HP Matrix Operating Environment 7.3 Recovery Management User Guide

NOTE: The Matrix recovery management Site configuration can be set up to preferentially
activate the logical server on a physical server at one site and a VM host at the other site. For
more information, see “Setting a failover target type preference” (page 47).
Configuring logical servers for movement between dissimilar physical servers
The HP Matrix Operating Environment provides the ability to fine tune the list of failover targets
that are considered most suitable for a DR Protected logical server to be activated on. The ability
to modify target attributes is useful to ensure a successful failover. Target attributes are included in
the data transferred by the Matrix recovery management export/import sequence. An expansion
in the target list at the exporting site is reflected at the importing site. For more information, see
“Target attributes” (page 46).
Configuring and managing portable OS images
Mobility of server workloads is hampered by the fact that most operating systems are configured
at install time for the specific platform they are installed on. Examples include:
• Only the device drivers necessary for the target platform are installed and configured;
attempting to boot the same OS instance on a different server may result in device errors or
system failures.
• Configuration settings, such as IP addresses or storage identifiers, may be bound to specific
devices whose names may change. For example, the same subnet may be attached to the
first NIC port on one server, while it is attached to the third NIC port on another.
The HP Matrix Operating Environment supports mechanisms to prepare a server image (logical
server) so it continues to work when moved to a different physical or virtual server. The following
areas are key to achieving this objective:
• Driver installation
• HBA configuration
• NIC configuration
The tools developed for this purpose are as follows:
• Portable Images Storage Assistant (PISA)
• Portable Images Network Tool (PINT)
Portable Images Storage Assistant (PISA)
When Windows is installed on a SAN LUN attached to a server, it installs a driver that is specific
to the HBA controller on that server. If that LUN is subsequently reassigned to a virtual machine
on a server running VMware ESX, ESX presents only SCSI direct-attached devices to the virtual
machine. Because Windows is still configured to use the HBA controller for the original server it
is unable to start up. PISA enables the appropriate Windows drivers so Windows can start in the
virtual machine.
PISA requires that the virtual machine is configured to use the Raw Device Mapping feature in ESX
to configure a LUN on a SAN as a disk drive available to the virtual machine. The virtual machine
must also be configured to emulate either the LSI Logic Parallel or LSI Logic SAS storage type.
In all versions of Windows, the driver needed to properly operate the virtual version of the LSI
controller is installed, but disabled.
PISA is used to enable LSI support in the Windows image.
PISA is a simple command-line tool that accepts only a few command-line options. It needs to be
executed only once after Windows has been installed on a physical server. The changes it makes
are persistent and do not need to be repeated or reversed. However, repeatedly running PISA has
no negative impact. PISA can also be used to disable the driver used by the virtual machine.
Configuring and managing portable OS images 39