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Sly
Contributor
Contributor

Storage VMotion and vCenter Questions

I have the following configuration at two sites:

Site 1 - A small vSphere cluster with a vCenter Server, 3 ESX 4 hosts, an iSCSI SAN, and multiple switches. Failover (VMotion, HA, hardware failover) all workng well within this small cloud.

Site 2 - A single host with local storage on which all VMs for that site should fit for some time. Also on the network is an NAS appliance (via Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 running on an HP X1600).

Questions:

1) At site 2, I can set up the single host to use the NAS appliance for storage with an iSCSI SW initiator since Windows Storage Server can present the storage partition as an iSCSI device, correct?

2) Can I manage the single host at site 2 with vCenter running at site 1? Is there any real benfit in doing this?

3) If yes to Q1 and Q2, can I use Storage VMotion to failover a critical VM from Site 1 to Site 2? If yes, what kind of affect does storage VMotion have on a network.

Thank you, I will award points when the questions are answered.

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vmroyale
Immortal
Immortal

Hello.

Questions:

1) At site 2, I can set up the single host to use the NAS appliance for storage with an iSCSI SW initiator since Windows Storage Server can present the storage partition as an iSCSI device, correct?

Technically, you probably can get this to work. The biggest problem I see is that the storage is not on the VMware HCL.

2) Can I manage the single host at site 2 with vCenter running at site 1? Is there any real benfit in doing this?

Yes, if you have the required licenses to do so. There are some benefits to this approach, with single pane of glass and improved operation capabilities being two of them.

3) If yes to Q1 and Q2, can I use Storage VMotion to failover a critical VM from Site 1 to Site 2? If yes, what kind of affect does storage VMotion have on a network.

SVMotion isn't going to work between sites. Gb connectivity is required between hosts. The fact that this vm is critical sort of goes back to question 1 - I wouldn't put a critical vm on non-supported storage.

I have a customer with a similar setup. There is a primary cluster at one site and a single host at a DR site. They are connected by a slow WAN link. The DR host is managed in a central vCenter at the primary site and copies are made of critical virtual machines using clones. For major DR, the plan they have is to rely on tape backups of all other virtual machines.

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
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JroscoPHD
Contributor
Contributor

Storage VMotion won't help you if both hosts are not active, or of the the stoage is accessible from the remote site.

Do you have a Specific RTO (Recover Time Objective) or a RPO (Recovery Point Objective) you are truing to meet?

www.phdvirtual.com, makers of PHD Virtual Backup for VMware, formerly esXpress

www.phdvirtual.com, makers of PHD Virtual Backup for VMware, formerly esXpress
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AntonVZhbankov
Immortal
Immortal

Looks like you need something like Veeam Backup & Replication.

If you're ok with several hours difference then just replicate VM on schedule to remote ESX.


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JroscoPHD
Contributor
Contributor

Don't limit yourself and test only one product. PHD Virtual backup for VMware also provides this funtionality. Try and decide for yourself.






www.phdvirtual.com, makers of PHD Virtual Backup for VMware, formerly esXpress

www.phdvirtual.com, makers of PHD Virtual Backup for VMware, formerly esXpress
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