configuration of vSphere on DR-Site

[MrSiddiqui]

Hi Guys..

I am about to deploy a setup of vsphere for DR site of local company..

Scnerio:

Primary Site

3 Esx hosts + 1 vCenter server and Dell Eqlogic array.

there are almost 20 VMs of the Hosts all up and running.

DR Site

I have replicated all the volumes of Dell Eqlogic storage containg VMDK and other volumes on DR site Eqlogic array.

Now i have installed and configured 2 esxi hosts and a vcenter server on DR site.

My question is in case of any disaster how can i bring up the VMs and whether or not the RDMs mapped to VMs will remain intact?

can i mount datastores on DR vcenter that have copies of primary storage volumes containing Vmdk files of VMs?

i only have license for vcenter server so i cant go with SRM..

Please advice what can be done to make this setup work..

Best Regards

[Sreejesh_D]

In this scenario, incase of a disaster at primary site you have to power on the VMs in secondary manually.

If the services in VMs are related to the up to data in backend they you must check for an option to replicate the data to DR.

[memaad]

Hi,

First what version of vSPhere  you are using ?

IF you are using vSphere 5.1, then you can use vSphere Replication, for which you dont need license , since it is integrated with vSphere 5.1( ESXi and vCenter ). Here is link for vSphere Replication : http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/11/vsphere-replication-videos.html

IF not, then once primary site goes down, then you have mount the replicated datastore on DR site ESXi host.

Then manually register the VM in inventory of vCenter server. IF there is any RDM, manually add the RDM to specific VM ( keep track of RDM from primary site ).

Then power On the VM.

Regards

Mohammed

[Sreejesh_D]

thanks Emaad for suggesting vSphere Replication, its new to me. Looks like its simple and easy to use. thanks again.

[memaad]

Hi,

Yes, it is very simple to use. Also Vmware has standalone vSPhere replication, where we dont need two vCenter server, using one vCenter server we can replicate across the ESXi host which are located at different location, but manage by same vcenter server.

Regards

Mohammed

[Sreejesh_D]

thats interesting. it will help us in creating a mini inter DC DR system.

thanks.

[MrSiddiqui]

Hi emaad,

thanks for your response. I have relicated the volumes to DR storage...

And i likes the STANDALONE RELICATION feature which you mentioned.... i have ESX 4.1 at primary site is it possible to use this feature in this case?

please elaborate it as it seems an easy and effective way...

Else what i have planned is that i will install vCenter 5.0 along with two ESXi hosts at DR site and mount all the datastores in vcenter server. in case of any disaster will bring all the machines up manually..

[memaad]

Hi,

For standalone vSPhere Replication you need to have vSphere 5.1 , with ESXI and vCenter 5.1.

On DR, site you have to mount the datastore on DR sites and then register the VM manually at DR sites. The Power On. You may get the scripts to run it on all the ESXI host, so that it can find all the VM from datastore and then register it. Then you can power On.

Regards

Mohammed

[Karan9650]

Hi Mohammed,

Does it imply that for a DC & DR kind of scenario, we can have 1-vCenter deployed at DC which will help manage the VMs at DR. If so could you please suggest what is the recommendation/guideline for this.

Also can I host a Vcenter instance on a Hyper-V VM on a machine for it to do the VM management.