Managing the Replication Console tree

To better manage the servers that appear in the Replication Console, you can customize the server display to fit your needs. You can create groups and move servers to those groups to help you organize your environment. Within the groups, you can insert, remove, hide or unhide servers. Each of these functions is detailed in the following sections.

Groups

The left pane of the Replication Console is a tree view of the Double-Take Availability servers. By default, the first group in the tree is the Discovered Servers group. All Double-Take Availability servers that are automatically discovered will be added to this group. Use server groups in a hierarchical structure to help you organize your environment.

Creating groups

Use one of the following methods to create a new group:

Right-click anywhere on the left pane of the Replication Console and select New, Group.
Right-click on a group icon on the right pane of the Replication Console and select New, Group.
Click Add Group on the toolbar.
Use the menu bar and select Insert, Group.

The location of the new group that is created will depend on what was highlighted. If the root of the tree was highlighted, the new group will be created as a child of the root. If a group or server within a group was highlighted, the new group will be created as a child of that group. Name the newly inserted group with a unique name by typing over the default name and pressing Enter. This process is similar to naming a new folder in Windows Explorer. You can also rename an established group by double-clicking on the existing name. Type the new group name over the existing name and press Enter.

Removing groups

Use one of the following methods to remove a group.
Right-click on a group on the left of the Replication Console and select Remove.
Right-click on a group on the right pane of the Replication Console and select Remove.
Click Remove Item on the toolbar.
Highlight a group and press the Delete key.

You will prompted to confirm the removal of the group and its subgroups and any servers (displayed or hidden) contained in them. Click OK.

If Active Directory discovery is enabled on the Replication Console, those servers that have Active Directory advertisement enabled will automatically be repopulated back in the default Discovered Servers group. If Active Directory discovery is disabled on the Replication Console or for individual servers, servers will need to be manually inserted into the Replication Console.

Note:

The Remove toolbar button also removes servers and replication sets, so make sure you have the correct item highlighted before clicking the toolbar button.

You cannot remove the default Discovered Servers group.

Servers

Within your server groups, you have the ability to further manage the servers that are displayed by using the following functions.

Moving Servers

Servers that are auto-populated can be moved to different groups within the Replication Console tree. You can move servers to groups by either of the following methods

Drag and drop a server into the desired group. With this method you can move one server at a time in the left pane of the Replication Console. You can move more than one server at a time by using this method from the right pane of the Replication Console.
Insert a server into the desired group. Inserting an existing server to the tree will move the first occurrence to that new location.

A Double-Take Availability server will only appear once within the entire Replication Console tree. Servers cannot be placed into multiple groups.

Inserting Servers

If a machine is not displayed on the Replication Console, it can be manually inserted. This feature is useful for machines that are across a router or on a different network segment.

Note:

If a machine is manually inserted into the Replication Console, it will automatically be saved in your workspace and will appear the next time the Replication Console is started.

Use the following instructions to insert a server into the Replication Console.

A server that already exists in the tree will be moved to the currently selected group if you attempt to insert it again.
Right-click on a group and select New, Server or highlight a group and select Insert, Server.
Type the machine name or IP address and the port number, if it is different than the default.
Click Test to determine if the machine is running Double-Take Availability. At any time while Double-Take Availability is attempting to locate the machine, click Stop to cancel the test. If you do not manually test a machine before inserting it, Double-Take Availability will automatically test it for you.
Click OK to insert the server or Cancel if you do not want to insert that server.

Even if a machine is not running Double-Take Availability, you can still insert it in the Replication Console.

Removing Servers

If you do not want to see a server in the Replication Console, it can be permanently removed from the display. You might need to remove a server that was manually added, if that server is no longer needed. Or if there are servers within the network that another administrator is responsible for, you can remove them from your display.

If a server is listed in Active Directory and Active Directory discovery is enabled, a removed server will automatically be added back to the server list .

To remove a server, right-click on the server in the left or right pane of the Replication Console and select Remove. You can also select Remove Item from the toolbar.

Note:

The Remove toolbar button also removes servers and replication sets, so make sure you have the correct item highlighted before clicking the toolbar button.

You cannot remove the default Discovered Servers group.

Hiding Servers

If you do not want to see a server in the Replication Console and do not want to disable Active Directory discovery, you can hide the server from view. This keeps the server in the Replication Console’s internal list of servers, but does not display it in the server tree, any dialog boxes, or any field/menu selections.

To hide a server, right-click on a server in the left or right pane of the Replication Console and select Hide.

Note:

If you attempt to insert a server that is already in the tree but hidden, you will be prompted to unhide the server and insert it into the selected group.

Be careful if you hide a server with an established Double-Take Availability connection. If that connection goes into an error state, you will not be able to see the connection in the Replication Console. The Double-Take Availability log, Event Viewer, and other monitoring methods will still be functioning to alert you to the error. Hiding the server only removes it from the Replication Console display.

If a target server with an established Double-Take Availability connection is hidden and you open the Connection Manager for that connection via the source, you will see the target and IP address displayed in the Target and Route fields, respectively. This is the only time you will see a hidden server.

Unhiding Servers

You can unhide, or display, a hidden server at any time you want to access that server. The server will be displayed in the server tree, all dialog boxes, and field/menu selections.

To unhide, or display, a hidden server, you can insert the server or use the following instructions.

Select View, Unhide Servers.
Select one or more servers by using Ctrl-click or Shift-click. You can also click Select All to select all of the servers in the list.
Click Unhide.

Before moving a group that contains at least one subgroup with at least two hidden servers, you must unhide all of the servers. After the servers have been unhidden, move the group and then hide the servers again. Any attempt to move a group containing subgroups with hidden servers will result in an error when saving the workgroup or exiting the Replication Console.