Hystax Acura Control Panel

Hystax Acura Control Panel (ACP) is a web-application for managing Hystax Migration solution. The main components of ACP are:

• Customer page with an information display on the used resources, Migration plans, cloud sites and machine groups
• Cloud site page is an information display and a management panel for a running migration
• Wizards of machine replication and migration
• Notification page
• Reports section with detailed information on system resources
• Users and roles management section
• Replication and recovery settings windows

Recommended browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari.

Partner page overview

The partner page contains the following information:

1. Resource management and functionality menu
2. Management of target clouds
3. Statistics on the number of partner's customers
4. Total number of customer machines
5. Number of cloud sites launched by partner's customers
6. List of customers with statistics decomposition for each customer
7. Functionality for adding new customers or editing information about existing ones (Section: ACP - Add new customer)
8. Notification panel displaying summary status about customers
9. Page description

Manage Target Clouds

Acura provides an ability to manage target clouds, the cloud to which customer devices will be replicated. This provides multitenancy to partners. Just click on the Manage Clouds button on the Partner's page.

The target cloud page has a number of options for working with this type of cloud:

• to create a new target cloud
• to edit an existing cloud
• to revalidate a cloud
• to delete an existing cloud

Add Target Cloud

Just click Add button on the Target clouds panel.

Specify the cloud type to which the solution is deployed, fill in all the fields by providing cloud configuration details. Use question mark icons to get hints on the fields.

Below we'll take a closer look at the field Replication storage type, for a more detailed description of the basic parameters, visit Initial product configuration page. See step 3 of the Installation steps of an appropriate cloud type.

The Replication storage type field contains a list of supported storages for replicated data. Use Cloud-native block storage when implement a migration or a disaster recovery scenario, S3-compatible storage, Unix share (NFS) or Windows share (SMB/CIFS) - for a backup scenario.

There is no need to specify additional parameters when select Cloud-native block storage. The data is stored on the target cloud.

When select S3-compatible storage, Unix share (NFS) or Windows share (SMB/CIFS), the data is stored in the external third-party storage. There is a set of parameters that should be specified for each type of storage.

A new cloud is listed and validated after saving. As soon as the validation is passed the status is set to .

Edit Target Cloud

Select the Edit menu item from the Actions drop-down menu. The 'Edit Cloud' panel is similar to the 'Add Cloud' except the Cloud type and the Replication storage type fields are disable for editing.

For a more detailed description of the basic parameters, visit Initial product configuration page. See step 3 of the Installation steps of an appropriate cloud type.

Note

Specify the password before save.

The validation process starts just after saving. As soon as the validation is passed the status is set to .

Revalidate Target Cloud

Validation process starts automatically after the cloud is created or edited. However, there is an ability to start this process manually. Just select Revalidate from the drop-down menu. During this process, test cloud volume and test Cloud Agent are created on the target cloud to check whether the solution is able to use cloud APIs and actually works. As soon as the validation is passed the status is set to .
Otherwise, the status shows the reason why the check is failed. Fix it and revalidate.

Delete Target Cloud

Additionally, the ability to delete target clouds has been implemented. For this purpose, the Delete command has been added to the drop-down list of actions.

Warning

A deleted cloud cannot be restored.

Notification panel

Notification panel informs users about certain events that need attention or require actions to solve issues with replication or recovery process. ACP uses the following color scheme:

Green color of the panel means that customers do not have issues requiring immediate intervention.

Yellow color of the panel means that there are issues that require attention/solution in the near future. For example, a machine is out of free space, a machine has been unavailable for several days.

Red color - immediate action is required. For example, several unsuccessful consecutive replications of a machine, lost connection to a replication agent, etc.

Add new customer

To add a new customer, go to the Partner page and just click Add.

Fill in the following required fields to add a customer: Company Name, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Address, Active checkbox (activity status of a customer and all their users).

• Active - shows whether the customer is active or not, this field affects the ability of customer users to use the system.
• Company Name - customer's company name, unique within the partner, will be displayed in the UI.
• Contact Email - email address for communication with a customer's representative on the solution usage and billing, unique within the partner.
• Contact Phone is the telephone number of the customer's representative.
• Address
• Time zone - time zone to use for replication scheduling
• Cloud - target cloud.
• Target project ID - target project ID where replicated loads will be spun up.
• Use custom replication agent settings - off by default.
• Enable replication traffic compression - when on this might save a lot of network bandwidth. Checked by default.
• Additional parameters - other additional parameters in JSON format.
• Mountpoint overlay - overrides default mountpoint in JSON format.

After clicking Save, the customer will be created and shown in the customer list. An admin user for the customer is created with the default password, which will have to be changed at the first login. When a customer is created, it is advisable to proceed to the infrastructure protection sequence.

Custom replication agent settings

Applying custom settings can be essential for organizing an operational environment if there is a proxy server between Acura and the machine to be replicated or, for example, there is supposed to be a different endpoint IP for each customer.

Providing custom replication agent settings is available for every new customer that is being added to the ACP. Tick the checkbox next to Use custom replication agent settings to access the following fields.

Warning

Agent settings can no longer be modified through the UI, once a Customer has been successfully created.

Replication agent endpoint IP is an IPv4 address that will be used by this customer's replication agents to connect, send data and RestAPI calls to Acura. Replication agent endpoint certificate is required in case of a proxy server in-between the components to verify security of an HTTPS connection. Input as an SSL certificate in PEM format for the replication endpoint IP (proxy server). Replication agent logging IP is a custom IPv4 address for sending logs. Replication Agents that are downloaded for the customer will use this IP as Logstash IP. The field will usually contain the same address as the Replication agent endpoint IP.

Edit existing customer

To edit an existing customer, click on the Edit button to the right of their name.

A dialog window with filled in customer data will appear. Make the necessary changes and click Save, after that the customer data will be updated.

Customer dashboard overview

The customer dashboard contains the following information:

1. Resource management and functionality menu
2. Number of customer cloud sites
3. Number of groups of machines (Section: ACP - Machines and actions over them)
4. Total number of customer machines
5. List of running cloud sites with the ability to manage them
6. List of Migration plans with the ability to manage them
7. Groups of machines
8. Notification panel showing the total status of customer replication and migration processes
9. Page description

Manage Source Clouds

Acura provides an ability to manage source clouds. Just click on the customer and press the Manage Clouds button on the Customer page.

The source cloud page has a number of options for working with this type of cloud:

• to create a new source cloud
• to download Replication Agent for VMware/oVirt cloud
• to edit an existing cloud
• to delete an existing cloud

Add Source Cloud

Just click Add button on the Source clouds panel.

Specify the cloud type to which the solution is deployed, fill in all the fields by providing cloud configuration details. Use question mark icons to get hints on the fields.

For a more detailed description of the basic parameters, visit Initial product configuration page. See step 3 of the Installation steps of an appropriate cloud type.

A new cloud is added to the list after saving.

Edit Source Cloud

Select the Edit menu item from the Actions drop-down menu. The 'Edit Cloud' panel is similar to the 'Add Cloud' except the Cloud type field is disable for editing.

For a more detailed description of the basic parameters, visit Initial product configuration page. See step 3 of the Installation steps of an appropriate cloud type.

Note

Specify the password before save.

Save it and the cloud is ready to go.

Download Replication Agent

To download Replication Agent click on the approptiate item of the drop-down list. Pay attention that this feature is available for Replication Agents for VMware/oVirt clouds only.

Note

Downloading process takes some time.

Replication Agents deploying instructions:

• Deploying VMware Agent
• Deploying oVirt Agent

Delete Source Cloud

Additionally, the ability to delete source clouds has been implemented. For this purpose, the Delete command has been added to the drop-down list of actions.

Warning

A deleted cloud cannot be restored.

Cloud sites panel

Cloud Site (Section: ACP - Cloud sites) is a running migration of a customer's business application that works on AWS or KVM Platform. Customer page allows viewing of statistics on cloud sites and performing actions on them as well, e.g. deleting cloud sites if there are no longer needed or changing their settings.

Migration plans panel

Customer page allows creating, viewing and editing Migration plans (Section: ACP - Migration plans). This plan includes an infrastructure description and instructions that should be performed to recreate a business application on AWS or KVM Platform during a migration process. A Migration plan is created in advance on the basis of a productive infrastructure, tested by running test cloud sites, and implemented for a final migration.

Machines and actions over them

Customer page displays the machines that are replicated by the solution.

When detected, new machines are placed in a group that is created by default and marked accordingly.

The solution provides the ability to create, rename and delete groups, as well as move machines between groups, grouping them by various criteria: geographic location of the machine, general snapshot storage policy or replication schedule, etc.

In addition, it is possible to start/pause replication, change replication parameters, view information about recovery points, attach disks, generate migration plans, and delete machines.

All or some of the settings described above are included in the global, group, selected machines or single machine settings menu.

Settings are as follows:

• By default, global settings are applied to all groups and machines.

• Upon editing group settings, the new settings are applied to all machines (in the group or the ones added later) with the default settings, otherwise, the settings of individual machines will still be valid.

• Upon editing the settings of selected machines, only the selected specific machines are affected, otherwise, group settings or global settings apply.

• Upon editing the settings of a machine, only the one specific machine is affected, otherwise, group settings or global settings apply.

Groups actions

Replicate new machines

Generate Migration plan from Machines Group

Groups actions

Initially, there is a Default group for each customer. The Default group, which includes all machines that have not been added to other groups, is created automatically. It is highlighted by the corresponding symbol next to its name in the list of groups. The default group cannot be deleted.

Add new machine group

To add a new group, go to Machines Groups and just click Add Group. Fill in the group name and its description. Group name should be unique within a customer.

It is possible to add any number of groups. By default, each group inherits global settings for a replication schedule and snapshot retention policies of a customer. Editing group settings will be described below. Note that group name must be unique within the customer.

After clicking Save, the group will be created. It will appear on the customer page.

Remove and rename groups

To remove or rename a group, select appropriate items in the group menu:

Note

The default group cannot be deleted.

Move machines between groups and customers

An ability to move machines between groups and customers is implemented:

• transfer machines manually between groups is available through the menu "Move to another group"

• transfer machines manually between customers

• transfer machines automatically between customers for a VMware case

Transfer machines manually between groups

Moving machines between groups is available through the "Move to another group" item in the bulk or a single machine actions menu.

Select the group from the list and save your selection. Note that if replication schedule and snapshot storage policies have not been redefined exclusively, the new group's parameters will apply after transfer.

Transfer machines manually between customers

Additionally, there is an ability to transfer machines between groups of customers. To do this, just on the "Show groups of other customers" checkbox, select the group and save changes.

Warning

Moving to groups from other customers is a risky action. This can interfere with and potentially break machines that are already replicated. Please, ensure you're aware of the implications before proceeding.

Warning

A machine must not have any restore points.

Transfer machines automatically between customers for a VMware case

If you want to move a large number of VMware machines located on the same host, use the automatic transfer feature.

To do this, deploy a new replication agent configured for the new customer on the host. Then delete the old customer from Acura. The machines will automatically appear in the new customer's machine list.

Note

If the old customer is not deleted, the machines will still be in its list. However, machines that join the host after installing the new replication agent will appear in the list of the machines of the new customer.

Operations for working with replications

Edit Replication schedule

It is possible to edit replication schedule for separate machines, groups or as general settings.

To change the settings, click Edit replication schedule in the Actions menu (for separate machines),

in the menu of separate groups

or in the general settings menu of Machines Groups.

Settings can be changed globally for a customer, for each individual group or for individual machines.

Settings are inherited in the following way:

• By default, global settings are applied to all groups and machines

• Upon editing group settings, the new settings are applied to all machines (in the group or the ones added later) with the default settings, otherwise the settings of individual machines will still be valid.

• Upon editing settings of a machine, only the one specific machine is affected, otherwise group settings or global settings apply.

Once these steps are completed, the machines will be replicated based on schedule and rules that have been set during the configuration.

There are several options for a schedule:

• Interval schedule - replication occurs at equal intervals of time. For example, every 15 minutes or every 6 hours. This option is ideal for non-critical elements of a business-application, so it does not seriously affect the performance of the system and does not load the network.
• Continuous replication - a new replication starts immediately after the completion of the previous one. It is ideal for critical components, such as databases and mail services.

Warning

A minor impact on the performance of the machine and the network through continuous replication can be found with continuous replication.

• Daily - replication is done daily at the specified time (multiple values can be specified).
• Weekly - replication is done weekly. It is required to specify the numbers of weeks in the month (or all weeks), days of the week and a specific time. Multiple values can be specified for all parameters.
• Monthly - replication is done monthly. It is required to specify the numbers of days in the month and a specific time. Multiple values can be specified for all parameters.
• Cron (expert) - schedule in cron format.

Additional parameters

There are additional parameters that can be set before first replication. The list of additional parameters depends on the cloud type.

Additional parameters for AWS, CROC, Flexible Engine, and OpenStack clouds

Field	Description
Volume availability zone	Override the default availability zone for replicated volumes. Type in a valid abbreviation or acronym that is in use by the cloud platform itself, usually listed in its supporting documentation or at the volume creation step.
Volume type	Override the default volume type for replicated volumes. It can be specified as a comma-separated string of disk types, e.g. SSD, SATA. Redundant commas and whitespaces are ignored. If a machine has more disks than the number of specified disk types, the last disk type will be used for all of the remaining disks. This way, if a machine has 5 volumes, the first volume will have SSD type, and the remaining ones will have SATA. HDD will be used by default if no other settings are provided. Check with your cloud platform to input the correct names of volume types.

Additional parameters for oVirt

Field	Description
VM name postfix	Set custom name postfix to avoid name collision with already existing VMs
Storage domain	Override the default storage domain
Target data center	Override the default data center
Target cluster	Override the default cluster
Target host	Override the default host
Allocation policy	Allocation policy for disks: target cloud default, sparse/thin provision or preallocated
Disk format	Override the default disk file format: target cloud default, qcow2, raw

Additional parameters for VMware

Field	Description
VM name postfix	Set custom name postfix to avoid name collition with already existing VMs
VM hardware version	Override the default VM hardware version, example: vmx-12
Host	Override the default host
Datastore	Override the default datastore
Resource pool	Override the default VMware resource pool

Additional parameters for VMware vCloud

Field	Description
VM name prefix	Set custom name prefix to avoid name collision with already existing VMs
VM hardware version	Override the default VM hardware version, example: vmx-12
Storage policy	Override the default VM storage policy
Organization VDC	Override the default organization VDC
vApp name	Override the default vApp name

After the initial replication is completed, the additional parameters will become inaccessible. Modifying them is only possible before a new full replication.

Register New Platform

To replicate a machine, click Register new platform in the Group settings menu

or Download agents in the main menu of the web interface.

Detailed information about this action is available at Protecting machines section.

After this action, all machines will automatically appear in the UI in the machine group specified in the second step. Machines will be in Discovered state.

Start Replication

When a machine or a group of machines is registered on the solution, start the replication.

Select machines to replicate and click Start replication in the Actions menu.

Run customized replication

Note

Replications start and finish actions are only supported by VMware Replication Agent. These actions will be ignored by other replication agents.

The feature is available for a single machine or a group of machines via Run customized replication in menus Actions or Bulk actions.

Set the values of the parameters:

The Replication type, as well as the actions On replication start and finish are available for editing.

Select the Replication type:

• incremental – send only changed data blocks
• full – send all data blocks

Select the actions on start/end replication:

• default action – configured in the source cloud configuration, the default action corresponds to the value no action, unless otherwise specified
• no action – leave the machine in its original state
• power source machine off
• power source machine on

When click on the Start button, the values are saved and the replication starts.

Note

After the replication is succeed, the values will return to the original state set before the replication was started.

Sync machines replications

To sync a machines replication, mark the machines which should be replicated simultaneously and click Start replication in the Actions menu. Replication of all selected machines will start and then they will be replicated in parallel.

Park (pause)/Start replication

To park a replication, select machines from different groups and click Park in the Actions menu. This action stops the agent replicating task for the machine. No further replications will be started by schedule for the machine.

To start a replication again, click Start replication in the Actions menu. A new replication will start for the machine.

Generate Migration plan from Machines Group

It is possible to generate a Migration plan for an individual machine, a group of selected machines, or for the whole group at once. To generate a Migration plan for several machines or groups, select the required machines by ticking their checkboxes and click Generate Migration plan in the Action menu or in the menu of groups.

Detailed information is available in the section dedicated to this issue.

Notification panel

Notification panel informs users about issues with replication or recovery process that require their attention. ACP uses the following color scheme:

Green color of the panel means that customers do not have issues requiring immediate intervention.

Yellow color of the panel means that there are issues requiring attention/solution in the near future. For example, a machine is out of free space, a machine has been unavailable for several days.

Red color - immediate action is required. For example, several unsuccessful consecutive replications of a machine, lost connection to a replication agent, etc.

Migration plans

Migration plan is a description of the infrastructure and a set of necessary instructions used to recreate a business application on a target cloud. Migration plan is created in advance on the basis of a productive infrastructure, tested by running cloud sites and transferred to the migration process.

A customer can create any number of Migration plans: one for migrating the entire infrastructure or several with a breakdown into groups of machines, departments, machine roles, etc.

To perform a migration, select one or several Migration plans to be implemented during cloud site creation (Section: ACP - Cloud sites).

Create a Migration plan

To create a Migration plan, just click Add on the Customer page.

When adding a new plan, specify its name and the contents of the plan. Migration plan name must be unique within the customer.

There are two modes for creating or editing a plan: Basic and Expert. To switch between them, choose the corresponding tab on the "Generate Migration Plan" page.

In the Basic mode, the user can either paste/enter network specifications for a failover machine manually or pick the networks from the list that Acura gets directly from the target cloud. The list of networks can be received automatically from the following platforms - VMware, OpenStack, Flexible Engine, AWS, Azure.

The Expert mode allows for a more detailed configuration that should be provided in the JSON format.

The body of a Migration plan is a JSON instruction for migrating up of the infrastructure and the business application in a target cloud. To generate a plan based on all customer machines, click on the link Generate Migration plan from all machines.

Migration plan for a group of machines

To generate a Migration plan for several machines or a group of machines, just click Generate Migration plan in the Bulk Actions menu after selecting them.

The menu item in the group properties.

The dialog window for creating and editing a disaster recovery plan will appear, specify its name. Migration plan name must be unique within the customer. The content of the plan is formed based on the selected machines settings.

Migration plan syntax

Migration plan body is a JSON instruction for restoring infrastructure and business application in a target cloud.

Example of a Migration plan:

{
"machines": {
    "IIS_Acura-Demo": {
    "rank": 1,
    "id": "52ce9361-b282-72b6-425a-f67347c5b79a",
    "ports": [
        {
        "name": "port_0",
        "ip": "192.168.15.112",
        "subnet": "main_subnet"
        },
        {
        "name": "port_1",
        "subnet": "external"
        }
    ]
    },
    "rhel7.2": {
    "id": "522f3448-6a56-aa45-2131-207f7dda6664",
    "ports": [
        {
        "name": "port_0",
        "ip": "192.168.15.100",
        "subnet": "main_subnet"
        }
    ],
    "rank": 0,
    "boot_condition": {
        "delay_seconds": 120,
        "type": "wait"
    }
    }
},
"subnets": {
    "main_subnet": {
        "cidr": "192.168.15.0/24",
        "subnet_id": "eda47a07-d1dd-4aca-ae8f-c652e997008e"
    }
  }
}

Basetags

machines -- contains a description of each machine. It is necessary to list all the machines that should be recreated in the cloud site.

{
"machines": {
    "rhel7.2": {
      "id": "522f3448-6a56-aa45-2131-207f7dda6664",
      "ports": {
        "port_0": {
          "ip": "192.168.15.100",
          "subnet": "main_subnet"
        }
      },
      "rank": 0,
      "boot_condition": {
        "delay_seconds": 120,
        "type": "wait"
      }
    }
}

subnets -- contains a description of networks that need to be recreated on a target site.

{
 "subnets": {
    "main_subnet": {
        "cidr": "192.168.15.0/24",
        "subnet_id": "eda47a07-d1dd-4aca-ae8f-c652e997008e"
    }
  }

project_name -- a name of the OpenStack project, in which the cloud site will be launched. If the project does not exist, it will be created. By default, the name of the cloud site is used. The created projects will be deleted together with the cloud site.

{
"project_name":"acura_project"
}

Syntax of machine description

Machine description consists of a number of parameters describing machine properties, such as machine name, flavor for the machine in the cloud site, network settings, rank and conditions for loading the machines to maintain the sequence and orchestration for the launching process of the cloud site.

{
"rhel7.2": {
      "id": "522f3448-6a56-aa45-2131-207f7dda6664",
      "security_groups": [
            "sg-1",
            "sg-2" 
      ],
      "availability_zone": "zone-1",
      "user_data": "#!/bin/bash\nrpm -e hlragent\nrm -rf /etc/hystax\n",
      "ports": {
        "port_0": {
          "ip": "192.168.15.100",
          "subnet": "main_subnet"
        }
      },
      "rank": 0,
      "boot_condition": {
        "delay_seconds": 120,
        "type": "wait"
      }
    }
}

Machine description parameters:

Parameter	Description	Required field
machine name	Base tag for machine description. Name will be used to identify machine in the cloud site.	Yes
id	Internal id of customer machine that is generated with DR plan pre-generation. Can also be found by moving the mouse pointer to the machine name in the machine list on the Customer page.	Yes
ports	List of machine's network interfaces configurations. There can be one or more interfaces. Interfaces will be added in the same order in which they are described. Interface parameters description and example see below.	Yes
rank	Order in which a group of machines will be launched. For example machines with rank 2 will be launched only after all machines with rank 1 are started and those in turn only after all machines with a rank 0 are started.	Yes
boot_conditions	Condition in which a machine is considered to be running. Delay in time is supported after its expiration the machine is considered to be running. The condition extends across the whole rank. If there are several machines with a delay in time the rank is considered fulfilled after waiting for the longest time. Syntax: "boot_condition": { "delay_seconds": number of seconds to wait, "type": "wait" } Example "boot_condition": { "delay_seconds": 120, "type": "wait" }	No
flavour	Name or ID of an existing flavor in the target cloud. For VMware target cloud, flavor is specified as vCPU-RAM, e.g. 2-4 that stands for 2vCPU and 4GB RAM Example: “flavor”: “2-4”	Yes
security_groups	List of security groups to use for the the machine. This will overwrite the default group(s).	No
availability_zone	Name of Availability Zone to use for the machine. This will overwrite the availability_zone that is specified in the cloud config settings	No
user_data	Script to be executed on the target machine. To use the key “user_data”, the source machine must have cloud_init installed, otherwise, it will be ignored. This key can be used only for OpenStack target cloud.	No
firmware (Vmware, oVirt only)	Parameter that selects a boot option for the machine. Available values are BIOS or EFI. If not specified, BIOS will be used by default. Example: “firmware”: “EFI”	No
guest_id	Guest operating system identifier. Refer to VMware’s official documentation Example: “guest_id”: “ubuntu64Guest”	No
hardware_ver	Virtual machine hardware version. Refer to VMware’s official documentation The following format is required “vmx-”. Example: “hardware_ver”: “vmx-11”	No
byol (AWS only)	If byol is false (or not set), AWS ImportImage is used (AWS does its own P2V). If byol is true, AWS RegisterImage is used and we do our own P2V. Example: "devices": { "sd_small_ubuntu": { "rank": 0, "byol": true, } }	No

Ports' interface description has the following parameters:

Parameter	Description	Required parameter
name	interface name	Yes
ip	interface IP address. Windows adapters will be configured as DHCP by default. If you want to set static configuration, use this field in conjunction with mac field.	No
mac	interface mac address. Ignored for AWS target cloud.	No
subnet	subnet name that the interface will belong to	Yes
routing_allowed	allows machine to be a router (has “true” or “false” values, default value is “false”). Ignored for AWS target cloud.	No
floating_ip	adds floating_ip for port (has “true” or “false” values, default value is “false”). Using this parameter with the “true” value limits the machine to have only one port. “floating_ip”: “” will assign a specific external IP to the target machine. (Openstack, Huawei only)	No

Examples:

"ports": [{
    "name": "port_0"
    "ip": "192.168.15.100"
    "subnet": "main_subnet"
    }]

Ports, subnets, mac, ip, gateway, and dns. To set static - use mac (windows failover):

  {
  "devices": {
    "sd_small_ubuntu": {
      "rank": 0,
      "ports": [
        {
          "name": "port_0",
          "ip": "172.22.8.144",
          "mac": "08:00:27:46:79:27",
          "gateway_ip": "172.22.1.2",
          "dns_nameservers": [
            "172.22.1.2",
            "172.22.1.3"
          ],
          "subnet": "subnet_1"
        }
      ],
      "id": "5260881c-c921-f037-df78-6105f018a9c2",
      "flavor": "m1.medium"
    }
  },
  "subnets": {
    "subnet_1": {
      "name": "subnet_1",
      "cidr": "172.22.0.0/16"
    }
  }
}

In the case of floating IP:

  "devices": {
    "centos": {
      "ports": [
        {
          "name": "port_0",
          "floating_ip": true,
          "subnet": "subnet_0"
...

Syntax of network description

Network description consists of a number of parameters, such as network name, its CIDR and the address of DNS servers.

Example:

{
"subnets": {
    "main_subnet": {
        "cidr": "192.168.15.0/24",
        "subnet_id": "eda47a07-d1dd-4aca-ae8f-c652e997008e"
        }
  }
}

Network description parameters:

Parameter	Description	Required parameter
network name	network identifier name is a base tag for network description	Yes
cidr	network CIDR	Yes
subnet_id	existing subnet ID in the target cloud.	Yes

Note

Specified subnet_id must be available for the used Availability Zone.

Edit an existing Migration plan

To edit an existing Migration plan, select an appropriate Migration plan and click Edit on the Customer page.

A dialog window, where the Migration plan can be edited, will appear.

Cloud sites

Cloud site is a customer business application running on AWS or KVM Platform that consists of network infrastructure components included into the business application.

The main components of the page are:

1. Resource Management and Functionality menu
2. Total number of machines running in the cloud site
3. Functionality for editing site name and removing the site
4. Information about type and condition of the cloud site
5. List of running machines with the ability to manage them

To run a cloud site, start the Migration Process (Section: Migration process).

When a machine is ready to be used for production and work independently from the Acura cluster, use the Detach button.

Disk attach

Hystax Acura allows to recover protected machine disk(s) and attach it to the existing machines. This feature can be found in the Machines Groups section on the customer's page and on the third step of the Cloud site creation.

Note

Attaching disks is possible to machines restored for target OpenStack and Amazon Web Services clouds.

Invoke disk attachment in one of three ways:

1. Select the Attach disk action for the source machine.

2. On the third step of the Cloud site creation (Section: ACP - Cloud sites).

3. Select the Attach disk action on Machine restore points information (to get there click on the machine's Last Restore point column of the table). Click on the paperclip icon near the restore point on the Machine restore points information window.

Note

The disk will be attached to the failover machine.

Select the disk(s) you want to attach to the target machine in the Attach disks window and the ID of the target machine from the list. Restore point can be changed, if necessary.

The process starts when the Attach button is pressed. The page appears on the screen showing the options of connection. When the disk is linked, the State changes into Active.

Note

This process doesn't guarantee that the disk will be detected by the operating system of a virtual machine. Use the administrative tools of the OS to mount the disc manually.

On the customer's page in the Attach disk section all attached disks are listed.

Cick on the machine name and the page with additional information launches. There are two buttons on this page Detach and Delete. The detached disk becomes invisible for the Hystax Acura, but remains mounted to the virtual machine. Further it's impossible to manage it by Hystax Acura. To unmount and delete disk press the Delete button.

User and solution settings

Access to the user settings and solutions is done via the menu item Settings in the upper right corner.

Warning

Due to the current user's rights, the set of available options may vary.

The window with the settings:

The password and user's full name can be edited on the page of the current user's settings.

Warning

Once modified, the settings automatically take effect, and you will be asked to enter updated data in order to perform a new login.

User management

This option is available only if the current user has been assigned with a role that can manage users. Management is possible only by users of the same hierarchy level and below, so that a user of a customer account wouldn't be able to view and edit users of another customer and partner.

This page is used for to adding/removing users, assigning roles for specific resources, changing the activity of current users, resetting their passwords to new values and changing user data, such as full name.

Create users

To create a new user just click Add user.

As the result, a dialog window will appear. Fill in the information about a new user and user's Organization (partner or customer).

Assign roles

Role assignment determines which rights the user will have in a particular role action area (specific partner, customer, customer machine group). If an administrator role is created and assigned to a specific customer, the user will have administrator rights over those customer resources.

Once assigned, the selected user receives a certain role for a specific scope of expertise/resource. Click Assign Role and select Role and Scope.

If a user has appropriate rights, they can assign roles according to their scope and only within that scope.

Created assignment takes effect automatically from the moment it was created.

Roles management

This option is only available if the current user has been assigned with a role that can manage roles. Partner users have access to partner roles, customer users have access to customer roles as well as roles shared with them by their partner. To assign roles to specific users click User management.

This page allows to add/remove roles, edit a set of rights for each role and change the flag of their activity.

Add a role

To add a role, fill in its name and description and select a role template (set of permissions, possible options: root, partner, customer, group) that manages the set of permissions, and the organization that will own the role and where it will be available for assigning.

Warning

If the user has appropriate rights during role assignment, they will be able to view roles within the organization - role owner.

It is also necessary to tick the checkbox Share the role with customers if the role is supposed to be available to partner's customers.

Manage a set of permissions

To manage a set of permissions for role (already existing or newly created) just manage the status of the checkboxes for each permission.

A ticked checkbox means the action is permitted; an empty checkbox means the action is banned. Therefore, a selected checkbox in one of the roles and its assignment to the scope grant permission for a particular action within this scope in spite of the fact that it can be removed in other roles assigned to the scope.

Warning

Editing existing roles will change the list of rights for users to whom this role has already been assigned. When a role is created and permissions are set, it can be assigned to users through the User management tab.

SMTP settings management

On the SMTP Settings tab you can manage SMTP settings and configure SMTP server that is used to send product notifications.

SMTP settings tab determines the type of encription (SSL/TSL) and such SMTP server settings as address, port, username, password. Use to get hints on the fields. Organization and License key are unavailable for editing. They are specified during the initial installation of Hystax Acura and remain unchanged.

If the mail server requires the FROM field and it does not match the login, update the data in the SMTP FROM field.

To check the SMTP server connection and configuration enter the test email address into the Test email field.

Click Check connection to check if the SMTP settings are valid. If succeed, a test message on your test email will be sent.

Warning

The settings will not be saved when press Check connection.

To save changes click Save.

Cluster settings management

To manage cluster settings go to the Cluster settings tab.

Both IPs (public and local) and SSL certificate are available for changing. Use icons to get fields hints.

Hystax Acura Control Panel Public Address is the address that is used by replication agents to access the Acura. An IP-address or DNS-name can be specified.

Local address for cloud agents is the local address of the Acura in the cloud. Used if the Acura is located in the target cloud. By default, it matches the public address. An IP-address or DNS-name can be specified.

Click the Update control panel SSL certificate checkbox if you want to specify a new certificate. If it is not checked, the private key and certificate are not displayed. After the click, both fields will appear.

Both certificates can be uploaded from the file. Use icon on the right of the field. You can specify a self-signed certificate or a complete chain of certificates (including the root one).

Private key format

-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
ABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCD
<several base64 string with length 64>
ABCDEABC=
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----

Certificate format

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
ABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDEABCD
<several base64 string with length 64>
ABCDEABC=
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
FGHIJFGHIJFGHIJFGHIJFGHIJFGHIJFGHIJFGHIJFGHIJFGHIJFGHIJFGHIJFGHI
<several base64 string with length 64>
FGHIJFGHIJFGHIJ
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Certificate expiration date is calculated automatically when the value in the "Certificate" field is changed.

To save your changes click Save.

Warning

Changing these settings will not affect already installed replication agents.

Warning

If your Acura Controller is behind a load balancer, make sure to update its certificate manually. No changes made on this page will refer to the load balancer.

Replicating machines

To replicate a machine, click Register new platform in the Group settings menu

or Download agents in the main menu of the web interface.

Depending on whether a user is authorized as partner or customer, a replication process consists of four (for partner) or three (for customer) steps.

For partner, the first step is to select a customer who requires machine replication.

The second step is to select an agent type depending on the platform to be replicated - VMware, oVirt, Linux or Windows:

The next step is to configure:

• a group.
• parameters.

The list of parameters depends on the cloud type. Detailed information about them and description can be seen via links:

• VMware agent step 3 configure

• zVirt agent step 3 configure

• Linux agent step 3 configure

• Windows agent step 3 configure

The last step is to download the agent.

After downloading and installing the agent, all machines will automatically appear in the UI in the machine group specified in the second step. Machines will be in Discovered state.

Select machines to replicate and click Start replication in the Actions menu.

Another ability to start the replication is to Run customized replication.

If necessary, an action Sync machines replications is available.

Migration process

To start migration process during testing or in case of final migration Run Migration on the customer page with selected Migration plans

or Migrate in the main menu.

Migration process consists of three (for partner) or two (for customer) steps.

For partner, the first step is to select a customer who requires machine migration.

The second step is to select a Migration plan (Section ACP - Migration plans that will be used to carry out the migration process. Here, it is possible to create a customized Migration plan - in case Migration plans have not been updated for a while.

Warning

If several Migration plans contain descriptions of the same resources, the next step will not be available until the conflict is resolved by changing one of the plans. This is done to prevent collisions during cloud site start, which can lead to unpredictable consequences.

The last step while spinning up an infrastructure on AWS or KVM Platform consists of filling in the cloud site name, snapshot time (time to which an infrastructure should be restored) and a final validation / modification of a Migration plan and a brief description of a future cloud site. Cloud site name must be unique within the customer and contain only Latin letters, numbers and special symbols "-", "_" and ".".

Snapshot time is a time to which a business application will be restored. For each machine, the replicas closest to the specified point in time will be used.

The ability to select the snapshot time for each machine is implemented. Expand the panel with the machine name and select the desired value in the Snapshot time field.

Additionally, it is possible to attach disks to the machine being restored.

Note

Attaching disks is possible to machines restored from OpenStack, Amazon Web Services, Flexible Engine, CROC clouds.

Just check the Attach disks from additional snapshot checkbox, select Additional snapshot time and physical disks, which need to be restored.

Note

The Snapshot time and Additional snapshot time values may differ.

To run a cloud site for migration, start machines and configure them in accordance with the final Migration plan click Run Migration.

Reports

To access this section in Acura Control Panel, click on the "Reports" menu item in the left sidebar.

Hystax Acura provides a sophisticated set of reports on the performed Migration activities:

• Cutover report

• MSP migration report

• Storage size report

To generate a report, select its type in the drop-down menu as well as the Start and End dates to define the desired time frame, click on the blue "Generate report" button to get the results.

Note

Partners can get statistics for a specific customer or for all customers by utilizing the "Report scope" field. Customers can obtain statistics applicable only to them.

The output can be exported to a CSV file in case further data analysis is necessary.

Cutover report

• includes details of the go-live phase of customer's migrations showing the exact time when the created machine was detached from Acura to become completely independent in the target cloud, as well as the time when the utilized snapshot was taken, the disk sizes and the IP address of the new VM.

MSP migration report

• indicates the number of consumed licenses for the customer based on the number of successful initial replications for the new machines and on the number of the machines with finished replica. It consists of two tables: Licenses by customer and Licenses by machines. Each table has a Download .csv button. In the report header (the 'Total licenses' field) the total number of consumed licenses is displayed.

The Licenses by customer table displays the amount of licenses consumed, cloud type and storage type for each client. Depending on the Storage Type, the type of license is determined: block - migration licenses, object - backup.

The Licenses by machines table shows the time when the licenses were consumed, client's name, machine's name and machine's id.

Storage size report

• provides information about object storage consumption. It gives details by customer and client. Download .csv is available for both.

The Details by customer table shows total storage consumption per the whole selected period, average storage consumption per hour. This values can be compared with provisioned consumption (per the hole period of time) and average provisioned consumption per hour.

The Details by machines table displays the same columns and id addition gives information about machine's name and machine's id.