Continuing to SRM 8.1, now we are going to deploy this in our environment. To be very honest, we are using our home lab to explore Site Recovery Manager. Hence there are certain specific requirement in your home lab.
- Here we are using HP StoreVirtual VSA for array based replication as we do not have physical storage available. Let me tell you one point here that HP StoreVirtual VSA has not released any compatible SRA for SRM 8.1 as on date. So you can use EMC UnityVSA instead of HP StoreVirtual VSA. Here I had already downloaded everything and configured my lab using HP VSA, and faced compatibility issue while configuring SRA. So later I reconfigured my storage part using EMC UnityVSA which has compatible SRA for SRM 8.1. You can refer to compatibility matrix here https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=sra
- SRM will use embedded database in our home lab. But if you are going to deploy in production environment, you can check supported platform and database compatibility matrix for SRM at https://docs.vmware.com/en/Site-Recovery-Manager/8.1/rn/srm-compat-matrix-8-1.html
- vCenter will use embedded database in our home lab environment.
Architecture of our Home Lab is as shown below: –
Specific System Requirement for Site Recovery Manager Server in Production Environment: –
I will go through the specific requirement for Site Recovery Manager as per VMware guidelines. You have to ensure that you are meeting these requirements if you are going to deploy SRM in your production environment.
- You must run the same version of Site Recovery Manager on both sites.
- The version of vCenter Server must be compatible with the version of Site Recovery Manager. For information about compatibility between vCenter Server and Site Recovery Manager versions, see vCenter Server Requirements in the Compatibility Matrices for Site Recovery Manager 8.1 at https://docs.vmware.com/en/Site-Recovery-Manager/8.1/rn/srm-compat-matrix-8-1.html.
- Each site must have at least one datacenter.
- If you are using array-based replication, the same replication technology must be available at both sites, and the arrays must be paired.
- If you are using vSphere Replication, you require a vSphere Replication appliance on both sites. The vSphere Replication appliances must be connected to each other.
- The vSphere Replication appliances must be of the same version.
- The vSphere Replication version must be compatible with the version of Site Recovery Manager. For information about compatibility between vSphere Replication and Site Recovery Manager versions, see vSphere Replication Requirements in the Compatibility Matrices for Site Recovery Manager 8.1 at https://docs.vmware.com/en/Site-Recovery-Manager/8.1/rn/srm-compat-matrix-8-1.html.
- The recovery site must have hardware, network, and storage resources that can support the same virtual machines and workloads as the protected site. You can oversubscribe the recovery site by running additional virtual machines there that are not protected. In this case, during a recovery you must suspend noncritical virtual machines on the recovery site.
- The sites must be connected by a reliable IP network. If you are using array-based replication, ensure that your network connectivity meets the arrays’ network requirements.
- The recovery site should have access to comparable public and private networks as the protected site, although not necessarily the same range of network addresses.
Protection Maximums for Site Recovery Manager 8.1: –
Take a look in below topics, explore and learn Site Recovery Manager: –
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Learn SRM – Part 1 – Introduction of VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.1
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Learn SRM – Part 2 – Understand VMware Site Recovery Manager Licensing
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Learn SRM – Part 3 – Understand Minimum Requirement for SRM in your Home Lab
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Learn SRM – Part 4 – Prepare for Replicated Storage in you Home Lab (Ignore this step in Real Environment. You need to interact with Storage team for all these tasks in real environment)
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Learn SRM – Part 4.1 – Deploy HP VSA in Both Site
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Learn SRM – Part 4.2 -Configure HP VSA Appliance Networking in both Site
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Learn SRM – Part 4.3 -Install HP CMC Management Console
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Learn SRM – Part 4.4 -Add Appliance in HP CMC
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Learn SRM – Part 4.5 -Create Management Group in HP VSA
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Learn SRM – Part 4.6 -Create Cluster and Volumes in HP VSA
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Learn SRM – Part 4.7 -Find and Add ISCSI Initiator in ESXi Host
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Learn SRM – Part 4.8 -Assign Volume to ESXi Host
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Learn SRM – Part 4.9 -Scheduling Array Based Replication
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Learn SRM – Part 5 – Install VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.1 (SRM)
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Learn SRM – Part 6 – Install SRA (Storage Replication Adapter)
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Learn SRM – Part 7 – Configure Site Pairing for both Protected and Recovery Site
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Learn SRM – Part 8 – Configure SRM Array Manager Pairing
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Learn SRM – Part 9 – Configure Resource Mapping in VMware SRM
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Learn SRM – Part 10 – Create Placeholder Datastore in VMware SRM
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Learn SRM – Part 11 – Configure Protected Groups in VMware SRM
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Learn SRM – Part 12 – Configure Recovery Plans in VMware SRM
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Learn SRM – Part 13 – Perform Test Drill using VMware SRM
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Learn SRM – Part 14 – Perform Cleanup Activity in VMware SRM
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Learn SRM – Part 15 – Perform Cleanup Activity in VMware SRM