This section explains how to typically protect workloads.
If you are going to use one of the built-in Protection Tiers, or if you have created the necessary Protection Tier in the past, this step can be skipped. Protection Tiers determine when and how often a protected workload’s replication runs.
To create a Protection tier:
On the Settings page, click .
The Create Protection Tier page is displayed.
In the field, type the name you want to use for the tier .
In the field, specify the number of times Forge should try to detect the workload before giving up .
In the field, specify the time intervals (in seconds) that Forge should use between detection attempts.
For example, entering 60 means Forge attempts every 60 seconds to detect if the workload has gone offline . The value in the field indicates how many missed Workload Detection attempts occur before Forge sends out a Workload Offline notification.
In the field, specify the number of recovery points to keep for workloads that use this Protection Tier.
Entering 0 disables this feature. There is a limit of 32 recovery points that can be kept, but if there are many protected workloads on the Forge appliance and they are all keeping the maximum number of recovery points, storage space can become an issue.
Reducing the value when there are multiple existing recovery points already stored can result in a lengthy merge procedure.
In the section, specify how often you want to run an incremental replication.
Specify the date to start using the incremental recurrence, as well as the incremental recurrence pattern. You can type directly in the field, or click the calendar icon to graphically select a date. You can also select None as the Recurrence Pattern to never use incremental replication.
Depending on which recurrence pattern you select, different accompanying fields are displayed.
Specify how often you want to run a full replication in the section.
Specify the date to start using the full recurrence, as well as the full recurrence pattern. You can type directly in the field, or click the calendar icon to graphically select a date. You can also select None as the Recurrence Pattern to never use full replication.
Depending on which recurrence pattern you select, different accompanying fields are displayed.
Click .
The Protection Tier list is displayed again, now showing your new Protection Tier in the list.
To edit an existing Protection Tier, click its name in the list. To delete an existing Protection Tier, click next to the Protection Tier you want to delete. If a Protection Tier assigned to a protected workload is deleted, the settings are retained in the workload, but the Protection Tier is set to . The built-in Protection Tiers (Hourly, Nightly, and Weekly) can neither be edited nor deleted.
If a workload’s incremental and full recurrences coincide, the full recurrence takes precedence.
For more information on Protection Tiers, see Protection Tiers.
The following are software, network, and firewall requirements that systems in your environment must meet for the discovery process. For a full list of required ports, see Table 7-1.
Table 3-1 Network Communication Prerequisites for Discovery Operations
Before a workload can have protection applied to it, PlateSpin Forge needs to add or discover it by using details you enter.
Click on the Dashboard page or on the Workloads page.
The Add Workload page is displayed.
In the field, specify the IP address or hostname of the workload to be protected .
In the and fields, specify the credentials for the workload.
The username must have Administrative privileges on the workload being added.
Select a replication method.
Select and click for workloads that will use a full replication to Forge.
Select to add a workload that already exists on Forge (for example, a contract that needs to be re-established after a failover) or that has been previously imported to Forge. Select the existing/imported workload from the drop-down list and select the desired network options. Click .
PlateSpin Forge attempts to discover the workload using the details you entered.
The Block-level transfer method is not supported for incremental workload synchronizations.
For more information on adding a workload imported to Forge, see Section 3.5, Importing a Workload into Forge.
When the workload is added (discovery is successful), it appears in the Workload list on the Workloads page with a Replication Status of .
When a workload has been added to PlateSpin Forge, it needs to have its protection configured before any replications can be run.
On the Workloads page, click the name of the workload for which you want to configure protection.
The Workload Details page is displayed.
Select a Protection Tier from the drop-down box.
The parameters in the Protection Tier section are set to the values in the selected Protection Tier and are read-only. You can also select as the Protection Tier so all the fields are editable.
Select a transfer method.
For more information on transfer methods, see Supported Transfer Methods.
Select a Recovery Point Datastore. This is the location where the recovery point file will be stored.
Deselect any detected volumes that you do not want protected.
Specify any services you want stopped during replication.
In the field, set the recovery workload memory allocation . The default value is the size of the protected workload memory size.
Specify the hostname and domain/workgroup and any necessary credentials. The default values are those set in the protected workload.
In the section, specify the network to use for the recovery workload during failover .
If desired, change the run state of any Windows services in the section.
Select the network the recovery workload should use by clicking the drop-down.
Click .
Click .
When the workload is prepared (the recovery workload virtual machine is created and ready to receive data), its entry in the Workload list on the Workloads page displays a Replication Status of .
Before a workload is protected, a replication needs to be run so the replication workload is synchronized with it.
On the Workloads page, select the check box next to the workload you want to replicate.
Click in the Workload Commands panel.
Click .
The workload is transferred to Forge and incremental updates automatically occur, based on the created Protection Tier.
If Block-level is being used as the transfer method, the protected workload reboots.