Virtual Recovery Assistant user’s guide Part number: T2558-96323 Second edition: March 2009
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Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction .........................................................1-1 Resources ......................................................................................... 1-2 Chapter 2 Installing Virtual Recovery Assistant ....................2-1 Requirements ................................................................................... 2-1 Install Virtual Recovery Assistant ..................................................... 2-2 Chapter 3 Console ....................
Introduction Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant (VRA) is used to protect entire physical and/or virtual source machines to virtual target machines running on VMware ESX Server. In addition to providing the proven Storage Mirroring byte-level replication, monitoring, and failover technologies, the Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant greatly simplifies the setup of the target virtual machines by automating the virtual machine provisioning process.
Resources You have many resources available to you when using Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant. Operating system and application documentation—Make sure that you have complete documentation for your operating system and your applications. Storage Mirroring documentation—Each Storage Mirroring manual is available in the \DblTake\docs directory on the product CD and in the root of the installation directory you selected during the installation. The manuals are in Adobe® Acrobat® PDF format.
Installing Virtual Recovery Assistant Requirements Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant requires the following minimum system configuration: Source machines can be any 32- or 64-bit physical or virtual machines running Microsoft® Windows® 2003 with Service Pack 1 or later NOTE: A version of Storage Mirroring with the Windows Server 2008 feature pack must be installed on the source server.
Install Virtual Recovery Assistant The Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant is installed during the Storage Mirroring for Windows installation. For more information about installing Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant, see the Storage Mirroring User’s Guide.
Console This section provides information about how to use the Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant console. Start Virtual Recovery Assistant Launch Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant by selecting Start, Programs, StorageWorks, Storage Mirroring, Virtual Recovery Assistant for ESX. The first time you launch Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant, a login window will appear.
Connect to the VirtualCenter server Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant can use VMware VirtualCenter to manage the VMware ESX host server. To use VirtualCenter, you must enter credentials for logging in to the VMware VirtualCenter server. The first time you log in, the Connect to VirtualCenter Server dialog box will appear: The VirtualCenter server is where the VMware VirtualCenter service is running. The VMware VirtualCenter service manages all the VMware ESX servers in the environment.
Log off VirtualCenter server Logging off clears the current credentials so that you will be prompted to enter credentials on your next logon. To disconnect from the currently-configured VirtualCenter server, click the Disconnect button in the left pane, or select File, Disconnect. A box that identifies the servers that you are currently logged in to will appear.
Select servers The Protect a server workflow guides you through all the steps to protect the physical source server whose data and system state you will be protecting with a virtual target server. Select the source machine When you click Protect a server or select Go, Protect a server, the Select source server window will appear. Enter the following information for the source server: 1. Server—Enter the IP address or DNS name of the source server you want to protect.
2. User name—Enter the user name for the account that will access the source server. NOTE: The user account specified must have Storage Mirroring Admin privileges on the source server. 3. Password—Enter the password that is associated with the user account. 4. Storage Mirroring port—If you have changed the default port (6320) used by the Storage Mirroring server, specify the port. 5. After all fields have been completed, click Next.
6. To exclude a path or folder from the protection, type the path to exclude in the Exclude these paths field, then click Add. 7. To remove a path from being excluded, select the path, then click Remove. 8. When you are finished selecting the data to protect, click Next. Select a target server Select the target VMware ESX server where the virtual recovery appliance and replica virtual machines will be hosted.
Enter the following information for the target server: 1. IP address or DNS name—Enter the IP address or DNS name of the target server which will host your virtual recovery appliance and replica virtual machines. Or, click the Browse button to browse to locate a server. NOTE: If you did not specify a VirtualCenter server, the Browse button will not be available. You will be prompted to add a username and password for the target server. a.
Select the target datastore Select the datastore where the protected data will be stored, then click Next. The target datastore must have enough free space to store the source data. Select the virtual recovery appliance Select the virtual machine that will be used to coordinate the protection of the data. Enter the following information for the virtual recovery appliance: 1. Choose an existing virtual machine—Select the virtual machine you would like to use as the virtual recovery appliance.
3. Password—Enter the password that is associated with the user account. 4. Storage Mirroring port—If you have changed the default port (6320) used by the Storage Mirroring server, specify the port. 5. After all fields have been completed, click Next. A window will display the progress as the Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant console authenticates the virtual recovery appliance.
Set protection options Select the options you want to use during protection. 1. Compression—Select the compression level (None, Low, Medium, or High) to use when sending data from the source to target server. 2. Target route—Select the IP address on the target server to which you want to send data.
7. When you have finished setting protection options, click Next. The Protection Summary pane will appear. 8. Review the protection options, then click Finish to initiate the protection process. When you click Finish, a message box will appear identifying the status of the protection check.
Monitor protection After you have finished setting up the protection, the Monitor Protection pane will appear. From this window, you can view the status of machine protection jobs. You can also open this pane by clicking the Monitor protection button on the left pane, or select Go, Monitor Protection. Select a protection job, then choose one of the following actions: Toolbar button Function Start protection—Starts synchronization for the selected protection job.
Failover The Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant provides the ability to failover to a replica virtual machine in the event of a failure of the source machine. Source servers may be failed over in two different ways: Automatic Failover—The application detects that a failover condition is met and automatically initiates the failover process. Manual Failover—The user manually initiates the failover process by clicking the Failover button in the user interface.
Manage virtual recovery appliances Select Manage virtual recovery appliances in the left pane, or select Go, Manage virtual recovery appliance to view the Manage virtual recovery appliances pane. From this pane, you can select a virtual machine, then choose one of the following actions: Toolbar button Function Add virtual recovery appliance—Click this button to add a new virtual recovery appliance. The Select ESX server pane will appear where you can begin selecting the virtual machine.
Add a virtual recovery appliance Select the VMware ESX server where the virtual recovery appliance will be hosted. Enter the following information for the target server: 1. IP address or DNS name—Enter the IP address or DNS name of the server which will host your virtual recovery appliance. Or, click the Browse button to browse to locate a server. NOTE: If you did not specify a VirtualCenter server, the Browse button will not be available.
2. When you are finished, click Next. The Add virtual recovery appliance window will appear. 3. Choose an existing virtual machine—Select the virtual machine you would like to use as the virtual recovery appliance. NOTE: This field will only display virtual recovery appliances that are powered on and that are running Windows 2003, Standard or Enterprise edition. 4. User name—Enter the user name for the account that will access the virtual recovery appliance.
Using Firewalls If your source and target are on opposite sides of a NAT or firewall, you will need to configure your hardware to accommodate Storage Mirroring Virtual Recovery Assistant communications. You must have the hardware already in place and know how to configure the hardware ports. If you do not, see the reference manual for your hardware.
