Dell Appassure 5 User Guide

							Dell AppAssure User Guide
Version 5.4.3 Revision B509
Glossary
A
Agent
The AppAssure Agent is software installed on a physical or virtual machine that lets it be added to 
protection in the AppAssure Core.
AppAssure
AppAssure sets a new standard for unified data protection by combining backup, replication, and 
recovery in a single solution that is engineered to be the fastest and most reliable backup for 
protecting virtual machines (VM), as well as physical and cloud environments.
B
base image
The first backup transfer saved to the Core is called a base image snapshot. All data on all specified 
volumes (including the operating system, applications, and settings), are saved to the Core. For more 
information, see snapshot.
C
Central Management Console
The AppAssure Central Management Console is a multi-core management portal. It simplifies the 
process of managing multiple deployments of the AppAssure Core. Using the Central Management 
Console, you can group and manage the deployments through a single, Web-based interface.
checksum
A checksum is a function that creates blocks of data that are used for the purpose of detecting 
accidental errors that are created during transmission or storage.
cluster
See Windows failover cluster.
cluster continuous replication (CCR)
A non-shared storage failover cluster solution, that uses built-in asynchronous log shipping 
technology to create and maintain a copy of each storage group on a second server in a failover 
cluster. CCR is designed to be either a one or two data center solution, providing both high 
availability and site resilience. It is one of two types of clustered mailbox server (CMS) deployments 
available in Exchange 2007.
cluster node
An individual machine that is part of a Windows Failover cluster.
compression
The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) defines compression as the process of encoding 
data to reduce its size.
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							Dell AppAssure User Guide
Version 5.4.3 Revision B510 Core
The AppAssure Core is the central component of the AppAssure architecture. The Core provides the 
essential services for backup, recovery, retention, replication, archiving, and management. In the 
context of replication, the Core is also called a source core. The source core is the originating core, 
while the target core is the destination (another AppAssure Core on its own dedicated server, where 
protected machines or clusters are replicated).
D
database availability group (DAG)
A set of up to 16 Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox servers that provide automatic, database-
level recovery from a database, server, or network failure. DAGs use continuous replication and a 
subset of Windows failover clustering technologies to provide high availability and site resilience. 
Mailbox servers in a DAG monitor each other for failures. When a Mailbox server is added to a DAG, 
it works with the other servers in the DAG to provide automatic, database-level recovery from 
database failures.
E
encryption
Data is encrypted with the intent that it is only accessible to authorized users who have the 
appropriate decryption key. Data is encrypted using 256-bit AES in Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode. 
In CBC, each block of data is XORed with the previous ciphertext block before being encrypted, this 
way each new ciphertext block depends on all preceding plaintext blocks. A passphrase is used as an 
initialization vector.
G
global deduplication
The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) defines data deduplication as the replacement of 
multiple copies of data—at variable levels of granularity—with references to a shared copy to save 
storage space or bandwidth. The AppAssure Volume Manager performs global data deduplication 
within a logical volume. The granularity level of deduplication is 8 KB. The scope of deduplication in 
AppAssure is limited to protected machines using the same repository and encryption key.
I
incremental snapshot
Incremental snapshots are backups consisting only of data changed on the protected machine since 
the last backup. They are saved to the Core regularly, based on the interval defined (for example, 
every 60 minutes). For more information, see snapshot.
L
license key
A license key is one method used to register your AppAssure software or appliance. (You can also use 
a license file.) You can obtain license keys or files when you register on the Dell AppAssure License 
Portal for an account. For more information, see License Portal.
License Portal
The Dell AppAssure License Portal is a Web interface where users and partners can download 
software, register AppAssure appliances, and manage license subscriptions. License Portal users can 
register accounts, download AppAssure Core and Agent software, manage groups, track group 
activity, register machines, register appliances, invite users, and generate reports. For more 
information, see the Dell AppAssure License Portal User Guide.
Live Recovery
AppAssure Live Recovery is an instant recovery technology for VMs and servers. It provides near-
continuous access to data volumes in a virtual or physical server, letting you recover an entire 
volume with near-zero RTO and a RPO of minutes. 
						

							Dell AppAssure User Guide
Version 5.4.3 Revision B511 Local Console
The Local Console is a Web-based interface that lets you fully manage the AppAssure Core.
Local Mount Utility
The Local Mount Utility (LMU) is a downloadable application that lets you mount a recovery point on 
a remote AppAssure Core from any machine.
log truncation
Log truncation is a function that removes log records from the transaction log. For a SQL Server 
machine, when you force truncation of the SQL Server logs, this process identifies free space on the 
SQL server. For an Exchange Server machine, hen you force truncation of the Exchange Server logs, 
this action frees up space on the Exchange server.
M
management roles
The AppAssure Central Management Console introduces a new concept of management roles which 
lets you divide administrative responsibility among trusted data and service administrators as well as 
access control to support secure and efficient delegation of administration.
mountability
Exchange mountability is a corruption detection feature that alerts administrators of potential 
failures and ensures that all data on the Exchange servers is recovered successfully in the event of a 
failure.
O
Object File System
The AppAssure Scalable Object Store is an object file system component. It treats all data blocks, 
from which snapshots are derived, as objects. It stores, retrieves, maintains, and replicates these 
objects. It is designed to deliver scalable input and output (I/O) performance in tandem with global 
data deduplication, encryption, and retention management. The Object File System interfaces 
directly with industry standard storage technologies.
P
passphrase
A passphrase is a key used in the encryption the data. If the passphrase is lost, data cannot be 
recovered.
PowerShell scripting
Windows PowerShell is a Microsoft .NET Framework-connected environment designed for 
administrative automation. AppAssure includes comprehensive client SDKs for PowerShell scripting 
that enables administrators to automate the administration and management of AppAssure resources 
by the execution of commands either directly or through scripts.
prohibited characters
Prohibited characters are characters that should not be used when naming an object in the 
AppAssure Core Console. For example, when defining a display name for a protected machine, do not 
use any of the following special characters:
Table 3. Prohibited characters
Character Character name Prohibited from
? question mark machine display name, encryption key, repository, path description
| pipe machine display name, encryption key, repository, path description
:colon machine display name, encryption key, repository
Use of this symbol is supported when specifying a path, for example 
c:\data.
/ forward slash machine display name, encryption key, repository, path description 
						

							Dell AppAssure User Guide
Version 5.4.3 Revision B512 prohibited phrases
Prohibited phrases are phrases (or sets of characters) that should not be used as the name for any 
object in the AppAssure Core Console, because they are reserved for the use of operating systems. It 
is best practice is to avoid using these phrases at all if possible. For example, when defining a 
display name for a protected machine, do not use any of the following phrases:
protected machine
A protected machine, sometimes referred to as an agent, is a physical computer or virtual machine 
that is protected in the AppAssure Core. The machine must first have the AppAssure agent software 
installed.
Q
quorum
For a failover cluster, the number of elements that must be online for a given cluster to continue 
running. The elements relevant in this context are cluster nodes. This term can also refer to the 
quorum-capable resource selected to maintain the configuration data necessary to recover the 
cluster. This data contains details of all of the changes that have been applied to the cluster 
database. The quorum resource is generally accessible to other cluster resources so that any cluster 
node has access to the most recent database changes. By default there is only one quorum resource 
per server cluster. A particular quorum configuration (settings for a failover cluster) determines the 
point at which too many failures stop the cluster from running.
R
recovery points
Recovery points are a collection of snapshots of various disk volumes. For example, C:, D:, and E.
remote Core
A remote Core represents an AppAssure Core that is accessed by a non-core machine by way of the 
Local Mount Utility. \ back slash machine display name, encryption key, repository
Use of this symbol is supported when specifying a local or network 
path, for example c:\data or \\ComputerName\SharedFolder 
* asterisk machine display name, encryption key, repository, path description
 quotation mark machine display name, encryption key, repository, path description
< open angle bracket machine display name, encryption key, repository, path description
> close angle bracket machine display name, encryption key, repository, path description
Table 4. Prohibited phrases
Phrase General use Prohibited from
con console machine display name, encryption key, repository, 
path description
prn printer port machine display name, encryption key,
aux auxiliary port machine display name, encryption key,
nul null value machine display name, encryption key,
com1 through com9 communication port machine display name, encryption key,
lpt1 through lpt9 line print terminal port machine display name, encryption key, repository, 
path description Table 3. Prohibited characters
Character Character name Prohibited from 
						

							Dell AppAssure User Guide
Version 5.4.3 Revision B513 replication
Replication is self-optimizing with a unique read-match-write (RMW) algorithm that is tightly coupled 
with deduplication. It represents the relationship between the target and source cores in the same 
site or across two sites with slow link in which the source core asynchronously transmits the data to 
the target or source core on a per agent basis.
replicated machine
A replicated machine (also known as a target core) is a copy of a protected physical computer or 
virtual machine (known as a source core).
repository
A repository, which is managed by the AppAssure Core, is a folder used to store snapshots that are 
captured from the protected servers and machines. The repository can reside on different storage 
technologies such as Storage Area Network (SAN), Direct Attached Storage (DAS), or Network 
Attached Storage (NAS).
restore
The process of restoring one or more storage volumes on a machine from recovery points saved on 
the AppAssure Core is known as performing a restore. This was formerly known as rollback.
retention
Retention defines the length of time the backup snapshots of protected machines are stored on the 
AppAssure Core. Retention policy is enforced on the recovery points through the rollup process.
rollup
The rollup process is an internal nightly maintenance procedure that enforces the retention policy by 
collapsing and eliminating dated recovery points. AppAssure reduces rollup to metadata operations 
only.
S
seeding
In replication, the initial transfer of deduplicated base images and incremental snapshots of 
protected agents, which can add up to hundreds or thousands of gigabytes of data. Initial replication 
can be seeded to the target core using external media, which is useful for large sets of data or sites 
with slow links.
server cluster
See Windows failover cluster.
SharePoint backup
A SharePoint backup is a copy of data that is used to restore and recover that data on a SharePoint 
server after a system failure. From the SharePoint backup, you can perform recovery of the complete 
SharePoint farm, or one or more components of the farm.
single copy cluster
A shared storage failover cluster solution, that uses a single copy of a storage group on storage that 
is shared between the nodes in the cluster. It is one of two types of clustered mailbox server 
deployments available in Exchange 2007.
Smart Agent
The AppAssure Smart Agent is installed on the machines protected by the AppAssure Core. The smart 
agent tracks the changed blocks on the disk volume and snapshots the changed blocks at a 
predefined interval of protection.
snapshot
A snapshot is a common industry term that defines the ability to capture and store the state of a disk 
volume at a given point, while applications are running. The snapshot is critical if system recovery is 
needed due to an outage or system failure. AppAssure snapshots are application aware, which means 
that all open transactions and rolling transaction logs are completed and caches are flushed prior to 
creating the snapshot. AppAssure uses Microsoft Volume Shadow Services (VSS) to facilitate 
application crash consistent snapshots. 
						

							Dell AppAssure User Guide
Version 5.4.3 Revision B514 SQL attachability
SQL attachability is a test run within the AppAssure Core to ensure that all SQL recovery points are 
without error and are available for backup in the event of a failure.
SQL backup
A SQL backup is a copy of data that is used to restore and recover that data on a SQL server after a 
system failure. From the SQL backup, you can perform recovery of the complete SQL database, or 
one or more of the components of the SQL database.
SQL differential backup
A differential database backup is a cumulative copy of all changes in data since the last full backup 
of the SQL database. Differential backups are typically faster to create than full database backups, 
and reduce the number of transaction logs required to recover the database.
T
target Core
The target core, which is sometimes referred to as replica core, is the AppAssure Core receiving the 
replicated data from the source core.
target replica machine
The instance of a protected machine on a target core is known as the target agent or replica agent.
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a modern cryptographic network protocol designed to ensure 
communication security over the Internet. This protocol, defined by the Internet Engineering Task 
Force, is the successor to Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). The SSL term is still generally used, and the 
protocols are interoperable (a TLS client can downgrade to communicate to an SSL server).
Tr u e  S c a l e
True Scale is the scalable architecture of AppAssure.
U
Universal Recovery
AppAssure Universal Recovery technology provides unlimited machine restoration flexibility. It 
enables you to perform monolithic recovery to- and from- any physical or virtual platform of your 
choice as well as incremental recovery updates to virtual machines from any physical or virtual 
source. It also lets you perform application-level, item-level, and object-level recovery of individual 
files, folders, email, calendar items, databases, and applications.
V
Verified Recovery
Verified Recovery technology is used to perform automated recovery testing and verification of 
backups. It supports various file systems and servers.
virtual standby
Virtual Standby is a physical-to-virtual (P2V) process that creates a clone virtual machine of a 
protected machine or agent. A Virtual Standby can be created using an ad-hoc or a continual update 
export process. A Virtual Standby created using a continual update is incrementally updated after 
every snapshot captured from the source agent.
Vo l u m e  M a n a g e r
The AppAssure Volume Manager manages objects and then stores and presents them as a logical 
volume. It leverages dynamic pipeline architecture to deliver TruScale scalability, parallelism, and 
asynchronous input-and-output (I/O) model for high throughput with minimal I/O latency. 
						

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Version 5.4.3 Revision B515
W
white labeling
AppAssure provides the ability for providers of backup and disaster recovery services to white label 
or re-brand AppAssure with their own identity; and then sell or distribute it as their own product or 
service.
Windows failover cluster
A group of independent computers that work together to increase the availability of applications and 
services. The clustered servers (called nodes) are connected by physical cables and by software. If 
one of the cluster nodes fails, another node begins to provide service (a process known as failover). 
Users experience a minimum of disruptions in service. AppAssure supports the protection of a number 
of SQL Server and Exchange Server cluster types.
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							Dell AppAssure User Guide
Version 5.4.3 Revision B516
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