Does FT work across clusters/hosts?

[hutchingsp]

We have a small cluster with a SAN at our primary site.

We have a single host for DR on the end of a 10gbps link.

Can FT work so that the secondary server(s) are on the DR box?

I think the answer is no, but would like to clarify/confirm that's the case.

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Can FT work so that the secondary server(s) are on the DR box?

As long as they are within the same cluster and share the same storage than yes. But since this is a DR site, I imagine you are NOT sharing the same SAN. Basically FT employs VMOtion like functionality to sync memory so if VMotion is not available then FT will not be available.

I think the answer is no, but would like to clarify/confirm that's the case.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky
VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009
====
Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.
Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs -- Top Virtualization Security Links -- Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

[hutchingsp]

Thanks for the reply, I thought that might be the case. We use esXpress for backups already so at some point I'm hoping to get their basic replication (which is really a schedule copy/restore) up and running.

I've not yet had chance to watch all the vSphere demos/read the literature but I take it such functionality isn't available in vSphere under a different name?

[Texiwill]

Hello,

There is a Backup and Recovery package + SRM so some of it does exist.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky
VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009
====
Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.
Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs -- Top Virtualization Security Links -- Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

[ephillipsme]

FT will not work across clusters, the Datastore would need to be available to all the ESX hosts for FT to function like in vMotion. if you are going across sites or clusters you would need to look at VMware Site Recovery Manager which relies on the SAN or storage to be replicated or look at third party tools such as Veeam or Vizioncore replication. Though these will not provide the same level of uptime as FT they are more akin to the HA restart of the guest VM.