One of the coolest features that has been included with vSphere 5.1 in my opinion is vSphere Replication. (Make sure to read the what's new paper<http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/Introduction-to-vSphere-Replication.pdf>) The reason for it being is that it now brings "advanced" technology to everyone (Essentials Plus and upwards). I have used vSphere Replication in 5.0 and it was nice, but with 5.1 the installation and configuration process has been improved. For instance the database is now included in the appliance and it isn't as DNS sensitive as it was with 5.0. This makes installing and configuring it a matter of minutes.
I am going to assume you have "vSphere Replication" traffic enabled on a VMkernel NIC, if you do not know how to create a VMkernel NIC check this article<http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2012/09/13/back-to-basics-configuring-a-vswitch/>
Lets get started. I downloaded the vSphere Replication virtual appliance and imported and configured it in just a couple of steps using the vSphere 5.1 Web Client:
* Go to your cluster under "vCenter" —> "Hosts and Clusters".
* Right click the cluster object and click "All vCenter Actions" —> "Deploy OVF Template"
* As a source I select the ova file I downloaded, now click "Next"
* Validate the details and click "Next"
* If you agree "Accept" the EULA and click "Next"
* Select the "Name and folder" this virtual machine will needs to be placed in and click "Next"
* Select the "Datastore" it needs to be provisioned to and click "Next"
* Select the "Network" it needs to be connected to and click "Next"
* Provide an administrative "password" and enter the "Networking properties" and click "Next"
[http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8037/7971327436_c8457286c9.jpg]
* Click "Next" on the vService bindings, when the binding status is "ok"
* Click "Finish"
Now the vSphere Replication appliance is ready to be powered on. Depending on where you are replicating to there might be some additional steps required. If you are replicating to a second vCenter Server you will need to deploy a vSphere Replication appliance in that environment as well. Note that you will need to link two appliances together before you can replicate anything.
I don't have a second vCenter Server and I just want to replicate virtual machines to a secondary remote storage device as a form of backup. So I will go ahead and replicate a virtual machine.
* Go to your cluster under "vCenter" —> "Hosts and Clusters".
* Right click one of your virtual machines, I will use the vCenter Server as an example, and select "All vSphere Replication Actions" and then click on "Configure Replication".
[http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8178/7971353672_081a34da47.jpg]
* As a target site select the vCenter Server itself and click "next".
* As a target location select a datastore and click "next".
* Decide what the RPO (recovery point objective) should be, I selected 15 minutes and click "next".
[http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8461/7971355730_7f20402504.jpg]
* Click "finish".
Now replication will be configured and the virtual machine will be replicated with an RPO of 15 minutes. Next lets check on the progress of the replica:
* Click on the "Home" button.
* Click on "vSphere Replication" in the upper right.
* Click on "Sites" and then on your vCenter Server instance, in my case "vcenter-tm01".
* On the "Summary" tab you can see that a virtual machine replication is in progress.
* If you click "View details" you can see some more specifics. It is the first time it is being synced so it will do a full sync as indicated.
* When it is finished it should show a nice green check.[http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8454/7971357630_d560f1fe96.jpg]
Now if needed you can recover this virtual machine. You can also pause syncing or stop it completely. There is also the option to force an instant sync or even reconfigure the replication process. All of this can be found as follows:
* Click on the "Home" button.
* Click on "vSphere Replication" in the upper right.
* Click on "Sites" and then on your vCenter Server instance, in my case "vcenter-tm01".
* Click on the "Monitor" tab and next on "Incoming Replications".
* Right click the appropriate virtual machine.
[http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8302/7971351676_a49f88f35e.jpg]
* If you select "Recover" you will notice your virtual machine needs to be powered off before you can recover it.
* Select the "folder" you want to recover your virtual machine to and click "Next".
* Select the "cluster" and click "Next".
* Note that your virtual machine will be powered on, but with a disconnected network, click "Finish".
* Now you should see the status change to "Recovering" and when it is done to "Recovered".
That is it… Simple right
yellow-bricks.com [X] <http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2012/09/17/back-to-basics-install-configure-and-use-vsphere-replication/> |by Duncan Epping on September 17, 2012
◆
________________________________
Original Page: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2012/09/17/back-to-basics-install-configure-and-use-vsphere-replication/
Sent from Feeddler RSS Reader
No comments:
Post a Comment