Quest Engineering DL4300 User manual

DL4300 Appliance
User Guide

DL4300 Appliance 2
Table of Contents
Introduction to DL Appliance.................................................................................................................13
Deployment architecture................................................................................................................ 13
Smart Agent........................................................................................................................... 15
DL Appliance Core.................................................................................................................15
Snapshot process.................................................................................................................. 15
Replication of disaster recovery site or service provider....................................................... 16
Recovery................................................................................................................................ 16
Product features.............................................................................................................................16
Understanding repositories.................................................................................................... 17
Deduplication in Rapid Recovery.......................................................................................... 18
Understanding encryption keys..............................................................................................19
Replication with Rapid Recovery...........................................................................................20
Retention and archiving......................................................................................................... 24
Virtualization and cloud..........................................................................................................25
Alerts and event management...............................................................................................26
License portal.........................................................................................................................26
Web console.......................................................................................................................... 26
Service management APIs.................................................................................................... 26
Working with the DL Appliance Core....................................................................................................27
Running the Appliance Configuration Wizard............................................................................... 27
Understanding the Rapid Recovery Core Console....................................................................... 28
Accessing the Rapid Recovery Core Console...................................................................... 28
Understanding the Quick Start Guide....................................................................................28
Hiding the Quick Start Guide......................................................................................... 30
Navigating the Rapid Recovery Core Console......................................................................31
Understanding the left navigation area.......................................................................... 32
Viewing the Rapid Recovery Core Console Home page...............................................32
Viewing the Protected Machines menu................................................................................. 36
Viewing summary information for a protected machine.................................................38
Viewing recovery points for a machine..........................................................................39
Viewing events for a protected machine........................................................................40
Viewing reports for a protected machine....................................................................... 42
Viewing replicated machines from the navigation menu....................................................... 42
Viewing the Recovery Points Only menu.............................................................................. 42
Viewing the Custom Groups menu........................................................................................43
Using the Error dialog box.....................................................................................................43

DL4300 Appliance 3
Core settings..................................................................................................................................43
Rapid Recovery Core settings...............................................................................................44
Configuring Core general settings................................................................................. 48
Configuring update settings........................................................................................... 48
Understanding nightly jobs.............................................................................................50
Modifying transfer queue settings.................................................................................. 53
Adjusting client timeout settings.....................................................................................54
Understanding deduplication cache and storage locations............................................55
Configuring Replay engine settings............................................................................... 58
Configuring deployment settings....................................................................................60
Configuring database connection settings..................................................................... 61
Modifying local database connection settings............................................................... 63
Managing SMTP server settings....................................................................................63
Managing Cloud configuration settings..........................................................................64
Managing report settings................................................................................................64
Managing Core SQL attachability settings.....................................................................65
Understanding Core jobs............................................................................................... 66
Managing licenses..........................................................................................................74
Understanding SNMP settings....................................................................................... 78
Configuring vSphere settings......................................................................................... 80
Backing up and restoring Core settings................................................................................ 81
Core-level tools...................................................................................................................... 82
Understanding system information for the Core............................................................ 83
Accessing Core logs...................................................................................................... 85
Roadmap for configuring the Core................................................................................................86
Repositories................................................................................................................................... 86
Managing a DVM repository.................................................................................................. 86
Creating a DVM repository.............................................................................................87
Expanding repository......................................................................................................90
Viewing or modifying repository details......................................................................... 92
Adding a storage location to an existing DVM repository.............................................. 93
About checking the integrity of DVM repositories..........................................................96
Checking a repository.................................................................................................... 97
About the Repository Optimization Job......................................................................... 97
Running the Check Repository Job on a DVM repository........................................... 100
Managing security........................................................................................................................101
Applying or removing encryption from a protected machine............................................... 102
Associating an encryption key with a protected machine............................................ 102

DL4300 Appliance 4
Applying an encryption key from the Protected Machines page..................................103
Disassociating an encryption key from a protected machine.......................................104
Managing encryption keys................................................................................................... 105
Adding an encryption key............................................................................................ 107
Importing an encryption key.........................................................................................108
Unlocking an encryption key........................................................................................109
Locking an encryption key........................................................................................... 110
Editing an encryption key.............................................................................................110
Changing an encryption key passphrase.....................................................................111
Exporting an encryption key.........................................................................................111
Removing an encryption key........................................................................................112
Changing encryption key types....................................................................................112
Managing cloud accounts............................................................................................................113
About cloud accounts.......................................................................................................... 114
Adding a cloud account....................................................................................................... 114
Editing a cloud account....................................................................................................... 116
Configuring cloud account settings......................................................................................116
Removing a cloud account.................................................................................................. 117
Archiving.......................................................................................................................................117
Understanding archives....................................................................................................... 117
Creating an archive..............................................................................................................118
Archiving to a cloud..................................................................................................... 121
Editing a scheduled archive.................................................................................................122
Pausing or resuming a scheduled archive.......................................................................... 124
Forcing an archive job......................................................................................................... 124
Checking an archive............................................................................................................ 125
Attaching an archive............................................................................................................ 126
Importing an archive............................................................................................................ 128
Events.......................................................................................................................................... 130
Rapid Recovery events........................................................................................................131
Viewing events using tasks, alerts, and journal.................................................................. 131
Viewing tasks............................................................................................................... 131
Viewing alerts............................................................................................................... 133
Viewing all events........................................................................................................ 134
Understanding email notifications........................................................................................ 134
Configuring an email server.........................................................................................135
Configuring an email notification template...................................................................136
Notification groups, SMTP settings and notification templates for system events...............138

DL4300 Appliance 5
Configuring notification groups............................................................................................ 139
About configuring repetition reduction................................................................................. 142
Configuring repetition reduction................................................................................... 143
Configuring event retention..................................................................................................143
Rapid Appliance Self Recovery...................................................................................................144
Creating the RASR USB key...............................................................................................144
Executing RASR.................................................................................................................. 145
The Local Mount Utility................................................................................................................146
About the Local Mount Utility...............................................................................................146
Working with Rapid Recovery Core machines in the Local Mount Utility............................ 147
Adding a Core machine to the Local Mount Utility...................................................... 147
Changing the Local Mount Utility options.................................................................... 148
Editing Core connection settings in the Local Mount Utility.........................................149
Reconnecting to a Core............................................................................................... 150
Removing a Rapid Recovery Core machine from the Local Mount Utility................... 150
Working with protected machines in the Local Mount Utility............................................... 150
Mounting a recovery point using the Local Mount Utility............................................. 151
Exploring a mounted recovery point using the Local Mount Utility.............................. 152
Refreshing recovery points.......................................................................................... 152
Dismounting individual recovery points using the Local Mount Utility..........................152
Dismounting all recovery points from a single Rapid Recovery Core or protected
machine................................................................................................................................................153
Dismounting all mounted recovery points using the Local Mount Utility...................... 153
Using the Local Mount Utility tray menu............................................................................. 154
Managing Your Appliance................................................................................................................... 155
Monitoring status of the Appliance..............................................................................................155
Windows backup..........................................................................................................................155
Backup Status...................................................................................................................... 156
Windows Backup Policy.......................................................................................................157
Provisioning storage.................................................................................................................... 158
Deleting space allocation for a virtual disk..................................................................................160
Recovery and Update Utility........................................................................................................160
Upgrading your Appliance....................................................................................................160
Repairing your Appliance.....................................................................................................161
Protecting workstations and servers................................................................................................... 162
Protecting machines.................................................................................................................... 162
About protecting machines with Rapid Recovery................................................................ 162
About protecting Linux machines with Rapid Recovery...............................................163
About managing Exchange and SQL servers in Rapid Recovery Core.......................163

DL4300 Appliance 6
About protecting server clusters.................................................................................. 164
Support for dynamic and basic volumes......................................................................165
Understanding the Rapid Recovery Agent software installer.......................................166
Deploying Agent to multiple machines simultaneously from the Core Console........... 166
Deploying the Rapid Recovery Agent software to one or more machines...................167
Modifying deploy settings.............................................................................................171
Understanding protection schedules............................................................................172
Protecting a machine................................................................................................... 173
Managing protected machines..................................................................................... 185
About protecting multiple machines............................................................................. 203
Settings and functions for protected Exchange servers.............................................. 220
Settings and functions for protected SQL servers....................................................... 224
Understanding Rapid Snap for Virtual......................................................................... 227
Protecting vCenter/ESXi virtual machines without the Rapid Recovery Agent............ 230
Accessing protected machine diagnostics...........................................................................235
Downloading and viewing the log file for a protected machine....................................236
Downloading and viewing the log file for a protected machine....................................236
Viewing machine status and other details................................................................... 237
Managing machines.....................................................................................................................238
Removing a machine........................................................................................................... 238
Canceling operations on a machine.................................................................................... 238
Viewing license information on a machine.......................................................................... 239
VM export.....................................................................................................................................239
About exporting to virtual machines with Rapid Recovery.................................................. 239
Performing a one-time ESXi export............................................................................. 241
Performing a continual (Virtual Standby) ESXi export................................................. 242
Performing a one-time VMware Workstation export.................................................... 245
Performing a continual (Virtual Standby) VMware Workstation export........................ 246
Performing a one-time Hyper-V export........................................................................ 249
Performing a continual (Virtual Standby) Hyper-V export............................................250
Performing a one-time VirtualBox export.....................................................................252
Performing a continual (Virtual Standby) VirtualBox export.........................................253
Managing exports.................................................................................................................255
Exporting data to an ESXi virtual machine.................................................................. 257
Exporting data to a VirtualBox virtual machine............................................................261
Exporting data to a VMware Workstation virtual machine........................................... 265
Exporting data to a Hyper-V virtual machine............................................................... 268
Managing aging data................................................................................................................... 273

DL4300 Appliance 7
About Rapid Recovery data retention and archiving........................................................... 273
Managing retention policies................................................................................................. 273
Configuring Core default retention policy settings....................................................... 274
Customizing retention policy settings for a protected machine....................................276
Forcing rollup for a protected machine........................................................................ 278
Replication....................................................................................................................................279
Replication with Rapid Recovery.........................................................................................279
Recovery point chains and orphans.................................................................................... 282
When replication begins.......................................................................................................283
Determining your seeding needs and strategy....................................................................283
Performance considerations for replicated data transfer.....................................................285
About replication and encrypted recovery points.........................................................286
About retention policies for replication.........................................................................286
Replicating to a self-managed target Core..........................................................................287
Viewing incoming and outgoing replication......................................................................... 291
Configuring replication......................................................................................................... 293
Replicating to a third-party target Core............................................................................... 294
Submitting a replication request to a third-party service provider................................295
Reviewing a replication request from a customer........................................................298
Approving a replication request................................................................................... 298
Denying a replication request...................................................................................... 299
Ignoring a replication request from a customer........................................................... 299
Adding a machine to existing replication.............................................................................299
Consuming the seed drive on a target Core....................................................................... 302
Abandoning a seed drive............................................................................................. 304
Managing replication settings.............................................................................................. 304
Scheduling replication.................................................................................................. 305
Using the Copy function to create a seed drive.......................................................... 306
Monitoring replication................................................................................................... 308
Pausing and resuming replication................................................................................310
Forcing replication........................................................................................................ 311
Managing settings for outgoing replication.................................................................. 311
Changing target Core settings..................................................................................... 312
Setting replication priority for a protected machine......................................................313
Removing replication............................................................................................................313
Removing outgoing replication from the source Core..................................................314
Removing incoming replication from the target Core...................................................314
Recovering replicated data.................................................................................................. 315

DL4300 Appliance 8
Recovering data...................................................................................................................................316
Managing recovery...................................................................................................................... 316
Snapshots and recovery points................................................................................................... 316
Managing snapshots and recovery points........................................................................... 316
Viewing the recovery points page of a protected machine..................................................317
Understanding recovery point status indicators...........................................................318
Mounting a recovery point................................................................................................... 319
Dismounting recovery points................................................................................................320
Working with Linux recovery points.....................................................................................321
Mounting a recovery point volume on a Linux machine.............................................. 321
Unmounting a recovery point on a Linux machine...................................................... 323
Forcing a snapshot.............................................................................................................. 323
Removing recovery points................................................................................................... 324
Deleting an orphaned recovery point chain.........................................................................325
Migrating recovery points manually to a different repository............................................... 325
Restoring data..............................................................................................................................326
About restoring data with Rapid Recovery.......................................................................... 326
Understanding Live Recovery..............................................................................................327
Restoring data from recovery points................................................................................... 327
About restoring volumes from a recovery point...................................................................328
Restoring volumes from a recovery point.................................................................... 329
Restoring a directory or file using Windows Explorer.................................................. 331
Restoring a directory or file and preserving permissions using Windows Explorer...... 332
Performing a restore for clusters and cluster nodes........................................................... 332
Restoring from an attached archive.................................................................................... 333
Understanding bare metal restore for Windows machines......................................................... 334
Bare metal restore for Windows machines..........................................................................334
Performing a bare metal restore for Windows machines.............................................335
About performing a bare metal restore using the Restore Machine Wizard................ 337
Understanding boot CD creation for Windows machines....................................................340
Understanding driver injection in a boot CD................................................................ 341
Creating a boot CD ISO image....................................................................................341
Transferring the boot CD ISO image to media............................................................ 343
Loading the boot CD and starting the target machine................................................. 343
Using the Universal Recovery Console for a BMR............................................................. 344
About the Universal Recovery Console tools.............................................................. 344
Loading drivers using the Universal Recovery Console.............................................. 345
Selecting a recovery point and initiating a BMR..........................................................346

DL4300 Appliance 9
About disk mapping for a bare metal restore.............................................................. 347
Performing a BMR from an archive............................................................................. 349
Loading drivers to the operating system......................................................................351
Performing a bare metal restore for Linux machines.......................................................... 352
Prerequisites for performing a bare metal restore for a Linux machine....................... 354
Managing a Linux boot image..................................................................................... 354
Managing Linux partitions............................................................................................ 356
Launching a bare metal restore for Linux....................................................................359
Restoring volumes for a Linux machine using the command line................................361
Verifying a bare metal restore............................................................................................. 362
Viewing the recovery progress.....................................................................................363
Starting a restored target server..................................................................................363
Troubleshooting connections to the Universal Recovery Console...............................363
Repairing boot problems.............................................................................................. 364
Verifying the bare metal restore from the command line.............................................364
Generating and viewing reports.......................................................................................................... 367
About Rapid Recovery reports.................................................................................................... 367
Generating a report from the Core Console........................................................................369
Generating a Core report on demand..........................................................................369
Generating a protected machine report on demand....................................................372
Managing scheduled reports from the Core Console..........................................................373
Scheduling a report......................................................................................................374
Modifying a report schedule.........................................................................................377
Pausing, resuming, or deleting a scheduled report..................................................... 377
Using the Reports menu......................................................................................................378
Using the Reports toolbar....................................................................................................379
Understanding the Job report.............................................................................................. 381
Understanding the Job Summary report..............................................................................381
Understanding the Failure report.........................................................................................382
Understanding the Summary report.....................................................................................382
Understanding the Repository report...................................................................................383
The Central Management Console............................................................................................. 384
Understanding the Rapid Recovery Central Management Console.................................... 384
Configuring the Rapid Recovery Central Management Console.........................................386
Adding a Core to the Central Management Console...................................................386
Configuring Core settings in the Central Management Console..................................387
Adding a Core group to the Central Management Console.........................................388
Configuring Core group settings.................................................................................. 389

DL4300 Appliance 10
Configuring Core group access................................................................................... 390
Understanding Central Management Console core reports................................................ 390
Generating a report from the Central Management Console.......................................391
Core Console references.................................................................................................................... 393
Viewing the Core Console user interface....................................................................................393
Viewing the Protected Machines pane........................................................................................403
Viewing events for a protected machine............................................................................. 406
Viewing the More menu for a protected machine................................................................408
Understanding the Rapid Recovery PowerShell module....................................................................410
Prerequisites for using PowerShell............................................................................................. 411
powershell.exe.config...........................................................................................................411
Launching PowerShell and importing the module............................................................... 411
Working with commands and cmdlets.........................................................................................412
Rapid Recovery PowerShell module cmdlets............................................................................. 412
Edit-EsxiVirtualStandby........................................................................................................416
Edit-HyperVVirtualStandby...................................................................................................417
Edit-ScheduledArchive......................................................................................................... 419
Edit-VBVirtualStandby.......................................................................................................... 421
Edit-VMVirtualStandby......................................................................................................... 423
Get-ActiveJobs..................................................................................................................... 424
Get-Clusters......................................................................................................................... 426
Get-CompletedJobs..............................................................................................................427
Get-ExchangeMailStores......................................................................................................428
Get-Failed.............................................................................................................................429
Get-FailedJobs..................................................................................................................... 430
Get-Mounts...........................................................................................................................432
Get-Passed...........................................................................................................................433
Get-ProtectedServers...........................................................................................................434
Get-ProtectionGroups...........................................................................................................434
Get-QueuedJobs.................................................................................................................. 435
Get-RecoveryPoints............................................................................................................. 437
Get-ReplicatedServers......................................................................................................... 438
Get-Repositories...................................................................................................................439
Get-ScheduledArchives........................................................................................................439
Get-SqlDatabases................................................................................................................ 440
Get-UnprotectedVolumes.....................................................................................................441
Get-VirtualizedServers......................................................................................................... 442
Get-Volumes.........................................................................................................................443

DL4300 Appliance 11
New-Base............................................................................................................................. 444
New-CloudAccount...............................................................................................................445
New-EncryptionKey.............................................................................................................. 446
New-EsxiVirtualStandby.......................................................................................................447
New-HyperVVirtualStandby..................................................................................................449
New-Mount........................................................................................................................... 451
Resume-Replication............................................................................................................. 453
New-Repository.................................................................................................................... 453
New-ScheduledArchive........................................................................................................ 455
New-Snapshot...................................................................................................................... 457
New-VBVirtualStandby.........................................................................................................458
New-VMVirtualStandby........................................................................................................ 460
Push-Replication.................................................................................................................. 461
Push-Rollup.......................................................................................................................... 462
Remove-Agent......................................................................................................................463
Remove-Mount..................................................................................................................... 464
Remove-Mounts................................................................................................................... 465
Remove-RecoveryPoints......................................................................................................466
Remove-Repository..............................................................................................................467
Remove-ScheduledArchive..................................................................................................468
Remove-VirtualStandby........................................................................................................469
Resume-Replication............................................................................................................. 470
Resume-Snapshot................................................................................................................471
Resume-VirtualStandby........................................................................................................472
Resume-VMExport............................................................................................................... 473
Start-Archive.........................................................................................................................474
Start-AttachabilityCheck....................................................................................................... 475
Start-ChecksumCheck..........................................................................................................476
Start-EsxiExport....................................................................................................................477
Start-HypervExport............................................................................................................... 479
Start-LogTruncation..............................................................................................................481
Start-MountabilityCheck....................................................................................................... 482
Start-Protect......................................................................................................................... 483
Start-ProtectCluster.............................................................................................................. 484
Start-RepositoryCheck......................................................................................................... 486
Start-RestoreArchive............................................................................................................ 487
Start-ScheduledArchive........................................................................................................488
Start-VBExport......................................................................................................................489

DL4300 Appliance 12
Start-VirtualStandby............................................................................................................. 491
Start-VMExport..................................................................................................................... 492
Stop-ActiveJobs....................................................................................................................494
Suspend-Replication............................................................................................................ 495
Suspend-RepositoryActivity..................................................................................................497
Suspend-ScheduledArchive................................................................................................. 498
Suspend-Snapshot...............................................................................................................498
Suspend-VirtualStandby.......................................................................................................499
Suspend-VMExport.............................................................................................................. 500
Update-Repository................................................................................................................501
Localization.................................................................................................................................. 502
Qualifiers...................................................................................................................................... 502
Extending Rapid Recovery jobs using scripting..................................................................................504
Using PowerShell scripts in Rapid Recovery..............................................................................504
Qualifiers.............................................................................................................................. 505
Input Parameters for PowerShell Scripting................................................................................. 506
Sample PowerShell scripts..........................................................................................................518
PreTransferScript.ps1...........................................................................................................518
PostTransferScript.ps1.........................................................................................................518
PreExportScript.ps1..............................................................................................................519
PostExportScript.ps1............................................................................................................ 519
PreNightlyJobScript.ps1....................................................................................................... 520
PostNightlyJobScript.ps1......................................................................................................521
Using Bourne Shell scripting in Rapid Recovery........................................................................ 523
Input parameters for Bourne Shell scripting................................................................................524
Sample Bourne Shell scripts....................................................................................................... 526
PreTransferScript.sh.............................................................................................................527
PostTransferScript.sh........................................................................................................... 527
PostExportScript.sh.............................................................................................................. 527
Rapid Recovery APIs.......................................................................................................................... 528
Intended audience....................................................................................................................... 528
Working with Rapid Recovery REST APIs..................................................................................528
Downloading and viewing Core and Agent APIs........................................................................ 528
Recommended additional reading............................................................................................... 531
About Quest.........................................................................................................................................532
Glossary............................................................................................................................................... 533

DL4300 Appliance
Deployment architecture 13
Introduction to DL Appliance
The DL Appliance with Rapid Recovery software is a backup, replication, and recovery solution that offers near-
zero recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives. Rapid Recovery offers data protection, disaster
recovery, data migration and data management .You have the flexibility of performing bare-metal restore (to
similar or dissimilar hardware), and you can restore backups to physical or virtual machines, regardless of origin.
With Rapid Recovery you can replicate to one or more targets for added redundancy and security.
Your appliance sets a new standard for unified data protection by combining backup, replication, and recovery
in a single solution that is engineered to be the fastest and most reliable backup for protecting virtual machines
(VM), physical machines, and cloud environments.Your appliance is capable of handling up to petabytes of
data with built-in global deduplication, compression, encryption, and replication to any private or public cloud
infrastructure. Server applications and data can be recovered in minutes for data retention and compliance.
Your appliance supports multi-hypervisor environments on VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V private and
public clouds.
Rapid Recovery offers:
• Flexibility. You can perform universal recovery to multiple platforms, including restoring from physical to virtual, virtual to
physical, virtual to virtual, and physical to physical.
• Cloud integration. You can archive and replicate to the cloud, using cloud storage vendors that support both proprietary
and open-source platforms.
• Intelligent deduplication. You can reduce storage requirements by storing data once, and referencing it thereafter (once
per repository or encryption domain).
• Instant recovery. Our Live Recovery feature allows you to access critical data first, while remaining restore operations
complete in parallel.
• File-level recovery. You can recover data at the file level on-premise, from a remote location, or from the cloud.
•Virtual support. Enhanced support for virtualization includes agentless protection and autodiscovery for VMware®
ESXi™ 5 and higher, and export to Microsoft® Hyper-V® cluster-shared volumes.
See the following resources for more information about Rapid Recovery.
• The Dell Rapid Recovery product support website at https://support.software.dell.com/rapid-recovery/
• The documentation website at https://support.software.dell.com/rapid-recovery/release-notes-guides/ and http://
www.dell.com/support/home/.
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Deployment architecture
Your appliance is a scalable backup and recovery product that is flexibly deployed within the enterprise or as a
service delivered by a managed service provider. The type of deployment depends on the size and requirements
of the customer. Preparing to deploy your appliance involves planning the network storage topology, core
hardware and disaster recovery infrastructure, and security.
The deployment architecture consists of local and remote components. The remote components may be optional
for those environments that do not require leveraging a disaster recovery site or a managed service provider for
off-site recovery. A basic local deployment consists of a backup server called the Core and one or more protected

DL4300 Appliance
Deployment architecture 14
machines. The off-site component is enabled using replication that provides full recovery capabilities in the DR
site. The Core uses base images and incremental snapshots to compile recovery points of protected machines.
Additionally, your appliance is application-aware because it can detect the presence of Microsoft Exchange and
SQL and their respective databases and log files, and then automatically group these volumes with dependency
for comprehensive protection and effective recovery. This ensures that you never have incomplete backups when
you are performing recoveries. Backups are performed by using application-aware block-level snapshots. Your
appliance can also perform log truncation of the protected Microsoft Exchange and SQL servers.
The following diagram depicts a simple deployment. In this diagram, AppAsure agent software is installed on
machines such as a file server, email server, database server, or virtual machines and connect to and are
protected by a single Core, which also consists of the central repository. The License Portal manages license
subscriptions, groups and users for the protected machines and cores in your environment. The License Portal
allows users to log in, activate accounts, download software, and deploy protected machines and cores per your
license for your environment.
Figure 1. Basic deployment architecture
You can also deploy multiple Cores as shown in the following diagram. A central console manages multiple cores.
Figure 2. Multi—Core deployment architecture
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DL4300 Appliance
Snapshot process 15
Parent topic 
Smart Agent
Smart Agent tracks the changed blocks on the disk volume and then snaps an image of the changed blocks at
a predefined interval of protection. The incremental forever block-level snapshots approach prevents repeated
copying of the same data from the protected machine to the Core. The Rapid Recovery Smart Agent is installed
on the machines that are protected by the Rapid Recovery Core.
The Smart Agent is application-aware and it detects the type of application that is installed and also the location of
the data. It automatically groups data volumes with dependency, such as databases, and then logs them together
for effective protection and rapid recovery. After the Rapid Recovery Agent software is configured, it uses smart
technology to keep track of changed blocks on the protected disk volumes. When the snapshot is ready, it is
rapidly transferred to the Core using intelligent multi-threaded, socket-based connections. To preserve CPU
bandwidth and memory on the protected machines, the smart agent does not encrypt or deduplicate the data at
the source and protected machines are paired with a Core for protection.
Parent topic 
DL Appliance Core
The Core is the central component of the deployment architecture. The Core stores and manages all of the
machine backups and provides core services for backup, recovery, and retention; replication, archival, and
management. The Core is a self-contained network-addressable computer that runs a 64-bit of Microsoft
Windows operating system. Your appliance performs target-based inline compression, encryption, and
deduplication of the data received from the protected machine. The Core then stores the snapshot backups in
repositories such as, Storage Area Network (SAN) or Direct Attached Storage (DAS).
The repository can also reside on internal storage within the Core. The Core is managed by accessing the
following URL from a Web browser: https://CORENAME:8006/apprecovery/admin. Internally, all core services
are accessible through REST APIs. The Core services can be accessed from within the core or directly over the
Internet from any application that can send an HTTP/HTTPS request and receive an HTTP/HTTPS response. All
API operations are performed over SSL and mutually authenticated using X.509 v3 certificates.
Cores are paired with other cores for replication.
Parent topic 
Snapshot process
A snapshot is when a base image is transferred from a protected machine to the Core. Snapshots capture and
store the state of a disk volume at a given point in time while the applications that generate the data are still
in use. In Rapid Recovery, you can force a snapshot, temporarily pause snapshots, and view lists of current
recovery points in the repository as well as delete them if needed. Recovery points are used to restore protected
machines or to mount to a local file system. The snapshots that are captured by Rapid Recovery are done so at
the block level and are application aware. This means that all open transactions and rolling transaction logs are
completed and caches are flushed to disk before creating the snapshot.
Rapid Recovery uses a low-level volume filter driver, which attaches to the mounted volumes and then tracks
all block-level changes for the next impending snapshot. Microsoft Volume Shadow Services (VSS) is used to
facilitate application crash consistent snapshots.
Parent topic 

DL4300 Appliance
Product features 16
Replication of disaster recovery site or service
provider
The replication process requires a paired source-target relationship between two cores. The source core copies
the recovery points of the protected machines and then asynchronously and continuously transmits them to
a target core at a remote disaster recovery site. The off-site location can be a company-owned data center
(self-managed core) or a third-party managed service provider’s (MSP’s) location, or cloud environment. When
replicating to a MSP, you can use built-in workflows that let you request connections and receive automatic
feedback notifications. For the initial transfer of data, you can perform data seeding using external media, which is
useful for large sets of data or sites with slow links.
In the case of a severe outage, your appliance supports failover and failback in replicated environments. In case
of a comprehensive outage, the target core in the secondary site can recover instances from replicated protected
machines and immediately commence protection on the failed-over machines. After the primary site is restored,
the replicated core can fail-back data from the recovered instances back to protected machines at the primary
site.
Parent topic 
Recovery
Recovery can be performed in the local site or the replicated remote site. After the deployment is in steady state
with local protection and optional replication, the Core allows you to perform recovery using Verified Recovery,
Universal Recovery, or Live Recovery.
Parent topic 
Product features
You can manage protection and recovery of critical data using the following features and functionality:
•Repository
•Deduplication in Rapid Recovery
•Encryption
•Replication
•Retention and archiving
•Virtualization And Cloud
•Alerts and Event Management
•License portal
•Web console
•Service Management APIs
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Parent topic 

DL4300 Appliance
Understanding repositories 17
Understanding repositories
A repository is a central location in which backup snapshot data captured from your protected workstations and
server is stored and managed. Data is saved to a repository in the form of recovery points.
A repository can reside on different storage technologies, including Storage Area Network (SAN), Direct Attached
Storage (DAS), or Network Attached Storage (NAS).
NOTE: Store repositories for Rapid Recovery Core on primary storage devices. Speed for the storage
volume is the most critical factor. Archival storage devices such as Data Domain are not supported due
to performance limitations. Similarly, do not store repositories on NAS filers that tier to the cloud, as these
devices tend to have performance limitations when used as primary storage.
DAS offers the highest data bandwidth and fastest access rate, and is easy to implement. For optimum
results, use DAS with Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) 6 storage. For more information, see Dell
Knowledge Base article 118153, Repository Options: Direct Attached Storage, Storage Area Network or Network
Attached Storage.
The storage location for any repository should always be in a subdirectory that you specify (for example, E:
\Repository), never in the root of a volume (for example, E:\).
The Rapid Recovery repository format uses Deduplication Volume Manager (DVM). DVM repositories support
multiple volumes, up to 255 repositories on a single Core, and the use of extents. You can create DVM
repositories on machines with Windows operating systems only. You can use this repository type when using new
Rapid Recovery installations. You can specify the size of a DVM repository upon creation, and can add extents
later.

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DVM Repository features and attributes include:
• Supports recovery from Rapid Recovery 6.x archives and recovery points
• Supports storage locations on Windows OS only. Repository volume can be local (on storage attached to the Core
server), or on a storage location on a Common Internet File System (CIFS) shared location.
• Supported storage types include Storage Area Network (SAN), Direct Attached Storage (DAS), or Network Attached
Storage (NAS)
• Requires 8GB RAM, preferably Error Checking and Correction (ECC) memory
• Requires quad core processor on Core machine (this long-standing requirement is now enforced)
• Supports multiple DVM repositories per host
• No additional services required; DVM repository uses native Core services for communication with Core and for tracking
events
• Each DVM repository supports up to 4096 repository extents (also called storage locations)
• Fixed size; DVM repository requires you to specify the repository size on a volume. The size that you specify cannot
exceed the size of the volume. Each volume you define as a storage location must have a minimum of 1GB of free space
available on it.
• Repository storage location can be a simple or dynamic disk, with speed the most important factor
• Can use standard encryption keys created and managed in the Core Console (Core-based encryption)
• Deduplicates data across the entire repository (or across encryption domains within each repository, if encryption keys
are used)
• Uses a dedicated, resizeable DVM deduplication cache, with a configurable storage location in Core settings
• Optimized for writing data, storing snapshot data in a repository local to the Core, with all data processed through the
Core
• Cannot be renamed after creation
• New repositories of this type can be created using REST APIs, the Rapid Recovery Command Line Management Utility
(cmdutil.exe), or Windows PowerShell® cmdlet
When you create a DVM repository, the Rapid Recovery Core pre-allocates the storage space required for
the data and metadata in the specified location. The minimum DVM repository size is 1GB, which for practical
purposes is generally too small except for testing.
Since DVM deduplication requires a primary and secondary cache, ensure the storage space you reserve is twice
the size of your deduplication cache. For example, if you have 1.5GB reserved in the DVM deduplication cache
settings on the Core, reserve 3GB on the cache volume. The default installation path for the cache is on the C
drive. For more information, see Understanding deduplication cache and storage locations.
You can create multiple independent repositories associated with a single Core, up to 255 DVM repositories.
Repositories can span across different storage technologies.
You can further increase the size of a DVM repository by adding new file extents or specifications. An extended
repository can contain up to 4096 extents that span across different storage technologies.
For more information on working with DVM repositories, see Managing a DVM repository.
Parent topic 
Deduplication in Rapid Recovery
Deduplication is a data compression technique that reduces both storage requirements and network load. The
process involves physically storing unique blocks of data only once on disk. In Rapid Recovery, when any unique
data block occurs a second time within a repository, instead of storing the data again, a virtual reference to the
data is stored.

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Deduplication occurs in backup snapshots captured by Rapid Recovery Core. Backup information is deduplicated
within a single repository. It cannot be deduplicated across multiple repositories.
Rapid Recovery release 6.0.2 uses target-based deduplication for all DVM repositories. In this model, information
is transferred to the DVM repository (the target), and is then deduplicated from the repository.
For the most part, deduplication takes place inline (during the transfer of backup information).
For maximum gains, Rapid Recovery now also offers deduplication that occurs as post-processing. Post-
processing is sometimes called pass-through deduplication. Using this model, data in the repository are compared
to references in the DVM data cache. If a block of data in the repository has already been saved, then each
additional occurrence of that data is replaced with a pointer or reference to the data.
This post-processing can save space on your repository storage volume, particularly if the deduplication cache
was filled and then the cache was subsequently increased to take advantage of additional deduplication. This
type of deduplication takes place when performing a repository optimization job. This feature is unique to DVM
repositories, and is also called duplicate block reclamation.
For more information about the repository optimization job, see About the Repository Optimization Job. For more
information on performing this task, see Optimizing a DVM repository.
Thus, Rapid Recovery takes advantage of all types of deduplication described here: target-based deduplication,
inline deduplication, and post-processing deduplication.
For more information on where the references to unique blocks are stored for DVM repositories, see
Understanding deduplication cache and storage locations.
Parent topic 
Understanding encryption keys
The Rapid Recovery Core can encrypt snapshot data for all volumes within any repository using encryption keys
that you define and manage from the Core Console.
Instead of encrypting the entire repository, Rapid Recovery lets you specify an encryption key for one or more
machines protected on a single Rapid Recovery Core. Each active encryption key creates an encryption domain.
There is no limit to the number of encryption keys you can create on the Core.
In a multi-tenant environment (when a single Core hosts multiple encryption domains), data is partitioned and
deduplicated within each encryption domain. As a result, Dell recommends using a single encryption key for
multiple protected machines if you want to maximize the benefits of deduplication among a set of protected
machines.
You can also share encryption keys between Cores using one of three methods. One method is to export an
encryption key as a file from one Rapid Recovery Core and import it to another Core. A second method is to
archive data secured with an encryption key, and then import that archived data into another Rapid Recovery
Core. The third method is to replicate recovery points from a protected machine using an encryption key. After
you replicate protected machines, the encryption keys used in the source Core appear as replicated encryption
keys in the target Core.
In all cases, once imported, any encryption key appears in the Core with a state of Locked. To access data from
a locked encryption key, you must unlock it. For information about importing, exporting, locking or unlocking
encryption keys, see the topic Managing encryption keys.

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Key security concepts and considerations include:
• Encryption is performed using 256 Bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode that
is compliant with SHA-3.
• Deduplication operates within an encryption domain to ensure privacy.
• Encryption is performed without impact on performance.
• You can apply a single encryption key to any number of protected machines, but any protected machine can only have
one encryption key applied at a time.
• You can add, remove, import, export, modify, and delete encryption keys that are configured on the Rapid Recovery
Core.
CAUTION: Rapid Recovery takes a new snapshot whenever you apply an encryption key to a
protected machine. A new snapshot is also triggered after you disassociate an encryption key for a
protected machine.
Encryption keys generated from the Rapid Recovery Core are text files that contain four parameters, as described
in the following table:
Table 1. Components of an encryption key
The Name describes the value equivalent to the key name given when adding a key in the RR Core console. The
key consists of 107 randomly generated English alphabetic, numeric, and mathematical operator characters. The
ID consists of 26 randomly generated upper-case and lower-case English characters. The Comment contains the
text of the key description entered when the key was created.
Component Description
Name This value is equivalent to the key name given when
adding a key in the Rapid Recovery Core Console.
Key This parameter consists of 107 randomly generated
English alphabetic, numeric, and mathematical
operator characters.
ID The key ID consists of 26 randomly generated
upper-case and lower-case English characters.
Comment The comment contains the text of the key description
entered when the key was created.
Parent topic 
Replication with Rapid Recovery
This section provides conceptual and procedural information to help you understand and configure replication in
Rapid Recovery.
Replication is the process of copying recovery points from one Rapid Recovery Core and transmitting them
to another Rapid Recovery Core for disaster recovery purposes. The process requires a paired source-target
relationship between two or more Cores.
The source Core copies the recovery points of selected protected machines, and then asynchronously and
continually transmits that snapshot data to the target Core.
Unless you change the default behavior by setting a replication schedule, the Core starts a replication job
immediately after completion of every backup snapshot, checksum check, attachability check, and the nightly
jobs. For more information, see Scheduling replication.