Deconfiguring Agents

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Overview

Deconfiguration Sequence

• Deconfiguring Agents

• Deconfiguring Clients

General Considerations

Audit Trail

Reinstalling Deconfigured Components

Overview

If you are unable to uninstall a component from the computer by using the recommended procedures, you can use the Deconfigure feature to clean up these components from the CommServe database. Deconfiguring a component releases the license associated with it, but the files and registry entries relevant to the component are not removed from its host computer. As such, data is still available for data recovery operations. This feature should not be used to briefly suspend use of a client, see Suspend Use of a Client Computer Temporarily for more information.

Deconfiguration Sequence

Deconfigure operations vary based on the targeted components.

To use the deconfigure option on a Client computer with multiple applications, all the Agents installed on the Client must first be deconfigured. Application-related Agents (Backup and Recovery Agents, Quick Recovery Agents, DataArchiver Agents, ContinuousDataReplicator, Enablers, etc.) must be deconfigured before the File System iDataAgent can be deconfigured. The File System iDataAgent must then be deconfigured before the Client can be deconfigured.

For this reason, we recommend that you use the following sequence when deconfiguring a Client with multiple applications:

1. Application-related Agents (Backup and Recovery Agents, Quick Recovery Agents, DataArchiver Agents, ContinuousDataReplicator, Enablers, etc.)

2. File System iDataAgent

3. Client

NOTES

• For NAS NDMP iDataAgents, the sequence shown above does not apply; the NAS Client can be deconfigured without reference to other Agents.

Deconfiguring Agents

When an Agent is deconfigured, the following will occur:

• The Agent License will be recaptured, allowing it to be reused.
• Related files and registry entries associated with the Agent will not be removed from the computer.
• To permanently delete all data and job history, delete the Agent in the CommCell Console.
• For Backup and Recovery Agents, all backups associated with the Agents in the Client will be available for restore.
• For Quick Recovery Agents, QR volumes from previous data protection operations can be used for data recovery purposes.
• For Migration Archiver Agents, all archived data associated with the Agents in the Client will be available for recovery.
• For Compliance Archiver Agents, you will be able to retrieve all archived data associated with the Agents in the Client.

• All Data Protection/Data Recovery job schedules (independent and those part of a schedule policy), which are related to the specific Agent or Client, will continued to be displayed in the Schedule Details dialog box after the Agent or Client has been deconfigured. However, the user will not be able to run, edit, or perform a Run Immediately operation on the schedule unless the Agent or Client is reinstalled.

Deconfiguring Clients

When a Client is deconfigured, the following will occur:

• All functionality associated with the Client will be unavailable.
• The related files and registry entries associated with the Client will not be removed from the computer.
• To permanently delete all data and job history, delete the Client in the CommCell Console.
• For NAS NDMP iDataAgents, which do not have a software install or uninstall procedure, deconfiguring the Client is the functional equivalent of uninstalling other Agents. Consider the following when deconfiguring one of these Clients:
  • After deconfiguring the client, the protected data is still available on the media for the length of time expressed in the Retention Time defined in the associated Storage Policy Copy. If desired, you can browse the backup data or perform data recovery operations from the client to another active client of the same type within the same CommCell. You cannot, however, restore the data to the original NAS File Server, because the Client is no longer present.
  • Once you have deconfigured the Client, the corresponding icon in the CommCell Browser will appear dimmed. While this icon exists, the Client can still perform data recovery operations. If you delete this icon, all of the Client’s data is irretrievably lost.

• All Data Protection/Data Recovery job schedules (independent and those part of a schedule policy), which are related to the specific Agent or Client, will continued to be displayed in the Schedule Details dialog box after the Agent or Client has been deconfigured. However, the user will not be able to run, edit, or perform a Run Immediately operation on the schedule unless the Agent or Client is reinstalled.

General Considerations

Consider the following before you deconfigure a component:

• Administrative Management capabilities cannot be used to perform the deconfigure operation from the level of the component that you are deconfiguring (e.g., if you are deconfiguring a Client, these capabilities cannot be used to perform the deconfigure operations from the Client level).

• If a Client crashes, and if you cannot remove the Client from the CommServe database, you can use the deconfigure feature to remove the Client. However, this does not uninstall the Client.

• When a user changes the storage policy association of a subclient, a subclient is deleted, or a client or an agent is deleted, only the retention days must be exceeded for data to be aged. In these cases, retention cycles are set to zero (0). However, when a client or an agent is deconfigured, the associated data will be aged according to the associated storage policy copy’s defined retention time and cycle rules.

• All Data Protection/Data Recovery job schedules (independent and those part of a schedule policy), which are related to the specific Agent or Client, will continued to be displayed in the Schedule Details dialog box after the Agent or Client has been deconfigured. However, the user will not be able to run, edit, or perform a Run Immediately operation on the schedule unless the Agent or Client is reinstalled.

• It is recommended that you deconfigure the magnetic libraries before uninstalling the MediaAgent. In a windows clustered environment, deconfigure the magnetic libraries on the virtual machine before uninstalling the MediaAgent.

Audit Trail

The following operations are recorded in the Audit Trail, if Audit Trail is enabled:

• Deconfigure a client
• Deconfigure an agent
• Deconfigure a MediaAgent

See Audit Trail for more information.

Reinstalling Deconfigured Components

If you wish to reinstall a component that has been deconfigured, you must first uninstall the component software from the computer. See Uninstall Components for more information.

Once the deconfigured component has been uninstalled, you may then reinstall the component software as you would any other component. See Reinstalling Uninstalled Agents for more information.