Administrator Guide

Replay Manager Best Practices
Backing Up Replay Manager Data
The following options exist to create a backup of the Replay Manager data that can be leveraged for disaster recovery.
Backing Up Service Configuration and Database
The Replay Manager Service configuration data and Replay Manager database can be manually copied to another location for safekeeping.
The copy can be used to restore the data if the original data becomes lost or if the server running Replay Manager crashes and the data is
not recoverable. Moreover, if the copy is placed on a Storage Center volume, Storage Center can be used to replicate the volume to a
remote DR site for additional safekeeping.
NOTE: Some data, such as Storage Center passwords, are protected using encryption that is machine-specific.
Therefore, some Replay Manager settings must be reconfigured if the copy is restored on a different server.
For Windows Server, copy all the files in the following directory to another location for safekeeping: C:\ProgramData\Compellent
\ReplayManager.
Backing Up Backup Set Data
Replay Manager can be configured to automatically copy backup set data for a given server to another location for safekeeping.
By default, backup set data is not copied to another location. The copy can be used to restore the data if the original volume containing
the backup set data becomes lost, or if the server running Replay Manager crashes and the Replay Manager configuration data is not
recoverable. Moreover, if the copy is placed on a Storage Center volume, you can use the Storage Center to replicate the volume to a
remote DR site for additional safekeeping.
Related tasks
Configure Servers on page 22
Recovering Data from a Remote Storage Center
Replay Manager is intended to provide only backup and recovery capabilities using individual restore points for Microsoft VSS-enabled
applications on the same Storage Center. Replay Manager is not intended to be an end-to-end automated disaster recovery solution.
However, the snapshots created by Replay Manager can be used for disaster recovery at a remote site. Replays on remote sites appear
like any other Replay taken with the Storage Center Data Instant Replay feature. These Replays can be replicated using Dell Storage
Manager.
Because the Replay Manager application is not used at remote sites, it has no knowledge of the Replays being replicated from the source
system, or that Replays now exist on a different storage system at the recovery site.
The Replays created on remote sites outside of the Replay Manager environment can be used by changing the ReadOnly, ShadowCopy,
and Hidden attributes for the volume. The following procedure outlines the steps required using the Dell Storage Manager and the
DISKPART command. For detailed information about using Storage Center, see the Dell Storage Manager Administrator’s Guide.
Recover Data from a Remote Storage Center
For each volume you want to recover:
1. In Dell Storage Manager, locate the remote site and select the volume to recover.
2. Click the Replays tab in the right pane.
3. Right-click the Replay to recover and select Create Volume from Snapshot.
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