Dell DL4000 Appliance Deployment Guide

Protecting a machine

1. Do one of the following:
   • If you are starting from the Protect Machine Wizard, proceed to Step 2.
   • If you are starting from the Rapid Recovery Core Console, from the button bar, click Protect.
   The Protect Machine Wizard appears.
2. On the Welcome page, select the appropriate installation options:
   • If you do not need to define a repository or establish encryption, select Typical.
   • If you need to create a repository, or define a different repository for backups for the selected machine, or if you want to establish encryption using the wizard, select Advanced (show optional steps).
   • Optionally, if you do not wish to see the Welcome page for the Protect Machine Wizard in the future, select the option Skip this Welcome page the next time the wizard opens.
3. When you are satisfied with your choices on the Welcome page, then click Next.

   The Connection page appears.

4. On the Connection page, enter the information about the machine to which you want to connect as described in the following table, and then click Next.

   Table 1. Machine connection settingsIn the Host text box, enter the host name or IP address of the machine that you want to protect. In the Port box, enter the port number on which the Rapid Recovery Core communicates with the Agent on the machine. The default port number is 8006. In the User name box, enter the user name used to connect to this machine; for example, Administrator (or, if the machine is in a domain, [domain name]\Administrator). In the Password box, enter the password used to connect to this machine.

   Text Box	Description
   Host	The host name or IP address of the machine that you want to protect.
   Port	The port number on which the Rapid Recovery Core communicates with the Agent on the machine. The default port number is 8006.
   User name	The user name used to connect to this machine; for example, Administrator (or, if the machine is in a domain, [domain name]\Administrator).
   Password	The password used to connect to this machine.

   If the Install Agent page appears next in the Protect Machine Wizard, that means that Rapid Recovery does not detect the Rapid Recovery Agent on the machine and will install the current version of the software. Go to Step 7.

   If the Upgrade Agent page appears next in the wizard, that means that an older version of the Agent software exists on the machine you want to protect.

   NOTE: The Agent software must be installed on the machine you want to protect, and that machine must be restarted, before it can back up to the Core. To have the installer reboot the protected machine, select the option After installation, restart the machine automatically (recommended) before clicking Next.
5. On the Upgrade Agent page, do one of the following:
   • To deploy the new version of the Agent software (matching the version for the Rapid Recovery Core), select Upgrade the Agent to the latest version of the software.
   • To continue protecting the machine without updating the Agent software version, clear the option Upgrade the Agent to the latest version of the software.
6. Click Next.
7. Optionally, on the Protection page, if you want a name other than the IP address to display in the Rapid Recovery Core console for this protected machine, then in the Display Name field, type a name in the dialog box.

   You can enter up to 64 characters. Do not use the special characters described in the topic “Prohibited characters” in the Rapid Recovery on DL Appliances User’s Guide. Additionally, do not begin the display name with any of the character combinations described in the topic prohibited phrases in the Rapid Recovery on DL Appliances User’s Guide.

8. Select the appropriate protection schedule as described below:
   • To use the default protection schedule, in the Schedule Settings option, select Default protection.

   With a default protection schedule, the Core will take snapshots of all volumes on the protected machine once every hour. To change the protection settings at any time after you close the wizard, including choosing which volumes to protect, go to the Summary page for the specific protected machine.

   • To define a different protection schedule, in the Schedule Settings option, select Custom protection.
9. Proceed with your configuration as follows:
   • If you selected a Typical configuration for the Protect Machine Wizard and specified default protection, then click Finish to confirm your choices, close the wizard, and protect the machine you specified.

     The first time protection is added for a machine, a base image (that is, a snapshot of all the data in the protected volumes) will transfer to the repository on the Rapid Recovery Core following the schedule you defined, unless you specified to initially pause protection.

   • If you selected a Typical configuration for the Protect Machine Wizard and specified custom protection, then click Next to set up a custom protection schedule. For details on defining a custom protection schedule, see “Creating custom protection schedules” section in the Rapid Recovery 6.0 on DL Appliances User’s Guide. .
   • If you selected Advanced configuration for the Protect Machine Wizard, and default protection, then click Next and proceed to Step 14 o see repository and encryption options.
   • If you selected Advanced configuration for the Protect Machine Wizard and specified custom protection, then click Next and proceed to Step 11 to choose which volumes to protect.
10. On the Protection Volumes page, select which volumes you want to protect. If any volumes are listed that you do not want to include in protection, click in the Check column to clear the selection. Then click Next.
    NOTE: Typically, it is good practice to protect, at minimum, the System Reserved volume and the volume with the operating system (typically the C drive).
11. On the Protection Schedule page, define a custom protection schedule and then click Next. For details on defining a custom protection schedule, see “Creating custom protection schedules” section in the Rapid Recovery 6.0 on DL Appliances User’s Guide.
    If you already have repository information configured, and you selected the Advanced option in Step 1, then the Encryption page appears. Proceed to Step 13.
12. Optionally, on the Encryption page, to enable encryption, select Enable Encryption.

    Encryption key fields appear on the Encryption page.

    NOTE: If you enable encryption, it will be applied to data for all protected volumes for this machine.

You can change encryption settings later from the Rapid Recovery Core Console.
 For more information about encryption, see the topic “Understanding encryption keys” in the Rapid Recovery 6.0 on DL Appliances User’s Guide at https://www.dell.com/support.

    CAUTION: Rapid Recovery uses AES 256-bit encryption in the Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode with 256-bit keys. While using encryption is optional, Dell highly recommends that you establish an encryption key, and that you protect the passphrase you define. Store the passphrase in a secure location as it is critical for data recovery. Without a passphrase, data recovery is not possible.
13. On the Encryption page, select one of the following options:
    • If you want to encrypt this protected machine using an encryption key that is already defined on this Rapid Recovery Core, select Encrypt data using an existing Encryption key, and then select the appropriate key from the drop-down menu. Proceed to the next step.
    • If you want to add a new encryption key to the Core and apply that key to this protected machine, then enter the information as described in the following table.

      Table 2. Encryption key settingsEnter the following details: In the Name box, enter a name for the encryption key. Encryption key names must contain between 1 and 130 alphanumeric characters. You may not include special characters such as the back slash, forward slash, pipe, colon, asterisk, quotation mark, question mark, open or close brackets, ampersand or hash. In the description box, enter a comment for the encryption key. In the Passphrase box, enter the passphrase used to control access. Best practice is to avoid special characters listed above. Record the passphrase in a secure location. Dell Support cannot recover a passphrase. Once you create an encryption key and apply it to one or more protected machines, you cannot recover data if you lose the passphrase. In the Confirm Passphrase box, re-enter the passphrase you just entered.

      Text Box	Description
      Name	Enter a name for the encryption key. Encryption key names must contain between 1 and 130 alphanumeric characters. You may not include special characters such as the back slash, forward slash, pipe, colon, asterisk, quotation mark, question mark, open or close brackets, ampersand or hash. This information appears in the Description field when viewing encryption keys from the Core Console.
      Description	Enter a comment for the encryption key. This information appears in the Description field when viewing encryption keys from the Core Console.
      Passphrase	Enter the passphrase used to control access. Best practice is to avoid special characters listed above. Record the passphrase in a secure location. Dell Support cannot recover a passphrase. Once you create an encryption key and apply it to one or more protected machines, you cannot recover data if you lose the passphrase.
      Confirm Passphrase	Re-enter the passphrase you just entered.

14. Click Finish to save and apply your settings.

    The first time protection is added for a machine, a base image (that is, a snapshot of all the data in the protected volumes) will transfer to the repository on the Rapid Recovery Core following the schedule you defined, unless you specified to initially pause protection.

15. If you receive an error message, the appliance cannot connect to the machine to back it up. To resolve the issue:
    1. Check Network Connectivity.
    2. Check the Firewall Settings.
    3. Verify Rapid Recovery Services and RPC are running.
    4. Verify Domain Name Service Lookups (if applicable).