Assured Recovery Testing › Creating Assured Recovery Testing Scenarios

Creating Assured Recovery Testing Scenarios

The Assured Recovery testing feature must be enabled during the creation of the scenario that will later use it. For this reason, you cannot perform testing within a Replication or HA scenario that is already running, and was not configured to use the Assured Recovery option. To use Assured Recovery, it is necessary to create a new scenario with the Integrity Testing for Assured Recovery option turned to On.

Note: This section demonstrates the creation of an Assured Recovery testing scenario for Exchange Server HA. The procedure is similar for all application types.

To set Assured Recovery testing scenario

1. Open the Arcserve RHA Manager. Then, select from the Scenario menu the New option, or click the New button on the Standard toolbar.

   The Scenario Creation Wizard opens.

2. Select the required scenario options, as follows:
   • Select the Create a New Scenario option button.
   • From the Group drop-down list, select the group to which you want to assign the new scenario, or enter a name for a new scenario group.
3. Click Next. The Select Server and Product Type screen opens.
4. A list of available applications and scenario types is presented.

   Note: The list of available applications depends on the licenses applied.

    Select the required scenario options, as follows:

   • From the Select Server Type list, select the type of server for which you want to create the AR scenario. For this example, we will use Microsoft Exchange Server.
   • From the Select Product Type options, select either Replication and Disaster Recovery or High Availability Scenario.

     Note: The Assured Recovery test is best suited for HA scenarios. If you select the Replication option, you must verify that the root directories path is the same on the Master and the Replica. In addition, the Replica should have database application installed, or share files if you test a File Server. Otherwise, the AR test will NOT produce meaningful results.

   • Select the Integrity Testing for Assured Recovery option.
5. Click Next. The Master and Replica Hosts screen opens.
6. Enter the following information:
   • In the Scenario Name box - accept the default name or enter a new name for the scenario. When entering a name, choose a unique name, since you cannot use the same name for more than one scenario.
   • In the Master and Replica Hostname/IP boxes - enter the hostname or IP address of the Master (active) and Replica (standby) servers, or use the Browse buttons to find them.

   Important! Only one Replica can be configured for AR testing in a single scenario. If, at a later stage, you will add a Replica to the scenario and try to configure it for the AR test, the following message will appear: Only one scheduled task per scenario can be set. Replica integrity testing for Assured Recovery for host [Replica_name] is already switched on. Do you want to turn this option off now? To switch the test to the second Replica, you will need to click Yes.

   Note: If either server is a MSCS cluster, enter the Virtual Server Name or IP address as the Master and/or Replica name (instead of the physical node's name/IP).

   • In the Port boxes: accept the default port no. (25000), or enter a new port numbers for the Master and Replica.
   • The Verify Engine on Hosts option - select this check box if you want the system to verify whether Engines are installed and running on the Master and Replica hosts you specified in this screen. If Engines are not installed on the selected hosts, you can use this option to remotely install the Engines on one or both hosts.
7. After you entered or selected the desired options, click Next. The Databases for Replication screen opens.

   The auto-discovery component automatically displays the Exchange databases that are on the Master server. These are the databases that can be replicated and protected.

8. By default, all the discovered databases are selected and all will be replicated. You can exclude any of these storage groups from replication by clearing their check boxes.
9. Click Next. The Replica Configuration screen opens.

   The auto-configuration component verifies that the Exchange Server configuration on the Master and Replica servers will be identical during the replication procedure. This means that if there are discrepancies, Arcserve RHA will perform the required actions, including: deleting storage groups, public folders or mailbox stores from the Replica, create new ones and make modifications to existing ones. The actions that will be performed during the configuration process are indicated in the Action column on the right.

10. Review the changes that will occur during the automatic configuration on the Replica Exchange server, and make sure you want them to be performed.

    Note: If a Remove action is indicated, make sure that you are ready to delete the specified storage item from the Replica server, since it does not have an automatic backup. If you want to save it in a different location before deletion, click the Finish button to exit the wizard.

    Important! You cannot use UNC paths as root directories on the Replica host for Assured Recovery scenario.

11. Click Next to start the Replica configuration process. The Scenario Properties screen opens.

    The Scenario Properties screen enables you to configure the scenario properties that affect the entire scenario. Typically, the default values are sufficient.

    If you want to configure the scenario properties at this stage, refer to Understanding Scenario Properties. To configure the scenario properties at a later stage, refer to Configuring Scenario Properties.

12. Click Next. The Master and Replica Properties screen opens.

    The Master and Replica Properties screen enables you to configure the properties that are related to either the Master or Replica host. Typically, the default values are sufficient.

13. To verify that the Assured Recovery option is active, under the Replica Properties list on the right, open the Scheduled Tasks group and ensure that the Replica Integrity Testing for Assured Recovery property is set to On. You can leave the default values of the other related properties, and change them later if needed. For more information about AR properties refer to Understanding Assured Recovery Properties.

    If you want to configure the Master and Replica properties at this stage, refer to Setting Master and Replica Properties. To configure the Master and Replica properties at a later stage, refer to Configuring Master or Replica Server Properties.

    Note: You can modify all the settings in this pane after the scenario is created. However, before changing any Spool properties (which can be configured here), review the Spool information for configuration details.

14. Click Next. If you selected HA, the Switchover Properties screen opens.
15. From this stage, set up the scenario as you would normally following the instructions in the usual manner. For more information, see the appropriate Operation Guide. After the scenario creation is completed, run the scenario.

    Once the initial synchronization is completed and the replication process is active, the AR test can be performed.