Automated Configuration Replication

Moving files to the secondary server via MOVEit Automation can be done in several ways, and is user-specific. Microsoft UNC shares, FTP, SFTP, FTPS, etc., could all be used. For this explanation, we will use a UNC share.

The solution described here only automates the copying of the configuration from the primary server to the secondary. It does not perform the actual failover process. This is not an automatic failover solution. If you require this, contact Progress to discuss MOVEit Automation Failover, which can be added to your MOVEit license.

The solution described on this page does require a disaster recovery license for MOVEit Automation for the secondary server.

Setting Up Replication

This procedure sets up configuration replication between a production MOVEit Automation server (primary) and a hot standby MOVEit Automation (secondary).

1. Install MOVEit Automation on the secondary server. Stop the MOVEit Automation service and set the start method to MANUAL. Select the Start with scheduler disabled check box on the MOVEit Automation Config Utility General Tab.
2. The rest of this page assumes you have enabled a way to write to the file system of the secondary server that MOVEit Automation supports, either via UNC, or some type of FTP server. It assumes you can write to the equivalent MOVEit directories on the secondary server that you copied data from on the primary server. In this example, we will use a UNC share on the secondary server that directly points to the MOVEit Automation directory. Your configuration may be different.
3. On the primary MOVEit Automation, create a Certs Backup task to back up client certificates.
   1. Create a new task with a process, destination and schedule (no source).
   2. Add a PER-TASK process that runs the Certs Backup built-in script.

      Use the default output filenames CertsPersonal.pfx and CertsOtherPeople.p7b. Specify a password for the output PFX files.

   3. Add a destination that copies the file to \Program Files\MOVEit\MOVEitAutomation.
   4. Add a schedule to run the task periodically every day.
4. On the secondary MOVEit Automation. create a Certs Restore task to restore client certificates. To create this task, you must temporarily re-enable the MOVEit Service.
   1. Create a new task with a source, process and destination (no schedule).
   2. Add a source that loads Certs*.pfx and Certs*.p7bfrom \Program Files\MOVEit\MOVEitAutomation.
   3. Add a PER-FILE process that runs the Certs Restore built-in script. Specify the same password used by the above task.
   4. DO NOT schedule the task. This task will not be run under normal circumstances; it will be run manually by operator after a failover, on the newly-promoted primary node.
5. Copy the registry key, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Standard Networks\MOVEitCentral\Keymat, from the primary node to the secondary node. Do not copy any additional registry items at this time as doing so is unnecessary. This key only needs to be copied once per MOVEit release. It does not need to be part of the scheduled automatic configuration copy. Note that MOVEit Automation on the secondary server will not be able to read the configuration file without the keymat registry key and its children from the primary server.
6. On the primary server, create MOVEit Automation tasks that copy the MOVEit Automation configuration from the primary server to the secondary server.

   We will use a UNC host as an example. This assumes that there is a UNC share setup on the secondary server that points to the c:\program files\MOVEit\MOVEitAutomation directory and that you have a user that can log on with write permissions to that directory.

   Complete these steps on the primary server:

   1. Add a new UNC host that points to the UNC share on the secondary host that points to the MOVEitAutomation directory.
   2. Create and test a new Backup MOVEit Automation Config task:
      1. Add a local file system source.
      2. Choose the c:\program files\MOVEit\MOVEitAutomation\ folder.
      3. For files, enter: miccfg.xml;michash.xml;CertsPersonal.pfx;CertsOtherPeople.p7b
      4. For destination: use the UNC host that was created earlier, which points directly at the secondary server’s MOVEitAutomation directory.
      5. Run the task manually to ensure it moves the appropriate files. Do not enable the MOVEit Automation service on the secondary server at this point.
      6. Schedule the task to run as often as you require.
   3. Create and test a new Backup MOVEit Automation State Files task:
      1. Add a local system source that points to the c:\program files\MOVEit\MOVEitAutomation\StateFiles directory.
      2. Use *.* for files specification.
      3. Ensure that search subdirectories is checked.
      4. For destination, use UNC host created earlier, ensuring that you choose the StateFiles subdirectory on the secondary server. Also ensure that both Use relative subdirectories and Create directories if necessary are checked.
      5. Run the task manually to ensure it moves the appropriate files to the correct directory. Do not enable the MOVEit Automation service on the secondary server at this point.
      6. Schedule the task similarly to step 6-b-vi.
   4. Create and test a new Backup MOVEit Automation PGP Key Rings task:
      1. Add a local system source that points to the c:\program files\MOVEit\MOVEitAutomation\PGPPath directory.
      2. Use *.pgp for files specification.
      3. Ensure that search subdirectories is checked.
      4. For destination, use UNC host created earlier, ensuring that you choose the PGPPath subdirectory on the secondary server. Also ensure that both Use relative subdirectories and Create directories if necessary are checked.
      5. Run the task manually to ensure it moves the appropriate files to the correct directory. Do not enable the MOVEit Automation service on the secondary server at this point.
      6. Schedule the task similarly to step 6-b-vi.
7. Test the entire procedure:
   1. Ensure that you have run the tasks created above on the primary server, and that they have copied the configuration files to the appropriate locations on the secondary server.
   2. On the primary server, stop the MOVEit Automation service. Use the MOVEit Automation Admin Shut Down Service command if tasks could be running.
   3. We recommend that you run this test on the secondary server with the scheduler turned off. To disable the scheduler before startup, select the Start with scheduler disabled check box on the General tab of the MOVEit Automation configuration utility.
   4. On the secondary server, start the MOVEit Automation service, and then run the Certs Restore task.
   5. Confirm that the secondary server's configuration is identical to the primary server's configuration.
   6. To test the schedule after you have started the secondary server and completed the configuration, click Start task scheduler on the Commands menu in the Web Admin. Be aware that you are now running your tasks exactly as your primary would run them. They may be copying production data.
8. Using the secondary server for production workloads.
   If you plan to keep the secondary server in production, ensure the following:

   1. The original primary server is not running and will not begin processing tasks unexpectedly on reboot. Stop the MOVEit Automation service and set the service's Startup Type to Disabled. As an extra precaution, select the Start with scheduler disabled check box on the MOVEit Automation Config Utility General Tab.
   2. On the secondary server that you want to use for production, set the MOVEit Automation service Startup Type to Automatic and clear the Start with scheduler disabled check box on the MOVEit Automation Config Utility.

      These changes will ensure that MOVEit Automation will successfully start and run on a reboot of the secondary server.