Systems (Systems and Vaults) Configuration
This subsystem allows the user to manage the appliances that constitute an entire system delivered by Unitrends. This subsystem is deceptively simple and yet powerful; it is important that the user plan and understand the ramifications of the decisions made in architecting their system and the potential consequences of acting upon those decisions.
There are several basic architectural layouts associated with Unitrends systems. These layouts change how a user uses this subsystem to create and manage their overall Unitrends system architecture. These architectural layouts include:
Appliance Topology |
Business Continuity |
Disaster Recovery |
Single system and no vault |
Business continuity is provided through a single on-premise system which supports the IT operations of an entire site. Typically this involves twenty-five or less small to medium servers, workstations, PCs, and notebook computers on one or more high-speed LANs. |
Disaster recovery must be implemented via a rotational strategy involving the physical transportation of physical media. Unitrends offers D2D2D (Disk-to-Disk-to-Disk) archiving for this purpose. |
Multiple systems on the same LAN or across a WAN and no vault |
Business continuity is provided through multiple on-premise appliances which support that entire site's IT operations. Multiple systems enable a lower entry-level price and data protection scalability. |
Disaster recovery must be implemented via a rotational strategy involving the physical transportation of physical media. |
Single system and a vault |
Business continuity is provided through a single on-premise system which supports the IT operations of an entire site. |
Disaster recovery is implemented via electronic vaulting from the system to the vault. Depending upon the availability of WAN bandwidth and regulatory requirements, this may or may not be augmented through an on-site rotational strategy involving the physical transportation of physical media. |
Multiple systems and a vault |
Business continuity is provided through multiple systems which support the IT operations of the entire site. Multiple systems enable a lower entry-level price and data protection scalability. |
Disaster recovery is implemented via electronic vaulting from the system to the vault. Depending upon the availability of WAN bandwidth and regulatory requirements, this may or may not be augmented through an on-site rotational strategy involving the physical transportation of physical media. |
Cross-vaulting |
Business continuity is provided through either a single or multiple hybrid system/vault system(s). Physical systems only. |
Disaster recovery is implemented via electronic vaulting to and from two or more systems which act as both system and vault. |
Each of these are discussed in the sections that follow.
Single system and No vault
In this configuration, a system does not manage other systems and does not vault to a vault. There is no need to add another system to manage or to allow another system to remotely manage this system. You may wish to change its hostname; to do so, go to Settings->Clients, Networking, and Notifications->Networks->Hostname. When you change the hostname of a system, its name in the navigational pane will be updated as well.
Multiple Systems on the Same LAN and No vault
A system may be configured to manage other systems on the same LAN. For example, the system named systemA may be configured to manage the system systemB with the following steps:
- Login to systemB, go to systems in the Configuration subsystem and click on Allow Remote Management in the lower part of the window.
- Enter the hostname of the system you will have manage this system (systemA). Note: the managing system must be resolvable on the network either through the hosts file or DNS. If not already added, please do so using Configure, Network, Hosts.
- Login to systemA, select systems in the Configuration Subsystem, then Add system. Then, enter the name of the system to be managed (systemB) and pick its customer and location name.
- Once you press Confirm, the system systemB will appear in the navigational pane, along with the node for systemA. There will also be a new manager node in the tree - the manager system node for systemA (the manager system icon is the same icon as the system except that it is brown instead of blue). The manager system node is used solely to view backup and vaulting statuses and run reports for all systems at one time.
- Repeat these steps with any other systems that you will be managing.
Multiple systems Across a WAN
A system may be configured to manage other systems across a WAN. The configuration steps are the same as described in the prior section, when the systems are on the same LAN. This configuration is only supported when using OpenVPN. For more information on the installation and setup of OpenVPN, please see the Appliance and Agents Users Manual at this link.
Single system and a vault
Once the system allows the vault to have management access, all steps to configure vaulting between a system and the vault take place on the vault. In this example, the system systemLocal may be configured for vaulting to the vault vaultRemote with the following steps:
- Login to systemLocal, go to systems in the Configuration subsystem and click on Allow Remote Management in the lower part of the window.
- Enter the hostname of the vault you want to manage this system, vaultRemote (this vault must be resolvable on the network either through the hosts file or DNS).
- Login to vaultRemote, select systems and vaults in the Configuration Subsystem, then Add system. Then, enter the name of the system that will be vaulting (systemLocal) and pick its customer and location name.
- Once you press Confirm, the system systemLocal will appear in the navigational pane along with the node for the vault vaultRemote.
- When the system is added to the vault for vaulting, unless there are problems, the system is configured for vaulting to the vault and the vaulting process (securesync) is started. However, you will likely want to tune the vaulting process for your particular environment, i.e., whether or not you want to vault SQL or Exchange backups, whether or not you need to limit the connection bandwidth used by vaulting, etc. To do this, go to Configure, Vaulting Process to view and modify the vaulting parameters for the system. More information about vaulting process configuration is available at this link.
Multiple systems and a vault
Configuring multiple systems to vault to a vault is performed in exactly same manner as the prior example of one system and and a vault, except that you repeat these steps for each system. You have the option of reloading the navigational tree at one time or for each system being added. You should reload at least once, after all systems have been successfully added. As with the previous example, the vaulting process is started as each system is added to the vault, but tuning of the vaulting process parameters should be performing by selecting the system in the navigational pane, then selecting Settings->Vaulting->Vaulting Attributes. More information about vaulting process configuration is available at this link.
Cross-Vaulting (pertains to physical systems only)
In a cross-vaulting configuration, a single system acts as both a vault for one or more systems and a system that vaults to another vault. To accomplish this, you set up two vault configurations, after first creating a virtual system that is associated with each vault. Consider the example of two vaults, vaultA and vaultB, which will act as cross-vaults to the other:
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On vaultA:
- Go to Configure, systems and vaults and Add system.
- Select the checkbox called "Create Virtual system for Cross-Vaulting". This automatically fills in the name of the virtual system for this vault vaultA.dpu, and the customer and location are automatically the same as vaultA.
- Click on Confirm, reload the tree, and there will be two nodes in the navigational pane, the vault vaultA and the system vaultA.dpu.
- Select vaultA.dpu in the navigational pane, then Settings->System, Updates, and Licensing->Grid Management. At the bottom of the pane, click on Allow Remote Management and enter the hostname of the other vault, vaultB.
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On vaultB:
- Go to Configure, systems and vaults and Add system.
- Select the checkbox called "Create Virtual system for Cross-Vaulting". This automatically fills in the name of the virtual system for this vault vaultB.dpu, and the customer and location are automatically the same as vaultB.
- Click on Confirm, reload the tree, and there will be two nodes in the navigational pane, the vault vaultB and the system vaultB.dpu.
- Select vaultB.dpu in the navigational pane, then Configure, systems and vaults. At the bottom of the pane, click on Allow Remote Management and enter the hostname of the other vault, vaultA.
- Click on Add system again and enter the name of the other system for vaulting, vaultA. Press Confirm, reload the tree and you will see three nodes in the tree, the vault, vaultB and two systems, vaultB.dpu and vaultA. vaultA should be configured for vaulting to vaultB.
- In one last step, go back to vaultA, then Settings->System, Updates, and Licensing->Grid Management, Add system and enter the name of the other system, vaultB and press Confirm.
As with the other configurations, you may wish to tune or manage vaulting parameters at this time or later by selecting the system in the navigational pane and thenSettings->Vaulting->Vaulting Attributes. More information on these parameters is available at this link.
Modifying a system
Logged into a system, when you select systems, you will see the list of other systems that this computer may manage. As you hover over each system in the list, you will see the version of the Unitrends software installed on that system, as well as the system's role. The role is how this system is seen by the managing system, e.g., "Managed system". If you select a system from the list, a screen is displayed that allows you to modify the system's customer and location names or to delete the system.
Logged into a vault, when you select Settings->System, Updates, and Licensing->Grid Management, you will see the list of other systems managed by this vault. As you hover over each system you will see its software version and role. systems configured for vaulting to this vault will have the role "system Configured for Vaulting" and systems not configured for vaulting will have the role "Managed system". If you select a system in the list, you can modify the system's customer and location names.
You also will see a checkbox when logged into a vault that indicates whether or not the selected system is configured for vaulting (this step is automatically performed when you add the system to your vault). If the system is not configured for vaulting for any reason, selecting this checkbox will configure it for vaulting. If "Configured for Vaulting?" is checked, you cannot de-configure it for vaulting; to de-configure a vaulting system, you must delete it. In a cross-vaulting configuration, the virtual system associated with the vault will not be configured for vaulting to its own vault, so the checkbox "Configured for Vaulting?" will not be selected. "Configured for Vaulting?" is checked if the system is configured for vaulting to the logged-in vault; for a cross-vault, the virtual system will be configured for vaulting to another vault, not the local one. If for some reason the virtual system is vaulting to its local vault in a cross-vault configuration, you should delete and then re-add the virtual system.
When modifying systems on a vault, you will also see a field called the "system Username", which is usually the hostname of the system. This name is important because it uniquely identifies each system on the vault. When you add a system to a vault, the hostname of the system is automatically set as the system Username, and should typically not be changed. However, if for some reason you must change the system Username, you do so here. You should only change the name when you are not actively vaulting because vaulting operations in progress will be stopped. If for some reason the system is not configured for vaulting due to a problem with the system Username, you should enter a valid username, select "Configured for Vaulting?" and the system will be configured for vaulting to the vault using the specified username.
Deleting a system
If you delete a system from being managed by another system, it is removed and a reload occurs to remove it from the navigational pane. If you delete a system that is configured for vaulting, it is removed from the navigational pane, and all of the the system's vaulted data on the vault is removed. Because of this, you should only delete a system if it will no longer be vaulting to the vault. To temporarily stop vaulting, you can choose to "Suspend Vaulting" either in the Modify screen or in the Settings->Vaulting->Vaulting Attributes screen in the Connection Options tab.Settings->Vaulting->Vaulting Attributes is designed to manage the vaulting process on an ongoing basis once it has been configured and more information is available at this link.
Remote Management Access
When you perform an Add system on a system or vault, the system being added must have previously granted the managing system or vault remote access privilege using the Allow Remote Management button at the bottom of the Settings->System, Updates, and Licensing->Grid Management screen. When you select Allow Remote Management a list of any systems or vaults for whom you have already granted remote access will be displayed. You should enter the hostname of the system or vault being allowed to manage this system in the "Hostname" field.
When a system is deleted from either another manager system or a vault, the rights of the managing system are automatically revoked. To re-add this system, you must allow access again using Allow Remote Management. There may also arise circumstances in which you wish to explicitly revoke this privilege while logged into the managed system, and you use Revoke Remote Management in this situation (this step is usually never performed). You do not need to do this before deleting a system. This action is only performed when the system user wishes for whatever reason to no longer be managed by the other system or vault.
You cannot remotely manage a vault, but you can manage a cross-vault system for that vault. To add a Cross-Vault system, select the Vault in the Navigational Pane and then go to Configure > systems and vaults > Add system and check the box Create Cross-Vault system? and Confirm. Navigate to the Cross-vault system on the Navigational Pane, click on Settings->System, Updates, and Licensing->Grid Management again and you will see icons for Allow Remote Management to allow remote managers or Revoke Remote Management to revoke remote management privileges as described in the previous paragraph.