Replication Manual 1. Product Information Product: BackupAgent Replication Option Version: 4.0 2. Introduction BackupAgent Replication is an optional module for the BackupAgent Cloud Backup Platform (BackupAgent Platform) server software that allows the replication of data on storage locations to an external location. Replication can be used to create a backup of the backups for failover purposes.
The BackupAgent Platform server software: The server’s Management Console is used for configuration and monitoring of replication. It is available from v4.0. The Replication Client: Component is installed on storage location and responsible for the actual replication of the data on the storage locations to the Replication Server. The Replication Server: Component is installed on the replication destination: the location data is replicated to. This component cooperates with the client component.
Always use the same version number of the Replication Client component as the BackupAgent Platform. After running the setup, the Replication Client shall be installed as a separate windows service called ‘BackupAgent Replication Client’. 3.
.1.2 Appliance: support of LAN based backup + replication This scenario combines LAN speed backup and restore with failsafe remote backup. The BackupAgent Platform server software is installed in the local network of a company. Desktop and server clients use this server for fast LAN speed backups and restores. The replication module replicates the data from the server to a remote location. 4.
For every replication task a replication window can be configured. The window specifies the time replication is allowed to run. This way you can configure replication to run in non-peak hours. When a replication runs out of the window, the account it was replicating at that moment will be finished, and after this, the replication is suspended. When the replication window is entered again, replication will automatically resume from the next account. 4.2.
The above implies that the configuration of a replication task basically means selecting a Replication Client to replicate from, and a replication destination to replicate to. 4.3 Components The replication module consists out of three components: configuration and monitoring is part of the BackupAgent Platform server; Replication Client; Replication Server. 4.3.1 BackupAgent Platform As of release 4.0 the BackupAgent Platform server software contains the replication module.
the storage location, so keep this in mind when planning your replication topology. See different topology scenarios below. 5.1.1 Scenario 1: Simple replication of local disks Replication Client is installed on BA server with local storage Replication Server is installed on different machine with local storage Both servers are connected via IP network with at least port 873 is open 5.1.
5.1.4 Scenario 4: Replication of a Windows based NAS Replication Client is installed on a Windows NAS with local storage Replication Server is installed on a separate machine with local storage Both servers are connected via IP network with at least port 873 is open 5.1.5 Scenario 5: Replication with destination on a Linux based NAS Replication Client is installed on BackupAgent server Replication Server on separate machine with storage on a Windows NAS 5.
Make sure the BackupAgent Platform is at least running v4.0. If this is not the case, you need to upgrade the server to this version. Please contact BackupAgent for instructions. The replication requires an activated module in the license. If this module is activated you are able to configure the Replication from within the Management Console: ‘Server settings’ ‘Replication settings’. If this option is not enabled, please contact BackupAgent for a new license key with the replication option enabled. 5.
License agreement Detection of .Net 4.0 Because the BackupAgent Replication Client is a .Net 4.0 application, it detects if this framework is not installed. If this is not the case, the setup will automatically download and install the .Net 4.0 framework. Please be aware that after installing the .Net framework a reboot is required before you will be able to continue the installation of Replication Client.
Destination of the application Select the destination of the Replication Client application here. This contains the application components to be able to run the Replication Client. Enter web service address Enter the web service address to which the Replication Client should connect to. This is the DNS address your BackupAgent clients connect to. For example: https://onlinebackup.yourdomain.
The setup shall verify this address and warn you if it is unable to connect to your BackupAgent server. Warning message about storage access IMPORTANT: The Local System account is normally unable to map drives. If you use storage locations on other servers than the local machine, you need to reconfigure the new BackupAgent Replication Client's Windows service, so it logs on using a local administrator account.
Installation completed You should have a new windows service installed, called ‘BackupAgent Replication Client’: 13
REMEMBER: If one of your storage locations is not on the local machine, you need to reconfigure this service to run under an account that has the rights to map a drive to that storage location. 5.4 Installing the Replication Server component Install the Replication Client on a Windows based computer which meets these requirements: Windows Server 2008 R2 with latest updates and patches 250 MB available RAM Like the client component, installation is a straight forward process.
Informational step Detection of the .Net 4.0 Framework Because the BackupAgent Replication Server is a .Net 4.0 application, it detects if this framework is installed or not. If this is not the case, the setup shall abort. You can download the .Net 4.0 framework for free from the Microsoft website.
Destination of the application Select the destination where you want the BackupAgent Replication Server to be installed. Note: This is not the location where the replicated data will be stored. Enter the web service address Enter the web service address to which the Replication Client should connect to. Typically this is the DNS address your BackupAgent clients connect to.
For example: https://onlinebackup.yourdomain.com The setup will verify this address and warn you if it is unable to connect to your BackupAgent server. Configuring the Replication Server Select the path where the replicated data should be stored. There should be enough space to contain all the data selected for replication. Enter a custom login name and password which shall be used by the Replication Client to connect. Enter the TCP port number to which the Replication Server should listen.
When receiving the following error message at this step: “A replication destination with the same name (DESTINATION) already exists.” This is probably due to a previous installation of the Replication Server on this machine. When uninstalling the software, the application is removed, but it is not automatically removed from the database. Perform the following steps to correct this: 1.
Setup is completed You should now have a new windows service called ‘Rsync’: Note: The new Windows service does not have ‘BackupAgent’ in the name 19
6. Working with replication Before you start configuring replication, make sure that you upgraded the BackupAgent Platform server to 4.0 or higher, and installed at least one Replication Client and Replication Server component. You can always install extra Replication Clients and Replication Servers later. See the chapter about Installation for more information on how to decide where to install Replication Client and Server components. 6.
The path was provided during the installation of the Replication Server. It is displayed here for your convenience, but cannot be changed. Hostname: The hostname of the machine on which the Replication Server is installed. By default this is the computer name of the machine on which the Replication Server was installed. Port: The port that is being used to listen for incoming replication requests. It is provided during the installation of the Replication Server.
Not Configured: The task is created by the server but was not configured by the administrator yet. Inactive: The task is configured but not active, meaning it won’t run. Active: The task is active; meaning it will run. Error: There is an error with the configuration of the task. An error message will be displayed below the overview fields.
Replication Client: select the Replication Client responsible for replication of this storage location. The Replication Client needs to have access to the storage location. You can test the configuration before saving; the system will then test if the Replication Client you selected has access to the storage location path. Replication destination: select the desired replication destination from the list.
The local storage path you specified is wrong The test will not perform any real replication, but because it does check the communication between all involved components it can take a few seconds up to a minute to complete. When the system reports an error, it will be transient and not stored. This means that if the Status was e.g. 'Active' before you ran the test, and the test returns Error, the value that is stored will still be Active.
Storage location ID: The Id of the storage location that is handled by this task. Status/Last run: Displays the overall status of the replication task, and the status of the last replication run. Progress: The percentage of the total file size that has been processed in the current replication run. Start time: The time the current replication run has started. Current run time: The time the current replication run has been running.
Error: The task is in an error status. This means there is something wrong with the configuration of the task. Check the ‘Replication status’ tab to see the error message. Periodically (every fifteen minutes) the Replication Client component contacts the BA server to collect configuration changes. The indicated the status of the last run of this replication task. It can have the following values: Successful: The run was successfully finished. Failed: The last run failed.
Note that failed replication runs imply that something went wrong during the replication itself. The overall status of task is determined by periodical tests the system performs itself which usually points to configuration problems. The Statistics part of the report displays some useful information on the replication run: Start time, end time, and duration: Please note that duration is not always equal to the end time – start time.
Repair your original storage location Copy all data back from your replication destination to your original storage location Note: Currently, it is not possible to use the Management Console to replicate the data back to the original location. You should use windows explorer, ftp or similar solution to transfer all data 7.2 Temporary redirect all traffic to the replication destination This method is more complex, but has the least downtime for your services.
Perform these steps to configure the destination as a storage location: 1. Login into the Management Console. 2. Go to Server → server settings 3. Open tab ‘storage locations’ 4. Add the replication location as a new storage location 7.2.2 Assign the users from old (failed) storage location to the new storage location Assigning users to a new storage location can be done both manually and automatically. Both options are explained below.
Automatically Reassign all users using the User Reallocation Tool. When using the User Reallocation Tool you can automatically reassign all users from one storage location to another, with or without copying the associated user data. The User Reallocation Tool can be downloaded from the BackupAgent support site. Steps to reallocate using the User Reallocation Tool: 1. Select the backup server location (i.e. the path where BackupAgent Platform is installed) 2. Select the old storage location as source 3.
Note: Make sure, at this stage, you “Assign” users to the new location and do not “Move” users, as this option means that the tool will also try to move the user data to the new location 7.2.3 Solve the problem of the original storage location Once the problem has been solved and the original storage location is back online, you can continue with the next step. 7.2.
Note: Similar as with earlier step, but now select Copy as action, if you want to leave a copy of the user data on the replication destination. By selecting this option, data still remain on the replication destination and is not being removed.
