VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager - 6.1 Administrator’s Guide

Site Recovery Manager Administration

Site Recovery Manager 6.1

This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

EN-001772-01

Site Recovery Manager Administration

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:

http://www.vmware.com/support/

The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:

docfeedback@vmware.com

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3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com

2 VMware, Inc.

About VMware Site Recovery Manager Administration 7

Updated Information 9

Site Recovery Manager Privileges, Roles, and Permissions 11

How Site Recovery Manager Handles Permissions 12

Site Recovery Manager and the vCenter Server Administrator Role 13

Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication Roles 13

Managing Permissions in a Shared Recovery Site Configuration 14

Assign Site Recovery Manager Roles and Permissions 15

Site Recovery Manager Roles Reference 17

Replicating Virtual Machines 23

Using Array-Based Replication with Site Recovery Manager 23

Configure Array-Based Replication 24

Using vSphere Replication with Site Recovery Manager 28

Replicating a Virtual Machine and Enabling Multiple Point in Time Instances 29

Using Array-Based Replication and vSphere Replication with Site Recovery Manager 30

Configuring Mappings 33

Inventory Mappings for Array-Based Replication Protection Groups and vSphere Replication

Protection Groups 34

Inventory Mappings for Storage Policy Protection Groups 34

Configure Temporary Placeholder Mappings 35

Users Gain Access to Virtual Machines After Configuring Temporary Placeholder Mappings 37

Configure Inventory Mappings 37

About Storage Policy Mappings 39

Select Storage Policy Mappings 39

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About Placeholder Virtual Machines 41

What Happens to Placeholder Virtual Machines During Recovery 42

Select a Placeholder Datastore 43

Creating and Managing Protection Groups 45

About Array-Based Replication Protection Groups and Datastore Groups 46

How Site Recovery Manager Computes Datastore Groups 46

About vSphere Replication Protection Groups 47

About Storage Policy Protection Groups 48

Prerequisites for Storage Policy Protection Groups 49

Limitations of Storage Policy Protection Groups 50

Storage Policy Protection Groups and Periodic Polling 52

Site Recovery Manager Administration

Storage Policy Protection Groups and Nonprotected Virtual Machines 52

Create Protection Groups 53

Organize Protection Groups in Folders 55

Add or Remove Datastore Groups or Virtual Machines to or from a Protection Group 56

Apply Inventory Mappings to All Members of a Protection Group 57

Configure Inventory Mappings for an Individual Virtual Machine in a Protection Group 58

Modifying the Settings of a Protected Virtual Machine 59

Remove Protection from a Virtual Machine 60

Protection Group Status Reference 61

Virtual Machine Protection Status Reference 62

Creating, Testing, and Running Site Recovery Manager Recovery Plans 65

Testing a Recovery Plan 66

Test Networks and Datacenter Networks 67

Performing a Planned Migration or Disaster Recovery By Running a Recovery Plan 67

Running a Recovery with Forced Recovery 68

Differences Between Testing and Running a Recovery Plan 69

Performing Test Recovery of Virtual Machines Across Multiple Hosts on the Recovery Site 70

Create, Test, and Run a Recovery Plan 70

Create a Recovery Plan 71

Organize Recovery Plans in Folders 71

Edit a Recovery Plan 72

Test a Recovery Plan 72

Clean Up After Testing a Recovery Plan 73

Run a Recovery Plan 74

Recover a Point-in-Time Snapshot of a Virtual Machine 75

Cancel a Test or Recovery 76

Export Recovery Plan Steps 76

View and Export a Recovery Plan History 77

Delete a Recovery Plan 77

Recovery Plan Status Reference 77

Configuring a Recovery Plan 81

Recovery Plan Steps 81

Creating Custom Recovery Steps 82

Types of Custom Recovery Steps 83

How Site Recovery Manager Handles Custom Recovery Step Failures 84

Create Top-Level Message Prompts or Command Steps 84

Create Message Prompts or Command Steps for Individual Virtual Machines 85

Guidelines for Writing Command Steps 86

Environment Variables for Command Steps 86

Suspend Virtual Machines When a Recovery Plan Runs 87

Specify the Recovery Priority of a Virtual Machine 88

Configure Virtual Machine Dependencies 88

Enable vSphere vMotion for Planned Migration 89

Configure Virtual Machine Startup and Shutdown Options 90

Limitations to Protection and Recovery of Virtual Machines 91

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Customizing IP Properties for Virtual Machines 93

Manually Customize IP Properties For an Individual Virtual Machine 94

Customizing IP Properties for Multiple Virtual Machines 95

Customizing IP Properties for Multiple Virtual Machines By Using the DR IP Customizer Tool 95

Customize IP Properties for Multiple Virtual Machines by Defining IP Customization Rules 109

Contents

Reprotecting Virtual Machines After a Recovery 111

How Site Recovery Manager Reprotects Virtual Machines with Array Based Replication 112

How Site Recovery Manager Reprotects Virtual Machines with vSphere Replication 113

How Site Recovery Manager Reprotects Virtual Machines with Storage Policy Protection 113

Preconditions for Performing Reprotect 114

Reprotect Virtual Machines 115

Reprotect States 115

Restoring the Pre-Recovery Site Configuration By Performing Failback 117

Perform a Failback 118

Interoperability of Site Recovery Manager with Other Software 121

Site Recovery Manager and vCenter Server 122

Using Site Recovery Manager with VMware Virtual SAN Storage and vSphere Replication 122

How Site Recovery Manager Interacts with DPM and DRS During Recovery 123

How Site Recovery Manager Interacts with Storage DRS or Storage vMotion 123

Using Site Recovery Manager with Array-Based Replication on Sites with Storage DRS or

Storage vMotion 123

Using Site Recovery Manager with vSphere Replication on Sites with Storage DRS or Storage

vMotion 124

How Site Recovery Manager Interacts with vSphere High Availability 125

How Site Recovery Manager Interacts with Stretched Storage 125

Using Site Recovery Manager with VMware NSX 127

Site Recovery Manager and vSphere PowerCLI 127

Site Recovery Manager and vRealize Orchestrator 128

Automated Operations That the vRealize Orchestrator Plug-In for Site Recovery Manager

Provides 128

Protecting Microsoft Cluster Server and Fault Tolerant Virtual Machines 130

Using Site Recovery Manager with SIOC Datastores 131

Using Site Recovery Manager with Admission Control Clusters 131

Site Recovery Manager and Virtual Machines Attached to RDM Disk Devices 132

Site Recovery Manager and Active Directory Domain Controllers 132

Advanced Site Recovery Manager Configuration 133

Reconfigure Site Recovery Manager Settings 133

Change Connections Settings 133

Change Site Recovery Manager History Report Collection Setting 134

Change Local Site Settings 134

Change Logging Settings 135

Change Recovery Settings 137

Change Remote Manager Settings 140

Change Remote Site Settings 141

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Site Recovery Manager Administration

Change Replication Settings 141

Change SSO Setting 142

Change Storage Settings 142

Change ABR Storage Policy Setting 143

Change Storage Provider Settings 144

Change vSphere Replication Settings 146

Modify Settings to Run Large Site Recovery Manager Environments 147

Settings for Large Site Recovery Manager Environments 148

Site Recovery Manager Events and Alarms 151

How Site Recovery Manager Monitors Connections Between Sites 151

Configure Site Recovery Manager Alarms 152

Site Recovery Manager Events Reference 153

Collecting Site Recovery Manager Log Files 163

Collect Site Recovery Manager Log Files By Using the Site Recovery Manager Interface 163

Collect Site Recovery Manager Log Files Manually 164

Change Size and Number of Site Recovery Manager Server Log Files 164

Configure Site Recovery Manager Core Dumps 166

Troubleshooting Site Recovery Manager 169

Site Recovery Manager Doubles the Number of Backslashes in the Command Line When Running

Callouts 170

Powering on Many Virtual Machines Simultaneously on the Recovery Site Can Lead to Errors 171

LVM.enableResignature=1 Remains Set After a Site Recovery Manager Test Recovery 171

Adding Virtual Machines to a Protection Group Fails with an Unresolved Devices Error 172

Configuring Protection fails with Placeholder Creation Error 172

Rapid Deletion and Recreation of Placeholders Fails 173

Planned Migration Fails Because Host is in an Incorrect State 173

Recovery Fails with a Timeout Error During Network Customization for Some Virtual Machines 174

Recovery Fails with Unavailable Host and Datastore Error 174

Reprotect Fails with a vSphere Replication Timeout Error 175

Recovery Plan Times Out While Waiting for VMware Tools 175

Synchronization Fails for vSphere Replication Protection Groups 175

Rescanning Datastores Fails Because Storage Devices are Not Ready 176

Recovery Sticks at 36% During Planned Migration 177

Operations Fail with Error About a Nonreplicated Configuration File 177

Index 179

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About VMware Site Recovery Manager Administration

VMware Site Recovery Manager is an extension to VMware vCenter Server that delivers a business continuity and disaster recovery solution that helps you plan, test, and run the recovery of vCenter Server virtual machines. Site Recovery Manager can discover and manage replicated datastores, and automate migration of inventory from one vCenter Server instance to another.

Intended Audience

This book is intended for Site Recovery Manager administrators who are familiar with vSphere and its replication technologies, such as host-based replication and replicated datastores. This solution serves the needs of administrators who want to configure protection for their vSphere inventory. It might also be appropriate for users who need to add virtual machines to a protected inventory or to verify that an existing inventory is properly configured for use with Site Recovery Manager.

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Site Recovery Manager Administration

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Updated Information

Site Recovery Manager Administration is updated with each release of the product or when necessary.

This table provides the update history of Site Recovery Manager Administration.

Revision Description

EN-001772-01

EN-001772-00 Initial release.

Revised and expanded the information in “Inventory Mappings for Storage Policy Protection

Groups,” on page 34.

Revised and expanded the information about storage policy protection groups throughout Chapter 5,

“Creating and Managing Protection Groups,” on page 45.

Added stretched storage information to “Recovery Plan Steps,” on page 81.

Added “Enable vSphere vMotion for Planned Migration,” on page 89.

Added “How Site Recovery Manager Reprotects Virtual Machines with Storage Policy Protection,”

on page 113.

Corrected the supported version of VMware Virtual SAN in “Using Site Recovery Manager with

VMware Virtual SAN Storage and vSphere Replication,” on page 122.

Added “How Site Recovery Manager Interacts with Stretched Storage,” on page 125.

Added “Using Site Recovery Manager with VMware NSX,” on page 127.

Revised and expanded “Recovery Plan Steps,” on page 81, adding subtopics about adding recovery

settings to VMs in a recovery plan and in a protection group.

Added “Operations Fail with Error About a Nonreplicated Configuration File,” on page 177.

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Site Recovery Manager Administration

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Site Recovery Manager Privileges,

Roles, and Permissions 1

Site Recovery Manager provides disaster recovery by performing operations for users. These operations involve managing objects, such as recovery plans or protection groups, and performing operations, such as replicating or powering off virtual machines. Site Recovery Manager uses roles and permissions so that only users with the correct roles and permissions can perform operations.

Site Recovery Manager adds several roles to vCenter Server, each of which includes privileges to complete Site Recovery Manager and vCenter Server tasks. You assign roles to users to permit them to complete tasks in Site Recovery Manager.

Privilege

Role

Permission

For information about the roles that Site Recovery Manager adds to vCenter Server and the privileges that users require to complete tasks, see “Site Recovery Manager Roles Reference,” on page 17.

How Site Recovery Manager Handles Permissions on page 12

Site Recovery Manager determines whether a user has permission to perform an operation, such as configuring protection or running the individual steps in a recovery plan. This permission check ensures the correct authentication of the user, but it does not represent the security context in which the operation is performed.

Site Recovery Manager and the vCenter Server Administrator Role on page 13

If a user or user group has the vCenter Server administrator role on a vCenter Server instance when you install Site Recovery Manager, that user or user group obtains all Site Recovery Manager privileges.

The right to perform an action, for example to create a recovery plan or to modify a protection group.

A collection of privileges. Default roles provide the privileges that certain users require to perform a set of Site Recovery Manager tasks, for example users who manage protection groups or perform recoveries. A user can have at most one role on an object, but roles can be combined if the user belongs to multiple groups that all have roles on the object.

A role granted to a particular user or user group on a specific object. A user or user group is also known as a principal. A permission is a combination of a role, an object, and a principal. For example, a permission is the privilege to modify a specific protection group.

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Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication Roles on page 13

When you install vSphere Replication with Site Recovery Manager, the vCenter Server administrator role inherits all of the Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication privileges.

Site Recovery Manager Administration

Managing Permissions in a Shared Recovery Site Configuration on page 14

You can configure permissions on Site Recovery Manager to use a shared recovery site. The vCenter Server administrator on the shared recovery site must manage permissions so that each user has sufficient privileges to configure and use Site Recovery Manager, but no user has access to resources that belong to another user.

Assign Site Recovery Manager Roles and Permissions on page 15

During installation of Site Recovery Manager, users with the vCenter Server administrator role are granted the administrator role on Site Recovery Manager. At this time, only vCenter Server administrators can log in to Site Recovery Manager, unless they explicitly grant access to other users.

Site Recovery Manager Roles Reference on page 17

Site Recovery Manager includes a set of roles. Each role includes a set of privileges, which allow users with those roles to complete different actions.

How Site Recovery Manager Handles Permissions

Site Recovery Manager performs operations in the security context of the user ID that is used to connect the sites, or in the context of the ID under which the Site Recovery Manager service is running, for example, the local system ID.

After Site Recovery Manager verifies that a user has the appropriate permissions on the target vSphere resources, Site Recovery Manager performs operations on behalf of users by using the vSphere administrator role.

For operations that configure protection on virtual machines, Site Recovery Manager validates the user permissions when the user requests the operation. Operations require two phases of validation.

1 During configuration, Site Recovery Manager verifies that the user configuring the system has the

correct permissions to complete the configuration on the vCenter Server object. For example, a user must have permission to protect a virtual machine and use resources on the secondary vCenter Server instance that the recovered virtual machine uses.

2 The user performing the configuration must have the correct permissions to complete the task that they

are configuring. For example, a user must have permissions to run a recovery plan. Site Recovery Manager then completes the task on behalf of the user as a vCenter Server administrator.

As a result, a user who completes a particular task, such as a recovery, does not necessarily require permissions to act on vSphere resources. The user only requires the permission to run a recovery in Site Recovery Manager. The role authorizes the action, but the action is performed by Site Recovery Manager acting as an administrator. Site Recovery Manager performs the operations by using the administrator credentials that you provide when you connect the protected and recovery sites.

Site Recovery Manager maintains a database of permissions for internal Site Recovery Manager objects that uses a model similar to the one the vCenter Server uses. Site Recovery Manager verifies its own Site Recovery Manager privileges even on vCenter Server objects. For example, Site Recovery Manager checks for the Resource.Recovery Use permission on the target datastore rather than checking multiple lowlevel permissions, such as Allocate space. Site Recovery Manager also verifies the permissions on the remote vCenter Server instance.

To use Site Recovery Manager with vSphere Replication, you must assign vSphere Replication roles to users as well as Site Recovery Manager roles. For information about vSphere Replication roles, see vSphere Replication Administration.

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Chapter 1 Site Recovery Manager Privileges, Roles, and Permissions

Site Recovery Manager and the vCenter Server Administrator Role

If you assign the vCenter Server administrator role to users or user groups after you install Site Recovery Manager, you must manually assign the Site Recovery Manager roles to those users on Site Recovery Manager objects.

You can assign Site Recovery Manager roles to users or user groups that do not have the vCenter Server administrator role. In this case, those users have permission to perform Site Recovery Manager operations, but they do not have permission to perform all vCenter Server operations.

Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication Roles

When you install vSphere Replication with Site Recovery Manager, the vCenter Server administrator role inherits all of the Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication privileges.

If you manually assign a Site Recovery Manager role to a user or user group, or if you assign a Site Recovery Manager role to a user or user group that is not a vCenter Server administrator, these users do not obtain vSphere Replication privileges. The Site Recovery Manager roles do not include the privileges of the vSphere Replication roles. For example, the Site Recovery Manager Recovery Administrator role includes the privilege to run recovery plans, including recovery plans that contain vSphere Replication protection groups, but it does not include the privilege to configure vSphere Replication on a virtual machine. The separation of the Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication roles allows you to distribute responsibilities between different users. For example, one user with the VRM administrator role is responsible for configuring vSphere Replication on virtual machines, and another user with the Site Recovery Manager Recovery Administrator role is responsible for running recoveries.

In some cases, a user who is not vCenter Server administrator might require the privileges to perform both Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication operations. To assign a combination of Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication roles to a single user, you can add the user to two user groups.

Example: Assign Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication Roles to a User

By creating two user groups, you can grant to a user the privileges of both a Site Recovery Manager role and a vSphere Replication role, without that user being a vCenter Server administrator.

1 Create two user groups.

2 Assign a Site Recovery Manager role to one user group, for example Site Recovery Manager

administrator.

3 Assign a vSphere Replication role to the other user group, for example VRM administrator.

4 Add the user to both user groups.

The user has all the privileges of the Site Recovery Manager administrator role and of the VRM administrator role.

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Site Recovery Manager Administration

Managing Permissions in a Shared Recovery Site Configuration

In the context of a shared recovery site, a user is the owner of a pair of Site Recovery Manager Server instances. Users with adequate permissions must be able to access the shared recovery site to create, test, and run the recovery plans for their own protected site. The vCenter Server administrator at the shared recovery site must create a separate user group for each user. No user's user accounts can be a member of the vCenter Server Administrators group. The only supported configuration for a shared recovery site is for one organization to manage all of the protected sites and the recovery site.

CAUTION Certain Site Recovery Manager roles allow users to run commands on Site Recovery Manager Server, so you should assign these roles to trusted administrator-level users only. See “Site Recovery Manager Roles Reference,” on page 17 for the list of Site Recovery Manager roles that run commands on Site Recovery Manager Server.

On a shared recovery site, multiple customers share a single vCenter Server instance. In some cases, multiple customers can share a single ESXi host on the recovery site. You can map the resources on the protected sites to shared resources on the shared recovery site. You might share resources on the recovery site if you do not need to keep all of the customers' virtual machines separate, for example if all of the customers belong to the same organization.

You can also create isolated resources on the shared recovery site and map the resources on the protected sites to their own dedicated resources on the shared recovery site. You might use this configuration if you must keep all of the customers' virtual machines separate from each other, for example if all of the customers belong to different organizations.

Guidelines for Sharing User Resources

Follow these guidelines when you configure permissions for sharing user resources on the shared recovery site:

All users must have read access to all folders of the vCenter Server on the shared recovery site.

Do not give a user the permission to rename, move, or delete the datacenter or host.

Do not give a user the permission to create virtual machines outside of the user’s dedicated folders and

resource pools.

Do not allow a user to change roles or assign permissions for objects that are not dedicated to the user’s

own use.

To prevent unwanted propagation of permissions across different organizations’ resources, do not

propagate permissions on the root folder, datacenters, and hosts of the vCenter Server on the shared recovery site.

Guidelines for Isolating User Resources

Follow these guidelines when you configure permissions for isolating user resources on the shared recovery site:

Assign to each user a separate virtual machine folder in the vCenter Server inventory.

Set permissions on this folder to prevent any other user from placing their virtual machines in it.

For example, set the Administrator role and activate the propagate option for a user on that user's folder. This configuration prevents duplicate name errors that might otherwise occur if multiple users protect virtual machines that have identical names.

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Chapter 1 Site Recovery Manager Privileges, Roles, and Permissions

Place all of the user's placeholder virtual machines in this folder, so that they can inherit its

permissions.

Do not assign permissions to access this folder to other users.

Assign dedicated resource pools, datastores, and networks to each user, and configure the permissions

in the same way as for folders.

CAUTION A deployment in which you isolate user resources still assumes trust between the vSphere sites. Even though you can isolate user resources, you cannot isolate the users themselves. This is not a suitable deployment if you must keep all users completely separate.

Viewing Tasks and Events in a Shared Recovery Site Configuration

In the Recent Tasks panel of the vSphere Client, users who have permissions to view an object can see tasks that other users start on that object. All users can see all of the tasks that other users perform on a shared resource. For example, all users can see the tasks that run on a shared host, datacenter, or the vCenter Server root folder.

Events that all of the instances of Site Recovery Manager Server generate on a shared recovery site have identical permissions. All users who can see events from one instance of Site Recovery Manager Server can see events from all Site Recovery Manager Server instances that are running on the shared recovery site.

Assign Site Recovery Manager Roles and Permissions

To allow other users to access Site Recovery Manager, vCenter Server administrators must grant them permissions in the Site Recovery Manager interface in the vSphere Web Client. You assign site-wide permission assignments on a per-site basis. You must add corresponding permissions on both sites.

Site Recovery Manager requires permissions on vCenter Server objects as well as on Site Recovery Manager objects. To configure permissions on the remote vCenter Server installation, start another instance of the vSphere Web Client. You can change Site Recovery Manager permissions from the same vSphere Web Client instance on both sites after you connect the protected and recovery sites.

Site Recovery Manager augments vCenter Server roles and permissions with additional permissions that allow detailed control over Site Recovery Manager specific tasks and operations. For information about the permissions that each Site Recovery Manager role includes, see “Site Recovery Manager Roles Reference,” on page 17.

You can assign more granular permissions to users by assigning them permissions on specific Site Recovery Manager objects, including individual array managers, protection groups, and recovery plans. You can also allow users to access specific groups of protections groups, recovery plans, and array managers by assigning permissions to protection group and recovery plan folders, and to all of the array managers for a site.

Procedure

1 In the vSphere Web Client, select the objects on which to assign permissions.

Option Description

Assign site-wide permissions

Assign permissions to an individual protection group

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Click Site Recovery > Sites, and select a site.

Click Site Recovery, expand Inventories, click Protection Groups, and select a protection group.

Site Recovery Manager Administration

Option Description

Assign permissions to a protection group folder

Assign permissions to an individual recovery plan

Assign permissions to a recovery plan folder

Assign permissions to an individual array manager

Assign permissions to all array managers for a site

2 In the Manage tab, click Permissions, then click the Add Permission icon.

3 Identify a user or group for the role.

a Click Add in the Users and Groups column.

b From the Domain drop-down menu, select the domain that contains the user or group.

c Enter a user or user group name in the Search text box or select a name from the User/Group list.

Click Site Recovery, expand Inventory Trees, click Protection Groups and select a protection group folder. You can assign permissions to the root folder or to a subfolder.

Click Site Recovery, expand Inventories, click Recovery Plans, and select a recovery plan.

Click Site Recovery, expand Inventory Trees, click Recovery Plans and select a recovery plan folder. You can assign permissions to the root folder or to a subfolder.

Click Site Recovery > Array Based Replication, and select an array manager.

Click Site Recovery, expand Inventory Trees, click Array Based Replication and select a site folder.

d Click Add and click OK.

4 Select a role from the Assigned Role drop-down menu to assign to the user or user group that you

selected in Step 3.

The Assigned Role drop-down menu includes all of the roles that vCenter Server and its plug-ins make available. Site Recovery Manager adds several roles to vCenter Server.

Option Action

Allow a user or user group to perform all Site Recovery Manager configuration and administration operations.

Allow a user or user group to manage and modify protection groups and to configure protection on virtual machines.

Allow a user or user group to perform recoveries and test recoveries.

Allow a user or user group to create, modify, and test recovery plans.

Allow a user or user group to test recovery plans.

Assign the SRM Administrator role.

Assign the SRM Protection Groups Administrator role.

Assign the SRM Recovery Administrator role.

Assign the SRM Recovery Plans Administrator role.

Assign the SRM Recovery Test Administrator role.

When you select a role, the hierarchical list displays the privileges that the role includes. Click a privilege in the hierarchical list to see a description of that privilege. You cannot modify the list of privileges that each role includes.

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Chapter 1 Site Recovery Manager Privileges, Roles, and Permissions

5 Select Propagate to Children to apply the selected role to all of the child objects of the inventory objects

that this role can affect.

For example, if a role contains privileges to modify folders, selecting this option extends the privileges to all the virtual machines in a folder. You might deselect this option to create a more complex hierarchy of permissions. For example, deselect this option to override the permissions that are propagated from the root of a certain node from the hierarchy tree, but without overriding the permissions of the child objects of that node.

6 Click OK to assign the role and its associated privileges to the user or user group.

7 Repeat Step 2 through Step 6 to assign roles and privileges to the users or user groups on the other

Site Recovery Manager site.

You assigned a given Site Recovery Manager role to a user or user group. This user or user group has privileges to perform the actions that the role defines on the objects on the Site Recovery Manager site that you configured.

Example: Combining Site Recovery Manager Roles

You can assign only one role to a user or user group. If a user who is not a vCenter Server administrator requires the privileges of more than one Site Recovery Manager role, you can create multiple user groups. For example, a user might require the privileges to manage recovery plans and to run recovery plans.

1 Create two user groups.

2 Assign the SRM Recovery Plans Administrator role to one group.

3 Assign the SRM Recovery Administrator role to the other group.

4 Add the user to both user groups.

By being a member of groups that have both the SRM Recovery Plans Administrator and the SRM Recovery Administrator roles, the user can manage recovery plans and run recoveries.

Site Recovery Manager Roles Reference

Site Recovery Manager includes a set of roles. Each role includes a set of privileges, which allow users with those roles to complete different actions.

Roles can have overlapping sets of privileges and actions. For example, the Site Recovery Manager Administrator role and the Site Recovery Manager Protection Groups Administrator have the Create privilege for protection groups. With this privilege, the user can complete one aspect of the set of tasks that make up the management of protection groups.

Assign roles to users on Site Recovery Manager objects consistently on both sites, so that protected and recovery objects have identical permissions.

All users must have at least the System.Read privilege on the root folders of vCenter Server and the Site Recovery Manager root nodes on both sites.

NOTE If you uninstall Site Recovery Manager Server, Site Recovery Manager removes the default Site Recovery Manager roles but the Site Recovery Manager privileges remain. You can still see and assign Site Recovery Manager privileges on other roles after uninstalling Site Recovery Manager. This is standard vCenter Server behavior. Privileges are not removed when you unregister an extension from vCenter Server.

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Site Recovery Manager Administration

Table 1‑1. Site Recovery Manager Roles

Role

Site Recovery Manager Administrator

Site Recovery Manager Protection Groups Administrator

Actions that this Role Permits Privileges that this Role Includes

The Site Recovery Manager Administrator grants permission to perform all Site Recovery Manager configuration and administration operations.

Configure

advanced settings.

Configure

connections.

Configure

inventory preferences.

Configure

placeholder datastores.

Configure array

managers.

Manage

protection groups.

Manage recovery

plans.

Perform reprotect

operations.

Configure

protection on virtual machines.

Edit protection

Site Recovery Manager.Advanced Settings.Modify

Site Recovery Manager.Array Manager.Configure

Site Recovery Manager.Diagnostics.Export

Site Recovery Manager.Inventory Preferences.Modify

Site Recovery Manager.Placeholder Datastores.Configure

Site Recovery Manager.Protection Group.Assign to Plan

Site Recovery Manager.Protection Group.Create

Site Recovery Manager.Protection Group.Modify

Site Recovery Manager.Protection Group.Remove

Site Recovery Manager.Protection Group.Remove from Plan

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery History .View Deleted Plans

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Configure

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Create

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Modify

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Remove

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Reprotect

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Test

Site Recovery Manager.Remote Site.Modify

Datastore.Replication.Protect

Datastore.Replication.Unprotect.Stop

Resource.Recovery Use

Virtual Machine. SRM Protection.Protect

Virtual Machine. SRM Protection.Stop

Site Recovery Manager.Profile-driven storage.Profiledriven storage view

groups.

Remove

protection groups.

View storage

policy objects.

Users with this role cannot run recoveries. Only users with the Site Recovery Manager Recovery Administrator role can perform recoveries.

The Site Recovery Manager Protection Groups Administrator role allows users to manage protection groups.

Site Recovery Manager.Protection Group.Create

Site Recovery Manager.Protection Group.Modify

Site Recovery Manager.Protection Group.Remove

Datastore.Replication.Protect

Datastore.Replication.Unprotect.Stop

Resource.Recovery Use

Objects in vCenter Server Inventory that this Role Can Access

Virtual

machin es

Datasto

res

vCenter

Server folders

Resourc

e pools

Site

Recover y Manage r service instance s

Networ

Site

Recover y Manage r folders

Protecti

on groups

Recover

y plans

Array

manage rs

Site

Recover y Manage r folders

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Table 1‑1. Site Recovery Manager Roles (Continued)

Actions that this

Role

Site Recovery Manager Recovery Administrator

Role Permits Privileges that this Role Includes

Create protection

groups.

Modify protection

Virtual Machine. SRM Protection.Protect

Virtual Machine. SRM Protection.Stop

groups.

Add virtual

machines to protection groups.

Delete protection

groups.

Configure

protection on virtual machines.

Remove

protection from virtual machines.

Users with this role cannot perform or test recoveries or create or modify recovery plans.

The Site Recovery Manager Recovery Administrator role allows users to perform recoveries and reprotect operations.

Remove

protection groups from recovery

Site Recovery Manager.Protection Group.Remove from plan

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Modify

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Test

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Recovery

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Reprotect

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Configure.Configure commands

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery History.View deleted plans

plans.

Test recovery

plans.

Run recovery

plans.

Run reprotect

operations.

Configure custom

command steps on virtual machines.

View deleted

recovery plans.

Edit virtual

machine recovery properties.

Users with this role cannot configure protection on virtual machines, or create or modify recovery plans.

Chapter 1 Site Recovery Manager Privileges, Roles, and Permissions

Objects in vCenter Server Inventory that this Role Can Access

Protecti

on groups

Protecti

on groups

Recover

y plans

Site

Recover y Manage r service instance s

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Site Recovery Manager Administration

Table 1‑1. Site Recovery Manager Roles (Continued)

Role

Site Recovery Manager Recovery Plans Administrator

Site Recovery Manager Test Administrator

Actions that this Role Permits Privileges that this Role Includes

The Site Recovery Manager Recovery Plans Administrator role allows users to create and test recovery plans.

Add protection

groups to recovery plans.

Remove

protection groups

Site Recovery Manager.Protection Group.Assign to plan

Site Recovery Manager.Protection Group.Remove from plan

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Configure Commands

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Create

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Modify

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Remove

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Test

Resource.Recovery Use

from recovery plans.

Configure custom

command steps on virtual machines.

Create recovery

plans.

Test recovery

plans.

Cancel recovery

plan tests.

Edit virtual

machine recovery properties.

Users with this role cannot configure protection on virtual machines, or perform recoveries or reprotect operations.

The Site Recovery

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Modify

Site Recovery Manager.Recovery Plan.Test

Manager Test Administrator role only allows users to test recovery plans.

Test recovery

plans.

Cancel recovery

plan tests.

Edit virtual

machine recovery properties.

Users with this role cannot configure protection on virtual machines, create

Objects in vCenter Server Inventory that this Role Can Access

Protecti

on groups

Recover

y plans

vCenter

Server folders

Datasto

res

Resourc

e pools

Networ

Recovery plans

20 VMware, Inc.

Table 1‑1. Site Recovery Manager Roles (Continued)

Actions that this

Role

Role Permits Privileges that this Role Includes

protection groups or recovery plans, or perform recoveries or reprotect operations.

Chapter 1 Site Recovery Manager Privileges, Roles, and Permissions

Objects in vCenter Server Inventory that this Role Can Access

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Site Recovery Manager Administration

22 VMware, Inc.

Replicating Virtual Machines 2

Before you create protection groups, you must configure replication on the virtual machines to protect.

You can replicate virtual machines by using either array-based replication, vSphere Replication, or a combination of both.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Using Array-Based Replication with Site Recovery Manager,” on page 23

“Using vSphere Replication with Site Recovery Manager,” on page 28

“Using Array-Based Replication and vSphere Replication with Site Recovery Manager,” on page 30

Using Array-Based Replication with Site Recovery Manager

When you use array-based replication, one or more storage arrays at the protected site replicate data to peer arrays at the recovery site. With storage replication adapters (SRAs), you can integrate Site Recovery Manager with a wide variety of arrays.

To use array-based replication with Site Recovery Manager, you must configure replication first before you can configure Site Recovery Manager to use it.

If your storage array supports consistency groups, Site Recovery Manager is compatible with vSphere Storage DRS and vSphere Storage vMotion. You can use Storage DRS and Storage vMotion to move virtual machine files within a consistency group that Site Recovery Manager protects. If your storage array does not support consistency groups, you cannot use Storage DRS and Storage vMotion in combination with Site Recovery Manager.

You can protect virtual machines that contain disks that use VMware vSphere Flash Read Cache storage. Since the host to which a virtual machine recovers might not be configured for Flash Read Cache, Site Recovery Manager disables Flash Read Cache on disks when it starts the virtual machines on the recovery site. Site Recovery Manager sets the reservation to zero. Before performing a recovery on a virtual machine that is configured to use vSphere Flash Read Cache, take a note of virtual machine's cache reservation from the vSphere Web Client. After the recovery, you can migrate the virtual machine to a host with Flash Read Cache storage and manually restore the original Flash Read Cache setting on the virtual machine.

If you protect virtual machines by using storage policy protection groups, you must replicate those virtual machines by using array-based replication.

Storage Replication Adapters

Storage replication adapters are not part of a Site Recovery Manager release. Your array vendor develops and supports them. You must install an SRA specific to each array that you use with Site Recovery Manager on the Site Recovery Manager Server host. Site Recovery Manager supports the use of multiple SRAs.

VMware, Inc.

SRM plug-in

vSphere Web Client

Protected Site

Recovery Site

ESXi

Server

ESXi

Server

vCenter Server

VMFS

Storage

VMFS

Storage

ESXi

Server

SRM Server SRM Server

SRA

ESXi

Server

ESXi

Server

vCenter Server

SRA

Array based replication

SRM plug-in

vSphere Web Client

Site Recovery Manager Administration

Figure 2‑1. Site Recovery Manager Architecture with Array-Based Replication

Configure Array-Based Replication

To protect virtual machines that you replicate by using array-based replication, including virtual machines that you protect by using storage policy protection groups, you must configure storage replication adapters (SRAs) at each site.

Install Storage Replication Adapters

If you protect virtual machines by using array-based replication or by using array-based replication with storage policy protection, you must install a Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) specific to each storage array that you use with Site Recovery Manager. An SRA is a program that an array vendor provides that enables Site Recovery Manager to work with a specific kind of array.

You must install an appropriate SRA on the Site Recovery Manager Server hosts at the protected and recovery sites. If you use more than one type of storage array, you must install the SRA for each type of array on both of the Site Recovery Manager Server hosts.

NOTE You can configure Site Recovery Manager to use more than one type of storage array, but you cannot store the virtual machine disks for a single virtual machine on multiple arrays from different vendors. You must store all of the disks for a virtual machine on the same array.

Storage replication adapters come with their own installation instructions. You must install the version of an SRA that corresponds to a specific Site Recovery Manager version. Install the same version of the SRA at both sites. Do not mix SRA versions.

If you are using vSphere Replication, you do not require an SRA.

Prerequisites

Check the availability of an SRA for your type of storage by consulting the VMware Compatibility Guide

for Site Recovery Manager at

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=sra.

24 VMware, Inc.

Chapter 2 Replicating Virtual Machines

Download the SRA by going to https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads, selecting VMware

vCenter Site Recovery Manager > Download Product, then selecting Drivers & Tools > Storage Replication Adapters > Go to Downloads.

If you obtain an SRA from a different vendor site, verify that it has been certified for the

Site Recovery Manager release you are using by checking the VMware Compatibility Guide for Site Recovery Manager at

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=sra.

Read the documentation provided with your SRA. SRAs do not support all features that storage arrays

support. The documentation that your SRA provides details what the SRA supports and requires. For example, HP and EMC have detailed physical requirements which must be met for the SRA to perform as expected.

Install Site Recovery Manager Server before you install the SRAs.

Your SRA might require the installation of other vendor-provided components. You might need to

install some of these components on the Site Recovery Manager Server host. Other components might require only network access by the Site Recovery Manager Server. For the latest information on such requirements, review the release notes and readme files for the SRAs you are installing.

Enable the storage array's capability to create snapshot copies of the replicated devices. See your SRA

documentation.

Procedure

1 Install the SRA on each Site Recovery Manager Server host.

The installer installs the SRA in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vCenter Site Recovery

Manager\storage\sra.

2 In the vSphere Web Client, go to Site Recovery > Sites, and select a site.

3 In the Monitor tab, click SRAs, and click the Rescan SRAs button.

This action refreshes SRA information, allowing Site Recovery Manager to discover the SRAs.

Configure Array Managers

After you pair the protected site and recovery site, configure their respective array managers so that Site Recovery Manager can discover replicated devices, compute datastore groups, and initiate storage operations.

You typically configure array managers only once after you connect the sites. You do not need to reconfigure them unless array manager connection information or credentials change, or you want to use a different set of arrays.

Prerequisites

Connect the sites as described in Connect the Protected and Recovery Sites in Site Recovery Manager

Installation and Configuration.

Install SRAs at both sites as described in “Install Storage Replication Adapters,” on page 24.

Procedure

1 In the vSphere Web Client, click Site Recovery > Array Based Replication.

2 In the Objects tab, click the icon to add an array manager.

3 Select from two options:

Add a pair of array managers

Add a single array manager

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Site Recovery Manager Administration

4 Select a site or pair of sites for the array manager and click Next.

5 Select the array manager type that you want Site Recovery Manager to use from the SRA Type table

and click Next.

If no manager type appears, rescan for SRAs or check that you have installed an SRA on the Site Recovery Manager Server host.

6 Enter a name for the array in the Display Name text box and click Next..

Use a descriptive name that makes it easy for you to identify the storage associated with this array manager.

7 Provide the required information for the type of SRA you selected.

For more information about how to fill in these text boxes, see the documentation that your SRA vendor provides. Text boxes vary between SRAs, but common text boxes include IP address, protocol information, mapping between array names and IP addresses, and user name and password.

8 If you chose to add a pair of array managers, on the Enable array pairs page, select the the array pair to

enable, then click Next.

You can also configure array pairs in the single option mode if the array manager on the peer site is already created.

9 Review the configuration and click Finish.

10 Repeat steps to configure an array manager for the recovery site, if necessary.

Rescan Arrays to Detect Configuration Changes

By default, Site Recovery Manager checks arrays for changes to device configurations by rescanning arrays every 24 hours. However, you can force an array rescan at any time.

You can reconfgure the frequency with which Site Recovery Manager performs regular array scans by changing the storage.minDsGroupComputationInterval option in Advanced Settings. See Change Storage

Settings.

Configuring array managers causes Site Recovery Manager to compute datastore groups based on the set of replicated storage devices that it discovers. If you change the configuration of the array at either site to add or remove devices, Site Recovery Manager must rescan the arrays and recompute the datastore groups.

Procedure

1 In the vSphere Web Client, click Site Recovery > Array Based Replication.

2 Select an array.

3 In the Manage tab, select Array Pairs.

The Array Pairs tab provides information about all the storage devices in the array, including the local device name, the device it is paired with, the direction of replication, the protection group to which the device belongs, whether the datastore is local or remote, and the consistency group ID for each SRA device.

4 Right-click an array pair and select Discover Devices to rescan the arrays and recompute the datastore

groups.

26 VMware, Inc.

Chapter 2 Replicating Virtual Machines

Edit Array Managers

Use the Edit Array Manager wizard to modify an array manager's name or other settings, such as the IP address or user name and password.

For more information about how to fill in the adapter fields, see the documentation that your SRA vendor provides. While fields vary among SRAs, common fields include IP address, protocol information, mapping between array names and IP addresses, and user names and passwords.

Procedure

1 In the vSphere Web Client, click Site Recovery > Array Based Replication.

2 Right-click an array and select Edit Array Manager.

3 Modify the name for the array in the Display Name field.

Use a descriptive name that makes it easy for you to identify the storage associated with this array manager. You cannot modify the array manager type.

4 Modify the adapter information.

These fields are created by the SRA.

5 Enable the array pair and click Next.

6 Click Finish to complete the modification of the array manager.

Specify an Unreplicated Datastore for Swap Files

Every virtual machine requires a swap file. By default, vCenter Server creates swap files in the same datastore as the other virtual machine files. To prevent Site Recovery Manager from replicating swap files, you can configure virtual machines to create them in an unreplicated datastore.

Under normal circumstances, you should keep the swap files in the same datastore as other virtual machine files. However, you might need to prevent replication of swap files to avoid excessive consumption of network bandwidth. Some storage vendors recommend that you do not replicate swap files. Only prevent replication of swap files if it is absolutely necessary.

NOTE If you are using an unreplicated datastore for swap files, you must create an unreplicated datastore for all protected hosts and clusters at both the protected and recovery sites. The unreplicated datastore must be visible to all hosts in a cluster, otherwise vMotion will not work.

Procedure

1 In the vSphere Web Client, select Hosts and Clusters, select a host, and click Manage > Settings.

2 Under Virtual Machines, select Swap file location, and click Edit.

3 Select Use a specific datastore, and select an unreplicated datastore.

4 Click OK.

5 Power off and power on all of the virtual machines on the host.

Resetting the guest operating system is not sufficient. The change of swapfile location takes effect after you power off then power on the virtual machines.

6 Browse the datastore that you selected for swapfiles and verify that VSWP files are present for the

virtual machines.

VMware, Inc. 27

Site Recovery Manager Administration

Isolating Devices For Stretched Storage During Disaster Recovery

In a disaster recovery with stretched storage, the failover command must isolate devices at the recovery site.

If some hosts at the protected site are still operational and continue running virtual machines when you initiate a disaster recovery, Site Recovery Manager cannot power on the corresponding virtual machines at the recovery site due to file locks. If the storage array isolates the devices at the recovery site, the ESX hosts at the recovery site can break the necessary locks and power on the virtual machines.

Site Recovery Manager must use isolation="true" in the failover SRA command for the stretched devices that were not deactivated at the protected site.

Implementation details of isolation for stretched storage is specific to array vendors. Some array vendors might make the devices inaccessible at the protected site after running the failover SRA command with isolation. Some array vendors might break the communication between source and target site for that particular device.

Using vSphere Replication with Site Recovery Manager

Site Recovery Manager can use vSphere Replication to replicate data to servers at the recovery site.

You deploy the vSphere Replication appliance and configure vSphere Replication on virtual machines independently of Site Recovery Manager. See the vSphere Replication documentation at

https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vsphere-replication-pubs.html for information about deploying

and configuring vSphere Replication.

vSphere Replication does not require storage arrays. The vSphere Replication storage replication source and target can be any storage device, including, but not limited to, storage arrays.

You can configure vSphere Replication to regularly create and retain snapshots of protected virtual machines on the recovery site. Taking multiple point-in-time (PIT) snapshots of virtual machines allows you to retain more than one replica of a virtual machine on the recovery site. Each snapshot reflects the state of the virtual machine at a certain point in time. You can select which snapshot to recover when you use vSphere Replication to perform a recovery.

28 VMware, Inc.

Figure 2‑2. Site Recovery Manager Architecture with vSphere Replication

Protected Site

SRM plug-in

vSphere Web Client

SRM plug-in

vSphere Web Client

Recovery Site

ESXi

Server

VR Agent

ESXi

Server

VR Agent

vCenter Server

VMFS

Storage

VMFS

Storage

ESXi

Server

VR Agent

SRM Server

VR Appliance

Network

File Copy

ESXi

SRM Server

Additional

VR Server

Network

File Copy

ESXi

VR Appliance

vSphere replication

vCenter Server

Chapter 2 Replicating Virtual Machines

Replicating a Virtual Machine and Enabling Multiple Point in Time Instances

You can recover virtual machines at specific points in time (PIT) such as the last known consistent state.

When you configure replication of a virtual machine, you can enable multiple point in time (PIT) instances in the recovery settings in the Configure Replication wizard. vSphere Replication retains a number of snapshot instances of the virtual machine on the target site based on the retention policy that you specify. vSphere Replication supports a maximum of 24 snapshot instances. After you recover a virtual machine, you can revert it to a specific snapshot.

During replication, vSphere Replication replicates all aspects of the virtual machine to the target site, including any potential viruses and corrupted applications. If a virtual machine suffers from a virus or corruption and you have configured vSphere Replication to keep PIT snapshots, you can recover the virtual machine and then revert it to a snapshot of the virtual machine in its uncorrupted state.

You can also use the PIT instances to recover the last known good state of a database.

NOTE vSphere Replication does not replicate virtual machine snapshots.

VMware, Inc. 29

vSphere Web Client

VR Appliance

VM VM VM

t3t2

vSphere Web Client

VR Appliance

Replication

Source Site

Target Site

Site Recovery Manager Administration

Figure 2‑3. Recovering a Virtual Machine at Points in Time (PIT)

Using Array-Based Replication and vSphere Replication with Site Recovery Manager

You can use a combination of array-based replication and vSphere Replication in your Site Recovery Manager deployment.

To create a mixed Site Recovery Manager deployment that uses array-based replication and vSphere Replication, you must configure the protected and recovery sites for both types of replication.

Set up and connect the storage arrays and install the appropriate storage replication adapters (SRA) on

both sites.

Deploy vSphere Replication appliances on both sites and configure the connection between the

appliances.

Configure virtual machines for replication using either array-based replication or vSphere Replication,

as appropriate.

NOTE Do not attempt to configure vSphere Replication on a virtual machine that resides on a datastore that you replicate by using array-based replication.

You create array-based protection groups for virtual machines that you configure with array-based replication, and vSphere Replication protection groups for virtual machines that you configure with vSphere Replication. You cannot mix replication types in a protection group. You can mix array-based protection groups and vSphere Replication protection groups in the same recovery plan.

30 VMware, Inc.

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