Dell Appassure 5 User Guide

							Dell AppAssure User Guide
Version 5.4.3 Revision B169 5Click OK.
Customizing nightly jobs for a protected machine
Nightly jobs can be configured at the Core level and the machine level on the appropriate Configuration tab. 
When nightly job settings are changed at the Core level, the changes are applied to all relevant machines 
protected by that Core. Changes made to the nightly jobs at the machine level supersede the changes made at 
the Core level.
For a list of all nightly jobs, including descriptions and the scope available for each, see the topic Understanding 
nightly jobs.
Complete the steps in the following procedure to make changes to the nightly jobs for a single machine.
To customize nightly jobs for a protected machine
1 In the left navigation area of the AppAssure Core, select the machine for which you want to customize 
nightly jobs.
The Summary tab for the selected machine displays.
2 Click the Configuration tab for the machine, and then click Settings.
3 Next to Nightly Jobs, click change.
The Nightly Jobs dialog box appears.
4 Select the jobs you want to include in the nightly jobs or clear the options you want to omit for this 
machine.
5Click OK.
Accessing protected machine diagnostics
In AppAssure, you can download and view diagnostic information for individual protected machines. 
Additionally, AppAssure lets you download, view, and upload log data for the Core. For more information about 
Core logs, see Accessing diagnostics for the Core. To access machine logs, see the following procedures:
•Downloading machine logs
•Viewing machine logsNetwork Read Timeout Specifies in minutes and seconds the maximum time to wait for a 
read connection. If the network read cannot be performed in that 
time, the operation is retried.
Network Write Timeout Specifies the maximum time in seconds to wait for a write 
connection. If the network write cannot be performed in that time, 
the operation is retried.
NOTE: Options may vary by machine. For example, a protected machine using Exchange Server 
may include Checksum Check Job and Truncate Exchange logs.
NOTE: The results of this procedure apply only to the select protected machine. To apply 
elsewhere, repeat the procedure for each machine you want to customize. To change the nightly 
job settings for all machines protected by a Core, see Configuring nightly jobs for the Core, 
Configuring nightly SQL attachability checks and log truncation for all protected machines, or 
Configuring nightly Exchange database checksum checks and log truncation. Table 88. Transfer Settings options
Te x t  B o x D e s c r i p t i o n 
						

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Downloading machine logs
If you encounter any errors or issues with a protected machine, you can download the machine logs to view 
them or upload them to AppAssure Support.
To download machine logs
1 Navigate to the AppAssure Core Console, and then select the protected machine for which you want to 
download logs.
2 Click the Tools drop-down menu or tab, lick Diagnostics, and then click View Log.
3 On the Download Agent Log page of the Tools tab, click Click here to begin the download.
4 In the Opening AgentAppRecovery.log dialog box, select Save File.
5Click OK.
The file saves to your Downloads folder.
Viewing machine logs
If you encounter any errors or issues with the machine, it may be useful to view the logs.
To  v i e w  m a c h i n e  l o g s
1 Navigate to the AppAssure Core Console, and then select the machine for which you want to view log 
data.
2 Click the Tools drop-down menu or tab, lick Diagnostics, and then click View Log.
3 On the Download Agent Log page of the Tools tab, click Click here to begin the download.
4 In the Opening AgentAppRecovery.log dialog box, select Open with, and then use the drop-down list to 
select a program with which you want to open the file; for example, Notepad.
5Click OK.
6 The file opens in the program you selected.
Viewing machine status and other details
Complete the step in this procedure to view the status as well as other details for a machine.
To view machine status and other details
•In the AppAssure Core Console, navigate to the protected machine you want to view.
The information about the machine displays on the Summary tab. The details that display include:
•Host name
•Last Snapshot taken
•Next Snapshot scheduled
•Encryption status
•Version number 
						

							Dell AppAssure User Guide
Version 5.4.3 Revision B171 If Exchange Server is installed on the machine, detailed information about the server also displays and 
includes:
•Last successful Mountability check performed
•Last successful Checksum check performed
•Last Log Truncation performed
Details information about the volumes contained on this machine also displays and includes:
•Name
•File System type
•Space Usage
•Schedule
•Current Schedule
•Next Snapshot
•To t a l  s i z e
If SQL Server is installed on the machine, detailed information about the server also displays and 
includes:
•Online Status
•Name
•Install Path
•Ve r s i o n
If Exchange Server is installed on the machine, detailed information about the server and mail stores 
also displays and includes:
•Ve r s i o n
•Install Path
•Data Path
•Database Name
•Exchange Databases Path
•Log File Path
•Log Prefix
•System Path
•MailStore Type
Managing machines
This section describes a variety of tasks you can perform in managing your machines. Topics include:
•Removing a machine
•Canceling operations on a machine
•Viewing license information on a machine 
						

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Removing a machine
When you remove a machine from protection on the AppAssure Core, you are presented with two options: you 
can keep the recovery points saved thus far to the AppAssure Core, or you can remove the recovery points. If 
you keep the recovery points, you have what is known as a “recovery points only” machine. Using those 
recovery points for the machine that has been removed from current protection, you can continue to restore 
the machine in the future, but only up to the state captured in a saved recovery point.
If you remove the recovery points, this action deletes any snapshot data for that formerly protected machine 
from the AppAssure Core.
Complete the steps in the following procedure to remove a machine from protection in your AppAssure 
environment.
To remove a machine
1 In the AppAssure Core Console, navigate to the machine you want to remove.
2In the Actions drop-down menu, click Remove Machine, and then select one of the option described in 
the following table.
Canceling operations on a machine
You can cancel currently executing operations for a machine. You can specify to cancel just a current snapshot 
or to cancel all current operations, which would include exports, replications, and so on.
To cancel operations on a machine
1 In the AppAssure Core Console, navigate to the machine for which you want to cancel operations.
2 Click the Events tab.
3 Expand the event details for the event or operation you want to cancel.
4Click Cancel.
CAUTION: If you delete recovery points, you will no longer be able to restore data for that machine.
Table 89. Remove Machine options
Option Description
Keep Recovery Points Keeps all currently stored recovery points for this machine.
Remove Recovery Points Removes all currently stored recovery points for this machine from the 
repository. 
						

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Viewing license information on a machine
You can view current license status information for the AppAssure Agent software installed on a protected 
machine.
To view license information
1 In the AppAssure Core Console, navigate to the machine you want to view.
2 Click the Configuration tab, and then click Licensing.
The Status screen appears and presents the following details about the product licensing:
•Expiration Date
•License Status
•License Type
•Agent Type
Managing snapshots and recovery points
A recovery point is a collection of snapshots taken of individual disk volumes and stored in the repository. 
Snapshots capture and store the state of a disk volume at a given point in time while the applications that 
generate the data are still in use. In AppAssure, you can force a snapshot, temporarily pause snapshots, and 
view lists of current recovery points in the repository as well as delete them if needed. Recovery points are used 
to restore protected machines or to mount to a local file system.
The snapshots that are captured by AppAssure are done so at the block level and are application aware. This 
means that all open transactions and rolling transaction logs are completed and caches are flushed to disk 
before creating the snapshot.
AppAssure uses a low-level volume filter driver, which attaches to the mounted volumes and then tracks all 
block-level changes for the next impending snapshot. Microsoft Volume Shadow Services (VSS) is used to 
facilitate application crash consistent snapshots.
Viewing recovery points
Complete the steps in the following procedure to view recovery points.
To view recovery points
1 In the AppAssure Core Console, navigate to the protected machine for which you want to view recovery 
points.
2 Click the Recovery Points tab.
You can view information about the recovery points for the machine as described in the following table.
Table 90. Recovery point information
Info Description
Status Indicates current status of the recovery point.
Encrypted Indicates if the recovery point is encrypted.
Contents Lists the volumes included in the recovery point.
Type Defines a recovery point as either a base image or an incremental 
(differential) snapshot. 
						

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Viewing a specific recovery point
Complete the steps in the following procedure to view details about a specific recovery point.
To view a specific recovery point
1 In the AppAssure Core Console, navigate to the protected machine for which you want to view recovery 
points.
2 Click the Recovery Points tab.
3 Click the right angle bracket > symbol next to a recovery point in the list to expand the view.
You can view more detailed information about the contents of the recovery point for the selected 
machine, as well as access a variety of operations that can be performed on the recovery point, as 
described in the following table.Creation Date Displays the date when the recovery point was created.
Size Displays the amount of space that the recovery point consumes in the 
repository.
Table 91. Recovery point details
Info Description
Actions The Actions menu includes the following operations you can perform on the 
selected recovery point:
Mount. Select this option to mount the selected recovery point. For more 
information, see Mounting a recovery point.
Export. By using the Export option, you can export the selected recovery 
point to ESXi, VMware workstation, HyperV, or Virtual Box. For more 
information, see Exporting data to a Windows-based virtual machine.
Restore. Select this option to perform a restore from the selected recovery 
point to a volume you specify. For more information, see Selecting a 
recovery point and initiating BMR. 
Check. If the protected machine has Exchange Server installed, select this 
option to force a checksum check or a mountability check. For more 
information, see Managing Exchange database mountability checks and log 
truncation.
If the protected machine has SQL Server installed, select this option to force 
an attachability check. For more information, see Forcing a SQL Server 
attachability check.
Contents The Contents area includes a row for each volume in the expanded recovery 
point, listing the following information for each volume:
Status. Indicates current status of the recovery point.
Title. Lists the specific volume in the recovery point.
Ty p e. Indicates if the specific recovery point is a base image or an 
incremental (differential) snapshot.
Size. Displays the amount of space that the recovery point consumes in the 
repository. Table 90. Recovery point information
Info Description 
						

							Dell AppAssure User Guide
Version 5.4.3 Revision B175 4 Click the right angle bracket > symbol next to a volume in the selected recovery point to expand the 
view.
You can view information about the selected volume in the expanded recovery point as described in the 
following table.
Mounting a recovery point
In AppAssure, you can mount a recovery point for a Windows machine to access stored data through a local file 
system.
To mount a recovery point
1 In the AppAssure Core Console, navigate to the machine that you want to mount to a local file system.
The Summary tab for the selected machine displays.
2 Click the Recovery Points tab.
3 In the list of recovery points, click the right angle bracket > symbol to expand the recovery point that 
you want to mount.
4 In the expanded details for that recovery point, click Mount.
The Mount Recovery Points dialog box appears.
5 In the Mount Recovery Point dialog box, edit the settings for mounting a recovery point as described in 
the following table. Table 92. Volume information
Te x t  B o x D e s c r i p t i o n
Title Indicates the specific volume in the recovery point.
File System Indicates the file system type for the selected volume.
Raw Capacity Indicates the amount of raw storage space on the entire volume.
Formatted Capacity Indicates the amount of storage space on the volume that is available for data 
after the volume is formatted.
Used Capacity Indicates the amount of storage space currently used on the volume.
NOTE: To mount a Linux recovery point with the aamount utility, see Mounting a recovery point volume on 
a Linux machine.
NOTE: When mounting recovery points from data restored from a machine that has data deduplication 
enabled, you must also enable deduplication on the Core server.
Table 93. Mount Recovery Point settings
Option Description
Mount Location:
Local folderSpecify the path used to access the mounted recovery point. 
Mount Options:
Mount typeSpecify the way to access data for the mounted recovery point:
•Mount Read-only
•Mount Read-only with previous writes
•Mount Writable
Volume Images Specify the volume images that you want to mount
Create a Windows share 
for this MountOptionally, select the check box to specify whether the mounted recovery 
point can be shared and then set access rights to it including the Share name 
and allowed groups. 
						

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Version 5.4.3 Revision B176 6Click Mount to mount the recovery point.
7 Optionally, while the task is in process, you can view its progress from the Running Tasks drop-down 
menu on the Core Console, or you can view detailed information in the Events tab. For more information 
about monitoring AppAssure events, see Viewing tasks, alerts, and events.
Dismounting recovery points
Complete the steps in this procedure to dismount recovery points that are mounted on the Core.
To dismount recovery points
1 In the AppAssure Core Console, click the Tools drop-down menu, and then click Mounts.
The Mounts page appears. There is a pane for Local Mounts (recovery points mounted from the Core) and 
another for Remote Mounts (recovery points mounted using the Local Mount Utility). In each pane, the 
respective mounted recovery points appears in the list.
2 For the recovery points you want to dismount, do the following:
•In the Local Mounts pane, for each locally mounted recovery point in the list that you want to 
dismount, click dismount. If you want to dismount all recovery points mounted locally, click 
Dismount All.
•In the Remote Mounts pane, for each remotely mounted recovery point in the list that you want 
to dismount, click disconnect. If you want to dismount all recovery points mounted remotely, 
click Disconnect All.
3 In the Dismounting the Recovery Point dialog box, click Ye s to confirm.
4 Confirm that the previously mounted recovery points no longer appear in the Local Mounts or Remote 
Mounts list, as appropriate.
Forcing a snapshot
Forcing a snapshot lets you force a data transfer for the current protected machine. When you force a snapshot, 
the transfer starts immediately or is added to the queue. Only the data that has changed from a previous 
recovery point is transferred. If there is no previous recovery point, all data on the protected volumes is 
transferred, which is referred to as a base image.
To force a snapshot
1 In the AppAssure Core Console, navigate to the machine or cluster with the recovery point for which you 
want to force a snapshot.
NOTE: If you want to copy directories or files from a mounted recovery point to another Windows 
machine, you can use Windows Explorer to copy them with default permissions or original file 
access permissions. For details, see Restoring a directory or file using Windows Explorer to 
Restoring a directory or file and preserving permissions using Windows Explorer.
NOTE: When dismounting a recovery point mounted remotely, this is referred to as disconnecting.
NOTE: AppAssure supports Window 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2 for 
both base and incremental transfers. 
						

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Version 5.4.3 Revision B177 2 On the Summary tab in the Volumes section specify the volumes for which the snapshot should be taken, 
and then click Fo rc e S na ps h ot or Fo rce Ba se I m ag e button.
Removing recovery points
You can easily remove recovery points for a particular machine from the repository. When you delete recovery 
points in AppAssure, you can specify one of the following options.
• Delete All Recovery Points. Removes all recovery points for the selected protected machine from the 
Repository.
• Delete a Range of Recovery Points. Removes all recovery points in a specified range before the current, 
up to and including the base image, which is all data on the machine as well as all recovery points after 
the current until the next base image.
To remove recovery points
1 In the AppAssure Core Console, navigate to the machine for which you want to view recovery points.
2 Click the Recovery Points tab.
3Click the Actions menu.
4 Select one of the following options:
•To delete all currently stored recovery points, click Delete All.
•To delete a set of recovery points in a specific data range, click Delete Range.
The Delete dialog box displays.
•In the Delete Range dialog box, specify the range of recovery points you want to delete 
using a start date and time and an end date and time, and then click Delete.
Deleting an orphaned recovery point chain
An orphaned recovery point is an incremental snapshot that is not associated with a base image. Subsequent 
snapshots continue to build onto this recovery point; however, without the base image, the resulting recovery 
points are incomplete and are unlikely to contain the data necessary to complete a recovery. These recovery 
points are considered to be part of the orphaned recovery point chain. If this situation occurs, the best solution 
is to delete the chain and create a new base image.
For more information about forcing a base image, see Forcing a snapshot.
To delete an orphaned recovery point chain
1 In the AppAssure Core Console, navigate to the protected machine for which you want to delete the 
orphaned recovery point chain.
2 Click the Recovery Points tab.
3 Under Recovery Points, expand the orphaned recovery point.
This recovery point is labeled in the Ty p e  c o l u m n  a s  “ I n cremental, Orphaned.” Table 94. Force Snapshot options
Option Description
Force Snapshot Takes an incremental snapshot of data updated since the last snapshot was 
taken.
Force Base Image Takes a complete snapshot of all data on the volumes of the machine.
NOTE: You cannot recover the recovery points you have deleted. 
						

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Version 5.4.3 Revision B178 4 Next to Actions, click Delete.
The Delete Recovery Points windows appears.
5 In the Delete Recovery Points window, click Ye s.
The orphaned recovery point chain is deleted.
Migrating recovery points to a different repository
If you want to remove the recovery points of a protected machine from a repository without deleting them, you 
can migrate them to a different repository using this procedure. For example, if you want to remove the 
recovery points for a protected machine because the repository is full or because you want to protect a machine 
using a different core and repository, you can use the following procedure to safely migrate your data.
To migrate recovery points to a different repository
1 In the AppAssure Core Console, pause protection for the protected machine or machines whose recovery 
points you want to migrate. For more information, see Pausing and resuming protection.
2 Cancel all current operations for the protected machine or machines whose recovery points you want to 
migrate. For more information, see Canceling operations on a machine.
3 Archive the recovery points for the machine or machines you paused. For more information, see Creating 
an archive.
4 Create a new repository for the migrated recovery points. For more information, see Creating a 
repository.
•If you want to use an existing repository, continue to Step 5.
5 After you finish creating the archive, delete all of the recovery points for the paused machines from the 
original repository using the Delete All option. For more information, see Removing recovery points.
6 Change the repository for each machine that you paused by completing the following steps:
a On the Core Console, click the protected machine in the navigation tree.
b Click the Configuration tab.
c Next to Settings, click Change.
d From the Repository drop-down list, select in the name of the repository you created in Step 4.
•If you want to use an existing repository, select the name of an existing repository.
eClick OK.
7 Resume protection for the machine or machines that you paused. For more information, see Pausing and 
resuming protection.
8 Take a new base image for each of the protected machines you moved. For more information, see 
Forcing a snapshot and use the Force Base Image option.
9 Import the archived data for the machines you want to migrate. For more information, see Importing an 
archive.
CAUTION: Deleting this recovery point deletes the entire chain of recovery points, including any 
incremental recovery points that occur before or after it, until the next base image. This operation 
cannot be undone.
NOTE: When migrating recovery points to an existing repository, ensure that the existing repository 
has enough free space to contain the migrated recovery points.