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JasonVmware
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

SRM change IP question

Hello,


Currently we are trying to setup a new DR site with SRM that is not a flat network with our main site.  The setup is as follows

10.70.10.x /24 Main site

Active Directory Server/DNS (AD01)

Active Directory Server/DNS (AD02)

vCenter Server (VC01)

SRM Server

Exchange Server (EXCH01)

All other VM's

10.70.20.x /24 DR site

Active Directory Server/DNS (AD02)

vCenter Server (VC02)

SRM Server

Space for recovered VM's

Setting up the replication and recovery plans is fine but I was wondering what the best practice was when changing the IP's and if there is any other ways around this like DNS masking or something.  From the reading I have been doing it would appear the best way to have SRM set this up is do an IP address change during the failover and then have it run the DNSscript to change the DNS records on the active AD controller.  My concern with this is the Exchange server as the rest of the servers won't have a problem with the IP address change/ DNS change and the AD01/AD02 will not be replicated.  Also while reading up no the IP change / DNS change it would appear there is no way to actually run a Test Recovery Plan with DNS change as the changes are always made to the production DNS servers even though the rest of the VM's will be in the isolated network SRM creates for a test recovery plan.

So to recap my questions are

1.)  Is there anyway to get around the IP change when your DR site is not on a flat network/same network

2.)  How does Exchange handle the IP address change / DNS change

3.)  Is there anything special that would have to go into the DNS script if we do change ip / dns for exchange or for testing

4.)  Is this the most efficient way to accomplish this DR failover

Thanks

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Aeonus
Contributor
Contributor

It sounds like you're in the same boat I am at the moment in regards to different subnets.

What version of Exchange are you running? For us, we are just adding a couple DAG members up there and using the built-in Exchange method of DR. This to me takes SRM out of the equation and makes for a simpler DR scenario (much quicker too).

If that isn't possible, my initial reaction to you changing the IP address of Exchange is that it may work, as Exchange has its own internal IP addresses it uses for some things so it may not care too much about what it in reality has. If you have the ability, you could build a quick test environment for this and see how it reacts. I did some quick research and came across this link in a technet forum: http://www.zerohoursleep.com/2010/01/5-things-to-consider-when-changing-the-ip-of-an-exchange-server...

I do not believe there is any way of getting around the IP address change, unless you do some sort of layer 2 trickery. I did some initial research on this and everything I read lead me towards using the Cisco Nexus switches for that, which we don't have unfortunately. I am not as well versed in the advanced networking segments to comment more on this.

I think you're on the right track to accomplishing your DR failover.

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