How to: VMware Site Recovery Manager 5 – Part 5: VRM Pairing and VR Deployment

16 May, 2012 How To, VMware 2

Now that the VRM Servers are deployed at the Protected Site and the Recovery Site, it’s time to pair both servers. When the pairing is completed we will be able to deploy the VR Servers, one for each site. This will enable us to fail over from the Protected Site to the Recovery Site. In a large environment, consider deploying more instances of VR Servers for extra availability and flexibility. In SRM 5, each VR Server can manage 50 replication schedules and protect a maximum of 500 VMs. Let’s start the VRM Server pairing process.

VRM Server pairing

  1. Open the Site Recovery Manager from the Solutions and Applications in the vSphere Client on the Protected Site.
  2. Go to vSphere Replication, make sure that the Protected Site is selected and click on Configure VRMS Connection.
  3. Click Yes if asked to configure VRMS Connection.
  4. Click OK to accept the certificate error.
  5. Provide the username and password for the Recovery Site and click OK.
  6. Once again, click OK to accept the certificate error.
  7. You will be presented with a configuration progress window. Click OK when the configuration of VRMS connection succeeds.
  8. The status of the connection under the Summary tab should now display: Connected on both sites.

Deploying VR Server

Now that the VRM Servers are connected, we can start the deployment of the VR Server.

  1. From the Protected Site, select the Recovery site in the left pane and click on Deploy VR Server.
  2. Click OK to launch the OVF wizard.
  3. Click Next in the Source window and Next again in the OVF Template Details window.
  4. In the Name field, provide a FQDN name for the VR Server appliance and select the location. Click on Next to proceed.
  5. Next, select the Cluster, Host and appropriate datastore for the VR Server. Click on Next to proceed at each step.
  6. Select desired disk format and click Next.
  7. In the Properties window, provide a Default Gateway, DNS Server, IP address and Subnet Mask for the VR Server and click Next.
  8. Review the settings in the Ready to Complete window and press Finish to start the deployment.

Repeat this process for the Recovery Site.

Register VR Server

After the VR Server is deployed, it has to be registered with the vCenter Server.

  1. Go back to the Site Recovery Manager and click on Register VR Server in the left pane under Commands.
  2. Expand the Datacenter object and select the VR Server VM. Click OK to proceed.
  3. Click Yes when asked if you want to register the VR Server.
  4. Ignore the remote server certificate error and click on OK.
  5. Click on OK to close the window when the registration completes successfully.
  6. Verify that the VR Server is now visible in the left pane and the Summary tab shows the status: Connected.

Repeat these steps for the Recovery Site.

OK, all done 🙂 The VR infrastructure is now up and running. Continue to part 6 where we will take a look at the inventory mappings between the Protected Site and the Recovery Site.

Cheers!

– Marek.Z

2 Comments

  1. Do I need to deploy VR on both sites and which one do I have to do first? The reason I am asking is because I have seen some articles stating that you only need VR on Recovery site and agent will run on Protected site and your screenshots are taking from Recovery site.
    Does it matter which one I deploy first?

    Thanks

    Reply

    • Hi,

      Sorry for late response.

      It doesn’t matter which VR you install first. The reason I deployed it at both sites is because I want to replicate back to the Protected site. You can replicate only to the Recovery site but if you don’t have a VR at the Protected site, you will not be able to replicate back.

      Cheers!

      Marek.Z

      Reply

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