Cloning used for recovery

[vParker]

Maybe this is a dumb question but I am looking at the different licensing options in vSphere and we would like the ability to quickly recover from a failed VM or Host Blade.  The VM Supporting files are on redundant Shared SAN Storage in the Datastore.  If a VM or Host fails and I have a clone copy of that VM from the State/point-in-time that we require, what is stopping me from just powering on that VM Manually -same host or another functioning host? 

Aside from the obvious with having 2 identical computers in my AD with identical names, and IDs, what else could I be missing or that I may not be  considering when it comes to using this as a cheap and manual way to have quick recovery?

Thanks for any feedback

[AndreTheGiant]

Cloning could be a simple solution.

But check also on some product that make this for you, like Veeam Backup&Replicator or Vizioncore vReplicator.

Andre

[idle-jam]

there are tools like platespin protect and acronis tha do the job too. if your SAN has a snapshot features, you can turn on schedule snapshots.

[Cyberfed27]

Nothing is stopping you. If you have a VM cloned ( NOT a snapshot but a full clone ).

There is no difference when your server fails and you turn on the cloned VM.

Assuming the clone is up to date you are good. I've had to do this before when a server died.

Remember - since it is a clone the SID and domain information is all identical to the first one. Which if you are using that clone as a 'backup' of the orginial is what you want.

Test you clones before you actually need them to make sure if the day comes you arent screwed!

[DSTAVERT]

Cloning works quite well. Depending on your License level you may have access to the vDR appliance http://blogs.vmware.com/uptime/2010/06/new-vdr-release-out-today.html which can give you not only full point in time copies but also file level restores and since it uses deduplication consumes far less space than multiple clones. It does require recovery time so it isn't as quick as bringing up a clone.

Have a look at http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-9852 for the ghettoVCB or ghettoVCBg2 scripts for a scripted cloning of one or more VM.s

[vParker]

All of these answers were helpful! thanks guys!  It seems the discussion wants me to mark one answer as correct but it is just not that type of question so im not going to choose.  All of these have been really helpful..

[DSTAVERT]

The important thing is that it is marked as answered and that it has been helpful. It will be especially useful to somone searching the forums with a similar question.