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gbattiston
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Initial install at Recovery Site

Hi All,

I've read the insallation guide for SRM 5.5 and see that it talks about having a virtual centre server setup at both sites.  I understand this but what I cannot find \ figure out is if I need to install the whole Virtual Centre suite at the Recovery site- vCenter Server, Inventory Service (on separate or shared server), Web Client, and Single Sign-On.

Which of these services, if any, can be shared with the related service at the protected site?  Or is it recommended to have 2 separate managed infrastructures whether I employ Active - Active or not in which case I have 2 complete vCenter Deployments?

Call me simple but I'd love a diag with detail if anyone knows of one.

thanks,

Gabe 

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vbrowncoat
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More than likely you want each of your sites to have all services so they can function independent of each other (as they would in the case of a disaster). If you don't do this you are kind of defeating the purpose of "Site" Recovery Manager. Does this make sense?

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vbrowncoat
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More than likely you want each of your sites to have all services so they can function independent of each other (as they would in the case of a disaster). If you don't do this you are kind of defeating the purpose of "Site" Recovery Manager. Does this make sense?

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gbattiston
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Fair Enough... the more I thought about it the more I figured why not have it all.  So my recovery site will have one vCenter server, one DB Server, and a third server running the Single Sign On, Web Client and Inventory Service.  In addition I am building an SRM Server and a separate SRM Database server.

Would you think this layout is ok?

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basher
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Hi Gabe

Sharing components between protected and recovery site seems like a good effort for efficiency initially, but consider the worst-case scenario - your "protected" site is completely gone. What you would then need is fully self-sufficient recovery site, right.

You can still use both sites in Linked mode in order to share user information. Also, if you have a passive recovery site, you may decide to provision vCenter server slightly differently compared to the protected site, e.g. put all services (vCenter, Inventory Service, Web-Client) on one machine, assuming that you'll be recovering only a portion of all the workloads in the production site.

Hope this helps

Stefan Tsonev

P.S. GS Khalsa, you win this time Smiley Happy

Director - VMware Site Recovery Manager
vbrowncoat
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That seems fine. The important thing is that it meet your needs/requirements. I'd recommend looking at using the embedded DB with SRM, that will save you from deploying a DB server or at least from deploying another database. It supports the full scale of SRM.

If it works for your environment I'd also recommend looking at the vCenter appliance.

Also, big plus one to Stefan regarding linked mode. Its much easier setting it up in vSphere 6 (join your 2nd vCenter to the firsts SSO domain as a second site) and makes managing SRM easier.

PS: For how often you beat me Stefan it's only fair I win once Smiley Wink

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gbattiston
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Thanks GS and Stefan,

In the replies You've both provided clarity so I feel far more comfortable in what to roll out.

If I have further questions or issues I know where to come and post for help.

Gabe

gbattiston
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Sorry GS... when you say look at the built in DB for SRM you are referring to the postgres I read about?

i'm completely unfamiliar with this but it sounds like a better option.  Anything I need to be aware of?

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vbrowncoat
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Yes, starting in SRM 5.8 there is an embedded vPostgres database that is an option for initial install (it comes up in the install workflow). It supports the full scale of SRM so nothing else to be aware of.

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