VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Table of Contents Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 About VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 About This Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Step 8: Configuring protection for a vSphere Replication–protected VM . . . . . . . . . . 90 Step 9: Creating a protection group for VR-protected VMs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Step 10: Creating a recovery plan for VR-based protection groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Exercise 3. Configuring Site Recovery Manager Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Getting Started About VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager™ 5.0 (SRM) is an extension to VMware vCenter™ that provides disaster recovery capabilities to VMware customers.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide • If vSphere Replication is chosen as the replication engine for this assessment, there is no requirement that hardware storage arrays are used. A local disk or even the VMware Virtual Storage Array may be used for the purposes of evaluation, and there is no requirement for an array with a licensed storage-based replication engine.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide DR AND SRM T E R M I N O LO G Y DESCRIPTION Placeholder VM An object found with other VMs in the recovery site vCenter inventory representing a protected site VM that is being replicated to the recovery site. It is represented with an icon showing a lightning bolt. Recovery point objective The maximum acceptable amount of data that can be lost during a failure, expressed as a time value.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide C AT E G O R Y F E AT U R E S SRM failover from recovery site to protected site (optional) Reprotect/failback W H AT W I L L B E C OV E R E D Reading details of reprotect and failback operations (exercise is optional). T I M E E S T I M AT E S 1 90 minutes 1. The real time spent on each exercise is dependent on the specifics of your environment.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Documentation This guide is intended to provide an overview of the steps required to ensure a successful evaluation of SRM. It is not meant to substitute for product documentation. Refer to the online product documentation for SRM for more detailed information. (See the following links.) You might also consult the online knowledge base if you have any additional questions.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide • The entire state of a virtual machine (memory, disk images, I/O, and device state) is encapsulated. Encapsulation enables the state of a virtual machine to be saved to a file. Saving the state of a virtual machine to a file allows the transfer of an entire virtual machine to another host. • Hardware independence eliminates the need for a complete replication of hardware at the recovery site.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide The protected site configuration workflow involves the following activities: • The user installs the SRM Server. • The user installs the SRA. • If a different vSphere Client is used to access the protected and recovery sites, the user installs the SRM plug-in into the vSphere Client. Otherwise, this activity can be skipped. • With SRM 5.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide SRM does not require production system downtime to run tests. This means you can test often to ensure that you are protected in case of a disaster. For testing, SRM performs the following tasks: • Creates a test environment, including network and storage infrastructure, that is isolated from the production environment.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 1. Protected Virtual Machines in This Guide • Identify which virtual machines will be designated as unprotected virtual machines (for example, VMs to be protected with vSphere Replication, Active Directory servers, DNS servers, print servers, SRM servers, vCenter servers, and so on). • Determine which datastores are to hold the array-protected virtual machines (ATestWK1 through ATestWK5).
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 2. Sample Datastores (Different Storage Types Will Be Used in This Evaluation Guide – Local, Shared, Replicated, and Nonreplicated) • Move all the designated protected virtual machines onto the replicated datastores. vSphere Storage vMotion can be used to complete the relocation of the protected virtual machines with zero service downtime.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Exercise 1. Site Configuration and Recovery Workflow Setup SRM Recovery Workflow Recovery workflow automation Set up Recovery Workflow 1. Set up site-pairing. 2. Set up array managers for the replicated datastore. 3. Set up inventory mappings. 4. Set up the protection group. 5. Set up the recovery plan. 6. Configure IP customization. 7. Trigger a test recovery. 60 minutes Step 1: Set up connection pairing To set up connection pairing: 1.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 4. Configure Connection Pairing of Protected and Recovery Sites 5. On the Remote Site Information page, type the host name or IP address of the vCenter server at the recovery site and click Next. Accept any certificates to proceed. NOTE: If you are using credential-based authentication, you must supply exactly the same information here that you entered when installing the SRM Server.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide 6. On the vCenter Server Authentication page, provide the appropriate vCenter administrator credentials (user name and password) for the remote site and click Next. If you are using credential-based authentication, you must supply exactly the same information here that you entered when installing the SRM Server. Figure 6. Enter vCenter Server Authentication Information 7. The SRM servers will now attempt to pair and establish reciprocity.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 7. Establishing Reciprocity 8. Moments after you return to the Site Summary screen, a pop-up menu will appear prompting for credentials for the remote vCenter server. Enter your credentials for the recovery site vCenter server, and then wait while the paired sites are populated in the SRM Sites screen. Figure 8.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide The SRM and vCenter servers at the protected and recovery sites are connected. Connection information is saved in the SRM databases, and persists across logins and host restarts. Figure 9.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 10. SRA Tab Showing Load and Installed SRAs If no SRA is listed, click the Rescan SRAs button at the top of the screen. If an SRA is still not listed, then no SRA has been installed on the SRM host. For more information, see the chapter “Install the Storage Replication Adapters” in the Site Recovery Manager Administration Guide. Figure 11. Rescan SRAs 5.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 12. Adding an Array Name and Choosing an Appropriate SRA 7. Enter configuration and authentication information to connect to the specified array manager. These fields are defined by the SRA. For more information about how to fill them in, see the documentation provided by your SRA vendor.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 13. SRA Configuration and Authentication to Array Manager 8. If the information you supplied is correct and SRM can communicate with the array managers through the SRA, click Finish.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 14. SRA Configuration Complete The array manager queries the selected arrays to discover which of their devices are replicated. Detailed information about the selected arrays is available by clicking on the added array that should now appear in the protected site folder.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Main Body Head Figure 15. Array-Specific Information for Protected Site 9. Click the name of the recovery site folder to configure array managers at the recovery site. 10. On the Recovery Site Array Managers summary page, click Add Array Manager. The procedure for configuring these arrays is identical to the procedure for configuring the arrays at the protected site, described in Step 4 through Step 8.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 16. Enter Array Manager Information for Recovery Site 11. Click Finish. The Array Managers screen should now show two site folders, each with an array configured. Figure 17.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide 12. Click on a configured array on either the protected site or the recovery site. Figure 18. Selecting an Array 13. Click on the Array Pairs tab in the context of this selected array manager. You should see the configured local array and the remote array in the main viewing pane. Figure 19. Array Pairs 14. Click Enable on the right pane under the Actions column to enable pairing of the local and remote array managers.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 20. Enabling Array Pairing 15. Once array pairing is complete, click the Devices tab to display the list of replicated datastore groups. On the Devices tab, you can see which datastores the array manager is replicating, and the current state of replication for those devices. If the list of replicated datastores is not what you expected, you must correct it before continuing. Figure 21.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 22. Devices for Array Pair – View from the Recovery Site (Note the Direction of Replication Arrow) Step 3: Set up inventory mapping Inventory mappings establish recovery site defaults for the virtual machine folders, networks, and resource pools to which recovered virtual machines are assigned. You create these mappings at the protected site, and they apply to all virtual machines in all protection groups at that site.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 23. Configure Resource Mappings The Resource Mappings page displays a tree of resource pools at the protected site and a corresponding tree of resources at the recovery site. 4. To configure mapping for a resource, click the resource in the Protected Site Resources column and click Configure Mapping. 5.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 24. Choosing a Recovery Site Resource to Map to the “Protected Apps” Resource Pool from the Primary Site The selected resource is displayed in the Recovery Site Resources column, and its path relative to the root of the recovery site vCenter server is displayed in the Recovery Site Path column.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 25. Inventory Mapping Interface After Mapping a Resource Pool Ensure that you continue to configure all inventory mapping tabs as needed – resources, folders, networks, and a placeholder datastore mapping to hold shadow VMs at the recovery site. Figure 26.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 27. Selecting a Recovery-Site Network to Map 6. To undo an inventory mapping, select the row to be unconfigured and click Remove Mapping. Step 4: Set up protection group SRM organizes virtual machines into protection groups based on the datastore group that they use. All virtual machines in a protection group store their files within the same datastore group, and all failover together. Procedure 1.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide 4. Select All Protection Groups in the left pane, and choose the Summary tab in the right pane. 5. In the Commands box on the far right, click Create Protection Group. Figure 28. Protection Groups Main Screen 6. On the Create Protection Group pop-up screen, select the protected site (Site A) and choose Array based replication for the Protection Group Type.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 29. Creating a Protection Group 7. On the Select One or More Datastore Groups page of the Create Protection Group wizard, select one or more datastore groups from the list, and then click Next.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 30. Select a Datastore Group for the Protection Group Being Created The datastore groups listed on this page are the ones that were discovered as replicated datastores when you configured the array managers. Each datastore in the list is replicated to the recovery site, and supports at least one virtual machine at the protected site.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 31. Selecting and Showing the VMs Contained in a Datastore Group Chosen for a Protection Group 8. Enter a name and description for the protection group and click Next.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 32. Name and Description of Protection Group 9. Click Finish to create the protection group. SRM creates a protection group that includes all of the virtual machines on the datastore you selected in Step 7. Placeholders are created and inventory mappings are applied for each member of the group.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 33. Summary of the Protection Group Prior to Completion 10. After the protection group is created (this may take a few moments while protection is configured for the VMs), you may review the status of the protection group by clicking on the name of the protection group in the navigation pane on the left.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 34. Overview of the Protection Group You might also examine individual VMs within the protection group to look for the status of protection, missing mappings, or to manually configure the protection for one or all VMs in the protection group by clicking on the name of the protection group in the navigation pane, then selecting the Virtual Machines tab on the main pane on the right. Figure 35.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Step 5: Set up recovery plan A recovery plan controls the way in which virtual machines in a protection group are recovered. It is stored in the SRM database at the recovery site, and executed by the SRM Server at the recovery site. A simple recovery plan assigns all virtual machines in a protection group to two networks on the recovery site – a recovery network, and a test network. The recovery network is used in an actual recovery.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 37. Choosing a Recovery Site 5. On the Select Protection Groups page of the Create Recovery Plan wizard, select one or more protection groups for the plan to recover, and then click Next.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 38. Select Protection Group for the Recovery Plan 6. On the Test Networks page of the Create Recovery Plan wizard, select a recovery site network to which recovered virtual machines will connect during recovery plan tests, and then click Next. By default, the test network is specified as Auto, which will automatically create an isolated test network on each ESX server that is part of the test.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 39. Configure Test Network for Recovery Plan 7. Enter a name and description for the recovery plan and click Next. 8. Read the summary of the recovery plan in the Ready to Complete screen, and click Finish to create the recovery plan.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 40. Finish Creation of the Recovery Plan Step 6: Customize IP properties There are a number of ways to access IP customization for virtual machines within a recovery plan. The easiest way is to select the recovery plan in the navigation field on the left side of the screen, and in the main window, select the Virtual Machines tab. Choose the VM to customize, and click the Configure Recovery button. 1.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 41. Right-Click the VM within a Recovery Plan to Access Its Configuration Properties Regardless of the method chosen to access configuration, the same screen will pop up, showing recovery plan configuration information for this virtual machine.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 42. Properties for Customization of the VM SRM also provides a batch IP customization tool, dr-ip-customizer.exe. Using dr-ip-customizer enables a very rapid bulk import and changes IP information of many or all virtual machines. Refer to the Site Recovery Manager Administration Guide for information regarding dr-ip-customizer. 2.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 43. Configuring Recovery Site IP Information 4. Click OK once the IP information is updated. The networking information is updated for the recovery site. Click OK once you are satisfied that the network customization is correct.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 44. Network Recovery Properties Custom network information can be configured for both the protected and recovery sites. This may be of use if reprotection and automated failback will be used (both of which are only applicable to array-based replication). Feel free to enter IP information for both sites.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 45. Setting a VM’s Priority Group 2. Select a priority group for the virtual machine’s start sequence. Note the new priority group for the virtual machine. The priority group for a VM might also be configured by right-clicking the VM within the recovery plan and setting it directly. 3. To set a dependency for a virtual machine, click on the VM Dependencies line within the VM Recovery Properties window.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 46. VM Dependency Settings 4. Select a VM to add as a dependency. NOTE: The virtual machine being added as a dependency must be a member of the same priority group as the VM whose properties you are editing, or the dependency will be ignored.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 47. Adding a VM as a Dependency for the Current VM 5. After selecting an appropriate VM to act as a parent for dependency, review the dependencies, then click OK to continue.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 48. VM with a Dependency That Has Been Set Step 8: Run test recovery SRM enables you to test a recovery plan by simulating a failover of virtual machines from the protected site to the recovery site. The benefit of using SRM to run a failover simulation against a recovery plan is that it allows you to confirm that the recovery plan has been set up correctly for the protected virtual machines.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Procedure 1. Open the vSphere Client and connect to the vCenter server at the recovery site. Log in as a user who has permission to test a recovery plan. 2. Click the Site Recovery icon on the vSphere Client Home page. 3. In the Recovery Plan section of the navigation screen on the left, select the recovery plan that you want to test.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 50. Recovery Plan Test Pop-up Screen 5. Review the options selected for the recovery plan test, and click Start to initiate the test of the recovery plan failover.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 51. Click Start to Initiate Test Failover While the simulated failover test is running, the status of each step that makes up the recovery plan can be monitored by going to the Recovery Steps tab in the vSphere Client. This will inform you what steps are currently running as well as what steps were completed.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 52. Test Steps for Recovery 6. When the test recovery has finished powering on all of the protected virtual machines, it displays a message and requires confirmation before it can continue. Click Continue when you are ready for SRM to clean up and finish the test. Figure 53.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide To run an automated cleanup, click the Cleanup text button in the action field, review the cleanup actions, and click Next. Review the cleanup summary, and click Start to begin the cleanup process. Figure 54. Ready to Execute Automated Cleanup During cleanup, SRM powers down and unregisters the test virtual machines at the recovery site, and then registers the placeholders back.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 55. Automated Cleanup 7. SRM provides an audit trail via a report that is generated automatically at the end of each SRM test or SRM recovery. The reports are accessible via the History tab at the top of the Recovery Plans menu. Figure 56. History Tab Historical reports can be viewed by clicking the View link in the Actions column.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 57. History Tab and Actions Column, to View Reports Clicking View on a history report will result in a browser window opening. It contains a log of the steps executed during the test, with the total time it took to execute the recovery plan and the time it took to execute each step in the recovery plan. Figure 58.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Exercise 2. Deploying vSphere Replication vSphere Replication is a replication engine that is part of SRM 5.0 and requires ESXi 5.0 and later, giving an alternative means of protecting and replicating virtual machines between sites. It is entirely managed within the SRM interface after initial deployment and configuration, and integrates with storage array–based replication to provide full coverage of the virtual environment.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 59. Summary Screen for vSphere Replication 5. Using the OVF wizard to deploy the appliance, click Next through the options until you can select a name and location in which to deploy the VRMS appliance. Ensure that at this point you are deploying to the primary protected site (Site A).
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 60. Name and Location for the VMRS at Site A 6. Choose appropriate hosts, clusters, resource pools, and disk locations, for the VRMS appliance, and ensure that all networking information is correctly populated. Take note of the root password you enter and ensure that it is recorded.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 61. Network Details for VRMS 7. Select the correct vCenter Extension vService through the drop-down menu. If this is not available or shows an error, it usually indicates that the managed IP address of the vCenter server has not been set. See the knowledge base article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1008030. Complete managed IP settings in both the protected and recovery site vCenter servers before continuing.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 62. vCenter Extension Service 8. When you are ready to complete the task, click Finish to deploy the VRMS appliance. A pop-up screen will show the state of deployment of the VRMS appliance, and will indicate when the deployment has been completed successfully.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 63. Click Finish When Ready 9. You will now need to deploy a VRMS appliance to the recovery site, following the same process as outlined above in steps 4 through 8. This time, however, please ensure that you are deploying the VRMS to the recovery site (Site B) instead of the protected site.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 64. Deploying VRMS to the Recovery Site 10. When you are done, there should be a VRMS deployed to both protected and recovery sites. In the following example, the Site A VRMS is labeled tm-pod07-rmsa and the Site B VRMS is labeled tm-pod07-rmsb. Figure 65.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Step 2: Configuring VRMS appliances In order to complete the configuration of the management framework, you must complete a few steps. The first step is the configuration of the appliance itself, done through the VM console. The second step is the configuration of the management framework, done through a Web browser interface to the appliances. 1. Open the vSphere Client and connect to the vCenter server at the protected site. 2.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 67. Configure the Network 5. At the login screen, type 0 (zero) to review the current network configuration. If the networking information is correct, return to the main menu. 6. Enter 3 (three) to change the host name. Make sure the host name you enter here is noted and recorded, and works correctly with forward, reverse, and fully qualified DNS searches.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 68. Configuring the Host Name 7. Press 1 (one) to write changes and exit the interface. If necessary, at the main appliance menu, use the arrow keys to select Set Timezone to update the time zone of the appliance to your current geography.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 69. Configuring the Timezone Step 3: Configuring VRMS through Web management interface After deployment and configuration of a VRMS appliance, configuration of the management itself will allow us to register the VRMS with the vCenter server and connect to the database previously configured for use with vSphere Replication. To configure the VRMS, follow these steps: 1.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 70. Configure the VRMS 5. Log in to the appliance using the user name root and the password you chose for the appliance in Step 1. Figure 71.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide 6. Once logged in, within the VRM menu tab, choose the submenu tab labeled Configuration. Figure 72. VRM Interface 7. In this location, you will need to enter information regarding the database used for vSphere Replication, vCenter information, and credentials to access both.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 73. VRMS Configuration – First Screen 8. After configuring this information, scroll down and notice the vCenter configuration information that is necessary. It is very important that the vCenter Server Address field is correctly populated. If you have used IP addresses for all site pairing activities, continue to use IP addresses in this location.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 74. vCenter Configuration Information in VRMS 9. When all the information is correctly filled in and the SSL Certificate is generated, click on the Save and Restart Service button. This will register the VRMS with vCenter and connect to the supplied database to run the initial configuration of vSphere Replication.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 75. Save and Restart Service 10. A pop-up dialogue box will ask you to confirm the vCenter SSL Certificate. Press Accept to continue.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 76. vCenter SSL Certificate 11. If VRMS has been successful communicating with vCenter and the database, it will return to the Configuration screen with a green message labeled Successfully saved the startup configuration. This may take a few minutes to return. Wait until a message is generated, whether it is the green success message or an error.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 77. Successful Configuration 12. You can now log out of the VRMS Web interface and return to the vSphere Client. You may expect to see a number of certificate security warnings that indicate secure connections are now being attempted between both vCenters and the VRMS appliances. This will occur once per session when opening the SRM interface. Choose to both Install the certificate and Ignore errors.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 78. SSL Certificate Warnings Step 4: Configure VRMS appliance and VRMS Web management for recovery site 1. Return to the vSphere Client in the SRM solution page, and repeat the configuration of the VRMS appliance at the recovery site and configuration of the Web management interface at the recovery site. Remember, when configuring the VRMS at the recovery site, you will need to enter information specific to that site.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 79. Configure VMRS Connection 5. SRM will query if you want to configure the VRMS connection. Click Yes to continue. 6. SRM might issue a server certificate error. This is strictly because you did not use signed certificates earlier and is completely normal. Click OK to continue. Figure 80. VMRS Certificate Errors 7. SRM will prompt you for login credentials for the remote vCenter server. Provide your credentials, and click OK to continue.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 81. Credential Authorization Prompt 8. After a momentary delay while configuring communication between sites, a success message that configuration pairing succeeded should appear. Press OK to continue. Figure 82. Successful Configuration 9. Both sites within the SRM vSphere Replication Summary screen should now show information about the VRM server, such as Location and IP Address.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 83. Connected Status – Site A Figure 84. Connected Status – Site B Step 6: Deploying a vSphere Replication Server (VRS) The VRS acts as a recipient of changed blocks captured by vSphere Replication. The VRMS directs the VR agents on the ESXi hosts at the protected site (Site A) to pass changed blocks to the VRS that resides at the recovery site (Site B).
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide To deploy a VRS, follow these steps: 1. Open the vSphere Client and connect to the vCenter server at the protected site. 2. Log in as a vSphere administrator. 3. Click the Site Recovery icon on the vSphere Client Home page under Solutions and Applications. 4. Choose the menu item on the left navigation pane entitled vSphere Replication, and select the protected site (Site A). Click Deploy VR Server in the actions list on the right.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 86. Deploying VRS at the Recovery Site (Site B) 6. Name the VRS appropriately and optionally deploy it into a specific folder and resource pool at the recovery site.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 87. Name and Place for the VRS at the Recovery Site (Site B) 7. Ensure that the name and IP addresses given to the VRS appliance work correctly with forward, reverse, short and FQDN DNS lookups.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 88. Networking Information for VR Server 8. When all the information is complete and correct, click Finish to deploy the VR Server.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 89. Deploy the VR Server After Reviewing All Information Step 7: Register a VR Server To complete the process of deployment and configuration of vSphere Replication, you must register the VRS to the VRMS framework to list it as a valid destination for changed blocks. To register the VRS, follow these steps: 1. Open the vSphere Client and connect to the vCenter server at the protected site. 2. Log in as a vSphere administrator. 3.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 90. Register VR Server on the Recovery Site 5. The Register VR Server pop-up screen will show a tree of VMs available at the recovery site to register. Find the VR Server that was deployed in Step 6, select it and press OK to register the VRS.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 91. Register VR Server Pop-up Screen 6. When a prompt appears verifying that you wish to register the selected VM as a VRS, ensure that you have chosen the correct VM, and press Yes to continue. You may see server certificate warning messages. If so, press OK to continue.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 92. Ensure That the Correct VM Is Selected 7. When the VRS is successfully registered, the following screen will notify you of success.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 93. Successful Registration of the VRS At this point, the newly registered VRS will appear in the vSphere Replication navigation window within the folder representing the recovery site (Site B). You might click the VRS to see where information will be populated once vSphere Replication is configured for virtual machines. The status should show Connected with zero virtual machines listed. Figure 94.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide 4. Expand the list of virtual machines at the protected site (Site A) and select a virtual machine to be protected with vSphere Replication. Choose a VM that has been previously identified as one not residing on replicated storage and one that is not currently part of a protection group. Right-click the virtual machine and select vSphere Replication at the bottom of the pop-up screen. Figure 95.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide The vSphere Replication configuration item is available in many locations as a context-specific option when right-clicking a VM. 5. Click on vSphere Replication to bring up the Configure Replication menu for the selected virtual machine. You can set the recovery point objective (RPO) for the VM either by using a slider to range between 15 minutes and 24 hours, or by selecting the RPO by choosing drop-down items in the RPO window.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide 6. In the Target File Location window, click Browse to select a destination datastore at the recovery site. A pop-up window for the Target VM Location will open. Expand the available datastores at the recovery site and select a nonreplicated destination for the VM. This is the datastore to which the VM will be replicated. Figure 97.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 98. A Selected Datastore Has Been Chosen for the VM 7. Click Next. Note in the Hard Disk Options there is the option to enable or disable replication. With this mechanism, you may configure replication for a virtual machine but choose not to turn it on until, for example, a change window allows it. If the Target Disk File Location and Target Disk Type selections are correct, click Next.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 99. Hard Disk Configuration for a VMDK in a VM 8. Select the VR Server deployed and registered earlier as the target for VR copies.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 100. Selecting the VR Server 9. Review the options selected, ensuring that both the target destination and the target VR Server are at the recovery site (Site B). Click Finish to configure replication for this VM.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 101. Final Review of VM Replication Replication will now be configured for the VM and if it is successful the Configuring Replication pop-up screen will indicate success.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 102. Successful Configuration of vSphere Replication for a VM 10. To ensure that replication has begun for the selected VM, return to the vSphere Client home page and click the Site Recovery icon. Choose the vSphere Replication navigation line on the left panel, expand the folder for Site B and click the registered VRS.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 103. Replication Status for VR-Protected VMs It is recommended that you do not continue to the next exercise until replication of the protected VM is complete. This may take minutes, or hours, depending on the size of the VM and the network speed between sites.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide 4. Select Site A for the Protected Site. 5. Select vSphere Replication for the Protection Group Type. Figure 105. Creating a vSphere Replication Protection Group 6. Under Replicated Virtual Machines, choose one or more VMs that were chosen for vSphere Replication in the previous exercise. If no VMs are visible, then vSphere Replication was not configured correctly.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 106. Selecting VR-Protected VMs for a Protection Group 7. Provide a meaningful name and description for the collection of VMs selected for this protection group.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 107. Naming the Protection Group 8. Review the options and click Finish to complete the creation of the vSphere Replication protection group. This will return you to the Protection Groups menu in the SRM plug-in of the vSphere Client. You should see a new protection group populated in the left pane. Select this protection group and click the Virtual Machines tab in the main screen to see more detail about the VMs in this protection group.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 108. VR-Protected Systems in the Newly Created Protection Group Step 10: Creating a recovery plan for VR-based protection groups After creating the protection group, you can now create a VR-specific recovery plan. Although you are able to add vSphere Replication–based protection groups to existing recovery plans, or to add these PGs to recovery plans that also use array-based protection groups, this is not recommended.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 109. Create a New Recovery Plan, Selecting the Protection Group Created in This Exercise This concludes the deployment and configuration of vSphere Replication.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide SRM supports the configuration of event-triggered alarms so that you can associate a notification action with any given SRM alarm event. These alarms are configured via the SRM UI. SRM supports the following alarm notification actions: • Send a notification email to a specific email address. • Send a notification trap to vCenter trap receivers. • Run a script on the vCenter server.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Configure Site Recovery Manager Alarms SRM Alarms Configure action for an SRM alarm Configure action for Remote Site Down alarm 1. Configure alarm action to send out notification email. 10 minutes Step 1: Configure alarm action to send out notification email Procedure 1. Open the vSphere Client and connect to the vCenter server at the recovery site. Log in as a vSphere administrator. 2.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 111. Edit Settings for “Remote Site Down” Alarm 5. In the Edit Settings dialog box, click the Actions tab. In the Actions window, click Add to add an action.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 112. Add Action for “Remote Site Down” Alarm Use the default action Send a notification email and type an email address in the Value column. (To change this action, click it and select a different action from the drop-down box.) NOTE: In order for SRM alarm actions to send an SNMP trap or to send an email, the vCenter server must be configured correctly.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 113. Select Action for “Remote Site Down” Alarm Exercise 4. Running a Recovery Plan SRM enables you to Run a recovery plan that will result in the actual failover of virtual machines from the protected site. Similar to test recovery, failover operations are triggered via a button in the SRM UI on the recovery site. The failover process via SRM is rapid, repeatable, reliable, manageable, and auditable.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 114. Trigger Failover This example will show you how to work through an actual failover leveraging the SRM Run a recovery plan option. Step 1: Execute failover In Figure 114, the Site Recovery Manager UI lists the recovery plan Infrastructure Recovery that was created in Section 1. 1. After selecting Recovery Steps in the View drop-down box (instead of Test Steps or other options), there are two ways to initiate the actual failover.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 115. Options for Running a Recovery Plan While the failover is being executed, the status of each step that makes up the recovery plan can be monitored by going to the Recovery Steps tab of the SRM UI on the recovery site. The UI informs you which steps are currently Running as well as which steps were completed. There are some steps in a recovery plan that will only be executed during a simulated test.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide While a recovery is running, you can track the status from multiple locations. Figure 116 shows the detailed Recovery Steps interface. From the Summary screen you can also see the current status of a recovery plan, as well as historical information. Figure 117.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 119. History Report for Recovery Plan The steps to failback services from the recovery site back to the protected site once the disaster event is over are outlined in the next exercise. The following is a recap of the high-level tasks executed by SRM when performing a failover of virtual machines from the protected site to the recovery site via the Run a recovery plan option. SRM automates many of the tasks required at the time of failover.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Step 1: Reprotect the environment To automatically reprotect an environment, as follows, you must be looking at the context of a completed recovery plan: 1. Open the vSphere Client and connect to the vCenter server at the protected site. 2. Log in as a vSphere administrator. 3. Click the Site Recovery icon on the vSphere Client Home page under Solutions and Applications. 4.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 121. Reprotect in Progress The reprotect action will use the SRAs to communicate with the arrays that are associated with the protection groups used by the recovery plan to first ensure that replication can be established in the “reverse” direction – from Site B to Site A. Once this is established, it will direct the array to replicate the protection group, and ensure that protection for all VMs in the recovery plan can be configured.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide 3. Virtual machines in the recovery plan are now powered on and running successfully at Site B. 4. Reprotect has been run and the environment is now protected once more back to Site A, and the direction of replication reversed successfully. 5. A test of the recovery plan that was used to failover is run. 6. The recovery plan is executed as a full Recovery. It is as simple to execute a failback as it is to run the initial recovery.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide When executing the failback of the recovery plan, it will only have the virtual machines and other information that were in the recovery plan for initial failover. If VMs have been added to the recovery site after failover, but before failback, they will not be automatically represented in the failback. If the environment has changed dramatically during the failed-over state, ensure that recovery plans are updated to reflect the new environment.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Figure 124. Device-Specific Replication Information NOTE: Following a successful failback, you should remember to run reprotect once again to reverse the replication of the now failed-back environment. This will ensure that the environment is once more protected and ready for a failover. Consider a failover and failback a four-step process – failover, reprotect, failback, reprotect. Figure 125.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Evaluation Guide Summary VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM) leverages your vCenter and vSphere platform to improve disaster recovery in the following ways: • Rapid —automating the disaster recovery process for your virtual machines by eliminating the complexities of traditional physical disaster recovery.
