Creating the EnsureDR Cloud Job
The following technical document provides an in-depth process of creating a Job within EnsureDR Cloud console. It delves into the various details involved in this process, outlining the steps and procedures required to successfully create a job. The document also covers various technical aspects, providing readers with a detailed insight into the inner workings of the EnsureDR Cloud platform.
A Job represents an application in a specific AWS DRS target account/region, enabling users to define server groups, boot order, drill schedules, delays, and email reports. First, in order to access EnsureDR Cloud Console and configure the Job enter the credentials that were used during registration, complete the captcha, and then click Sign In.
To create a new job in the EnsureDR Cloud web console, click Create Job.
Note: Depending on whether you are accessing the page for the first time or not, a Welcome wizard or the Jobs Table will be displayed.
The create Job page will open, it is important to fill in the required fields and select the appropriate optional fields as necessary. This technical article provides a comprehensive guide to the job creation page, emphasizing the significance of filling in the mandatory fields accurately to ensure that the job is created correctly. Additionally, it explains the different optional fields that can be selected, providing users with the knowledge they need to tailor their job to their specific needs. By following the instructions outlined in this article, users can create jobs that are fully customized to their requirements, allowing them to take full advantage of the EnsureDR Cloud platform.
The following is a description of the fields in the initial stage of the job:
- Creation Date - Job creation date.
- Job Name – Unique job name
Must be a unique name for the tenant.
- Access Key and Secret Access key - The Access Key and Secret of the AWS IAM user used by EnsureDR Cloud to access your AWS account.
To enable EnsureDR Cloud to collect a list of replicated servers in AWS DRS through programmatic calls, it is necessary to provide the Access Key and Secret generated in AWS IAM that are used to authenticate your identity. Click here for instructions on how to generate an Access Key and Secret Access Key pair if you don’t already have ones.
- Region - Referring to the target AWS Region where the application servers are replicated to.
Select the appropriate region from the drop-down menu, which represents the target destination where you replicate the servers. EnsureDR Cloud will access this region to collect a list of replicated servers in AWS DRS through programmatic calls.
- Point In Time - When recovering servers, this field selects whether to recover the most recent data, or an older Point In Time (PIT).
The "Point in Time (PIT)" feature in disaster recovery enables launching an instance from a previously captured snapshot taken at a specific moment in time. Select which “Point In Time”, relative to the recovery time, to recover to. If a job is set to run on an automatic schedule, it will restore to the pre-established point in time. However, if the user initiates a manual drill or a live failover, they can opt to recover to a different point in time.
- Run At - The "Run At" parameter designates a scheduler that determines the date and time for EnsureDR Cloud to automatically execute the job in drill mode on a recurring basis
The "Run At" option is optional. If you choose not to define a scheduler date and time for automatic job drill running, the job can only be manually run.
- Email Report - By selecting the "Email Report" option, you can provide one or more email addresses to which EnsureDR Cloud will send an HTML copy of the reports upon completion of the job.
If you opt not to specify an email recipient, the report will only be visible within the EnsureDR Cloud console.
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO) (minutes) - Set the expected recovery time objective (RTO), which will be compared to the actual recovery time (RTA).
- Recovery Timeout (minutes) - In case the recovery process exceeds this time limit, it will be terminated, and the drill will be presented as unsuccessful with a score of zero. It's important to note that this duration should be greater than the RTO.
- Wait Time Between Groups (minutes) - Set the time to wait between groups when creating multiple server groups.
- Boot Animation Time (minutes) - The boot animation record time, which should be less than 10 minutes to prevent oversized report.
Once all necessary fields have been filled out, click Next. A new page will open where the EnsureDR Cloud platform will scan your AWS environment according to the settings you provided during the initial job setup process. All servers that exist in the specified AWS region will be listed.
Note: If you are unable to see any servers, it could be due to one of the following two reasons:
- AWS DRS is not installed or configured properly to replicate your servers.
Please makes sure you setup AWS DRS. Click here to learn more
- You have selected a region where your AWS DRS has not been replicated to.
Please navigate back to the previous screen and update the region to the correct target region where you have configured the replication to.
The Servers pane contains two icons with the following functions:
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Clicking on this icon will prompt EnsureDR Cloud to perform an immediate rescan of your AWS DRS Region. This feature is helpful when you have added a new server to AWS DRS after accessing the Job configuration page. |
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EnsureDR Cloud enables the division of servers into logical groups with generic names. If these names are not suitable, they can be changed to more meaningful ones. The platform allows for a maximum of seven groups, with each name limited to a maximum of 10 characters. The recovery process is performed in the order specified by the group order, beginning with Group 1 and ending with Group 7. |
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From the left panel, select all the servers that you want to add to the job, then click on the blue arrow icon in the middle to move the selected servers to the right panel.
After selecting the desired servers to be added to the job, they will be displayed in the Application Servers/Groups pane in the logical group order you selected in the previous step.
After selecting the desired servers to be added to the job and setting the group order if needed, the final step is to Save the job.
Running a Job
When you have finished configuring a job, the job table will open up. The job will run automatically when the scheduled date and time arrives, or you can manually run it by right-clicking on the newly created job and selecting one of the following options:
"Run Drill (All Phases)": This option will run a full drill of recovery, validation, and cleanup for the job.
"Run Drill (Recovery and Validation Only)": This option will run the drill and validation processes but will not perform cleanup at the end. This will mark the job as a drill in AWS, and it will be up to the user to perform the cleanup manually or by selecting "Run Cleanup Only". Please note that the "Run Cleanup Only" option should only be selected once the job has completed the drill process.
"Run Recovery (Recovery and Validation Only)": This option will run the recovery and validation processes but will not perform cleanup at the end. This will mark the job as recovered in AWS. Please note that the "Run Cleanup Only" option should only be selected once the job has completed the recovery process.
Upon manually running a job, a pop-up will appear, prompting you to choose the point in time for the recovery process. If you choose a different point in time than what is specified in the job, this selection will override it for the current run only and will not impact the setting in the job.