VMware vCenter vCenter Site Recovery Manager 1.0 Quick Start

Technical Note

Getting Started with Site Recovery Manager

Site Recovery Manager 1.0 and Later

Thisdocumentprovidesahigh‐leveloverviewofVMware

SiteRecoveryManager(SRM),adisasterrecovery

solutionfromVMware.Ifadisasteroccurs,SRMhelpsyouquicklyrestoreyourorganization’s

ITinfrastructure,dramaticallyshorteningthelengthoftimethatyouexperienceabusinessoutage.

SRMisbasedonyourexistingITsetupusingvirtualmachinesthatVMwareVirtualCentermanages.TheSRM

architecturetieswo

rkflowautomationtothird‐partystoragereplication.

Planning for Disaster Recovery

Considerthefollowingitemsasyousetupadisasterrecoveryprogram:

 Whatisthemaximumdowntimeyoucanaccept?WhatisyourRecoveryTimeObjective(RTO)?

 Howmuchdatalosscanyouaccept?WhatisyourRecoveryPlanObjective(RPO)?

 Whatkindofrecoveryplandoyouneedforapartialdisaster(suchasastoragearrayfailure)compared

toacompletedisaster(suchasanentirefacilitybeingunavailablebecauseoffiredamage)?

 Howdoyouclassifyyourcomputingresourcesforrestorationafteradisaster?Aretheycritical,urgent,

important,normal,ornonessential?

VMwareprofessionalscanassistyouwithperformingariskassessmentanddevelopingaplantohelpensure

recovery.Arecoveryplanisbuiltbymappingbusinessapplicationserviceswithusersaswellassys

tems

(physicalserversandvirtualmachines).

About Protected and Recovery Sites

SRMusestwosites,aprotectedsiteandarecoverysite.TheVirtualCenterServer2.5andtheVIClient2.5must

beinstalledatbothsites,aswellasanSQLServerorOracleDatabaseserver.(SeeSiteRecoveryManager

CompatibilityMatrixesdocumentationforalistofsupportedserversanddatabases.)

Eachsi

tehasaninventoryofvirtualmachinesthatresideonarray‐basedreplicatedLUNs(logicalunit

numbers),whicharediskvolumesinastoragearraythatareidentifiednumerically.BeforeinstallingSRM,

installtheStorageReplicationAdapter(SRA)foryourstorageandstoragereplicationenvironment.AnSRA

issoftwarethatensuresinte

grationofyourstoragedevicewithSRM.BecauseSRMinteractswitharraysfrom

avarietyofstoragevendors,consultthedocumentationthatyourstoragevendorprovidesforarray‐specific

informationusedduringSRMinstallationandconfiguration.TheSRAsthathavebeencreatedbystorage

vendorsforSiteRecoveryManagercanbedo

wnloadedfromthevmware.com.(SeeSiteRecoveryManager

CompatibilityMatrixesforalistofsupportedSRAs).

OptimallySRMisinstalledbidirectionally,sothateachsiteservesasarecoverysitefortheother.Thetwosites

shouldbeatasignificantgeographicdistancefromeachother.Theprotectedandrecov

erysitesmustbeina

networkedconfigurationthatallowsTCPconnectivity.

Getting Started with Site Recovery Manager

About SRM Architecture

EachsiteconsistsofaVirtualCenterServer,whichisaWindowsmachinethatrunstheVirtualCenterservice.

InstalledwitheachVirtualCenterServeristheSRMServer.TheSRMServerhostsSiteRecoveryManagerand

arraymanagementtechnology.ItalsoservestheSRMplug‐intotheVIClient.Managementisdone

fromthe

VirtualCenterclientontheprotectedsite.

SRMusesblock‐basedreplicationwithSRAsinstalledontheSRMServer.Thisintegrationofhardwareand

softwaresupportsthemostdemandingapplicationbusinesscontinuanceneeds,inthiscase,afailover

followingadisaster.AnexampleofSRMarchitectureisillustratedinFigure 1

Figure 1. SRM Architecture

Preparing to Use SRM

AnenvironmentthatisreadyforSRMincludesthefollowing.

 Theprotectedandrecoverysitesareidentified.

 ProtectedvirtualmachinesresidinginhostsorclustersaremanagedbyVirtualCenterServer2.5,andare

residingonasupportedESXServer.

Forinformationaboutthemostrecentupdatesandpatchlevels,consulttheSiteRecoveryManager

CompatibilityMatrixesdocumentation.

 AMicrosfotSQLServerEnterprise2005orOracleDatabase10gserverisreadyforuseontheprotected

andrecoverysites.

 Array‐basedreplication(iSCSIorFibreChannelstoragearray)isinstalledandconfiguredattheprotected

andrecoverysites.Ifothervendor‐providedcomponentsarerequired,thecomponentsareinstalled.

 TheSRMservermusthaveaccesstoaVirtualCenterserverthatmanagesESXhoststhathaveaccessto

volumesmanagedbythereplicatedarrays.

 Administratorrolesandpermissionsareidentifiedfortheadministratorswhowillinstall,configure,

setup,test,andmanageSRM.

primary site secondary site

replication

adapter

SAN

VMFSVMFS

UI plugin

TCP

ODBC ODBC

Site

Recovery

Manager

replication

adapter

Site

Recovery

Manager

VMFS

VirtualCenter

Server

VirtualCenter

Server

SAN

VMFS

ESX

Server

License

Server

License

Server

Oracle

or SQL

VCMS

Oracle

or SQL

VCMS

VI Client

ESX

Server

ESX

Server

ESX

Server

ESX

Server

Getting Started with Site Recovery Manager

Setting Up SRM

ThefollowingtabledescribesprocessofsettingupSRM.Thesestepsassumethatyoualreadyhaveaworking

VirtualInfrastructurewithVirtualCenterclientsinstalledaswellastheSRAsinstalledandconfigured.For

moreinformation,seetheAdministrationGuideforSiteRecoveryManager1.0.



Working with the SRM User Interface

AfterSRMisinstalledandtheSRMplug‐inisenabledintheVirtualCenterinterface,clicktheSite Recovery

iconontheVIClientnavigationbartodirecttheVIClienttotheSRMServer.Theviewontheuserinterface

changesaccordingly.TheInventoryPaneldisplaystheoptionsrelevanttosite

recovery,specificallyprotection

groupsandrecoveryplans.YoucanactontheseobjectsusingtabsandlinksintheInformationpanel.For

details,seetheSRMadministrator’sguideandonlinehelp.

Finding More Information

 SiteRecoveryManager1.0ReleaseNote–Provideslate‐breakingnewsandadescriptionofknownissues.

http://www.vmware.com/support/srm/srm_10_releasenotes.html

 AdministrationGuideforSiteRecoveryManager1.0–Providesaconceptualoverviewaswellasreference

informationaboutSRMprerequisites,systemrequirements,installationandlicensing,configuringvirtual

machines,protectedandrecoverysites,recoveryplans,testingandrunningfailover,failbackscenarios,

addingusers,proceduralchecklists,andterminology.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/srm_10_admin.pdf

 SiteRecoveryManagerCompatibilityMatrixes–Listsserver,client,database,andguestoperatingsystem

versioncompatibilitiesforSiteRecoveryManager.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/srm_10_compat_matrix.pdf

Task Description

Preparethesite See“PreparingtoUseSRM.”

Install 1 InstallSRMontheprotectedandrecoverysite.

2ConnecttotheVirtualCenterServerwiththeclientstomanageSRM.

3DownloadSRMandenabletheplug‐infromVirtualCenter.

4Connecttheprotectedandrecoverysites.

Configurearraymanagersin

SRM

1Configuretheprotectedsitearraymanagers.

2Configurethe

recoverysitearraymanagers.

3ConfirmthattheVMFSdatastoreisdetected(LUNreplicationshouldbesetup

beforeinstallingSRM).

Defineinventorymappings Configurethemappingbetweenresourcesontheprotectedandrecoverysite,

specificallynetworks,folders,andresourcepools.Thisenablesprotectedmachinesto

recoverquicklyontherecoverysiteafter

adisasteroccurs.

Createprotectiongroups Setupprotectiongroupsontheprotectedsite.Todothis:

1 SelectaLUNgroupontheprotectedsite.

2 Selectaplaceholdervolumeontherecoverysitetostoreplaceholder(shadow)

virtualmachineconfigurationfiles.

3 Applyinventorymappingsfortheprotectiongroupontherecoverysite.

Create

recoveryplans Ontherecoverysite,createrecoveryplanstoaddressthedisasterscenariosyou

identified.Youcancustomizetheplanwithcommandstepsifneeded.Testtheplanto

besureyouarereadyforadisaster.

Configureandeditvirtual

machineproperties

Setoreditpropertiesforindividualvirtualmachines,such

asnetworkIPaddressorto

addrecoverymessagesandcommandspertainingtothismachine.

Configuresecurityandalerts Configuresecurityandmonitoringoptions.

MaintainSRM Periodicallyreviewyourrecoveryplansandmakesureyouupdatetheplansas

businessconditionsoryourITenvironmentchange.

Getting Started with Site Recovery Manager

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to: [email protected]

VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com

6,789,156, 6,795,966, 6,880,022, 6,944,699, 6,961,806, 6,961,941, 7,069,413, 7,082,598, 7,089,377, 7,111,086, 7,111,145, 7,117,481, 7,149, 843, 7,155,558, 7,222,221, 7,260,815,

7,260,820, 7,269,683, 7,275,136, 7,277,998, 7,277,999, 7,278,030, 7,281,102, 7,290,253, 7,356,679, 7,409,487, 7,412,492, 7,412,702, 7,424,710, 7,428,636, 7,433,951, and 7,434,002;

patents pending. VMware, the VMware “boxes” logo and design, Virtual SMP, and VMotion are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or

other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

Revision 20081016 Item: EN-000010-01

 SiteRecoveryManagerAPIGuide–Describeshowthird‐partyclientscanuseWebservicestointeractwith

SiteRecoveryManager.

http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/srm‐api/srm_10_api.pdf

 SiteRecoveryManagerEvaluatorGuide–Providesaconceptualoverviewaswellasstep‐by‐stepworkflows

describingplanningforusingSRM,settingupprotectedandrecoverysites,testingfailover,thefailover

andfailbackprocess,alarmsandstatusmonitoring,andadiscussionofrolesandprivileges.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/srm_10_eval_guide.pdf

VMware vCenter vCenter Site Recovery Manager 1.0 Quick Start

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