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Establishing a connection manually using the Connection Manager

After you have created a replication set, you can establish a connection through the Connection Manager by connecting the replication set to a target.

From the Replication Console, open the Connection Manager to establish the connection.

Highlight the replication set and select Tools, Connection Manager.
Right-click on the replication set and select Connection Manager.
Drag and drop the replication set onto a target. The target icon could be in the left or right pane of the Replication Console.

The Connection Manager opens to the Servers tab. Depending on how you opened the Connection Manager, some entries on the Servers tab will be completed already. For example, if you accessed the Connection Manager by right-clicking on a replication set, the name of the replication set will be displayed in the Connection Manager. Verify or complete the fields on the Servers tab.

Source Server—Specify the source server that contains the replication set that is going to be transmitted to the Double-Take Availability target.
Replication Set—At least one replication set must exist on the source before establishing a connection. Specify the replication set that will be connected to the target.
Target Server—Specify which Double-Take Availability target will maintain the copy of the source’s replication set data. You can specify a machine name, IP address, or virtual IP address.
Route—This is an optional setting allowing you to specify the IP address and port on the target that the data will be transmitted through. This allows you to select a different route for Double-Take Availability traffic. For example, you can separate regular network traffic and Double-Take Availability traffic on a machine with multiple IP addresses.
Mappings—You must specify the location on the target where the source’s replication set data will reside. Double-Take Availability offers two predefined locations as well as a custom option that allows you to create your own path.
All To One—This option replicates data from the source to a single volume on the target. The pre-defined path is \source_name\replication_set_name\volume_name. If you are replicating from multiple volumes on the source, each volume would be replicated to the same volume on the target. For example, c:\data and d:\files for the source Alpha and replication set DataFiles would be replicated to c:\alpha\DataFiles\c and c:\alpha\DataFiles\d, respectively.
One To One—This option replicates data from the source to the same directory structure on the target. For example, c:\data and d:\files on the source will be replicated to c:\data and d:\files, respectively, on the target.
Custom Location—If the predefined options do not store the data in a location that is appropriate for your network operations, you can specify your own custom location where the replicated files will be sent. Click the Target Path and edit it, selecting the appropriate location.

Note:

If you are mirroring and replicating dynamic volumes or mount points, your location on the target must be able to accommodate the amount of data that you are replicating.

If you are mirroring and replicating sparse files and your location on the target is a non-NTFS 5 volume, the amount of disk space available must be equal to or greater than the entire size of the sparse file. If you are mirroring and replicating to an NTFS 5 volume, the amount of disk space available must be equal to or greater than the on-disc size of the sparse file.

If you are mirroring and replicating multiple mount points, your directory mapping must not create a cycle or loop. For example, if you have the c: volume mounted at d:\c and the d: volume mounted at c:\d, this is a circular configuration. If you create and connect a replication set for either c:\d or d:\c, there will be a circular configuration and mirroring will never complete.

Start Mirror on Connection—Mirroring can be initiated immediately when the connection is established. If mirroring is not configured to start automatically, you must start it manually after the connection is established.

Warning:

Data integrity cannot be guaranteed without a mirror being performed. This option is recommended for the initial connection.

Start Replication on Connection—Replication can be initiated immediately when the connection is established. If replication is not configured to start automatically, you must start it manually after the connection is established. If you disable this option, you will need to perform a mirror prior to beginning replication to guarantee integrity.
Block Target Path(s) on Connection—You can block writing to the data located in the target paths. This keeps the data from being changed outside of Double-Take Availability processing. If you are going to use failover, any target paths that are blocked will automatically be unblocked during the failover process so that users can modify data on the target after failover. During a restoration, the paths are automatically blocked again. If you failover and failback without performing a restoration, the target paths will remain unblocked. You can manually block or unblock the target paths by right-clicking on a connection.

If desired, you can configure mirror settings before establishing your connection. Select the Mirroring tab on the Connection Manager.

Full Mirror—All files in the replication set will be sent from the source to the target.
File Differences—Only those files that are different based on date, time, and/or size will be sent from the source to the target.
Send data only if Source is newer than Target—Only those files that are newer on the source are sent to the target.

Note:

If you are using a database application, do not use the newer option unless you know for certain you need it. With database applications, it is critical that all files, not just some of them that might be newer, get mirrored.

Use block checksum—For those files flagged as different, the mirror performs a checksum comparison and only sends those blocks that are different.

Note:

Stopping, starting, pausing, or resuming mirroring contains a comparison of how the file difference mirror settings work together, as well as how they work with the global checksum setting on the Source tab of the Server Properties.

Remirror on Auto-Reconnect—In certain circumstances, for example if the disk-based queues on the source are exhausted, Double-Take Availability will automatically disconnect connections (called auto-disconnect) and then automatically reconnect them (called auto-reconnect). In order to ensure data integrity on the target, Double-Take Availability will perform an automatic mirror (called an auto-remirror) after an auto-reconnect. If you enable this option, specify the type of auto-remirror that will be performed.
File Differences with Checksum—Any file that is different on the source and target based on date, time, and/or size is flagged as different. The mirror then performs a checksum comparison on the flagged files and only sends those blocks that are different.
File Differences with no Checksum—Any file that is different on the source and target based on date, time, and/or size is sent to the target.
Send data only if Source is newer than Target—Only those files that are newer on the source are sent to the target.

Note:

Full—All files are sent to the target.

Note:

Database applications may update files without changing the date, time, or file size. Therefore, if you are using database applications, you should use the File Differences with checksum or Full option.

Calculate Replication Set size on connection—Determines the size of the replication set prior to starting the mirror. The mirroring status will update the percentage complete if the replication set size is calculated.

Click Connect to establish the connection.

Note:

The settings on the other tabs of the Connection Manager are advanced settings. You can modify any of them before or after establishing your connection.

If you decide to enable orphan file processing while you are establishing your connection, orphan files will not be immediately processed when you create the connection. This setting is for processes that are run after a connection is already established (remirror, auto-remirror, verification, and so on).