Rapid Return to Production (RRP)

Rapid Return to Production (RRP) creates a full production VM from a temporary VM that was created with Instant Virtualization of Block Backups or Instant VM Restore from Agentless Backups. RRP converts a temporary VM into a working production VM without significant downtime (typically only a few minutes). The new VM is available for use while Catalogic DPX transfers data behind the scenes, using Storage vMotion, to populate the selected datastore. Secondary storage is automatically released after the Storage vMotion transfer completes.

When migrating a temporary, test VM to a permanent VM, RRP can save many hours, or even days in the case of large data transfer over a slow connection.

Typically, you initiate RRP with a temporary VM only once, but you can schedule the start time of an RRP job.

Note. Most Instant Virtualization jobs are eligible for RRP processing. In those cases, RRP is utilized in the background to create a full VM, reducing time to production availability to a matter of minutes. Such jobs are called Full with RRP.

Full Virtualization jobs on Linux always run with RRP.

RRP requires VMware vMotion which is usually sold separately by VMware.

Prerequisites for RRP

Note. RRP requirements apply to both RRP jobs and Full with RRP jobs. In the latter case, RRP requirements must be met since RRP is used transparently in the background.

• For general virtualization considerations and requirements, see Full VM Restore or Instant VM Restore.

• The Catalogic DPX client to virtualize must be running a supported operating system. See Operating System Support in the Compatibility Matrix.
• A VM created with Instant Virtualization or Agentless Instant VM Restore must already exist.

• For Microsoft Windows Full Virtualization with RRP (Full with RRP), the radio button Align virtual machine file system on the Virtual Machine Information screen of the virtualization wizard must be selected. For Linux or Clustered Data ONTAP volumes less than 2 TB in size, the file system will always be aligned and the radio button does not appear.

Attention! RRP with the NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP supports the source volume size of up to 2 TB. To use the RRP with a source volume that exceeds 2 TB in size, use the Bare Metal Recovery (BMR). For more information, see Bare Metal Recovery (BMR) Backup.

RRP General Considerations

• You cannot use RRP for VMware vApp or VMs in it.

• RDM disks are converted to virtual disks.

• Running an RRP job to an NFS target datastore causes the machine to power off when the job is completed. This is the outcome of using a cloning operation, as migration to an NFS target datastore is not supported. This is due to a VMware limitation.

• If the Instant Virtualization VM to be used for RRP (or Full with RRP) was created with a version of Catalogic DPX that does not support RRP, then RDM compatibility mode will be automatically converted from physical to virtual compatibility mode, which is required by Storage vMotion.

• If a RRP job fails, you cannot define and run another RRP job that uses the same Instant Virtualization VM. If you attempt to do so, a message will indicate that processing has failed because the VM is involved in an active or incomplete RRP job. Re-run the job.

Power State Considerations for RRP

Note the following considerations related to the power state of the Instant Access VM used for RRP jobs:

• While an RRP job or Full with RRP job is in progress, you cannot change the on/off state of the Instant Virtualization VM in vSphere Client. You must wait for the job to complete. The RRP job may seem to be complete because the new production VM is available almost immediately; however, data transfer is occurring in the background, and the job is not complete until this data transfer is completed (which can take hours or even days).

• Once the RRP job starts, don’t attempt to change the power state of the Instant Virtualization VM. If that VM is powered on and you power it off from the VM itself, the RRP job will fail. If the Instant Virtualization VM is powered off, you cannot turn it on until the RRP job is completed. The power-on state will be grayed out in VMware.

• RRP using Storage vMotion requires the Instant Access VM in the power-on state. If the Instant Access VM is off before the RRP job starts, RRP will proceed but will use the cloning method. In this scenario, the rapid creation of a usable production machine will not be realized.

• If you don’t select the Start VM after it is created check box in the virtualization wizard, that is equivalent to starting a Full with RRP job with the Instant Virtualization VM powered off, and the RRP job will use the cloning method rather than the migration (Storage vMotion) method.

Completing an RRP Job Despite Master Server Interruption

In the event the master server experiences an interruption due to network or hardware issues, the RRP job will continue. Thus, it is not necessary to restart the RRP job from the beginning (which could lose many hours, or even days, of processing time). However, you do need to take some simple steps to ensure the RRP job is completed successfully.

In the event of a master server interruption during an RRP job, the job monitor will indicate a status of Abort. However, the master server interruption only affects the reporting of job progress; the RRP job continues.

To ensure the RRP job is completed successfully, note the following:

• To resolve the Abort condition and update job monitoring, re-run the RRP job. Note that this is not a job re-run. The re-run simply syncs up the master server with the in-progress RRP job, and the job monitor will now indicate the actual progress of the job.

• If the RRP job has been completed before the job re-run, the re-run will initiate the RRP post-completion phase, LUN cleanup. Although the RRP job continues while Abort is indicated, it will not proceed to LUN cleanup until the job is re-run to resolve the Abort condition.

• If you want to cancel the RRP job for which Abort is indicated, you must re-run the job, and then cancel.

• While Abort is indicated, you can not start another RRP job based on the same Instant Virtualization VM. You must resolve the Abort condition first by re-running the job and either allowing it to be completed or canceling it.

Converting Temporary VM to Production VM by Using RRP

Rapid Return to Production (RRP) creates a full production VM from an existing VM created with Instant Virtualization from Block Backups or Instant VM Restore from Agentless Backups. RRP transfers data from a snapshot on secondary storage to primary storage attached to an ESX server. The new production VM is available for use within minutes while data transfer continues transparently in the background. RRP jobs are defined through the RRP Wizard. RRP jobs can be scheduled, but they are intended for single, not recurring use.

Take the following steps to convert a temporary VM to a production VM:

1. On the Function Tab Bar, click Restore, then click Block.

2. On the Task Panel, select RRP Wizard. The Welcome dialog appears.

3. Click Next. The Login dialog appears.

4. Log in to the host or vCenter Server for the new VM:

5. Enter IP Address / Name. This is a fully qualified network name or IP address of an ESX Server or vCenter Server.

6. Enter a valid username and password.

7. Click Next; the Select Virtual Machine dialog appears.

8. Expand the datacenter to display VMs.

9. Click on a VM for RRP to bring into production. Only machines eligible for RRP will be displayed. The properties of the VM are displayed in the right pane.

10. Click Next; the Select Datastore dialog appears.

11. Select a datastore from which the VM disks will be provisioned.

Attention! Sufficient free space is required on the datastore for the creation of a new virtual machine (VM). The type of datastore is specified in the Type column. Rapid Recovery Protocol (RRP) is compatible with both VMFS and NFS/CIFS datastores.

12. Click Next; the Specify Job Information dialog appears.

13. Identify the RRP job:

    • Name the job, specify a folder for the job, and optionally add a comment.

    • Optionally select Delete Job when Done. If checked, your job definition will be deleted once the job is completed successfully. It will not be deleted if the job fails. In most cases, you should leave this check box unselected since you will usually want to re-run a job. If you select the check box, the values you entered for it will be lost after the job runs.

    • Optionally schedule the job to run later. If you click Schedule, the job scheduler opens. If the job is not scheduled, after you click Finish on the final screen of the wizard, you will be asked if you want to run the job immediately.

14. The Summary screen displays the information you have entered for the RRP job. To change an entry, click Back. To accept all selections, click Finish.

After you click Finish, if you have not scheduled the job, you will be asked if you want to run the job immediately. If the job is not scheduled and you don’t choose to run it immediately, you can run the job later from the Monitor Jobs window.