1. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
2. CHAPTER TWO: SYSTEM OVERVIEW & REQUIREMENTS
3. CHAPTER THREE:INSTALLING & CONFIGURING REPLAY
4. CHAPTER FOUR: HOW TO…
5. CHAPTER FIVE: REFERENCE GUIDE
6. CHAPTER SIX: DISASTER RECOVERY USING REPLAY
7. CHAPTER SEVEN: TROUBLESHOOTING REPLAY

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

What Is In This Guide

This Administrator‘s Guide contains all the information you need to plan deployment, install, configure and manage the Replay 4 product suite. Chapter 4 on disaster recovery will assist you with recovering from catastrophic failures in your Exchange services. In Chapter 5, Troubleshooting, solutions to several commonly encountered issues are explained.

AppAssure recommends that you read through this guide and familiarize yourself with the contents. If you are experiencing problems with Replay, you can consult this guide or our online AppAssure Knowledge Base kb.appassure.com, before you contact Customer Support.

About Replay 4

Simply put, Replay 4 is the world‘s fastest way to recover from a server disruption; and the only disaster recovery solution with application-level recall for high pressure recovery scenarios.

A server-based, disk imaging solution, Replay 4 automatically and continuously snapshots your entire Windows application server. The Replay 4 products, including Replay for Windows, Replay for Exchange, Replay for SQL, and Replay for Hyper-V, are keenly application-aware and enable automated backup validation and object -level restore functionality.

When paired with distributed Replay Cores installed in virtual or physical servers, Replay 4 creates a heart and lung by-pass machine for your mission-critical systems, making them available when and where you need them most.

What does that mean for you? Well, for one, it means your business will never lose another dime in lost productivity due to down servers. Our unique approach to backup combines the best features of the top imaging, replication, and deduplication software on the market today, offering a 3 for 1 solution that guarantees continuous recovery-testing, seamless disaster recovery, always- on high availability, and significantly reduced storage costs.

What you get with Replay 4

• Always -on, server-based continuous application protection with integrated compression & data deduplication.
• The ability to restore anything from a single file to an entire server, quickly, and to different hardware, even from complex applications like SQL Server or Exchange Server.
• A DVR for your Server! Block level imaging gives you the ability to roll back to any point- in- time.
• Automatic notifications of problems with your backups, including checks for corruption (the reason 42% of backups fail)
• Highly available virtual servers that are mirror copies of your production environment. In case of failure, failover at the touch of a button.
• Cost effective remote office protection
• Reduced storage costs with the ability to automatically move backups off-site or into the Cloud

What’s New in Replay 4?

Replication for Off-site Backup and Disaster Recovery

Replication replicates recovery points between Replay 4 Media Servers and a private cloud in an efficient and safe manner enabling both off-site backup and off-site disaster recovery.

With the Replay Replication option, compressed and deduplicated recovery points are replicated over the WAN making it bandwidth efficient and saving storage costs on the LAN and at the DR location. Replay Replication can be enabled or disabled on a per agent basis – meaning you don‘t have to pay for servers you aren‘t protecting. It is available in single -server and multi-server implementations. The image below is a multi-server configuration.

New Enterprise Console

The Replay 4 Enterprise console is designed to manage a large number of servers from a centralized location. Backup and disaster recovery functions managed from the console include backup monitoring, granular (single-file and record-level) restores, bare-metal recoveries, virtual migrations, and replication.

Replay 4 Enterprise Console

Added Support for Hyper-V R2, Windows 7 and Windows Server R2 Platforms and VMware vSphere

Replay 4 expands our already robust support of the latest Microsoft and VMware technologies, delivering unified protection for mission-critical applications.  With new support for Hyper-V R2, your virtual hosts are protected without the need for expensive storage infrastructures and additional hardware.

Expanded Flexibility for Single-server and Enterprise implementations

Unlike past editions, Replay 4 offers users the ability to run any of the Replay products either on a single server protecting the server it is installed on or in a Media Server configuration for maximum speed and advanced disaster recovery functionality. When deployed in the single-server configuration, application-level support for Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint is still available. In the enterprise configuration, with the Replay 4 Media Server, backups are off-hosted, providing not only application-aware recovery support, but also accelerated backup and restore, advanced de-duplication, and off-site replication. The Replay 4 Media Server hosts all of the snapshots, compresses and de-duplicates them, and replicates them to an off-site location.

Replay for Windows Servers

Replay for Windows Servers is an application-aware, server-based disk imaging solution that automatically and continuously images your entire Windows application server delivering accelerated application backups and disaster recovery for Windows servers in minutes. Replay 4 supports any Windows Server including Domain Controllers, File servers, Print servers, and SharePoint servers. When paired with the Replay 4 Media Server, Replay for Windows Server provides a centralized backup and recovery solution that automatically and continuously images Windows virtual workloads delivering accelerated application backups and disaster recovery while reducing the load on production VMware ESX, VMware Server and Microsoft HyperV hosts.

Features

• Continuous imaging of Windows 2003 and Windows 2008 servers with a schedule you control
• Option to define a backup window during which Replay VSS snapshots are suspended
• Flexible backup retention policies
• Read/Write mountable recovery points for data mining and database maintenance purposes
• Export recovery points to bootable virtual machines
• Transportable image exports to NAS, USBs
• Bare-metal recoveries of entire server optional support for dissimilar hardware recoveries
• Push button failover to virtual and physical standby machines
• Supports p2v, v2v, v2p, and p2p migrations
• Exception alerting to Windows event log or to e-mail
• Network login credentials and IP configuration built into Boot CD
• Centralized Backup Management*
• Unique compression and deduplication reduces disk space costs associated with disaster recovery*
• Instant data volume recoveries
• Supports Off host processing (RPO ) only 1-2% overhead on production servers*

* Requires distributed Replay Core.

Replay for Exchange

Replay for Exchange continuously monitors the health of your Exchange data store and  allows administrators to quickly search, recover, and analyze mailbox content and restores individual email messages, folders, or mailboxes to a live Exchange server or directly to a PST, thereby solving some of the most costly and time consuming challenges. Set and forget backups mean less time spent on managing backups, and built in backup testing means less time spent on recovery or recovery scenario testing.

When paired with the Replay 4 Core Server, Replay for Exchange eliminates overhead processing of backups, while delivering continuous image protection. These benefits usually come at a storage cost, but Replay for Exchange actually reduces disk space requirements by up to 70% with built in data deduplication and compression. Replay for Exchange with distributed Replay Cores also provides a centralized backup and recovery solution that automatically and continuously protects your Windows virtual workloads, delivering accelerated application backups and disaster recovery while reducing the load on production VMware ESX, VMware Server and Microsoft Hyper-V hosts.

Features

• Continuous snapshots of Exchange 2003 ,Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 servers with a schedule you control
• Advanced Exchange 2007 Log Truncation, Truncate active CCR node based on passive CCR node protection
• Support for Exchange 2010 DAGS
• Corruption Detection continuously monitors the health of Exchange and guarantees reliable, predictable recoveries
• eDiscovery across multiple Exchange data stores
• Restoration of individual email messages, folders, or mailboxes to a live Exchange server or a PST
• Message level recovery without brick-level backups
• Blackberry protection
• Flexible backup retention policies
• Option to define a backup window during which Replay VSS snapshots are suspended
• Read/Write mountable recovery points for data mining and database maintenance purposes
• Export recovery points to bootable virtual machines
• Transportable image exports to NAS, USBs
• Bare-metal recoveries of entire server, optional support for dissimilar hardware recoveries
• Push button failover to virtual and physical standby machines
• Supports p2v, v2v, v2p, and p2p migrations
• Exception alerting to Windows event log or to email
• Network login credentials and IP configuration built into Boot CD
• Centralized Backup Management*
• Unique compression and deduplication reduces disk space costs associated with DR*
• Live rollbacks of volumes, supports live Exchange recovery
• Supports Off host processing ( RPO ), only 1,2% overhead on production servers*

Replay for SQL

Replay for SQL is a real-time SQL server backup and recovery solution developed to assure comprehensive backup and disaster recovery, including system and user databases, SQL binaries and the server, making it possible to restore both servers and databases in just minutes. Replay for SQL delivers incremental block based image recovery points throughout the day, automatically testing each backup for SQL corruption and allowing users to create test virtual machines at the click of a button. The mountability checks eliminate the need for manual testing and provide assurance that the backups are valid and will recover successfully.

Replay for SQL with distributed Replay Cores provides a centralized backup and recovery solution that automatically and continuously images your virtual workloads delivering accelerated application backups and disaster recovery while reducing the load on production VMware ESX, VMware Server and Microsoft Hyper-V hosts. Replay for SQL does not interrupt production available during the backup process and application workloads from a centralized Replay Core by mirroring the image of the protected server to another physical or virtual server in real-time. The images are continuously mirrored from the Replay Core directly to a standby server in a secure and bandwidth-efficient way. The standby server is an exact clone of the protected server, so in the event of an emergency, you can simply boot the standby server for full recovery. This enables a risk free approach for testing DR preparedness, patches and updates for your mission-critical applications. Virtual machines are automatically created and maintained directly on an ESX VMFS file system, eliminating the need to migrate virtual machines in a disaster scenario.

Features

• Continuous imaging of SQL servers to a centralized management server
• Application log truncation for SQL
• Option to define a backup window during which Replay VSS snapshots are suspended
• Flexible backup retention policies
• Read/Write mountable recovery points for data mining and database maintenance purposes
• Export recovery points to bootable virtual machines
• Transportable image exports to NAS, USBs
• Bare-metal recoveries of entire server optional support for dissimilar hardware recoveries
• Push button failover to virtual and physical standby machines
• Supports p2v, v2v, v2p, and p2p migrations
• Exception alerting to Windows event log or to e-mail
• Network login credentials and IP configuration built into Boot CD
• Centralized Backup Management
• Unique compression and de-dup reduces disk space costs associated with DR*
• Instant data volume recoveries
• Supports Off host processing ( RPO ) only 1-2% overhead on production servers

Replay for Hyper-V

Replay for Hyper-V is an enterprise-class backup and disaster recovery solution designed for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V environments. It supports both host and guest backup methodologies while delivering backup and recovery, advanced disaster recovery and replication capabilities in one solution. With Replay for Hyper-V, individual files within virtual machines can be restored. Replay recovery points are mountable as drive letters or mount points. AppAssure also offers a free Explorer utility that mounts VHD files as drive letters so you can access the files.

Features:

• Continuous application aware snapshots of Hyper-V hosts servers to a centralized management server
• No need for agents on individual guests
• 5x reduction in storage requirements with snapshot compression and de-duplication
• Overhead less than 1-2%
• Flexible backup retention policies
• Read/Write mountable recovery points for data mining and database maintenance purposes
• Export recovery points to bootable virtual machines
• Transportable image exports to NAS, USBs
• Bare-metal recoveries of entire server optional support for dissimilar hardware recoveries 
• Push button failover to virtual and physical standby machines
• Supports p2v, v2v, v2p, and p2p migrations
• Exception alerting to Windows event log or to e-mail
• Network login credentials and IP configuration built into Boot CD
• Unique compression and de-dup reduces disk space costs associated with DR*
• Instant data volume recoveries

Note: Performing a host-level backup of a Hyper-V server requires the use of the Hyper-V VSS Writer with which Replay is compatible. Unfortunately, while Windows Server Backup is designed to create VSS backups, it is not designed to work with the Hyper-V VSS writer.

Replay for SharePoint

Replay for SharePoint is an enterprise backup and disaster recovery solution developed to assure comprehensive protection — including front-end servers, SQL servers and the web servers — making it possible to restore both the entire SharePoint environment, individual SharePoint servers and databases and individual SharePoint objects in just minutes.

By combining AppAssure’s award-winning Replay 4 for SQL with our DocRetriever for SharePoint solution, you never have to worry about SharePoint data loss or corruption again – a Total Recovery Solution for SharePoint. Replay 4 is the fastest and easiest backup and disaster recovery software for SharePoint servers, providing continuous snapshots of your entire SQL server, enabling a total restore in just minutes.

Replay 4 assures comprehensive SharePoint protection — including front-end servers, SQL servers and the web servers — making it possible to restore the entire SharePoint environment, individual SharePoint servers and databases and using DocRetriever, individual SharePoint objects in just minutes.

When used to protect your SQL servers, Replay 4 backup and recovery software creates continuous, incremental block-based snapshots throughout the day. With automatic testing of each full backup for SQL corruption, Replay eliminates the need for manual backup testing, assuring that backup snapshots are valid and will successfully recover in the event of a server failure. Since Replay 4 provides continuous protection of the entire SQL server, including the system and user databases, SQL binaries and the server itself, Replay enables your SQL servers and databases to restore in just minutes while users continue to have uninterrupted access during the restore process.

Replay facilitates rapid Microsoft SQL database table restores by providing instant read/write access to any recovery point of the database server volumes. The full access is provided as a on the spot mount-point or a virtual volume on the Replay Core or any server with a Replay Agent without overhead of additional disk space. To perform the table restores simply attach to the databases and logs and use one of the INSERT INTO, DTS Import/Export Wizard or the BCP/Bulk Insert Method.

With a centralized management console to manage all your protected servers from a single location, Replay backup and disaster recovery solution protects SQL servers as well as Windows Small Business Servers, Domain Control­lers, File servers, Web servers, and BlackBerry Enterprise servers, and other application servers such as Exchange, SharePoint and Hyper-V.

Replay for Desktops

Replay for Windows Desktops (VDI) simplifies and automates backup and disaster recovery processes, while giving an administrator the ability to remotely monitor and manage large VDI deployments or geographically distributed machines from a single console. Replay for Desktops supports Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP environments.

Replay for Windows Desktops (VDI) simplifies and automates backup and disaster recovery processes, while giving an administrator the ability to remotely monitor and manage large VDI deployments or geographically distributed machines from a single console.

The centralized management allows organizations to rapidly scale their backup and recovery plans to cover a few or thousands of workstations. Flexible scheduling and event-based triggering of backups allows administrators to automate backups and prevent loss of data. Centralized management and policy-based migrations dramatically improve productivity of IT staff and end users.

Restore to Dissimilar Hardware Option

Restore Images to any Dissimilar Hardware

This option will allow an image to be restored to dissimilar hardware in minutes. RRA is integrated into Replay‘s bare-metal capability as an easy to use and simple interface. Drivers for most of the popular systems are included and custom drivers can be slipstreamed in minutes.

• Enables P2P, P2V, V2P, and V2V migrations
• Supports most commonly used storage drivers
• Support most HAL’s

Replay Replication

Replication for Off-site Backup and Disaster Recovery

Replication replicates recovery points between Replay 4 servers and a private cloud in an efficient and safe manner enabling both off site backup and off-site disaster recovery.

With the Replay Replication option, compressed and deduplicated recovery points are replicated over the WAN making it bandwidth efficient and saving storage costs on the LAN and at the DR location. Replay Replication can be enabled or disabled on a per agent basis, meaning you don‘t have to pay for servers you aren’t protecting. It is available in single server and multi-server implementations. The image below is a multi-server configuration.

Features & Benefits

• Save time with efficient off-site replication of deduplicated backups
• Save money by leveraging virtualization for off-site disaster recovery
• Save face with reliable and periodic testing of your off-site disaster recovery plan

Replay Replication Topologies

Replay supports various replication topologies to meet your business needs.

1 : 1 Configuration

The 1 : 1 configuration is the standard configuration and is useful for protecting a single server or a group of servers from 1 site to another.

Many : 1 Configuration

The Many : 1 configuration is useful for protecting remote offices from a centralized location. Multiple replication sources can replicate to one replication target as shown in the figure below.

Many: Many Configuration

Replay Replication supports replication on a per protected server basis. This means that you can replicate different recovery points of protected servers to different replication targets in different locations as shown in the figure below.

CHAPTER TWO: SYSTEM OVERVIEW & REQUIREMENTS

This chapter contains the information you should know before beginning to install, configure or manage Replay 4.

Architecture

Replay 4 is a distributed client-server application that is purpose-built to protect and quickly recover Windows Application servers including Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, domain controllers, and BlackBerry enterprise servers. The Replay 4 product consists of 3 primary components:

• Replay Cores – Cores processes backups, validates application integrity, compresses and deduplicates snapshots and replicates them over the WAN to a remote disaster recovery site. Cores can be local to the server being protected or distributed throughout the network, enabling a flexible and scalable backup and disaster recovery configuration.
• Replay Agents – Agents is installed on each protected server or on Hyper-V hosts. It‘s responsible for capturing block-level changes on the server and sending them a Relay Core. A core can manage 1 to many agents. It also handles restores and server rollbacks.
• Replay Admin Console – An enterprise console that centrally manages the Replay 4 environment.

Planning a Replay Deployment

Replay supports installations that include all of the Replay components directly on the protected server; however, Replay is designed to be a single server and distributed solution. The distributed approach is scalable for enterprise environments and substantially reduces the backup and disaster recovery performance impact on the protected servers. (Note: For large implementations, AppAssure recommends that the Replay Agent and Replay Cores are placed on different machines.)

Single Protected Server Deployment

The Replay components may be installed on one protected server. The Replay solution consists of 3 components:

• Replay Cores – Cores processes backups, validates application integrity, compresses and deduplicates snapshots, and replicates them over the WAN to a remote disaster recovery site. Cores can be local to the server being protected or distributed throughout the network, enabling a flexible and scalable backup and disaster recovery configuration. For single server deployments, install the Replay Core on the server to be protected.
• Replay Agents – Install the Replay Agent on the server to be protected.
• Replay Admin Console – An enterprise console that centrally manages the Replay 4 environment.

Technical Considerations

• It is recommended that the repository be placed on a network share
• If you plan to store the repository on a local drive, do not protect the drive that contains the repository
• For single server deployments, it is best practice to build a rescue image for bare-metal recoveries
• The default protection interval is 6 hours. Please use caution when decreasing this value. On transactional environments, it may impact performance during snapshots.

Exchange Cluster Deployment

The Replay Agents should be installed on each node in the cluster. It is best practice to failover all of the shared resources to another cluster node before installing the Replay Agent. This approach will ensure application serviceability during the installation procedure. Upon completion of the installation, the Exchange server must be rebooted. Proceed with the installation on the other cluster nodes.

To install Agents on each node in the cluster, do the following:

1. Uninstall all previous versions of Replay on the cluster and reboot each cluster node following the uninstall. See the uninstall section below for more details.
2. From the passive node, install the Replay Agent and Replay Recovery Console. By default, the installation will place these two components on the system. You can validate the components during the install by selecting “Custom” from the installation components window.
3. Please ensure that you use the Enterprise Edition license key in the license key dialog. If you are unsure, please contact sales@appassure.com or call +1 703-547-8686.
4. Upon completion of the install, reboot the passive node.
5. When the passive node is up, transfer the cluster resources from the active node to the passive node using the cluster administrator. This step may take a few minutes to complete.
6. Repeat steps 2 – 5 for all nodes in the cluster.
7. The final step is to install the Replay Admin Console and Replay Core on any Windows Server and in a cluster configuration it should be separate server.

NOTE: A boot image should be created for the cluster. If all of the nodes use identical hardware, only an ISO is required and should be burned to a CD. Please see the Replay Recovery Console section below for more details.

Distributed Server Deployment

Replay 4 supports LAN and WAN configurations alike

• Replay Cores – Cores processes backups, validates application integrity, compresses and deduplicates snapshots and replicates them over the WAN to a remote disaster recovery site. Cores can be local to the server being protected or distributed throughout the network enabling a flexible and scalable backup and disaster recovery configuration.
• Replay Agents – Agents are installed on each protected server or on Hyper-V hosts. It‘s responsible for capturing block-level changes on the server and sending them a Relay Core. A core can manage 1 to many agents. It also handles restores and server rollbacks.
• Replay Admin Console – An enterprise console that centrally manages the Replay 4 environment.

Replay cores can be installed throughout the infrastructure depending on your recovery time and recovery point objectives. For single-server configurations, you can install the core on the protected server. For larger, more-transactions environments, a core can be installed on a standalone server or virtual machine.

Repository Storage Recommendations

Replay Cores supports DAS, NAS and SAN storage to store recovery points. Replay does not have a limit to the number of recovery points that can be stored in the repository, so proper space planning is recommended.

Calculate Space Requirements

The following considerations are useful to calculate space requirements:

• Determine the amount of storage that is currently consumed on the protected server.
• If compression and deduplication is enabled, which is the default setting, use a 65-70% compression ratio as an average.
• Determine the frequency of protection that is required (i.e. every fifteen minutes, every thirty minutes, etc.).
• Determine your retention policy (i.e. keep all snapshots for one day, hourly for two days, daily for four days, weekly for three weeks, monthly for six months, etc.).
• Estimate the change rate of your protected server. This value encompasses change and growth rates and is significant during the rollup process. The industry average change rate is 5-7%. We do not have an accurate change rate versus growth rate, so we assume the worst case scenario in our calculations below.

Sample Environment

The protected server has a total of 300GB of used space, including the system volume and data volumes, spread across three volumes.

Frequency:

Every fifteen minutes

Retention Policy:

Keep all snapshots for one day, hourly snapshots for two days, daily snapshots for four days, weekly snapshots for three weeks, and monthly snapshots for one month. (This example policy provides coverage for six months of data.)

Daily Change Rate:

10%

Compression Ratio:

65%

Total Space Required for One Month Retention:

Pre-Installation Requirements

Software Requirements

Replay Products (agent install or single-server configuration)
Supported Operating systems: Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2008 SP2, Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 x86/x64, Standard or Enterprise Edition, with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and above, Windows Server 2003 R2 x86/x64, Standard or Enterprise Edition, Vista, Windows XP SP3. Supported Applications: Exchange 2010, Exchange 2007, Exchange CCR/SCC Clusters, Exchange 2003 SP2 and above, Hyper-V R2, Hyper-V SP2, SQL 2008, SQL 2005, SQL 2000 with Microsoft VSS hot fixes Domain Controllers: MOSS 2007, All Exchange Role Servers, BlackBerry Enterprise Servers Microsoft Hot Fixes: All Agents: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940349 For Replay for Exchange Agents on Exchange 2003: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916841
Replay Core (distributed configuration)
Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2008 SP2, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 x86/x64, Standard or Enterprise Edition, with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and above,  Windows Server 2003 R2 x86/x64, Standard or Enterprise Edition, Vista, Windows XP SP3. Note: Replay Core does not support Itanium architectures.  Required Software: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Microsoft Outlook 2003 and above for e-mail message level recoveries SQL 2005 or SQL 2008 for attachability checks when protecting SQL servers
Replay Admin Console
Supported Operating systems: Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2008 SP2, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 x86/x64, Standard or Enterprise Edition, with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and above,  Windows Server 2003 R2 x86/x64, Standard or Enterprise Edition, Vista. Required Software: Microsoft Outlook 2003 for e-mail message level recovery Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
Replay Boot CD Builder
Supported Operating systems: Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2008 SP2, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 x86/x64, Standard or Enterprise Edition, with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and above,  Windows Server 2003 R2 x86/x64, Standard or Enterprise Edition, Vista. Required Software: None

Replay is distributed via the web and may be downloaded after registering at www.appassure.com.

Security Requirements

The account used to install and execute the Replay Core service can be a local administrator account or a domain account that has administrator privileges on the server. If you are protecting servers across domains, you have 2 options:

• Use an account that belongs to the same domain as the server or another domain with a trust relationship between domains
• Use pass-through authentication

The Replay Core service does not require domain administrator privileges, only a domain user account with local administrator privileges.

If you are protecting Exchange workloads, the Replay Agent service must run under an Exchange administrator account, which must also have local administrative privileges on the Exchange server.

It is recommended that the service account is not a domain administrator account or administrator account. The account should be an Exchange administrator for the Replay Agent and should have local administrative privileges for both the Replay Agent service and Replay Core service.

If the credentials are invalid, the Replay Agent and Replay Core services will not be able to authenticate.

For proper e-mail restore operation (e-mail restore using MailRetriever), the account used to launch MailRetriever must have full control permission granted on the database you will be performing restores to, including “send as” and “receive as” permissions.

Note: You can install Replay using a local administrator account. However, when protecting application servers, many tasks require domain user privileges. In this case, we recommend installing Replay using a domain account that is a member of the domain administrators group.

Network Requirements

The Replay Core may be deployed on a physical server or virtual machine either in a single server or distributed configuration. For local configurations, GigE networks are recommended. For WAN configurations when using Replay Replication, any type of link is supported, but replication performance is highly dependent on the quality of the link and the amount of data being transferred.

Distributed Cores Running on Physical Hardware

For distributed Replay Cores that support large transactional application servers, AppAssure recommends the following minimum hardware requirements.

Component	Reccomendation
Platform	64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003
Processor	3 GHz or multi-core 2 GHz (or greater)
RAM	8 GB or more
Network	GigE NIC
Storage	Approximately 1.2x the size of the protected volumes. For a customized storage calculator, please contact your AppAssure account executive.

Single Message Recovery Requirements

Single Message Recovery for Exchange (Message Level Recovery)

Supported Platforms: x86/x64. On an x64 platform, both 32- and 64-bit versions will be installed, on x86 platforms, only the 32-bit version will be installed. Operating Systems: Windows 2003 Server SP2, Windows Server 2008 or Windows XP SP2. Supported Exchange Environments: Exchange 2010, Exchange 2007, Exchange 2003 SP2. Required Software: .NET Framework v2.0 (x86 and x64); .NET 2.0 x64 Open File Dialog Hot-fix from Microsoft for x64 installations; Outlook 2003 or later. Note:The profile used by Replay for restores should not have the Outlook Cached Exchange Mode option enabled. Replay for Exchange should not be installed directly on the Microsoft Exchange server. You will need an account associated with an Outlook profile that has Full Control permissions to manage the Exchange data stores used for performing restores, including Send As and Receive As permissions.

Exchange Cluster Deployment Requirements

Replay 4 should be installed on each node in the (SCC) cluster. It is best practice to failover all of the shared resources to another cluster node before installing the Replay Agent. This approach will ensure application serviceability during the installation procedure. Upon completion of the installation, the Exchange server must be rebooted.

An RRC bootable image should be created for the cluster. If all of the nodes use identical hardware, only one ISO is required and should be burned to a CD.

Exchange 2010 Deployment Requirements

Replay is an Exchange-aware application that supports the VSS writer for Exchange 2010. For single server implementations, Replay protects the active databases. For DAG implementations, passive mailbox database copies can be protected using Replay reducing the performance impact on active databases.

After performing a restore of a volume containing Exchange 2010 databases in a DAG configuration, you may have to activate a copy of a database ( if the database was previously active on this node) or perform a synchronization ( if the database was a copy).

Using Replay on Exchange Mailbox Role Servers

If a server is not a member of a DAG, the active databases are protected. Replay will protect all of the volumes including the system volume, the database volumes and log volumes. Full system recoveries, volume and database recoveries are supported. Mailbox database and volume rollbacks to Exchange 2010 DAG clusters require some manual steps to complete successfully.  See the rollback and restore sections below for more details.

Using Replay on Database Availability Group Members

If a server hosting the data being backed up is a member of a database availability group (DAG) and hosts both active and passive database copies, the best practice is to protect the volumes that contain passive copies of the databases. This means that passive copies should be placed on volumes that don’t contain active copies. You need to configure Replay to protect the volumes that contain the passive copies only. In the example below, protect the D volume on DAG member 1, F volume on DAG member 2 and the E volume on DAG member 3. Of course, the system volume should be protected along will all volumes on the CAS servers. Full member node recoveries and passive volumes and database restores are supported.

 

Necessary updated firmware and drivers

Updated drivers and firmware for both the Replay Core and protected servers must be installed prior to implementing Replay. This is especially important if using Broadcom network cards and the Windows Scalability Networking Pack. These latest drivers and SNP hotfixes are mandatory.

SAN

Replay 4 supports the iSCSI protocol and DAS (direct attached storage), but not NAS (network attached storage). When using SAN-based VSS snaps, AppAssure recommends setting up a backup window when implementing Replay.

Obtaining Assistance or Support

Contacting the AppAssure Support Center by Telephone

So that we may provide you with the highest level of customer service possible, please follow the steps below when contacting the AppAssure Support Center via telephone:

• If you have a question about how to use an AppAssure product, please first visit the AppAssure Knowledge Base (kb.AppAssure.com) for an answer to your question before calling. We will then be happy to further explain any details not covered by the product documentation.
• If you are experiencing a product issue, please use the ‘Submit a Ticket’ option to report the issue you are experiencing. We will review your ticket as soon as possible.

Upon completing the above steps, please dial +1 (703) 480-0100 for the AppAssure Support Center. The following options will be available to you, based upon the support plan that your organization has purchased:

E-mail Support

Our e-mail support resources are available to all users of AppAssure products. Just send us an e-mail with a short description of your inquiry and your full contact information and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. You should receive an automated reply with a ticket reference code as your receipt.

Phone Support

Customers with the pCare support plan should feel free to contact our support department at any time for product support and general questions.

We offer phone support between the hours of 8AM to 8PM Eastern Time. We strive to return any voice messages within two hours. The Technical Support direct number is +1 703-480-0100.

For Severity 1 outages impacting production Replay and protected servers, please call 703-715-1260 and leave a voice message. Your call will be returned within four hours. For all other types of issues, you may call our main support number, 703-480-0100. You will be prompted to leave a message, and your call will be returned at the start of the next business day.

CHAPTER THREE:INSTALLING & CONFIGURING REPLAY

This chapter contains the procedures for a basic Replay installation. If you are upgrading from previous versions of Replay, please contact customer support regarding your recovery points before beginning the upgrade.

Preparing for Installation

Before installing Replay, you will need to need to do the following:

• Create a Replay service account
• Add the Replay service account to the local administrators group on the Replay Core and the protected server
• Assign Local Service Rights to the Replay service account
• Additionally, if you are protecting Exchange 2003, you will also need to do the following:
• Assign an Exchange administer role
• Grant the appropriate permissions at the server level for each MS Exchange server
• Grant appropriate permissions to the mailbox store(s).

These tasks are described below.

Creating the Replay Service Account

To create the Replay service account on the Active Directory domain controller server, do the following:

1. Log onto your Domain controller / Exchange 2007 server.



Figure 1. Manage You Server Window

2. From the Windows Administrator Tools area (Figure 1), double click the Active Directory Users and Computers icon (See Figure 2).



Figure 2. Administrative Tools Window

3. Click the domain name, and then expand the contents. Right-click Users, select New, and select User.



Figure 3. Active Directory Users and Computers Window.

In the figure above, the domain name that has been expanded is techwriter.local. When selected, the New Object – User window is displayed.



Figure 4. New Object – User Window

4. In the New Object – User dialog, enter the following:
• First Name:Replay
• Last Name: Service
• User Logon Name: ReplayAdmin
5. Click Next. The New Object – User window is displayed .



Figure 5. New Object User

6. Specify a new password, confirm the new password, and then select the Password Never Expires checkbox.
7. Click Next. An Active Directory message is displayed.



Figure 6. Active Directory Message

8. Click OK. An information confirmation dialog appears. Review the information you specified and then click Finish if the information is correct. (If the information is incorrect, click Back to return to the previous window, make any necessary corrections, and then click Finish.)



Figure 7. New Object- User Confirmation

Adding the Replay service account to local administrators group

To add the Replay service account to the local administrators group on Replay and the protected server, do the following:

1. From the Windows Administrative Tools snap-in, click Computer Management.
2. In the console tree, expand the Local Users and Groups node.
3. Click Groups.
4. Right-click the Administrators group, and select Add to Group.
5. Click Add.
6. Click Locations.
7. Select the domain with the users and computers you want to add.
8. Click OK.
9. To validate the user or group names added, click Check Names.

Assigning Local Server Rights to the Replay Service Account

Each system hosting a component of the Replay Core must have its corresponding permissions configured for the Replay service account that will be used during the installation of the component.

To assign local server rights to the Replay service account, do the following:

1. From Windows Administrative Tools snap-in, click Local Security Policy.
2. Enable the following rights for the user account:
   • Allow Log On Locally
   • Log on as a service

Delegating Administrative Permissions to the Replay Service Account’s ReplayAdmin Role in MS Exchange 2003

To delegate administrative permissions to the Replay service account‘s ReplayAdmin role in MS Exchange 2003, you will use the Exchange Administration Delegation Wizard.

To delegate administrative permissions, do the following:

1. Launch the MS Exchange System Manager utility.
2. Right-click the organization or the administrative group to which you want to delegate administrative permissions.
3. Click Delegate Control.
4. Click Next.
5. In the Users or Groups prompt, click Add.
6. In the Delegate Control prompt, click Browse.
7. In the Select Users, Computers, or Group prompt, select the appropriate location in the Look in Box.
8. Select the name ReplayAdmin.
9. Click OK.
10. In the Delegate Control prompt, select the Role option.
11. Click Exchange Administrator role for the ReplayAdmin account.
12. Click OK. The user or the group that you added appears in the Users and Groups list.
13. Click Next.
14. Click Finish.

Granting Server Level Permissions for MS Exchange 2003 Servers

To grant server level permissions for Exchange 2003 servers, do the following:

1. Open the Exchange System Manager.
2. Right-click the first Exchange Server administrative group name.
3. Expand the Servers group.
4. Right-click on the Exchange Server instance and select Properties.
5. Click Security.
6. In the top pane, select the Replay service account.
7. In the bottom pane, set the permissions on the following options to Allow:
   • Send As
   • Receive As
   • Administer Information Store
8. Repeat steps 2 through 7 for each Exchange Server.

Granting Permissions to Exchange 2003 Mailbox Store(s)

To grant permissions to Exchange 2003 Mailbox store(s), do the following:

1. Open the Exchange System Manager.
2. Right-click the first Exchange administrative group name.
3. Expand the Servers group.
4. Expand the first mailbox store group.
5. Right-click the first mailbox store and select Properties.
6. Click Security.
7. In the top pane, select the Replay service account.
8. In the bottom pane, set the permissions on the following options to Allow:
   • Send As
   • Receive As
   • Administer Information Store
9. Repeat steps 2 through 8 for each mailbox store on each Exchange Server.

Assigning the Exchange Administrator Role in MS Exchange 2007

To assign administrative permissions to the Replay Service account, you will use the Exchange Management Shell tool. To assign administrative permissions to the Replay Service account, do the following:

1. Launch the Windows Exchange Management Shell tool from the Exchange program group.
2. At the prompt, specify, on a single line, enter the following text:

   get-mailboxserver Exchange2007ServerName | add-adpermission –user <ReplayAdmin> -accessrights GenericRead, GenericWrite –extendedrights Send-As, Receive-As, ms-Exch-Store-Admin

   Replace variables in bold with your specific values.

   Note: The variable “Exchange2007ServerName” corresponds to the name of your MS Exchange 2007 Server. The variable <ReplayAdmin> corresponds to the name of the Replay service account.

3. Press [Enter] on your keyboard. You are now ready to set the permissions. To set the permissions, specify, on a single line, the following text:

   Get-mailboxserver Exchange2007 | get-ADpermission –user ReplayAdmin | Format-List

4. Press [Enter] on your keyboard, and then close the Windows Exchange Management Shell tool.

Installing REPLAY 4

To begin the installation of Replay 4, run the self-extracting download executable. The installation kit contains the Replay Agent and Replay Core modules for 64-bit and 32-bit platforms. The Replay splash screen will appear.

Figure 8 . Replay 4 Installation Splash Screen

 

Note that Replay 4 consists of the following components:

Replay Cores – Cores process backups, validates application integrity, compresses and deduplicates snapshots and replicates them over the WAN to a remote disaster recovery site. Cores can be local to the server being protected or distributed throughout the network enabling a flexible and scalable backup and disaster recovery configuration.

Replay Agents – Agents are installed on each of the protected servers or on Hyper-V hosts. It is responsible for capturing block-level changes on the server and sending them a Relay Core. A core can manage 1 to many agents. It also handles restores and server rollbacks.

Replay Admin Console – An enterprise console that centrally manages the Replay 4 environment.

Boot CD Builder – The Boot CD Builder (BCB) is a bootable environment that is used to rollback the system drive or the entire server to the original location or to a new location. The BCB is created by building a bootable ISO image that is tailored to the machine that it is supporting; i.e., it contains the correct network and mass storage drivers. The RRC can be booted from a CD or optionally as a boot entry in the boot.ini file.

Install the Replay Core

When installing Replay 4 in a distributed environment, install the Replay Core first on any Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows 7, Vista or Hyper-V host. The core is supported on virtual and physical environments.

To install the Replay Core, do the following:

1. Click the “Install Replay Core” button. If there are any prerequisites required for the Replay Core installation, click Install on each prerequisite that requires it. Once complete, click Next. The License Agreement window will be displayed .

   

   Figure 9. License Agreement Window

2. Select I accept the terms in the license agreement.  If you do not, you will not be able to proceed with the install.  Once you have selected the correct button, click Next.
3. Select who can use the application. The default is anyone who uses this computer.
4. Click the button for “Browse for Key” and browse to the location where you staged your license key.  We suggest you select the option for installing the application for anyone who uses this computer, unless your company’s security policy prevents this. Once you’ve loaded your license key and selected the correct user option, click Next.
5. In the next window, confirm that your license key information is correct and click Next. The Destination Folder window is displayed .

   

   Figure 10. Destination Folder Window

6. You can accept the default installation location for Replay 4, or choose a different location.  We suggest you accept the default location.  Click the Next button. The Setup Type dialog window is displayed.

   

   Figure 11. Setup Type Window

7. Leave the Setup Type as Default and click Next, or select Custom if you wish to choose your setup options. The default option will install the Replay Core and Replay Admin Console components.  Select Custom to select which component to install. After you click Next, the Logon Information dialog window is displayed.

   

   Figure 12. Logon Information Window

8. Specify the username and password of the user account that Replay will utilize in the User name field.  The account may be in a user name or DOMAIN\user name form. Type in the user names’ password in the window below User name, and click Next.  You can click Browse to navigate to the correct domain and username if desired.
9. Click Next once you have entered the correct username and password. The Ready to Install the Program window will be displayed.

   Note: The user must be a member of the local domain admin group. For SQL Server, the user for the service must also have the sysadmin role in order to perform attachability checks.

   

   Figure 13. Ready to Install the Program Window

10. Click Install to begin the installation. The installation may take several minutes.

Install the Replay Agent Using the Installer

The Replay Agent is a small agent that resides on the protected server. The protected server must be rebooted after an agent installation. If this is a production application server, please ensure you schedule your agent installation during a timeframe where you can safely reboot your protected server.

Figure 14. Replay 4 Splash Screen

To install the Replay Agent, do the following:

1. Click Install Replay Agent. If there are any prerequisites that need to be installed, a prerequisites screen will be presented. Click Install on each prerequisite that needs to be installed and ensure the installation successfully completes.  Once done, click Next.

   

   Figure 15. Replay Agent Installation Welcome Window

2. At the Welcome screen (Figure 15), click the Next button. The License Agreement window will be displayed .

   

3. Click the “I accept the terms in the license agreement” radio button. If you do not, you will not be able to proceed with the install. Once you have selected the correct button, click Next. The Choose How to Install Application window will be displayed

   

   Figure 17. Choose how to install application Window

4. Select who can access the application. The default is anyone who uses this computer.
5. Click the button for “Browse for Key” and browse to the location where you staged your license key. We suggest you select the option for installing the application for anyone who uses this computer, unless your company‘s security policy prevents this. Once you‘ve loaded your license key and selected the correct user option, click Next. Confirm that your license key information is correct, and click Next. The Destination Folder dialog window will be displayed.

   

   Figure 18. Destination Folder Window

6. You can accept the default installation location for Replay 4, or choose a different location. We suggest you accept the default location. Click Next once you have specified the installation location. The Logon Information window will be displayed .

   

   Figure 19. Logon Information Window

7. Specify the user name and password of the user account that Replay will utilize in the User name window. This account can be in a user name or DOMAIN\user name form. Then type the user‘s password. You can click Browse to navigate to the correct domain and username if desired. Click Next once you have entered the correct username and password. The VMware Driver Support dialog window will be displayed.

   

   Figure 20. VMware Driver Support Window

8. IMPORTANT: if you plan on utilizing Export to ESX or Virtual Machine, select the checkbox to Install VMWare Drivers, and then click Next. The Ready to Install the Program window will be displayed (see Figure 21).

   

   Figure 21.Ready to Install the Program Window

9. Click Install to begin the installation. The installation may take several minutes.

   

   Figure 22. Replay Wizard Completed Window

10. Click Finish when the install wizard completes. Click Yes when prompted to restart your system, or click No if you plan to restart later. AppAssure recommends you click Yes to restart your system at this time.

    

    Figure 23. Restart Prompt

Install the Replay Agent from the Replay Core

There are two ways to install the Replay Agent on a machine. The first is to copy the Replay install software on the machine itself where it is to be installed. Sometimes, it is easier to remotely install on a machine without first copying the software. This second method can be done by “pushing” the agent install to the machine. This section explains how to do that.

Before you can push the Agent install to a remote machine, that machine must be configured in a way to accept a remote install. The prerequisites are described below.

If both computers are in the same domain:

This would be to perform a Push Agent installation from computer A to computer B.

User permissions

• Computer A – User should be in local “Administrators” group.
• Computer B – User should be in local “Administrators” group

Firewall settings

• Computer A – Can be on
• Computer B – Should be enabled “Remote Administration” rule. Please see How to enable Remote Administration.

UAC

• Computer A – Can be on
• Computer B – Can be on

If one machine is in a workgroup and the other machine is in a domain:

This would be to perform installation from computer A to computer B. Computer A in a domain, computer B in work group.

User permissions:

• Computer A – User should be in local “Administrators” group.
• Computer B – User should be in local “Administrators” group

Firewall settings:

• Computer A – Can be on
• Computer B – Should be enabled “Remote Administration” rule. Please see How to enable Remote Administration.

UAC:

• Computer A – Can be on
• Computer B – Should be off.

How to enable “Remote Administration”

Windows 2008/Vista

Go to Control Panel. Open Windows Firewall. Click change settings. Go to Exceptions tab. Check Remote Administration.

Figure 24 – Remote Administration

Windows 2008 R2/Windows 7

Local Policy

• Click Start, click Run, type gpedit.msc, and then click OK.
• Under Console Root, expand Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, expand Network, expand Network Connections, expand Windows Firewall, and then click Domain Profile.
• Right-click Windows Firewall: Allow remote administration exception, and then click "Properties".
• Click Enabled, and then click OK.

Domain Policy

• Create new GPO in active directory or use current linked GPO, and edit it.
• Under Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, expand Network, expand Network Connections, expand Windows Firewall, and then click Domain Profile.
• Right-click Windows Firewall: Allow remote administration exception, and then click Properties.
• Click Enabled, and then click OK.

Figure 25- Domain Profile

How to push the Replay Agent install to a machine

This section will explain how to install Replay agent on a machine remotely.

• Before you begin to push an agent install from the core section prerequisites have been met.
• From the Replay Admin Console, right-click on the Core name in the tree and select Push Agent.

Figure 26 – Push Agent

This will bring up a window to choose the machine where to remotely install the agent. The machine name or IP address can be typed into the Choose machine box or selected from the Available Machine(s) list. To select a machine from the Available Machines list, click on the machine name and select the right arrow. To add a machine to the Selected Machine(s) list that is not on the Available Machine(s) list, type the name or IP address in the Choose machine: box and then click the right arrow button to the right of the box.

Figure 27 – Push Agent Wizard – Page 1

The machine will then move from the Available Machine(s) list to the Selected Machine(s) list.

Push Agent Wizard – Page 1

When you are done selecting machines, click the Next button. The two machines from the Selected Machine(s) window in the previous wizard page will be in the list of Target Machines.

In order to install the agent on a remote machine, credentials for the machine will be supplied on this page for that machine. There are two options:

• Set Default Credentials for all machines on the list – these credentials will be used for all of the machines selected
• Modify the credentials for each machine

To set default credentials, click the "Set Default Credentials" button. Enter the default credentials and then click Ok.

To set credentials for each machine, click the Modify link in the Change Credentials column next to each machine. The dialog will display with ‘Use default user credentials’ checked and boxes unavailable for typing.

Click this box to uncheck it and enter specific credentials. Click Ok. If the machine is not part of a domain, enter the machine name in the domain text box.

Figure 28 – Push Agent Wizard – Page 3

Click the Validate link for each machine, or the Validate All link at the end of the machine list. If the credentials are validated, then a green ball with check will display. If validation fails, the ball will be red. To get an explain of the validation failure, put the mouse pointer on the Validate link.

Figure 29- Push Agent Wizard – Page 4

Click the Next button. The machines on the list that passed validation will be brought forward in the wizard for install.

Browse to the Replay license file

Check whether the machine where the agent is being installed should be booted automatically. Check this box to have it reboot. If the machine is to be rebooted manually at another time, then do not check this box.

Click the Next button.

Figure 30 – Push Agent Wizard – Page 5

The next wizard page will show all of the machines that are ready to have the Replay Agent installed.

Click the Install link for each machine individually, or if there are multiple agents to install, click the Install All button.

Figure 31 -Push Agent Wizard – Page 6

Once you click the Install link, you will see messages in the Progress column until it is complete, at which point you will see the version of the agent installed or if it was upgraded, then it will show that as the message.

Figure 32 – Push Agent Wizard – Page 7

Click the Show summary link and it will display details about machine the agent was installed on, the time to install, status and what version was installed. If will also log if the machine was rebooted, and if not, that it is required.

At this point, click the Finish button.

If they have been booted, the agents with Replay installed successfully are ready to be protected. To do this return to the Admin Console, click on the core name in the tree and then click Protect…

Install the Boot CD Builder

The Boot CD Builder (BCB) is a bootable environment that is used to rollback the system drive or the entire server to the original location or to a new location. The BCB is created by building a bootable ISO image that is tailored to the machine that it is supporting, i.e. contains the correct network and mass storage drivers. The RRC can be booted from a CD or optionally as a boot entry in the boot.ini file.

Once you completed the installation of the Agent and after the agent is rebooted, we strongly recommend you install the Replay Recovery Builder tool.

To install the Boot CD Builder, do the following:

1. Launch the Replay EXE file again, and click the Download Boot CD Builder icon on the main Install page. From there, click the link to download the Boot CD Builder install.

   

   Figure 33. Replay Boot CD Builder Splash Screen

2. Click the “Install Boot CD Builder” button. A Welcome window will be displayed .

   

   Figure 34. Boot CD Builder Welcome Window

3. Click Next to continue. A License Agreement window will be displayed .

   

   Figure 35. License Agreement Window

4. Select I accept the terms in the license agreement. If you do not, you will not be able to proceed with the install. Once you have selected the correct button, click Next. An Installation Type window will be displayed.

   

   Figure 36. Installation Type Window

5. AppAssure suggests that you select the option for installing the application for anyone who uses this computer, unless your company‘s security policy prevents this. Once you‘ve selected the correct user option, click Next. The Destination Folder window will be displayed .

   

   Figure 37.Destination Folder Window

6. Select the Destination folder, and then click Next. The Ready to Install the Program window will be displayed .

   

   Figure 38.Ready to Install the Program Window

7. A summary of what is to be installed is described on this page. Click the Install button. The Boot CD Builder program will be installed.

   

   Figure 39. Wizard Completed Window

8. Click the Finish button when the install completes. You do not need to reboot your protected server once this step has completed. This completes the Replay 4 installation process. Please consult the AppAssure knowledgebase (kb.AppAssure.com) for further instructions on how to add your protected servers to your Replay 4 environment.

CHAPTER FOUR: HOW TO…

This section contains descriptions for the most common management tasks.

How to Connect to a Replay Core

To connect to a Replay Core, do the following:

1. Launch the Replay Administrative Console (start menu).
2. Expand the “Cores” node in the tree and select desired core to manage.
3. Enter the Core Name and click Connect.

NOTE: Additional Replay Cores are added by right clicking on the “Cores” node and selecting Connect to Replay Core .

Figure 40. Connect to Replay Core

How to Protect a Domain Controller

To protect a domain controller, do the following:

1. From the Replay Core Panel, click Protect…
2. Specify a server name of the server to protect and select a location to store the recovery points. The location can be a local disk to the Replay Core or a Windows Share. Any NAS configuration that supports Windows sharing is supported by Replay. This includes enterprise NAS solutions such as NetApp, EMC and Data Domain appliances.

   

   Figure 41. Welcome to the Protection Wizard Window

3. Select Next. The general settings tab will be displayed and is used to configure how Replay protects a specified server or desktop.

   

   Figure 42. Select Protection Settings Window: General Settings Tab

4. Make the following selections:
   • For Volume Protection, select Protect all of the fixed volumes on the server or Advanced: Let me decide which volumes to protect.
   • For Start Protection, select Start protection immediately or Start protection at a future date/time.

   NOTE:

   • Upon completion of the synchronization (base image) a recovery point is created.
   • The default snapshot interval is 1 hour when in a distributed core configuration and 6 hours when in a single server configuration.
5. Click Finish.

How to Protect a SQL Server

To protect a SQL Server, do the following:

1. From the Replay Core Panel, click Protect…

   

   Figure 43. Welcome to the Protection Wizard Window: How to Protect a SQL Server

2. Specify a server name of the SQL server to protect.
3. Select a location to store the recovery points. The location can be a local disk to the Replay Core or a Windows Share. Any NAS configuration that supports Windows sharing is supported by Replay. This includes enterprise NAS solutions such as NetApp, EMC and Data Domain appliances.
4. Select Next. The protection settings tab is displayed.
5. Select Next. The Select SQL Settings tab is displayed.
6. Click Finish.

How to Protect a Windows Server or a Desktop

To protect a Windows Server or Desktop, do the following:

1. From the Replay Core Panel, click Protect… 
2. Specify a name of the server or desktop to protect.  
3. Select a location to store the recovery points. The location can be a local disk to the Replay Core or a Windows Share.  Any NAS configuration that supports Windows sharing is supported by Replay.  This includes enterprise NAS solutions such as NetApp, EMC and Data Domain appliances.  
4. Select Next, the general settings tab will be displayed. 
5. Click Finish.

 

Figure 44. Welcome to the Protection Wizard: How to Protect a Windows Server or Desktop

How to Protect an Exchange Server

To protect an Exchange Server, do the following:

1. From the Replay Core Panel, click Protect…

   

   Figure 45. Welcome to the Protection Wizard Window: How to Protect an Exchange Server

2. Specify a server name of the server to protect and select a location to store the recovery points. The location can be a local disk to the Replay Core or a Windows Share.  Any NAS configuration that supports Windows sharing is supported by Replay.  This includes enterprise NAS solutions such as NetApp, EMC and Data Domain appliances  
3. Select Next. The general settings tab will be displayed.  
4. Select Next. The Exchange settings tab will be displayed.
5. Click Finish.

Exchange Settings

The Exchange settings tab is used to configure how Replay protects an Exchange server. These settings are available with Replay for Exchange agent.

Figure 46. Exchange Settings Tab

1. To set Exchange settings, enter the Exchange Store Validation by selecting Validate that the mailbox store is mountable.

Replay attempts to mount the offline data store and roll the logs. If this operation fails, an error is generated and sent to the event log. Additionally, an “X” is placed next to the data store in the recovery point views.

2. To set Exchange Log Truncation, select Perform a detailed integrity check on the mailbox store.

   Replay scans the data store for physical corruption on a page by page basis. If corruption is detected, an error is generated and sent to the event log. Additionally, an “X” is placed next to the data store in the recovery point views.

   

   If the detailed integrity check completes successfully, the logs on the protected Exchange server are truncated. This operation is performed on a scheduled basis, once daily, with a default start time of 12:00am. You may change the start time in the Replay Core Settings dialog.

Tips:

• The Exchange server that you are protecting must have the Replay Agent installed.
• The protected Exchange server should be in the same domain or trusted domain as the server running the Replay Core.
• The Exchange server volume configuration is displayed and the progress of the initial synchronization will be displayed.
• For enterprise environments, it is recommended to run the Replay Core on a separate server.

How to Protect an Exchange Cluster

The cluster configuration for this discussion is illustrated below.

Figure 47. Exchange Cluster Diagram

To protect an Exchange cluster, the first step is to add the cluster nodes one by one to the Administrative console. It is best practice to allow the base images to complete for each volume before adding the other nodes. This will ensure optimal performance of the initial capture. Do the following:

1. Open the Administrative Console and select the Exchange Settings tab.

   

   Figure 48. Administrative Console

   During the initial base image, each disk will be protected, including the shared drives. In the example below the disks are configured as follows:

   

2. Enter the server name for the first cluster node and then configure the first cluster node using the console .

   

   Figure 49. Cluster Node View

3. Upon completion of the base images for the first node, CLUSNODE1, add the second node CLUSNODE2.

   During the initial base image, each disk will be protected, including the shared drives. In the example below the disks are configured as follows:

   

Recovery Points on a Cluster

The Replay Administrative console displays the recovery points on a per node basis, and the display is dependent on the owner of the clustered drives. If cluster ExClus has two nodes, CN1 and CN2, and both CN1 and CN2 have a private C: drive, and ExClus has cluster disks Q:, L:, and M:, snapshots taken on CN1 that include C:,L:,M:,and Q: will also appear under CN2’s recovery points list, however in CN2’s list they will show up as just L:,M:, and Q:, since CN1’s C: drive snapshot has nothing to do with CF2.

Cluster Node Failover

When a cluster node resource is moved to another cluster node, the Replay Administrative Console will reflect the change in the server pane. For example, ClusNode1 owns the clustered disks, and the console reflects this as illustrated below. Notice that ClusNode2 only owns its local disk C.

NOTE: The Exchange cluster node meta-data that Replay 4 uses to display the volume information may not be available for the first several minutes upon failover or reboot. Replay will detect when the cluster meta-data is available, and the information will be reflected in the console.

After moving the shared resources from ClusNode1 to ClusNode2 the console reflects the cluster state.

How to Protect a BlackBerry Enterprise Server

To protect a SQL Server, do the following:

1. From the Replay Core Panel, click Protected Servers.

   

   Figure 50. Protection Wizard Window: How to Protect a Blackberry Enterprise Server

2. Specify a server name of the SQL server to protect.
3. Specify a server name of the server to protect and select a location to store the recovery points. The location can be a local disk to the Replay Core or a Windows Share. Any NAS configuration that supports Windows sharing is supported by Replay. This includes enterprise NAS solutions such as NetApp, EMC and Data Domain appliances
4. Select Next. The protection settings tab is displayed.
5. Select Next. The Select SQL Settings tab is displayed.
6. Click Finish.

How to Create a Virtual Machine

The Create Virtual Machine Wizard is guides you through the process of creating a virtual machine from a Replay recovery point. The wizard will allow you to:

• Select the type of virtual machine to create
• Select volumes to export
• Select virtual machines setting
• Select ESX Host
• Enter an Output folder
• Set Replay to keep a virtual machine updated

These parts of the wizard are described below.

Access the Create Virtual Machine Wizard

1. Open the Create Virtual Machine Wizard. The VM Technology tab will be displayed.

Select Type of Virtual Machine to Create



Figure 51. Virtual Machine Wizard Window: VM Technolgy Tab

2. Select the type of type of virtual machine to create from the following:
   • VMWare Workstation 6.x, VM Server 2.0 – These formats can be run using the free VM Player or VM Server 2.0.
   • ESX 4.0/3.5 and ESXi 4.0/3.5 formats – This format supports ESX and ESXi hosts directly.
   • Directly to ESX – This option will create an ESX formatted virtual machine directly on an ESX 4/3.5 host.
3. Click Next. The Volumes tab will be displayed .

Select Volumes to Export



Figure 52. Virtual Machine Wizard Window: Volumes Tab

To select volumes for export, do the following:

4. Select the volumes to export. If you don’t select the system drive, the virtual machine will not be bootable.
5. Click Next. The Settings tab will be displayed .

Select Virtual Machine Settings



Figure 53. Virtual Machine Wizard Window: Settings Tab

To set virtual machine settings, do the following:

6. Select Automatically set memory size of source machine, or select Set the memory size to: and enter the size (in number of megabytes).
7. Click Next. The Output Folder tab will be displayed .

Enter Output



Figure 54. Virtual Machine Wizard Window: Output Folder Tab

To enter the output folder, do the following:

8. If you selected option 1 or option 2 on the VM Technology tab, then select the output folder for the virtual machine.
9. Click Next. The ESX Server tab will be displayed (see Figure 46).

Select ESX Host



Figure 55. Virtual Machine Wizard Window: ESX Server Tab

If you selected the Direct Export to ESX on the first page of the wizard, then select ESX Server to create the virtual machine. Do the following:

10. Select the VirtualCenter or ESX host HTTPS interface.
11. Select the ESX Host where you want to store the virtual machine.
12. Select the DataSource and Resource pool to store the virtual machine. Please make sure there is enough disk space available.
13. Click Test Connection to ESX Host to test the connection before you proceed. The virtual machines will be created and automatically maintained on the ESX server.

Important Note:

FAILOVER WARNING: WHEN YOU FAILOVER, ENSURE THAT THE ORIGINAL SERVER IS DOWN OR THAT YOU BOOT THE VIRTUAL MACHINE IN HOST-ONLY MODE. THE VIRTUAL MACHINE THAT REPLAY CREATES CONTAINS THE SAME IP ADDRESS AS THE ORIGINAL, SO YOU CAN’T RUN BOTH MACHINES AT THE SAME TIME.

14. Click Next. The Keep Updated window will be displayed .

Keep Virtual Machine Updated



Figure 56. Virtual Machine Wizard Window: Keep Updated Tab

The Keep Virtual Machine Updated allows you to maintain an up to date virtual machine of the protected server.

To enter settings, do the following:

15. Select Keep virtual machine updated with the latest recovery point. This defines the amount of time between virtual machine updates.
16. Enter Start Date/Time settings.
17. Click Finish.

How to Create a Virtual Standby

1. A virtual standby is a virtual clone of the protect agent that is continuously updated as recovery points are generated. Virtual Standbys are a cost effective approach to providing reliable, high availability for servers.
2. To create a virtual standby, select the Virtual Standby hyperlink from the Control Panel (Figure 48) and complete the Create Virtual Machine Wizard.



Figure 57. Control Panel

How to Create a Virtual Standby to VMware vSphere

A virtual standby is a virtual clone of the protect agent that is continuously updated as recovery points are generated. Replay supports the ability to create the virtual machines directly on an ESX server eliminating the time to convert and copy virtual machines in the event of a disaster. Replay inventories the virtual machines into vSphere.

To create a virtual standby to VMware Sphere, select the Virtual Standby hyperlink from the Control Panel (Figure 48) and complete the Create Virtual Machine Wizard.

How to Create a Rescue Image

A rescue image is a recoverable image of a protected machine that can be saved to any type of storage; NAS, USB, removable disks. The rescue image can be recovered directly from the failed machine with the use of a Replay BOOT CD. Rescue images can be continuously updated when recovery points are updated enabling additional protection from a server failure.

To create a Rescue Image, click the Rescue Image hyperlink from the Control Panel (Figure 48) and complete the Rescue Image process.

How to Delete a Protected Server

To delete a protected server, do the following,

1. Select the advanced menu option for the server to remove and click Delete.
2. The following prompt is displayed:



3. Click Yes to delete all recovery points and delete the server from the Replay Admin console. This action will stop protection of the server being removed. Click No to cancel the delete operation.

How to Setup Replication

Use the Replication tab to manage replication sources and replication targets for the managed Replay Core. A Replay Core can replicate its’ protected machines to remote Replay Core (replication source pane) and it can accept protected machines from remote Replay Cores (replication target pane). In each case the protected machines are listed below with their respective replication status.

Figure 58 – Replication Pane

Replication Properties

Click on the Properties button, check the box for Enable Replication and select Choose… to select a Replication Target.

Figure 59 – Replication Properties Dialog

Enter the host name of the replication target core. The default port is 8005. Select Windows Authentication to use the credentials of the service accounts to authenticate or Select Enter Credentials to supply the credentials for the replication process. Click Connect to connect to the replication target core. Once the connection is established, choose the Replication Target repository location. Make sure to specify the correct port number, the default is 8005.

Figure 60 – Select Replication Target Dialog

When setting up replication between two Replay Cores, clicking the ‘Connect’ button to connect to the target Core may fail with "Unable to establish connection. Please make sure the Replay Core you are trying to reach is available." There are steps to take to troubleshoot the connection.

Figure 61 – Connection Notice Dialog

If connection is successful, click on the Select button and pick a repository drive and click OK. Make sure that the repository volume has sufficient disk space to store the recovery points. You can look at the used space on the repository volumes to determine the amount of disk space needed. It is best practice to allocate the same amount of disk space on the replication target core as exists on the replication source core.

Figure 62 – Select Target Core Dialog

Select “Only replicate the most recent recovery point chain” to move the most recent recovery point chain only. Click Save to save the settings.

Recovery Point Copy and Consume

The copying feature is useful when the WAN link is insufficient to move large amounts of data. It copies the existing recovery points including the base image from the replication source to a local removable device. Once the copy is complete, the removable drive can be inserted in the replication target and consumed. The replication target is seeded with the recovery points from the replication source including the base image. The replication will resume by replicating the new recovery points.

Figure 63 – Replication Copy Wizard

Replication Schedule

Replication can be scheduled to run during certain times during the day. Any time outside of this window, replication will be suspended. The schedule is specified as a start and stop time for weekdays, and a start and stop time for weekends.

Users can, on an ad-hoc basis, pause a currently running replication for an hour, a day, or until resumed

Users can configure VM export, recovery point export, or continuous rollback on the replication target for recovery points replicated from the replication source.

Figure 64- Replication Schedule Dialog

Monitoring Replication

Replication status is provided in the replication tab and in the event log. The replication tab displays the last event, the last replication time, the transfer rates and amount of data transferred.

Figure 65- Monitor Replication Pane

The event log contains the detailed replication events.

Figure 66 – Replication Events

How to Mount Recovery Points

To mount a recovery point, do the following:

1. Select a recovery point from the Recovery Point Pane and right click Mount. The Mount on Local Machine Dialog (Figure 49) will be displayed.
2. Select the mount point options. The default is to mount the recovery point to a directory on the C: drive. The mount will not consume disk space.
3. Select the writeability options. The default is a read-only view.
4. Select the network share options if you would like to share out the view to others.
5. Click OK.



Figure 67. Mount on Local Machine Window

How to Browse Recovery Points

To browse recovery points, do the following:

1. Select a recovery point from the recovery point pane and right click Mount. The Mount on Local Machine Dialog (Figure 49) will be displayed.
2. Select the mount point options. The default is to mount the recovery point to a directory on the C: drive. The mount will not consume disk space.
3. Select the writeability options. The default is a read-only view.
4. Select the network share options if you would like to share the view to others.
5. Click OK.

How to Open Offline Mailbox Stores

Opening an offline mailbox store is as simple as selecting the recovery point that contains the mailbox store you want to manage and clicking Browse. The browse command is available from two locations: the latest recovery point hyperlink and the recovery point pane.

To open a mailbox store from the latest recovery point, do the following:

1. Access the latest recovery point using the Last Recovery Point hyperlink or the recovery point pane .



Figure 68. Last Recovery Point Hyperlink

2. From the Recovery Point Pane, open a mailbox store.



Figure 69. Recovery Point Pane

How to Restore a Volume and Storage Group

To Restore a Volume and Storage Group, do the following:

1. Select the recovery point that you want to rollback from the Recovery Point pane (Figure 50) or Last Recovery Point hyperlink.
2. Right click and select Restore from the volume or storage group that you restore, the Restoring Rollback Wizard will be displayed.
3. Select one of the following options:
   • Use the Restore to server (Original Source) option to rollback the volumes or mailbox stores to the original location
   • Use the Restore to a Replay Recovery Console (RRC) instance option to rollback the system disk to the original location or the entire server to a different machine. Refer to rolling back a server for more details
   • Use Restore to Alternate Exchange Server option to rollback the selected volumes or mailbox stores to an alternate server. Note: The alternate server must be a server managed by the Replay Core performing the rollback.

   

   Figure 70. Restoring… Window

   • Use the rollback entire disks option to rollback the entire volume and storage groups. In this case, the volumes are dismounted and mounted against the recovery point immediately. Additionally, if the volume contains a storage group, the storage group is dismounted and mounted once the rollback is initiated.
4. Click Start to begin the rollback. The Rolling Back… window will be displayed (Figure 53).



Figure 71. Rolling Back… Window

5. Confirm the rollback and click Next. The confirmation page consists of the storage groups and mailbox stores that will be dismounted and automatically mounted when the rollback is initiated. The dismount/mount operation is quick because Replay utilizes its Replay Live capability to provide real-time restores.

How to Rollback Mailbox Stores

To roll back a mailbox store, do the following:

1. Right click and select Restore from the volume that contains the mailbox store to recover. The Rollback Wizard will be displayed (Figure 54).

   Select one of the following options:

   • Use the Restore to [server name] (Original Source) option to rollback the volumes or mailbox stores to the original location.
   • Use the Restore to Alternate Exchange Server option to rollback the selected volumes or mailbox stores to an alternate server. Note: The alternate server must be a server managed by the Replay Core performing the rollback.

   

   Figure 72. Restoring… Window (Rollback Mailbox Stores)

   • Select the Restore Individual Message Stores option to rollback the entire contents of specified mailbox stores.



Figure 73. Restoring Window (Rollback Mailbox Stores Confirmation Page)

The confirmation page consists of the mailbox stores that will be dismounted and automatically mounted when the rollback operation is complete. The mailbox stores will be dismounted, restored, and automatically mounted upon the completion of the restore. The logs are rolled on the Replay Core and mailbox store (EDB, STM) files are copied back to the Exchange server and mounted. If newer logs exist on the Exchange server at the time of the recovery, you can use ESEUTIL to roll the logs forward providing near real-time recovery.

2. Click Start to begin the Restore.

Rolling Back Non-System Volumes Containing Exchange 2010 Mailbox Databases

To perform a roll back on a volume containing Exchange 2010 data on a DAG failover cluster node, you must take the following steps:

• Ensure that whichever volumes you are rolling back to currently have only active mailbox databases or replicated mailbox database that are in the suspended state. 
• Ensure the active mailbox databases corresponding replicated mailbox databases are in the suspended state.
• Roll back the volumes using the Replay Admin Console
• Wait for successful completion of the rollback.
• In EMC mount the restored mailbox database.
• In EMC, on the mailbox database with the Suspended status, perform Update Database Copy operation on the suspended copy. NB: when asked about clearing existing logs or checkpoints always answer yes.

Restoring Exchange 2010 Mailbox Databases

To perform a restore of an individual mailbox database to an Exchange 2010 DAG failover cluster, the automatic rollback feature in Replay is not available. Instead, the following manual steps must be taken:

• Stop all Replay snapshots until resumed
• In the Exchange Management Console (EMC) suspend mailbox database copy for the active mdbs you are about to restore
• In EMC, dismount the active mailbox databases you are about to restore
• In Replay Admin Console, mount as read-only the recovery point that contains the mailbox database you are about to restore
• On the active mailbox databases, move or delete ALL files that comprise the mailbox databases you are restoring from their respective directories
• Copy ALL files that comprise mailbox database that you are restoring from the mounted snapshot to their corresponding directories on the ACTIVE DAG cluster node
• In EMC mount the restored mailbox databases.
• In EMC, on the mailbox databases with the Suspended status, perform Update Database Copy operation on the suspended copy. NB: when asked about clearing existing logs or checkpoints always answer yes.

Upon correctly executing these steps the mailbox database will be restored to the active DAG node, servicing clients with a healthy copy in progress.

How to Restore a Directory or File

To restore a directory or file, do the following:

1. Select the recovery point that you want to restore from the Recovery Point pane or the Last Recovery Point link.
2. Right click and select Explore from the volume or storage group that you want to restore. The recovery point is automatically mounted and Windows Explorer will be displayed containing the mounted recovery point.
3. Select the directories and files to restore and copy them to the machine of your choice. Please note that the mounted recovery point is accessible by any Windows utility, including XCOPY.

CAUTION : Upon exiting Explorer, the mounted recovery point is not automatically dismounted. Please use the administrative console and dismount the recovery point manually.

How to Restore a Directory and Files and Preserve Permissions

To Restore a Directory and Files and Preserve Permissions, do the following:

1. Select the recovery point that you want to restore from the Recovery Point pane or the Last Recovery Point link.
2. Right click and select Explore from the volume or storage group that you want to restore (see Figure 56). The recovery point is automatically mounted and Windows Explorer will be displayed containing the mounted recovery point.
3. Select the directories and files to restore and copy them to the machine of your choice. Please note that the mounted recovery point is accessible by any Windows utility, including XCOPY.

Replay offers a Copy Shell Extension that preserves permissions during a copy operation. Use the Explorer “Copy” command to copy files and use the “Paste Permissions” command to copy and preserve permissions.

Note: Upon exiting Explorer, the mounted recovery point is not automatically dismounted. Please use the dismount command from the Replay Cores Mounted Recovery Points tab.



Figure 74. Restoring Directories and File View

How to Restore Mailboxes and Email Messages

To restore Mailboxes and Email Messages, do the following:

1. Select the recovery point that you want to restore from the Recovery Point pane or the Last Recovery Point link.
2. Right click and select Open from the mailbox store that you want to open. Replay for Exchange will launch and the Offline Mailbox Store is opened (see Figure 57).
3. Find the folders, messages, calendar items, tasks, or notes to restore and click on the Restore icon.
4. Complete the Restore Wizard.



Figure 75. Offline Mailbox Restore Window

Restoring a Server from a Replay Core

Before you perform a server restore, the Replay Recovery ISO must be created using the Replay Recovery Console Builder. To create the Replay Recovery ISO, do the following:

1. Boot the Replay Recovery Console .



Figure 76. Replay Recovery Console

2. Enter the credentials of the Replay Core service account when prompted. This account must be a domain account.



Figure 77. Enter Replay Service Credentials Dialog

3. If you need to partition and format the disks on the machine, select the Manage Disks tab and configure the drives.



Figure 78. Mange Disk Partitions

4. Click OK and move back to the Replay Admin Console to complete the server rollback.
5. Click on the recovery point that you want to recovery from, right click and select Rollback. The Rollback Wizard will be displayed (Figure 61).
6. Click Next.



Figure 79. Restoring… Window (Rollback Wizard)

7. Select the Rollback from RRC instance option and select Choose. Enter the IP address displayed in the RRC console and click Check.
8. Click Next.
9. Select the C: volume to restore and select the destination volume in the right column. If there are no destination volumes displayed, please proceed to the disk configuration section to partition the source volumes before a recovery can occur. This step is usually the result of a drive being replaced or a rollback to a new machine.



Figure 80. Rollback Wizard: Restore and Select Destination Volume

10. Click Next.
11. Click Start. A dialog will appear and the progress will be displayed. Upon completion, reboot the server by using the reboot button in the RRC Console. The server will boot into the Windows operating system.

CAUTION: Do not reboot until the rollback is complete. If you reboot before the rollback is complete, the disk will be in an inconsistent state and you will need to perform the rollback again.

How to Back Up a Recovery Point Repository

AppAssure recommends that backup operations be scheduled for off-peak hours to minimize impact of the backup operation on production systems.

First, you need to locate the /TEVOREPOSITORY directories on the Replay Recovery Server for each protected server. To do this:

1. Launch the Replay Recovery Console (RRC).
2. Connect to the Replay Recovery Server containing the recovery point repository that needs to be backed up.
3. In the Protected Servers pane, locate the name of the server containing the recovery point repository to be backed up.
4. Click the Advanced button next to that server name.
5. Select Properties from the options list that appears.
6. Write down the “Repository Volumes” associated with this server.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 for each protected server.
8. After you have located the /TEVOREPOSITORY directory for each protected server:
9. Copy the Replay installation file (.exe) and the license key file (.lic) to the root of each /TEVOREPOSITORY directory you found. This will ensure that the correct extraction facility is available in each backup set.
10. Configure your backup software to include all of the identified /TEVOREPOSITORY directories.
11. Perform a backup operation and check that the /TEVOREPOSITORY directories were included in the backup.

CHAPTER 5: REFERENCE GUIDE

Replay Admin Console

The Replay Admin Console is an enterprise console that centrally manages the Replay 4 environment. The console is a hierarchy centered around Replay Cores.

The console is divided into multiple panes that logically separate the functional components. The left pane is a tree containing the list of distributed cores and the servers they are protecting. The right pane is the detail pane that provides the details depending on the node that is selected.

Cores

The Cores tree node lists all of the cores connected to the Replay Admin Console. Right click on the Cores
node and select Connect to Replay Core. For Cores already connected to the console, double click on the Core to drill down.

Connect to a Replay Core

To connect to a Replay core, do the following:

1. Launch the Replay Admin Console (start menu).
2. Expand the Replay Core node in the tree and select the protected servers that are listed in the tree.
3. Connect to additional Replay Cores as follows: Right click on the Cores
   node and select Connect to Replay Core. The Connect to Replay Core Dialog will be displayed (Figure 63).



Figure 81. Connect to Replay Core Dialog

Connected Replay Core Commands

The following are the available commands:

Disconnect

Use Disconnect to disconnect the Replay Core from a Replay Administrative Console.

Properties

Use the properties tab to control the properties of the Replay Core.

Alerts

Use these settings to configure the alert e-mail facility. The "min alert level" controls the minimum level of alerts that are sent via e-mail. 

Caution: If you set this value to info, hundreds of e-mails will be generated and sent to the recipient addresses. All of the alert messages are maintained in the standard Windows Event Log under the AppAssure key.

Figure 82. Alerts Tab

Nightly Jobs

The nightly jobs controls when the nightly job runs which includes rollup and Exchange detailed integrity checks. The default is to start every night at midnight.

Figure 83 – Nightly Jobs Tab

Replication Schedule

Use the replication schedule to control when replication occurs. The schedule applies to all of the protected servers being replicated. The default schedule is off.

Figure 84 – Replication Schedule Tab

Settings

Concurrent Snapshots

If your Replay Core is protecting multiple servers, it is likely that the core would initiate a snapshot for more than one protected server at the same time. By default, only one snapshot can be transferred at one time, the other snapshots are queued. By changing this setting to a number highter than one, multiple snapshots can be taken concurrently.

For example, there are 20 protected servers and the interval set for each to take a snapshot is set to one hour. If this setting remains at one, then the first to snapshot will need to finish before the second snapshot transfer begins. If the setting is changed to 5, then five snapshots can be taken for all five protected servers at the same time.

Setting the ideal number of concurrent snapshots based on the number of protected servers will be dependent upon the number of cores on the Replay core and the disk write speed of the storage subsystem.

To change this value, right-click on the Core name in the tree and choose Properties. Click on the Settings tab, enter the value for the Max Concurrent Snapshots and click Save.

Figure 85 – Settings Tab

Refresh

Use Refresh to update the connection between the Replay Admin console and the Replay Core.

Summary Tab

The Replay Core Summary tab details the performance metrics and protected machines that the core is managing. The Protect, Refresh, and Properties controls can be accessed from the Summary tab. These Controls are described in this section.

Figure 86. Replay Core Summary Tab

Protect…Button (Protection Wizard)

The Protect button launches the Protection Wizard to protect a machine. The wizard guides you through the steps required to protect a server. Use the Protect button to launch the Protection wizard to protect a Windows server or Desktop. The supported environments include Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows 7 and Vista.

The Protection Wizard is comprised of four pages: Protected Server, General Settings, SQL Settings, and Exchange.

Figure 87. Protection Wizard: Protected Server Tab

Protected Server

The first tab on the Protection Wizard is Protected Server. The following are available controls:

• Server Name

Enter the name or IP address of the server or desktop to protect.

• Port

Enter the port number, the default is 8004. If you change this value, the port number used by the Replay Agent must match.

• Repository Volumes

Select the repository location on which to place the repository. The location can be a local disk to the Replay Core or a Windows Share. Any NAS configuration that supports Windows sharing is supported by Replay. This includes enterprise NAS solutions such as NetApp, EMC and Data Domain appliances.

Authentication 

Use this button to modify the credentials used to authenticate between the agent and the core connections.

When configuring Replay, a single credential shared between the Replay Core and Replay Agent is recommended. If Replay Agent is not in the same domain or workgroup as the Replay Core, unique credentials can be specified for each Replay Agent using the authentication button available within the "Protect" wizard.

Replay software requires authentication for the following components:

• Replay Admin Console when connecting to a remote Replay Core for management 
• Replay Core communicating with Replay Agents
• Replay Agents communicating with Replay Cores
• Replication between Cores
• Replay Agent and Replay Core services

During authentication all credentials are validated to ensure the user is in the local "Administrators" group or in the "ReplayAdministrators" group (domain or local).  If the credential is not in either of the groups, authentication will fail. If you use the ReplayAdministrators group, these credentials will also ensure that the Administrator level credentials are not required for authorization purposes. NOTE: Replay Agent and Replay Core services must have local "Administrators" privilege.

This feature allows the security administrator to set up separate credentials for different Replay Agents.  For single domain or multi-domain implementation with trusts, the default service credentials are sufficient. For environments with different domains, Replay Agent and Replay Core credentials must be specified .

Example 1

There are machines in the network located on multiple domains or workgroups. The security administrator may want to create one account on the Replay Core in the ReplayAdministrators group and one account each on the Agent machines. To configure authentication using the ReplayAdministrators group:

• WORKGROUPA will have WORKGROUPA\ragent1 for agent credentials and COREDOMAIN\radmin for core credentials.
• DOMAINB will have DOMAINB\ragent2 for agent credentials and COREDOMAIN\radmin for core credentials.
• DOMAINC will have DOMAINC\ragent3 for agent credentials and COREDOMAIN\radmin for core credentials.

Example 2

There are servers at multiple customer sites. The security administrator requires a separate credential for each customer. The administrator will need to create three accounts on the Replay Core in the ReplayAdministrators group and one account each on the Agent machines. To configure authentication using the ReplayAdministrators group:

CUSTOMER A will have CUSTOMER-A\ragent for agent credentials and MSPDOMAIN\CUSTOMER-A for core credentials. Customer B will have CUSTOMER-B\ragent for agent credentials and MSPDOMAIN\CUSTOMER-B for core credentials. Customer C will have CUSTOMER-C\ragent for agent credentials and MSPDOMAIN\CUSTOMER-C for core credentials.

In both of these examples, none of these credentials have to be an administrator. The credential, however, must be members of the ReplayAdministrators group.

General Settings

The general settings tab is used to configure how Replay protects a specified server or desktop.

Figure 88. Protection Wizard: General Settings Tab

The following are available settings:

• Volume Protection

  • Protect all of the fixed volumes on the server.
  • Advanced: Let me decide which volumes to protect.

• Start Protection

  • Start protection immediately
  • Start protection at a future date/time

• NOTES:

  • Upon completion of the synchronization (base image) a recovery point is created.
  • The default snapshot interval is 1 hour when in a distributed core configuration and 6 hours when in a single server configuration.

SQL Settings

Use the SQL settings tab (Figure 68) to define how Replay will backup and validate the SQL databases. The following are available settings:

• The Perform Full VSS SQL nightly backup option will enable a VSS full backup one per day. This backup will truncate the SQL logs
• The Perform a nightly attachability verification from the most recent recovery point optionwill attach the latest recovery point to an instance of SQL on the Replay Core and determine its attachability. Replay will perform this once a night and it will check all of the databases in the recovery point.



Figure 89. Protection Wizard: SQL Settings Tab

Exchange Settings

The Exchange settings tab is used to configure how Replay protects an Exchange server. These settings are available with Replay for Exchange agent.

Figure 90. Protection Wizard: Exchange Settings Tab

The following are available settings:

• Exchange Store Validation:

  • Do not perform any mailbox store validation
  • Validate that the mailbox store is mountable

  Replay attempts to mount the offline data store and roll the logs. If this operation fails, an error is generated and sent to the event log. Additionally, an “X” is placed next to the data store in the recovery point views.

• Exchange Log Truncation:

  • Perform a nightly detailed integrity check on the mailbox store

  Replay scans the data store for physical corruption on a page by page basis. If corruption is detected, an error is generated and sent to the event log. Additionally, an “X” is placed next to the data store in the recovery point views.

  

  If the detailed integrity check completes successfully, the logs on the protected Exchange server are truncated. This operation is performed on a scheduled
  basis, once daily, with a default start time of 12:00am. You may change the start time in the Replay Core Settings dialog.

• The Exchange server that you are protecting to must have the Replay Agent installed.
• The protected Exchange server should be in the same domain or trusted domain as the server running the Replay Core.
• The Exchange server volume configuration is displayed and the progress of the initial synchronization will be displayed.

For enterprise environments, it is recommended to run the Replay Core on a separate server.

Properties Tab

The following are available settings on the Properties tab :

• Retention Policy

  The retention policy controls the recovery point retention time on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

  

  Figure 91. Retention Policies Tab

  The following are available settings on the Retention Policies tab:

  • Enable rollup

  Enables or disables the rollup function. The rollup function is executed automatically on a daily basis at 12:00am.

  • Keep each snapshot for “N” days

  Maintains each new snapshot for the specified number of days before being rolled up into the next interval.

  • Keep one snapshot hourly for “N” days

  Maintains snapshots on an hourly basis after the retention time exceeds the previous interval.

  • Keep one snapshot daily for “N” days

  Maintains snapshots on a daily basis after the retention time exceeds the previous interval.

  • Keep one snapshot weekly for “N” days

  Maintains snapshots on a weekly basis after the retention time exceeds the previous interval.

  • Run Now

  Immediately executes the rollup function (rather than waiting for the usual automatic rollup).

Backup Window

The backup window feature adds the ability to suspend Replay snapshots for a period of time. This is useful when running other types of backups in conjunction with Replay.

Figure 92. Backup Window Tab

The following are available settings:

• Time of Day

Defines the time to begin the suspension of Replay snapshots.

• Duration

Defines the length of the backup window in minutes.

Physical Standby

This option continuously mirrors the production machine to a standby machine by updating the standby machine with latest changed blocks from the image. This feature does not support the unwinds of a system disk; it is used to create standby of the data volumes.

Figure 93. Physical Standby Tab

The following are available settings:

• Enable replication to a hot standby

Enables or disables the hot standby feature.

• Choose standby IP

This button launches a window where you can enter the IP address of the hot standby machine running RRC.

NOTE:

The hot standby machine must have a disk layout that is identical to the protected server in terms of number of disks, size of each disk, number of partitions, size of each partition, etc., in order for this feature to work properly.

Figure 94. Choose Hot Standby Dialog

Map Volumes

This button launches a window where you can map the source volumes on the protected server to the target volumes on the hot standby machine.

Figure 95. Map Volumes Dialog

Virtual Standby

The Virtual Standby feature enables you export the latest recovery point to a VMware virtual machine. The virtual machine is updated continuously as new recovery points are created.

Figure 96. Virtual Standby Tab

The following are available settings:

• Export latest recovery point to a VMware virtual machine

Enables or disables the Virtual standby feature.

• VM Export Path

Defines the target location where the exported VM files will be saved. This can be a local or network path.

• Volumes to Include

Permits you to choose which volumes you would like to export to the VM. For bootable VMs, you must include the system volume.

• Update VM Every X minutes

Defines the amount of time between VM updates. If the protection interval for the selected volumes is larger than this value, the VMs will update once the next snapshot has finished.

Events Tab

Use the Events tab to view events and alerts. Alerts are maintained by the Replay Core and contain events for all of the protected machines that the core is managing. Events are synchronized with the protected machine on a periodic basis and are stored in the Windows Event Log under the AppAssure key.

Figure 97. Events Tab

Mounted Recovery Points Tab

Use the Mounted Recovery Points tab to manage the mounted recovery points.

Figure 98. Mounted Recovery Points Tab

Replication Tab

Use Replication tab to manage replication sources and replication targets for the managed Replay Core. A Replay Core can replicate its protected machines to remote Replay Core (replication source pane) and it can accept protected machines from remote Replay Cores (replication target pane). In each case the protected machines are listed below with their respective replication status.

Figure 99. Replication Tab

Protected Machines

The Protected Machines pane lists the tabs to manage and control the protected server.

Figure 100. Protected Machines Pane

Delete

Use the delete to remove the protected machine from the Replay Admin Console. Delete will permanently delete all recovery points from the repository.

Properties

Use the properties command to modify the properties of the protected machine.

License

Change Protection Intervals

Use the change protection interval command to modify the time (in minutes) between snapshots. Replay will concurrently snapshoot all of the volumes with the same protection interval setting. By default, the protection interval is 15 minutes. We encourage you to maintain a consistent protection interval across all volumes.

Figure 101. Change Server Protection Properties

Control Panel

The control panel lists the most common controls used to manage a protected server.

Figure 102. Control Panel

Interval

Use the change protection interval command to modify the time (in minutes) between snapshots. Replay will concurrently snapshoot all of the volumes with the same protection interval setting. By default, the protection interval is 15 minutes. We encourage you to maintain a consistent protection interval across all volumes.

Figure 103. Change Server Protection Properties: Change Protection Interval

Recovery Point Location

Enter the recovery point location in the Recovery Point Repositor field on the Protected Server Properties dialog .

Figure 104. Protected Server Properties: Recovery Point Location

Stop

Use the stop functions to control snapshot and rollback operations.

• Stop Current Transfer

Stop the current transfer and delete all temporary files associated with the transfer. A recovery point will not be created. A new recovery point will be created when the next snapshot time interval is reached.

• Stop Rollback

Stop the current rollback. Caution: This action could leave the protected server’s volume in an inconsistent or unusable state. In the case of an inconsistent volume state, please reissue a rollback.

• Stop All Transfers for 1 Hour

Once the 1 hour elapses, snapshots will resume when the next snapshot time interval is reached.

• Stop All Transfers for 1 Day

Once the 1 day elapses, snapshots will resume when the next snapshot time interval is reached.

• Stop All Transfers Until Resumed

This function is useful for performing maintenance on the protected server or simple pausing snapshots for an undetermined amount of time.

Volume Details

Volume Details presents a group of volumes on the protected server. Volume clusters are determined by Replay during the protection process and are dictated by the application and domain controller configuration. Volume clusters are treated as a consistency group, all volumes in the cluster must be protected together to ensure that the protected information can be safely recovered.

For example, for Exchange server, storage group 1 may be defined as follows:

Logs: L:\Logs Mailbox
Store: M:\Mailbox 1

Replay will manage the volumes L and M as a volume consistency group during the protection and rollback process to ensure that the captured information is accurate and can be safely recovered.

Last Recovery Point: Links to common commands for managing the latest recovery point.

Actions

Use the advanced command to perform the functions listed below.

• Delete All Snapshots

Use the delete all snapshots command to delete the snapshots for the current volumes. Note: All of the recovery points for these volumes are removed permanently.

• Force Snapshot

Use the force snapshot command for a snapshot of a protected server. All of the volumes within a cluster group and that share a common protection interval will be included in the snapshot. This command will perform an incremental snapshot; i.e. the snapshot will only contain the changes from the last snapshot.

• Force Base Image

Use the force base image command to force a resynchronization of the protected server. All of the volumes with a cluster group and that share a common protection
interval will be included in the base image. This command will perform a full snapshot, i.e. all of the information on the volumes will be copied to the repository.

• Last Recovery Point

The last recovery point link in the Replay Admin Console provides quick access to the latest recovery point to rollback information, explore the recovery point, and open the data store directly (Figure 84).



Figure 105. Last Recovery Point

• Explore

Explore automatically mounts the recovery point and opens Windows Explorer.



Figure 106. Mounted Recovery Point: Windows Explorer

• Open Mailbox Store

Open mailbox store opens offline EDB’s directly on the Replay Core and presents an Outlook-style interface (MailRetriever) for the purposes of restoring mailboxes and individual mail messages, calendar items, tasks, and notes and searching for e-mail content and maintaining the database.



Figure 107. Open Mailbox Store

Recovery Points Tab

The recovery point pane presents a list of recovery points for the server. The recovery points are organized by date and time (e.g., today, yesterday, last week, last month). They can be rolled back, viewed, and browsed for data mining and database maintenance purposes.

For Exchange servers the following icons represent the mailbox store validation status:

For SQL servers, the following icons represent attachability check status:

Restore

Use the restore command to restore a server, volume, storage group, or individual mailbox to the original location or to another server.

Mount

Replay provides virtual views into recovery points for the purposes of backup, database maintenance, and data mining. The view will be displayed as a volume and is mounted to a driver letter or mount point. The mounted view is available to any Windows application or utility. The mount dialog provides a set of options to control the view (see Figure 87).

Figure 108. Mount on Local Machine Dialog

Create Virtual Machine Wizard

The Create Virtual Machine Wizard is guides you through the process of creating a virtual machine from a Replay recovery point. The wizard will allow you to:

• Select the type of virtual machine to create
• Select volumes to export
• Select virtual machines setting
• Select ESX Host
• Enter an Output folder
• Set Replay to keep a virtual machine updated

These parts of the wizard are described below.

• Access the Create Virtual Machine Wizard
  1. Open the Create Virtual Machine Wizard. The VM Technology tab will be displayed (Figure 88).
• Select Type of Virtual Machine to Create



Figure 109. Virtual Machine Wizard Window: VM Technolgy Tab

2. Select the type of type of virtual machine to create from the following:
   • VMWare Workstation 6.x, VM Server 2.0 – These formats can be run using the free VM Player or VM Server 2.0.
   • ESX 4.0/3.5 and ESXi 4.0/3.5 formats – This format supports ESX and ESXi hosts directly.
   • Directly to ESX – This option will create an ESX formatted virtual machine directly on an ESX 4/3.5 host.
3. Click Next. The Volumes tab will be displayed .
• Select Volumes to Export



Figure 110. Virtual Machine Wizard Window: Volumes Tab

To select volumes for export, do the following:

4. Select the volumes to export. If you don’t select the system drive, the virtual machine will not be bootable.
5. Click Next. The Settings tab will be displayed (Figure 90).
• Select Virtual Machine Settings



Figure 111. Virtual Machine Wizard Window: Settings Tab

To set virtual machine settings, do the following:

6. Select Automatically set memory size of source machine
   , or select Set the memory size to: and enter the size (in number of megabytes).
7. Click Next. The Output Folder tab will be displayed .
• Enter Output



Figure 112. Virtual Machine Wizard Window: Output Folder Tab

To enter the output folder, do the following:

8. If you selected option 1 or option 2 on the VM Technology tab, then select the output folder for the virtual machine.
9. Click Next. The ESX Server tab will be displayed (see Figure 92).
• Select ESX Host



Figure 113. Virtual Machine Wizard Window: ESX Server Tab

If you selected the Direct Export to ESX option on the first page of the wizard, then select the “ESX Server” to create the virtual machine. Do the following:

10. Select the VirtualCenter or ESX host HTTPS interface.
11. Select the ESX Host where you want to store the virtual machine.
12. Select the DataSource and Resource pool to store the virtual machine. Please make sure there is enough disk space available.
13. Click “Test Connection to ESX Host” to test the connection before you proceed. The virtual machines will be created and automatically maintained on the ESX server.

Important Note:

FAILOVER WARNING: WHEN YOU FAILOVER, ENSURE THAT THE ORIGINAL SERVER IS DOWN OR THAT YOU BOOT THE VIRTUAL MACHINE IN HOST-ONLY MODE. THE VIRTUAL MACHINE THAT REPLAY CREATES CONTAINS THE SAME IP ADDRESS AS THE ORIGINAL, SO YOU CAN’T RUN BOTH MACHINES AT THE SAME TIME.

14. Click Next. The Keep Updated window will be displayed (see Figure 93).
• Keep Virtual Machine Updated



Figure 114. Virtual Machine Wizard Window: Keep Updated Tab

The Keep Virtual Machine Updated feature allows you to maintain an up to date virtual machine of the protected server. To enter settings, do the following:

15. Select Keep virtual machine updated with the latest recovery point. This defines the amount of time between virtual machine updates.
16. Enter Start Date/Time settings.
17. Click Finish.

Create Rescue Image Wizard

A rescue image is a recoverable image of a protected machine that can be saved to any type of storage; NAS, USB, removable disks. The rescue image can be recovered directly from the failed machine with the use of a Replay BOOT CD. Rescue images can be continuously updated when recovery points are updated enabling additional protection from a server failure.

To complete the Rescue Image Wizard, do the following:

1. Enter the folder name to store the rescue image, and then click Next
   . It is best practice to store the rescue image on a disk that is not connected to the protected
   server. In the case of a server failure, boot the Replay boot CD and, click RRCIMAGE button and point to the rescue image.



Figure 115. Create Rescue Image Wizard

2. Select the Keep updated options in order to maintain an updated image. This is optional.
3. Select Keep the rescue image updated with the latest recovery point to maintain an updated copy.
• Enter the interval to attempt to update the rescue image. Replay will maintain the rescue image with the latest recovery point changes so the snapshot interval is relevant.
• Select the start time.
• Optionally, enter the post processing command. The command is executed asynchronously after the rescue image is created.



Figure 116. Create Rescue Image: Keep Rescue Image Updated

4. Use the clean up command (Error! Reference source not found.5) to remove recovery points that are no longer needed. It will cleanup old recovery point chains starting at the “start date”.



Figure 117. Clean Up Dialog

All unnecessary recovery points that were taken before the specified “Delete” time will be deleted. If the specified “Delete” time is later than the time the most recent base image was taken, only recovery points taken before the most recent base image will be permanently deleted.

Events Tab

Use the Events tab to view events. Alerts are maintained by the Replay Core and contain events for all of the protected machines that the core is managing. Events are synchronized with the protected machine on a periodic basis and are stored in the Windows Event Log under the AppAssure key.

Figure 118. Events Tab

View All Alerts

Use the View All Alerts button to view the entire list of alerts. From this list view, the individual alerts may be expanded and viewed in detail by double clicking on the item.

Figure 119. View All Alerts

Detailed View

The detailed view provides the complete alert message, its creation date, the source machine, the record number, and the message severity.

Use the previous and next buttons to navigate the list. Use copy to fill the paste buffer with the detailed message.

Figure 120. Alert Details

Mounting Recovery Points

Replay provides virtual views into recovery points for the purposes of backup, database maintenance, and data mining. The view will be displayed as a volume and is mounted to a driver letter or mount point. The mounted view is available to any Windows application or utility.

The Mount on Local Machine Dialog (Error! Reference source not found. 99) provides a set of options to control the view as described below.

Figure 121. Mount on Local Machine Dialog

Mount Points

Mount points are directories on a volume that Replay assigns virtual mounts to, that is to setup for use at the location a user specifies. In other words, you can use a volume mount point as a gateway to a volume. When a volume is mounted at a volume mount point, users and applications can see the mounted volume by the path of the volume mount point or a drive letter. For example, with a volume mount point set the user might see drive D as C:\Replay Recovery Points\Exchange Server-01-10-2007-10-00\D as well as D:.

If you mount a recovery point, Replay will mount all of the volumes within the recovery point to a mount point of your choice. For example, a recovery point that consists of C,D,E,F dated 1/10/2007 10:00pm will mount as follows:

C:\Replay Recovery Points\Exchange Server-01-10-2007-10-00-00\C

C:\Replay Recovery Points\Exchange Server-01-10-2007-10-00-00\D

C:\Replay Recovery Points\Exchange Server-01-10-2007-10-00-00\E

C:\Replay Recovery Points\Exchange Server-01-10-2007-10-00-00\F

Writeability

Use this option to control the mount attributes. Recovery points may be mounted as writeable, i.e. the recovery point can be modified. This capability is imperative when performing database maintenance and data mining tasks because large data sets do not need to be copied to a writable media before performing tasks, thus saving hours of time. Replay offers three mount writeability options:

• Mount recovery point without previous writes (read-only)

This option mounts the recovery point as read-only.

• 2. Mount read-only with previous writes

This option mounts the recovery point’s previous writable recovery point as read-only. This capability is useful to share database maintenance updates and changes for rollback, backup, and data mining operations.

• Mount writable, truncating previous writes

This option mounts the recovery point as writeable. This capability is useful for performing database maintenance and data mining\operations. Replay has a separate location to maintain the changes to the recovery point, thereby guaranteeing the integrity of the original recovery point.

Network Share

Use this option to create a network share for the mounted recovery point. A share name must be specified. Default permissions are applied to the network share.

Message Level Recoveries

Opening an offline mailbox store and restoring individual messages is as simple as selecting the recovery point that contains the mailbox store you want to manage and clicking browse. The browse command is available from two locations, the latest recovery point hyperlink and the recovery point pane.

Latest Recovery Point

Figure 122. Last Recovery Point Link

Recovery Point Pane

Figure 123. Recovery Point Pane

Mailbox Browser

Figure 124. Mailbox Browser

Command Line Interface

The REPLAY C command line interface is used to mount recovery points for backup, database maintenance, and data mining purposes. Recovery points are mounted as a volume mount point.

REPLAYC [options] [qualifiers]

Options

/MOUNT

Use MOUNT to mount the recovery point that is located on the /target
server for the protected server specified in the /source parameter.

/MOUNT

/LIST RPS, VOLUMES, MAILBOXSTORES, PASSED, FAILED

Use LIST to list the recovery points, volumes, and mailbox stores; the list can be filtered by passed and failed data store validation tests.

RPS – lists recovery points

VOLUMES – lists volumes within the recovery point

MAILBOXSTORES – lists datastores within the recovery point

PASSED – lists recovery points that passed the mailbox store validation test

FAILED – lists recovery points that failed the mailbox store validation test

/LIST RPS
/LIST PASSED

/SHOWMOUNTS /MOUNTPOINT

Use SHOWMOUNTS /MOUNTPOINT to list the mounts for a given <mountpoint directory>.

/SHOWMOUNTS /MOUNTPOINT C:\REPLAY-MOUNTPOINT-DIR

/DISMOUNT /MOUNTPOINT Mountpoint Directory

Use DISMOUNT /MOUNTPOINT to dismount a mount for a given mountpoint directory.

/DISMOUNT /MOUNTPOINT C:\REPLAY-MOUNTPOINT-DIR

Qualifiers

/target <Replay Core Name>

Use /target to specify the name of the REPLAY CORE that contains the recovery points to operate with. A server name or IP address can be entered.

/TARGET REPLAYSERVER

/source <Protected Server Name>

Use /source to specify the name of the protected server that is the source of the recovery point. A server name or IP address can be entered.

/SOURCE EXCHANGESERVER

/drive <Snapshot Drive Letter>

Use /drive to specify the drives within the recovery point to mount.

/DRIVE C: /DRIVE E:

/mountpoint <Mountpoint Directory>

Use /mountpoint to specify the directory to use to mount the recovery point. If the directory does not exist, it will be created. The directory must be empty when used as a mountpoint.

/MOUNTPOINT C:\REPLAY-MOUNTPOINT-DIR

/mode <READ, READWRITE, WRITE>

Use /mode to control the type of mount to perform.

READ – mounts the recovery point as read-only

READWRITE – mounts the recovery point as read-only with previous writes

WRITE – mounts the recovery point as writable

/MOUNT /MODE READ

/time <”2/12/2007 12:00:00 pm,” LATEST, PASSED>

Use /time to specify the time of the recovery point to mount. Use the /list option to list the recovery points.

Time Format:

MM/DD/YYYY HR:MM:SS am/pm – example 2/12/2007 12:00:00 pm

LASTEST – automatically locates the latest recovery point and uses it for the mount

PASSED – automatically locates the latest recovery point that has passed mailbox store validation and uses it for the mount (This function is useful for automated backups of the last known good recovery point to an alternate media.)

/TIME “2/12/2007 1:00:00 am”
/TIME LATEST

/domain <Domain Name>

Use /domain to specify the domain name of the user account to use to authenticate the connection. By default the current account is used.

/DOMAIN SALES

/user <User Name>

Use /user to specify the user name of the user account to use to authenticate the connection. By default the current account is used.

/USER PRIVUSER

/password <Password>

Use /password to specify the password of the user account to use to authenticate the connection. By default the current account is used.

/PASSWORD ***********

Examples

• This example mounts the recovery point closest to “4/12/2007 11:00pm” for read-only. The drives E and F will be mounted to the mountpoint c:\mountpoints, and the mountpoint directory will contain 2 mounts – c:\mountpoints\E and c:\mountpoints\F.

Replayc /MOUNT /TARGET replaycore /SOURCE exchangeserver /MOINTPOINT c:\mountpoints /MODE read /DRIVE E: /DRIVE F: /TIME “4/12/2007 11:00 pm”

• This example mounts the latest recovery point for writable. The drives E and F will be mounted to the mountpoint c:\mountpoints, and the mountpoint directory will contain 2 mounts – c:\mountpoints\E and c:\mountpoints\F.

Replayc /MOUNT /TARGET replaycore /SOURCE exchangeserver /MOINTPOINT c:\mountpoints /MODE write /DRIVE E: /DRIVE F: /TIME LATEST

• This example mounts the latest recovery point that has passed the mailbox validation for read-only. The drives E and F will be mounted to the mountpoint c:\mountpoints, and the mountpoint directory will contain 2 mounts – c:\mountpoints\E and c:\mountpoints\F.

Replayc /MOUNT /TARGET replaycore /SOURCE exchangeserver /MOINTPOINT c:\mountpoints /MODE read /DRIVE E: /DRIVE F: /TIME PASSED

• This example dismounts all of the mounts associated with the mountpoint specified.

Replayc /DISMOUNT /mountpoint c:\mountpoints

• This example lists all of the recovery points located on MACHINE1 for the protected server MACHINE2.

Replayc /LIST RPS /target MACHINE1 /source MACHINE2

• This example lists the mounts for a mountpoint.

Replayc /SHOWMOUNTS /mountpoint c:\mountpoints

Backup Command File Example

This example demonstrates how to mount the latest valid recovery point and instruct a backup application to back up the data to another media:

Pre-backup.cmd

replayc /DISMOUNT /mountpoint c:\replay-rp

if EXIST “c:\replay-rp” delete /s c:\replay-rp

replayc /MOUNT /target= replayserver /source=exchange32 /mountpoint= c:\replay-rp /time latest /drive c: /drive e: /drive h: /drive g:

Post-backup.cmd

replayc /DISMOUNT /mountpoint c:\replay-rp

if EXIST “c:\replay-rp” delete /s c:\replay-rp

Replay Recovery Console (RRC)

The Replay Recovery Console (RRC) is a bootable environment that is used to rollback the system drive or the entire server to the original location or to a new location. Replay can rollback a server using two approaches:

1. Directly from a Replay Core – This approach requires network access to a Replay Core.
2. Directly from a Rescue Image – This approach requires access to a rescue image file either on a USB or network share.

The RRC is created by building a bootable ISO image that is tailored to the machine that it is supporting; i.e., it contains the correct network and mass storage drivers. The RRC can be booted from a CD or optionally as a boot entry in the boot.ini file.

Building an RRC ISO

This section describes the steps required to create a bootable RRC ISO image and how to create a bootable CD. The RRC ISO is used by REPLAY to recover a system volume to a previous point in time.

The RRC Builder creates a boot entry in the BOOT.INI file that, if selected, will boot the RRC. REPLAY uses this boot entry when rolling back a system disk. The files placed in the root of the system disk are:

AALDR – The RRC boot loader module

RRC.IMG – The bootable RRC image

RRCBOOT.DAT – The RRC boot configuration

BOOT.INI – Modified to include an entry to RRC

DO the following to build an RRC ISO:

1. Login to the server with a domain user that is a member of the domain administrators group.
2. Activate the RRC Builder from the start menu.
3. Select the Add Boot Entry option if you are running the RRC Builder on the server.

NOTE: If the Windows Recovery Console is installed, the Add Boot Entry option is disabled. The Windows Recovery Console and RRC cannot coexist.

4. Select the Add Credentials to ISO option if you would like to include RRC login credentials in the ISO itself. If you choose this option, enter the domain name, user name, and password under the Credentials tab.

NOTE: This account must be a domain account. Use the Check button to verify that the credentials are valid.

Creating a CD

AppAssure recommends that you burn the ISO to a CD and keep it in a safe place for emergencies. You can use any standard CD burning software for this purpose. The ISO to place on the CD is contained in the ISO output path that is defaulted to:

C:\Program Files\AppAssure Software\Replay\Images

The ISO that you should burn on the CD is:

RRC-i386-RAM.ISO

Booting into the RRC

Replay offers two options to boot into the Replay Recovery Console.

Boot from CD

1. Insert the CD.
2. Modify the machine’s boot order to include the CDROM drive as the first entry in the boot list.
3. Reboot the machine.
4. When “Press any key to boot from CD…” appears, press any key. The boot process will boot from the RRC CD.

Boot from Boot Menu REPLAY Recovery Console Item

Restart the machine.

Select the REPLAY Recovery Console item in the boot menu. The boot process will boot from the RRC located on the system disk.

CHAPTER SIX: DISASTER RECOVERY USING REPLAY

Viewing and Responding to an Alert

Viewing an Alert

To view alerts, do the following:

Open the Replay Core Administrative Console. Scroll down until you reach the Alerts pane. If necessary, expand the Alerts pane to see the list of received alerts.

Figure 125. Replay Core Administrative Console

1. To view all alerts, click View All Alerts. The View All Alerts window is displayed.



Figure 126. View All Alerts Window

2. Use the scroll bar to navigate up and down the list of alerts. You can view details of an individual alert by double-clicking on that alert. The Alert Details window will be displayed.



Figure 127. Alert Details Window

The Alert Details window provides the complete alert message, the alert creation date, the source machine, the record number, and the message severity.

3. You can use the Previous and Next buttons to view the previous and next alerts in the alert list.
4. Click Close to close the Alert Details window. The View All Alerts window will be displayed again.
5. Click Close to close the window and return to the Alerts pane.

Alert levels and Possible Responses Required

Alert levels and Possible Responses Required

• Info
• Warning
• Error

You will receive many alerts of an informational type; these info alerts usually do not require any administrative response. Alerts of a warning type should be carefully examined in order to determine if any administrative actions are required. An example of a warning alert would be an alert warning that disk space on the server is running low.

Alerts with a level of Error indicate that a serious condition exists that must be resolved.

For example an Error alert has been issued which states “Unable to take VSS snapshot and transfer data for ?C:, F::.” This alert indicates that Replay was not able to successfully take a snapshot of the Exchange server due to a problem with VSS. You would need to investigate why Replay could not complete the snapshot so that data would not be lost in an instance of system failure.

Testing Virtual Standby

When testing a virtual configuration, you should perform the test during off-peak hours and follow the following recommendations:

1. Set-up your virtual standby environment and ensure that the standby is updated.
2. Create a local account on your primary server that has local administrator permissions.
3. Using the Replay Admin console, pause snapshots for the primary server from the Replay core.
4. Check that the most recent snapshot on the Replay Core has finished updating to either the virtual standby environment. Failure to do this may result in an update starting but not fully finishing prior to the boot attempt of the virtual standby environment.
5. Boot the virtual standby in host only mode to avoid network conflicts and service interruptions. Note, if you are protecting Exchange, you should create a virtual standby of the Active Directory machine as well.
6. Login to the virtual standby machine.

For Exchange:

• You can open Exchange System Manager (Exchange 2003, Exchange 2007) and that all databases have been mounted
• You can send and receive test messages
• If all standby actions pass testing, dismount all information stores and force a snapshot of standby from the Replay server.

Test that all information stores are mounted.

Rolling Back Exchange 2007 Cluster Node Data Store

A rollback of an Exchange 2007 cluster node data store (or volume) requires additional steps to complete the rollback.

Rolling Back Non-System Volumes

To roll back a volume containing Exchange data on a CCR cluster node, do the following:

1. Ensure that whichever cluster node you are rolling back to is currently the active CCR cluster node. If necessary to ensure this, perform a failover.
2. Ensure that the mail stores on the volume(s) to be rolled back are mounted, and that their copy status is Healthy.
3. Suspend replication of the storage groups on the volume(s) to be rolled back.

Do this even if a volume contains only the system and log files for a storage group an not the EDB for the storage group, the corresponding storage group(s) should be suspended. Check each storage group‘s properties to see if there are any system or log files on the volume to be rolled back; if so, that storage group should be suspended until the rollback is completed.

4. Roll back the volume(s) using the Replay management console.
5. When the rollback completes (successfully), resume replication of the storage group(s) you previously suspended.

Rolling Back Mail Stores or Storage Groups

You cannot use the automatic rollback feature in Replay to roll back an individual mail store to an Exchange 2007 CCR cluster. Instead, use the following steps, which restore a backed-up version of the mail store to the active CCR node, servicing clients with a health copy in progress:

1. Stop all Replay snapshots until instructed to resume the snapshots.
2. In the Exchange Management Console (EMC), suspend storage group copying for the storage group that contains the database to be restored.
3. Using the EMC, dismount the database you want to restore.
4. In Replay, mount as read-only the recovery point that contains the database you want to restore.
5. On the active CCR node, move or delete ALL files from their respective directories that comprise the storage group or Exchange database that you are restoring.
6. Copy ALL the files that comprise the storage group or Exchange database that you are restoring to their corresponding directories on the active CCR node.
7. In the EMC, mount the restored Exchange database.
8. In the EMC, on the passive node, perform an Update Storage Group Copy operation on the suspended copy.

Answer YES to all prompts asking about clearing existing logs or checkpoints.

Restoring a Server from a Rescue Image

A rescue image is a recoverable image of a protected machine that can be saved to any type of storage; NAS, USB, removable disks. The rescue image can be recovered directly from the failed machine with the use of a Replay BOOT CD. Rescue images can be continuously updated when recovery points are updated enabling additional protection from a server failure.

Before you perform a server restore, the REPLAY Recovery ISO must be created using the Replay Recovery Console Builder. DO the following:

1. Boot the server from the Boot CD into the REPLAY Recovery Console (RRC).



Figure 127. Replay Recovery Console

2. Click Import Recovery Point.



Figure 128. RRC Disk Imager

3. Point to the rescue image. Click Map Network Drive to access a share that contains the rescue image.
4. The interface will read the settings from the rescue image and present a map
   of the imaged disks. Assign the images to the destination disks and click
   Save and Apply Images. The restore will begin. All of the formatting is handled automatically.

CAUTION: Do not reboot until the rollback is complete. If you reboot before the rollback is complete, the server will be in an inconsistent state and you will need to perform the restore again.

Restoring a Server from a Replay Core

Before you perform a server restore, the Replay Recovery ISO must be created using the Replay Recovery Console Builder.

Replay Recovery Console (RRC)

Do the following:

1. Insert the RRC CD into the machine.
2. Modify the machine‘s boot order to include the CD-ROM drive as the first entry in the boot list.
3. Reboot the machine.
4. When the Press any key to boot from CD message appears, press any key. The boot process will boot from the RRC CD.
5. To boot from the boot menu RRC item:
6. Restart the machine.
7. Select the RRC item in the boot menu. The boot process will boot from the RRC located on the system disk.



Figure 129. Replay Recovery Console: Console Tab

If you need to partition and format the disks on the machine, please select the Manage Disks tab and configure the drives. Replay requires that the disk configuration matches the disk configuration contained in the recovery point before the rollback process can proceed. At a minimum, the destination volumes capacity must be greater than or equal to the original capacity.



Figure 130. Replay Recovery Console: Manage Disks Tab

8. Enter the credentials of the Replay Core service account when prompted. This account must be a domain account.



Figure 131. Enter Replay Server Credentials Dialog

9. Click OK and then move back to the Replay Admin Console to complete the server rollback.
10. Click on the recovery point that you want to recovery from, right click and select Rollback. The Rollback Wizard will appear.
11. Click Next.



Figure 132. Restoring…Window: Restore To Tab

12. Select the “rollback from RRC instance”
    option and select choose. Enter the IP address displayed in the RRC console and click Check.
13. Click Next. Select the C: volume to restore and select the destination volume in the right column. If there are no destination volumes displayed, please proceed to the disk configuration section to partition the source volumes before a recovery can occur. T his step is usually the result of a drive being replaced or a rollback to a new machine.



Figure 133. Restoring… Window: Restore Volumes Tab

14. Click Next.
15. Click Start. A dialog will appear and the progress will be displayed.

Upon completion, reboot the server by using the reboot button in the RRC Console. The server will boot into the Windows operating system.

CAUTION: Do not reboot until the rollback is complete. If you reboot before the rollback is complete, the disk will be in an inconsistent state and you will need to perform the rollback again.

Disk Configuration

VNC

VNC is remote control software which allows you to view and fully interact with one computer desktop (the “VNC server”) using a simple program (the “VNC viewer”) on another computer desktop anywhere on the Internet. The two computers don’t even have to be the same type, so for example you can use VNC to view a Windows Vista desktop at the office on a Linux or Mac computer at home. For ultimate simplicity, there is even a Java viewer, so that any desktop can be controlled remotely from within a browser without having to install software.

The Boot CD Builder includes a client of RealVNC in the kit so you can remote control a machine booted into the RRC. For more information please visit http://www.realvnc.com/products/free/4.1.

Using the Replay Rollback Anywhere (RRA) Option

Replay Rollback Anywhere (RRA) is a program designed to change SCSI/IDE drivers in an existing Windows installation. RRA is very useful for physical to physical migrations when migrating between different hardware. It is also useful when migrating from P2V, V2P, V2V and P2P.

 RRA injects storage drivers on any operating system image prior to booting. This is used when restoring an Replay recovery point to dissimilar hardware. RRA is a simple to use 5 step wizard that walks you through the process of injecting a storage driver.

• "Welcome"
• "Hardware Identification"
• "Installed Operating Systems"
• "OS Identification"
• "Confirm conversion"

Step 1 – "Welcome"

Please note that 64-bit systems can only be installed on 64-bit hardware.

Step two – "Hardware Identification"

This step identifies the storage hardware currently configured on the machine where the wizard is being run. The storage controller that is installed on the machine and the list of volumes are presented. RRA will select the storage controller identified as the default storage controller driver on the select drivers page.

Step three – "Installed Operating Systems"

This step inventories Operating System installations on all local hard drives. Please select the operating system path to inject the driver into. Drivers for the hardware identified in the previous step (Hardware Identification) will be selected as the default driver to be injected into the offline installation of the OS selected in this step.

Step four – "OS Identification"

This step identifies the system directory of the OS selected in step 3 and the storage controller currently configured for this offline OS installation. This step PRESENTS the storage controller driver identified in the offline OS. This driver can be replaced in the next step.

Step five – "Confirm conversion"

This last step shows the summary of the injections that is about to be performed. The following configuration selections are presented.

• The path to the operating system directory that will be injected with a storage driver. This is the offline OS installation whose storage controller driver is about to be modified.
• The storage controller currently configured for the offline OS.
• The storage driver that will be injected.

Change Path

Use the "Change Path" button to change the path of the driver store. This store contains a list of commonly used drivers and is available from the AppAssure site, http://appassure-driverlib.s3.amazonaws.com/app-driverlib.zip. To use the driver store, unzip to any location and enter the location by selecting change path. If you are running this from within the Replay Recovery Console, you must extract this zip to a USB or a share that is accessible from the machine booted in the RRC. To access this location from the RRC perform the following:

1. Open a command window.
2. NET USE Y: \\sharepathtodriverstore
3. Enter the path by selecting the Change path button to Y:\

Change Driver

Use the "Change Driver" button to change the driver to be injected. You may select the driver from an INF file that you specify or from the driver store list.

Installing a driver using INF files

The first step is to download the driver, unpacking it to a directory and making this directory available to RRA. A window is presented with the drivers described in the INF file. Select the driver to install from the list.

Install a driver from the supplied drivers list

If the AppAssure driver store is downloaded and accessible by RRA, a list of drivers is presented.

Press “Change” to override the RRA’s automatic selection with the driver of your choice.

Install

Click "Install" to install the driver.

Troubleshooting

For diagnostic purposes, the wizard creates log files that can aid in troubleshooting. These files are located in the root of the system drive. “rra_log.txt" and “RegWinPeInstallEditorLibrary.log”. If you are contacting AppAssure support, please attach these logs to the case.

Performing a Bare Metal Recovery on Windows 2008 Servers for Pre Replay 4.0 Implementations.

This section explains how to perform a bare metal recovery on Windows 2008 after receiving a winload.exe status 0xc000000e or a 0×0e windload.exe error message and a black screen after a recovery reboot. Do the following to perform a bare metal recovery:

1. Boot the recovered machine with your Windows 2008 distribution disk in the CD-ROM drive and press any key when prompted.

1. A window appears asking for confirmation that your language and keyboard settings are correct. If necessary, make changes

Click Next.

In the window that appears, select the option Repair Your Computer.

Under System Recovery Options, ensure the default OS is correct.

Click Next.

In the window that appears, select the option Command Prompt.

In versions prior to 4.0, perform the following:

2. In the command prompt window, enter the following commands, hitting Enter after each command:
   1. Bcdedit /set {default} device partition=c:
   2. Bcdedit /set {default} osdevice partition=c:
   3. Bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=c:

Remove the Windows 2008 distribution disk from the CD-ROM drive and click Restart to reboot your machine.

Recovering Active Directory with Replay

AppAssure Replay safeguards your application environments by continuously protecting the domain controllers hosting the Active Directory. This section explains how you restore Active Directory services on a Domain Controller using Replay.

Fundamentals of Non-Authoritative Active Directory restore

Microsoft offers two approaches for restoring Active Directory on Domain Controllers – authoritative and non?authoritative. Replay uses non?authoritative restore to recover Active Directory on a Domain Controllers. A non?authoritative restore returns the domain controller to its state at the time of snapshot.

Active Directory then allows normal replication to overwrite that state with any changes that occurred after the backup was taken. After the target domain controller is restored to its previous system state, the domain controller queries its replication partners. The replication partners replicate any changes to the restored domain controller, ensuring that the domain controller has an accurate and updated copy of the Active Directory database.

A non-authoritative restore also allows the entire directory to be restored on a domain controller, without reintroducing or changing objects that have been modified since the backup. The most common use of a non-authoritative restore is to bring an entire domain controller back, often after catastrophic or debilitating hardware failures. It is uncommon for data corruption to drive a non-authoritative restore, unless the corruption is local and the database cannot be successfully loaded.

Non-authoritative restore is the default method for restoring Active Directory, and it is used in most situations that result from Active Directory data loss or corruption. Replay performs backups and recoveries at the volume block layer, therefore, it is not necessary to start the domain controller in Directory Services Restore Mode.

Considerations for fast Active Directory Domain Controller recovery

The Active Directory installation process creates three folders on the Domain Controller for the Active Directory database, the log files and the SYSVOL folder. For a detailed listing of the contents of the Active Directory database, refer to Appendix A. These folders must be on a fixed disk of the server formatted with NTFS file system and cannot be located on a shared resource on the network. In addition, the SYSVOL folder cannot be in the same path as the Database Path folder or Log Path folder.

The following lists the three folders and their roles:

Folder	Description
Database Path	Contains Active Directory data, including the Ntds.dit file, which stores the database in use on the domain controller.
Log Path Contains	The Active Directory logging and recovery system log file. Database operations are recorded in this log file, which can be used to restore a database after a system has failed.
SYSVOL	Stores the server copy of the domain’s public files, such as the SYSVOL shared folder.

Active Directory Folders

For a faster recovery of an Active Directory domain controller, place the Operating System, Active Directory database and its Log files and the SYSVOL folders in separate volumes. Since Replay performs backups and recovery at the volume block layer, using separate volumes will ensure a faster recovery of the service.

The following table depicts the proposed layout.

Drive Letter	Component	RAID Configuration
C:	Operating System + Page File	RAID 1 or RAID 0+1
D:	Active Directory Database and Log Files	RAID 1 or RAID 0+1
E:	SYSVOL	RAID 1 or RAID 0+1

Proposed Folder Layout for Active Directory

In addition to the approach shown above, always deploy two domain controllers to support the Active Directory and split the cores-wide and domain-wide FSMO roles between the two servers.

Outage Scenarios

• Complete Domain Controller Outage
• Files deleted on the Windows system folder
• Volume containing the Active Directory database and the log files fails
• Volume containing the SYSVOL folder fails
• Files deleted from the SYSVOL folder
• Objects deleted from the Active Directory

Contents of the Active Directory Database

• Ntds.dit. This is the main AD database. NTDS stands for NT Directory Services. The DIT stands for Directory Information Tree. The Ntds.dit file on a particular domain controller contains all naming contexts hosted by that domain controller, including the Configuration and Schema naming contexts. A Global Catalog server stores the partial naming context replicas in the Ntds.dit right along with the full Domain naming context for its domain.
• Edb.log. This is a transaction log. Any changes made to objects in Active Directory are first saved to a transaction log. During lulls in CPU activity, the database engine commits the transactions into the main Ntds.dit database. This ensures that the database can be recovered in the event of a system crash. Entries that have not been committed to Ntds.dit are kept in memory to improve performance. Transaction log files used by the ESE engine are always 10MB.
• Edbxxxxx.log. These are auxiliary transaction logs used to store changes if the main Edb.log file gets full before it can be flushed to Ntds.dit. The xxxxx stands for a sequential number in hex. When the Edb.log file fills up, an Edbtemp.log file is opened. The original Edb.log file is renamed to Edb00001.log, and Edbtemp.log is renamed to Edb.log file, and the process starts over again. ESENT uses circular logging. Excess log files are deleted after they have been committed. You may see more than one Edbxxxxx.log file if a busy domain controller has many updates pending.
• Edb.chk. This is a checkpoint file. It is used by the transaction logging system to mark the point at which updates are transferred from the log files to Ntds.dit. As transactions are committed, the checkpoint moves forward in the Edb.chk file. If the system terminates abnormally, the pointer tells the system how far along a given set of commits had progressed before the termination.
• Res1.log and Res2.log. These are reserve log files. If the hard drive fills to capacity just as the system is attempting to create an Edbxxxxx.log file, the space reserved by the Res log files is used. The system then puts a dire warning on the screen prompting you to take action to free up disk space quickly before Active Directory gets corrupted. You should never let a volume containing Active Directory files get even close to being full. File fragmentation is a big performance thief, and fragmentation increases exponentially as free space diminishes. Also, you may run into problems as you run out of drive space with online database defragmentation (compaction). This can cause Active Directory to stop working if the indexes cannot be rebuilt.
• Temp.edb. This is a scratch pad used to store information about in-progress transactions and to hold pages pulled out of Ntds.dit during compaction.
• Schema.ini. This file is used to initialize the Ntds.dit during the initial promotion of a domain controller. It is not used after that has been accomplished.

Running ESEUTIL on a computer without Exchange Server

If attempts to open a mailbox store fail due to persistent errors returned by the ESE engine, you will see an ESE error. You should run an ESEUTIL physical or logical check to repair the database.

For complete information on how to run ESEUTIL, refer to the Microsoft knowledge base at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244525.

Opening a Mailbox Store from a DPM Recovery Point using MailRetriever for DPM

To open a mailbox store from a DPM recovery point, you must have installed the MailRetriever application. Do the following,

1. Launch MailRetriever from the desktop icon or from the MailRetriever program group.
2. MailRetriever detects and displays the Exchange servers protected and their corresponding storage groups.



Figure 137. Replay Mail Retriever

3. Expand the object tree and select a storage group to view.
4. Choose a recovery point by selecting a specific date in the calendar and opening the recovery point. A list of storage groups displays.
5. Double-click on the storage group to drill into its data stores and then select the EDB and click Open.
6. The Open command restores the Exchange data store from a DPM recovery point to the specified location. MailRetriever automatically opens this data store. The amount of time it takes to open the mailbox store is dependent on the size of the mailbox store.

The MailRetriever file menu contains a list of recently opened databases. During a session, MailRetriever maintains a history of all previously opened mailbox stores (and their associated paths). To resume working with one of the previous stores, choose the store from the Recently Opened Databases option located in the file menu.

During the open process, MailRetriever will attempt to mount the database just as Exchange would, applying outstanding log files and mounting the database. If logs cannot be applied for some reason, the MailRetriever attempts a simple recovery by mounting the file without the log stream.

During the open process the application will display a progress dialog informing the user of the operations being attempted. If attempts to open the mailbox store fail due to persistent errors returned by the ESE engine, an ESE error will be displayed and the user will be informed. The next step is to run an ESEUTIL physical or logical check to repair the database. See Running eseutil on a computer without Exchange Server in this document.

CHAPTER SEVEN: TROUBLESHOOTING REPLAY

Interpreting the Replay log

Please refer to the Interpreting the Replay Log document for more details.

Exchange 2007 CCR Rollback Considerations

Mail store and volume rollbacks to Exchange 2007 CCR clusters require some manual steps to complete successfully.

Rolling Back Non-System Volumes

To perform a roll back on a volume containing Exchange data on a CCR cluster node, do the following:

1. Ensure that whichever cluster node you are rolling back to is currently the active CCR cluster node. Perform a failover if necessary.
2. Ensure the mail stores on the volumes to be rolled back are mounted, and that their copy status is Healthy.
3. Suspend replication of the storage groups on the volumes to be rolled back.
4. Even if a volume contains only the system and log files for a storage group, and not the Exchange database for it, the corresponding storage group should still be suspended. That is, each storage group‘s properties page should be checked to see if it has any system or log files on the volume to be rolled back, and if so, that storage group should be suspended until the rollback is over.
5. Roll back the volumes using the Replay Administrative console.
6. Upon successful completion of the rollback, resume replication of the storage groups you previously suspended.

Restoring Mail Stores or Storage Groups

To perform a rollback of an individual mail store to an Exchange 2007 CCR cluster, the automatic rollback feature in Replay is not available. Instead, the manual steps below must be performed. Upon correctly performing these steps you should end up with the backed-up version of the mail store restored to the active CCR node, servicing end users with a healthy copy in progress. DO the following:

1. Stop all Replay snapshots until resumed.
2. In the Exchange Management Console suspend storage group copy for the storage group that contains the database you are about to restore.
3. In Exchange Management Console, dismount the database you are about to restore.
4. In Replay Administrative console, mount as read-only the recovery point that contains the database you are about to restore.
5. On the ACTIVE CCR node move or delete ALL files that comprise the storage group or Exchange database you are restoring from their respective directories.
6. Copy ALL files that comprise the storage group or Exchange database you are restoring from the mounted snap to their corresponding directories on the ACTIVE CCR node.
7. In Exchange Management Console, mount the restored Exchange database.
8. In Exchange Management Console, on the PASSIVE node, perform Update Storage Group Copy operation on the suspended copy.
9. When asked about clearing existing logs or checkpoints always answer YES.

1406 Error Message

You may receive the following error message when installing Replay Core or the Replay agent on a protected server even if you have administrative privileges on the server:

Error 1406. Setup cannot write the value to the registry key <Registry Key>. Verify that you have sufficient permissions to access the registry …

To resolve this situation, do the following:

1. Login to the server with domain administrative privileges.
2. Create a system restore point and create a backup of the registry.
3. Go to the following link and download and install SUBINACL: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e8ba3e56-d8fe-4a91-93cf-ed6985e3927b
4. Stop all registry cleaner and anti-virus programs.
5. Copy the following text below into a text file named “reset.cmd”

cd /d “%ProgramFiles%\Windows Resource Kits\Tools”

subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f

/grant=system=f subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f

/grant=system=f subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f

subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f

subinacl /subdirectories %windir%*.* /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f

secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

6. Run reset.cmd with administrative rights (it may take a LONG time)
7. Reboot the server and re-install the Replay agent or Replay Server.

Volume Shadow Copy Service Issues

Enabling the Exchange VSS writer

By default, the Setup program for Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 turns off the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 writer for the Volume Shadow Copy service. The Exchange 2003 writer may cause conflicts with the Backup utility (NTBackup.exe). However, you can manually turn on the Exchange writer for use with third-party backup software. The following information is an abstraction of the article How to turn on the Exchange writer for the Volume Shadow Copy service in Windows Small Business Server 2003.

For the full article and any updates, go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/838183.

Cautions and Warnings

• If you turn on the Exchange writer, the Backup utility cannot back up the Exchange information store and the system state at the same time. Turn on the Exchange writer only if you use a third-party backup solution, or if you want to back up the Exchange information store separately.
• If you run or develop a third-party backup program that uses the Volume Shadow Copy service to back up Exchange Server 2003, you must turn on the Exchange writer in the registry.
• If you turn on the Exchange writer, the Backup utility cannot back up the Exchange information store and the system state at the same time. Turn on the Exchange writer only if you use a third-party backup solution, or if you want to back up the Exchange information store separately.
• This section contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. Note: Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it.
• For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756 “How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.”

To turn on the Exchange writer, do the following:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then double-click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersSystem

3. Double-click the Disable Exchange Writer value.
4. In the Value data text box, change the value from 1 to 0, and then click OK.
5. Quit Registry Editor.
6. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
7. Stop and then restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service.

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 uses the Volume Shadow Copy service to back up open files. The Volume Shadow Copy service uses a writer component to back up files and settings that are specific to a program, such as Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. The writer component tells the Volume Shadow Copy service which files to back up and then pauses corresponding services while the backup is in progress.

For example, the writer for Exchange Server 2003 tells the Volume Shadow Copy service to back up the information store databases, log files, and system files. The
Exchange writer also tells the Exchange services to delay any new transactions, to finish current transactions, and to copy data in memory to a hard disk to complete the backup process.

In Windows Server 2003, the Backup utility starts the Volume Shadow Copy service during system state backups. The Volume Shadow Copy service starts the writers that are registered in Windows. For example, if the Exchange writer is registered, the Volume Shadow Copy service starts the Exchange writer.

The Exchange writer may cause conflicts with the information store backup feature of the Backup utility. The information store backup feature uses online streaming to back up the Exchange databases. If the Exchange writer is registered, the Backup utility may log errors if you try to back up the system state and the Exchange information store at the same time. (For example, the Backup utility may log Event ID 8019.)

Because Windows Small Business Server serves as both a Windows Server 2003-based domain controller and an Exchange 2003 server, the Windows Small Business Server Setup program turns off the Exchange writer to prevent problems while the Backup utility backs up the system state and the Exchange information store.

For more information, go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822896/ “Exchange Server 2003 data back up and Volume Shadow Copy services.”

Determining if you have a VSS Problem

Replay Agent uses the VSS built in to Windows 2003 and Windows 2008 to deliver image snapshots of the application workload. The Volume Shadow Copy Service is installed by default on a Windows Server 2003 server. It is set to start manually and will run if a requester (Backup program) can use the writers in the system.

When a VSS error occurs, the Replay Agent, by default, retries the VSS snapshot process six times at thirty second intervals. The number of retries and retry interval are configurable via two Replay registry settings. See Required Hot Fixes in this document for information on Microsoft patches available to resolve VSS issues.

Transient VSS Errors

VSS_E_MAXIMUM_NUMBER_OF_VOLUMES_REACHED

VSS_E_SNAPSHOT_SET_IN_PROGRESS

VSS_E_MAXIMUM_NUMBER_OF_SNAPSHOTS_REACHED

VSS_E_PROVIDER_VETO

VSS_E_UNEXPECTED

VSS_E_FLUSH_WRITES_TIMEOUT

VSS_E_HOLD_WRITES_TIMEOUT

VSS_E_WRITERERROR_TIMEOUT

VSS_E_WRITERERROR_RETRYABLE

VSS_E_WRITERERROR_OUTOFRESOURCES

VSS_E_WRITER_NOT_RESPONDING

VSS_E_VOLUME_IN_USE

VSS_E_PROVIDER_IN_USE

VSS_E_UNEXPECTED_PROVIDER_ERROR

VSS_E_UNEXPECTED_WRITER_ERROR

Replay VSS Registry Setting Options

Two DWORD registry values control the retry behavior in the event of a transient VSS error. The options are located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\AppAssure\ReplayEPS.

• vss_retry_count. Specifies the number of times the VSS snapshot process will be retried if a transient error occurs. The default value is to retry 10 times.
• vss_retry_delay. Specifies the number of seconds to wait between retries of the VSS snapshot process should a transient error occur. The default value is to wait 30 seconds.

Controlling the VSS diff area size

You may receive one of the following messages after changing one of the VSS registry options:

• The shadow copy of volume C: took too long to install
• The shadow copy of volume C: was aborted because the diff area file could not grow in time

If you do receive one of these messages, consider reducing the I/O load on the system to avoid this problem in the future. If these events still occur, then the following registry key can be used to control the size of the diff area used by VSS:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VolSnap\MinDiffAreaFileSize: REG_DWORD : <size in MB>

The default size is 300, You can increase it up to 3000.

Recommended event log maximum size

Microsoft reports that if the event logs are sufficiently large, the copy operation can take longer than the timeout for systems with high I/O load or high memory load. For this reason, Microsoft recommends that logs are kept below 64MB in size.

Exchange Service Hangs During Snapshots

In scenarios where there is heavy I/O on the Exchange Server and significant file churn, the VSS snapshot service may hang, which causes Exchange to freeze. Microsoft has addressed this issue with hot fix 916841. To obtain the hot fix, go to http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=916841&kbln=en-us. Complete the online form. Microsoft will send the hot fix to you within ten minutes.

Capturing Additional VSS Information During Troubleshooting

To capture VSS Writer information at the command prompt, type:

Vssadmin list writers

A list of all installed VSS writers appears. Unless you are currently taking a snapshot, all VSS writers in the list should show a status of Stable. If the Microsoft Exchange Writer shows a state of Error_Retryable, attempt to take another snapshot.

Any Exchange Writer showing a status of Failed_Retryable will require a server reboot. If the list of writers continues to show errors, contact AppAssure Support.

Volume Shadow Copy Time-Out Error

Time-out errors occur in volume shadow copy service writers, resulting in lost shadow copies during backup or during instances of high input/output activity. Windows Server 2003 (x86, SP1) hotfix67560 resolves this issue. The following is an extraction from the VSS update package available for Windows Server 2003 (for latest version of article and any updated information, go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833167/en=us#2 ).

When you start a backup process, some Volume Shadow Copy service writers may receive time-out errors that cause the backup to fail. A Volume Shadow Copy service writer is a program or a service that uses the Volume Shadow Copy service to save information before a shadow copy is created. For example, when you use a backup program (such as NTBackup), the backup may not be completed, and you may receive the following error message:

Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy: 800423f4 (or the values 800423f2 or 800423f3).

To diagnose the Volume Shadow Copy service writer problem, run the vssadmin command immediately after the backup failure:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type vssadmin list writers.

This command lists the Volume Shadow Copy service writers and the current state of each writer. For example, the output might indicate that the Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) or the Microsoft Active Directory writer failed. You may experience time-out errors on several writers, including the MSDE writer, the SQL writer, the NT Directory Service (NTDS) writer, the Windows Internet Naming System (WINS) writer, the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) writer, the Remote Storage writer, the certification authority writer, and the Microsoft Exchange writer. The following is sample output:

C:\>VSSADMIN LIST WRITERS

[...]

Writer name: ‘NTDS’

Writer Id: {b2014c9e-8711-4c5c-a5a9-3cf384484757}

Writer Instance Id: {26ed439f-4a52-481d-963d-5db5b695d9e7}

State: [10] Failed

Last error: Retryable error

Additionally, certain time-out errors can be identified by looking in the application event log. The following are two examples:

Event ID: 12290

Description: Volume Shadow Copy Service warning: ESENT ERROR {b2014c9e-8711-4c5c-a5a9-3cf384484757} NTDS: -2402. hr = 0×00000000.

Event ID: 2004

Description: Shadow copy 6 time-out (20000 ms).

You may experience a problem that causes certain Volume Shadow Copy service writers to time out during a lengthy shadow copy creation. This problem occurs especially on computers that have slow hard disk drives, low memory, or low CPU speed. This problem may also occur on computers that have the disk write cache disabled (for example, on a domain controller computer).

Shadow copy creation includes a complex sequence of inter-process calls. The inter-process calls make sure that all the important Volume Shadow Copy service writers flush their data buffers during shadow copy creation. These programs include SQL, Exchange Server, operating system services, and other programs. Additionally, some Volume Shadow Copy service writers, like the Exchange writer, do not write during a predefined time interval. This waiting period permits the shadow copy to be created during the time interval. The writers wait to write so that the contents of the shadow copy will be consistent with their data buffers. However, if the CPU speed is low, is undergoing high memory usage, or has high input/output levels, you may experience the following behaviors:

• The writers do not flush their data buffers
• The writers do not wait the time interval before they write
• When this problem occurs, shadow copy creation fails

Volume Shadow Copy service writers may fail with similar errors because of other conditions. These conditions include a lack of disk space or improper configuration of the computer. The Windows Server 2003 (x86, SP1) hotfix67560 addresses only the specific time-out errors that might randomly occur in Volume Shadow Copy service writers during backup. Microsoft highly recommends that you review the event log for any other potential Volume Shadow Copy service errors that might generate a writer failure.

Another related symptom is that shadow copies of shared network folders may have been deleted. When this problem occurs, the following error message appears in the event log:

Event Type: Error

Event Source: VolSnap

Event Category: None

Event ID: 25

Description:

The shadow copies of volume VolumeName were aborted because the diff area file could not grow in time. Consider reducing the IO load on this system to avoid this problem in the future. In the message, VolumeName is the name of the volume that is scheduled for backup.

You may also experience a problem in the Volsnap.sys driver that causes the shadow copy to be deleted when input/output is high. This problem may occur especially when the disk write cache is disabled (for example, on a domain controller computer).

By default, the shadow copy provider that is included in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 is used to create shadow copies for backup purposes. The shadow copies are implemented by using a copy-on-write implementation. The differences are copied in the shadow copy storage area. In the Volume Shadow Copy service, you can use either the shadow copy management tool or the vssadmin command.

In the original released version of Windows Server 2003, the initial shadow copy storage area that is allocated for shadow copy creation is 100 megabytes. However, the actual space that is used is much smaller. As time passes, the allocated space may increase as more data is modified on the original volume. However, when input/output traffic is high on the original volume, the shadow copy storage area cannot grow fast enough to hold all the copy-on-write changes. This behavior causes deletion of all the shadow copies on the original volume. This problem is more noticeable in domain controller configurations. By default, the disk write cache is disabled in domain controller configurations.

A similar problem is caused by defragmenting a volume that has a small cluster size. In this situation, all shadow copies are deleted, and the event error that is listed in earlier this section is logged. For additional information about losing shadow copies during a disk defragmentation, go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/312067/ and view the article “Shadow copies may be lost when you defragment a volume” in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Event error ID 2004 may be logged when there are corrupted NTFS file system volumes. To determine whether this is the problem, run the Chkdsk.exe program with the /f switch.

Writer time-out errors might also appear during a system-state backup if the security (audit) log is extremely large. It is best to back up the system-state periodically, or to clear the log periodically. Application of hotfix67560 reduces the occurrence of this issue by permitting certain writers more time to prepare for the shadow copy process. This hot fix also changes the minimum initial shadow copy storage area from 100 MB to 300 MB.

Invalid disk configuration when booting an exported virtual machine

Protected servers may have small system utility partitions on the C drive. Since these system utility partitions are not exported during the Replay export to virtual machine process, special modification must be made to the boot.ini file of the protected server so that the exported virtual machine boots correctly.

If the protected server‘s boot file has the following entry, it needs to be modified:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows 2003 Server”

The “partition(2)” value indicates the presence of a utility partition on the server.

To modify the file so that the utility partition is exported, do the following:

1. Save a copy of the boot.ini file.
2. Remove the read-only flag from the protect server‘s boot.ini file.
3. Copy the line ?multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows 2003 Server” and paste the line BELOW the original entry.
4. Change the partition entry from 2 to 1.

The resulting entry should read:

Multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows 2003 Server”

The modified file should look like this:

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows 2003 Server”

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows 2003 Server”

5. Save the file.
6. Perform the export to virtual machine operation. The virtual machine should boot normally.

Accidental Boot of a Standby Machine while Production Exchange Running

An exact replica of a production Exchange server should never be present on your network. Such a situation will cause email messaging operations to fail. Should a standby machine be brought online while the production Exchange server is still operational, the situation can be resolved by performing the following steps:

(Warning. Do NOT use ADUC to remove the Exchange server computer account from Active Directory. The computer account references a great deal of Exchange metadata in Active Directory and such information is VERY difficult to recreate.)

1. Shut down the standby machine.
2. Confirm that you cannot use a domain account to log into your production Exchange server.
3. Check that the production Exchange server has a local administrator‘s account.
4. Remove the Exchange server from the domain and add it to Workgroup.
5. Reboot the Exchange Server, and then re-add it to the original domain.
6. Reboot the server one more time and log in using a domain-based account.
7. Check that all storage groups have correctly mounted.

Sending Replay logs/dumpfiles and why they are needed

Replay 4 records all activity in the Replay log files located in the root folder of the system drive. These logs are very useful for troubleshooting problems, determining error conditions and identifying defects.

Relocating the Replay.log file

It may be necessary to relocate the Replay.log file to a different location (i.e., from C: to D:) Before you perform the steps below, make a copy of your original replay.log file in the event you need to troubleshoot events that occurred while this file was active.

To relocate the replay.log file, do the following:

1. Stop the Replay Agent or Replay Core service on the server you wish to make the change.
2. Open the log.properties file using Notepad or another text editor. This file‘s default location is C:\Program Files\Appassure Software\Replay\log.properties.
3. In the second section of this file, create a duplicate of the following line:

log4cplus.appender.logFile.File=${SystemDrive}\Replay.log

4. Place a “#” sign in front of the original line in order to comment it out.
5. Within the second line, change “${SystemDrive}” to location where you are moving the file). The file should look like this after the change:

#log4cplus.appender.logFile.File=${SystemDrive}\Replay.log log4cplus.appender.logFile.File=D:\Replay.log

6. Save the changes made to the file
7. Exit the text editor.
8. Restart the Replay Agent or Server service. Check the new location to make sure that a new replay.log file has been created.

Disabling Circular Logging

You should NOT utilize circular logging in your Exchange environment when installing Replay.

Although circular logging is enabled by default, circular logging is not recommended with VSS.

To disable circular logging, do the following:

1. Right click your first Storage Group.
2. Select Properties.
3. Deselect the checkbox that enables circular logging.

Microsoft’s recommendation regarding the use of Exchange circular logging and VSS is as follows:

When circular logging is disabled, the VSS allows for full, copy, incremental, and differential backups. For each backup type, when the requesting backup/restore application issues the Freeze command, the Exchange store closes the current E0n.log file and renames it to E0nXXXXX.log. The Exchange store then creates another file named E0ntmp.log, and then suspends all write activities to the logs files during the backup. After the backup operation is completed, the requesting backup/restore application issues the Thaw command, Exchange store renames the e0ntmp.log file to E0n.log, and then resumes writing log entries to it.

When circular logging is enabled, incremental and differential backups are not permitted. When freezing a storage group for a full or copy backup with circular logging enabled, the Exchange store stops writing into the current log file and deletes the E0ntmp.log file. After the backup operation is completed, the requesting backup/restore application issues the Thaw command, and Exchange store continues writing to the log file.

JET error 1032 when trying to mount a recovery point

You may get the following event ID message logged to the Application event log (a JET error 1032) when trying to mount a recovery point:

Event Type: Error

Event Source: ESE

Event Category: General

Event ID: 490

Date: Date

Time: Time

User: N/A

Computer: Server_Name

Description: Information Store (1608) First Storage Group: An attempt to open the file “C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb” for read / write access failed with system error 5 (0×00000005): “Access is denied. ” The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).

Such an error may occur if you do not have the appropriate permissions assigned to the folder or drive that contains the Exchange databases (i.e., the MDBDATA folder), especially if you have performed a default Replay install. Below is an abstract of the Microsoft Knowledgebase article on this issue (for the full article and any updated information, go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823022).

Exchange 2007

If you are using Exchange 2007 to resolve this issue, you will need to grant the default permissions to the folder that contains the Exchange databases and to the drive on which this folder resides. To grant the default permissions to the folder that contains the Exchange databases, do the following:

1. Start Windows Explorer, and then move to the folder that contains the Exchange databases.
2. Right-click the folder, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Security tab, and then grant the following default permissions.

Account	Permissions
Administrators	Full Control
System	Full Control

To grant the default permissions to the drive that contains the Exchange database folder, follow these steps:

1. Start Windows Explorer.
2. Right-click the Local Disk object that contains the Mdbdata folder, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Security tab, and then grant the following default permissions, according to the operating system:

For Windows 2000 Server:

Account	Permissions
Everyone	Full Control

For Windows Server 2003:

Account	Permissions
Administrators	Full Control
Creator Owner	None
Everyone	None
System	Full Control
Users	Read and Execute, List Folder Contents, Read

Exchange 2003

If you are using Exchange 2003, to resolve this issue you need to grant the default permissions to the Mdbdata folder and to the root of the drive that contains the Mdbdata folder. To grant the default permissions to the Mdbdata folder, do the following:

1. Start Windows Explorer, and then expand the Exchsrvr folder.
2. Right-click the Mdbdata folder, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Security tab, and then grant the following default permissions:

Account	Permissions
Administrators	Full Control
Authenticated Users	Read and Execute, List Folder Contents, Read
Creator Owner	None
Server Operators	Modify, Read and Execute, List Folder Contents, Read, Write
System	Full Control

To grant the default permissions to the drive that contains the Mdbdata folder, follow these steps:

4. Start Windows Explorer.
5. Right-click the Local Disk object that contains the Mdbdata folder, and then click Properties.
6. Click the Security tab, and then grant the following default permissions, according to the operating system:

For Windows 2000 Server:

Account	Permissions
Everyone	Full Control

For Windows Server 2003:

Account	Permissions
Administrators	Full Control
Creator Owner	None
Everyone	None
System	Full Control
Users	Read and Execute, List Folder Contents, Read

7. To mount the affected mailbox or public store, start Exchange System Manager, right-click the mailbox or the public store, and then click Mount Store.

Authentication

If the Replay Core is unable to connect to the Replay Agent, please verify the following requirements:

The account used to install and execute the Replay Core service can be a local administrator account or a domain account that has administrator privileges on the server. If you are protecting servers across domains, you have 2 options.

• Use an account that belongs to the same domain as the server or another domain with a trust relationship between domains.
• Use pass-through authentication.

The Replay Core service does not require domain administrator privileges, only a domain user account with local administrator privileges.

If you are protecting Exchange workloads, the Replay Agent service must run under an Exchange administrator account, which must also have local administrative privileges on the Exchange server.

It is recommended that the service account is not a domain administrator account or administrator account. The account should be an Exchange administrator for the Replay Agent and should have local administrative privileges for both the Replay Agent service and Replay Core service.

If the credentials are invalid, the Replay Agent and Replay Core services will not be able to authenticate.

For proper e-mail restore operation (e-mail restore using MailRetriever), the account used to launch MailRetriever must have full control permission granted on the database you will be performing restores to, including ?send as “and ?receive as” permissions.

Note: You can install Replay using a local administrator account. However, when protecting application servers, many tasks require domain user privileges. In this case, we recommend installing Replay using a domain account that is a member of the domain administrators group.

For more detailed information, please the AppAssure Knowledge Base at http://kb.AppAssure .com.

Replication

You may need to troubleshoot the connection between a Replication Target and a Replication Source. When setting up replication between two Replay Cores, clicking the ‘Connect’ button to connect to the target Core may fail, resulting in the following error:

“Unable to establish connection. Please make sure the Replay Core you are trying to reach is available.”

Do the following to troubleshoot this issue:

1. Test the connection using the following command:

http://hostname:8080/ntlm/authenticate

Login using the credentials of the Replay Core service. If this does not succeed, check the firewall setting on the replication target server.

2. This despite verifying the credentials are valid administrator credentials on the target Replay core.

This may happen if the target Core is running Windows 2008, Windows Vista, or Windows 7, and the administrator credentials being used are those of a local (that is, not domain) administrator user. Due to the design of Windows UAC, local administrators authenticated remotely are never elevated, thus do not have the permissions necessary to establish replication on that Core.

To workaround this problem, use either a domain account with local admin rights on the target Core, or disable UAC for administrators in Admin Approval mode using the secpol.msc tool as described at:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-user-account-controluac-for-administrators-only/

Replay Operational Stages

The Replay operational stages are as follows:

1. Base Image Creation (Initial Synchronization) – Base images are created once for each protection group and represent a complete copy of the original source.
2. Block Journaling – Block journaling uses our patent-pending technology to efficiently store and log the changes in a transaction-consistent manner that can be quickly recovered.
3. Image Snapshots (Differentials) – Snapshots are taken on a predefined interval and the Replay Agent uses the change logs to process them.
4. Data Store Integrity Checking – Integrity checks occur when a snapshot is taken to validate the integrity of the Exchange data stores. Replay supports 2 modes for checking: data store mount tests and full integrity checks. The mount test will roll the logs and ensure that the data store is mountable. The full integrity check will do an exhaustive check of the data store looking for logical and physical corruption. The processing occurs on the Replay Core and is offloaded from the Exchange server.
5. Rollback (Offline Restore) – Rollback is the process of restoring a recovery point on to a particular volume while the volume is dismounted. The volume becomes accessible once the rollback is complete.
6. LiveReplay (Live Restore) – Instant replay is the process of restoring a recovery point to the original volume through a virtually mounted recovery point. The volume is accessible by Exchange throughout the duration of Replay .
7. Recovery Point Mounts – Mounts uses our patent-pending technology to virtualize the recovery points and present them as mounted volumes. These volumes are accessible from any Windows application and Exchange maintenance tool.

Base Image Creation

Replay creates a base image when a server is initially protected and represents a complete clone of the protected server. The Replay Agent sends the image creation information to a Replay Core for processing. Once it is received, the data is uniquely indexed, compressed and deduplicated before it is stored. While having virtually no impact on the production application server, the processing is performed on a Replay Core. Cores can be local to the protected server or distributed throughout the LAN and WAN depending on resource requirements.

Typically, the performance of the base image will be limited by the write speed of the Replay core disk subsystem. For network speeds less than a GigE, the network connection between the protected server and the Replay Core will be the determining factor. The table below shows the amount of time it would take, at different network speeds, to transmit various amounts of data under optimal conditions.

Time Required to Transfer Data over a Network at Various Speeds

Data size	Network speed 1000 Mbps	Network speed 100 Mbps	Network speed 2 Mbps	Network speed 512 Kbps
1 GB	<30 sec	90 sec	1.5 hrs	6 hrs
50 GB	25 min	1.5 hrs	71 hrs	284 hrs
200 GB	1.5 hrs	6 hrs	284 hrs	1137 hrs
500 GB	4 hrs	15 hrs	711 hrs	2844 hrs

Mbps = megabits per second. Kbps = kilobits per second.

Notes: Typically, the time to complete initial base image can be calculated as follows:

BI: hours = [(data size in MB) / (.8 x network speed in MB/s)] / 3600

For GigE switched networks, the limiting factor will be the disk write performance. If the disk write speed on a SATA raid array is 50Mbps, then the throughput will be 50Mbps, not 102Mbps as defined by the formula.

Block Capture

Upon initiation of the base image, the Replay Agent begins tracking all of the volume block changes in real-time. When the protection interval is reached, a VSS snapshot is taken and only the changed blocks are transferred to a Replay Core. Typical Exchange environments change rates are 7-10% daily, so an interval of 15 minutes will result in a relatively small change log. For example, if a data store of 30GB is being protected, an 8% change rate would suggest a daily change rate of 2.4GB. With a 15 minute snapshot interval, and considering a normal activity spread throughout the day, each snapshot would generate 60MB of changed data uncompressed and 18MB compressed.

Snapshots

A Replay snapshot is an application consistent point-in-time image of a virtual or physical server protected by Replay. The initial snapshot is called a base image and contains a block image of the server. Once a base image is processed by a Replay Core, incremental block changes are logged and processed by a REPLAY Core on a predefined interval. The Replay Core indexes, compresses, and deduplicates the blocks and stores them in the repository. The Replay Core can be local to the protected server or distributed throughout the LAN and WAN. The protected server automatically synchronizes incremental changes with a REPLAY Core on a predefined interval.

Tuning Performance

Overall performance is determined by capacity and workload. A slow computer may perform adequately when it has a light workload. In contrast, the performance of an extremely powerful computer may suffer when challenged by an excessive workload. When tuning performance between two machines across the network, the limiting factor is the component with the least capacity. This may be the computer processing power (impacted by optional data compression), disk I/O, or network. Typically, performance can be improved by modifying the capacity of the components and adjusting the workload.

Capacity Enhancements

Performance can be improved by implementing more cores. Cores can be run locally to the protected server or distributed throughout the network. If a Replay Core is limited by capacity, implement another core as a new virtual machine or on a new physical server. Also note the following:

• Using striped volumes can increase disk throughput to deal with disk bottlenecks. In order of disk speed performance improvement (low to high), the following configurations can be used as disk subsystems of a server: IDE/ATA, SATA 3GB, SATA Striped Array, SCSI, and SCSI Striped Array, NAS.
• Increasing memory allocated to the Replay Core improves the performance of mount/recovery point replay operations. This upgrade is a relatively inexpensive and will result in a noticeable improvement in capture and restore performance.
• Adding more processors or upgrading to faster processors can reduce CPU issues and improve compression performance.

Please consult the AppAssure Knowledge Base at http://kb.AppAssure.com for the latest regarding performance tuning.

Workload Tuning

Replay offers several parameters that can be used to tune the workload performance, as follows:

Feature	Result
Stagger Base Image Creation Times	Balances the loads of base image creation across protection groups by manipulating the start times
Tuning Parameters	Used to balance available memory against throughput requirements

Staggering Base Image Creation Start Times

You can specify the starting time of the base image creation on a per protected server basis. Replay will automatically serialize base image creation on a protected server to minimize the performance impact.

Tuning Parameters

Replay performance can be controlled with a set of registry parameters on both the protected server and the Replay cores. By increasing these values, more memory will be consumed to hold the outstanding buffers, and there is a point of diminishing returns. The default values are adequate for most systems; however, on larger servers with more free memory, performance will improve by increasing these values. We suggest that you increase the value incrementally and test the results.

Replay Core Parameters

The following are Replay Core parameters:

NumOutstandingTpOps is a DWORD indicating how many TransmitPackets calls to keep outstanding. The default is 2.

MaxPackets is a DWORD indicating how many packets to send with each TransmitPackets call. The default is 10 (and should be an even multiple of 2).

OutStandingReadCount is a DWORD indicating how many reads/writes to keep outstanding – default is 10.

Replay Agent Parameters

The following are Replay Agent parameters:

NumOutstandingTpOps is a DWORD indicating how many TransmitPackets calls to keep outstanding. The default is 2.

MaxPackets is a DWORD indicating how many packets to send with each TransmitPackets call. The default is 10 (and should be an even multiple of 2).

OutStandingReadCount is a DWORD indicating how many reads/writes to keep outstanding – default is 10.

NOTE: The values should be modified on both the protected server and the server running the Replay Core. Also, the NumOutstandingTpOps and MaxPackets should be equal.

To modify the parameters, follow the steps below.

1. Click start; click run; type “regedit;” click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AppAssure\ReplayEPS.
3. Locate the NumOutstandingTpOps value.
4. On the edit menu, click Modify.
5. Change the value to the desired value.
6. Locate the MaxPackets value.
7. On the edit menu, click Modify.
8. Change the value to the desired value.
9. Locate the OutStandingReadCount value (only on the protected server).
10. On the edit menu, click Modify.
11. Change the value to the desired value.

Once the changes are made, the services will use them on the next snapshot interval.

Rollup Considerations

Retention policies are used to control the recovery point retention time on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

• Rollups occur automatically on a scheduled basis and begin when the nightly job is scheduled.
• During the rollup process, snapshots continue but Exchange Data Store validations are suspended until the rollup is complete

Knowledge Base

For the latest how-to articles and support information, visit the AppAssure Knowledge Base at http://kb.AppAssure.com.

Glossary

Base Image  - A base image represents an application-consistent, point-in-time, block replica of a complete volume. Base images usually represent time zero and serve as the basis of a recovery point. Base images are performed at the protection group level. If a protection group contains three volumes, then all three volumes are included in the snapshot.  The base images are compressed and deduplicated to the same disk space. Bare Metal Recovery – Bare metal recovery is the process of recovering a system that contains no bootable OS software or before the OS has been booted.   Continuous Application Protection(CAP) – CAP continuously images the entire server in real-time by capturing all volume block I/O activity and storing the results on a Replay Core as images. EDB - An EDB is an Exchange data store file that contains e-mails. Incrementals – Incrementals represent an application-consistent, point-in-time block changes from the last snapshot or base image and are additive on top of the base image. NOTE: A base image must exist to build a point-in-time recovery point. Live Replay - Replay offers a unique Live Replay capability that dramatically reduces volume recovery times by virtualizing each application’s disk read/write operations onto a chosen recovery point while the recovery point is being restored to the physical disk in the background. This function allows for continuous application availability during hot online restores.   MailRetriever - Utilizes the Microsoft JET API to detect and analyze Exchange data store corruption. If corruption is detected, a detailed description is provided along with a recovery tool that surgically extracts the recoverable e-mail objects to an online store or a PST file. Additionally, Replay includes a robust search capability and granular recovery options such as “Differential” and ”Full.”     Mailbox Store - A mailbox store (or Exchange data store) is a set of files that represents an Exchange e-mail database, which contains users’ mailbox data.    Mounted Recovery Points –  Mounted recovery points are virtual representations of an application-consistent, point-in-time volume. The mounted recovery points are represented to Windows as a virtual volume and may be manipulated with standard Windows utilities such as Explorer.  Mount Points - A mount point is Windows term used to represent a volume that is mounted to an empty directory; i.e., the directory becomes the root of the volume. Replay leverages mount points as a mount option. For example, Replay will mount a recovery point to C:\PG, as follows:  C:\PG\VOL1 > Volume 1 is mounted here  C:\PG\VOL2 > Volume 2 is mounted here C:\PG\VOL3 > Volume 3 is mounted here  Physical Standby - This feature continuously mirrors the production machine to a standby machine by updating the standby machine with the latest changed blocks from the image. In the event of a server failure, this machine can be brought online immediately, minimizing downtime, with a simple reboot.  Recovery Points - A recovery point is a collection of incrementals and a base image that represent an application-consistent recovery point for a volume or set of volumes. For example, an Exchange storage group may span volumes and hence must be captured and recovered as a synchronized group. Recovery points contain base images and incrementals for each volume within the protection group.  Replay Recover Anywhere (RRA) - The Replay Recover Anywhere option delivers Replay recovery points to dissimilar hardware.  It enables P2P, P2V, V2P, V2V for migrations and bare-metal disaster recovery purposes. Replay Cores – Cores processes backups, validates application integrity, compresses and deduplicates snapshots and replicates them over the WAN to a remote disaster recovery site.  Cores can be local to the server being protected or distributed throughout the network enabling a flexible and scalable backup and disaster recovery configuration. Rollbacks/Restores – Rollbacks are the process of restoring a server, volume, storage group, data store, directory, or file to a particular point in time. Rollup and Retention – Rollup refers to the ability to merge multiple recovery points into a single recovery point for management purposes. For example, you may want to rollup the recovery points for a given day into one recovery point and store it for 3 months. After 3 months, you may want to delete it.  Storage Groups - A storage group is an Exchange management object that contains a collection of volumes, data stores, and log files.  STM - An STM is an Exchange data store file that contains streaming data such as attachments.   Replay Live - Employs a unique instant Replay capability, which dramatically reduces volume recovery times from hours to minutes regardless of the data set size. Once a rollback is initiated, the volume and storage groups are mounted immediately providing users access to e-mail during the recovery process. Replay Mounts - Leveraging continuous application protection capabilities, Replay serves up volume-based views into any point-in-time recovery point. These readable, writable, and recoverable volume-based views are virtual mount points that represent application-consistent snapshots of the application server for data mining and folder and file restores. Volume Clusters - Volume clusters are a collection of volumes that have an Exchange or domain controller interdependency.  Replay will list volume clusters as a volume group in the administrative console. Virtual Standby – The Virtual Standby feature enables you export the latest recovery point to a VMware virtual machine. The virtual machine is updated continuously as new recovery points are created. Virtual machines are automatically created and maintained from the image snapshots directly on an ESX VMFS data store.  In the event of a failure, simply boot the standby virtual machine– it is an exact clone of the protected server.  This approach is a risk-free approach for testing DR preparedness and for testing patches and updates.  Unfold – Replay has the ability to unfold a complete server environment on a new machine or virtual server environment in the event of a complete system failure. A complete system environment includes the OS environment, application environment and its data.