aws snapshot manager...about_this_guide.fm about this guide intended audience aws snapshot manager 5...

Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager v2.0User Guide

February 2017

DisclaimerInformation in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Asigra Inc.

Asigra Inc. makes no representation or warranty, express, implied, or statutory, with respect to, and assumes no responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, sufficiency or usefulness of the information contained herein.

This document may contain sample screen shots, used to demonstrate Asigra Cloud Backup™ procedures. All information appearing in this document is used for illustration purposes only, and should be considered fictitious

The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement. It is against the law to copy the software on any medium except as specifically allowed in the license agreement.

“Asigra”, the Asigra logo, “Asigra Cloud Backup”, “Recovery is Everything”, and “Recovery License Model” are trademarks of Asigra Inc. All other brand and product names are, or may be, trademarks of their respective owners.

1120 Finch Avenue West, Suite 400Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M3J 3H7

Release Date: February 2017

1 About this guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.1 Intended audience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.2 Formatting Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.1 AWS Snapshot Manager user interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.1.1 Navigation panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82.1.2 Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

3 Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.1 Preparing to install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.2 Permissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123.3 Deploying the AWS Snapshot Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133.4 Changing the Apache Tomcat login credentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.5 Changing the PostgreSQL password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.6 Setting up application consistency for Windows instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3.6.1 Installing the Asigra VSS Requester service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153.6.2 Verifying the services are running. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163.6.3 Opening TCP port 4499 in Windows Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163.6.4 Opening port 4499 in the security group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.7 Upgrading the AWS Snapshot Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173.8 Applying co-branding to AWS Snapshot Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183.9 Updating your AWS Snapshot Manager configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4 Configuring the AWS Snapshot Manager settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214.1 Changing your password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214.2 Retrieving your password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214.3 Configuring account security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224.4 Configuring co-branding settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224.5 Configuring a database backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

5 Using the AWS Snapshot Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255.1 Signing in to the AWS Snapshot Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

5.1.1 For Windows Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265.1.2 For Linux Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265.1.3 Session expiry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

5.2 Configuring users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275.3 Configuring Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

5.3.1 Deleting a customer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285.4 Configuring Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

5.4.1 Deleting an AWS Account. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285.5 Creating a snapshot set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295.6 Managing a snapshot set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

5.6.1 Viewing the customer details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305.6.2 Viewing the snapshot set details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315.6.3 Deleting a set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

5.7 Launching a stored image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325.8 Attaching an image as a volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335.9 Verifying that the VSS snapshot was successful for a Windows File System (with no database) . . . . . 33

5.9.1 Creating a link to the volume shadow copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335.10 Copying a stored image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345.11 Deleting a stored image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

5.11.1 Adjusting the instances protected by a snapshot set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345.11.2 Configuring users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

5.12 Generating reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355.13 Viewing Logs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

AWS Snapshot Manager 3February 2017

4 AWS Snapshot ManagerFebruary 2017

about_this_guide.fm

About this guide

Intended audience

1 About this guide

This guide describes how to install, launch and use AWS Snapshot Manager.

1.1 Intended audience

This guide is intended for anyone who is responsible for installing and upgrading or using the AWS Snapshot Manager software.

1.2 Formatting Conventions

The following formatting conventions are used in this guide:

Bold

Bold font identifies components, window and dialog box titles, and item names.

Italic

Italic font identifies references to related documentation.

Monospace Font

Monospace font identifies text that you should type or that the computer displays.

NOTE: Notes emphasize information that is useful but not essential, such as tips or alternative methods for performing a task.

IMPORTANT: Important notes emphasize information that is essential to the completion of a task and draw special attention to actions that could adversely affect the operation of the application or result in a loss of data.


About this guide

about_this_guide.fm

Formatting Conventions


Intorduction.fm

2 Introduction

Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager is an enterprise-class, disaster recovery solution for EC2 machines with EBS disks. You can use AWS Snapshot Manager APIs to create machine images across multiple AWS regions to help you automate and manage your backup environment via schedules, retention rules, notifications, and reports. The application can handle multiple AWS Snapshot Manager Accounts with EC2 instances in any AWS Snapshot Manager region.

With its easy to use, scalable and flexible policy-based management console, you can easily create schedules, set retention management policies to optimize snapshot costs, and apply application consistent backup for mission critical applications in Windows. AWS Snapshot Manager offers role-based permission access to control user rights along with its feature rich reporting functionality and notifications to alert on status completion of scheduled activities.

The AWS Snapshot Manager supports both Windows and Linux operating systems and is available at no cost to managed service providers. The software licenses and self-service co-branding are free of charge enabling managed service providers to leverage this functionality as a freemium offering to foster conversations with new and existing customers. This would be a gateway to broader conversations to up-sell and cross sell other services, including cloud backup for other data sources beyond AWS Snapshot Manager.

Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager protects your data with Point of Time images of machines, the images of which are stored in AWS. Some of the situations against which you can protect your data are:

• Accidental deletion of an instance

• Accidental rollback of a snapshot

• Corrupted data on the production instance

Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager protects the data using automation of snapshots and filtering of snapshots through sets.


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2.1 AWS Snapshot Manager user interface

2.1.1 Navigation panel

In the Navigation Panel on the left, you can select the information to be displayed.

• Dashboard (high level)

• Customer name

• AWS accounts

• Snapshot sets (granular)

The panel on the right displays a list of recent activities (limited to 25 lines of the screen).

2.1.2 Dashboard

The central dashboard displays results based on the selection made in the Navigation panel. In the Dashboard you can manage snapshot sets, monitor the status of image-creation for AWS Snapshot Manager instances, and images currently stored for these instances. The color coding signifies the following for snapshot sets:

• Green: If the uniques snapshot ID for each instance sent by AWS has been received by AWS Snapshot Manager.

• Red: If the uniques snapshot ID for each instance sent by AWS has not been received by AWS Snapshot Manager.

• Blue: If a schedule or retention rule has not been assigned to a snapshot set.


Intorduction.fm

Logs

You can view the Activity Log and Event Log.

Settings

You can configure various settings for AWS Snapshot Manager.

Help

You can download the user guide and the end user license agreement, read a brief description of AWS Snapshot Manager, and submit a support request.

AWS Dashboard

This view displays a status summary of accounts, snapshot sets, and assets that belong to each customer.

Customer Dashboard

This view displays a high-level summary of AWS accounts grouped under one specific customer, the snapshot sets, and assets in each AWS account.

Account Dashboard

This view lists all snapshot sets for a specific AWS account and displays a summary for each snapshot set. It includes the number of images in each snapshot set, the assets, assigned schedules and retention rules, date of the last activity, and the creation date of the snapshot set.

Snapshot Set Dashboard

This displays the details of a snapshot set on five different tabs:

• General: List of AWS instances and AWS volumes. You can modify instances and volumes,

• Schedule: List of schedules defined for snapshot sets. You can add, edit, and delete a schedule.

• Retention Policy: Details of retention policies assigned to snapshot sets. You can create and add a new retention rule, or delete a retention rule.

• Stored Images: Details of stored images of AWS instances and volumes. In the section Stored instance images, you can launch, delete, or copy an image. In the section Stored volume images, you can attach the stored image as a volume, delete and image or copy an image.

• Notifications: Define the settings for sending notifications.

You can generate reports from the customer, Account and Snapshot Set dashboards.


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Getting started.fm

3 Getting started

This chapter describes the tasks you must perform before you start using the AWS Snapshot Manager.

3.1 Preparing to install

The following are the minimum hardware requirements for an AWS instance on which Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager will be launched. An Apache Tomcat server, PostgreSQL database server, and Java are pre-installed on the AMI.

• An instance with at least 4 GB of RAM.

• For Windows instance: At least 22 GB of disk storage capacity for the operating system and 8 GB of disk storage capacity for the database.

• For Linux instance: At least 20 GB of disk storage capacity for the operating system and 8 GB of disk storage capacity for the database.

AWS Snapshot Manager is accessible from a web browser running on the same AMI, or from web browsers running on any machine that can establish HTTPS connectivity with the running AMI. The following web browsers are compatible:

• Google Chrome v48.0

• Microsoft Internet Explorer v11.0.2

• Mozilla Firefox v44.0.2

Asigra currently supports running the AWS Snapshot Manager on the following platforms:

• Red Hat Linux 7.1 x86_64 Bit English

• Windows Server 2012 R2 64 Bit English

IMPORTANT: The security group must be configured to allow HTTPS connec-tions. The system must be set to the appropriate time zone to ensure correct time stamps on snapshots.


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3.2 Permissions

Following are the minimum required permissions to use AWS Snapshot Manager.

The Version element specifies the policy language version. If you include the Version element, it must appear before the Statement element. 2012-10-17 is the current version of the policy language, and you should use this version number for all policies.

The Sid (statement ID) is an optional identifier that you provide for the policy statement. You can assign a Sid value to each statement in a statement array.

{

"Version": "2012-10-17",

"Statement": [

{

"Sid": "Stmt1458840235000",

"Effect": "Allow",

"Action": [

"ec2:CopyImage",

"ec2:CreateImage",

"ec2:CreateTags",

"ec2:DeregisterImage",

"ec2:DescribeImages",

"ec2:DescribeInstances",

"ec2:DescribeKeyPairs",

"ec2:DescribeSecurityGroups",

"ec2:RunInstances"

],

"Resource": [

"*"

]

}

]

}

For more details about the elements Version and Sid, refer:

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_elements.html.




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3.3 Deploying the AWS Snapshot Manager

To deploy Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager for the first time, you must do the following:

1. Sign in to your AWS account as a user with privileges to launch machine instances.

2. Consider the AWS region in which to launch AWS Snapshot Manager.

3. Select and launch the AWS Snapshot Manager image.

4. When configuring the instance, do the following:

• Create a key-value pair (or a security certificate) for the AMI.

• Download and save the PEM file.

NOTE: You must save these credentials in a secure location as you will not be able to download these credentials again later.

• Create a security group or assigned a security group from the existing list to the instance and ensure that the security group allows HTTPS connections.

5. Ensure that the machine running Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager is set to the appropriate time zone. If you have changed the time zone, restart the machine to ensure the Apache Tomcat server, PostgreSQL database server, and Java are working correctly.

This ensures correct time stamps on snapshots. By default, Windows and Linux instances on AWS are set to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

6. Launch the instance that is running Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager.

7. If required, change the user name and password for accessing the Apache Tomcat server. For instructions, see Section 3.4, “Changing the Apache Tomcat login credentials”.

8. Go to the following URL using a web browser:

https://[Your Instance Public IP Address]/aws

For details about the AMI you have just deployed, see Section 3.9, “Updating your AWS Snapshot Manager configuration”


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3.4 Changing the Apache Tomcat login credentials

For additional security, you can change the user name and password of the Apache Tomcat server.

1. In the deployed AMI, find the installation folder of Apache Tomcat.

C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 8.0\.

2. In that folder, open the file conf\tomcat-users.xml file and find this line in the file:

<user username=”admin” password=”admin” roles=”manager-gui” />

3. Change the user name and password as required.

For detailed information on how to change the Apache Tomcat login credentials, see the Apache Tomcat documentation.

3.5 Changing the PostgreSQL password

To change the user password for PostgreSQL that is used by the AWS Snapshot Manager application to access the database, do the following:

• For Windows: Locate the file datasource-context in the following path:

C:\Program files\Apache software Foundation\Tomcat 8.0\webapps\aws\web-inf\classes\datasource-context

• For Linux: Locate the file datasource-context in the following path:

/opt/apache-tomcat/webapps/aws/WEB-INF/classes/datasource-context

1. Find these lines in the file:

<property name="password">

<value>postgres</value>

</property>

2. Change the password as required with a new value, save, and then exit.

3. In the Services console, restart the Apache Tomcat service.


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3.6 Setting up application consistency for Windows instances

IMPORTANT: The instance where AWS Snapshot Manager is running must have a public IP.

If the instance where AWS Snapshot Manager is running has a public IP, then application consistency is maintained in the following four scenarios:

1. When the source machines are reachable only through a private IP.

2. When the source machine are reachable only through a public IP. In this case, the service will first attempt to connect to the instance through a private IP. If there is no private IP available, the service will connect through the public IP.

3. When the source machines are reachable both through a private and public IP. In this case, confirm that the private IP is being used.

4. If there is no private IP or public IP, the application consistency service will fail.

AWS Snapshot Manager can initiate the creation of application-consistent snapshots for Windows instances in AWS. The application also allows you to manage these images.

To enable Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager to initiate the creation of application-consistent snapshots for a Windows instance in AWS, ensure the following.

On the instance

• The Asigra Consistency Service is installed and running.

• The Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy service is running.

• A rule is created in Windows Firewall to open TCP port 4499 for Inbound connection.

In the AWS account

In the security group of the AWS instance, port 4499 is opened for Inbound connection.

3.6.1 Installing the Asigra VSS Requester service

The following procedure describes how to set up application consistency for Windows instances:

Copy the Asigra Consistency Service installation from the deployed AMI running Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager to the AWS instance for which you need application consistent snapshots.


Getting started.fm

1. Sign in to the Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager AMI.

2. Find and copy the VSS Setup folder from this location on the machine:

Linux: / Asigra Consistency Service /Setup

Windows: \Desktop\ Asigra Consistency Service \Setup

3. Sign in on to the AWS instance for which you need application-consistent snapshots.

4. Copy the VSS Setup folder into that AWS instance.

5. Run the setup.exe executable in the Setup folder using administrator privileges.

VSS Setup starts.

6. If prompted to repair an existing VCRedist installation, click Proceed to continue with the installation.

3.6.2 Verifying the services are running

After you complete the VSS Setup, verify the following on the AWS instance for which you need application-consistent snapshots:

• Asigra Consistency Service is running.

• Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy service is running.

3.6.3 Opening TCP port 4499 in Windows Firewall

1. Log on to the AWS instance for which you need application-consistent snapshots, if you are not currently logged on.

2. In the Control Panel, click Windows Firewall and then click Advanced Settings.

3. In Windows Firewall with Security Settings, create a rule to allow TCP port 4499 for inbound connection.

3.6.4 Opening port 4499 in the security group

1. Log on to AWS and go to the EC2 dashboard.

2. Under Network & Security, click Security Groups.

3. Select the AWS instance for which you need application-consistent snapshots.


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4. Ensure that port 4499 is opened for Inbound connection.

This setting allows the Asigra VSS Requester service to listen on this port and communicate with the AWS instance.

Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager connects to the Asigra VSS Requester service on the AWS instance and sets the AWS instance into backup mode. VSS writers flush the data to disk and freeze the IOs for a very short period. A snapshot is immediately taken by AWS.

3.7 Upgrading the AWS Snapshot Manager

During the upgrade process, an existing instance is referred to as an old instance and a freshly launched instance is referred to as a new instance.

1. In the Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager, sign in as a super administrator.

2. Click Settings and then click Configuration Settings. Verify the AWS Snapshot Manager version.

3. In the AWS EC2 Dashboard, click Instances and select an instance that is running AWS Snapshot Manager for upgrading.

4. On the Actions menu, click Instance state and then click Stop.

NOTE: You need to power down the instances before detaching the Volumes.

5. In the AWS EC2 Dashboard, click Volumes.

6. Select the 8GB volume attached to the instance that was shut down, click Actions and from the drop down list, select Detach Volume.

7. Launch the image of the upgrade package to create a new instance.

8. Shut down this instance (click Actions > Instance state > Stop) and detach the 8GB volume attached to this new instance.

9. Select the 8GB volume that was detached in step 4, click Actions and select Attach Volume.

10. From the list of instances, select the new instance containing the upgrade package (step5) and attach this volume to it.

NOTE: In the case of a Linux instance, do the following: In the Attach Volume window, enter /dev/sdb for the parameter Device.

11. Power on the new instance to complete the upgrade process.

To verify if the upgrade has been implemented successfully, in Postgres, sign in the Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager and in the Settings section, verify the version under Configuration Settings.


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3.8 Applying co-branding to AWS Snapshot Manager

Co-branding allows you to display your company logo in AWS Snapshot Manager in the startup screen and the main user interface. To apply co-branding, you require a PNG, GIF, JPEG, or JPG image file of your company logo with the following specifications:

• Maximum height: 60 pixels

• Maximum width: 90 pixels

1. In the panel on the right, click Settings.

NOTE: You should be signed in as super administrator to view the Settings tab.

2. Under Co-branding, do the following:

• In the Support email address, type the email address you want to use for support enquiries.

The Support email address is mandatory to proceed with co-branding of the application.

• Click Browse, locate the image file of your company logo and click Open.

3. Sign out from Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager.

4. Click Return to Login and sign in using the super administrator account username and password.

Your company logo is now displayed in two locations:

• Login page of Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager.

• Upper-left corner of the application’s user interface after sign in.


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3.9 Updating your AWS Snapshot Manager configuration

If required, you can update the configuration of the instance you launched using the AMI provided by Asigra.

The following details of key components installed in the instance are required for updating the configuration:

Apache Tomcat

Java

PostgreSQL

Server version: 8.0

User name: admin

Password: admin

Version: 1.8

Server version: 9.4

Port number: 5432

User name: postgres

Password: postgres


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Configuring the AWS Snapshot Manager settings.fm

4 Configuring the AWS Snapshot Manager settings

4.1 Changing your password

1. On the Welcome menu, click Change Password.

2. In the Change Password window, enter the new password, confirm it and click Save.

NOTE: Follow the same steps to change the password for Local Administrator, Power User and Viewer. If these users forget their passwords, they must contact the Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager super administrator to reset the password for them.

4.2 Retrieving your password

If you have lost or forgotten your password, send an email to the Super Administrator requesting a temporary password.

1. Sign in as Super Administrator and click Users.

2. Select the user whose password you want to change and then click Change Password.

3. In the Change Password window, enter the temporary password, confirm it and click Save.

On receipt of the temporary password, follow these steps:

4. Sign in as the User with the temporary password you received in the email from the Super Administrator.

5. Once you have logged in, in the upper right hand corner of the screen under Welcome <username>, click Change Password.

6. Enter your new password, confirm and click Save.



4.3 Configuring account security

To configure account security, do the following:

1. Select Account Security from the drop-down box under Welcome.

2. In the Account Security screen, enter the email address to which a confirmation email will be sent.

3. Enter the answers to the three security questions and click Save.

4.4 Configuring co-branding settings

To configure the settings for co-branding, do the following:

1. In the Dashboard, click Settings.

2. In the section Co-branding, enter the support email address.

3. To select an image for co-branding, click Browse, select the required image and click the icon to save the changes.

4. To apply co-branding, type True in the field Co-branding enabled.

4.5 Configuring a database backup

This feature creates a database dump only of the AWS Snapshot Manager application data.

To configure the settings for database backup, do the following:

1. In the Dashboard, click Settings.

2. Under DB Backup Settings, set Enable DB Backup to True, and then click Save.

3. Under DB Backup Options, do the following:

a) Under Backup Configuration, select the network protocol.

• Local: If the database backup is being done on a local machine.

• SMB: If the database backup is being done on a remote machine with Windows operating system.

• SSH: If the database backup is being done on a remote machine with Linux operating system.



b) If you have selected either SMB or SSH protocol, then you must enter the following details:

• Backup Host: The name of the remote computer or it’s IP address where the backup of the database will be done.

• Backup Port: The port number that will be used for communicating with the remote computer.

• Host Username: The user name to connect to the host computer.

• Host Password: The password to connect to the host computer.

• Backup Directory: The path for the directory where the database backup will be saved.

c) Under Backup Schedule, enter the details to schedule a backup.

• Recurrence type: Select from Daily, Weekly or Monthly to define how often the database should be backed up.

• Start date and time: Specify the data and time when the database backup should start.

• End date and time: Specify the date and time when the database backup should stop.

• Occurs: Select the frequency at which the database backup should occur.

d) Under Backup Retention, enter the details to define a retention policy for the database backup.

• Keep...recent backups: Select the number of recent database backups that should be retained.

• Keep all backups created in the last: Select the number of days, weeks, months or years to retain all database backups created during that period.

• Keep ... backups per: Select the number of database backups that have been executed during a day, week, month or year and should be retained.

4. Click Save.


Using snapshot manager.fm

5 Using the AWS Snapshot Manager

Snapshot Sets

Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager will initiate the creation of images for instances residing in AWS that you have selected in a snapshot set.

Besides specifying AWS instances when creating a snapshot set, you can configure a schedule, which includes the time and frequency at which the application should initiate the creation of images. You can also select retention settings for the application to initiate cleanups of images automatically.

Schedule and retention settings are both optional. That means, at any specific moment in time, you can also initiate the creation of images on demand for all instances listed in a snapshot set.

Schedules (optional)

Define a schedule in a snapshot set to automate the creation of images and free up personnel for other tasks. You can configure a schedule to run daily, weekly, or monthly on a specific day, with a start date/time and an optional end date. You can apply as many schedule details as you need for each snapshot set.

NOTE: If the AWS Snapshot Manager becomes non-functional due to some reason and snapshot schedules are missed; when the AWS Snapshot Manager resumes, it will immediately take a snapshot. Subsequently snapshots will be taken as per the defined schedules.

Retention policy (optional)

Deleting images that are no longer needed helps manage and save storage costs.

Define the retention settings for Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager to initiate systematic cleanups. The application will initiate the deletion of images for each AWS instance in the snapshot set according to your requirements:

• Always keep [a configurable number] most recent snapshots for each instance.

• Keep all snapshots that have been created within [a configurable period].

• Keep [a configurable number] snapshots for [a configurable period].



5.1 Signing in to the AWS Snapshot Manager

5.1.1 For Windows Operating System

1. After deploying the AMI that runs AWS Snapshot Manager, open the following URL in a web browser:

https://[Public IP Address of Your Instance]/aws

2. In the initial setup page, set a password for the Super Administrator user.

This account has all user privileges in Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager.

NOTE: Do not lose these credentials as there is no way to recover them. The ability to recover these credentials will be available in a future release of the product.

3. To create the Super Administrator user, click Create Account.

4. Read and accept the End User License Agreement (EULA).

5. Sign in to Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager for the first time.

5.1.2 For Linux Operating System

1. Start the Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager and sign in using the following credentials:

• User name: admin

• Password: the corresponding Instance ID

2. Read and accept the End User License Agreement (EULA).

3. Sign in to Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager for the first time.

5.1.3 Session expiry

In Settings, you can specify the time for a session timeout.



5.2 Configuring users

You can create the following user roles in the application.

• The Super Administrator account can manage all AWS accounts registered within the application and can create and manage all users.

• Each Local Administrator can be assigned to one or more AWS customer and has access to all AWS account(s) grouped under the selected customers.

• Power Users can access AWS accounts assigned to them. Power Users cannot create or manage users but can perform other operations for those AWS accounts.

• Viewers can only view AWS accounts assigned to them. They cannot perform any other actions.

NOTE: AWS accounts mentioned below include ONLY AWS accounts that are registered with Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager.

5.3 Configuring Customers

In Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager, a customer is an organizational unit under which AWS accounts are grouped.

When a Customer is assigned to a user, the user will have access to all AWS accounts under that Customer. Permissions can also be assigned to users by individual AWS accounts.

NOTE: You must create at least one Customer entry before registering any AWS accounts with Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager.

1. In the Dashboards, click , and then click New customer.

2. Enter a name for the customer, such as the name of a department, business unit, or client for which you are managing AWS accounts.

3. Optional - You can enter a phone number, email address, and notes to save additional details about this customer. Do not include hyphens in the phone number.

4. Click Save.

If you try to create a customer with the same name as an existing one, an error message mentioning the existence of the customer is displayed.



5.3.1 Deleting a customer

NOTE: Before you delete a customer, you have to delete all the snapshot images associated with all sets belonging to all accounts of that customer.

1. In the Navigation Panel, select the customer you want to delete and click the delete icon.

2. In the confirmation window, click Yes to proceed with the deletion.

5.4 Configuring Accounts

To manage machine images for an AWS account using Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager, first you need to register the AWS account with the application. Each registered AWS account is grouped under a Customer.

1. In the Navigation Panel, select the customer under which you will group the AWS account you are registering.

2. In the Dashboard, click and then click New account.

3. In the Add Account panel, enter the account ID, access key ID, and secret access key of the AWS account you are registering. For instructions on how to obtain these details, see the AWS documentation.

NOTE: Your AWS account information is stored in the Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager (PostgreSQL) database in an encrypted format and is not transmitted to Asigra.

4. Click Save.

You can now create a snapshot set for the registered AWS account. See Creating a snapshot set.

5.4.1 Deleting an AWS Account

1. In the Navigation Panel, select the account you want to delete, and click the delete icon.

NOTE: Before you delete an AWS account, you have to delete all the snapshot images associated with all sets belonging to that account.

In the confirmation window, click Yes to proceed with the deletion.



5.5 Creating a snapshot set

You can create a snapshot set for an AWS account that is already registered with Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager.

1. In the Navigation Panel, expand the Customers menu.

2. Select the AWS account for which you want to manage machine images.

3. In the Account Dashboard, click and select New snapshot set.

4. In the Create a Snapshot Set wizard, select the AWS Instances or Volumes for which you want to create snapshots and click Next.

NOTE: You can search for Instances or Volumes using the search boxes in each column.

In the column Protected you can select True or False to display Instances and Volumes of which snapshots have already been taken.

5. Specify details for the snapshot schedule.

• Recurrence type: Select from Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, None.

• Start date and time: Specify the date and time to begin the creation of the snapshot set.

• End date and time: Specify the date and time to stop the creation of the snapshot set.

• Occurs every: Specify the frequency in number of days.

6. Define a retention policy and click Next.

• Keep _ _ _ recent snapshots: Specify the number of most recent snapshots to be retained.

• Keep all snapshots created in the last: Specify the number of days, weeks, months or years during which snapshots were created and are to be retained.

• Keep _ _ _ snapshots per: Specify the number of snapshots to be retained per day, per week, per month or per year.

Snapshots will be removed according to the retention policy you specify.

NOTE: The retention policy is only enforced after midnight UTC time.

7. Specify notification settings to receive emails regarding the selected events.

• Send notification: Select the event for which a notification should be sent.

• Email subject: Enter the subject of the email.



• Email address: Enter the email addresses of all the recipients. Separate multiple email addresses with a comma.

NOTE: If the email address provided is a gmail, yahoo, hotmail or any other external email account, the security settings could block the notification email. Verify the email settings and modify accordingly to receive notifications from AWS Snapshot Manager.

8. Enter a name to identify the snapshot set and click Finish.

5.6 Managing a snapshot set

Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager sends a request to create an image for AWS instances using one of the following methods:

• Automatically initiated by the snapshot schedule assigned to a snapshot set

• Initiated on demand by the user: When the user browses to a snapshot set (see Section 5.6, “Managing a snapshot set”) and then clicks Snapshot Now.

• General: You can modify an instance or create an image of an AWS instance using Snapshot Now.

• Schedule: You can add a schedule, edit or delete an existing schedule.

• Retention policy: You can modify or delete a retention policy rule.

• Stored images: You can launch, copy, or delete a stored image.

• Notifications: You can update the notification settings.

5.6.1 Viewing the customer details

In the Navigation Panel, select a customer to display the corresponding dashboard with the following details:

• Customer name: Name of the customer group.

• Accounts: Number of accounts grouped under this customer.

• Email address: Contact email address for this customer.

• Status: Displays the status at a higher level to draw attention to a particular set.

• Account Name: List of all the accounts grouped under a particular account.



• Set: The status of a set is defined by a color code (for details of the color code, see Section 2.1.2, “Dashboard”).

• Assets:

– I: Instances;

– RI: Reserved instances;

– SR: Spot requests;

5.6.2 Viewing the snapshot set details

You can browse to an existing snapshot set to view its details, and launch; delete or copy an image.

1. In the Navigation Panel, select a snapshot set.

2. In the Snapshot Set dashboard, click Stored Images to display the following details of this snapshot set:

• Snapshot name: Name of the snapshot

Under Stored instance images, the following information is displayed:

• Instance ID: The ID assigned to a particular instance.

• Image ID: The ID assigned to a particular image.

• Region: Location of the machine running the snapshot.

• Snapshot Time: Displays the date and time when Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager sent a request to create an image for an AWS instance. (See Viewing details of an existing snapshot set.)

• App Consistency Status: Displays the status of individual images for an AWS instance regarding their application consistency.

Operating system of the AWS

instance

Is the AWS instance configured for

application-consistency via VSS?

Has application consistency been

initiated in the snapshot?

Application Consistency

Status

Windows Yes Yes Successful

Yes No With errors

No No With errors

Others (e.g. Linux) N/A N/A N/A



Under Stored volume images, the following information is displayed:

• Volume ID: The ID assigned to a particular volume.

• Image ID: The ID assigned to the snapshot image of the volume.

• Region: Location of the machine running the snapshot.

• Description: Details of the volume of which a snapshot was created.

• Snapshot Time: Displays the date and time when Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager sent a request to create an image for an AWS volume.

5.6.3 Deleting a set

1. In the Navigation Panel, select the set you want to delete and click the delete icon.

NOTE: Before you delete a set, you have to delete all the snapshot images associated with that particular set.

2. In the confirmation window, click Yes to proceed with the deletion.

5.7 Launching a stored image

• Before you launch an image, ensure that the AMI image status is Available. If you launch an image with the status Pending, the launch instance will fail.

• AWS has a limitation on the number of running instances. If you launch an image and the running instances quota is exceeded, the launch instance will fail.

1. Browse to the snapshot set containing the application-consistent image you want to restore. See Managing a snapshot set.

2. Details of the snapshot set are displayed in Snapshot Set on the Dashboard.

3. Click Stored Images and select the image you want to launch. (You can select multiple images.)

4. Click Launch Image and then click Confirm and Launch.

An image of this AWS instance is launched in the same AWS region as the original machine and with the original machine parameters. To launch a stored image, follow the same procedure.



5.8 Attaching an image as a volume

1. In the Snapshot Set dashboard, click Stored Images.

2. Under Stored volume images, select the required volume and click Attach as Volume.

3. In the Attach Image as Volume screen, do the following:

• In the field Device, enter the name of the destination device as shown. This is the location where the image will be attached as a volume and saved.

• In the field Availability Zone, select a zone from the list of available zones.

• Click Confirm and attach.

5.9 Verifying that the VSS snapshot was successful for a Windows File System (with no database)

Enumerate the shadow copies on the restored machine using this command:

vssadmin list shadows

This command will return the shadow copy path for different volumes.

5.9.1 Creating a link to the volume shadow copy

To create a link to the volume shadow copy, do the following:

• Use this command:

mklink /d c:\shadowcopy <Shadow Copy Volume>\

• In the section <Shadow Copy Volume>, insert the path previously returned by the vssadmin list shadows command.

• Ensure that the path ends with a backslash: \

After the symbolic link has been created, you can browse this shadow copy using Windows Explorer.



5.10 Copying a stored image

Using this feature, you can copy images to any available AWS region.

NOTE: Before you copy an image, ensure that the AMI image status is Available. If its status is Pending, the copy operation will fail.

1. Browse to the snapshot set containing the image you want to copy. (See Managing a snapshot set.)

Details of the snapshot set are displayed in Snapshot Set on the Dashboard.

2. Click Stored Images.

3. Select the image you want to copy and click Copy Image.

4. Select the required region and click Confirm and Copy. A message appears to prompt you for confirmation.

5.11 Deleting a stored image

1. Browse to the snapshot set containing the image you want to delete. See Managing a snapshot set.

2. Details of the snapshot set are displayed in Snapshot Set on the Dashboard.

3. Click Stored Images.

4. Select the image you want to delete and click Delete Image.

5. Confirm that you want to delete the image.

A message appears prompting you for confirmation.

5.11.1 Adjusting the instances protected by a snapshot set

In Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager, you can add or remove instances protected by a snapshot set.

1. In the Navigation panel, navigate through the customer and AWS account, then select the set you want to adjust.

2. In the Set Dashboard, click General and then click Modify Instances.

3. Select or clear the instances from the list and click Update instances.

4. Click Save to ensure your changes are saved.

The action of removing an instance from a set, does not automatically remove the stored images of that instance from AWS. The stored images must be removed manually using the Asigra AWS Snapshot Manager interface.



5.11.2 Configuring users

1. In the Navigation Panel, click Users.

2. In the Dashboard click .

3. In User Maintenance, enter the user name and set a password for the new user.

4. Assign a role to the user. For details, see On the Actions menu, click Instance state and then click Stop..

5. Specify required details for the assigned role:

• Power User: Specify the customer(s) and AWS Snapshot Manager account(s) to assign to the user.

• Viewer: Specify the customer(s) and AWS Snapshot Manager account(s) to assign to the user.

6. Click Apply Changes.

5.12 Generating reports

To generate a report do the following:

1. In the Customer, Account or Set dashboard, click .

2. In the Report Parameters window, specify the following:

a) Report duration: Select the type of the report: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly.

NOTE: The completeness of the report is determined by the report data available in the AWS Snapshot Manager database. This data is controlled by the settings parameter – Log retention period (days).

b) Start date: Select the date from which the report should be generated.

3. To generate the report in .csv format, select Include snapshot details. You can also export the report to PDF or print the report.

NOTE: If you do not select the option Include Snapshot Details, the report is generated with data in a hierarchical format and cannot be exported to CSV. The report can be exported to PDF or printed.

4. Click Generate Report. The report has the following fields:



Customer Level Report

Report generation date Date when the report was generated

Requested by Name of the user who requested for the report

Email address Email address of the user who requested for the report

Duration Type of report: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly

Start date The date from which the report starts

End date The date at which the report ends

Status Report

Status If the uniques snapshot ID for each instance sent by AWS has been received by AWS Snapshot Manager or not

Customer Name Name of the customer

Set runs– Total– Successful

– Errors

– No activity

Displays the number of scheduled snapshot sets.– Total number of scheduled sets– Number of scheduled sets images created

successfully– Number of scheduled sets images created with

errors– Number of scheduled sets where no activity has

taken place

Assets– Instances– Reserved instances– Spot requests

Displays details of the stored images– Number of snapshot images– Number of reserved instances– Number of spot requests

Snapshot Detail Report

Customer Name Name of the customer

Account Name Name of the account

Assets Number of snapshot sets

Instance ID Uniques ID of a snapshot image

Set Name Name of the set to which a particular image is assigned to

Snapshot ID Unique ID of the snapshot set

Snapshot Date Date when the snapshot was created

Snapshot Deleted Whether the snapshot was deleted or not



5.13 Viewing Logs

To view the logs for activities and events, click Logs in the dashboard.

Under Activity Log, do the following:

1. To filter the activities displayed, select a Result from the options - Both, Success, or Failure.

2. To display the results for a particular period, select the Start Date and the End Date and click Apply.

Under Event Log, do the following:

1. To filter the events displayed, select a Level from the options - All, Error, Warning, or Info.

2. To display the results for a particular period, select the Start Date and the End Date and click Apply.


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