6.1

Content for today..• Architecture • Topologies• Installation • Planned Migration, Disaster Recovery, Failback,

Reprotect• Types of replication • Compatibility matrix• New features• Licensing

vCenter ServerSite

Recovery Manager

vSphere

vCenter ServerSite

Recovery Manager

vSpherevSphere

Replication

Storage-based replication

Site A (Primary) Site B (Recovery)

Architecture

Architecture

Topologies

In the traditional active-passive scenario there is a production site running applications and services and a secondary or recovery site that is idle until needed for recovery

Topologies

Site Recovery Manager can be used in a configuration where low-priority workloads such as test and development run at the recovery site and are powered off as part of the recovery plan. This allows for the utilization of recovery site resources as well as sufficient capacity for critical systems in case of a disaster

Topologies

In situations where production applications are operating at both sites Site Recovery Manager supports protecting virtual machines in both directions (eg. virtual machines at Site A protected at site B and virtual machines at site B protected at site A).

Topologies - MultisiteShared Recovery: where multiple remote sites are protected by a single recovery site

Topologies - MultisiteShared Protection: where a single site fails over some applications/virtual machines to one remote site and others to one or more additional remote sites.

Installation Steps – in brief• Install SRM on both sites - The same version of Platform Services

Controller, vCenter Server and Site Recovery Manager is needed on both sites(Protected and Recovery site)• SRM can use its embedded Database or separate DB, but not the

vCenter DB • Pair the sites – The Protected + Recovery sites • Install the SRAs – Storage Replication Adaptors • Add Array Managers and Pair the Storage devices (discover

replicated devices, compute datastore groups, and initiate storage operations)

Installation Steps – in brief• Configure SRM mappings

• Resource mappings – Clusters, Resource pools, hosts • Folder mapping • Network mapping

• Add Placeholder data stores - A placeholder virtual machine is nothing but a subset of virtual machine files that is created ,when a virtual machine is added to a recovery plan• Add SRM Protection groups – Grouping VMs that will be recovered

together • Creating SRM Recovery Plans, running a test Recovery, Cleaning

up

Installation StepsTesting

When testing a recovery plan, there is an option to replicate recent changes, which is enabled by default. Replicating recent changes will provide the latest data for the testing process. However, it will also lengthen the amount of time required to recover virtual machines in the recovery plan, as replication has to finish before the virtual machines are recovered.

Installation Steps• All of the before mentioned is possible if the storage replication is

configured• If you are using the vSphere replication appliance, install the same

appliance version onto both sites and configure VM copy• Configure Priority groups, Dependencies, Shutdown and Startup

Actions • Configure Pre and Post Power On Steps - A common use case is

calling a script to perform actions such as making changes to DNS and modifying application settings on a physical server. Running a script inside of a virtual machine is also supported as a post power on step. Site Recovery Manager can also display a visual prompt as a pre or post power on step

Installation Steps• IP customization – SRM can automatically change the network

configuration (IP address, default gateway, etc.). This functionality is available in both failover and fail-back operations• Example – customization per VM • Example – customization per range

References for SRM 6.1 installation• http://www.vmwarearena.com/vmware-site-recovery-ma

nager-srm-6-0-part-1-overview-and-achitecture/ • The above link is for 6.0 but the procedure is somewhat the

same

Planned migration and Disaster Recovery

Planned migration and Disaster Recovery• In both cases, Site Recovery Manager will attempt to replicate recent changes from

the protected site to the recovery site. It is assumed that for a planned migration, no loss of data, is the priority

• A planned migration will be cancelled if errors in the workflow are encountered. For disaster recovery, the priority is recovering workloads as quickly as possible after disaster strikes. A disaster recovery workflow will continue even if errors occur

• The first step in running a recovery plan is the attempt to synchronize storage. Then, protected virtual machines at the protected site are shut down. This effectively quiesces the virtual machines and commits any final changes to disk as the virtual machines complete the shutdown process. Storage is synchronized again to replicate any changes made during the shutdown of the virtual machines. Replication is performed twice to minimize downtime and data loss.

Planned migration and Disaster Recovery• If the protected site is offline due to a disaster, for example, the

disaster recovery type should be selected. Site Recovery Manager will still attempt to synchronize storage as described in the previous paragraph. • Since the protected site is offline, Site Recovery Manager will

begin recovering virtual machines at the recovery site using the most recently replicated data.

Re-protect and Failback• Site Recovery Manager features the ability to not only

fail over virtual machine workloads, but also fail them back to their original site. However, this assumes that the original protected site is still intact and operational. An example of this is a disaster avoidance situation.

History Reports• When workflows such as a recovery plan test and

cleanup are performed in Site Recovery Manager, history reports are automatically generated. These reports document items such as the workflow name, execution times, successful operations, failures, and error messages.• Reports can be exported to HTML, XML, CSV, or a

Microsoft Excel or Word document.

Notes• Site Recovery Manager supports protection for up to

5,000 virtual machines and is able to simultaneously run up to 10 recovery plans containing up to 2,000 virtual machines. Up to 500 virtual machines can be included in a single protection group and Site Recovery Manager provides support for up to 250 protection groups.

Types of replication

  Array-Based Replication vSphere Replication

Type Replication using the storage layer Replication using the host/vSphere layer

RPO min/max 0 up to max supported by vendor 15 mins to 24 hours

ScaleScales up to 5,000 VMs protected/2,000

simultaneously recoverable per vCenter/SRM pair

Scales up to 2,000 VMs (protected & recoverable) per vCenter/SRM pair

Write order fidelity

Supports write order fidelity within and across multiple VMs in the same consistency

group

Supports write order fidelity on the disks/VMDKs that make up a VM,

consistency cannot be guaranteed across multiple VMs

Replication level Replicates at the LUN/VMFS or NFS volume level Replicates at the VM level

Replication configuration

Replication is configured and managed on the storage array

Replication is configured and managed in the vSphere Web Client

Array/ vendor types

Requires same storage replication solution at both sites (eg. EMC RecoverPoint, NetApp

vFiler, IBM SVC, etc)

Can support any storage solution at either end including local storage as long as it is

covered by the vSphere HCL

  Array-Based Replication vSphere Replication

Storage supported

Replication supported on FC, iSCSI or NFS storage only

Supports replicating VMs on local, attached, VSAN, FC, iSCSI or NFS storage

Cost Replication and snapshot licensing is required

vSphere Replication is included in vSphere Essentials Plus 5.1 and higher

DeploymentDeployment is fairly involved and must

include storage administration and possibly networking

Deployment requirements are minimal. OVF at each site and start configuring

replicationsApplication consistency

Depending on the array, application consistency may be supported with the

addition of agents to the VMSupports VSS & Linux file system

application consistency

FT VMsCan replicate UP FT protected VMs (once recovered VM is no longer FT enabled).

Does not support SMP FT VMs.Cannot replicate FT protected VMs

Powered off VMs/Templates/

Linked clones/ISO’s

Able to replicate powered off VMs, Templates, Linked Clones (as long as all

nodes in the snapshot tree are replicated as well) and ISOs

Can only replicate powered on VMs. Cannot replicate powered off VMs,

Templates, Linked Clones, ISOs or any non-VM files

vApp support Replicating vApps is supported

Replicating vApps is not possible. However, it is possible to replicate VMs that are part of a vApp and to create a vApp at the recovery site that they are

recovered intovSphere versions

supportedHosts running vSphere 3.5-6.0 are

supportedHosts must be running vSphere 5.0 or

higher

MPITMultiple point in time snapshots or rollback

is supported by some supported array vendors (eg. EMC RecoverPoint)

Supports up to 24 recovery points

Snapshots Supports replicating VMs with snapshots and maintaining the snapshot tree

Supports replicating VMs with snapshots however the tree is collapsed at the

target siteResponse to Host

failure Replication is not impacted Host Failure, and the VM restarting on another host triggers a full sync.

  Array-Based Replication vSphere Replication

Compatibility Matrix

Compatibility Matrix

vSphere Edition Site Recovery Manager 5.8.0 and 5.8.1vSphere Standard YES

vSphere Advanced No

vSphere Enterprise YES

vSphere Enterprise Plus YES

Infrastructure Enterprise No

Infrastructure Foundation No

Infrastructure Standard No

vSphere Essentials No

vSphere Essentials Plus YES

vSphere EditionsSite Recovery Manager 5.8.x supports the following editions of vSphere.

Compatibility Matrix

vSphere Edition Site Recovery Manager 6.0

vSphere Standard YES

vSphere Advanced No

vSphere Enterprise YES

vSphere Enterprise Plus YES

Infrastructure Enterprise No

Infrastructure Foundation No

Infrastructure Standard No

vSphere Essentials No

vSphere Essentials Plus YES

vSphere EditionsSite Recovery Manager 6.0 supports the following editions of vSphere.

Compatibility Matrix

Compatibility Matrix

vSphere Edition Site Recovery Manager 6.1

vSphere Standard YES

vSphere Advanced No

vSphere Enterprise YES

vSphere Enterprise Plus YES

Infrastructure Enterprise No

Infrastructure Foundation No

Infrastructure Standard No

vSphere Essentials No

vSphere Essentials Plus YES

vSphere EditionsSite Recovery Manager 6.1 supports the following editions of vSphere.

Licensing VMware SRM• Licensing is based on criteria : PER Virtual Machine• Licensed in packs of 25 VMs • If you have vCloud Enterprise, then licensing is based on

criteria : PER-CPU • The same key can be applied for both the Protected and

Recovery Sites • Concepts: Unidirectional & Bidirectional, Failback

Protected Site Recovery Site

Licensing VMware SRM

Site Recovery Manager 6.1Standard Enterprise*Licensing

Max. protected virtual machines 75 VMs per site No licensing limit

Centralized recovery plans • •Non-disruptive testing • •Automated orchestration workflows • •Array-based replication support • •vSphere Replication support • •Stretched storage support •Orchestrated cross-vCenter vMotion •VMware NSX integration •Storage-profile protection groups •

When licensed through vCloud Suite Enterprise, Site Recovery Manager Enterprise is licensed “per protected CPU.”

New Features - Storage Profile Based Protection• SRM 6.1 incorporates a new type of group policy-based

protection. These groups use Storage Profiles provided by vSphere to identify and protect the datastores and virtual machines.

• Protection groups based storage policies uses vSphere tags (ability to attach metadata inventory of vSphere) with policies, allowing the vSphere administrator automate the provisioning of VMs that match the requirements of performance, availability and protection.

New Features - Storage Profile Based Protection• Create a tag and associate with datastores in each protection group• An associate for each protection group policy is created using this

tag• Finally, the protection group is created and associated with the

storage policy created in the previous step• Thus, when a virtual machine is associated with this policy it will

automatically be protected by SRM

New Features - Storage Profile Based Protection

New Features - Extended Storage and vMotion orchestration• Site Recovery Manager 6.1 with its base function of complete DR, is now a complete

solution optimized for both the multi-storage as well as to migrate from one site to another. SRM 6.1 supports vMotion between remote vCenters with stretched storage, with the benefits this brings.

• This integration allows you to integrate SRM with stretched storage, which could previously only be achieved using vSphere Metro Storage Clusters. The advantages of this new system are:

• Maintenance downtime is eliminated. Recovery plans and orchestration between sites allow vMotion migration of workloads completely transparent to the end user and applications

• Disaster downtime is eliminated. Hot migration of using vMotion between remote sites allows  Site Recovery Manager 6.1 eliminate downtime associated with recovery

• Having stretched storage added to the deployment of Site Recovery Manager exponentially reduces recovery time in the event of disasters, as workloads are migrated hot, uninterrupted by presenting the same storage architecture at both sites by using synchronous replication, allowing registered and lighted move VMs transparently

Extended Storage and vMotion orchestration

Improved integration with VMware NSXAs in every event of disaster recovery the specifics of the network, such as maintaining consistency in IP addresses, firewalls and routing rules previously set, opening ports and other vital aspects should be fine tuned. To this we must add that the use of vMotion between vCenters remote requires a Layer 2 network complexity increases significantly.

Now with the availability of NSX 6.2, many new features were added, SRM is benefited greatly. Now you can use both products together quickly to maintain perfect consistency and efficient networking between sites and perform the migration automatically without worrying about specific aspects of the network. In NSX 6.2 you can create Universal Logical Switches. Such switches can create Layer 2 networks that exceed the limits of vCenter, which means that when these switches are used with NSX will create a protected port groups connected to the same Layer 2 network.

Improved integration with VMware NSX

• When virtual machines are connected to these port groups of a Universal Logical Switch, SRM 6.1 will automatically recognize this and no manual network mapping is required. SRM intelligently recognizes that it is the same logical network connecting both sites maintain cohesion by creating a single protected network.

• The implicit network resources mapping, extended capabilities of layer 2 and the testing capacity provided by NSX in conjunction with Site Recovery Manager, added to protection groups based policies radically simplify the administration and operation.

Improved integration with VMware NSX

Recommendations• Go for fewer, larger datastores. (large NFS datastores can take a

long time to mount >10 seconds) • Fewer Protection Groups & Recovery Plans • Specify a non-replicated datastore for swap files. This avoids

wasting network bandwidth during replication• Install VMware tools in all virtual machines • Make sure the Recovery Site’s vSphere resources are adequate • Make sure you have the Main site neatly organized – this helps

when creating mappings.

Recommendations• When you do install SRAs, make sure to have .net frame 3.5

enabled – else this causes issues with the SRA not being detected by SRM • If you are trying out SRM in a LAB environment with NetApp

OnTap Simulator – make sure to run # vmkload_mod multiextent on the ESXi hosting the NetApp

Usual Questions / Comments• Does SRM check consistency of the datastore at the

recovery site? • Is SRM application aware?• Explain licensing in detail • Explain the difference between vSphere Replication and

Storage Replication• Does SRM work with RDMs? – NO (

http://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/srm/61/srm-releasenotes-6-1-0.html)

• Please provide a POC

To-Do• Update presentation with full fledged installation (how-to)

document

Thank you