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Creating a full server migration job

Use the following instructions to create a full server migration job.

With a full server migration job, your servers can be in a NAT environment. However, you must make sure you have added your servers to the Double-Take Console using the correct IP address. Review the NAT configuration table in the Adding servers section before you start the job creation process.

1. Click Get Started from the toolbar.

2. Select Double-Take Move and click Next.

3. Choose your source server. This is the server that you want to migrate.

   

   • Current Servers—This list contains the servers currently available in your console session. Servers that are not licensed for the workflow you have selected will be filtered out of the list. Select your source server from the list.
   • Find a New Server—If the server you need is not in the Current Servers list, click the Find a New Server heading. From here, you can specify a server along with credentials for logging in to the server. If necessary, you can click Browse to select a server from a network drill-down list.

   If you enter the source server's fully-qualified domain name, the Double-Take Console will resolve the entry to the server short name. If that short name resides in two different domains, this could result in name resolution issues. In this case, enter the IP address of the server.

   When specifying credentials for a new server, specify a user that is a member of the local Double-Take Admin and local administrator security groups. If your source is the only domain controller in your network, the account must also be a local account in the local administrators group on the target. If you want Double-Take to update DNS during cutover, the account must be a member of the Domain Admins group. If your security policies do not allow use of this group, see the Special network configurations chapter of the Double-Take Availability User's Guide, in the DNS section, and use the instructions under the Double-Take DFO utility to use a non-Domain Admins account.

    

4. Click Next to continue.

5. Choose the type of workload that you want to migrate. Under Server Workloads, in the Workload types pane, select Full Server Migration. In the Workload items pane, select the volumes on the source that you want to migrate.

   

6. By default, Double-Take selects your entire source for migration. If desired, click the Replication Rules heading and expand the volumes under Folders. You will see that Double-Take automatically excludes particular files that cannot be used during the migration. If desired, you can exclude other files that you do not want to migrate, but be careful when excluding data. Excluded volumes, folders, and/or files may compromise the integrity of your installed applications. There are some volumes, folders, and files (identified in italics text) that you will be unable to exclude, because they are required for migration. For example, the boot files cannot be excluded because that is where the system state information is stored.

   Volumes and folders with a green highlight are included in their entirety in the migration. Volumes and folders highlighted in light yellow have individual files included in the migration. If there is no highlight, no part of the volume or folder is included in the migration. To modify the items selected, highlight a volume, folder, or file and click Add Rule. You can also enter a rule, including a wildcard specification, manually. Specify if you want to Include or Exclude the item. Also, specify if you want the rule to be recursive, which indicates the rule should automatically be applied to the subdirectories of the specified path. If you do not select Recursive, the rule will not be applied to subdirectories.

   If you need to remove a rule, highlight it in the list at the bottom and click Remove Rule. Be careful when removing rules. Double-Take may create multiple rules when you are adding directories. For example, if you add E:\Data to be included in protection, then E:\ will be excluded. If you remove the E:\ exclusion rule, then the E:\Data rule will be removed also.

   If you return to this page using the Back button in the job creation workflow, your Workload Types selection will be rebuilt, potentially overwriting any manual replication rules that you specified. If you do return to this page, confirm your Workload Types and Replication Rules are set to your desired settings before proceeding forward again.

   If IIS is being used as a hardware platform manager by your hardware vendor on both the source and target, you need to remove the INetPub directory from replication under the Replication Rules heading. If IIS is being used as a software application on your source but as a hardware platform manager by your hardware vendor on your target, you need to add the INetPub directory to the Staged Folders Options list on the Set Options page later in this workflow.

    

7. Click Next to continue.

8. Choose your target server. This is the server that, after the migration, will become your new source.

   

   • Current Servers—This list contains the servers currently available in your console session. Servers that are not licensed for the workflow you have selected and those not applicable to the workload type you have selected will be filtered out of the list. Select your target server from the list.
   • Find a New Server—If the server you need is not in the Current Servers list, click the Find a New Server heading. From here, you can specify a server along with credentials for logging in to the server. If necessary, you can click Browse to select a server from a network drill-down list.

   If you enter the target server's fully-qualified domain name, the Double-Take Console will resolve the entry to the server short name. If that short name resides in two different domains, this could result in name resolution issues. In this case, enter the IP address of the server.

   When specifying credentials for a new server, specify a user that is a member of the local Double-Take Admin and local administrator security groups. If your source is the only domain controller in your network, the account must also be a local account in the local administrators group on the target. If you want Double-Take to update DNS during cutover, the account must be a member of the Domain Admins group. If your security policies do not allow use of this group, see the Special network configurations chapter of the Double-Take Availability User's Guide, in the DNS section, and use the instructions under the Double-Take DFO utility to use a non-Domain Admins account.

    

9. Click Next to continue.

10. You have many options available for your server migration job. Configure those options that are applicable to your environment.

    Click a link below to see the options available for that section of the Set Options page.

    General

    

    For the Job name, specify a unique name for your job.

    Failover Options

    

    • Wait for user to initiate failover—By default, the cutover process will wait for you to initiate it, allowing you to control when cutover occurs. When a cutover occurs, the job will wait in the Protecting state for you to manually initiate the cutover process. Disable this option only if you want cutover to occur immediately after the mirror is complete.
    • Shutdown source server—Specify if you want to shut down the source server, if it is still running, before the source is cutover to the target, This option prevents identity conflicts on the network in those cases where the source and target are still both running and communicating.

    • Scripts—You can customize cutover by running scripts on the target. Scripts may contain any valid Windows command, executable, or batch file. The scripts are processed using the same account running the Double-Take service, unless you have identified a specific account through the server's properties. See Script credentials. Examples of functions specified in scripts include stopping services on the target before cutover because they may not be necessary, stopping services on the target that need to be restarted with the source’s machine name and/or IP address, starting services or loading applications that are in an idle, standby mode waiting for cutover to occur, notifying the administrator before and after cutover occurs, and so on. There are two types of cutover scripts.

      • Pre-failover script—This script runs on the target at the beginning of the cutover process. Specify the full path and name of the script file.
      • Post-failover script—This script runs on the target at the end of the cutover process. Specify the full path and name of the script file.
      • Arguments—Specify a comma-separated list of valid arguments required to execute the script.
      • Delay until script completes—Enable this option if you want to delay the cutover process until the associated script has completed. If you select this option, make sure your script handles errors, otherwise the cutover process may never complete if the process is waiting on a script that cannot complete.

      Scripts will run but will not be displayed on the screen if the Double-Take service is not set to interact with the desktop. Enable this option through the Windows Services applet.

    Failover Identity

    

    • Apply source network configuration to the target—If you select this option, you can configure the source IP addresses to cutover to the target. If your target is on the same subnet as the source (typical of a LAN environment), you should select this option. Do not select this option if you are using a NAT environment that has a different subnet on the other side of the NAT router.

      If you are applying the source network configuration to the target in a WAN environement, do not cutover your IP addresses unless you have a VPN infrastructure so that the source and target can be on the same subnet, in which case IP address cutover will work the same as a LAN configuration. If you do not have a VPN, you can automatically reconfigure the routers via a failover script (by moving the source's subnet from the source's physical network to the target's physical network). There are a number of issues to consider when designing a solution that requires router configuration to achieve IP address cutover. Since the route to the source's subnet will be changed at cutover, the source server must be the only system on that subnet, which in turn requires all server communications to pass through a router. Additionally, it may take several minutes or even hours for routing tables on other routers throughout the network to converge.

       

    • Retain target network configuration—If you select this option, the target will retain all of its original IP addresses. If your target is on a different subnet (typical of a WAN or NAT environment), you should select this option.

      • Update DNS server—Specify if you want Double-Take to update your DNS server on cutover. If DNS updates are made, the DNS records will be locked during cutover. Be sure and review the Requirements for the requirements for updating DNS.

        DNS updates are not available for Server Core servers or NAT configurations.

         

        Expand the DNS Options section to configure how the updates will be made. The DNS information will be discovered and displayed. If your servers are in a workgroup, you must provide the DNS credentials before the DNS information can be discovered and displayed.

        • Change—If necessary, click this button and specify a user that has privileges to access and modify DNS records. The account must be a member of the DnsAdmins group for the domain, and must have full control permissions on the source's A (host) and PTR (reverse lookup) records. These permissions are not included by default in the DnsAdmins group.
        • Remove—If there are any DNS servers in the list that you do not want to update, highlight them and click Remove.
        • Update these source DNS entries with the corresponding target IP address—For each IP address on the source, specify what address you want DNS to use after failover.
        • Update TTL—Specify the length of time, in seconds, for the time to live value for all modified DNS A records. Ideally, you should specify 300 seconds (5 minutes) or less.

      If you select Retain your target network configuration but do not enable Update DNS server, you will need to specify failover scripts that update your DNS server during failover, or you can update the DNS server manually after failover. This would also apply to non--Microsoft Active Directory Integrated DNS servers. You will want to keep your target network configuration but do not update DNS. In this case, you will need to specify failover scripts that update your DNS server during failover, or you can update the DNS server manually after failover.

      DNS updates will be disabled if the target server cannot communicate with both the source and target DNS servers

       

    Network Adapter Options

    

    For Map source network adapters to target network adapters, specify how you want the IP addresses associated with each NIC on the source to be mapped to a NIC on the target. Do not mix public and private networks.

    Mirror, Verify & Orphaned Files

    

    • Mirror all files—All protected files will be mirrored from the source to the target.
    • Mirror different files—Only those protected files that are different based on date and time, size, or attributes will be mirrored from the source to the target.
      • Mirror only if the file on the source is newer than the copy on the target—This option is not available for migration jobs.
      • Use block checksum for comparisons—For those files flagged as different, the mirroring process can perform a block checksum comparison and send only those blocks that are different.
      File Differences Mirror Options Compared

      The following table will help you understand how the various difference mirror options work together, including when you are using the block checksum option configured through the Source server properties.

      An X in the table indicates that option is enabled. An X enclosed in parentheses (X) indicates that the option can be on or off without impacting the action performed during the mirror.

      Not all job types have the source newer option available.

      Source Server Properties	Job Properties			Action Performed
      Block Checksum Option	File Differences Option	Source Newer  Option	Block Checksum Option
      (X)	X			Any file that is different on the source and target based on the date, time, size, and/or attribute is transmitted to the target. The mirror sends the entire file.
      (X)	X	X		Any file that is newer on the source than on the target based on date and/or time is transmitted to the target. The mirror sends the entire file.
      	X		X	Any file that is different on the source and target based on date, time, size, and/or attributed is flagged as different. The mirror then performs a checksum comparison on the flagged files and only sends those blocks that are different.
      X	X		X	The mirror performs a checksum comparison on all files and only sends those blocks that are different.
      (X)	X	X	X	Any file that is newer on the source than on the target based on date and/or time is flagged as different. The mirror then performs a checksum comparison on the flagged files and only sends those blocks that are different.

    • Enable scheduled verification—Verification is the process of confirming that the source replica data on the target is identical to the original data on the source. Verification creates a log file detailing what was verified as well as which files are not synchronized. If the data is not the same, can automatically initiate a remirror, if configured. The remirror ensures data integrity between the source and target. When this option is enabled, Double-Take will verify the source replica data on the target and generate a verification log.

      Because of the way the Windows Cache Manager handles memory, machines that are doing minimal or light processing may have file operations that remain in the cache until additional operations flush them out. This may make Double-Take files on the target appear as if they are not synchronized. When the Windows Cache Manager releases the operations in the cache on the source and target, the files will be updated on the target.

       

    • Verify on this interval—Specify the interval between verification processes.
    • Begin immediately—Select this option if you want to start the verification schedule immediately after the job is established.
    • Begin at this time—Select this option if you want to start the verification at the specified date and time.
    • Mirror files to the target server when verifying—When this option is enabled, in addition to verifying the data and generating a log, Double-Take will also mirror to the target any protected files that are different on the source.
    • Mirror only if the file on the source is newer than the copy on the target—This option is not available for migration jobs.
    • Use block checksum for comparisons—For those files flagged as different, the mirroring process can perform a block checksum comparison and send only those blocks that are different.

    • Calculate size of protected data before mirroring—Specify if you want Double-Take to determine the mirroring percentage calculation based on the amount of data being protected. If the calculation is enabled, it is completed before the job starts mirroring, which can take a significant amount of time depending on the number of files and system performance. If your job contains a large number of files, for example, 250,000 or more, you may want to disable the calculation so that data will start being mirrored sooner. Disabling calculation will result in the mirror status not showing the percentage complete or the number of bytes remaining to be mirrored.

      The calculated amount of protected data may be slightly off if your data set contains compressed or sparse files.

       

    • Delete orphaned files—An orphaned file is a file that exists in the replica data on the target, but does not exist in the protected data on the source. This option specifies if orphaned files should be deleted on the target during a mirror, verification, or restoration.

      Orphaned file configuration is a per target configuration. All jobs to the same target will have the same orphaned file configuration.

      The orphaned file feature does not delete alternate data streams. To do this, use a full mirror, which will delete the additional streams when the file is re-created.

      If delete orphaned files is enabled, carefully review any replication rules that use wildcard definitions. If you have specified wildcards to be excluded from protection, files matching those wildcards will also be excluded from orphaned file processing and will not be deleted from the target. However, if you have specified wildcards to be included in your protection, those files that fall outside the wildcard inclusion rule will be considered orphaned files and will be deleted from the target.

      If you want to move orphaned files rather than delete them, you can configure this option along with the move deleted files feature to move your orphaned files to the specified deleted files directory. See Target server properties for more information.

      During a mirror, orphaned file processing success messages will be logged to a separate orphaned file log. This keeps the Double-Take log from being overrun with orphaned file success processing messages. Orphaned files processing statistics and any errors in orphaned file processing will still be logged to the Double-Take log, and during difference mirrors, verifications, and restorations, all orphaned file processing messages are logged to the Double-Take log. The orphaned file log is located in the Logging folder specified for the source. See Log file properties for details on the location of that folder. The orphaned log file is overwritten during each orphaned file processing during a mirror, and the log file will be a maximum of 50 MB.

       

    Network Route

    

    For Send data to the target server using this route, Double-Take will select, by default, a target route for transmissions. If desired, specify an alternate route on the target that the data will be transmitted through. This allows you to select a different route for Double-Take traffic. For example, you can separate regular network traffic and Double-Take traffic on a machine with multiple IP addresses. You can also select or manually enter a public IP address (which is the public IP address of the server's NAT router) if you are using a NAT environment.

    Staging Folder Options

    

    • Select additional folders from the source that need to be staged—Applications running on the target that cannot be stopped will cause retry operations because Double-Take will be unable to write to open application files. In this case, you will want to mirror those application files to a staging location instead of their actual location. Generally, this will only apply to applications that are not installed in the Windows Program Files directory. In this case, click Add and specify the folder that you want staged. Any staged folders will be applied to their actual installation location during cutover.
    • Show system state and profile folders—This option displays the list of essential system state and profile folders that will be staged automatically. These essential items are displayed in a lighter color than folders you have manually added, and they cannot be removed from the list.

    If IIS is being used as a software application on your source but as a hardware platform manager by your hardware vendor on your target, you need to add the INetPub directory to the Staged Folders Options list. If IIS is being used as a hardware platform manager by your hardware vendor on both the source and target, you need to go to the Choose Data page and remove the INetPub directory from replication under the Replication Rules heading.

     

    Target Services

    

    • Services to leave running on the target server during protection—Double-Take controls which services are running and stopped on the target during protection. You can specify which services you want to keep running by clicking Add and selecting a service from the list. If you want to remove a service from the list, highlight it and click Remove.

      Services are stopped on the target to protect against retry operations. Do not leave services running unless absolutely necessary.

       

    • Show essential services—This option displays the list of essential services that will remain running on the target. The essential services are displayed in a lighter color than services you have manually added. The essential services cannot be removed from the list.
    Compression

    

    To help reduce the amount of bandwidth needed to transmit Double-Take data, compression allows you to compress data prior to transmitting it across the network. In a WAN environment this provides optimal use of your network resources. If compression is enabled, the data is compressed before it is transmitted from the source. When the target receives the compressed data, it decompresses it and then writes it to disk. You can set the level from Minimum to Maximum to suit your needs.

    Keep in mind that the process of compressing data impacts processor usage on the source. If you notice an impact on performance while compression is enabled in your environment, either adjust to a lower level of compression, or leave compression disabled. Use the following guidelines to determine whether you should enable compression.

    • If data is being queued on the source at any time, consider enabling compression.
    • If the server CPU utilization is averaging over 85%, be cautious about enabling compression.
    • The higher the level of compression, the higher the CPU utilization will be.
    • Do not enable compression if most of the data is inherently compressed. Many image (.jpg, .gif) and media (.wmv, .mp3, .mpg) files, for example, are already compressed. Some images files, such as .bmp and .tif, are decompressed, so enabling compression would be beneficial for those types.
    • Compression may improve performance even in high-bandwidth environments.
    • Do not enable compression in conjunction with a WAN Accelerator. Use one or the other to compress Double-Take data.

    All jobs from a single source connected to the same IP address on a target will share the same compression configuration.

     

    Bandwidth

    

    Bandwidth limitations are available to restrict the amount of network bandwidth used for Double-Take data transmissions. When a bandwidth limit is specified, Double-Take never exceeds that allotted amount. The bandwidth not in use by Double-Take is available for all other network traffic.

    All jobs from a single source connected to the same IP address on a target will share the same bandwidth configuration.

     

    • Do not limit bandwidth—Double-Take will transmit data using 100% bandwidth availability.
    • Use a fixed limit—Double-Take will transmit data using a limited, fixed bandwidth. Select a Preset bandwidth limit rate from the common bandwidth limit values. The Bandwidth field will automatically update to the bytes per second value for your selected bandwidth. This is the maximum amount of data that will be transmitted per second. If desired, modify the bandwidth using a bytes per second value. The minimum limit should be 3500 bytes per second.
    • Use scheduled limits—Double-Take will transmit data using a dynamic bandwidth based on the schedule you configure. Bandwidth will not be limited during unscheduled times.
      • New—Click New to create a new scheduled bandwidth limit. Specify the following information.
      • Daytime entry—Select this option if the start and end times of the bandwidth window occur in the same day (between 12:01 AM and midnight). The start time must occur before the end time.
      • Overnight entry—Select this option if the bandwidth window begins on one day and continues past midnight into the next day. The start time must be later than the end time, for example 6 PM to 6 AM.
      • Day—Enter the day on which the bandwidth limiting should occur. You can pick a specific day of the week, Weekdays to have the limiting occur Monday through Friday, Weekends to have the limiting occur Saturday and Sunday, or Every day to have the limiting repeat on all days of the week.
      • Start time—Enter the time to begin bandwidth limiting.
      • End time—Enter the time to end bandwidth limiting.
      • Preset bandwidth—Select a bandwidth limit rate from the common bandwidth limit values. The Bandwidth field will automatically update to the bytes per second value for your select bandwidth.
      • Bandwidth—If desired, modify the bandwidth using a bytes per second value. The minimum limit should be 3500 bytes per second.
      • Edit—Click Edit to modify an existing scheduled bandwidth limit.
      • Delete—Click Delete to remove a scheduled bandwidth limit.

      If you change your job option from Use scheduled limits to Do not limit bandwidth or Use a fixed limit, any schedule that you created will be preserved. That schedule will be reused if you change your job option back to Use scheduled limits.

      You can manually override a schedule after a job is established by selecting Other Job Options, Set Bandwidth. If you select No bandwidth limit or Fixed bandwidth limit, that manual override will be used until you go back to your schedule by selecting Other Job Options, Set Bandwidth, Scheduled bandwidth limit. For example, if your job is configured to use a daytime limit, you would be limited during the day, but not at night. But if you override that, your override setting will continue both day and night, until you go back to your schedule. See the Managing and controlling jobs section for your job type for more information on the Other Job Options.

       

    Scripts

    

    You can customize mirroring by running scripts on the target at pre-defined points in the mirroring process. Scripts may contain any valid Windows command, executable, or batch file. The scripts are processed using the same account running the Double-Take service, unless you have identified a specific account through the server's properties. There are three types of mirroring scripts.

    • Mirror Start—This script starts when the target receives the first mirror operation. In the case of a difference mirror, this may be a long time after the mirror is started because the script does not start until the first different data is received on the target. If the data is synchronized and a difference mirror finds nothing to mirror, the script will not be executed. Specify the full path and name of the Script file.
    • Mirror Complete—This script starts when a mirror is completed. Because the mirror statistics may indicate a mirror is at 99-100% when it is actually still processing (for example, if files were added after the job size was calculated, if there are alternate data streams, and so on), the script will not start until all of the mirror data has been completely processed on the target. Specify the full path and name of the Script file.
    • Mirror Stop—This script starts when a mirror is stopped, which may be caused by an auto-disconnect occurring while a mirror is running, the service is shutdown while a mirror is running, or if you stop a mirror manually. Specify the full path and name of the Script file.
    • Arguments—Specify a comma-separated list of valid arguments required to execute the script.
    • Allow script to interact with desktop—Enable this option if you want the script processing to be displayed on the screen. Otherwise, the script will execute silently in the background.
    • Delay until script completes—Enable this option if you want to delay the mirroring process until the associated script has completed. If you select this option, make sure your script handles errors, otherwise the mirroring process may never complete if the process is waiting on a script that cannot complete.
    • Test—You can test your script manually by clicking Test. Your script will be executed if you test it. If necessary, manually undo any changes that you do not want on your target after testing the script.

    Mirror scripts are dependent on the target and the Target Path Mappings specified under the Network Route & Folder Selection section. If you establish mirroring scripts for one job and then establish additional jobs to the same target using the same target path mapping, the mirroring scripts will automatically be applied to those subsequent jobs. If you select a different target path mapping, the mirroring scripts will have to be reconfigured for the new job(s).

     

11. Click Next to continue.

12. Double-Take validates that your source and target are compatible. The Summary page displays your options and validation items.

    Errors are designated by a white X inside a red circle. Warnings are designated by a black exclamation point (!) inside a yellow triangle. A successful validation is designated by a white checkmark inside a green circle. You can sort the list by the icon to see errors, warnings, or successful validations together. Click on any of the validation items to see details. You must correct any errors before you can enable your migration. Depending on the error, you may be able to click Fix or Fix All and let Double-Take correct the problem for you. For those errors that Double-Take cannot correct automatically, you will need to modify the source or target to correct the error, or you can select a different target. You must revalidate the selected servers, by clicking Recheck, until the validation check passes without errors.

    Before a job is created, the results of the validation checks are logged to the Double-Take Management Service log on the target.

13. Once your servers have passed validation and you are ready to begin migration, click Finish, and you will automatically be taken to the Manage Jobs page.

Jobs in a NAT environment may take longer to start.

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