SRM 5.1 and vSphere Replication as a Standalone Feature - VMware vSphere Blog

Today at VMworld we announced a bunch of very exciting technologies, for this article I'll be talking first about Site Recovery Manager 5.1, and then about vSphere Replication as a standalone feature of the vSphere platform.

Protection of your systems is a critical aspect of running a virtual infrastructure, and with these announcements (and that of vSphere Data Protection) we've really rounded out the business continuity functions of vSphere.

Site Recovery Manager 5.1

This is a fairly small release with some great features that continue to deliver on the changes we introduced with 5.0. At a high level, the changes are:

* Improved VSS integration for quiescent applications with vSphere Replication
* Improved storage handling for quicker and more consistent responsiveness and behaviour
* Forced recovery with vSphere Replication
* Reprotect and fallback with vSphere Replication
* A move to a 64 bit process
* Support for Essentials Plus environments.

Now a little more detail about a few of these items.

VSS

VMware Tools has the ability to issue commands to the operating system such as to set up VSS snapshots. With 5.1 we have the ability to do a little more than we have in the past, and ask the OS to flush application writers as well as make the OS itself quiescent. This means for things like databases, messaging platforms, and other applications that have VSS writers, we can ensure a higher level of application recoverability. When using vSphere Replication we can flush all the writers for the apps and the OS ensuring data consistency for the image used for recovery.

It's completely transparent to the OS, and a simple drop down that is chosen when setting up replication for a Windows VM.

Forced Recovery

In SRM 5.0.1 we introduced the forced failover ability: If your primary site is down or responding inconsistently sometimes we might have timeouts and errors waiting for results. This option for failover ensures that only recovery-side operations take place, and we don't timeout waiting for commands to return from the protected site. This was, at the time, only possible to use with array replication. With 5.1 it is now supported for vSphere Replication as well.

Reprotect and Failback

We can now, after failing over, simply click the "reprotect" button and the environment that has moved to the secondary site will be fully protected back to the original site, irrespective of type of replication you're using. Reprotect for vSphere Replication is fantastic – it'll use the existing policies of replication, protection groups, do a full sync back to the primary, and you are then ready to recover or migrate back to the primary location!

Essentials Plus support

One of the most numerous requests we've received over the years is to make SRM more accessible to the small and midsize business market. This step to make SRM compatible with Essentials Plus makes disaster recovery more accessible than ever for the SMB customers who have as much need for business continuity as every other customer!

Now on to vSphere Replication

vSphere Replication was introduced with SRM 5.0 as a means of protecting VM data using our in-hypervisor software based replication. It was part of SRM 5.0, and continues to be, carrying forward, but now we are offering the ability to use this technology in a new fashion.

Today's announcement about vSphere Replication is a big one: We have decoupled it from SRM and released it as an available feature of every vSphere license from Essentials Plus through Enterprise Plus.

Every customer can now protect their environment, using vSphere Replication as a fundamental feature of the protection of your environment, just like HA.

VR does not include all the orchestration, testing, reporting and enterprise-class DR functions of SRM, but allows for individual VM protection and recovery within or across clusters. For many customers this type of protection is critical and has been difficult to attain short of buying into a full multisite DR solution with SRM. Now most of our customers can take advantage of virtual machine protection and recovery with vSphere Replication.

Check out an introduction to vSphere Replication at http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/Introduction-to-vSphere-Replication.pdf

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Original Page: http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/08/srm-5-1-and-vsphere-replication-as-a-standalone-feature.html

VMworld 2012 Hands on Labs Online - Eric Sloof

The VMware Hands on Labs Online Beta will go live after VMworld US, you can register for the public beta and Join the hands-on labs community. The VMware Hands-on Labs Online - Public Beta gives you access to Hands-on Labs developed by VMware, their partners and community members.
VMware will be opening their Public Beta for:


* Hands-on Labs in your browser – Explore the latest VMware products at your fingertip
* Access to the Public Beta platform using the latest VMware Cloud Infrastructure products
* If you would like to test out VMware's new portal please register to be on the list.

The Hands-on Labs Online portal will enter the Public Beta stage shortly and will steadily add users following VMworld. VMware is looking for brave volunteers to take labs, exercise the user interface and share your experiences.

VMworld 2012 Hands on Labs Overview<http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-20212>
VMware Hands on Labs Online – Beta<https://www.vmware.com/landing_pages/hands-on-labs-beta.html>

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Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/klJuIp8iRFY/2117-VMworld-2012-Hands-on-Labs-Online.html

Can’t make it to VMworld this year? Sign-up for VMware NOW - Eric Sloof

Do you want to hear breaking VMware news as it happens? , a digital experience where you can watch a live stream of the Keynotes and then dive into the new demos and details. Live on August 27. Sign up >

[image]
Please join VMware on August 27 for important announcements about VMware's cloud strategy and solutions. VMware NOW is THE digital experience that helps you explore how to transform your cloud infrastructure, with on-demand access to keynotes, new product overviews, demos and more.

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Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/TurpAuUQgQw/2115-Cant-make-it-to-VMworld-this-year-Sign-up-for-VMware-NOW.html

Cool Tool - USB Network Gate

USB Network Gate<http://www.net-usb.com/> is a solution which allows sharing any number of USB ports and devices on your computer over LAN/WAN/VLAN/VPN/Internet. Remote virtual machines can connect to your computer (server) and communicate with USB devices, plugged into shared remote ports, as if those devices were connected directly to virtual machines. All applications that work with remote USB devices won't see the difference and will treat them as local ones.As USB Network Gate for Windows/Linux shares USB ports, not devices themselves, you can plug any USB device into shared USB port, then unplug this device and plug in another one, and it will automatically appear at the remote virtual machine without any additional configuration.

Currently, 3 versions of the product are available: for Windows, Linux and Mac. Different combinations of server-client model can be applied, for example, client may have USB Network Gate installed on Linux, and server - on Windows, or vice versa.
[image]With USB Network Gate for Windows/Linux you can:


* Share USB devices on the local PC (server) so that they become available for usage on the remote PC (client)
* Share any number of USB devices
* Freely unplug USB device and plug in another one into shared USB port on the server - the device will automatically appear on the client
* Give custom names to your USB devices (label them) to let clients easily identify them
* Create callback connection (connection with a client initiated from the server side) - OEM License
* Set authorization password and enable traffic encryption
* Change traffic encryption, authorization settings and custom names on the go for already shared devices (Linux version)
* Disable current connection from the server side
* Access remote shared USB devices from virtual machine, remote desktop or blade server
* Access remote shared USB devices via Wi-Fi
* Two types of connection with remote devices are available: "Connect" and "Connect once", the latter allowing client to establish one-time connection without attempts to restore it if broken
* See who currently occupies shared USB device from other clients' side

Features list:


* USB devices can be shared on the server and subsequently accessed remotely by clients over LAN/WAN/VLAN/VPN/Internet
* Any number of clients can connect to remote shared USB devices
* Server and Client are handy combined into a single application
* No need to change existing network configuration to share and access USB devices
* No system reboot is required after USB ports sharing/unsharing
* Possibility to specify TCP port which will be used in connection
* All actions performed by the program are monitored and logged into Activity log
* Special icons assigned to USB devices let you know their statuses (shared, authorization is used)
* USB v1.1 and v2.0 compatible. USB v3.0 support
* OHCI, UHCI and EHCI standards for USB are supported
* Fully compatible with Hyper-Threading Technology and multiprocessor platforms
* Works on virtual machines (VMware, VMware ESX Server, Citrix XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V support)
* Works in RDP session

http://www.net-usb.com/
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Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/I4i8jz7T2CM/2106-Cool-Tool-USB-Network-Gate.html

VMware vSphere Design 101 with VCDX Scott Lowe - Eric Sloof

VMware vSphere Design 101 with VCDX Scott Lowe<http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/2104-VMware-vSphere-Design-101-with-VCDX-Scott-Lowe.html>



In this on-demand webinar Scott provides you with an overview of the VMware vSphere design process and the complex decisions it involves. Scott also helps you get started with mastering design concepts by presenting a list of design resources for virtualization professionals. This free webinar covers:


* What is design and why you need it
* VMware vSphere design basics
* Common design misconceptions
* Is the VCAP-DCD certification right for you


http://www.trainsignal.com/Designing-VMware-Infrastructure.aspx

Cool Tool - Free vOPS Server Explorer 5.1

vOPS Server Explorer 5.1<http://www.vkernel.com/products/server-explorer/overview> (VKernel's free tool suite) introduces improvements to existing utilities, and a new utility, Environment Explorer, which uses the same analytics and advisory engine from the paid vOPS Server Standard product to provide virtual administrators with a rapid assessment of the state of their environment. Specifically, Environment Explorer allows system administrators to:

* Identify critical VM configuration errors such as memory limits and old snapshots that will severely affect performance and can be especially hard to track down and solve
* Recognize performance bottlenecks from high CPU ready, memory swapping, device latency and other causes
* Detect inefficiency/waste created by VMs with CPU, memory and storage over allocation
* Find available capacity expressed as the number of VMs that can be deployed without causing performance bottlenecks
* Pinpoint oversubscription of CPU, memory and storage resources and whether the over-allocation is impacting performance

Created with flickr badge<http://www.flickrbadge.com>.

vOPS Server Explorer 5.1 is available for download now: http://www.vkernel.com/download/server-explorer

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Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/ni0aVKFVU8w/2100-Cool-Tool-Free-vOPS-Server-Explorer-5.1.html

VMware: VMware vSphere Blog: VMware Employee DR Sessions at VMworld

As we're approaching VMworld I thought I'd write a quick post about the disaster recovery sessions being delivered by the VMware team this year.

Keep in mind, these are just the sessions being delivered by VMware staff, and just the DR sessions. There is a lot more out there under the business continuity umbrella, including great sessions by our customers and partners, and exploring various topics such as data protection and high availability.

First, I'll get my sessions on the board. I love doing the technical talks, so these should be a lot of fun:

INF-BCO1505 - VMware vSphere Replication: Technical Walk-Through with Engineering<https://vmworld2012.activeevents.com/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=1505>

VMware vSphere Replication is a feature of data replication used by both the vSphere platform to protect virtual machines and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager to orchestrate the recovery of entire sites. In this session, VMware Engineering will take you through the full details of how vSphere Replication works: the identification and scheduling of data for replication, built-in fail-safes, networking aspects of vSphere Replication and ultimately how it is used by both vSphere and SRM. Follow along as we walk through the life cycle of protecting a virtual machine with vSphere Replication.

INF-BCO2147 - What's New: VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Technical Overview<https://vmworld2012.activeevents.com/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=2147>

Learn about features in VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager, including Enterprise enhancements to vSphere Replication. Get details on how SRM can be used to address Disaster Recovery needs in your virtualized data center.

The other DR sessions by VMware folks are listed below, and I'm hopeful I'll get a chance to attend a few of them, myself!

INF-BCO1159 - Architecting and Operating a VMware vSphere Metro Storage Cluster<https://vmworld2012.activeevents.com/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=1159>

In this session, Lee Dilworth and Duncan Epping will discuss the design and operational considerations for VMware vSphere Metro Storage Cluster environments, also commonly referred to as stretched cluster environments. Best practices for implementation and design will be shared. Various failure scenarios that can occur in a stretched storage environment will also be discussed in depth, including how vSphere 5.x responds to these failures. We will cover the implications for your vSphere High Availability, VMware vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler™ and VMware vSphere Storage DRS configuration and provide recommendations on increasing availability and simplifying operations.

INF-BCO1436 - NEW vSphere Replication Enhancements & Best Practices<https://vmworld2012.activeevents.com/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=1436>

In this session you will learn about our upcoming vSphere Replication enhancements. These enhancements make it attractive for customers of any size to utilize vSphere Replication for a variety of virtual machine replication use-cases. We will explain how this solution will work, the value proposition to you - the customer. We will also go into details around what your options are in terms of deployment and how the solution can be adapted and upgraded as your needs grow along with best practices learned from real customer deployments.

INF-BCO2155 - vCloud DR for Oxford University Computing Services - Real World Example<https://vmworld2012.activeevents.com/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=2155>

Resiliency is a key aspect of any infrastructure—it is even more important in infrastructure-as-a-service solutions. This session will include a tour of a real world vCloud DR solution deployed at Oxford University Computing Services (OUCS). Throughout the session there will be detailed guidance on how both the management and resource clusters were designed, deployed and automated. Furthermore the details of how SRM in conjunction with VMware vSphereTM PowerCLI (PowerCLI) was used to automate the end-to-end recovery of a vCloud Director–based infrastructure. This session will offer a perfect complimentary follow on from the whitepaper regarding the high-level process produced by Duncan Epping and Chris Colotti and the Automation session by Alan Renouf and Aidan Dalgleish. The paper combined with the Automation session will describe the process and the automation principles whereas this session will describe a complete real world implementation.

INF-BCO2159 - What's New: Site Recovery Manager – Simple and Reliable Disaster Recovery for All Virtualized Applications<https://vmworld2012.activeevents.com/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=2159>

vCenter Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication ensure the simplest and most reliable disaster protection for all virtualized applications. In this session, we will present an overview of Site Recovery Manager and its key capabilities including Non-Disruptive Testing, Automated Failback and Planned Migration. SRM has become a great tool to manage not just unplanned failovers, but also planned site migrations. Together with vSphere Replication, Site Recovery Manager provides a manageable, affordable and reliable disaster recovery solution enabling organizations to expand disaster protection to all their applications and smaller sites. Finally, we will discuss using SRM to recover in public cloud environments, further reducing the cost of disaster recovery protection for smaller organizations.

INF-BCO2167 - DR to the Cloud with SRM and vSphere Replication - Discussion with VMware and Sungard<https://vmworld2012.activeevents.com/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=2167>

Many organizations today do not have adequate disaster recovery protection for their applications. In most cases, disaster recovery is perceived as too expensive and complex. DR is a natural fit for the cloud, and VMware's Disaster Recovery to the Cloud Services make disaster recovery broadly accessible for all applications and sites by providing simple, cost-efficient and automated disaster protection using SRM 5 and vSphere Replication. In this session, VMware and Sungard will present new services that are delivered using vCenter Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication. We will also discuss the future evolution of these services.

I haven't filtered these by type of session, so make sure if you're looking for a business level discussion or technical that you get the right one for your needs.

Hope to see you there.

Posted byKen WerneburgTech Marketing

Twitter @vmKen

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Original Page: http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/08/dr-at-vmworld.html