VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager

VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager - Automates data disaster recovery. In fact, SRM is a tool to build the recovery process in servers the "right" order on the "right" networks).

2021: VMware SRM 8.4 и vSphere Replication 8.4

On March 14, 2021, it became known that last week VMware released updates to its products - vSphere 7 Update 2 and vSAN 7 Update 2. One of the important components of the vSphere infrastructure is replication technology, which serves as the basis for protecting the active data center and allows you to create hot copies of virtual machines on a backup site as part of VMware Site Recovery Manager.

As explained, the capabilities of the recent VMware SRM 8.4 and vSphere Replication 8.4 update are:

• Optimize Re-Protect. When the main site returns online after the restore operation to the backup site, the virtual machine data is resynchronized back. This process is now much faster as SRM begins to track changing data immediately after Failover or scheduled migration to the backup site.

This is how it looks in terms of saving time to restore the original site configuration:

• Optimize scalability and performance. Previously, vSphere Replication technology supported replication of up to 2,000 virtual machines per server vCenter, but now this number has been increased to 3,000. One Replication Appliance can now have up to 300 VMs instead of 200 before. In addition, VMware engineers also worked to optimize the performance of the replication process.
• Reporting. Previously, reports could be uploaded to an XML file, but now the ability to copy them to any Datagrid via UI has also been added. The Export Global Report option also appeared in CSV format, which allows you to export all settings and configurations of the disaster tolerance infrastructure for reporting and analysis. There will be all Recovery Plans and Protection Groups with their detailed configurations.
• Interface optimization. Many updates appeared here, for example, the Missing network mappings section, which is very useful for SRM administrators.

The screenshot shows that when you configure replication, the missing mappings are shown in the interface, where you can add them to Protection groups in one of the wizard steps. After creating a disaster recovery plan, the user will be shown a list of tasks with errors detected for the received configurations. This is available on Summary Page, without having to open recovery plan report.

The task history shows all errors grouped by task:

Any screen with the infrastructure tree now has information about the status of each of the objects (Disconnected, Maintenance Mode, etc.):

For mapping folders, there is now a hint about their hierarchy:

After a feuillover or planned migration to another site, it is necessary to restore the operation of the main site and return to the original configuration. The Reprotect procedure is now reminiscent of a special popup. Also, when configuring replication for virtual machines, in addition to the disk format and storage policy, the controller for each disk is now shown. You can read-only view the VM Recovery Settings Wizard when recovery plans are in a non-editable state.

• Optimize Replication Appliance Management vSphere. The VRMS interface has been brought to the same standards as the Site Recovery Manager and vCenter consoles. Now the tasks and settings you need are easier to find:

• Optimize ease of use. Site Recovery Manager now automatically selects placeholder datastores on both sites based on the characteristics of these datastores. You can disable this mechanics in the settings. Also, replication configuration now automatically identifies rarely used ISO connected as CD/DVD and excluded from replication.
• Improved support for site interconnection. The SRM configuration now supports the difference in versions (N + 1), which is very convenient for upgrading the software version on both sites. There are 3 main points:
  • The pair will operate on the terms of the younger version
  • SRM and vSphere Replication must be the same version within the same site
  • This functionality is separate from the compatibility of different versions vCenter

• Optimization of automation. The following features are now available through the SRM API:
  • View number and license types
  • Create empty protection groups
  • Create/edit folders and move recovery plans and protection groups
  • Configure array managers
  • Managing replicated disk array pairs
  • Manual mapping/VM protection
  • Add/Remove/Get functions for Placeholder Datastores
  • Add VM dependencies

For the vRealize Orchestrator plug-in for SRM plugin, you added:

• • Add Inventory Mappings at VM level
  • Setting Placeholder Datastore
  • Workflow for creating Protection Group and Recovery Plan folders and moving them from one folder to another

• Optimizing vRealize Operations Management Packs. Management Pack now supports vRealize Operations Manager 8.3. In the reports you can now find information about:
  • Licenses
  • Array Manager Objects
  • Errors, alerts and alerts
  • Recovery History
  • MPIT visibility для vSphere Replication

2020: VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.3

On March 13, 2020, the company VMware announced the release of an updated version of VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.3, designed to provide disaster resilience. virtual data centers

Changes and additions to SRM 8.3 noted by the developer:

• Integration with Virtual Volumes (vVols). This was one of SRM's most anticipated capabilities. In the present version, vVols volumes are fully supported for protection using disk-based replication technologies based on SRM. Replication for vVols volumes works at the level of individual virtual machines, as well as in groups (replication groups).

The VASA provider has replaced the Storage Replication Adapter (SRA), so daily operations are easier and faster. At first, support will be implemented for, and storages Pure HPE 3par , Nimble but will soon appear for other vendors, emphasized in VMware.

• Auto-protect virtual machines. Previously, if you had to add VMs to protected datastore, you had to open the SRM console and add it to the protection group. Now, if the machine moves to such a datastore using the vMotion or is created there by the administrator, then it automatically falls into the protected group.

The same Auto-Protect applies to vVols volumes that are supported since this version of SRM.

VMware noted that if a machine moves between datastores through Storage vMotion, then it does not fall into the protection group. This is to prevent the protection group from changing for the machine during this operation.

• Seamless disk resizing. Previously, to change the disk size of a replicated machine by vSphere Replication, it was necessary to do several manual operations on the side of the replication target. In the presented version, this operation is done automatically when the user changes the disk size of the original VM.

• Утилита vSphere Replication Configuration Export/Import Tool. SRM 8.1 has the ability to save and restore the protected environment configuration, and SRM 8.3 can use the vSphere Replication Configuration Export/Import Tool to do the same for replication configurations. Administrators can back up configurations of replicated VMs, including RPO, MPIT, compression, quiescing, encryption, datastore settings, and more. According to March 2020, this opportunity is available only through CLI.

• Interface enhancements. Many changes have been made to the UI plan in SRM 8.3, here are some of them:
  • Improvements to reporting, including the ability to export all views to CSV format.
  • The user can export replication details of individual VMs.
  • The replication interface includes lag time statistics that show the elapsed time since the last replication.
  • Ability to hide/show columns in all table views.
  • The replication list shows the associated protection groups.

• Performance improvements for vSphere Replication. Improvements concern both the initial synchronization mechanism and the continuous replication of the machine under load.

• Other improvements:
  • SRM Configuration Import/Export Tool enhancements.
  • Enhanced vRO plugins for SRM and vSphere Replication, including workflows for vVols volumes.
  • Additional features for vROps Management packs for both SRM and vSphere Replication.
  • Improved integration with storages [[[VMware Virtual SAN|vSAN]] those who understand more about the availability of vSphere Replication replica data.
  • Security enhancements, including FIPS support in the interface, and integration with vSphere Trust Authority encryption.

Availability for VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.3 is expected in April 2020.^[1]

2019: VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.2

On May 13, 2019, VMware announced that it has released a version of the VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.2 virtual data center disaster tolerance solution.

According to the company, the main innovation of this update is the abandonment of Windows and the transition to a virtual module (Virtual Appliance) based on the guest Photon OS. True, the installer for Windows is still available, but most likely it will no longer be in future versions.

The updated version of VMware SRM 8.2 includes:

• Full compatibility with VMware vSphere 6.7 Update 2.
• Improvements to the management interface based on: HTML5
  • SRM Configuration Import/Export Tool is now available directly from the solution console.
  • You can select user interface color schemes, including a dark theme.

• • Displays capacity information on the Protection Groups Datastores tab.
  • Ability to feed back to VMware regarding the updated interface.

• Public API enhancements:
  • Displays information about all Array Managers.
  • Displays all replicated RDM volumes.
  • Updated Package for vROPs - vRealize Operations Management Pack for Site Recovery Manager 8.2
  • Updated Plugin to vRO - vRealize Orchestrator Plug-In for VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.2

• Ability to send SRM logs to a remote syslog server.
• Network traffic encryption support for vSphere Replication 8.2.

2014: VMware Site Recovery Manager 5.8

VMware announced VMware Site Recovery Manager 5.8 in October 2014 - a means to create a disaster-tolerant virtual datacenter architecture. But the other day vSphere Replication was upgraded to version 5.6, where it became possible to conduct secure replication of virtual machines to the VMware vCloud Air cloud, so the news about SRM 5.8 will now be very useful.

New VMware SRM 5.8 Capabilities:

Finally, SRM fully supports vSphere Web Client (previously it was available only for the "thick" client).

The interface is fully functional. Here are, for example, automatic creation of reverse mapping on the standby site:

• The maximum number of protected VMs increased to 5,000.
• The maximum number of simultaneous tasks increased to 2000.
• The performance of tasks has improved - now they run up to 75% faster.

• Now, as part of creating a disaster recovery plan, you can map not only individual IP addresses of machines (which is inconvenient with mass mapping), but also entire subnets (IP customization plans).

• The new version of vSphere Replication enables secure replication of virtual machines to the VMware vCloud Air cloud.
• vSphere replication calculator - The ability to calculate which channel you need to replicate the right number of virtual machines.
• Enhanced reporting - The new version of vSphere Replication introduces a new reporting dashboard view that provides detailed information about how to use vSphere Replication.
• A new VMware Orchestrator Plugin for SRM plugin has been introduced to automate SRM operations (this is required for non-standard and complex scenarios).
• SRM can now use the built-in vPostgres database for rapid deployment.
• Full support for VSAN and vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA).
• Integrated Windows authentication using Microsoft SQL Server database (more here).
• Support for integration with vCloud Automation Center (vCAC - now called vRealize Automation) - user self-service tools have appeared.

Overall, version 5 of VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager's proven disaster recovery solution includes built-in replication capabilities, enabling customers to double the number of protected applications at no additional cost. At the same time, the solution supports heterogeneous storage configurations on primary and backup sites. The new ability to automatically restore configuration and plan migrations will enable customers to manage movements while avoiding disruptions and supporting scheduled maintenance and data center consolidation.

2013: VMware Site Recovery Manager 5.5

(Data valid as of September 2013)

• Ability to test disaster recovery from two sides without disrupting the production environment.
• Supports virtual machines with more than 2 TB of disk space.
• Windows Server 2012 support for installing SRM components.
• New settings to support Replicaiton vSphere mode.
• When moving machines within the same consistency group, Storage DRS and Storage vMotion techniques are fully supported.
• Protect virtual machines that are stored on the Virtual SAN backend (vSAN). Naturally, this is implemented on the basis of vSphere Replication.
• Support for the multiple point-in-time (MPIT) technique - multiple points for restoring the target replicated machine. This protects services from logical data corruption where changes are replicated to the backup site.
• SRM 5.5 no longer supports the IBM DB2 database.

It should be noted that to manage the SRM infrastructure, a "thick" client vSphere Client is still required (recall that it was not removed from vSphere 5.5, although it was promised - it seems precisely because of the related products), and nothing is said about the support of vSphere Web Client.

An interesting new opportunity discussed on VMworld was the scenario of creating a backup SRM infrastructure in one of the supported public clouds (it can be used as a common recovery site for several branches of the company).

In SRM, you can use array-based replication, which works quickly, reliably (up to RPO = 0) and synchronously (or asynchronously), but requires infrastructure investments, as well as host-based replication over a data network that works less efficiently (RPO - from 15 minutes to 24 hours), but uses the existing Ethernet infrastructure.

2012: VMware Site Recovery Manager 5.1

(Data valid as of September 2012)

• The ability to build a DR configuration without its own backup datacenter. In this case, you can use the data center of a service provider operating under the program for providing cloud services for rent - VSPP. In the event of a major infrastructure failure or disaster, the company can continue to run VMware vSphere services from the cloud.
• Application-aware replication as well as automatic failback when using vSphere Replication. Now SRM integration in the VSS engine in the guest OS has appeared, in addition, reverse recovery from the backup site to the main (Failback) is possible not only for the replication technology at the disk array level, but also for the replication technology at the host level vSphere Replication.
• Support for vSphere Essentials Plus environments. As many already know, Essentials Plus has built-in vSphere Replication features that are supported by SRM, so this edition is fully supported by the latter.

Notes