business continuity

[bambino]

hello all,

I have a client who wants to make sure his business continues running in the event of a disaster but he doesnt want to spend the money to redesign his network with server enterprise for clustering. Can anyone of you "brains" recommend a best approach with the minimum amount of investment for a two server operation. One, server exchange 2003 and another one with AD/File and print and great plain with MSDE and 20 users but only five using great plains.

His idea is to be able to make a copy of the virtual machine or simply synchronize the data between two environments.

[VirtualNoitall]

Hello,

There are lots of good options for BC/DR of virtual machines. If you are an ESX shop how about something like esxReplicator: http://www.vizioncore.com/esxReplicator.html

We don't know a lot about your environment\setup and capabilities. There are SAN technologies if you have one that you may be able to leverage.

[esiebert7625 · Accepted solution]

Also here's a few links on DR/BC you might want to read through...

Vmware users explore disaster recover options - http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid94_gci1253386,00.html

Vmware ESX Server and Storage Architecture Best Practices for Performance, Backup, and Disaster Recovery - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/adc9591.pdf

Using Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning to Drive Virtualization in the Production Data Center - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/adc9732.pdf

An Aggressive Approach Using P2V to Address Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/adc9938.pdf

How Management Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Virtualization: A Brush with Disaster Leads to a Virtualization-Based Disaster Recovery Plan at the Las Vegas Valley Water District - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/bct0046.pdf

Leveraging VMware ESX Server in Disaster Recovery Solutions - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/bct5070.pdf

Implementing Effective Backup Strategies For Disaster Recovery - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/bct9502.pdf

VMware Infrastructure 3 Capabilities for Improving Disaster Recovery - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/bct9552.pdf

Using Virtual Infrastructure as a High Availability Platform for Physical Production Servers - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/bct9560.pdf

RepliStor: Disaster Recovery and Data Migration Solution for VMware Environments - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/bct9636.pdf

VMware ESX Server as a Foundation for High Availability and Disaster Recovery for the Microsoft Server Platform - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/bct0107.pdf

Migrating Server Operations from Remote Sites to the Data Center for Disaster Recovery and Protection -

http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/bct0893.pdf

Innovative Approaches for High Availability and Disaster Recovery in Your VMware Infrastructure Environment - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/bct9708.pdf

Vmware Consolidated Backup for Disaster Recovery - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/labs2006/vmworld.06.lab01-VCB-PRESENTATION.pdf

HA/DR of Physical and Virtual Environments Using VMware ESX Server and Double-Take for Virtual Systems - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/bct9468.pdf

Platespin P2V DR - http://www.platespin.com/p2vdr/

Double-Take for virtual systems - http://www.doubletake.com/products/virtual-systems/default.aspx

Double-Take Replication in the VMware Environment - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_doubletake.pdf

Replistor - http://software.emc.com/products/software_az/replistor.htm

ESX 3 Disaster Recovery site options - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=473674

Disaster Recovery Plans - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=517701

Disaster recovery site VM Startup - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=514046

Disaster Recovery for Vms - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=502276

[DaveBerm]

Here is another great option. SteelEye also has a solution for protecting Virtual Center.

http://www.steeleye.com/virtual/index.html

[jasonboche]

Is there significant distance or a lack of bandwidth between the primary and DR site?

[bambino]

Is there significant distance or a lack of bandwidth

between the primary and DR site?

The user wants to keep the other server in his basement. He uses Verizon business as his ISP for home. which brings me to another question. VPN will suffice for the site connection, right?

[jasonboche]

What is the up/down bandwidth for Verizon Business in that area?

[VirtualNoitall]

It sounds like you are definitely looking at a replication scheme them. I would double check the details of the users contract with Verizon. If it is allowed then next would be to check the various products for their bandwidth requirements.

A couple of products were mentioned above and would be a good place to start. We don't use them so I can't comment myself on their performance in low bandwidth scenarios.

[bambino]

The connection is T1 on site A and DSL on Site B

The DSL is 3.MB down and 768 Up. is a business DSL line so there are no restrictions as far of the bandwidth

Thank you all for your prompt responses... I am still reading through all the material you referenced.

[bambino]

I will give doubletake a try. thank you all for your sugestions.