Rapid Recovery 6.2 - User Guide

Invariably, a machine on which Rapid Recovery Core is running shuts down or must be rebooted. In release 6.2, Rapid Recovery Core is enhanced to improve its ability to gracefully shut down and restart Core services.

The Core UI now offers UI features to either restart or shut down the Core service with one click. This feature is useful when planned maintenance of the Core server (including rebooting or restarting) is required. Users receive notification when corresponding services have finished shutting down. These features are accessed from the top of the Core Settings page.

NOTE: Another useful feature supporting graceful shutdown is the ability to suspend the Core from scheduling future tasks. For more information, see the topic Suspending or resuming scheduled tasks.

Use this procedure to restart or shut down the Core service.

Navigate to the Rapid Recovery Core Console.

On the icon bar, click

(Settings).

The Settings page is displayed. At the top of the Settings pane, above the categories of settings, you see options to Restart Core Service or Shut Down Core Service.

If you want to restart the Core service, at the top of the Settings pane, click

Restart Core Service.

A list of each task that must be completed before restarting is displayed, including a display of task progress.

Optionally, you can do one of the following:

To force restart (a less graceful process in which tasks are explicitly stopped before completion), click Force Restart.

To cancel restarting of the Core service, click Cancel.

If you want to shut down the Core service without immediately restarting it, at the top of the Settings pane, click

Shut Down Core Service.

Optionally, you can do one of the following:

To force shutdown (a less graceful process in which tasks are explicitly stopped before completion), click Force Shutdown.

To cancel restarting of the Core service, click Cancel.

Related tasks

Suspending or resuming scheduled tasks

Rapid Recovery Core settings

The Settings pane contains a navigation column on the left side, listing each Core setting. Click any link in this list, or scroll down on the right side of the page to see all configuration options for each Core setting.

When you click on a setting you want to change, that setting becomes an editable control. Do one of the following:

•

When the control is a drop-down menu, click the downward arrow to list the options, and select the desired option from the menu.

•

When the control is a text field, enter a value.

•

When the option displays Yes or No, click the value, which is replaced by a check box. For a setting of Yes, select the check box. For a value of No, clear the check box.

•

When the option displays a time value (for example, showing hours, minutes, and seconds), you can click on each component and type a new value or use the up and down arrows to select new values.

For each setting, when satisfied with your changes, click to confirm and save the change and exit edit mode, or click to exit edit mode without saving.

The Rapid Recovery Core settings that you can configure are described in the following table. Each setting has a link to a relevant topic with more information.

Table 7. Rapid Recovery Core configurable settings

Configuration Setting

Description

General

General settings include configuration options that apply generally to the Rapid Recovery Core, including display options and ports for the web server and for the Rapid Recovery service.

For more information about the general settings for Rapid Recovery Core, including how to configure these settings, see Configuring Core general settings.

Updates

Update settings control aspects of the Automatic Update feature, which checks for updated versions of Rapid Recovery software.

For more information about settings for updating the Rapid Recovery Core, including how to configure these settings, see Configuring update settings.

Nightly jobs

Nightly jobs settings are automated tasks which the Core performs daily. You can configure the time the jobs begin and which jobs are performed. Quest recommends scheduling the jobs outside of normal business hours to reduce load on the system when demand for resources is high.

For more information, see Understanding nightly jobs, Configuring nightly jobs for the Core, and Customizing nightly jobs for a protected machine.

Transfer queue

Transfer queue settings control the number of times transfer operations are attempted if jobs fail due to unavailability of resources. You can establish the maximum number of concurrent transfers and the maximum number of retries for transferring data.

For more information about transfer queue settings, see Modifying transfer queue settings.

Client timeout

Client timeout settings determine the length of time before that specific connection requests or read and write operations should be attempted before timing out.

For more information about client timeout settings, see Adjusting client timeout settings.

DVM Deduplication cache

Deduplication ensures that unique blocks of information are stored only one time in your repository, creating references to repeated data blocks. The references are stored in a deduplication cache. If encryption keys are used, then deduplication occurs within each encryption domain.

DVM deduplication cache settings let you configure the size and specify the locations for the primary and secondary cache, as well as the location for the metadata cache.

For more information about deduplication cache, see Understanding deduplication cache and storage locations. For information about adjusting the settings, see Configuring DVM deduplication cache settings.

Replay Engine

Replay engine settings control information regarding the communication channel for the Replay engine, such as IP addresses and timeout settings, to help adjust the performance specific to your network needs.

For more information about engine settings for Rapid Recovery, see Configuring Replay engine settings.

Deploy

Deploy settings let you set options for deploying the Rapid Recovery Agent software from your Core to the machines you want to protect.

For more information about configuring deployment settings, see Configuring deployment settings.

Database Connection

Rapid Recovery stores transactional information in a MongoDB service database that is installed locally by default on the Core machine. You can configure these settings to change how long information is retained in the database, or to change the connection pool size to allow for more or fewer concurrent connections.

For more information about establishing or modifying database connection settings for the service database, see Configuring database connection settings.

Local Database Settings

Rapid Recovery displays information about Core tasks, events, and alerts on the Events page. Rapid Recovery stores this transactional information in a MongoDB service database that is installed locally on the same machine as the Rapid Recovery Core.

You can configure credential information (user name and password) for the local Mongo service database using the Local database settings. For more information about adjusting local database settings, see Modifying local database connection settings.

SMTP server

Configure Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server settings for the Core to send Core event information by email.

For more information about configuring an SMTP email server, see Configuring an email server.

NOTE: To send event information by email, you must also configure notification group settings. For more information about specifying events to receive email alerts, see Configuring notification groups.

Cloud Accounts

The Cloud Accounts settings let you specify configuration settings for supported cloud accounts. These settings do not create cloud accounts. Instead, they associate existing external cloud storage or cloud service provider accounts with your Rapid Recovery Core to facilitate actions such as archiving Rapid Recovery information. For information about setting timeout settings for cloud accounts, see Configuring cloud account connection settings.

For more information about managing cloud accounts in the Rapid Recovery Core Console, see Cloud accounts.

Azure Management Certificates

For information about your Azure subscriptions to be accessible to the Core Console, you must load an Azure management certificate to associate it with your Core. From the Core Console, you can load new certificates, refresh the view of certificates currently associated with your Core, or delete an Azure certificate currently associated with your Core.

For more information about using Azure management certificates with the Core, see Working with Azure management certificates associated with your Core.

Reports

Report settings include configuration parameters that allows you to select the font used when a report is generated from the Rapid Recovery Core. You can also set the paper size and page orientation for reports.

For more information about changing report settings, see Managing report settings.

Attachability

Attachability settings let you specify whether to perform SQL attachability checks on the protected machine, or whether to use the SQL Server instance on the Core. If specifying SQL on the Core, you must provide credential information.

For more information about managing SQL attachability settings for the Core, see Managing Core SQL attachability settings.

Jobs

Core jobs are automatically created whenever you initiate operations such as replication. You can specify settings for each job using the Jobs core settings.

You can configure the number of jobs to run at one time. In case network or other communication errors prevent any job from succeeding the first time, you can set how many times a job should be attempted using the Try Count setting.

For more information about Core jobs, which jobs are available, and how to configure them, see Core job settings.

Licensing

From the Core console, Rapid Recovery lets you change the license associated with your Core, limit the number of daily snapshots, view license pool information, and contact the license server.

For more information about managing licenses from the Core, see Managing licenses.

For more information about managing licenses, see the Rapid Recovery License Portal User Guide.

NOTE: The Rapid Recovery License Portal has a different release cycle than Rapid Recovery software. For the latest product documentation, see the Quest Technical Documentation website.

SNMP Configuration

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a protocol for managing devices on an IP network. You can configure the Rapid Recovery Core as an SNMP agent. The Core then can report information such as alerts, repository status, and protected machines.

For more information about using SNMP with Rapid Recovery, see Understanding SNMP settings.

vSphere

vSphere Core settings apply only for users of the agentless protection of virtual machines. If using a vSphere host, these settings include connection settings that apply to the VMs.

For more information about vSphere settings for VMware or ESXi agentless protection, see Configuring vSphere settings.

VMware Proxy

A VMware proxy service installed with the Core lets users set service timeouts associated with VMware disk storage. For more information about these settings, see Managing VMware proxy settings.

Data Protection Portal

If managing two or more Cores, you can integrate your Core server with the Quest Data Protection Portal. This feature, particularly useful for managed service providers, lets you manage multiple Cores; access a dashboard where you can monitor tasks and events, view repository status, and check system health; generate reports; and perform a growing list of other functions from a single web-based user interface. To enable or disable access to the portal, use this setting.

vFoglight

Quest Foglight for Virtualization (vFoglight) helps administrators monitor, analyze, and optimize hypervisors across VMware, Hyper-V, and OpenStack environments. For customers managing VMs using vFoglight and protecting them on a Rapid Recovery Console, this Core setting lets you integrate navigation for the two products. After successfully entering vFoglight settings, by clicking the vFoglight URL on the Summary page for VM in the Core Console, users navigate to the corresponding page for that virtual machine in vFoglight.

For more information about the vFoglight Core settings, see Configuring vFoglight settings. For more information about vFoglight, see the vFoglight product page on the Quest website.

You can also access Core tools such as viewing a summary of system information, or downloading Core log files. For more information, see Core-level tools.

Configuring Core general settings

General settings for the Rapid Recovery Core include the Core ID, display name, the web server port, service port, locale (the Core console display language), and the display color theme.

Navigate to the Rapid Recovery Core Console.

On the icon bar, click

(Settings), and then do one of the following:

◦

From the list of Core settings on the left side of the Settings page, click General.

◦

Scroll down on the right side of the Settings page until you can see the General heading.

Click on the general setting you want to change.

The setting you selected becomes editable, as a text field or a drop-down menu.

Enter the configuration information as described in the following table.

Table 8. General Settings information

Text Box

Description

Core ID

Each Core has a unique Core ID. This ID is used, for example, to integrate your Core with the Data Protection Portal to provide reporting or management of two or more Cores. The Core ID is now listed in General settings.

NOTE: This field is not configurable.

Display name

Enter a new display name for the Core. This is the name that will display in the Rapid Recovery Core Console and (if enabled) in the Data Protection Portal. You can enter up to 64 characters.

Web server port

Enter a port number for the Web server. The default port is 8006.

NOTE: Quest recommends using the default port.

Service port

Enter a port number for the Rapid Recovery Core service. The default port is 8006.

NOTE: Quest recommends using the default port.

Locale

From the Locale drop-down list, select the language you want to display.

You can choose from English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish.

NOTE: If changing the languages, confirm the message indicating that the Rapid Recovery Core service must restart before the updated language can display in the Core Console. You can restart this service using the

Restart Core Service button from the top of the Core Settings page.

Theme

From the Theme drop-down list, select the style you want to apply to the Core Console. Three themes are available:

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Dark. This theme features a solid dark gray background throughout the interface (left navigation menu, top button bar, and primary pane). Text elements and text buttons not in focus appear in off-white, or white when in focus. Clickable links appear in a medium blue. Occasional buttons have white text over a medium blue background.

•

Hybrid. This theme features the familiar dark gray background for the left navigation menu and button bar at the top of the Core Console. Text elements in these areas are white. The primary pane has a white background with off-white highlights, with text elements and text buttons in black. Clickable links appear in a dark blue. Occasional buttons have white text over a blue background.

•

Light. This theme features a clean white background throughout the interface (left navigation menu, top button bar, and primary pane). The Quest logo and some design elements are orange. Text elements are dark gray, with titles in black. Clickable links appear medium blue on hover. Occasional buttons have white text over a medium blue background.

Agree to use of personal data

To change the setting that allows the application to use personal information, from the Agree to use of personal data drop-down list, select Yes or No, as appropriate. In the resulting dialog box, select and register the appropriate license file.

When you upgrade or install Rapid Recovery Core, you have the option to set sharing of personal information. If you agree to share information with Quest, you can use features such as automatic update and the Data Protection Portal (which is then enabled by default).

If you decline to share information with Quest when installing, you are prompted to register a non-phone-home license. You must have access to the non-phone-home license to save to confirm the change.

Regardless of the option you selected during installation, you can change the Agree to use of personal data setting in Core General settings. Ensure you have access to the non-phone-home license, since this action prompts you to upload the non-phone home license.

In release 6.2, when you change this setting from "Yes" to "No," the following applies:

You are prompted to upload the non-phone-home license file.

After confirming the non-phone-home license, Updates settings for your Core automatically adjust to never check for or install Core updates.

The Data Protection Portal setting "Enable connection to Data Protection Portal" is set to "No."

However, the reverse is not true. When you change this setting from "No" to "Yes," you give the Core permission to share your information, but no information is shared until you explicitly change the license to phone-home mode and update the appropriate Core settings. For example:

The non-phone-home key remains registered until you explicitly upload a standard phone-home key (which you can obtain from the license portal).

To use automatic update, change "Check for new updates" from "Never" to "Daily," "Weekly," or "Monthly." Optionally, change "Install updates" to notify you or to automatically install updates.

To share information with the Data Protection Portal, set "Enable connection to Data Protection Portal" to "Yes."

NOTE: If you configure this first, you are prompted to upload a phone-home license.

To understand the effect of sharing personal information, see Managing privacy, including the topic How Rapid Recovery uses personal information.

For more information about the functions you cannot perform when using non-phone-home mode, see the topic Non-phone-home license restrictions.

To request a license for non-phone-home mode, see Obtaining and using non-phone-home licenses.

For each setting, when satisfied with your changes, click

to save the change and exit edit mode, or click

to exit edit mode without saving.

Configuring update settings

Rapid Recovery includes the Automatic Update feature. When installing the Rapid Recovery Core, you can choose whether to automatically update the Rapid Recovery Core software when new updates are available, and how frequently the system should check for updates.

NOTE: The automatic update feature requires a license using the standard phone-home mode. If using a software license in non-phone home mode, your Core does not have permission to communicate with the Rapid Recovery License Portal and cannot update the Core or notify you of available updates. For more information, see Managing privacy.

Rapid Recovery release numbers typically include four chunks of information, separated by decimal points: the major release number, minor release number, revision, and build number. For example, the first rebranded release of Rapid Recovery was 6.0.1.609. The next release was 6.0.2.142.

The Auto Update feature compares all digits in a release number. If you enable automatic update, the Core software is only updated without intervention when the major and minor release numbers are identical. For example, automatic update would occur from Core version 6.0.1.609 to 6.0.2.142 (both start with 6.0). On the same machine, the Core would not update automatically from 6.0.2.142 to 6.1.1.XXX, because the digits after the first decimal are not equal. Instead, you are notified (by a banner at the top of the Core Console) that an update to the Core software is available. This notification gives you an opportunity to review release notes, and determine if updating to the latest Core version is appropriate for your needs.

NOTE: For information on installing Rapid Recovery Core software, see the Rapid Recovery Installation and Upgrade Guide.

You can view and change the settings the system uses to check for updates at any time.