Last updated 5-4-2021
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Backup Overview
We use a system called Rapid Recovery (by Quest). When we originally purchased it, it was Dell App Assure. We have licenses for 2 servers + 14 desktops. Those systems are backed up to the server core. (and there can be an unlimited number of server cores.)
All of the servers and desktops are backed up to btp-backup. (btp-backup is on the server rack, model is dell r720 I believe) Most are backed up about 1x per hour, btp-uv is backed up every 15 minutes. During the weekends, I think the backup time may be every 4 hours.
The mission critical computers (think servers) are replicated to an offsite computer (btp-offsite) throughout the day. The server is currently at Steve & Rene’s.
Steve is possession of 2 portable hard drives for backup archives. (about 8tb each) About every 2-4 months, (whenever I remember) he brings in the older of the two archives. The hard drive gets plugged in on the server rack. (the cables connect to the backup server) This way, there is a cold storage backup in case there is ransomware / other disaster.
There are two main ways to recover data. One is called Bare Metal Restore, and is used to write the backup to a new hard drive. (A complete restore of a system, from the ‘bare metal’.) The other method of recovery is to mount a snapshot as a hard drive, and browse through it and copy the needed files.
Useful Links
For much more detailed / complete / proper documentation, view https://support.quest.com/rapid-recovery/release-notes-guides
Connecting to One of the Backup Servers
(Preferred) Remote via RDP into btp-backup (or btp-offsite, but not as the server to back up to ... only for replication / data verification / restoration purposes.)
Use an account with administrative access.
From the desktop, open the Core Console icon.
Enter admin level credentials (if it prompts you)
(Alternate)Another option to connect to the server is to navigate (when on vpn or inside network) https://btp-backup:8006/apprecovery/admin/, or https://btp-offsite:8006/apprecovery/admin/ for the offsite server
Adding a New System to Be Backed up
There are two main steps to protect a computer with Rapid Recovery. First is to install the software on the system, and then to connect to the installed software from the core.
Connect to btp-backup
Install the software
Option 1
More > Downloads
Download the Agent, and from the downloads folder, copy the Agent-Web.exe installer file to the system it’s to be installed on.
Run the installer on the system to be backed up
Option 2
From the core console, click the down arrow next to ‘Protect’, and click “Deploy Agent Software”
I find this to not be as reliable, but a lot easier if it works for multiple system deployments.
Work your way through the wizard that pops up.
Keep an eye on the task, hopefully it/they install correctly.
Once the agent is installed, add the new system to be protected by btp-backup.
In the Core Console, Click the protect down arrow > Protect Machine.
Enter the computer name and credentials
Select the drives / partitions to be backed up
The hourly schedule is fine
Use the main repository
I always encrypt the data at rest in the repository. I’m not sure how deduplication / compression works, so I always encrypt everything.
Replication
All of our servers and desktops are backed up to the main server (btp-backup). From there, the data can be replicated to as many server cores as desired. However, due to bandwidth limits, we only replicate the essential servers to an offsite location (btp-offsite @ Steve & Rene’s).
How to enable replication
• Remote into / connect to btp-backup
• Open the server core
• Deploy agent software & Protect the computer you want to backup. (look at the ‘Adding a new system to be backed up’ section)
• Click on the Replication Tab (shown in blue above)
• Click the ... button to the right of ‘BTP-Offsite’ in the Outgoing Replication box.
• Click Add Machine, Select the computer to be replicated, and click finish.
Archiving
• Ask Steve to bring in the oldest archive backup hard drive and plug it in. (remove old backup info, ie, the taped on sheet)
• Once it’s plugged in, Remote into btp-backup.
• Clear the old archive data from the drive
Delete ‘AABackup’. This should be several TB in size and may take a few minutes
Double check the drive is empty (go back to this pc, and look at the free space)
• Create a new archive
Open the Core Console from the desktop
Click the ‘Archive’ button at the top of the screen.
Select One-time archive, and click next
Choose Local, and the file path is :\Appassure\
Click next.
Select the vital machines:
btp-dc2, btp-apps, btp-dc1, btp-fs, btp-rd, btp-sql, btp-uv, (optional, pc-pressroom)
Choose about a week’s worth of backup in the from-to box
I think this helps keep total data use down, which is important because our archive hdd’s only hold 7-8tb
Make sure that the ‘Build complete recovery points chains ... ’ is selected. This will make sure that the archive contains the base image.
Click ‘Finish’
• Finish Up
In the core’s top row, click ‘Running tasks:’ and click on the archive task. It will pop open a new dialog window, and in there, the archive size is shown.
If the job is over 7 tb, (or more importantly, larger than the free space left on the hard drive) I would cancel, and retry with a shorter time selected to reduce size. Otherwise both hard drives would be required, and it just would get messy.
Check on the archive status every day or so, Often I would start an archive on Friday, ignore it over the weekend, and it would be done ... Monday / Tuesday? It takes a while.
Once it’s done
message Steve with: What machines were backed up, and what the week of back up was.
Eject the hard drive (like you would a thumb drive, from the task bar)
If it won’t disconnect, reboot the server. Please refer to the Reboot Server section
Print out the message / record it somehow, and tape it to the hard drive.
Data Recovery
To repeat what I said in the summary: There are two main ways to recover data. One is called Bare Metal Restore, and is used to write the backup to a new hard drive. (A complete restore of a system, from the ‘bare metal’.) The other method of recovery is to mount a snapshot as a hard drive, and browse through it and copy the needed files.
Retention policy:
This policy can be edited here:
File Recovery
This option allows the user to restore files from a certain point in time. (assuming the snapshot/recovery point is there)
• Connect to the server core
• Select the machine you would like to restore files from.
• Click ‘Recovery Points’ from the top nav bar.
• On the snapshot, click the ... button, then click ‘Mount’
• Select the drives / partitions you’d like to browse, and click next
• Optional: Create a Windows share for this mount. This allows it to be accessible from the network. \\btp-backup\sharename
• Navigate to the mounted recovery point, and copy necessary files out. Note, this access is read only.
• When finished, unmount
Click the ... > Mounts
Select all the points to unmount, and click ‘Dismount’
Note: it’s important to unmount unneeded points to keep memory usage down.
Bare Metal Restore
This allows restoring an entire hard drive / system to either similar or dissimilar hardware. A complete recovery. I would read the topic about bare metal restore in the user manual before doing this. I have had times where this fails, so it’s best to restore to a different hard drive if possible in case it does fail.
Requirements
• Restoring a system that was backed up successfully (ie. a complete image was made)
• The ‘new’ system is ready and connected to the lan (wired ethernet)
If restoring to same hardware, make sure a new drive is used if possible.
General Steps (note, these are from memory, so phrasing will be off & steps left out)
Connect to the core console
Boot the computer that is to be restored to up with an apprecovery cd image
Create a new cd if necessary
Download / copy the boot cd to your local system.
Burn the image to usb (recommended) or cd.
Use rufus portable or etcher to burn to usb.
Insert the media into the computer and boot from it.
This may take some finagling in the bios.
Write down the Authentication key and IP address that show on the screen.
Recover the machine from the server core.
In the core, select the machine, and then the recovery point to restore from.
On the ... button next to the recovery point, click ‘Restore’
Go through the wizard, and select ‘Recover to any target machine using a boot CD
Enter the IP address & key recorded in previous step. (shown on the machine running the boot cd)
The source disk(s) will need to be mapped to the destination disk(s).
Review settings and finish.
This will probably take a while (6-8 hours?) depending on the disk size.
Reboot Server
If the Rapid Recovery Core is shut down in an unsafe way, it can cause problems. (dirty data, repository problems, etc.) A safe way to restart the server:
• Connect to the server core, and check to see if there are running tasks. If there are, cancel them, or wait for them to finish.
• Once there are no running tasks, Open Task Manager, (ctrl + alt + insert, or right click on task bar > task manager) and go to services.
• Right click and stop the rapid recovery core. (Not RapidRecoveryMongod)
• Once the core service has been stopped, it’s ok to restart / shut down the server