EnsureDR Cloud - Quick Start Guide

This document will guide you through all the steps from an initial subscription to a successful EnsureDR Cloud job. Please review the EnsureDR Cloud prerequisites for successfully running EnsureDR Cloud SaaS on AWS.

With EnsureDR Cloud you will be able to define your applications and run automatic periodic drills using 'Jobs'. A Job represents an application (in a given target account/region) that allows you to define server groups, boot order between the groups (with delays), drill schedules, and email reports.

 

To start using the EnsureDR Cloud, follow these eight steps:

1. Set up AWS DRS replication
   • What is Elastic Disaster Recovery? Click here to learn more
   • Enable Elastic Disaster Recovery. Click here to learn more
   • Installing the AWS Replication Agent. Click here to learn more
2. Create an IAM user for EnsureDR Cloud in your AWS account with appropriate permissions by downloading a YAML file and launching it with CloudFormation. Click here to learn more
3. Create AWS key and secret to use with EnsureDR Cloud. Click here to learn more
4. Sign up for EnsureDR Cloud. Click here to learn more
5. Create a new Job by clicking the "Create Job" button. Click here to learn more
6. Run the job on the Jobs screen. The job will perform recovery, validation checks, and cleanup at the end. Click here to learn more
7. After the job has been completed, review the results in the report that appears on the right side of the Jobs screen. Click here to learn more

 

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Create an EnsureDR Cloud user using the YAML template file

Copy the following code and save it to a file on your computer or download the file from the following LINK. Later you will need to upload this file to the AWS CloudFormation console.

Here is the AWS CloudFormation YAML Template content that we created for you.

Parameters:   Account:     Type: String     Default: EnsureDRuser     Description: 'Enter a name for your EnsureDR account or leave the default name.'   Group:     Type: String     Default: EnsureDRgroup     Description: 'Enter a name for the group or leave the default name.'   Resources:   EnsureDRUser:     Type: 'AWS::IAM::User'     Properties:       UserName: !Sub '${Account}'       Groups:         - !Ref EnsureDRGroup     EnsureDRGroup:     Type: 'AWS::IAM::Group'     Properties:       GroupName: !Sub '${Group}'       Path: '/'       ManagedPolicyArns: # list of ARNs of IAM managed policies that you want to attach to the group         - arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonEC2FullAccess         - arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonS3FullAccess         - arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/service-role/AWSElasticDisasterRecoveryFailbackPolicy         - arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/service-role/AWSElasticDisasterRecoveryConversionServerPolicy         - arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/service-role/AWSElasticDisasterRecoveryAgentPolicy         - arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSElasticDisasterRecoveryConsoleFullAccess         - arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/service-role/AWSElasticDisasterRecoveryRecoveryInstancePolicy         - arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/service-role/AWSElasticDisasterRecoveryReplicationServerPolicy

AWS CloudFormation console

 

Please navigate to the AWS CloudFormation Console start page and click on the Create stack button.

In step 1, Specify template, click on Upload a template file, and then click the Choose file button. Now select the YAML file you saved in the previous step.

Now that you have selected and uploaded a template, click the Next button.

In Step 2, Specify stack details by entering the following details:

• Enter the Stack name
• Enter a name for your EnsureDR Cloud account or leave the default name
• Enter a name for the group or leave the default name

Click on the Next button.

In Step 3, Configure stack options, scroll to the bottom of the page.

Click the Next button.

In Step 4, Review, then scroll to the bottom of the page.

Select the following checkbox:

• I acknowledge that AWS CloudFormation might create IAM resources with custom names.

Now click the Create stack button.

To follow the creation process, you can click the refresh button (marked with a red square in the picture) to get an update from the AWS CloudFormation console.

When the whole process has been completed successfully, you will see it in the AWS CloudFormation console output as shown in our example.

 

Create access and secret keys

Now that the template has been implemented, go to AWS IAM to create an access key for the created user. You will need this access key when you create the job within the EnsureDR Cloud web console.

Once IAM opens, click Users in the left pane, then select the user you created from the list in the right pane.

The user details page will open, go to the Security credentials tab and click the Create access key button at the bottom.

A new window will pop up, click on the Download .csv file button to save the file, then click the Close button.

You have now completed all the prerequisites that you need to create before you can start using EnsureDR Cloud. Save the downloaded file in a safe place or copy the data from the file into a password manager.

 

EnsureDR Cloud SaaS Registration

Navigate to the registration page and enter the registration data as described below:

• Enter a valid email, this email will be used as your user for future login, as well as the mailbox to which EnsureDR Cloud sends reports and other information.
• Enter your Organization name, this is used when you create jobs in EnsureDR Cloud
• Enter a password and verify it again, this password will be used as your password for future login.

click on the checkbox I’m not a robot then click on the Sign Up button.

 

EnsureDR Cloud Job Configuration

A new page will pop up, now click on the + Create Job button

Type a job name, select an AWS region from the dropdown list and enter the AWS access and secret keys, then click the Next button.

EnsureDR Cloud will scan your AWS environment and list all the servers that you have in the AWS region specified in the previous step. Please select all the servers in the left panel 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.

Selected servers are in the right panel, click on the Save button.

 

Run the job

 

Now after you checked all the details in Launch Template, you can execute a job by right-clicking on the job and choosing Run Now (Drill) option in the menu

 

EnsureDR Cloud report

Once the task starts, wait for all the steps to complete. Upon completion, the report will be generated and displayed on the screen. If you entered an email address in the EnsureDR Cloud job, you will receive a copy of the report in your mailbox.

Once the work is complete, the report will be generated. Based on this report, you will be aware of issues in your environment if they exist and you can take all necessary measures to fix the issues in advance.