Rapid Recovery 6.1.3 - User Guide

Microsoft Azure documentation

Microsoft has substantial documentation on using Azure available in its documentation center.

For information on creating an Azure account, spinning up a VM for use with a Rapid Recovery or AppAssure Core, adding a storage account, and more, see the Microsoft documentation at https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation.

For example, for information on provisioning or managing Windows VMs, see https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/services/virtual-machines/windows/.

For online videos about using Azure, see http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/get-started/.

NOTE: The Azure website uses language and country codes for its web addresses, which affect display of the content. For example, https://azure.microsoft.com/[country-code]/[destination]/. NOTE: The URLs for Azure used throughout this document include the country code for English in the United States. For other languages, based on the settings on your computer and the content Microsoft offers, URLs may differ based on these codes.

Relevant Microsoft links

Some relevant articles on Microsoft websites are listed below:

Before virtual export to Azure

Rapid Recovery lets you perform virtual export (one-time, or virtual standby) to Microsoft Azure. This feature is new in Rapid Recovery release 6.1.1.

Before you can perform a virtual export of any machine protected in Rapid Recovery, you must first associate your Azure cloud account with your Core, as described in the topic Adding a cloud account.

You must have an adequate storage account on Azure. For more information on creating a storage account in Azure, refer to Azure's support information, which is referenced in the topic .

In your storage account, you can dynamically create a container to store exports, or you can use an existing container. For more information about creating a storage container, see .

Unlike other forms of virtual export using Rapid Recovery, VM export for Azure includes two processes, described in detail in the topic .

Performing a one-time Azure export

Before you can perform a one-time Azure export, you need the following:

NOTE: Containers created in Azure using the newer Resource Manager deployment model are not recognized by the Core.

NOTE: For more information about creating a container within Azure, see the topic .

As described in the topic , virtual export to Azure consists of two processes: exporting and deploying.

The process of exporting extracts the necessary set of files from Rapid Recovery, validates them, and uploads them to the specified container in Azure. These files include:

The deployment process combines these files into a bootable virtual machine. Deployment uses direct Azure cloud REST APIs. The original set of files placed on Azure during the export process is read-only in Azure, and consumes space but does not invoke additional Azure charges. When you deploy these files, a duplicate copy of them is created, stored in a separate container you define, and combined into a working virtual machine. From an Azure account perspective, after you deploy you are then charged fees for the VM on its servers. The deployment process also doubles the amount of storage space used in Azure for that virtual export.

For a one-time virtual export, there is no mechanism for deploying as a separate process; thus, for the export to be useful, you should deploy when you create the virtual machine on demand.

When establishing virtual standby for a protected machine on Azure, to avoid use of extra storage space and VM charges, you can export, and continually update the recovery point automatically, without the need to deploy. You can then deploy in Azure only when and if you need to use the VM. For information about deploying a virtual standby in Azure to a functioning VM, see the topic Deploying virtual standby data to a VM on Azure.

Complete the steps in this procedure to perform a one-time export to Azure on demand, including deploying to a VM.

1.	From the Rapid Recovery Core Console, click the Restore drop-down menu, and then select VM Export.

Table 134. Azure credentials

Options	Description
Publish settings file	The publish settings file is an XML document generated on Azure that contains management certificates for Azure subscription information.   NOTE: Publish settings are only required to be defined once per Azure account from the Core UI. After that, they are cached. When prompted for this file, log into your Azure account, and download it from your VM at https://manage.windowsazure.com/publishsettings/index?client=powershell. The file defines the AzureServiceManagement API and information about your Azure subscription, including secure credentials. This file must be defined in the Rapid Recovery Core before you can connect to your account and perform a virtual export. For security purposes, store the file in a secure location or delete it after using it in this procedure.
Subscription	If you just added a publish settings files, then this information is automatically entered with information from the publish settings file.   NOTE: Publish settings are only required to be defined once per Azure account from the Core UI. After that, they are cached. If you want to use a previously added publish settings file, use the drop-down list to select a file. If you want to add a publish settings file, use the button to open the Load Certificate window and browse for the file. When prompted for this file, log into your Azure account, and download it from your VM at https://manage.windowsazure.com/publishsettings/index?client=powershell. For security purposes, store the file in a secure location or delete it after using it in this procedure.
Account	Automatically entered from the subscription file, it is the Azure cloud account that has been associated with your Core.   NOTE: You must first associate the Azure cloud account with your Core, as described in the topic Adding a cloud account.
Container name	From the drop-down menu, select the name of an appropriate container associated with your Azure cloud account if a container already exists. Or, enter a name for a new container.   NOTE: Type a name between 3 and 63 characters, using only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens.
Folder name	Specify a name for the folder within the container to store the exported virtual machine.   NOTE: An Azure folder cannot contain any of the following characters: / \ : * ? " < > I

Table 135. Deploy to Azure options

Option	Description
Cloud service name	The Azure cloud service is a container for virtual machines using the classic management model. If you have an existing cloud service, from the Cloud service name drop-down menu, select the appropriate cloud service name. Or, in the Cloud service name field, type a unique, meaningful name for the cloud service.   NOTE: Microsoft Azure subscriptions have default limits on the number of cloud services (typically 25). Ensure that you do not exceed your subscription limits.
Deployment name	If you selected a cloud service with existing virtual machines, this field is completed automatically. If you selected a cloud service that includes no virtual machines, then enter a name for this new deployment.   NOTE: Type a name between 3 and 63 characters, using only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens.
Destination container	Enter a name for the container to hold your VM.   NOTE: Type a name between 3 and 63 characters, using only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens.

Table 136. Virtual machine options

Option	Description
Virtual machine name	Enter a name for the virtual machine.   NOTE: Type a name between 3 and 15 characters, using only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens.
Virtual machine size	From the drop-down menu, select an appropriate VM size.   NOTE: For more information on Azure configurations and pricing, see the virtual machines pricing page on the Azure website. For links to other useful references on Microsoft websites, see .
Endpoint (remote access settings)	Following are VM options for remote access settings.
Name	Select from RemoteDesktop or SSH.
Protocol	Select from TCP or UDP
Ports	Public and private ports use 3389 by default. Change if necessary.
Transfer data server ports	Public and private ports use 8009 by default. Change if necessary.
Agent ports	Public and private ports use 8006 by default. Change if necessary.

NOTE: You can monitor the status and progress of the export by viewing the export queue on the Virtual Standby page, or on the Events page.

Setting up continual export to Azure

Before you can perform continual virtual export to Azure, you need the following:

NOTE: Containers created in Azure using the newer Resource Manager deployment model are not recognized by the Core.

NOTE: For more information about creating a container within Azure, see the topic .

Complete the steps in this procedure to perform a continual virtual export of the selected machine to a specified container in an Azure cloud account using Rapid Recovery.

NOTE: This process does not include deploying the exported files to create a bootable VM. For steps on deploying, see .

◦	From the Core Console, in the button bar, click the Restore drop-down menu, and then select VM Export.

◦	From the Core Console, in the icon bar, click (Virtual Standby).

▪	On the Virtual Standby page, click Add to launch the Virtual Machine Export Wizard.

Table 137. Azure credentials

Options	Description
Publish settings file	The publish settings file is an XML document generated on Azure that contains management certificates for Azure subscription information.   NOTE: Publish settings are only required to be defined once per Azure account from the Core UI. After that, they are cached. When prompted for this file, log into your Azure account, and download it from your VM at https://manage.windowsazure.com/publishsettings/index?client=powershell. The file defines the AzureServiceManagement API and information about your Azure subscription, including secure credentials. This file must be defined in the Rapid Recovery Core before you can connect to your account and perform a virtual export. For security purposes, store the file in a secure location or delete it after using it in this procedure.
Subscription	If you just added a publish settings files, then this information is automatically entered with information from the publish settings file.   NOTE: Publish settings are only required to be defined once per Azure account from the Core UI. After that, they are cached. If you want to use a previously added publish settings file, use the drop-down list to select a file. If you want to add a publish settings file, use the button to open the Load Certificate window and browse for the file. When prompted for this file, log into your Azure account, and download it from your VM at https://manage.windowsazure.com/publishsettings/index?client=powershell. For security purposes, store the file in a secure location or delete it after using it in this procedure.
Account	Automatically entered from the subscription file, it is the Azure cloud account that has been associated with your Core.   NOTE: You must first associate the Azure cloud account with your Core, as described in the topic Adding a cloud account
Container name	From the drop-down menu, select the name of an appropriate container associated with your Azure cloud account if a container already exists. Or, enter a name for a new container.   NOTE: Type a name between 3 and 63 characters, using only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens.
Folder name	Specify a name for the folder within the container to store the exported virtual machine.   NOTE: An Azure folder cannot contain any of the following characters: / \ : * ? " < > I
Perform initial one-time export	When defining virtual standby, select this option to queue the export job immediately. Clear this option if you want the Core to wait until the next forced or scheduled backup snapshot.

The virtual standby parameters you define in this procedure cause the export of the files necessary to create a VM in your Azure account. After every snapshot (forced or scheduled), these files are updated in Azure with any new backup information. Before you can boot these files as a VM, you must deploy the VM on Azure. For steps on deploying, see .