Overview

This article provides instructions for preloading data to a hard drive for both AppAssure V5 and Replay V4.

AppAssure V5 

Instructions to preload data to a hard drive 

Important: Please note that you can only replicate or seed AppAssure recovery points to Axcient that have been created with agent encryption. We will reject a seed that contains unencrypted AppAssure V5 recovery points. For instructions on how to encrypt your AppAssure V5 agents, please refer to our AppAssure Cloud Replication Guide.

1. Use the AppAssure V5 Admin Console to configure replication using your assigned target CORE hostname and credentials. Make sure that you check Use a seed drive to perform initial transfer.

2. On the Copy To Seed Drive dialog that appears when setting up replication, specify the path to the disk that will store the seed data and start the operation.

3. The export operation will progress in the background. You can use the Events tab to monitor the details of the export operation to monitor it for completion.

Important: Compression and deduplication only occur within AppAssure when recovery points are committed to the repository. When AppAssure exports recovery points, it puts them in a raw state, meaning the seed data is uncompressed and may be larger than what is stored in your local AppAssure repository. Pay close attention if AppAssure prompts for an additional drive before completion of the export. 

VERY IMPORTANT: There must be as much free space available in the Target Core repository as there is in the total amount of data exported to the seed disk. Otherwise, the seed will not have enough space to import.

Notes:

• Replication of the incremental recovery points that are not part of the seed drive data will automatically occur over the network. This ensures that replication will not fall behind while you are waiting for the seed drive to be processed. This is one of the unique advantages of the AppAssure V5 technology that makes it well suited for large data sets.
• In AppAssure V5, you do not need to disable and re-enable rollup during the seed operation. This is only required for Replay V4 seeds.

Replay V4

Instructions to Preload Data to a Hard Drive

1. Use the Replay Admin Console to configure replication for each protected server on the CORE, using your assigned target CORE hostname and credentials. Make sure that you CHECK the Pause replication on the protected server checkbox when setting up replication.

2. Connect to the target CORE using the Replay Admin Console 4.7.1. 

Do this by using the File menu in the Admin Console, connecting to CORE, entering the remote hostname and credentials, and adjusting both the rollup (data retention) and virtual standby settings.

Note: You must disable rollup throughout the seed process (more details are given below). For virtual standby, update the virtual standby image weekly or daily (not hourly).

3. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Use the Replay Admin Console to disable rollup for all agents having their data copied. You must do this on both the source CORE and target CORE using the Replay Admin Console.

Login to the target CORE by using the File menu and connecting to a Replay CORE command in the Admin Console. To disable rollup, right-click each server, choose Properties, go to the Retention tab, and uncheck Rollup. Rollup must remain disabled until the data has been fully consumed in the remote data center and Replay indicates that both sides are fully synchronized.

Not properly following this step can cause you to have to redo your seed again. Please be sure to disable rollup. If you have any questions about the process, please submit a ticket.

4. Use the Replay Admin Console to copy the initial seed data to the disk. In the CORE status pane, click on the Replication tab to perform a Copy operation and select one or more servers. Click Copy to begin.

VERY IMPORTANT: Put a README.txt file on the root of the drive that includes your assigned target CORE hostname (such as  aa4-myhostname.aa.sc...). Without this file, we will not be able to determine which target CORE server should use the data. Once this has been done and the disk shipped to us, you will be notified when data has been copied to your target CORE and that you now need to perform the following steps to finalize the procedure.

5. Use the Replay Admin Console to connect to the source CORE and resume replication.

  Do not enable rollup yet.

6. At this point, Replay may take a significant amount of time to commit the recovery points from the replication staging area to the repository. The length of time depends on the amount of data, as it is verifying the checksums of the data to ensure no data was corrupted while on drive. This can take several days or longer for large amounts of data (hundreds of GBs or TBs). Once this has occurred, Replay will then upload recovery points from the source to the target to fully catch up. Once replication is fully caught up, the Replay Admin Console will show a synchronized status and both sides will be in sync.

7. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Do not re-enable rollup on the source CORE and target CORE until replication for each agent has entered the synchronized status. Once the Admin Console shows that replication is in a synchronized status, you must log in to both the source CORE and the target CORE and enable rollup for each server that you seeded. To enable rollup settings, right-click the server, then select Properties and click on the Retention tab.