ImageCenter - BootCheck Best practice

Bootcheck must be used to ensure that the backup image is bootable. In contrast to the "Verify" option, which checks whether the backup is readable, Bootcheck mounts the backup image in the background and tries to start it.

 

Recommendation

Schedule

Perform the backup boot checks once a day. The check is a lengthy task that should take place outside of the regular backup times due to its high system performance. For example, if the backups are active from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., it is advisable to schedule the boot check around 8 p.m.

Option

BootCheck Settings - Time out

By default, 4 images can be checked in parallel per process. If less performance is available, then it is advisable to set the value from 10 to 20 minutes. So Bootcheck would try to boot the image for 20 minutes. The value should not be set higher than 20 minutes, since a new attempt is automatically started in the event of an error.

Try previous incremental images on unsuccessful image

If this option is activated, the default attempt will be 4x to boot the image. If a timeout of 20 minutes is set, an attempt would be made to carry out the boot check for a maximum of 80 minutes for each image. For this reason, we recommend deactivating this option and only having the check carried out twice by default.

Troubleshooting

Timeout - more than 16 GB of RAM available

If the action is not possible due to a timeout and the host has 16 GB of RAM, it can make sense to increase the RAM that is used for the check.

1. Navigate to the path "C:\Program Files\Actiphy\ImageCenter\" and open the file "aip.ini".
2. Search the row [aipcopy].
3. Insert a new row with the following value: BootTestVmRAM=2048.
4. XXXX is the MB of allocated RAM, e.g. B. 2048 for 2 GB RAM.
5. If necessary, slowly approach the optimal setting in 2 GB steps.
6. Restart the ImageCenter service.

Timeout - Less than 16 GB of RAM available

If the host has less than 16 GB RAM and the error "Timeout" is reported, it makes sense to reduce the parallel boot checks from the default 4 to 1. This means that only one image is checked at the same time and the following are processed one after the other.

1. Open ImageCenter and navigate to the Agent-Settings  (left corner).
2. Open "Bootcheck" and change the value from 4 to 1.
3. Click "Save".