[SRM 4.1] Config files on seperate datastore - anything to be aware of

[cormack12]

Hi all

Right almost on the brink of deploying this now, just doing some prep work behind the scenes on the storage, consolidating provisioned but unused space. One thing I've noticed about the environment is that a seperate datastore has been provisioned for config files (nvram/vmsd/vmx/vmxf).

I think this was just a matter of preference at the time of setup. Are there any special requirements I will need to be aware of with SRM regarding the above? I usually have all VM files in one datastore and folder to make the failover relatively easy. But if we have multiple VM's with configs on different datastores it could get a bit complicated. SHould I consolidate them all back first?

Cheers for any advice in meantime.

[kastlr]

Hi,

SRM does create a "placeholder VM" for any protected VM.

The configuration files for these placeholder VM's need to reside on a datastore at the recovery side.

Simply check the vCenter on the recovery site and you should find several VM's without any disk files attached to them.

So these files are vital for SRM.

Kind regards,

Ralf

[mal_michael · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Do all of the VMs have their config files residing on that single datastore?

If yes, then you will be able to have a single protection group and as a result you will only be able to failover all of the VMs together, loosing a granularity.

Michael.

[kastlr]

Hi Michael,

while configuring SRM you'll be asked for a VMFS datastore located on the recovery sideto store the "Placeholder" VM's on.

This VMFS datastore isn't replicated.

There's no need to choose multiple datastores for these placeholder VM's, as SRM failover will be done by the SRA's.

As long as you did configure

• multiple protection groups
  
• configure your arrays to allow individual/grouped LUN's to failover
  

you will have all the granularity you need.

Regards,

Ralf

[mal_michael]

Maybe I've misunderstood the question.

My understanding is that in cormack12's environment, VMs have config files stored on specific datastore while VMDK file stored on different datastores.

So my answer was intended to address this kind of setup.

cormack12, could you explain once again what do you mean by "datastore for config files"?

Michael.

[cormack12]

Hi Michael

Yes that is correct. For example:

VirtualMachine1 has config file on vmfs1, system drive on vmfs2 and data drive on vmfs3 .

[kastlr]

Hi,

with this statement Michael is absolutly right.

In your current configuration you have to add all VM's in a single recovery plan which does use any of these VMFS datastores.

There's no good reason for that approach to seperate VM config files from their vmdk Files.

Seperating vmdk files on different vmfs datastores could increase performance while adding more complexity on admin tasks like configuring SRM.

@ Michael,

now it's crystal clear that I did misunderstood the initial question.

Regards,

Ralf

[cormack12]

That's great - thanks for the advice guys.