Users Guide

If using Dell Data Protection backup appliances such as the DL1x00 or DL4x00 series, the target Core to which you replicate
must have a valid software license configured. These hardware appliances include a replication target license with purchase.
Check for your license key in the welcome email message you received when purchased the appliance.
Recovery point chains and orphans
Rapid Recovery captures snapshots of a protected machine, and saves the data to a repository as a recovery point. The first
recovery point saved to the Core is called a base image. The base image includes the operating system, applications, and
settings for each volume you choose to protect, as well as all data on those volumes. Successive backups are incremental
snapshots, which consist only of data changed on the protected volumes since the last backup. The base image plus all
incremental snapshots together form a complete recovery point chain.
From a complete recovery point chain, you can restore data with ease and confidence, using the full range of recovery options
available to Rapid Recovery. These options include file-level restore, volume-level restore, and bare metal restore.
Since logically you cannot restore from data that does not exist, in the case of an incomplete recovery point chain, you cannot
restore data at the volume level or perform a bare metal restore. In such cases, you can still restore any data that does exist in a
recovery point at the file level.
If the information you want to restore from a recovery point is in a previous backup that is not available to the Core (an earlier
incremental snapshot or the base image), the recovery point is said to be orphaned. Orphaned recovery points are typical in
some replication scenarios.
For example, when you first establish replication, your options for restoring data from the replicated recovery points are limited.
Until all backup data from the source Core is transmitted to the target Core, creating full recovery point chains from the
orphans, you can only perform file-level restore.
When replication begins
By default, replication transfer jobs are automatically queued by the Core immediately after each regularly scheduled backup
transfer completes. Thus, unless the replication schedule for a protected machine is customized, its replication schedule is based
on its standard backup snapshot schedule.
When you first set up replication, if one or more recovery points exist on the source Core, the replication process begins
immediately, unless:
● You select the option to initially pause replication, or
● You select the option to use a seed drive to perform the initial transfer.
If you pause replication initially, replication begins when you explicitly resume replication.
If you set up replication and specify the use of a seed drive, replication to the target Core begins with the next regularly
scheduled backup snapshot.
NOTE:
You can also force a backup of the protected machine after establishing replication. This causes replication to begin
immediately after the protected machine snapshot completes.
If you specify a seed drive when you set up replication, only future backup transfers are replicated. If you want existing recovery
points from the original protected machine to exist on the target Core, you must seed data from the protected machine. To
seed data, create a seed drive from the source Core, and then consume the seed drive on the target Core.
You can also customize the replication schedule for a protected machine. For example, if you use the default protection
schedule of one backup per hour, you can specify that the source Core replicate to the target Core at a different schedule (for
example, once daily at 2AM).
Determining your seeding needs and strategy
The following topics discuss restoring from replicated data and whether you need to seed recovery point data from the source
Core.
When seeding data is required
When you first establish replication, unless you specify the use a seed drive, the source Core begins transmitting all of the
recovery points for the selected machines to the target Core. Transmitting your data over the network can take a good deal of
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Protecting workstations and servers