication.
Copy	Opens the replication wizard, letting you copy existing recovery points for selected protected machines to a seed drive.
Delete	Deletes outgoing replication.
Seed Drives	This menu option appears if data was copied to a seed drive when replication was set up. Displays information about the seed drive file, including the data and time the seed drive was saved. Collapsible menus indicate the target Core and the protected machines from which the seed drive files were generated.
	When you click the actions drop-down menu in this column, you see a list of actions to perform to affect the specific replication relationship.

Information about incoming replication from another Core is described in the following table.

Table 101. Information about incoming replication
UI Element	Description
Select item	For each row in the summary table, you can select the checkbox to perform actions from the list of menu options above the table.
Type	Shows the machine type. You can expand a source Core to show individual replicated machines.
Status indicator	Status of replication. Colored circles in the Status column show whether a replicated machine is online or unreachable. If you hover the cursor over the colored circle, the status condition is displayed. Status conditions include green (replication established and online), yellow (replication paused), red (authentication error), and gray (offline or unreachable).
Replication Name	The display name of the source Core machine containing protected machines that are replicated on this target Core. This name can be optionally specified when establishing replication on the source Core using the Replication Wizard.
Machines	Lists the number of machines protected on the source Core that are replicated to this target Core.
Sync	The date and time of the last replication transfer from the source Core.
	When you click the actions drop-down menu in this column, you see a list of actions to perform to affect the specific replication relationship.

You can perform actions on two or more of the source Cores listed in the Incoming Replication grid. To perform actions on multiple source Cores, select the checkbox for each Core in the grid, and then, from the menu above the grid, select the action you want to perform. You can perform the actions described in the following table.

Table 102. Global actions available in the Incoming Replication pane
UI Element	Description
Refresh	Refreshes the information shown in the table.
Force	Forces replication.
Pause	Pauses established replication.
Resume	Resumes paused replication.
Delete	Deletes incoming replication.

Configuring replication

To replicate data using Rapid Recovery, you must configure the source and target cores for replication. After you configure replication, you can then replicate protected machine data, monitor and manage replication, and perform recovery.

NOTE: When you replicate data for a cluster, you must replicate the entire cluster. For example, if you select a node to replicate, the cluster is automatically selected. Likewise, if you select the cluster, all nodes in that cluster are also selected.

Performing replication in Rapid Recovery involves performing the following operations:

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Set up a repository on the target core. For more information on adding a repository to the target core, see Creating a DVM repository.

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Configure self-managed replication. For more information on replicating to a self-managed target core, see Replicating to a self-managed target Core.

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Configure third-party replication. For more information on replicating to a third-party target core, see Replicating to a third-party target Core.

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Replicate an existing protected machine. For more information on replicating a machine that is already protected by the source core, see Adding a machine to existing replication.

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Consume the seed drive. For more information on consuming seed drive data on the target core, see Consuming the seed drive on a target Core.

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Set the replication priority for a protected machine. For more information on prioritizing the replication of protected machines, see Setting replication priority for a protected machine.

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Set a replication schedule for a protected machine. For more information on setting a replication schedule, see Scheduling replication.

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Monitor replication as needed. For more information on monitoring replication, see Viewing incoming and outgoing replication.

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Manage replication settings as needed. For more information on managing replication settings, see Managing replication settings.

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Recover replicated data in the event of disaster or data loss. For more information on recovering replicated data, see Recovering replicated data.

Replicating to a self-managed target Core

This configuration applies to replication to an off-site location and to mutual replication. The following steps are prerequisite:

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The Rapid Recovery Core must be installed on all source and target machines.

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If you are configuring Rapid Recovery for multi-point to point replication, you must perform this task on all source Cores and the one target Core. For descriptions of these replication configurations, see Replication .

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If you need to create a seed drive and transfer it to a physical removable storage volume to perform the initial transfer of existing recovery points, you must have a suitable portable storage device prepared. You must also have physical access to the source Core machine, to attach the drive to copy the seed drive archive.

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If using a seed drive in a self-managed target Core, you or a trusted administrator must have physical access to the target Core.

A self-managed target Core is a Core to which you have access. For example, a self-managed Core is often managed by your company at an off-site location, or is hosted at a different geographic location than the source Core. Replication can be set up entirely on the source Core, unless you choose to seed your data using a seed drive. In such cases, you must create a seed drive using this procedure, and later attach the seed drive to the target Core to consume the archived recovery point data. For more information, see Determining your seeding needs and strategy.

Complete the steps in the following procedure to configure your source Core to replicate to a self-managed target Core.

Navigate to the Rapid Recovery Core console of the source Core.

On the button bar, click

Replicate.

The Replication Wizard appears.

On the Target Core page of the Replication Wizard, if you are establishing replication with a target Core that has been paired with this source Core previously, select Use an existing target Core, and then select the appropriate target Core from the drop-down list. Skip to step 5.

On the Target Core page of the Replication Wizard, if you are establishing replication with a target Core from this source Core for the first time, select I have my own Target Core, and then enter the information as described in the following table.

Table 103. Target Core information
Text Box	Description
Host Name	Enter the host name or IP address of the Core machine to which you are replicating.
Port	Enter the port number on which the Rapid Recovery Core will communicate with the machine. The default port number is 8006.
User Name	Enter the user name for accessing the machine.
Password	Enter the password for accessing the machine.

Click Next.

NOTE: If no repository exists on the target core, a warning appears notifying you that you can pair the source core with the target Core, but that you are unable to replicate agents (protected machines) to this location until a repository is established. For information about how to set up a repository to a Core, see Creating a DVM repository.

On the Request page, enter a name for this replication configuration; for example, SourceCore1. This is the display name used for the Incoming Replication pane on the target Core's Replication page.

Click Next.

On the Protected Machines page, select the protected machines you want to replicate, and then use the drop-down lists in the Repository column to select a repository for each protected machine.

If you want to perform the seeding process for the transfer of the base data, complete the following steps. If you do not want to seed your data, proceed to the next step.

NOTE: Because large amounts of data need to be copied to the portable storage device, Quest recommends using an eSATA, USB 3.0, or other high-speed connection to the portable storage device.

On the Protected Machines page of the Replication Wizard, select Use a seed drive to perform the initial transfer.

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If you currently have one or more protected machines replicating to a target Core, you can include these protected machines on the seed drive by selecting Include already replicated recovery points in the seed drive.

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If you do not want replication to begin immediately after completing this procedure, select Initially pause replication.

NOTE: If you select this option, replication does not begin until you explicitly resume it. For more information, see Pausing and resuming replication.

Click Next.

On the Seed Drive Location page of the Replication Wizard, use the Location type drop-down list to select from the following destination types:

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Local

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Network

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Cloud

In the Location field, enter the details for the seed drive file as described in the following table, based on the location type you selected in Step c.

Table 104. Archive details

Enter the location for the output. It is used to define the location path where you want the seed drive archive to reside; for example, D:\work\archive.

Network

Output location

Enter the location for the output. It is used to define the location path where you want the seed drive archive to reside; for example, \\servername\sharename.

User Name

Enter a user name. It is used to establish logon credentials for the network share.

Password

Enter a password for the network path. It is used to establish logon credentials for the network share.

Cloud

Account

Select an account from the drop-down list.

NOTE: To select a cloud account, you must first have added it in the Core Console. For more information, see Adding a cloud account.

Container

Select a container associated with your account from the drop-down menu.

Folder Name

Enter a name for the folder in which the archived data is to be saved. The default name is Rapid-Recovery-Archive-[DATE CREATED]-[TIME CREATED]

Click Next.

On the Seed Drive Options page of the Replication Wizard, enter the information as described in the following table.

Table 105. Seed drive options

Item

Description

Maximum Size

Large archives of data can be divided into multiple segments. Select the maximum size of the segment you want to reserve for creating the seed drive by doing one of the following:

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Select Entire Target to reserve all available space in the path provided on the Seed Drive Location page for future use. For example, if the location is D:\work\archive, all of the available space on the D: drive is reserved if required for copying the seed drive, but is not reserved immediately after starting the copying process.

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Select the text box, enter an amount, and then select a unit of measurement from the drop-down list to customize the maximum space you want to reserve. The default is 250MB.

Recycle action

In the event the path already contains a seed drive, select one of the following options:

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Do not reuse. Does not overwrite or clear any existing seed data from the location. If the location is not empty, the seed drive write will fail.

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Replace this Core. Overwrites any pre-existing seed data pertaining to this core but leaves the data for other cores intact.

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Erase completely. Clears all seed data from the directory before writing the seed drive.

Comment

Enter a comment that describes the seed drive.

Add all agents to seed drive

Select this option to replicate all protected machines on the source Core using the seed drive. This option is selected by default.

Build recovery point chains (fix orphans)

Select this option to replicate the entire recovery point chain to the seed drive. This adds some already replicated recovery points to the seed drive, preventing orphans from occurring. This option is selected by default.

NOTE: Typical seeding in AppAssure 5.4 replicated only the latest recovery point to the seed drive, which reduced the amount of time and space required for creating the seed drive. Opting to build recovery point chains to the seed drive requires enough space on the seed drive to store the latest recovery points from the specified protected machine or machines, and may take additional time to complete the task.

Do one of the following:

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If you cleared the Add all agents to seed drive check box, click Next.

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If you selected Add all agents to seed drive, go to Step 10.

10.

Click Finish.

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If you created a seed drive, send it to your target Core.

The pairing of the source Core to the target Core is complete.

Unless you selected the option to initially pause replication, the replication process begins immediately.

If you selected the option to use a seed drive, replication produces orphaned recovery points on the target Core until the seed drive is consumed and provides the necessary base images.