DataKeeper Intent Log files on AWS Ephemeral Storage

DataKeeper systems that are running on AWS instances which are configured with local instance storage (i.e. ephemeral disks) can use the instance storage to store DataKeeper intent log files (i.e. bitmap files). It is important to be sure that when using AWS ephemeral storage, the instance is configured to automatically initialize that storage at boot time. If not, the ephemeral drive will not be registered if the instance is ever powered off and then restarted and DataKeeper will not be able to find its bitmap files.

All SIOS-provided Windows AMI’s in the Amazon Marketplace are already configured to automatically initialize ephemeral disks at startup. However, some AMI’s do not have disk initialization configured by default.

Windows systems running in AWS have several ways to initialize ephemeral disks. These mechanisms are:

1. EC2Config Service: This service is installed on Windows 2012R2 and earlier versions of Windows. EC2Config automatically initializes ephemeral disks, there is no extra configuration that needs to be performed.
2. EC2Launch Scripts: For Windows 2016 and later versions of Windows, Amazon provides a set of tools called EC2Launch. The script that initializes ephemeral disks is found at C:\ProgramData\Amazon\EC2-Windows\Launch\Scripts\InitializeDisks.ps1. To schedule it to be run at boot time, run the script with the “-Schedule” option. To initialize ephemeral disks immediately, run the script without any options.
3. EC2Launch V2 Service: For Windows 2016 and later versions of Windows, Amazon also makes available the EC2Launch V2 service. This service comes with a configuration tool named “Amazon EC2Launch Settings” which is found in the Amazon Web Services program group:

This tool has a “Volumes” tab which allows you to choose to initialize the disks at the start of the EC2Launch V2 service (at boot time).

DataKeeper will detect whether your system is running in AWS, if it has ephemeral disks attached, and whether one of the 3 methods above have been used to initialize the disks. If not, a local configuration error will be displayed in EMTray, the DK GUI and DKHealthCheck.