VMware Cloud Community
golddiggie
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

Making sure I'm not missing something here...

Just looking for some confirmation on my thought processes here... We need to clone a VM to our DR location, but don't have anything like SRM... I've tried making hot clones a couple of times, but that's failing (the typical "Cannot create a quiesced snapshot because the create snapshot operation exceeded the time limit for holding off I/O in the frozen virtual machine." message) on me. I was thinking of scheduling a set of tasks, over the weekend, to shutdown the VM, clone it, and then get it to fire back up. My main concern is the amount of time to give the shutdown and clone tasks. IF things go smooth, the VM should only need a few minutes to shutdown, then the clone task can start, giving it a decent amount of time, and then get it to fire back up so the down time is minimal. My concern is if something doesn't go 100% to plan, and the VM needs some admin intervention. Or if the clone task takes longer than we think, and either the power on task doesn't kick off, or it buggers the clone task.

My other option would be to remote into the vCenter Server, manually initiating the tasks, monitoring them to ensure they run completely before going to the next one. While this means I'll be working over the weekend, the VM does need to be cloned over to the DR location. We do have vDR, but I suspect that will also have issues trying to backup the VM so that we can restore it to the other cluster.

While I would love to be able to automate this entire task, I suspect that I'll be better off not doing so. Once this is done, I can then look into why the task is failing in more depth. Working with the clone most likely... Since I just started where I am (a contract employee) and I only had a few days with the person I replaced, I'm not sure how the VM was configured. I do believe that it was a P2V conversion so there could be things in the VM that are the root of the issue. With this being a production VM that we cannot mess with during business hours, my time options are more limited.

Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
Troy_Clavell
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

.......My other option would be to remote into the vCenter Server, manually  initiating the tasks, monitoring them to ensure they run completely  before going to the next one. While this means I'll be working over the  weekend, the VM does need to be cloned over to the DR location. We do  have vDR, but I suspect that will also have issues trying to backup the  VM so that we can restore it to the other cluster.

For me, this is the option I would choose.  Even if it was fully automated, my curiosity would not allow me to stay away hoping/knowing everything would go off without a hitch.  Automation is great and helpful, but in situations like this, I prefer, even if automated to keep an eye on things.  So, my thought is, if I am going to keep an eye on things, why not just do the tasks myself.

my $.02

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
6 Replies
Troy_Clavell
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

.......My other option would be to remote into the vCenter Server, manually  initiating the tasks, monitoring them to ensure they run completely  before going to the next one. While this means I'll be working over the  weekend, the VM does need to be cloned over to the DR location. We do  have vDR, but I suspect that will also have issues trying to backup the  VM so that we can restore it to the other cluster.

For me, this is the option I would choose.  Even if it was fully automated, my curiosity would not allow me to stay away hoping/knowing everything would go off without a hitch.  Automation is great and helpful, but in situations like this, I prefer, even if automated to keep an eye on things.  So, my thought is, if I am going to keep an eye on things, why not just do the tasks myself.

my $.02

Reply
0 Kudos
vmroyale
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Hello.

I tend to agree with Troy - you are a contractor, so you at least get paid for working the weekend right?

Good Luck!

Brian Atkinson | vExpert | VMTN Moderator | Author of "VCP5-DCV VMware Certified Professional-Data Center Virtualization on vSphere 5.5 Study Guide: VCP-550" | @vmroyale | http://vmroyale.com
golddiggie
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

Would probably need to get it approved first... Not sure if they would pay me for the extra hours, or just do comp time during the following week. Since I'm not getting OT pay for over 40 hours, it won't matter too much to me. Basically, as long as I get my 40 hours, and paid, I don't care too much. :smileygrin:

Reply
0 Kudos
golddiggie
Champion
Champion
Jump to solution

New development... We really can't have the VM down/offline for much time at all. With it having about 90GB of data in it's VMDK files, I fear that it will take longer than we can give it to cold clone. I have found out that the server does have SQL installed on it, which is probably why the clone task is failing. It's also Windows Server 2003 for the OS...

Anyone have thoughts on using the VMware Converter tool to V2V the VM from the cluster it's in now, to the DR location cluster? I was thinking about giving vDR a shot, but suspect it will also fail to work properly on the VM. The Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider service is set to manual, and is not actually running. Same with the Volume Shadow Copy service. Should there be a VSS specific to VMware on the VM?

Strange thing is, we have other SQL servers in the cluster that are getting backed up via vDR. The one we want to copy/clone over to the other location is not being backed up. I don't know (yet) if there is a specific reason why it's not in the backup schedule. I'm thinking that I can set it up to back up the VM over the weekend and then restore it to the other location next week...

Reply
0 Kudos
Troy_Clavell
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

I would give Converter a try, while the guest is powered off.  If you are not doing any resizing of drives, it will do a block level copy, so may end up being a bit quicker than a cold migration.

Reply
0 Kudos
vmroyale
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

We really can't have the VM down/offline for much time at all...I don't know (yet) if there is a specific reason why it's not in the backup schedule.

Smiley Happy Good times!

The Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider service is set to manual,  and is not actually running. Same with the Volume Shadow Copy service.  Should there be a VSS specific to VMware on the VM?

These services' settings are correct.  Check the guest OS and verify if the VMware Tools is installed.  If so, see if it is using the Sync or VSS (or maybe both).  kb 1018194 details how to disable VSS (Sync would be the same) and just go with a crash consistent backup, which could be another option to explore.

Brian Atkinson | vExpert | VMTN Moderator | Author of "VCP5-DCV VMware Certified Professional-Data Center Virtualization on vSphere 5.5 Study Guide: VCP-550" | @vmroyale | http://vmroyale.com
Reply
0 Kudos