Table of Contents HOL SDC

Transcription

1 Table of Contents Lab Overview - - Site Recovery Manager: Data Center Migration and Disaster Recovery... 3 Overview of Site Recovery Manager... 4 Lab Overview... 5 Lab Guidance... 7 Module 1 - Lightning Lab: Failing over a site with Site Recovery Manager (15 minutes, Beginner) Module Overview Lesson 1: Fail-over a virtual machine Lesson 2: Re-protect and fail back Conclusion Module 2 - Executing a Disaster Recovery Plan using Site Recovery Manager (60 minutes, Beginner) Module Overview Lesson 1: Protect Virtual Machines using Site Recovery Manger Lesson 2: Create a Virtual Machine Recovery Plan Lesson 3: Test The Recovery Plan Lesson 4: Create Site Wide Recovery Plan Lesson 5: Review Audit Reporting in Site Recovery Manager Lesson 6: Leverage Log Insight to provide real-time SRM monitoring Conclusion Module 3 - Site Recovery Manager Advanced Topics (30 minutes, Advanced) Module Overview Lesson 1: Virtual Machine Recovery Properties Overview Lesson 2: Customizing the Virtual Machine IP Address During Failover Lesson 3: Virtual Machine Start-up Options Lesson 4: vsphere Replication, Advanced Options Conclusion Module 4 - Automating Site Recovery Manager tasks with vrealize Orchestrator (30 minutes, Advanced) Module Overview Lesson 1: vsphere Replication using vrealize Orchestrator Lesson 2: Add a Virtual Machine to a Protection Group Using vrealize Orchestrator Lesson 3: Protect a Virtual Machine Using vrealize Orchestrator Lesson 4: Add a Virtual Machine to an Existing Recovery Plan Lesson 5: Test the Recovery Plan Using vrealize Orcestrator Conclusion Module 5 - SRM integration with NSX and Storage Policy Based Protection Groups and Stretched Storage (30 minutes, Advanced) Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation: Introduction to Site Recovery Manager New Features Page 1

2 Conclusion Page 2

3 Lab Overview - - Site Recovery Manager: Data Center Migration and Disaster Recovery Page 3

4 Overview of Site Recovery Manager VMware Site Recovery Manager is an automation software solution that integrates with the underlying replication technology to provide policy-based management, nondisruptive testing, and automated orchestration of recovery plans. Site Recovery Manager delivers flexibility and choice, it integrates natively with VMware vsphere Replication and also supports a broad range of array-based replication solutions available from all major VMware storage partners. Site Recovery Manager natively leverages the benefits of VMware vsphere and can also take advantage of the Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) architecture, integrating with other VMware solutions, such as VMware NSX (network virtualization) and VMware Virtual SAN (hyper-converged software-defined storage). Provision and manage storage and replication policies at the virtual machine level. Setup centralized recovery plans in minutes. Enable individual tenants to provision disaster protection through pre-defined policies. Perform fully automated orchestration of site failover and planned migrations and failback with a single click. Perform automated testing of recovery plans in an isolated network to avoid impacting production applications. Test recovery plans as frequently as needed without disruption to ensure predictability of recovery time objectives (RTO) and to simplify regulatory compliance. Site Recovery Manager can dramatically lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) through management and testing automation that eliminates the complexity of manual processes, while enabling the use of technology that lower capital expense for recovery infrastructure. See more at Page 4

5 Lab Overview This lab will consist of five modules addressing topics related specifically to the implementation of disaster recovery and business continuity solutions in a vsphere environment. Use the "Modules" list to determine which use case you want to complete. You may choose to complete any or all modules, keeping in mind you have 90 minutes available per session. It is recommended to start at Module 1 and work your way through to Module 5. Lab Module List: Module 1 - Lightning Lab: Failing over a Virtual Machine with Site Recovery Manager (15 minutes, Beginner). Module 2 - Executing a Disaster Recovery plan using Site Recovery Manager (60 minutes, Beginner). Module 3 - Site Recovery Manager Advanced Topics (30 minutes, Advanced). Module 4 - Automating Site Recovery Manager tasks with vrealize Orchestrator (30 minutes, Advanced). Module 5 - SRM integration with NSX and Storage Policy Based Protection Groups and Stretched Storage (30 minutes, Advanced) Module 1: Lightning Lab: Failing over a Virtual Machine with Site Recovery Manager This module will perform a recovery of a single virtual machine using Site Recovery Manager. The student will use Site Recovery Manager to execute a disaster recovery plan for a single Corp.local application. Reprotect the single Corp.local application once it has been recovered and then failback the application to the San Francisco data center. Module 2: Creating and Executing a Disaster Recovery Plan with Site Recovery Manager (60 minutes, Beginner) The student will create a Recovery Plan and then test and perform a recovery within Site Recovery Manager. Include multiple Protection Groups within a single Recovery Plan. Perform a test of the Recovery Plan. Review the reports available within Site Recovery Manager for auditing purposes. Leverage Log Insight to provide real-time SRM monitoring. Module 3: Site Recovery Manager Advanced Topics (30 minutes, Advanced) The student will utilize the Advanced options within Site Recovery Manager to customize their Disaster Recovery Plan. Page 5

6 Review the properties of Virtual Machines during a Recovery. Customize the IP Address of Virtual Machines during a Recovery. Modify the Start-Up options of Virtual Machines. Review the options available within vsphere Replication for individual Virtual Machine replication. Module 4 - Automating Site Recovery Manager tasks with vrealize Orchestrator (30 minutes, Advanced) Perform vsphere Replication using vreailze Orchestrator. Using vrealize Orchestrator the student will protect a virtual machine by adding it to a Protection Group and Recovery Plan and then performing test recovery. Module 5 - SRM integration with NSX and Storage Policy Based Protection Groups and Stretched Storage (30 minutes, Advanced) Lab Captains: Paul Irwin and Jeff Knous This lab manual can be downloaded from the Hands-on Labs Document site found here: This lab may be available in other languages. To set your language preference and have a localized manual deployed with your lab, you may utilize this document to help guide you through the process: Page 6

7 Lab Guidance The lab consists of two sites, Region A and Region B. Each Site consists of a single cluster. Each Cluster contains 2 ESXi Hosts. Region A is the Protected Site and Region B is the Recovery Site. Corp is a marketing company for some of the largest software companies in the world. Their primary site is located in San Francisco, CA (Region A) and they currently have a secondary site located in Reston, VA (Region B). The primary site is home to executive management, sales, accounting, human resources, information technology (IT) and most importantly, marketing. Due to their success they noticed that many of their new customers were located on the east coast and in order to service these new customers with the same level of service that they were able to deliver to their west coast customers, they needed to open an office on the east coast. They chose Reston, VA as the location of their secondary site. The Reston office will be a smaller version of the primary site located in San Francisco and will be the home to a small sales team, a few accounting team members and marketing. In order to ensure that the team located in Reston is able to access resources as quickly as they would as if they were in San Francisco the company decided to invest in IT infrastructure at the Reston office that will also include enough infrastructure to recover all primary applications in the event that a disaster were to strike at their primary site in San Francisco. Within this lab, we will assist the Corp IT team in setting up Site Recovery Manager in San Francisco (Region A) so that they can recover VMs in Reston (Region B). They need assistance with all aspects of Site Recovery Manager, both basic and advanced functionality. Activation Prompt or Watermark When you first start your lab, you may notice a watermark on the desktop indicating that Windows is not activated. One of the major benefits of virtualization is that virtual machines can be moved and run on any platform. The Hands-on Labs utilizes this benefit and we are able to run the labs out of multiple datacenters. However, these datacenters may not have identical processors, which triggers a Microsoft activation check through the Internet. Rest assured, VMware and the Hands-on Labs are in full compliance with Microsoft licensing requirements. The lab that you are using is a self-contained pod and does not Page 7

8 have full access to the Internet, which is required for Windows to verify the activation. Without full access to the Internet, this automated process fails and you see this watermark. This cosmetic issue has no effect on your lab. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to use the support made available to you either at VMworld in the Hands-on Labs area, in your Expert-led Workshop, or online via the survey comments as we are always looking for ways to improve your hands on lab experience. Lab Ready State Before beginning the lab, verify that the lab setup tasks have completed successfully. The Lab Status shown on the Control Center desktop should say Ready with date and time. If the Lab Status is indicating something other than Ready, please wait at least 5 minutes for the lab startup process to complete. Page 8

9 Copy and Paste During the lab, you may wish to copy and paste text to the console. 1. Click the SEND TEXT link in the top-left corner 2. Write the text you want to paste into the console in the popup window 3. Click SEND (be sure that you have selected the application - and the field inside the application - you want to paste into) 4. Check that the text has been sent to the application (final result is shown) Non-US Keyboard Page 9

10 If you have a Non-US keyboard, there is a chance that you will have difficulty finding certain keys. To work around this, you can use the onscreen keyboard by clicking on the quick-launch shortcut pinned to the taskbar of the Control Center - or by going to Start> Programs> Accessories> Ease of Access> On-Screen Keyboard Unpin Alarms and Work in Progress It is a recommendation to unpin the Alerts and Work in Progress windows on the right-hand side of the vsphere Web Client. This will allow you to work more easily within the lab providing you with more visibility to the objects that you will be working with within this lab. At any time during the lab, you can unpin Alerts and/or Work in Progress to view the contents of those windows. 1. To unpin Alerts and Work in Progress, select the Pin button. Page 10

11 After unpinning Alerts and Works in Progress, you can always view the contents of these windows by selecting them on the right-hand side of the vsphere Web Client window. Chrome Full Screen To use the full screen option in Chrome, select the Options button on the right-hand side of the Chrome window and select the square box located next to the Zoom option. Page 11

12 Module 1 - Lightning Lab: Failing over a site with Site Recovery Manager (15 minutes, Beginner) Page 12

13 Module Overview This module will allow you to experience some of the capabilities of Site Recovery Manager without any in-depth configuration requirements. The module has been designed to allow you to complete all required actions in 15 minutes or less. This Module contains the following lessons: Lesson 1: You will perform a planned migration of a virtual machine from the primary data center to the DR location. The virtual machine has already been replicated to the secondary site and is ready to be failed over. Lesson 2: Upon successful completion of the virtual machine failover, you will leverage the reprotect function of Site Recovery Manager to bring the virtual machine back from the secondary site with minimal administration effort. Total time required: 15 minutes. Page 13

14 Lesson 1: Fail-over a virtual machine During this section, you will perform a failover of an application that has already been protected with Site Recovery Manager and been replicated to the Region B data center using vsphere Replication. Getting Started Before you begin, please ensure that the Lab Status indicates Ready. If the status is anything other than Ready, you may need to wait a few minutes for the back ground services within the lab to complete their startup routine. If after 5 minutes the lab is still indicating a status other than Ready, please end the lab and re-deploy another instance. Launch the vsphere Web Client The initial startup of the lab will automatically launch separate Chrome browser windows for both vcsa-01a.corp.local and vcsa-01b.corp.local. The lab start up process will also log you in to the vsphere Web Client as administrator@corp.local. 1. Check the URL of the browser to verify that you are initially using vcsa-01a.corp.local for this lesson. Note: If the browser displays a white background refresh the browser. Page 14

15 vsphere Replication You need to verify that the replication of the intro-app-01 virtual machine has been configured and that we have successfully replicated the virtual machine to the data center in Region B. 1. From the Home Icon of the vsphere 6.5 web client 2. Select the vsphere Replication icon. Page 15

16 Verify replication connectivity status for each location 1. Select the Home tab at the top of the main vsphere Replication window pane. 2. Verify that vcenter server vcsa-01a.corp.local status indicates Enabled (OK) under the vsphere Replication column. Note: It could take up to 1 minute for the query to complete and the status information to be displayed. Now that you have verified that replication is enabled, you need to check that the virtual machine intro-app-01 has been successfully replicated to Region B. Page 16

17 Identify replicated virtual machines 1. To view all outbound replications from the Region A data center, highlight vcsa-01a.corp.local in the vcenter Column of the main section of the vsphere Replication page. 2. Select the Monitor button from the Home tab menu options. Page 17

18 Locate the specified replicated virtual machine 1. Select the Monitor tab. 2. Select the vsphere Replication button 3. Select the Outgoing Replications menu option in the left hand navigation pane of the main section of the page. 4. Highlight the intro-app-01 virtual machine by clicking to the right of the vm name under the Virtual Machine column. 5. Details regarding the replication status of the intro-app-01 virtual machine are displayed under the Replication Details tab. Examine these details and verify that the Status is displaying OK. Page 18

19 VM fail-over with Site Recovery Manager Now that you have verified that the intro-app-01 virtual machine has been replicated to the Region-B data center, you are ready to fail-over this application using Site Recovery Manager. 1. From the current page, select the Home icon at the top of the screen. 2. Select the Site Recovery menu option from the drop down menu. Page 19

20 Recovery Plan 1. On the Site Recovery Home page, select the Recovery Plans menu item under the Inventories section. Page 20

21 Recovery Plans Inventory List The Recovery Plans Inventory is listed in the left menu pane. These are all of the currently configured Recovery plans. 1. Select the Introduction to Site Recovery Manager Recovery Plan from the inventory. Authenticate to Site Recovery Manager 1. You will be prompted to enter the appropriate credentials to authenticate to Site Recovery Manager. Enter the following user account information. Page 21

22 Username: Password: VMware1! 2. Click the Log In button to proceed. Lightning Recovery Plan You are now going to start the recovery plan for the intro-app-01 virtual machine. In a later module, you will explore the various recovery and testing options in greater detail. With the Introduction to Site Recovery Manager plan highlighted in the inventory tree Select the Monitor tab. 2. Select the Recovery Steps option button. 3. Select the Run Recovery Plan Icon. This button launches the Recovery Confirmation Dialog box. Page 22

23 Recovery Options Selection 1. Place a check mark in the box. This check mark confirms that you understand that proceeding forward from this point will change both the infrastructure and virtual machines at both the protected and recovery sites. 2. Of the two Recovery Types available, select the Planned Migration option. 3. Click the Next button to continue. Page 23

24 Begin VM fail-over 1. Verify that your selections from the previous screen are correct, then click the Finish button to begin executing the recovery of the intro-app-01 virtual machine from the RegionA01 to the RegionB01 data center. Page 24

25 Monitor Recovery Progress You are now able to monitor the recovery of the intro-app-01 virtual machine as Site Recovery Manager sequences through each step of the recovery plan. The recovery process should take no longer than a few minutes. 1. Click the indicted arrows to expand the various steps to view additional information. Page 25

26 Recovery Complete 1. Once the recovery plan has completed, you will see that all the executed steps within the plan indicate a status of "Success" with the over-all plan status at the top of the main window pane displaying a Recovery complete message. The next step is to verify that the intro-app-01 virtual machine has indeed been powered down at the RegionA01 data center and is now running on the vsphere infrastructure located at the RegionB01 data center. Page 26

27 Browse virtual machine inventory From the current screen Select the home icon at the top of the Web client page. 2. From the drop down menu, select the VMs and Templates menu item. Page 27

28 Verify virtual machine status at the RegionA01 data center In the Inventory tree on the left side of the screen Ensure that the vcsa-01a.corp.local is highlighted at the top of the inventory tree. 2. Expand the Protected Applications folder under the RegionA01 data center and verify that the intro-app-01 virtual machine is powered off. 3. You will also notice on the right side of the screen, under the vsphere Replication tab that the intro-app-01 virtual machine indicates a status of recovered in the Outgoing Replications window. Page 28

29 Access Region-B vcenter - Verify Test Recovery 1. Select the other vsphere Web Client Chrome browser for vcsa-01b.corp.local from the task bar. 2. In the browser URL, verify that the vcsa-01b.corp.local is rendered for this part of the lesson. Page 29

30 Navigate to the VMs and Templates view 1. Select the Home icon from the current view of vcsa-01b.corp.local web client. 2. Select the VMs and Templates menu item from the navigation drop down. Page 30

31 Validate the running status of the Intro-App-01 virtual machine. 1. Expand the Recovered Applications folder under the RegionB01 data center. 2. Select the Summary tab. 3. Select intro-app-01 virtual machine and verify it's powered on. Page 31

32 Lesson 2: Re-protect and fail back. In this lesson you will configure re-protection of the application that was failed-over to the RegionB01 data center in the previous lesson. This lesson will conclude with you failing the intro-app-01 application back to its original location in the RegionA01 data center. Site Recovery Manager Now that you have verified that the intro-app-01 virtual machine has been successfully recovered to RegionB01, you are going to begin the process of preparing the virtual machine to be failed back to the RegionA01 data center using Site Recovery Manager. This process can be accomplished from either vcenter Server. However, because we are already viewing the Web client for the vcenter at RegionB01, we will perform all actions at this site. 1. From the current page, expand the navigation menu by clicking the Home icon at the top of the screen. Page 32

33 2. Select the Site Recovery menu option from the drop down menu. Recovery Plan 1. From the Site Recovery Manager home page, select the Recovery Plans menu option under the Inventories subsection in the left hand navigation menu. Page 33

34 Recovery Plan Inventory List 1. Select the Introduction to Site Recovery Manager Recovery Plan from the menu on the left side of the screen. Authenticate to Site Recovery Manager You will be prompted to authenticate to the Site Recovery Manager instance at the RegionA01 data center from the RegionB01 data center. Please enter the following credentials: Page 34

35 Username: Password: VMware1! Click the log In button to access the Site Recovery Manager UI. Recovery Plan view 1. With the Introduction to Site Recovery Manage recovery plan selected in the left side menu 2. Select the Monitor tab from the top of Recovery Plan UI. Page 35

36 Introduction to Site Recovery Manager Recovery Plan You are now going to reverse the direction of both the replication and protection for the intro-app-01 virtual machine by executing the native re-protect feature of Site Recovery Manager. 1. Ensure that the Introduction to Site Recovery Manage recovery plan menu item has been selected in the left menu. 2. Select the Monitor tab at the top of the main section of the page. 3. Select the Recovery Steps button below the Monitor tab. 4. Click on the Re-protect button (Shield with bolt icon) below the Description field on the main page. Page 36

37 Re-protect a Virtual Machine 1. Place a check mark into the confirmation dialog box. (The Force Cleanup option should be greyed out and not available as an option at this time.) 2. Select Nex to continue. Page 37

38 Re-protect Confirmation 1. Verify that the selections you made in the previous step are correct. Then select Finish to execute the re-protect workflow. Page 38

39 Monitor the status of the re-protect workflow 1. Monitor the progress of the re-protect workflow. This step could take a few minutes while the storage replication is reversed and synchronized in the opposite direction for the intro-app-01 virtual machine. You can monitor the status of the replication of the virtual machine by navigating to the vsphere Replication page of the vsphere Web Client. Page 39

40 vsphere Replication To monitor the replication status of the intro-app-01 virtual machine From the current page, expand the navigation menu by clicking the Home icon at the top of the screen. 2. Select the vsphere Replication menu option from the drop down menu. Page 40

41 Select Source vcenter Server From the Home tab on the vsphere Replication page Insure that the Home tab is selected. 2. Select vcsa-01b.corp.local as the source vcenter server. 3. Select the Manage tab from the top menu options. Page 41

42 Select Target vsphere Replication Server 1. Select the Target Sites menu option 2. Highlight the RegionA01 vsphere Replication appliance. The status of the appliance should be displaying a Not Authenticated message. 3. Select the Reconnect button to initiate a connection to the remote vsphere replication appliance in RegionA01. Page 42

43 Re-connect to the target vsphere Replication appliance 1. Select Yes when prompted to reconnect. Page 43

44 2. Enter the credentials for the remote vsphere Replication appliance. Username: Password: VMware1! 3. Select OK to initiate the reconnect. Verify connection status 1. If the connection to the vsphere replication server in site RegionA01 is successful, you will see the status change to Connected. 2. Select the Monitor tab at the top of the main UI to view the replication status of intro-app-01. Note: Due to the nested ESXi environment into which the lab is deployed, in a few rare instances, we have noticed that the replication servers fail to provide visual confirmation of connectivity to the vcenter servers. Thereby not allowing validation of replicated virtual machines. If you encounter this problem, it can safely be ignored within the lab. This step in the manual is for validation purposes only and will not affect the functionality of the lab itself. You may proceed with the next step in the manual. Page 44

45 Monitor vsphere Replication 1. With the Monitor tab highlighted, select the vsphere Replication button 2. Select the Outgoing Replications option from the center menu. 3. Highlight the intro-app-01 virtual machine in the main section of the UI. 4. On the Replication Details tab at the bottom of the main screen, monitor the progress of the replication of the intro-app-01 virtual machine. Upon completion of the replication of the intro-app-01 virtual machine, the Status indicator under the Replication Details tab should display OK. Page 45

46 Site Recovery Manager With the replication of the intro-app-01 virtual machine complete, you need to verify that the Site Recovery Manager re-protect workflow completed successfully. 1. From the current page, expand the navigation menu by clicking the Home icon at the top of the screen. 2. Select the Site Recovery menu option from the drop down menu. Page 46

47 Recovery Plans 1. From the Site Recovery Manager page, select the Recovery Plans option under the Inventories subsection in the left hand navigation menu. Recovery Plan Inventory List Page 47

48 1. Select the Introduction to Site Recovery Manage recovery plan from the menu on the left side of the screen. Recovery Plan Status Validation 1. The Introduction to Site Recovery Manage recovery plan should now display a status of Ready. This indicates that the previous workflow executed successfully and the recovery plan is ready to be executed to recover the virtual machine back to the RegionA01 data center, which is now the recovery site for the application. Page 48

49 Select RegionA01 vsphere Web Client You can now navigate to the VM's and Templates view in the vsphere Web Client to verify that the information being displayed in the UI accurately shows the protection status of the intro-app-01 virtual machine. 1. Select the other vsphere Web Client Chrome browser for (vcsa-01a.corp.local) from the task bar. Page 49

50 2. Verify that the URL for the RegionA01 vcenter (vcsa-01a.corp.local) is now displayed in the address bar. VMs and Templates 1. From the current page, select the Home icon at the top of the screen. 2. Select the VMs and Templates option from the drop down menu. Page 50

51 Protected Virtual Machine status 1. Ensure that the vcsa-01a.corp.local inventory item is highlighted at the top of the left window pane. 2. Expand out the Protected Applications folder under the RegionA01 data center and verify that the intro-app-01 virtual machine icon is displayed with small orange, green and blue squares on it. This icon indicates that this particular entity in the inventory is owned and managed by a service other than vcenter. (In this case, Site Recovery Manager) This icon also indicates that the intro-app-01 virtual machine object in the RegionA01 data center inventory is simply a placeholder object with no connected networks or virtual disks and will remain in this state until a vm recovery is enacted by Site Recovery Manager. You can highlight the intro-app-01 virtual machine in the inventory tree and view details about which service is managing this entity on the VM summary tab. Page 51

52 Virtual Machine Fail-back with Site Recovery Manager You are now going to navigate back to the Site Recovery Manager UI to execute the failback process on the intro-app-01 virtual machine. This process can be accomplished from the vsphere Web Client from either vcenter Server. We will utilize the Web Client for RegionA01 as we are currently connected to it. 1. From the current page, expand the navigation menu by clicking the Home icon at the top of the screen. 2. Select the Site Recovery Manager menu option from the drop down menu. Page 52

53 Recovery Plan 1. From the Site Recovery Manager page, select the Recovery Plans option in the left hand navigation pane under the Inventories menu item. Page 53

54 Recovery Plan Inventory List 1. Select the Introduction to Site Recovery Manager recovery plan from the menu on the left side of the screen. Recovery Plan Status Page 54

55 1. Verify that the Plan Status is displaying a Ready notification. Execute the Fail-Back Recovery Plan 1. To begin the process of failing the virtual machine back to the RegionA01 data center, select the Run Recovery Plan Icon. Page 55

56 Select Recovery Options 1. Place a check mark in the box to indicate that you understand that moving beyond this point could cause significant changes to the environment. 2. Select the Planned Migration radio button. This option will first perform a graceful shutdown of the protected virtual machine at the source data center (RegionB01), perform a replication of all recently changed data, then proceed to bring the recovered intro-01.corp.local virtual machine at the destination data center online. 3. Select the Next button to continue. Page 56

57 Verify Recovery Options 1. Verify that the selections you made in the previous step are correct. Then click the Finish button to begin the Planned migration / fail-back workflow. Please note that this step could take up to 5 minutes to complete. Page 57

58 Recovery Complete 1. You can monitor the status of the virtual machine recovery by following the progress of the steps in the Recovery Plan. 2. Upon successful completion of the recovery plan, the Plan Status section will display a Recovery Complete message. Page 58

59 VMs and Templates Inventory View Navigate back to the VMs and Templates view in the vsphere Web Client to verify that the intro-app-01 virtual machine is once again running in the RegionA01 data center. 1. From the current page, expand the navigation menu by clicking the Home icon at the top of the screen. 2. Select the VMs and Templates menu option from the drop down menu. Page 59

60 Verify Virtual Machine Recovery 1. Expand the RegionA01 data center inventory object, expand the Protected Applications folder and highlight the intro-app-01 virtual machine. 2. Select the Summary Tab and verify that the VM is powered on and is operational. Page 60

61 Conclusion In this module, you successfully failed the intro-app-01 virtual machine over to the recover site at the RegionB01 data center. You then re-protected the virtual machine which, with minimal administrative overhead, reversed the replication and protection directions of the intro-app-01 application. You concluded this module by using Site Recovery Manager to fail-over the virtual machine back to its original location in the RegionA01 data center. You've finished Module 1 Congratulations on completing Module 1. Site Recovery Manager provides the following benefits: Lower cost of disaster recovery by up to 50% by reducing the x86 hardware footprint, simplifying protection through VM-centric, policy-based replication, and decreasing operational expenses. Non-disruptive testing enables more frequent disaster recovery rehearsals, which minimizes risk. Recovery plans that can easily be updated and tested as new workloads are provisioned. Flexibility to protect nearly any workload that runs in a virtual machine. Automated customization of virtual machines to further improve recovery times and reduce risk. Detailed reporting to easily satisfy regulatory requirements for documentation of data protection and disaster recovery plans. Hopefully, this module has shown you some to the benefits that Site Recovery Manager can provide. You can proceed to the next module listed below or any other module which interests you most. Page 61

62 Module 2 - Executing a Disaster Recovery Plan using Site Recovery Manager (60 minutes, Beginner) How to End Lab To end your lab, click on the END button. Page 62

63 Module 2 - Executing a Disaster Recovery Plan using Site Recovery Manager (60 minutes, Beginner) Page 63

64 Module Overview The Accounting Department has recently completed a migration of all company financial data to a new multi-tiered application platform. The new application consists of three virtual machines. Virtual machines Acct-App-01, Acct-DB-01 and Acct-Web-01. Once the Accounting department's virtual machines are in production they are completely dependent on one another so it's critical that they can be recovered together. Failure to operate these virtual machines together or manage them in a specified sequence specified by the application vendor could lead to data loss or an unrecoverable system state. The Accounting Department would like you to ensure that this business critical application is protected and recoverable in the event of an anticipated or unexpected outage of the primary data center. In order to avoid being audited, the company must also be able to provide a report on the status of the Disaster Recovery Plan for the application at any given time. This report should detail the recovery process and clearly identify if the execution of the plan would be successful or not. You will also have the opportunity to create a site wide recovery plan to permit a failover of all virtual machines in the event of a catastrophic failure of the primary data center. You will then test your multi-vm recovery plan and as an optional step, have the opportunity to perform a complete site wide fail-over. Finally, you will review Audit reports and see how you can utilize vrealize Log Insight and the SRM content pack to assit with monitoring your disaster recover plan. Total time required: 60 minutes Page 64

65 Lesson 1: Protect Virtual Machines using Site Recovery Manger This lesson will focus on creating a protection group containing two virtual machines. Getting Started The initial startup of the lab will automatically launch the Chrome browser for both vcsa-01a.corp.local and vcsa-01b.corp.local. The lab start up process will also log you in as administrator@corp.local. 1. Check the URL of the browser to verify that you are initially using vcsa-01a.corp.local for this lesson. Page 65

66 Create a Site Recovery Protection Group 1. From the vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter web client select the Home icon. 2. Select Site Recovery. Page 66

67 Navigate to Protection Groups 1. Select Protection Groups. Begin, Create Protection Group A protection group is a collection of one or more virtual machines that are failed over and failed back as a unit. In many cases, a protection group consists of multiple virtual machines that support a service such as an accounting system. For example, the accounting system consists of a database server, one application server, and one web server. In most cases, it is not beneficial to fail over part of a service (only one or two of Page 67

68 the servers in the example). All three virtual machines would be included in a protection group to enable failover of the services. 1. Select Objects. 2. Select the Create Protection Group icon. Enter Protection Group Name Creating a protection group for each application or service also has the benefit of selective testing. With Site Recovery Manager, having a protection group for each application enables non-disruptive, low-risk testing of individual applications. Application owners can test disaster recovery plans, as needed. 1. In the Name field, enter "Accounting Protection Group". 2. Enter a description "Accounting department protection group". 3. Select Next. Page 68

69 Remote Site Authentication If requested, enter credentials for the target vcenter site. 1. Enter the user name and password VMware1! 2. Select Log In. Protection Group Type Page 69

70 1. Select Direction of protection RegionA01 -> RegionB Select group type Individual VMs (vsphere Replication). 3. Select Next. Select Group Members 1. Select virtual machines Acct-Web-01, Acct-App-01 and Acct-DB Select Next. Page 70

71 Verify Protection Group Configuration 1. Review and select Finish. Competed Accounting Protection Group 1. When completed you should see the new Accounting Protection Group listed. After a protection group has been created and the virtual machines have been successfully protected, placeholder virtual machines will be visible in the vcenter Server Page 71

72 inventory at the recovery site Region B. The presence of placeholders provides a visual indication to Site Recovery Manager administrators that virtual machines are protected. Placeholder virtual machines have a unique icon in vsphere Web Client. If the Protection Status does not change to "OK" after a few minutes refresh the vcenter UI. Region B vcenter - Verify Protection Group 1. Minimize the vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter Web Client and Maximize the vcsa-01b.corp.local vcenter Web Client. 2. Verify that the vcsa-01b.corp.local vcenter Web Client is rendered for this part of the lesson. Page 72

73 Region B - vcenter VM's and Templates 1. Select the Home Icon. 2. Select VMs and Templates. Page 73

74 Region B - vcenter VM's and Templates cont. 1. Expand the RegionB01 Datacenter and select the Recovered VM's Folder. The presence of placeholders for VM Acct-App-01, Acct-DB-01 and Acct-Web-01 provides a visual indication to Site Recovery Manager administrators that virtual machines are protected. Placeholder virtual machines have a unique icon in vsphere Web Client and are not powered on. You have completed lesson 1 of module 2. It is recommended that you now start lesson 2 of module 2. Page 74

75 Lesson 2: Create a Virtual Machine Recovery Plan After you have configured the protection group, you can create a recovery plan for virtual machines Acct-App-01, Acc-DB-01 and Acct-Web-01. A recovery plan controls every step of the recovery process, including the order in which virtual machines are recovered, IP address changes, and so on. Protection groups can be created from either protected site. As one might expect, recovery plans are created at the recovery site. Getting Started 1. Check the URL of the Web browser to verify that you are using the RegionA01 vcenter vcsa-01a.corp.local for this lesson. Page 75

76 Begin - Create a Recovery Plan 1. From the vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter web client select the Home icon. 2. Select Site Recovery. Page 76

77 Create Recovery Plan 1. Select Recovery Plans. Create Recovery Plan - Cont. 1. Select the Objects Tab. 2. Select the Create Recovery Plans button. Page 77

78 Recovery Plan Name and Location Creating a recovery plan for each application enables testing and failover of individual applications. Creating a recovery plan that includes one or all of the protection groups is useful when testing or failing over all applications at a site. 1. Enter Name: "Accounting Recovery Plan". 2. Enter description "Accounting department Recovery Plan". 3. Select Next. Page 78

79 Recovery Site 1. Select RegionB Select Next. Remote Site Authentication If requested, enter credentials for the target vcenter site. 1. Enter the user name and password VMware1! 2. Select Log In. Page 79

80 Select Protection Group A recovery plan must contain one or more protection groups. A protection group can be part of more than one recovery plan. In this lesson you will use the Account Protections group to configure this recovery plan. 1. Select the Accounting Protection Group. 2. Select Next. Page 80

81 Recovery Plan Test Networks One of the steps in creating a recovery plan is configuring a test network for each of the recovery networks at the recovery site. When testing a recovery plan, recovered virtual machines are connected to a corresponding test network, as defined in a recovery plan. By default, Site Recovery Manager uses an isolated network - a virtual switch with no external connectivity that is created dynamically when a recovery plan is tested. This is a simple and effective approach, but connectivity between virtual machines is limited to the virtual machines running on the same vsphere host. The default setting, Isolated network (auto created), can be changed to another port group available at the recovery site. Select Next. Page 81

82 Complete Recovery Plan 1. Select Finish. Completed Accounting Recovery Plan 1. When complete you should see the new Accounting Recovery Plan listed. You have completed lesson 2 of module 2. It is recommended that you now start lesson 3 of module 2. Page 82

83 Lesson 3: Test The Recovery Plan After creating a recovery plan, it is beneficial to test the recovery plan to verify it works as expected. Site Recovery Manager features a non-disruptive testing mechanism to facilitate testing at any time. It is common for an organization to test a recovery plan multiple times after creation to resolve any issues encountered the first time the recovery plan was tested. Test a Recovery Plan 1. From the RegionA01 vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter web client select the Home icon. 2. Select Site Recovery. Page 83

84 Begin - Test Recovery Plan 1. Select Recovery Plans. Page 84

85 Initiate Recovery Plan Test 1. Select the Accounting Recovery Plan in the left side object list. 2. Select the green play icon in the Recovery Steps view to begin testing the Accounting recovery plan. Page 85

86 Replicate recent changes For this particular test, we will not be replicating any recent changes to the recovery site. This is primarily to reduce the amount of time required to complete this step in the lab environment. 1. uncheck the check box Replicate recent changes to the recovery site. 2. Select Next. Page 86

87 Verify Recovery Plan Test Options 1. Verify that the options you chose in the previous step are correct, then click finish to begin the test. Page 87

88 Monitor the Recovery Plan Test progress 1. Review the Plan Status, Test Complete. 2. Verify that the Accounting application VMs have powered on. If any errors are encountered during the test phase of a recovery plan, you have the ability to rectify the problems and re-run the plan to ensure that all steps complete without error. Please note that this step can take up to 5 minutes to complete. Page 88

89 Region B vcenter - Verify Test Recovery 1. Minimize the vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter Web Client and Maximize the vcsa-01b.corp.local vcenter Web Client. 2. Verify that the vcsa-01b.corp.local vcenter Web Client is rendered for this part of the lesson. Page 89

90 Region B vcenter - VM's and Inventory View 1. Select the Home icon. 2. Select VMs and Templates from the drop down menu. Region B vcenter - Verify Operational State 1. Select the vcsa-01b.corp.local vcenter. Page 90

91 2. Select the Monitor tab. 3. Select vsphere Replications. 4. Select Incoming Replications and verify the Acct-App-01, Acct-DB-01 and Acct-Web-01 have a status of OK. 5. Expand out the Navigation tree, vcsa-01b.corp.local > RegionB01 > RegionB01-COMP01 and verify that the Acct-App-01, Acct-DB-01 and Acct- Web-01 virtual machines have powered on at the peer RegionB01vCenter site. Complete Recovery Test 1. Select the Home Icon. 2. Select Site Recovery from the dropdown menu. Page 91

92 Recovery Plans 1. Select the Recovery Plans. RegionA01 Authentication If requested, authenticate back to main the site, RegionA01 vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter. 1. Enter User name: 2. Enter Password: VMware1! 3. Select Log In. Page 92

93 Clean-Up the Recovery Plan 1. Select the Accounting Recovery Plan from the left side menu. 2. Select the Monitor tab. 3. Select the Recovery Steps tab for the Accounting Recovery Plan. 4. Select the Cleanup icon to clean up the test and prepare the plan for future use. Page 93

94 Recovery Plan Clean Up Options 1. Click Next to continue. Page 94

95 Verify Options 1. Verify the options for the cleanup, then click Finish to execute a cleanup of the Test Recovery. Page 95

96 Recovery Plan Ready Once the clean up the test has completed, your recovery plan is now ready for execution either as another test, or as an actual fail-over. 1. The Plan status field should now indicate Ready. You have completed lesson 3 of module 2. It is recommended that you now start lesson 4 of module 2. Page 96

97 Lesson 4: Create Site Wide Recovery Plan This section will demonstrate creating a site-wide recovery plan with multiple protection groups that are already a part of other recovery plans. With the successfull test completion of the Accounting Protection Group and Recovery Plan, you have been asked to ensure that Rainpole Corp. will be able to recover their entire San Francisco (Region A) data center in the event of either a planned or unplanned outage. Create Site-Wide Recovery Plan 1. From the RegionA01 vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter web client select the Home icon. 2. Select Site Recovery. Page 97

98 Recovery Plans Main Page 1. Select the Recovery Plans option under the Navigation pane on the left side of the screen. Page 98

99 Create new Recovery Plan 1. Select Objects. 2. Select the Create New Recovery plan icon. Name the Recovery Plan Page 99

100 1. Enter a name Site-Wide Recovery Plan. 2. Enter description Recovery plan for the entire RegionA datacenter. 3. Select Next. Select Recovery Site 1. Select RegionB Select Next. Log into Remote Site - RegionB 1. If requested, enter the user name administrator@corp.local and use the password VMware1! 2. Select Log In. Page 100

101 Select Protection Groups 1. Place a check mark next to all of the protection groups listed. This allows you to recover all the virtual machines associated with the protection groups by executing a single recovery plan. 2. Select Next. Page 101

102 Select Test Networks This step is where you would define specific networks you would want recovered virtual machines to connect to when you are executing a test of the Recovery Plan. 1. Leave all setting at their default values and click Next to continue. Page 102

103 Recovery Plan Confirmation Verify that the choices you selected in the previous steps are correct, then select Finish to complete the creation of the new recovery plan. Page 103

104 Initiate Site-Wide Recovery Plan 1. Select the Site-Wide Recovery Plan in the left menu pane. 2. Select the Monitor Tab. 3. Select the Recovery Steps button. 4. Expand the Power on Priority 3 VMs Recovery step to view the list of all the VMs that will be recovered as part of this recovery plan. 5. Select the green play icon in the Recovery Steps view to begin testing the Accounting recovery plan. Page 104

105 Review Recovery Plan. 1. Uncheck, Replicate recent changes to recovery site. 2. Select Next. Page 105

106 Ready To Complete Site-Wide Recovery Plan 1. Review and select Finish. Please note that this step can take up to 5 minutes to complete. Page 106

107 Site Wide Recovery Plan Complete Once finished the Site-Wide recovery Plan status will change to Test complete. Page 107

108 Verify Protection Group - Region B vcenter 1. Minimize the vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter Web Client and Maximize the vcsa-01b.corp.local vcenter Web Client. 2. Verify that the vcsa-01b.corp.local vcenter Web Client is rendered for this part of the lesson. Page 108

109 Region B vcenter - Inventory View 1. Select the Home icon 2. Select VMs and Templates from the drop down menu. Region B vcenter - Verify Operational State Page 109

110 1. Verify that you are using the vcsa-01b.corp.local vcenter. 2. Select the Monitor tab. 3. Select vsphere Replications. 4. Select Incoming Replications and verify that all virtual machine indicate a status of OK. 5. Expand out the Navigation tree, vcsa-01b.corp.local > RegionB01 > Recovered VMs and verify that all listed virtual machines have powered on at the peer RegionB01 vcenter site. Cleanup The Recovery Test 1. Select the Home Icon. 2. Select Site Recovery from the dropdown menu. Page 110

111 Recovery Plans 1. Select the Recovery Plans. RegionA01 Authentication If requested, authenticate to back to main site, RegionA Enter User name: 2. Enter Password: VMware1! 3. Select Log In. Page 111

112 Clean-Up the Recovery Plan 1. Select the Site-Wide Recovery Plan from the left side menu. 2. Select the Recovery Steps tab for the Accounting Recovery Plan. 3. Select the Cleanup icon to clean up the test and prepare the plan for future use. Page 112

113 Recovery Plan Clean Up Options 1. Click Next to continue. Page 113

114 Recovery Plan Clean Up Options - Cont. 1. Review and select Finish. Page 114

115 Sit-Wide Recovery Plan - Ready Once the clean up the test has completed, your recovery plan is now ready for execution either as another test, or as an actual fail-over. 1. The Plan status field should now indicate Ready. You have completed lesson 4 of module 2. It is recommended that you now start lesson 5 of module 2. Page 115

116 Lesson 5: Review Audit Reporting in Site Recovery Manager Recovery plan histories provide information about each run, test, or cleanup of a recovery plan. The history contains information about the result and the start and end times for the whole plan and for each step in the plan. You can export history at any time, but history always contains entries only for completed operations. If an operation is in progress, the history appears after the operation completes. Select Recovery Plan 1. From the RegionA01 vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter web client select the Home icon. 2. Select Site Recovery. Page 116

117 Begin, Create Recovery Plan 1. Select Recovery Plans. Select the Recovery Plan 1. From the Recovery Plan menu on the left side of the page, select the Accounting Recovery Plan. 2. Select the Monitor tab. 3. Then select the History Button near the top of the main section of the page. This list displays all of the details regarding actions that were performed on this particular recovery plan for the time period displayed. Page 117

118 Select Report 1. Select the Accounting Recovery Plan. 2. Highlight the most recent Test entry for the selected recovery plan. 3. Click on the Export Report button to launch the Export Report Wizard. Report Format 1. From the drop down menu, select the format you would like to export the report to. For this exercise, you will select the Web Page (*.html) format option. 2. Once you have made your selection, click the generate button to begin generating the report for the Accounting Recovery Plan Test. Page 118

119 Download Report Once the report generation has completed, you will be presented with the option to download the report. 1. Click the Download Report button to continue. Page 119

120 Specify location Specify a location to save the downloaded report to. 1. Select the Desktop as the location to save the report to. The file will automatically be saved with the name of the recovery plan. 2. Click the Save button to continue. Page 120

121 Close Report Generator 1. Click the Close button to close the report Generation wizard. Main Console Minimize both vcenter Web Client browser windows. Page 121

122 1. Locate the exported html file you just created on the desktop of the Control Center. Double click the file to open the report. View Report You can now view the exported report along with specific details regarding each step defined in the recovery plan along with the completion status of each step. Return to Site Recovery Manager 1. In the Windows task bar at the bottom of the screen, select the Minimized browser to return you to the vcsa-01a.corp.local vsphere Web client and the Site Recovery Manager page. Page 122

123 You have completed lesson 5 of module 2. It is recommended that you now start lesson 6 of module 2. Page 123

124 Lesson 6: Leverage Log Insight to provide real-time SRM monitoring The Site Recovery Manager (SRM) Content pack for VMware vrealize Log Insight collects, imports, and analyzes logs to provide real-time answers to problems related to systems, services, and applications, and derive important insights that are related to SRM. In this Module you will explore Log Insight and the SRM content pack to assit with monitoring your disaster recover plan to ensure that the SDDC environment is functioning as expected. Getting Started with the Log Insight Management Pack for SRM 1. From the vcsa-01a.corp.local web client select a new browser tab to open a new page Log Insight Authentication 1. At The top of the web page select the vrealize Log Insight shortcut link. Page 124

125 Log Insight Authentication Continued 1. Select Active Directory from the dropdown selector. 2. Enter User Name administrator 3. Enter the password VMware1! 4. Select LOGIN Page 125

126 SRM Dashboard Overview 1. Once you are logged in as the administrator you will notice that the lab instance of Log Insight is using a evaluation license. This is normal and will not effect the lab. 2. Select Dashboards at the top of the UI 3. Expand the VMware - SRM dashboards 4. Select the SRM Overview 5. Use the slider on the right to review all data widgets. As you review the dashboard you will notice that the information displayed is specific for SRM. You will also notice that not all widgets have data displayed, this is because content packs are created to provide focused reporting to enable administrators to monitor and locate root cause for a specific solution such as SRM. Page 126

127 Interactive Analytics Overview Information that is displayed in each widget can be viewed from the Interactive Analytics UI. 1. Select Interactive Analytics button from within the Events by Component widget. Note: Select or hover over the Events by Component widet to to see the Interactive Analytics icon button. Page 127

128 Interactive Analytics Overview Cont. Using the interactive analytics you can dive deeper in to the data to search and filter log events. Create queries to extract events based on timestamp, text, source, and fields in log events. In this view the filter is the same as it was in the dashboard widget, but now we can add additional fileters that relate to SRM. 1. Enter the word "replication" into the search box. 2. Change the time range to All Time. 3. Select the search button. 4. Review the search results. Page 128

129 Review Interactive Analytics Results Searching on the word "replication" is a basic example on how to leverage vrealize Log Insight to collect and analyze all types of machine-generated log data. Administrators can connect it to everything in their environment-operating systems (including Linux and Windows), applications, storage, firewalls, network devices or something else for enterprise-wide visibility via log analytics. An intuitive, GUI-based interface makes it easy to run simple interactive searches, as well as deep analytical queries for quick insights that provide immediate value and improved IT efficiency. vrealize Log Insight automatically chooses the best visualization for your data, saving you valuable time. You have completed lesson 6 of module 2. It is recommended that you now start lesson 1 of module 3. If you would like to learn more about vrealize Log Insight we recommend that you take the Hands on Lab, HOL SDC - vsphere with Operations Management - Getting Started. Page 129

130 Conclusion Congratulations on completing Module 2. The primary features of Site Recovery Manager, creating protection groups and recovery plans along with testing the recovery plans were covered in this module. The additional items covered in this module were integration with vrealize Log Insight and audit reporting. More details on these solutions can be found in VMware Documentation and in other resources such as VMware Blogs and the VMware Knowledge Base. You've finished Module 2 Site Recovery Manager provides the following benefits: Lower cost of disaster recovery by up to 50% by reducing the x86 hardware footprint, simplifying protection through VM-centric, policy-based replication, and decreasing operational expenses. Non-disruptive testing enables more frequent disaster recovery rehearsals, which minimizes risk. Recovery plans that can easily be updated and tested as new workloads are provisioned. Flexibility to protect nearly any workload that runs in a virtual machine. Automated customization of virtual machines to further improve recovery times and reduce risk. Detailed reporting to easily satisfy regulatory requirements for documentation of data protection and disaster recovery plans. Hopefully, this module has shown you some to the benefits that Site Recovery Manager can provide. You can proceed to the next module listed below or any other module which interests you most. Module 3 - Site Recovery Manced Topics (30 manager Advinutes, Advanced) Page 130

131 How to End Lab To end your lab, click on the END button. Page 131

132 Module 3 - Site Recovery Manager Advanced Topics (30 minutes, Advanced) Page 132

133 Module Overview Site Recovery Manager, in addition to providing the capability to fail-over and recover virtual machines between data centers, also includes a number of advanced features that can serve to enhance the recovery capabilities of the solution. In this module, we will explore a number of these features. Lesson 1: Virtual Machine Recovery Properties Overview Lesson 2: Customizing the Virtual Machine IP Address During Failover Lesson 3: Virtual Machine Start-up Options Lesson 4: vsphere Replication, Advanced Options Page 133

134 Lesson 1: Virtual Machine Recovery Properties Overview In this lesson, we will introduce a number of the advanced options available within Site Recovery Manager for individual VM recovery. Getting Started Before you begin, please ensure that the Lab Status indicates Ready. If the status is anything other than Ready, you may need to wait a few minutes for the back ground services within the lab to complete their startup routine. If after 5 minutes the lab is still indicating a status other than Ready, please end the lab and re-deploy another instance. Page 134

135 Launch the vsphere Web Client The initial startup of the lab will automatically launch separate Chrome browser windows for both vcsa-01a.corp.local and vcsa-01b.corp.local. The lab start up process will also log you in to the vsphere Web Client as 1. Check the URL of the browser to verify that you are initially using vcsa-01a.corp.local for this lesson. Page 135

136 Maximize the View 1. If the Recent Tabs window is visible at the bottom of the window, select the thumb-tac icon on the upper right size of the window to minimize this pane. This will help maximize the view on the main section of the user interface. 2. If the Recent Objects window is visible at the bottom of the window, select the thumb-tac icon on the upper right size of the window to minimize this pane. This will help maximize the view on the main section of the user interface. Page 136

137 vsphere Replication 1. From the current screen, select the Home icon at the top of the screen of the vsphere web client for vcsa-01a.corp.local 2. Select the vsphere Replication menu item from the drop down list. Page 137

138 Verify Replication Connectivity Status 1. Select the Home tab at the top of the main vsphere Replication window pane. 2. Verify that the vsphere Replication status indicates Enabled (OK) Note: It could take up to 1 minute for the query to complete and the status information to be displayed. Once you have verified that replication is configured and working between both locations, you need to reconnect the management interface to the vsphere Replication Appliance in Region B so that we can view and manage replication at that location. Page 138

139 Re-connect to Remote vsphere Replication Appliance. 1. Select the Manage menu button under the home tab. Select Target vsphere Replication Server 1. Select the Target sites menu option Page 139

140 2. Highlight the RegionB01 vsphere Replication appliance. The status of the appliance should be displaying a Not Authenticated message. 3. Select the Reconnect button to initiate a connection to the remote vsphere replication appliance in RegionB01. Page 140

141 Re-connect to the target vsphere Replication appliance 1. Select Yes when prompted to reconnect. Page 141

142 2. Enter the credentials for the remote vsphere Replication appliance. Username: Password: VMware1! 3. Select OK to initiate the reconnect. Verify Connectivity to RegionB01 1. Verify that the status for RegionB01 shows Connected. 2. Select the Monitor tab at the top of the main window to proceed. Page 142

143 View vsphere Replication Status 1. Select the vsphere Replication tab. 2. Select the Outgoing Replications in the left side menu. 3. Verify that the status of both Sales virtual machines display OK. Page 143

144 Open Site Recovery Manager Now that we have ensured that all the Sales VMs have been replicated, we will examine the various configuration options available during recovery on an individual VM basis. These options are accessed through the Site Recovery Manager UI. 1. From the current screen, select the Home icon at the top of the window. A dropdown list will appear. 2. Select Site Recovery from the drop-down list. Page 144

145 View Site Information Within Site Recovery we have two sites, RegionA01 and RegionB01. RegionA01 is the primary site and is associated with the vcenter Server vcsa-01a.corp.local. RegionB01 is the recovery site and is associated with vcenter Server vcsa-01b.corp.local. Let's make sure that both sites are connected and able to communicate with each other. 1. Select the Sites menu item in the left hand Navigator window. Page 145

146 Select Site 1. Select RegionA01 in the left column 2. If you are prompted for user credentials, enter the following information. Username: Password: VMware1! 3. Click the Log In button when done Page 146

147 Ensure Both Primary and Recovery Sites are Connected The RegionA01 site is represented by the vcenter Server vcsa-01a.corp.local. The RegionB01 site is represented by the vcenter Server vcsa-01b.corp.local. 1. Select the Summary Tab 2. Highlight RegionA01 within Navigator. 3. Ensure that both the Client Connection and Server Connection are displaying Connected across both sites. 4. When finished, click on the Back button in Navigator to go back to the Site Recovery homepage. Page 147

148 Recovery Plans Select the Recovery Plans menu item from the Navigator menu under the Inventories section. View Recovery Plans A Recovery Plan runs a series of steps, performed in a specific order for a given workflow such as a planned migration or a re-protect. You cannot change the order or Page 148

149 purpose of the steps, but you can insert your own steps that display messages and run commands. Site Recovery Manager executes recovery plan steps depending on the test or recovery method. Some steps run during all recoveries Some steps run only during test recoveries. Some steps are always skipped during test recoveries. 1. Select the Sales Application Recovery Plan from the list of available plans. Recovery Plan Objects 1. With the Sales Application Recovery Plan selected in the Navigator menu 2. Select the Related Objects tab on top of the main page 3. Select the Virtual Machines button Page 149

150 Individual Virtual Machine Recovery Options There are 2 virtual machines within the Sales Application Recovery Plan. These 2 virtual machines are part of a multi-tiered sales application. The 2 VMs are as follows: sales-app-01: This VM accepts requests from the end-user and processes them to display what the end-user requests. sales-db-01: This VM is the host to multiple databases and stores all data related to both current and past sales campaigns. You will now examine the individual recovery properties for these virtual machines. 1. Select the sales-app-01 VM 2. Select Actions 3. Select Configure Recovery from the drop down menu Page 150

151 Priority Groups Within Site Recovery Manager, you have the option place a virtual machine that you wish to recover in up to 5 different priority groups. VMs in Priority Group 1 will be started first while VMs in Priority Group 5 will be started last. All virtual machines in the same priority group will be powered-on before Site Recovery Manager proceeds to the next Priority Group to begin powering-on those virtual machines. To view Priority Groups: 1. Select the drop-down arrow that is populated with the number 3 next to Priority Group. Page 151

152 Virtual Machine Dependencies If one of the virtual machines needs to be powered-on before other virtual machines within the same Priority Group, you can use VM Dependencies. With VM Dependencies, you can specify one or many VMs that should be powered-on before the VM that you are setting the dependency on. Note that you can only set dependencies for virtual machines within the same Priority Group. To view and configure the VM Dependencies options: 1. Select VM Dependencies. We will add a VM Dependency later within this lab module. Select VM Dependencies again to minimize the VM Dependencies view. Shutdown Action During a recovery, Site Recovery Manager will attempt to power off VMs running at the protected site before recovering them at the recovery site. You have two options for Page 152

153 shutting down these virtual machines. Shutdown guest OS before power off (requires VMware Tools) and Power Off. The first option (Shutdown guest OS before power off) will initiate a graceful shutdown of the guest OS resulting in a clean shutdown of the VM. In this situation, all applications are also stopped and shutdown properly. The second option (Power Off) does not initiate a guest OS shutdown and simply powers off the VM. If a VM does not have VMware Tools installed, the Power Off option will be used by default. To view Shutdown Action options: 1. Select Shutdown Action menu item. We will modify the Shutdown Action of a virtual machine later within this module. Select Shutdown Action again to minimize the Shutdown Action window. Startup Action Similar to the options that you just examined for Shutdown Action at the protected site, you also have options for how the VM will be started at the recovery site. For Startup Action, you have the option to either Power On the VM or Do Not Power On the VM. The Wait for VMware tools option is important as any VMs dependent upon the VM being powered-on will wait until both the VMware Tools and Additional Delay options are satisfied. Furthermore, the recovery plan will not proceed until both VMware Tools and Additional Delay are satisfied, which includes proceeding to the next Priority Group for additional virtual machines to be powered-on within the recovery plan. To view Startup Action options: 1. Select Startup Action. Review the available options. Select Startup Action again to minimize the Startup Action window. Page 153

154 Pre-Power On Steps Pre-Power On Steps are manual or automatic steps that you can take outside of the Recovery Plan within Site Recovery Manager. Pre-Power On Steps can either be executed by the Site Recovery Manager server or by prompting the user to perform a task or to provide information that the user must acknowledge before the Recovery Plan continues to the next step. Remember that for Pre-Power On Steps, the virtual machine has not yet powered-on, therefore you cannot perform a step that requires the VM(s) to be powered-on. The Timeout value provides you with a mechanism to continue with the Recovery Plan if for some reason the step does not execute properly or is not acknowledged. To view the Pre Power On Step options: 1. Select Pre Power On Steps. 2. To add a Pre Power On Step, select the Green Plus icon. The Add Pre Power On Step window will appear. Review the Add Pre Power On Steps. 3. Select Cancel to close the Add Pre Power On Step window. Page 154

155 Post-Power On Steps Post-Power On Steps are different than Pre-Power On Steps in that they execute once the virtual machine and guest OS are running. Similar to Pre Power On Steps, you also have the option to run a command on the Site Recovery Manager server or by prompting the user to perform a task or provide information that the user must acknowledge before the recovery plan continues to the next step. To view the Post Power On Step options: 1. Select Post Power On Steps. 2. To add a Post Power On Step, select the Green Plus icon. The Add Post Power On Step window will appear. Review the Add Post Power On Step. 3. Select Cancel to close the Add Post Power On Step window. 4. Select Cancel to close the VM Recovery Properties window for the salesapp-01 virtual machine. Page 155

156 Lesson Conclusion In this lesson, we reviewed the Site information within Site Recovery Manager and ensured that both Sites were connected. We then reviewed each action available for individual VM recovery. Those actions included: Priority Groups VM Dependencies Shutdown Action Startup Action Pre-Power On Steps Post-Power On Steps Page 156

157 Lesson 2: Customizing the Virtual Machine IP Address During Failover Due to budget constraints, the networking team was unable to extend their IP network across both Region A and Region B. Therefore, during recovery, it is a requirement that the IP addresses of each VM being recovered are modified to match the network environment at Region B. In this lesson, we will customize the IP addresses to be used for the Sales virtual machines in the event that they need to be recovered to the Region B data center due to a planned migration of disaster. Getting Started We will start from the vsphere Web Client homepage on vcsa-01a.corp.local. 1. From the current view within the vsphere web client, select the Home Icon at the top of the main window. 2. Select the Site Recovery option from the drop down menu. Open Recovery Plans We need to navigate to the recovery plan for the Sales application. This is where we manage the recovery customizations for the Sales virtual machines. 1. Select the Recovery Plans menu item under the Inventories section. Sales Application Recovery Plan 1. Select the Sales Application Recovery Plan. Authenticate to SRM If prompted to authenticate, enter the following informaiton. 1. Username : Administrator@corp.local Password: VMware1! 2. Select Log In. Select Sales Recovery Plan 1. Highlight Sales Application recovery plan in the left menu pane. 2. Select the Related Objects tab. Page 157

158 3. Select the Virtual Machines button. You should now see both Sales virtual machines in the main part of the UI. They are as follows: sales-db-01 sales-app-01 Customize IP Address for the App Server Let's start by customizing the IP address of the sales-app-01 virtual machine. 1. Highlight the sales-app-01 virtual machine. 2. Select the Actions tab. 3. Select Configure Recovery from the available menu options. IP Customization You are now ready to customize the individual properties of the sales-app-01 virtual machine 1. Select IP Customization. 2. From the IP customization mode drop-down list, select Manual IP customization. In this instance, we're going to manually set the IP address for the VM when being recovered via Site Recovery Manager. Later in this lesson, we'll look at IP customization rules. Configure Protection The Configure Protected Site IP Settings allows us to define the current IP properties of the VM. This setting is not used until after recovery has been completed. In the event that we need to recover our virtual machines to the recovery site, we will inevitably need to reprotect them to ensure that they are always in a state of protection, ready to be recovered at a moment's notice. In this case, Region B becomes the protected site with Region A becoming the recovery site. 1. Expand the IP Settings - NIC 1 menu item. 2. Select Configure Protection button at the bottom of the page. Note: You may need to move the VM Recovery Properties window up in order to see Configure Protection button. Page 158

159 Specify Protected Site IP Settings Within the Configure Protected Site IP Settings - NIC 1, you can use DHCP to obtain the IP address, manually enter the IP address by choosing Use the following IPv4 address or if the VM is running VMware Tools, you can select the option to Retrieve the current IP settings of the VM. We will use VMWare Tools to retrieve the current IP information of the virtual machine. If the IP information fails to populate, please manually enter the IP information listed below. 1. Select the Use the following IPv4 address radio button, then select the Retrieve button. 2. If the IP information fails to populate enter the IPv4 Address, Subnet Mask and Gateway fields with the information shown below. IPv4 Address: Subnet Mask: Default Gateway: Configure Protected Site DNS The information on the DNS tab should already be populated for you. If it is not, please follow the steps outlined below to configure the DNS information for the virtual machine. 1. Select the DNS tab 2. Select Use the following DNS server addresses 3. Enter a Preferred DNS server of: Place your cursor in the DNS suffixes text box and enter: corp.local 5. Select the Add button 6. corp.local should now appear in the window below the text box 7. Select OK when completed Configure Recovery Now you need to configure the IP settings for the virtual machine when it is recovered. 1. Select the Configure Recovery button to continue Configure Recovery Site IP Settings 1. Select the Use the following IPv4 address radio button. 2. Enter the IPv4 Address, Subnet Mask and Gateway fields with the information shown below. Page 159

160 IPv4 Address: Subnet Mask: Default Gateway: Configure Recovery Site DNS 1. Select the DNS tab 2. Select Use the following DNS server addresses 3. Enter a Preferred DNS server of: Place your cursor in the DNS suffixes text box and enter: corp.local 5. Select the Add button 6. corp.local should now appear in the window below the text box 7. Select OK Sales App IP Confirmation The IP Customization for the sales-app-01 virtual machine is now complete. 1. Select OK to apply the changes to the recovery plan for this virtual machine. Note: You will see a notification window stating that the Protected VM has been successfully reconfigured. You can dismiss this window. IP Customization Rules Another way to ensure that a virtual machine, or a group of virtual machines, is able to obtain an IP address on the correct subnet after being recovered is through the use of IP customization rules. These rules apply to virtual machines failing over from the protected sites IPv4 subnet to the recovery sites IPv4 subnet. For example, from /24 to /24. The IP customization rule states that during recovery Site Recovery Manager evaluates the existing IP configuration of the recovered virtual machines NICs and reconfigures static IPs found on the /24 subnet for the /24 subnet. If the rule matches, Site Recovery Manager derives the new static IPv4 address from the old one by preserving the host bits of the original IPv4 address, applying it to the target subnet. For example, if the original protected site address is /24, the new address would be /24. If the default gateway text box is empty, Site Recovery Manager derives the new gateway parameter from the original one by preserving the host bits of the original IPv4 Page 160

161 address and placing it in the target subnet. For example, if the original protected site gateway is , the new gateway is If you specify an explicit gateway parameter, Site Recovery Manager checks that the IPv4 address syntax is correct and applies it exactly. Site Recovery Manager applies DNS and other parameters as specified. DHCP-enabled NICs are not subject to customization as their network configuration remains unchanged during recovery. Let's create an IP Customization Rule to be used for our sales-db-01 virtual machine. 1. Select the Back arrow within Navigator menu to go back to the Site Recovery Manager homepage. Sites IP Customization Rules are created within the Network Mappings section of Site Recovery Manager. 1. Select the Sites menu option from the Navigator menu. Network Mappings 1. Select the RegionA01 from the Sites list in the left menu bar 2. Select the Manage tab 3. Select the Network Mappings button to display the configured network mappings between both Site Recovery Manager sites. Select Network Mapping Select the network mapping to which you would like to add an IP Customization. 1. Highlight the VM-RegionA01-vDS-COMP network. 2. Right-click the selected network, and from the drop down menu, select the Add IP Customization Rule option. Add IP Customization Rule Enter the following information into the IP Customization Rule creation form. 1. Rule Name: VM-Region-vDS-COMP Recovery 2. For the RegionA01 Site, enter the following for Subnet: /24 3. For the RegionB01 Site, enter the following for Subnet: /24 Page 161

162 4. Gateway: DNS addresses; DNS suffixes: corp.local 7. Select the OK button when complete Confirm IP Customization 1. Highlight the VM-RegionA01-vDS-COMP network mapping to view the IP Customization Rule details that you just created. 2. Select the Back arrow in Navigator Menu to return to the Site Recovery Manager homepage. Configure IP Address for Database Server We have one more virtual machine to configure IP Customization for, the Sales Database server. 1. From the Navigator menu for RegionA01, select the Recovery Plans menu option. Sales Application Recovery Plan 1. Select the Sales Application Recovery Plan. 2. Select the Related Objects tab. 3. Select the Virtual Machines button. You should now see both Sales virtual machines in the main part of the UI. They are as follows: sales-db-01 sales-app-01 Sales Database VM Let's customize the IP address of the sales-db-01 virtual machine. 1. Highlight the sales-db-01 virtual machine. 2. Select the Actions menu item. 3. Select Configure Recovery from the drop down menu. Use IP Customization Rule 1. Select the IP Customization button. 2. Select the Select an IP customization mode drop-down list. Page 162

163 3. From the drop down menu, select Use IP customization rules if applicable. 4. Select OK at the bottom of the dialog box to complete the configuration The sales-db-01 virtual machine IP customization is now complete. Because this virtual machine resides on the VM-RegionA01-vDS-COMP network, it will use the IP Customization Rule we created for that mapped network segment to modify the IP Address of the VM during a recovery. Lesson Review Both Sales virtual machines have now been configured to use a customized IP address during recovery. We used two different methods to customize the IP addresses used when the virtual machine is recovered. The first being a more individualized approach where you manually entered the IP address to be used during recovery. The second method you created an IP customization rule that was applied to all virtual machines residing or leveraging a particular portgroup mapping on the protected site. In the next lesson, we will modify the start-up order for each virtual machine. Page 163

164 Lesson 3: Virtual Machine Start-up Options In this lesson, we will configure the power-on options for the Sales application virtual machines within Site Recovery Manager. The options we will configure include: Priority Groups VM Dependencies Startup Actions Getting Started Let's start by navigating to the Site Recovery Manager main page. Ensure you are working within the RegionA01data center on vcenter vcsa-01a.corp.local. 1. From your current location within the vsphere Web Client, select the Home icon at the top of the page. 2. Choose the Site Recovery option from the drop down menu. Recovery Plans 1. Select Recovery Plans from the Navigator menu under the Inventories subsection. Sales Application Recovery Plan 1. Select the Sales Application recovery plan from the Navigator menu on the left. Authentication If you are prompted to authenticate to Site Recovery Manager, use the following credentials. 1. Username: Password: VMware1! 2. Select Log In to proceed. Sales-App-01 VM 1. Select the Related Objects tab. 2. Select the Virtual Machines button. 3. Highlight the sales-app-01 virtual machine. 4. From the Actions drop down menu, select Configure Recovery. Page 164

165 Modify Priority Group We need to modify the Priority Group for the sales-app-01 virtual machine so that it powers on after the sales-db-01 virtual machine. We will modify the settings of the sales-db-01 VM in just a few minutes. 1. Change the Priority Group of the sales-app-01 VM from 3 to 4. Virtual Machines in Priority Groups 1, 2 and 3 will now be powered-on before the sales-app-01 virtual machine. We also know that the application tier within this multi-tiered application is dependent upon the database tier. If the sales-app-01 VM powers on first in our Recovery Plan, our Sales Application will not work correctly. In order to ensure the correct start up sequence for the 2 virtual machines in the Sales Application recovery plan, we will need to define a dependency on the sales-app-01 virtual machine in the next step. VM Dependencies 1. Select the VM Dependencies menu option 2. Select the Configure button. Configure Application VM Dependency 1. Select the sales-db-01 virtual machine from the list. 2. Select OK to proceed. VM Dependency Alert You will notice a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark appear next to the sales-db-01 virtual machine. This indicates that there is an error in our configuration. The reason this warning appeared is because only virtual machines in the same Priority Group can have a dependency on one another. Since the sales-db-01 virtual machine is still in the default Priority Group 3 and the sales-app-01 virtual machine is now in group 4, we receive an error. Also notice the message just below the VM Dependency window: VM dependencies are ignored if the VMs are not in the same priority group. If VM dependencies fail, a warning will be displayed, but the recovery plan will continue. Page 165

166 Modify Startup Action We can modify additional startup actions of the sales-app-01 virtual machine. 1. Select the Startup Action menu item on the left 2. Place a check mark next to Wait for VMware Tools. 3. Uncheck Additional delay before running Post Power On steps and starting dependent VMs. 4. Select OK to return to the Sales Application Recovery Plan so that we can modify the power on options of our other Sales virtual machine. As soon as VMware Tools has started on the sales-app-01 VM, the recovery plan will continue to the next step in the plan. Sales Database VM 1. Highlight the sales-db-01 virtual machine. 2. From the Actions drop down menu, select Configure Recovery. Modify Priority Group We're going to modify the Priority Group of the sales-db-01 virtual machine. 1. Select the Priority Group drop-down and select the option 4. The sales-db-01 virtual machine will now be powered-on after all VMs in Priority Groups 1, 2 and 3 are powered-on and any Startup Actions have been satisfied. Startup Action 1. Select the Startup Action menu item. 2. Since the Application server is dependent upon the Database server running, we will leave the Wait for VMware Tools option selected with a value of 5 minutes. This will ensure that the Recovery Plan will not advance to the next step until either VMware Tools is responding on the Sales-DB-01 virtual machine or the timeout value is reached. 3. Review the options selected then select OK at the bottom of the screen to continue. Check VM Dependency error When we first created the VM Dependency for the sales-app-01 virtual machine, we saw an error within the VM Dependency window. Page 166

167 This was caused when we selected a VM as a dependency that was not in the same Priority Group. We have since modified the Priority Group for the sales-db-01 virtual machine from Priority Group 3 to Priority Group 4, the same as the sales-app-01 virtual machine. You can now verify that the change you made has resolved the error condition. 1. Select the Related Objects tab. 2. Select the Virtual Machines button. 3. Highlight the sales-app-01 virtual machine. 4. From the Actions drop down menu, select Configure Recovery. VM Dependency Error Resolved 1. Expand the VM Dependencies menu item. Notice that the yellow triangle with an exclamation mark is no longer present and has been replaced with the traditional vsphere virtual machine icon. By placing the sales-db-01 virtual machine in Priority Group 4, we resolved the error. 2. Select OK to close the VM Recovery Properties window for the sales-app-01 virtual machine. Lesson Review In this lesson, we modified the Startup order of our VMs to ensure that our Sales Application starts correctly. The Database server is powered-on first followed by the Application server. We used a combination of Priority Groups and VM Dependencies to start the VMs in the correct order allowing enough time for the necessary services to start on each VM. Page 167

168 Lesson 4: vsphere Replication, Advanced Options In this lesson, we will review some of the advanced options within vsphere Replication. These options include: Point-in-Time Recovery Guest OS Quiescing Replication Compression We have already setup replication for the two virtual machines that are a part of the Sales Application. We will use these 2 VMs to explore and configure the advanced replication options listed above. Getting Started vsphere Replication for each virtual machine is managed on a per-vm basis. To manage the vsphere replication properties of a virtual machine, you need to navigate to the VMs and Templates menu in the vsphere Web client. We are going to use the sales-db-01 virtual machine for this lesson. 1. From the current view within the vsphere web client on vcsa-01a.corp.local, select the Home icon at the top of the page. 2. Select the VMs and Templates menu option from the drop down list. Select the Sales Database VM 1. From the navigation menu, expand the Protected Applications folder. 2. Select sales-db-01 virtual machine from the listed VMs. vsphere Replication Actions 1. Right-click on the sales-db-01 virtual machine. 2. From the drop down menu, navigate to the bottom of the menu and select All vsphere Replication Actions 3. Select the Reconfigure option from the drop down menu. Because we have already configured replication for the virtual machine, the Configure Replication option is greyed out but the Reconfigure option is available for us to select. Page 168

169 Authenticate If you are prompted to autenticate to the vsphere Replication appliance at Site B, use the following credentials. 1. Username: Password: VMware1! 2. Click OK to continue. vsphere Replication Server When configuring vsphere replication for a virtual machine for the first time, you will be presented with an identical configuration menu as what you currently see. For this particular lab environment, there is a single vsphere Replication server configured for each of the vsphere / Site Recovery Manager sites. You are currently looking at the vsphere replication server (vr-01b) for the Region B site as this is the destination or the target for the replication. You can see that the vsphere Replication server is currently responsible for 5 virtual machine replication instances. We will not make any modifications to this part of the configuration at this time. 1. Select the Next button to continue. Target Location 1. Click the arrow next to the sales-db-01 virtual machine to expand the Target location information. 2. Select Next at the bottom of the configuration window to continue. We have selected the RegionB01-ISCSI01-COMP01 data store as the target storage location for our replicated virtual machine. To ensure that the virtual machine has access to the correct storage tier and capabilities at the replicated site, we have the option to specify any pre-configured VM storage policies that exist at the Region B site. For this particular example we have chosen a Default VM Storage Policy. We have also specified that replicated virtual machine disk should be Thin provisioned to conserve data store capacity. We are not going to make any changes to this part of the configuration at this time, Guest OS Quiescing Page 169

170 The Replication Options window provides us with the option for Guest OS Quiescing and Network Compression. vsphere Replication guarantees crash consistency amongst all the disks that belong to a virtual machine. If you use quiescing, you might obtain a higher level of consistency. The available quiescing types are determined by the virtual machine's operating system. For Microsoft based guest operating systems that support quiescing, vsphere Replication will utilize VMware Tools to initiate Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to quiesce the guest OS. The following Microsoft guest operating systems are supported for guest OS quiescing: Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2012 Windows Vista Windows 7 Windows 8 Windows 10 Certain Linux based operating systems are also supported with guest OS quiescing and leverage VMware tools. LES 11 Service Pack 2 RHEL 5.5 RHEL 5.9 RHEL 6.4 RHEL 7.0 DO NOT SELECT NEXT TO PROCEED TO THE NEXT STEP. Additional details can be found on the vsphere support documentation page at VMware.com Network Compression For network compression, vsphere Replication will compress the data to be replicated and then uncompress it once it arrives at it's destination. This can be useful if you have limited bandwidth between your primary and secondary sites. Additional CPU resources are required at both the source and destination locations in order to compress and uncompress the replication data. We have enabled network compression for the sales-db-01 virtual machine. 1. Select Nex to continue.. Page 170

171 Additional information on how to calculate the bandwidth requirements for vsphere Replication can be found here: Recovery Settings The Recovery Settings window allows you to define the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and the number of Point in Time instances for the replicated virtual machine. You can set the RPO to as low as 15 minutes or to as high as 24 hours. If you happen to be using VMware VSAN as your underlying storage platform, you can further reduce your RPO down to 5 minutes. The lower the RPO, the more often replication will occur for the virtual machine, lowering the risk of potential data loss. A lower RPO is not guaranteed as limited bandwidth could cause the RPO to be higher than what is defined in the Recovery Settings window of the VM. Point in Time instances allows you to define how many replicated instances of a virtual machine you would like to keep. These instances are in reality, snapshots of the virtual machine that are replicated to the target site. You have the capability to retain up to 24 point in time copies of a replicated virtual machine. This capability allows you to select a specific point in time snapshot of a virtual machine once it has been recovered to the target site. Recovering to a point in time as opposed to the most recent replicated version of the VM can be useful if data corruption occurs or if a threat such as a virus or malware is replicated. We will not make any changes to the settings of this virtual machine. 1. Select Next to continue. Ready to Complete Review the settings in the Ready to Complete window. 1. Select Finish to complete any configuration changes. Lesson Review The Advanced options available within vsphere Replication gives you the flexibility to manage each individual VM separately based upon specific application requirements. You can configure or make modifications to the replication settings of a virtual machine from within the vsphere Web Client. Page 171

172 Conclusion In this module, you explored some of the advanced recovery capabilities available to you when you use Site Recovery Manager to protect and recover your virtual machines. You've finished Module 3 Site Recovery Manager provides the following benefits: Lower cost of disaster recovery by up to 50% by reducing the x86 hardware footprint, simplifying protection through VM-centric, policy-based replication, and decreasing operational expenses. Non-disruptive testing enables more frequent disaster recovery rehearsals, which minimizes risk. Recovery plans that can easily be updated and tested as new workloads are provisioned. Flexibility to protect nearly any workload that runs in a virtual machine. Automated customization of virtual machines to further improve recovery times and reduce risk. Detailed reporting to easily satisfy regulatory requirements for documentation of data protection and disaster recovery plans. Hopefully, this module has shown you some to the benefits that Site Recovery Manager can provide. You can proceed to the next module listed below or any other module which interests you most. Module 4 - Automating Site Recovery Manager tasks with vrealize Orchestrator (30 minutes, Advanced) Page 172

173 How to End Lab To end your lab, click on the END button. Page 173

174 Module 4 - Automating Site Recovery Manager tasks with vrealize Orchestrator (30 minutes, Advanced) Page 174

175 Module Overview There have been a number of enhancements to the programmatic interaction with Site Recovery Manager (SRM) 6.5. These take a few forms, primarily: exposure of a number of new options in the SRM API and significant enhancements to the vrealize Orchestrator (vro) plug-in for SRM to take advantage of these. The new functions available through the API and vro plug-in are listed below. Add a Test Network Mapping Get Test Network Mappings Remove a Test Network Mapping Remove Folder Mapping Remove Network Mapping Remove Resource Mapping Remove Protection Group Remove Replicated VM From VR Group Unprotect Virtual Machines Add Test Network Mapping to Recovery Plan Create Recovery Plan Delete Recovery Plan Initiate Planned Migration Recovery Plan Remove Protection Group From Recovery Plan Remove Test Network Mapping From Recovery Plan Discover Replicated Devices These functions along with the functions previously exposed provide programmatic access to almost the full range of SRM functionality. This makes it that much easier to manage and maintain SRM programmatically, saving time and improving accuracy and efficiency. Additionally, SRM 6.5 now fully supports unattended/silent installation and upgrades. This makes the deployment of SRM much faster and easier, saving time and money. In this module you will use the VMware vrealize Orchestrator plug-in for vsphere Replication and Site Recovery Manager to leverage pre-created workflows to extend the automation capabilities for certain vsphere Replication and Site Recovery Manager operations. Topics Covered in this lab: Lesson 1: vsphere Replication using vrealize Orchestrator. Lesson 2: Add a Virtual Machine to a Protection Group Using vrealize Orchestrator. Lesson 3: Protect a Virtual Machine Using vrealize Orchestrator. Lesson 4: Add a Virtual Machine to an Existing Recovery Plan. Lesson 5: Test the Recovery Plan Using vrealize Orchestrator. Page 175

176 Total time required: 30 minutes Page 176

177 Lesson 1: vsphere Replication using vrealize Orchestrator The VMware vrealize Orchestrator plug-in for vsphere Replication allows VMware administrators to simplify the management of their vsphere Replication infrastructure by leveraging the workflows provided by vrealize Orchestrator. The vrealize Orchestrator plug-in for vsphere Replication extends automation capabilities for certain vsphere Replication operations by including them in vrealize Orchestrator workflows. In this lesson you will use pre-built out-of-the-box workflows that cover certain existing vsphere Replication actions. Getting Started 1. Minimize both vcenter web browsers and select the vrealize Orchestrator Client located on desktop. Page 177

178 Log in to the vsphere Orchestrator Client Once the vrealize Orchestrator client renders the Host name and user name will already be displayed. 1. Use the dropdown to select vr0-01a.corp.local: Enter user Name: 3. Enter password VMware1! 4. Select Login Page 178

179 Configure Replication Using vrealize Orchestrator 1. From the drop-down menu select Design. Page 179

180 Expand the vsphere Replication Folder 1. Select the Workflow view icon on the top toolbar. 2. Expand the Library folder. 3. Expand the vsphere Replication > Configure Replication folder. Page 180

181 Start The Replication Workflow What is a vrealize Orchestrator workflow? Workflows combine actions, decisions, and results that, when performed in a particular order, complete a specific task or a specific process in a virtual environment such as performing vsphere Replication and Site Recovery Manager tasks. Workflows accept inputs according to their function. You can create workflows that run according to defined schedules, or that run if certain anticipated events occur. Information can be provided by you, by other users, by another workflow or action, or by an external process such as a Web service call from an application. Page 181

182 As you work throughout this lesson you will be entering workflow attributes and parameters as variables to allow the workflow to perform the desired Replication or Site Recovery task. Keep in mind that the workflows we are using to demonstrate this functionality are OOB and can be modified to meet your requirements. 1. Select and right click on Configure Replication. 2. Select Start workflow. Start Workflow - Configure Replication 1. Select Site, click on Not Set. 2. A new selection window will open, expand vsphere Replication. 3. Select site RegionA Select Select. 5. The selection windows will close, select Next (Not shown) Page 182

183 Virtual Machine to Replicate 1. Select Source VM, click on Not Set. 2. A new selection window will open, expand the path > Datacenters > RegionA Expand the path VM > Protected Appliactions. 4. Select the Sales-Web-01 virtual machine. 5. Select Select. 6. The selection windows will close, select Next (Not shown). Note: Disregard the "Mandatory field not set" error while entering the information. Page 183

184 Target Site 1. Select Site, which is initially set to "Not Set" 2. A new selection window will open, expand RegionA01 3. Select RegionB Select Select. 5. The selection windows will close, select Next (Not shown) Page 184

185 Target Datastore Select Target Datastore, click on Not set (Not shown). 1. A new selection window will appear, Double click RegionsB01-ISCSI01-COMP01 datastore. 2. Select Next. Page 185

186 Replication Settings There are optional Replication settings that can be taken advantage of, such as support for Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and Linux file system quiescing which improves reliability of recovered virtual machines. Recovery point objectives (RPOs) range from 15 minutes to 24 hours and can be configured on a per virtual machine basis and Network isolation and compression help secure replicated data and further reduce network bandwidth consumption. 1. Select Yes, to enable Network compression. 2. Review workflow details and then select Submit. Page 186

187 Completed Relocation Workflow Status 1. Once the workflows is complete we should see a green checkmark next to the completed workflow indicating that it has completed successfully. Page 187

188 Verify Replication From vcenter 1. Minimize the vsphere Orchestrator Client. 2. Maximize the vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter Web Browser. Page 188

189 Verify Replication From vcenter - Cont. 1. From the RegionA vcenter Web Client, select the Home button. 2. Select Hosts and Clusters from the Home selection dropdown. 3. From the Navigator expand vcsa-01a.corp.local > RegionA01> RegionA01-COMP Select Sales-Web-01 Page 189

190 Verify Replication From vcenter - Cont. Replication Process Utilizing a vrealize Orchestrator workflow, vsphere Web Client configures replication for a virtual machine. Replication for one or more virtual machines can be selected and configured via the same workflow. When configuring replication, an administrator specifies items such as the virtual machine storage policy, RPO, VSS or Linux file system quiescing, and network compression of replication traffic. Virtual machine snapshots are not used as part of the replication process unless VSS quiescing is enabled. The target location for vsphere Replication can be within the same vcenter Server environment, in another vcenter Server environment with vsphere Replication deployed, or a vcloud Air Disaster Recovery virtual data center. 1. From the Navigator expand vcsa-01a.corp.local > RegionA01> Protected VMs and Select Sales-Web Select the Summary tab. 3. To see the virtual machine Replication information, you may have to use the scroll bar on the right side of the Summary page. 4. Within the summary window review the VM Replication information. The replication full sync will take a few minutes to complete, once finished the status will change to OK (Green Check). Once the full sync is complete you can proceed to the next lesson. You have completed lesson 1 of module 4. It is recommended that you now start lesson 2 of module 4. Page 190

191 Lesson 2: Add a Virtual Machine to a Protection Group Using vrealize Orchestrator This lesson will demonstrate how to use vrealize Orchestrator to add a virtual machine to a protection group. Getting Started 1. Minimize the web browser and select the vrealize Orchestrator Client located on desktop. Note: You can proceed to the next step if you are already logged into to the vro client. Page 191

192 Log in to the vsphere Orchestrator Client Once the vrealize Orchestrator client renders the Host name and user name will already be displayed. 1. Enter password VMware1! Note: if the entries for Host and User name are blank you can use the following. Host: vro-01a.corp.local User Name: Note: You can proceed to the next step if you are already logged into to the vro client. Change vrealize Orchestrator Role Page 192

193 1. From the Role selector at the top select Design from the dropdown. Browse SRM Workflow Library 1. Select the workflow button on the top toolbar. 2. Expand the Library folder. 3. Expand the SRM folder. 4. Expand the Protection Groups folder. Page 193

194 Expand SRM Folder 1. Select and right click on the workflow Add Replicated VM to vsphere Replication Protection Group. 2. Select Start workflow. Page 194

195 Select Replication Protection Group 1. Select vsphere Replcation Protection Group (Not Set) 2. A new selection windows will appear, expand the SRM, RegionA10, Protection Groups folders. 3. Select Sales Application Protection Group. 4. Select Select. Page 195

196 Select Virtual Machine 1. Select VM (Not set). Page 196

197 Select Virtual Machine Cont. 1. A new selection window will appear, double click to select Sales-Web-01. Page 197

198 Verify and Submit Workflow 1. Verify sections and select Submit. Page 198

199 Workflow Complete 1. Once the workflow is complete we should see a green checkmark next to the completed workflow indicating that it has completed successfully. You have completed lesson 2 of module 4. It is recommended that you now start lesson 3 of module 4. Page 199

200 Lesson 3: Protect a Virtual Machine Using vrealize Orchestrator This lesson will demonstrate how to protect a virtual machine using a vcenter context action, vrealize Orchestrator workflow. Getting Started If you have just finished Lesson 2 minimize the vrealize Orchestrator client and maximize the Google Chrome browser for the vcenter Web Client vcsa-01a.corp.local 1. Check the URL of the browser to verify that you are using vcsa-01a.corp.local for this lesson. Page 200

201 Begin - Remote Authentication 1. From the vcenter Home screen, select the Hosts and Clusters Icon. Page 201

202 Remote Site Authentication In some cases, Site Recovery Manger and vcenter Replication vrealize Orchestrator workflows need to authenticate with the remote site to gain access or permission to make a change. Normally, this authentication workflow would be added to any workflow but it was separated in this lesson for demonstration purposes. 1. Under the vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter, expand the RegionA01 datacenter and RegionA01-COMP01 cluster and locate the VM Sales-Web Select and right click on Sales-Web Select All vrealize Orchestrator plugin Actions. 4. Select the Login Remote Site workflow. Page 202

203 Delegation Permission Select Approve. Remote Site Parameters 1. To add the Local Site, select the Green Plus Sign. Page 203

204 Select Remote Site 1. A new selection window will open. select the Filter tab 2. Select RegionA Select OK, the section window will close. Page 204

205 Remote Site Credentials 1. Enter User Name 2. Enter the password VMware1! 3. Select Next. Page 205

206 Verify and Finish 1. Insure Run now is Selected. 2. Select Finish. Page 206

207 Logon Remote Site - Complete 1. You can check vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter Recent tasks to verify that the Logon Remote Site Workflow has completed successfully. Page 207

208 Protect A Virtual Machine Workflow 1. Under the vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter, expand the RegionA01 datacenter and RegionA01-COMP01 cluster and locate the VM Sales-Web Select and right click on Sales-Web Select All vrealize Orchestrator plugin Actions. 4. Select the workflow Protect Virtual Machine. Delegation Permission Page 208

209 1. Select Approve. Workflow Parameters - Protection Group 1. Select the green Plus sign (+) Page 209

210 Select Protection Group 1. A new selection window will open. select the Filter tab. 2. Select the Sales Application Protection Group. 3. Select OK, the section window will close. Page 210

211 Verify Workflow Parameters 1. Select Next. Page 211

212 Start or Schedule Workflow 1. Insure Run now is selected. 2. Select Finish. Page 212

213 Verify Virtual Machine Protection 1. You can check vcenter Recent tasks to verify that the Protect Virtual Machine Workflow has completed successfully. You have completed lesson 3 of module 4. It is recommended that you now start lesson 4 of module 4. Page 213

214 Lesson 4: Add a Virtual Machine to an Existing Recovery Plan This lesson will demonstrate how to use vrealize Orchestrator to add a virtual machine to an existing recovery plan. Begin - Add a Virtual Machine to an Existing Recovery Plan 1. From the RegionA01 vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter Home screen, select the Hosts and Clusters Icon. Page 214

215 Add Protection Group to Recovery Plan 1. Under the vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter, expand the RegionA01 datacenter and RegionA01-COMP01 cluster and locate the VM Sales-Web Select and right click on Sales-Web Select All vrealize Orchestrator plugin Actions. 4. Select the Add Protection Group to Recovery Plan workflow. Delegation Permission 1. Select Approve. Page 215

216 Workflow Parameters - Recovery Plan 1. Select the green Plus sign (+) Page 216

217 Select Recovery Plan 1. A new selection window will open. select the Filter tab. 2. Select the Sales Application Recovery Plan. 3. Select OK, the section window will close. Page 217

218 Workflow Parameters - Protection Group 1. Select the green Plus sign (+) Page 218

219 Select Protection Group 1. A new selection window will open. select the Filter tab. 2. Select the Sales Application Protection Group. 3. Select OK, the section windows will close. Page 219

220 Verify Workflow Parameters Select Next. Page 220

221 Start or Schedule Workflow 1. Insure Run now is selected. 2. Select Finish. Page 221

222 Verify Workflow Completion You can check vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter Recent tasks to verify that the Add Protection Group to Recovery Plan workflow has completed successfully. You have completed lesson 4 of module 4. It is recommended that you now start lesson 5 of module 4. Page 222

223 Lesson 5: Test the Recovery Plan Using vrealize Orcestrator In this lesson you will test the Accounting Recovery Plan using vrealize Orchestrator workflows from the recovery site RegionB01 to ensure that the recovery plan completes successfully. In a production environment there are two vrealize Orchestrator instances configured, one instance configured as part of the production vcenter (RegionA01) and the other instance configured as part of the recovery site vcenter (RegionB01). This architecture would provide the capability to use automation from both sites. Getting Started 1. Minimize the web browser and select the vrealize Orchestrator Client located on desktop. Page 223

224 Log in to the vsphere Orchestrator Client Once the vrealize Orchestrator client renders the Host name and user name will already be displayed. 1. Use the dropdown to select vr0-01b.corp.local: Enter user Name: 3. Enter password: VMware1! 4. Select Login Page 224

225 Begin - Test Recovery Plan 1. Verify that you are connected to the vro-01b.corp.local vrealize Orchestrator server. 2. From the drop-down menu select Design. Page 225

226 Worlflow Folder Tree 1. Select the Workflow view icon on the top toolbar. 2. Expand the Library folder. 3. Expand the SRM > Recovery Plans folders. Page 226

227 Test Recovery Plan 1. Expand Recovery Plans folder. 2. Right click on, Initiate Recovery Plan workflow. Select Workflow 1. Select, Start Workflow. Page 227

228 Select Recovery Plan 1. Select Site, click on Not Set. 2. A new selection window will open. Expand SRM > RegionB01 > Recovery Plans 3. Select Sales Application Recovery Plan. 4. Click Select. The selection window will close Page 228

229 Select Recovery Plan 1. Verify that Sales Application Recovery Plan is selected. 2. Select No to Replcate Recent Changes. 3. Select Submit. Page 229

230 Workflow Complete Green checkmark verify the workflow completed without errors. Page 230

231 Recovery Plan Clean-Up 1. Minimize the active vsphere Orchestrator Client. 2. Maximize the vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter web client browser. Page 231

232 Review Recent vcenter Taskes Review Recent vcenter Taskes to verify the Test Recovery Plan workflow competed. Page 232

233 Minimize vcenter Client 1. Minimize the vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter client browser. 2. Maximize the active vro-01b.corp.local vsphere Orchestrator Client. Page 233

234 Recovery Clean Up Workflow 1. Select the Workflow view icon on the top toolbar. 2. Expand thelibrary folder. 3. Expand the SRM 4. Expand the Recovery Plans folders. Page 234

235 Clean Up Workflow Selection 1. Expand Recovery Plans. 2. Select Initiate Cleanup Recovery Plan workflow. 3. Start workflow. Page 235

236 Select Recovery Plan 1. Select Site, click on Not Set. 2. A new selection window will open. Expand SRM > RegionB01 > Recovery Plans 3. Select Sales Application Recovery Plan. 4. Click Select. 5. The selection windows will close, select Next (Not shown) Page 236

237 Verify Recovery Plan Selection 1. Verify that Sales Application Recovery Plan is selected. 2. Select Submit. Page 237

238 Minimize vrealize Orchestrator Client 1. Minimize the active vro-01b.corp.local Orchestrator Client. 2. Maximize the vcsa-01a.corp.local vcenter Client Web Browser. Page 238

239 Review Recent vro Workflow Taskes Review Recent vcenter Taskes to verify that the Initiate Cleanup Recovery Plan workflow competed. Page 239

240 Conclusion You have learned in this module that VMware vcenter Orchestrator plug-in for Site Recovery Manager allows Site Recovery Manager administrators to simplify the management of their Site Recovery Manager infrastructure by extending the robust workflow automation platform of vrealize Orchestrator. You've finished Module 4 Site Recovery Manager provides the following benefits: Lower cost of disaster recovery by up to 50% by reducing the x86 hardware footprint, simplifying protection through VM-centric, policy-based replication, and decreasing operational expenses. Non-disruptive testing enables more frequent disaster recovery rehearsals, which minimizes risk. Recovery plans that can easily be updated and tested as new workloads are provisioned. Flexibility to protect nearly any workload that runs in a virtual machine. Automated customization of virtual machines to further improve recovery times and reduce risk. Detailed reporting to easily satisfy regulatory requirements for documentation of data protection and disaster recovery plans. Hopefully, this module has shown you some to the benefits that Site Recovery Manager can provide. You can proceed to the next module listed below or any other module which interests you most. Module 5 - SRM integration with NSX and Storage Policy Based Protection Groups and Stretched Storage (30 minutes, Advanced) Page 240

241 How to End Lab To end your lab, click on the END button. Page 241

242 Module 5 - SRM integration with NSX and Storage Policy Based Protection Groups and Stretched Storage (30 minutes, Advanced) Page 242

243 Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation: Introduction to Site Recovery Manager New Features VMware has expanded the capabilities of Site Recovery Manager with the new version 6.5 release, which delivers unprecedented levels of protection and functionality as well as new use cases through the addition of capabilities such as storage policy based protection groups, support for stretched storage with orchestrated vmotion, and enhanced integration with VMware NSX. Storage Policy Based Protection Groups Site Recovery Manager 6.5 adds a new type of protection group; the storage policybased protection groups. Storage policy-based protection groups use vsphere storage profiles to identify protected datastores and virtual machines. They automate the process of protecting and unprotecting virtual machines and adding and removing datastores from protection groups. Storage profile-based protection groups enable deep integration with virtual machine provisioning tools like VMware vrealize Automation. This combination makes it easier than ever to deploy and protect virtual machines. Storage policy-based protection groups utilize vsphere tags in combination with vsphere storage policy based management to enable automated policy based protection for virtual machines. Storage policy-based management enables vsphere administrators to automate the provisioning and management of virtual machines storage to meet requirements like performance, availability and protection. vsphere tags allow for the ability to attach metadata to vsphere inventory, in this case datastores, which makes these objects more sortable, searchable and possible to associate with storage policies. When any virtual machine, new or existing, is associated with that policy and placed on the replicated datastore, Site Recovery Manager protection is automatic. If a virtual machine is disassociated from that policy and/or moved off the datastore it is automatically unprotected. The same happens for datastores and the virtual machines on them. Stretched Storage and Orchestrated vmotion In prior versions of Site Recovery Manager customers had to make a choice between using Site Recovery Manager or vsphere Metro Storage Clusters/Stretched Storage to provide a multisite solution that was optimized for either site mobility or disaster recovery without being able to attain the benefits of both solutions simultaneously. Site Recovery Manager now supports using cross-vcenter vmotion in combination with stretched storage, thereby combining the benefits of Site Recovery Manager with the advantages of stretched storage. Page 243

244 The integration of stretched storage with Site Recovery Manager allows customers to achieve what was previously only possible with vsphere Metro Storage Clusters: Planned maintenance downtime avoidance Orchestrated cross-site vmotion and recovery plans allow for workload migration transparent to app owners or end users. Zero-downtime disaster avoidance utilizing the ability to live migrate workloads using cross-site vmotion and the planned migration workflow in Site Recovery Manager, customers can avoid downtime instead of recovering from it. This new functionality augments the other features of Site Recovery Manager, which can be used with or without stretched storage. Non-disruptive automated testing enables customers to test and verify recovery plans as frequently as desired without any disruption to production systems or replication. Automated recovery plan orchestration all steps of the failover and failback are handled with minimal required interaction. Management Resiliency having an active vcenter at each site helps ensure that vcenter and its management and integration functionality is readily available when needed. Enhanced Integration with VMware NSX NSX supports creating Universal Logical Switches, which allow for the creation of layer-2 networks that span vcenter boundaries. This means that when utilizing Universal Logical Switches with NSX there will be a virtual port group at both the protected and recovery site that connect to the same layer-2 network When virtual machines are connected to port groups that are backed by Universal Logical Switches, Site Recovery Manager will automatically recognize this and not require manual network mapping between the protected and recovery locations. Site Recovery Manager intelligently understands that it is logically the same network on both sites and thereby automatically links the protected and recovery networks. Interactive Simulation This part of the lab is presented as a Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation. This will allow you to experience steps which are too time-consuming or resource intensive to do live in the lab environment. In this simulation, you can use the software interface as if you are interacting with a live environment. 1. Click here to open the interactive simulation. It will open in a new browser window or tab. 2. When finished, click the Return to the lab link to continue with this lab. The lab continues to run in the background. If the lab goes into standby mode, you can resume it after completing the module. Page 244

245 Conclusion SRM has tight integration with vsphere and NSX, offers an integrated storage replication option, and can manage and test recovery plans. It s capable of orchestrating recovery for multiple failure scenarios including Partial Application Failure, Full Application Failure, and Site Failure. You've finished Module 5 Site Recovery Manager 6.5 Information Site Recovery Manager 6.5 introduces a new set of enhancements and features that enable new levels of automation, control and protection, ranging from policy based protection to support for and integration with stretched storage. Key take aways from this module that are provided by Site Recovery Manager: Storage policy-based management to simplify the process of adding and removing protection to virtual machines Support for stretched storage solutions combined with cross-vcenter vmotion allows companies to achieve application mobility without incurring downtime, while taking advantage of all the benefits of Site Recovery Manager Enhancements to and integration with NSX that simplify both the creation and execution of recovery plans and accelerate recovery time Use of Site Recovery Manager enables rapid recovery time objectives through easy nondisruptive testing and rapid automation of recovery plans, and helps you eliminate the complexity of managing disaster recovery. Site Recovery Manager removes the risk and worry from disaster recovery. Page 245