Virtual Agent

Tranzman recording can be used as a Virtual agent to perform a dry run of a Transition (till selections).
Virtual agent replicates the same process as production servers Transition and helps to understand the selections rules, mappings and verification of the selections.
The selections can also be exported and imported for the production Transition.

Virtual agent could be created using the recordings on a disk or on a tape. Follow the respective approach provided below.

Create Virtual Agent from recordings on Disk

As a pre-requisite, in order to create a recording, follow the steps mentioned here Using Recorder .

To create virtual agents, use flag -export_db with tzm_recorder as shown below.

> tzm_recorder.exe -export_db

This will create a zip file e.g. TZM_recording_1606735043.zip. Copy the output to the system from where Tranzman GUI is accessed.

Note: Below steps are based on TZM Recorder ran on a NetBackup Backup Server.

> From Tranzman dashboard, click on +. In the pop-up box, enter an IP address (loopback IP only) and select a platform from dropdown list and click commit.

Step 2

An environment is now added. Loopback IP is reserved for Virtual agent in Tranzman and it will provide an option to upload the TZM recordings to the environment.
Click on the Upload Recordings icon and upload the TZM recordings zip file.

Step 3

This starts the process of virtual agent creation. The whole process may take few minutes to complete. A successfull upload should trigger the Init job and four Query jobs as QueryProduct, QueryConfig, QueryImages, QueryMedia .

Step 4

By now if step 3 is successfull then you should see all the columns on the dashboard being populated for the respective recordings uploaded. Example shown below.

So this is how basically a TZM Recorder could be used to create a Virtual Agent for Migrations/Recoveries , from recordings on a disk.

Create Virtual Agent from Recordings on Tape

Now Virtual Agent could also be created using a recording backed up to tapes. This is really helpful in situations where actual recording is huge in size and could not be transferred or shared across network.

But rather than backing up the zip file TZM_recording_1606735043.zip we have to create a recording in uncompressed format.

For creating a recording in unzipped format please follow the steps here Using Recorder but before running the tzm_recorder executable add couple of flags with that command.

Please enter the command like shown below.

tzm_recorder.exe -export_db -no_zip

Above should give you a recording output in uncompressed format. e.g. TZM_recording_1606735043

Backup the recording to a dedicated tape. Once done, share the Tape Library with Tranzman Server. You could follow Devices Page for sharing the Tape Library with Tranzman Server.

Note: Below steps are based on TZM Recorder ran on a Data Protector Backup Server.

Step 1

From Tranzman dashboard , click on + , enter any IP from Loopback IP Addresses(localhost address) and select platform of the recordings.

Step 2

Hit the Commit button and click the upload button against the entry created.

Step 3

In Choose media section enter the mediaID of the tape used for backing up the recorders and click on upload.This should start the process of creation of virutal agent. Wait for few minutes before the whole process completes. A successfull upload should trigger the Init job and other Query jobs like QueryProduct, QueryConfig, QueryImages, QueryMedia.

Step 4

By now if step 3 is successfull then you should see all the columns on the dashboard being populated for the respective recordings uploaded. Example shown below.

So this is how basically a TZM Recorder could be used to create a Virtual Agent for Migrations/Recoveries , from recordings on a tape.

Create Virtual Agent from Recordings Using Tranzman Shares Over SMB

This steps requires to open shares from Tranzman Appliance. Please follow the instructions on Tranzman Shares and open the shares accordingly.

Once done run the recorder tool on the backup server and create the recording.

Create a recording in unzipped format by following the steps here Using Recorder but before running the tzm_recorder executable add couple of flags with that command.

Please enter the command like shown below.

tzm_recorder.exe -export_db -no_zip

Above should give you a recording output in uncompressed format. e.g. TZM_recording_1606735043

Step 1

From Tranzman dashboard , click on + , enter any IP from Loopback IP Addresses(localhost address) and select platform of the recordings.

Step 2

Previous step should have created a folder in the /data path.

ls /data/7F000101/ data images jobs process run tools

Copy the recordings generated in step 1 to that folder using the mounted share.

e.g.

ls 7F000101/ data images jobs process TZM_recording_1606735043 run tools

Step 3

Rename the copied folder to recording. mv TZM_recording_1606735043 recording

e.g.

mv TZM_recording_1606735043/ recording/ ls 7F000101/ data images jobs process recording run tools

Step 4

By now if step 3 is successfull then you should see all the columns on the dashboard being populated for the respective recordings uploaded. Example shown below.

So this is another method of creating a Virtual Agent using Tranzman Shares.

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