Installing the AWS Replication Agent on Linux - AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery

Installing the AWS Replication Agent on Linux

To install the agent on a Linux source server, you should ensure that your source meets all the requirements list in the Supported Operating Systems documentation.

Before installing, please ensure that you are aware of the following:

  • You need root privileges to run the Agent installer file on a Linux server. Alternatively, you can run the Agent Installer file with sudo permissions.

  • The Linux installer creates the "aws-replication" group and "aws-replication" user within that group. The Agent will run within the context of the newly created user. Agent installation will attempt to add the user to "sudoers". Installation will fail if the Agent is unable to add the newly created "aws-replication" user to "sudoers".

  1. Download the agent installer aws-replication-installer-init onto your Linux source server.

    The Agent installer download location follows this format:

    https://aws-elastic-disaster-recovery-<REGION>.s3.<REGION>.amazonaws.com/latest/linux/aws-replication-installer-init

    Note

    Replace <REGION> with the AWS Region into which you are replicating.

    The following is an example for downloading the installer file from the us-east-1 region:

    wget
    wget -O ./aws-replication-installer-init https://aws-elastic-disaster-recovery-us-east-1.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/latest/linux/aws-replication-installer-init
    curl
    curl -o aws-replication-installer-init https://aws-elastic-disaster-recovery-us-east-1.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/latest/linux/aws-replication-installer-init
    Note

    If you are using a legacy Linux OS that does not support TLS 1.2, you need to download the installer on a different server with an OS that supports TLS 1.2 and copy it to the legacy servers you intend to install the agent on.

    The command line will indicate when the installer has been successfully downloaded.

    Important

    If you need to validate the installer hash, the correct hash can be found here:

    https://aws-elastic-disaster-recovery-hashes-<REGION>.s3.<REGION>.amazonaws.com/latest/linux/aws-replication-installer-init.sha512

    Replace <REGION> with the AWS Region into which you are replicating

    For example, when using the us-east-1 Region

    https://aws-elastic-disaster-recovery-hashes-us-east-1.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/latest/linux/aws-replication-installer-init.sha512

    Note

    AWS Regions that are not opt-in also support the shorter installer path:

    https://aws-elastic-disaster-recovery-<REGION>.s3.amazonaws.com/latest/linux/aws-replication-installer-init. Replace <REGION> with the AWS Region into which you are replicating.

    Note

    If you are using a Windows Servers of versions 2016 or older, and are using PowerShell to download the installer, you need to enable TLS 1.2: [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = 'TLS12'

  2. Use the following command on your source server in order to run the installation script.

    chmod +x aws-replication-installer-init; sudo ./aws-replication-installer-init
    Note

    To install the agent on a secured network, learn about the additional required configurations.

    If you require additional customization, you can add a variety of parameters to the installer script in order to manipulate the way the Agent is installed on your server. See the AWS Replication Agent Installer Parameters for more information.

    The installer will confirm that the installation of the AWS Replication Agent has started. 

    $ chmod +x aws-replication-installer-init; sudo ./aws-replication-installer-init
The installation of the AWS Replication Agent has started.

  3. The installer will prompt you to enter your AWS Region Name, the AWS Access Key ID and AWS Secret Access Key that you previously generated. Enter the complete AWS Region name (for example, eu-central-1), the full AWS Access Key ID and the full AWS Secret Access Key. 

    $ chmod +x aws-replication-installer-init; sudo ./aws-replication-installer-init
The installation of the AWS Replication Agent has started.
AWS Region name: us-east-1
AWS Access Key ID: AKIAI0SF0DNN71EXAMPLE
AWS Secret Access Key: wJalrXUtnFEMI/K71MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
    Note

    You can also enter these values as part of the installation script command parameters. If you do not enter these parameters as part of the installation script, you will be prompted to enter them one by one as described above. (for example: chmod +x aws-replication-installer-init; sudo ./aws-replication-installer-init --region regionname --aws-access-key-id AKIAIOSFODNN71EXAMPLE --aws-secret-access-key wJalrXUtnFEMI/K71MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY)

  4. Once you have entered your credentials, the installer will identify volumes for replication. The installer will display the identified disks and prompt you to choose the disks you want to replicate. 

    $ chmod +x aws-replication-installer-init; sudo ./aws-replication-installer-init
...
AWS Secret Access Key: wJalrXUtnFEMI/K71MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
Identifying volumes for replication.
Choose the disks you want to replication. Your disks are: /dev/sda,/dev/xvda
To replication some of the disks, type the path of the disks, separated with a comma (for example, /dev/sda,/dev/sdb).
To replication all disks, press Enter:

    To replicate some of the disks, type the path of the disks, separated by a comma, as illustrated in the installer (such as: /dev/sda, /dev/sdb, etc). To replicate all of the disks, press Enter. The installer will identify the selected disks and print their size.

    $ chmod +x aws-replication-installer-init; sudo ./aws-replication-installer-init
...
To replication some of the disks, type the path of the disks, separated with a comma (for example, /dev/sda,/dev/sdb).
To replication all disks, press Enter:
Identified volume for replication: /dev/xvda of size 8 GiB

    The installer will confirm that all disks were successfully identified. 

    $ chmod +x aws-replication-installer-init; sudo ./aws-replication-installer-init
...
Identified volume for replication: /dev/xvda of size 8 GiB
All volumes for replication were successfully identified.
    Note

    When identifying specific disks for replication, do not use apostrophes, brackets, or disk paths that do not exist. Type only existing disk paths. Each disk you selected for replication is displayed with the caption Disk to replicate identified. However, the displayed list of identified disks for replication may differ from the data you entered. This difference can due to several reasons:

    • The root disk of the source server is always replicated, whether you select it or not. Therefore, it always appears on the list of identified disks for replication.

    • AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery replicates whole disks. Therefore, if you choose to replicate a partition, its entire disk will appear on the list and will later be replicated. If several partitions on the same disk are selected, then the disk encompassing all of them will appear only once on the list.

    • Incorrect disks may be chosen by accident. Ensure that the correct disks have been chosen.

    Important

    If disks are disconnected from a server, AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery can no longer replicate them, so they are removed from the list of replicated disks. When they are reconnected, the AWS Replication Agent cannot know that these were the same disks that were disconnected and therefore does not add them automatically. To add the disks after they are reconnected, rerun the AWS Replication Agent installer on the server.

    Note that the returned disks will need be replicated from the beginning. Any disk size changes will be automatically identified, but this will also cause a resync. Perform a test after installing the Agent to ensure that the correct disks have been added.

  5. After all of the disks that will be replicated have been successfully identified, the installer will download and install the AWS Replication Agent on the source server.

    $ chmod +x aws-replication-installer-init; sudo ./aws-replication-installer-init
...
Identified volume for replication: /dev/xvda of size 8 GiB
All volumes for replication were successfully identified.
Downloading the AWS Replication Agent onto the source server... Finished
Installing the AWS Replication Agent onto the source server... Finished

  6. Once the AWS Replication Agent is installed, the server will be added to the AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery console and will undergo the initial sync process. The installer will provide you with the source server's ID. 

    $ chmod +x aws-replication-installer-init; sudo ./aws-replication-installer-init
...
Installing the AWS Replication Agent onto the source server... Finished
Syncing the source server with the AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery console... Finished
The following is the source server ID: s-3146f90b19example
The AWS Replication Agent was successfully installed.
$

    You can review this process in real time on the Source servers page.