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Mastering Disaster Recovery with Cloud IBR

A Simplified Guide for (Not So) Technical Buyers

In todays world where ransomware attacks are common it’s crucial to maintain the integrity of data and ensure recovery from any disruptions. Traditional disaster recovery methods, can be costly, time consuming, and complicated. Cloud IBR revolutionizes this space by offering an streamlined, user friendly solution that eliminates these traditional barriers. To help you get started we will walk you through the setup process, demonstrating how Cloud IBR stands out in providing simplified, automated disaster recovery.

Onboarding: A Seamless Start in 30 Minutes (or less!)

Cloud IBR is designed for ease of use right from the outset. The onboarding process is quick and efficient, typically taking about 30 minutes.

Before you begin: Ensure you have essential information such as login credentials, S3 repository details, network information, and Veeam encryption keys handy.

Create Login and Begin Onboarding:

Start by creating your login credentials. This marks the beginning of your journey with Cloud IBR, where simplicity meets functionality.

Sign-Up For Free

Get To Know The Home Page

Screenshot of Cloud IBR portal home dashboard showcasing the left side menu.

The Home Page of the Cloud IBR customer portal is your command center. Here, you will find various tabs on the left side to fill in your necessary information, paving the way for a smooth setup process.

Setting Up S3 Repositories

The next step involves configuring your S3 repositories:
  1. Select S3 Repositories Tab
  2.  Add Backup Repository: Screenshot showing how to add a backup repository to Cloud IBR.Click “Add Backup Repository” and select your provider. Follow the on-screen directions to fill in the required details. Ensure that the app key permission is set to READ ONLY. Once added, your repository will appear in the list.Screenshot of Cloud IBR backup repository list.

Configuring PhoenixNAP BMC

PhoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud (BMC) integration is another cornerstone of Cloud IBR’s offering. Your PhoenixNap account is automatically generated upon entering your credit card information. Charges only occur during a Disaster Recovery Test or an actual Disaster Recovery event.

Adding Recovery Storage

Storage Requirement: This is the amount of storage needed to recover your environment. This should be enough space to recover all your servers as well as some room for growth during the recovery.Screenshot of Cloud IBR portal showing how to add recovery storage.Specify the storage needed for your environment recovery. Enter the number of terabytes (up to 25 TB), and click “Save”. If more storage is required, adjust the quota via the BMC portal.

Setting Desired Memory Configuration

This is the desired total amount of memory for your ESXi recovery infrastructure

  • Silver Customers: assigned one ESXi host with anywhere from 128GB to 512GB of RAM, depending on availability
  • Gold Customers: assigned up to 4 ESXi hosts each with the appropriate memory to best reach their desired total requirement
  • Platinum Customers: assigned up to 8 ESXi hosts each with the appropriate memory to best reach their desired total requirement
Screenshot of Cloud IBR portal's desired memory section showcasing how to configure the desired memory.
  1. Click “Add Desired Memory”
  2. Enter the number of gigabits of desired memory needed for your environment.
  3. Click the “Save” button and the desired memory will populate in the list.

Veeam Encryption Keys

For Cloud IBR to decrypt your backups during recovery, Veeam encryption keys must be added. If you use the same encryption passwords for all your backups, you only need to add one here. If you use multiple encryption passwords, you must add them all.

Cloud IBR portal's Veeam encryption keys section. Demonstrating how to add a Veeam encryption key.

  1. Click “Add Veeam Encryption Key”
  2. Fill out the information for password hint and encryption key.
  3. Click the “Save” button and the Veeam Backup Encryption Key will populate in the list.

Network Information and VPN Setup

 During a recovery, we will provision a virtual Linux firewall to protect all of your servers, as well as provide outbound Internet access. In order for your servers to access the Internet, we need to know the default gateway(s) that are configured in your production environment, so that we can assign these same IP addresses to your Linux firewall.
 

Add Gateway

Screenshot of Cloud IBR portal showcasing how to add a gateway.

  1. Click “Add Gateway”
  2. Fill out the information for description, IPv4 address and mask.
  3. Click the “Save” button and the Gateway will populate in the list.

Add Port Mapping

Screenshot of Cloud IBR portal demonstrating how to add port mapping.

  1. Click “Add Port Mapping”
  2. Fill out the information for description, port number, and internal production ip.
  3. Click the “Save” button and the Port Mapping will populate in the list.

VPN Configuration

For Gold and Platinum subscriptions, set up IPSEC Tunnels in addition to VPN users. This includes filling out details for remote gateway IP, LAN subnets, and adding users who will receive OpenVPN credentials during a recovery test.

IPSEC

  1. Click “Add IPSEC Tunnel”
  2. Fill out the information for description, remote gateway IP, remote LAN subnet and mask.
  3. If you would like to add more subnets, click the “Add additional subnets” button.
  4. Click the “Save” button and the IPSEC Tunnel will populate in the list.

VPN Users

Screenshot of VPN users section of Cloud IBR portal demonstrating how to add end users.
  1. Click “Add DR Testing User” or “Add End User” depending on the type of user you would like to add.
    – During a Manual Recovery test, all DR Testing Users will receive an encrypted email with their OpenVPN credentials and instructions on how to download and install the OpenVPN client.
    – End-users will only receive the encrypted email when you select the “Email End Users” check box when launching a Manual Recovery test.
    – During an actual Disaster Recovery, all users will receive the email.
  2. Fill out the information for email address.
  3. If you would like to add more DR Testing Users, click the “Add Another DR Testing User” button.
  4. Click the “Save” button and the VPN users will populate in the list.

VPN DNS

Screenshot showing the VPN DNS section of Cloud IBR and how to add DNS servers.

  1. Click “Add DNS”.
  2.  Fill out the information for domain and the DNS server.
  3. If you would like to add more DNS servers, click the “Add More DNS Servers” button.
  4. Click the “Save” button and the VPN DNS will populate in the list.

BMC Remote Access

Managing WAN IP addresses is crucial for remote access into the BMC for IT administrators.

Add Individual WAN IP Addresses

Screenshot of Cloud IBR portal showing how to add individual address to grant remote access.
  1. Click “Add Individual Addresses”
  2. Fill out the information for IP address and description.
  3. If you would like to add a host, click the “Add Host” button.
  4. Click the “Save” button and the Individual Address will populate in the list.

Add Blocks of WAN IP Addresses

Screenshot demonstrating how to add blocks of IP's for your corporate network and remote IT admins to grant remote access.
  1. Click “Add Block of Addresses”
  2. Fill out the information for network, mask and description.
  3. Click the “Save” button and the Block of Addresses will populate in the list.

Initiating Recoveries

Finally, you are ready to initiate recoveries:

Start New Recovery:

  1. Click “Start New Recovery” and choose from three recovery duration options:
 
  • Auto Shutdown: Automatically shuts down the bare metal cloud recovery infrastructure immediately upon finishing the recovery test, whether successful or not.
  • Manual Shutdown: Leaves the bare metal cloud recovery infrastructure running until you manually stop the recovery. Use this when you want to test your applications and VPN connectivity, or for troubleshooting a failed recovery.
  • Disaster Recovery: Only use this to perform an actual disaster recovery when your production environment is down. You will not be able to manually stop the recovery through Cloud IBR.

Restore Latest Recovery Point

Cloud IBR will restore your most recent backups from your object storage. Backup chains often contain old backups of decommissioned servers that we want to exclude from recovery so that we are only recovering your active production servers. On the other hand, if an active production server has not been successfully backed up within the past several days, we still want to make sure it is recovered. The default of 7 days typically covers both scenarios, by restoring the most recent backup of all servers that have a valid backup from within the past 7 days. Backups that are older than your selection will not be restored.

2. Click the “Initiate Recovery” button and recovery will start.

3. Once the recovery is complete, you will receive a pdf report of the test results.

Automating Disaster Recovery Tests

Screenshot of Cloud IBR portal preferences tab showcasing how to set the frequency of the automated recovery schedule.

  1. Click the “Preferences” tab at the top of the screen.
  2. Select the frequency that you would like the automated test to run. (4 Options: None, Daily, Weekly, Monthly)
  3. Click the “Save” button to save your Automated Recovery Schedule preferences.

Still Have Question? Set Up A Demo

With Cloud IBR, you are not just subscribing to a disaster recovery solution; you are partnering with a platform designed to keep your business resilient and operational in the face of disaster.
Schedule a demo today and see first hand the simplicity and power of Cloud IBR. Transform your disaster recovery strategy with one click.

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