Installing the Journal Service

In order to create and run a real-time replication job for VMware, target ESXi hosts must contain a VMware Virtual Appliance with the Journal Service installed. See the sections below for more details.

• Installation

• Update

• Removal

• Security

Journal Service

The Journal Service is a software module that installs into the target transporter and manages the I/O Journal created per VM disk and which is a set of records of I/O operations that keeps reference recovery points (snapshots of data changes made to a source VM created at the moment the replication job is stopped) of a replica VM and can be used for failover. The size and history limits of the I/O Journal can be configured in the Retention step of the Real-Time Replication Job Wizard for VMware.

Journal Extent is an internal logical part of the I/O Journal where reference recovery points of a replica VM are kept. One Journal Extent is created for every RTR replication job run and contains one or more Frames, which are logical components containing up to 65,536 data blocks, each block containing 4096 bytes of data.

Installation

The Journal Service is automatically installed on Transporter Virtual Appliances (VA) where the Journal Service is not already present. To initiate the installation process, complete the Real-Time Replication Job Wizard.

Notes:

• Ensure that the specified target Transporter is not used by other jobs.

• In environments with multiple Transporter VAs, the Journal Services can be installed simultaneously.

• If a target host includes multiple Transporter VAs, the first VA in the list is selected for installation by default.

Update

The Journal Service is updated as part of the NAKIVO Backup & Replication update process. The Journal Service is updated only if its newer version is available in the updated version of NAKIVO Backup & Replication.

Notes:

• Transporter VAs are automatically updated after the inventory refresh when the new version of I/O Filter is found.

• Updates are applied regardless of the Journal Service current status (for example, stopped, failed, or running), including Journal Services installed in previous versions of NAKIVO Backup & Replication.

Removal

To remove an installed Journal Service from a virtual appliance, run the following commands:

bash /opt/nakivo/journalservice/uninstall

OR

./opt/nakivo/journalservice/uninstall

OR

cd /opt/nakivo/journalservice

./uninstall

Security

The Journal Service operates in a secure mode, ensuring both the integrity and confidentiality of its operations. Communication between the Director and the Journal Service is encrypted.

Certificate and Pre-Shared Key

Each Journal Service instance is assigned a unique certificate and a pre-shared key:

• Certificate: Establishes and maintains trust from the Director to the Journal Service.

• Pre-Shared Key: Provides trust in the opposite direction, from the Journal Service to the Director.

The Journal Service uses the certificate and pre-shared key associated with the Transporter where it is installed. During startup, the Journal Service retrieves these credentials directly from the Transporter.

Installation and Update Lifecycle

The certificate and pre-shared key remain intact during updates to the Journal Service, whether the updated manually or automatically.