Implement the VMware Site Recovery Manager

This article describes the three-step process for implementing the VMware Site Recovery Manager.

Deploy the vSphere Replication Appliance at the Primary and Recovery Sites

First, you need to deploy the vSphere Replication Appliance at the primary and recovery sites.

1. Download the latest version of the OVA/OVF file for vSphere Replication appliance from the VMware site.
2. Deploy the OVA/OVF file for vSphere Replication appliance in Oracle Cloud VMware Solution vCenter Server and connect to the vds01-vSphere network dvportgroup.
3. Ensure that the forward and reverse lookup entries are created for vSphere Replication appliance in the DNS server.
4. Ensure that vCenter Server and vSphere Replication appliance can communicate with each other by using FQDN.
5. Access the VAMI UI for vSphere Replication appliance.
6. Configure it with the lookup service URL address, which is the vCenter Server FQDN and SSO credential. For the configuration mode, select Configure using the embedded mode database.
7. Click the Network tab, and select Address. Add the alternate DNS server address as the vSphere subnet gateway IP address.
8. Click Save Settings and log in again to the VAMI UI.
9. Click the VR tab and select Save and Restart Service.
10. Verify that the VRM and Tomcat services are running.
11. Log in to vCenter Server and verify that Site Recovery is listed in the Menu.
12. Click Site Recovery and check the vSphere Replication status. It should be OK.

If any errors have occurred, go back to the vSphere Replication appliance VAMI UI and validate the settings.

Install and Configure Site Recovery Manager at the Primary and Recovery Sites

Step two is to install and configure Site Recovery Manager (SRM) at the primary and recovery sites.

1. Download the latest version of the OVA/OVF file for SRM.

   Note:

   The new release of SRM comes with an embedded database appliance. In this paper, the instructions are for the appliance-based installation. However, you can choose to use the Windows-based SRM installation by using the executable file. For a Windows-based installation, you can use the embedded database or deploy a separate VM to host Microsoft SQL Server for the SRM database. If you use an external database, configure the system DSN in the SRM server.
2. Deploy the OVA/OVF file for SRM in Oracle Cloud VMware Solution vCenter Server.
3. Connect to the vds01-vSphere network dvportgroup during deployment. The appliance size can be 2 vCPU or 4 vCPU, depending on your requirement.
4. Ensure that the forward and reverse lookup entries are created in the DNS server so that SRM and vCenter Server can communicate using FQDN.
5. Access the VAMI UI for SRM by using port 5480, and log in with admin credentials supplied during the deployment.
6. Configure Platform Services Controller and vCenter Server for the SRM extension.
7. Ensure that NTP and all network settings are appropriate.
8. Navigate to Services and verify that all the service statuses are Started.
9. Log in to vCenter Server. From the Menu, select Site Recovery to verify that the SRM extension is registered and the status is OK.

You should see both the vSphere Replication extension and the SRM extension listed under Site Recovery.

Configure Site Recovery and Disaster Recovery

Now that you’ve installed the SRM and vSphere Replication appliances, configure disaster recovery options such as pairing sites, creating disaster recovery plans, and protecting virtual machines.

This step is a three-part process, as descibed in the following procedure.

1. Pair the sites.

   Before you begin, ensure that the primary site’s vCenter Server, SRM, and vSphere Replication appliance can communicate with the recovery site’s vCenter Server, SRM, and vSphere Replication appliance on the required ports and using FQDN. Also, ensure that the primary site’s ESXi host and the recovery site’s vSphere Replication appliance can communicate with one another.

   1. Log in to the primary site’s vCenter Server. From the Menu, select Site Recovery.
   2. Click Open Site Recovery.
   3. Click New Site Pair.
   4. Enter the details of second site’s Platform Service Controller. Click Next and select vCenter to pair.
   5. Verify the replication server details and ensure that no errors occurred.
   6. Under Site Pair, select Network Mappings, and create mappings of the networks between the primary and recovery sites, including all the networks available in vCenter Server.
   7. Select Folder Mappings, and create mappings of the VM folders between the primary and recovery sites.
   8. Select Resource mapping and create mapping of compute resources between the primary and recovery sites.
   9. Map the vSAN Storage policies between the primary and recovery sites. If the primary site doesn’t use vSAN, then map the appropriate storage policies from the environment with the recovery site vSAN policies.
   10. Select vsanDatastore as a placeholder datastore for the primary and recovery sites. If the primary site doesn’t use vSAN in the environment, then map the associated datastores as a placeholder datastore.

   .
2. Configure replication.
   1. In the Site Recovery UI, click Replications.
   2. Click New and select the VMs to enable with replication and include in the disaster recovery plan. This replication is considered outgoing replication from the primary site to the recovery site. Click Next.
   3. Select the recovery site as the target site, and then click Next.
   4. Select the recovery datastore, and then click Next.
   5. On the Replication settings page, select the RPO that you want for this application.
   6. If this is your first replication job, you can create a protection group. The protection group hosts all the VMs of the same disaster recovery requirement.

      Note:

      If a protection group already exists, you can add VMs to it later.
   7. If this is your first recovery plan operation, you can create a recovery plan.

      Note:

      If a recovery plan already exists, you can add to it later.
   8. Click Finish.
   9. Click the recovery plan and verify the plan status and the VM status.

      The Recovery Plans dashboard shows you all the details required for disaster recovery execution. The initial synchronization takes a little time. We recommend that you wait until the VMs are synchronized to the other site.

3. Test the recovery plan
   1. Select the recovery plan and then click Test.
   2. Check all the recovery steps and verify that no errors occurred. If any errors occurred, troubleshoot them. Failure in recovery steps indicates configuration issues, and these same issues will occur in the actual recovery. So, ensure that the recovery plan test is successful.