[Last Updated: July 2016 ] These instructions explain how to use ShadowProtect SPX and StorageCraft VirtualBoot to restore from a storage node, configure and manage a virtual a firewall and work with virtualized servers.       

Process Overview  

1. The ShadowProtect backup chain is stored in its native format, just as it is on your customer’s local storage. This allows us to basically copy it to the Continuity Cloud node.
2. StorageCraft VirtualBoot is then used to quickly virtualize each server (in ~15 minutes or less in most cases.)
3. The virtual firewall is then configured to properly set up the desired networking and port forwarding.

Restoring Backup from Storage Node

In this step, we will use WinSCP to copy the data from the storage node. Communication will happen across Axcient's internal data center network, resulting in much faster transfer speeds than if you were restoring over the Internet.

To begin, start the WinSCP client from the desktop icon:

Log in with the online backup account username and password associated with the customer whose data you are restoring.  (If data from multiple customers is being restored, repeat this section of instructions for each customer.)

Navigate the left pane to X:\Data.

Then drag the folder for the system to be virtualized from the right panel…

…to the X:\Data on the left panel.

Starting the Virtual Firewall

 To start the virtual firewall, click the Hyper-V Manager icon on the desktop.

Next, highlight the Virtual Firewall VM, click Start and then click Connect.

The virtual firewall will take about 60 seconds to boot. When booted, a menu similar to the example below appears. Close the VirtualBox Manager GUI, but do not close the window for the Virtual Firewall VM itself:

Managing the Virtual Firewall

Once the Virtual Firewall VM is running, use the desktop icon to access the management interface.

For detailed help with this, please see the Continuity Cloud Virtual Firewall Guide.

• Once the virtual LAN network settings and firewall policies are configured, resume the next step.

Virtualizing Restored Servers

After your ShadowProtect data has been fully copied to the Continuity Cloud (CC) node, it is ready for near-instant virtualization. To do this, use StorageCraft’s VirtualBoot, within SPX,  to create a virtual machine (VM) for each server to be virtualized.

First, click the ShadowProtect SPX desktop icon to start the program:

You will need the CC node credentials to log into SPX:

Click Activate Later to bypass the “License Required” screen.

  Select the Image Chain Browser icon from the actions menu in the top left corner.

From the dropdown menu Destination, select Local folder.

Navigate to the location containing the previously restored WinSCP backups

Highlight the incremental to be booted…

…and then click the VirtualBoot Tool icon from the actions menu in the top left corner:

Note: To add additional volumes, click Add Image File.

Highlight the image you wish to add and click Select.

As you can see, C_VOL-B007-i047-cd.spi is set as the bootable volume.

You must now:

• 1. Give the VM a Machine name
• 2. Specify Memory (RAM) allocation
• 3. Uncheck the box to Automatically start the virtual machine after creating it
• 4. Use the dropdown menu to specify the backup image file types as either Hyper-V or VirtualBox

When these selections are complete, click Create.

Close the Image Chain Browser window and you will see the progress of the VM being created.

 
Once the VirtualBoot process is complete, open the Hyper-V Manager again and click on Settings:

Click Network Adapter  on the left navigation panel.

Next, click the Virtual Switch drop down menu, select Internal-LAN, and click Apply.

 At this point, you can begin running the VM by clicking Start and then Connect:

Note: You will need to log into the VM and assign it an IP address as usual.

You may need to reboot for all changes to take effect.

 Very Important! If you are virtualizing an SBS server or domain controller, the first time the server boots, when the  Windows boot menu appears, immediately press F8 and choose Active Directory Restore Mode or Directory Services Restore Mode.

Once the server comes up, login as the local Administrator (.\Administrator) using the Directory  Services Restore Mode password,  edit the settings for the network adapter to reset the static IP and the DNS server  address. For SBS servers, the DNS server address will be the same as the static IP (or 127.0.0.1).

At this point your servers should be running and accessible to users through forwarded ports or any VPN you’ve setup

Very Important! You must stay logged into Windows for the Virtual Firewall and any other VirtualBox VMs to continue to run. Do not log out when you are finished with your remote desktop session, but rather disconnect from the remote  desktop session instead. This will allow the VMs to continue to run.

Cleaning Up

When you have finished with the Axcient Continuity Cloud, the best practice is delete any of your data on the X:  (using Windows Explorer), and then securely erase all of the free space on the drive. To do this, open a  command prompt and run the command “sdelete -c X:” This is the most secure method to erase any files you have deleted.

Note: To ensure that you are no longer billed for the Axcient Continuity Cloud service, you must update or submit a ticket  indicating that you are finished with the node(s) that have been provisioned for you. Please note that once you have  submitted a ticket indicating you are finished with the node, you will no longer have access to the machine and Axcient  will wipe and reimage the machine from bare metal. Please make sure you have any data that you need before submitting a ticket indicating that you are finished with the nodes.