Administrator Guide
Table Of Contents
- Replay Manager Version 8.0 Administrator’s Guide
- About this Guide
- Overview
- Installing Replay Manager Components
- Licensing for Replay Manager
- Install Replay Manager Service for Windows
- Installing Replay Manager Service for VMware
- Install Replay Manager Management Tools
- Install Replay Manager Service for Windows on Windows Server Core
- Installing and Configuring the Verification Service for Exchange
- Using Replay Manager Service on Clustered Servers
- Configure an HTTP Proxy Service
- Getting Started
- Backing Up and Restoring Data
- Using the Replay Manager Explorer
- Understanding Backup Types
- Summary of Backup Set Actions
- Summary of Backup Set Options
- Creating and Running Backups
- Managing Existing Backup Sets
- Managing Restore Points and Restoring Data
- Restoring Data
- Display Restore Points for a Component
- Restore Data to its Original Location
- Restore SQL Server Components without Recovering the Database
- Rename and Restore SQL Server Components Stored on a Volume
- Rename and Restore SQL Server Components Stored on an SMB File Share
- Expose a Restore Point (Windows Extensions Only)
- Expose a Restore Point (VMware Extensions Only)
- Expose a Restore Point Stored on an SMB File Share
- Resync a Restore Point (Windows Extensions Only)
- Make an Exposed Restore Point Writable (Windows Extensions Only)
- Unmanage an Exposed Restore Point (VMware Extensions Only)
- Unexpose an Exposed Restore Point
- Add a Note to a Restore Point
- Edit a Note for a Restore Point
- Unimport a Restore Point
- Delete a Restore Point
- Prevent a Restore Point from Expiring (Force Keep)
- Allow a Restore Point to be Automatically Expired (Allow Auto-Deletion)
- Transport a Restore Point
- Advanced Recovery Scenarios for SQL Server
- Locating Replays on a Storage Center
- Working with Backup Set Jobs
- Viewing Backup Job Reports
- Replay Manager Best Practices
- Using Replay Manager Cmdlets
- Troubleshooting
SRM can leverage Replays created by Replay Manager, however, the following points should be considered to ensure that the
disaster recovery design meets expectations during testing or execution of the recovery plan:
● Replays created by Replay Manager will contain vSphere snapshots. By default, when SRM recovers these virtual machines,
they will still be in a vSphere snapshot state.
● The application and data consistency through VSS is frozen in the read-only snapshot.
● Any data written after the snapshot occurred and before the volume Replay was created will not be application or data
consistent. Rather, the data will be crash consistent.
● If the application needs to be recovered with VSS consistency, revert to the previous vSphere snapshot and then delete the
vSphere snapshot using the vSphere Client. This must be done before the virtual machine is powered on automatically by
SRM or manually through human intervention.
● If application or data consistency is not required for disaster recovery purposes, the virtual machines at the recovery site
may be immediately powered on in a vSphere snapshot state. However, it is not advisable to allow virtual machines to
continue running for extended periods of time in a snapshot state. The vSphere snapshots for each virtual machine should be
committed and deleted as soon as possible.
Related tasks
Restore Data with VSS Consistency on page 63
Storage vMotion
vSphere enables the ability of a virtual machine to migrate between hosts using vMotion and between storage using Storage
vMotion. vMotion will not create any issues for Replay Manager as long as all vSphere hosts are zoned and mapped to the
necessary volumes, however, there are some usage considerations.
CAUTION:
Do not use the VMware Datastores backup extension if you are using Storage vMotion. Storage
vMotion will cause a Replay Manager job to fail if the VMware Datastores backup extension was used for the job.
Replay Manager jobs using the VMware Virtual Machines backup extension are not impacted by Storage vMotion as long as
the Storage vMotion destination is a Storage Center configured in Replay Manager. Every time a Replay Manager job using this
extension is run, Replay Manager will update the virtual machine's file locations as necessary before performing the job. The
Replay Manager job will be updated accordingly and no action will be required of the administrator.
Storage DRS
vSphere Storage DRS (also known as SDRS) leverages the Storage vMotion feature when configured for fully automated mode.
VMware Tools
vSphere snapshots leverage and rely on the VMware Tools installation inside of the guest virtual machine for VSS integration
to obtain application and data consistent snapshots. A VMware Tools failure likely results in the failure of a Replay Manager job
and/or negatively affects the necessary application and data consistency desired in a Replay.
NOTE:
Ensure that the VMware Tools software inside each guest virtual machine is current. Doing so increases the
reliability and success of Replay Manager jobs. VMware Tools generally need to be upgraded with each new version of the
vSphere Hypervisor installed. It is most important to upgrade the software when there is a major version release.
64 Replay Manager Best Practices