Dell Storage, PowerStore, PowerFlex PowerMax & PowerScale, Virtualization & Containers Technologies
So far, we have covered the following aspects of Dell Technologies PowerStore: High Level Overview, Hardware, AppsON, vVols, File Capabilities, User Interface , Importing external storage, PowerStore local protection works and remote […]
So far, we have covered the following aspects of Dell Technologies PowerStore:
High Level Overview, Hardware, AppsON, vVols, File Capabilities, User Interface , Importing external storage, PowerStore local protection works and remote replication . now that we understand how remote replication works, it’s only natural to go to the next step which is the integration with VMware SRM..
VMware Site Recovery Manager
vCenter Site Recovery Manager is a disaster recovery and business continuity solution with the following characteristics:
Planned Migration
Automated Failback
Automated failback provides an automated workflow to migrate virtual machines back to the protected site after the recovery site is restored.
About Storage Replication Adapters and Array Managers
An SRA is a program provided by a storage array vendor that enables vCenter Site Recovery Manager to work with the vendor’s array.
Functions performed by SRAs:
An SRA is used by an array manager, a vCenter Site Recovery Manager component that helps to identify available arrays and replicated LUNs.
You test a VMware vCenter™ Site Recovery Manager™ recovery plan by simulating a failover while isolating the test environment from the production environment.
You protect the new protected site after a recovery using reprotect.
You restore the initial vCenter Site Recovery Manager configuration for protected and recovery sites using failback.
Failover and Planned Migration with vCenter Site Recovery Manager Recovery Plans
Unplanned Failover – Recover from unexpected site failure:
The most critical but least frequent use case:
Preventive Failover – Anticipate potential data center outages:
Initiate preventive failover for smooth migration:
Most frequent vCenter Site Recovery Manager use case:
Ensure smooth site migrations:
Planned Migration and Application Consistency
Planned migration ensures application consistency and no data loss during migration by providing the following:
Recovery Testing and SRM
The ability to non-disruptively test a recovery plan is one of the most powerful features of VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM). Frequent testing reduces risk by reducing drift between plans and desired behavior. It also provides the confidence that if a disaster strikes you are ready, knowing how SRM and your applications will respond.
An SRM recovery plan test is designed to be as close as possible to running an actual recovery plan while not disrupting the protected VMs and not impacting replication.
From a storage perspective, SRM will utilize the PowerStore snapshots at the designated testing site so replication will still keep going on and from a network perspective, you can either designate your own dedicated vSwitches that needs to be isolated from your production network or you can use the built in SRM “auto-network”, while it’s easier to go with the latter, networking will only work between the VMs running on that host during the test since, its not connected to any physical nic so really, the latter option is more of a safety belt mechanism rather than a true test scenario so you really want to designate a real, isolated network vSwitches for the test.
Now we will perform the following PowerStore Storage Replication Adaptor (SRA) installation procedure on the Site Recovery Manager systems
Download the PowerStore Storage Replication Adaptor (SRA) from the VMware website.(click the screenshot below)
Log in to the Site Recovery Manager Appliance Management Page as admin.
In the Site Recovery Manager Appliance Management Page, click Storage Replication Adapters, and click New Adapter.
Click Upload, navigate to the directory where you saved the SRA file, and select it.
When the process finishes, click Close. The Storage Replication Adapter card appears in the Site Recovery Manager Appliance Management Page.
Now log in to the vSphere Client or the vSphere Web Client.
Click Site Recovery > Open Site Recovery, select a site pair, and click View Details.
In the Site Pair tab, go to Configure > Array Based Replication > Storage Replication Adapters, and click the Rescan Adapters button. Then the status of SRA displays “SRA version match detected”.
Ok, now that we cover the main highlights of VMware SRM, let’s see how it all connects together, instead of just flogging you with more details, we created a series of videos showing you how to do it
Below, you can see a demo showing how to install and use the adapter with the SRM Windows Server and the VMware Photon OS Appliance
Site Recovery Manager ships with a default configuration that is tuned for a large cross-section of
environments. However, each environment is unique in terms of architecture, infrastructure, size, and
recovery time objectives. Larger and more complex SRM environments may require tuning adjustments for
SRM to work properly.
To customize storage settings for your environment, use the following procedure:
1. Click Sites in the Site Recovery Manager interface.
2. Right-click the site > Advanced Settings.
3. Click Storage Provider.
4. Modify the settings based on the parameters
5. Ensure you change the settings for both sites and restart the SRM service to take effect.
you can also download the below white paper around PowerStore: Virtualization Integration
