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Posts Tagged ‘SRM5’

How To: VMware Site Recovery Manager 5 – Part 2: Installation

Posted by Marek.Z on 3 May 2012

In the previous part I created a database and an ODBC connection for the deployment of SRM 5. In this part we will focus on the installation process of SRM 5 which is quite straightforward if all of the prerequisites are met. After the installation we will have to download and enable the VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Extension plug-in for administration of SRM 5.

Installation

  1. Login to the vCenter Server, locally or through RDP, on the Protected Site and start the installation wizard.
  2. Click Next and Next again. Accept the EULA and click on Next.
  3. Accept the default installation folder or change it if you like. Click Next to proceed.
  4. Select “Install vSphere Replication” and click Next.
  5. Provide the vCenter Server credentials for the Protected Site and click Next to proceed.
  6. Accept the Security Warning and select “Automatically generate a certificate” in the Certificate Type Selection window. Click Next to proceed.
  7. Enter the Organization name and Unit in the Certificate Generation window. Click Next.
  8. Fill in the required information in the VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Extension window. In the Local Site Name, make sure you provide a suggestive name so you can easily track it back if necessary. Provide an e-mail where administrative alerts and notifications will be send (mandatory). Select the IP address from Local Host drop down menu and click Next.
  9. In the Database Configuration window, select SQL Server as the Database Client. For the Data Source Name, provide the name of the ODBC connection created in step 2 of the ODBC connection setup and the credentials of the database user (i.e. srmadmin) created in step 4 of the database setup. Click Next to start the installation.
  10. Wait until the installation is completed and you are done! :)

Repeat the steps above for the vCenter Server in the Recovery Site.

Next step is to download and install the vCenter Server SRM Manager Extension plug-in.

Plug-in

  1. Open the vSphere Client and login to the vCenter Server on the Protected Site.
  2. Navigate to Plug-ins menu and open the Plug-in Manager.
  3. As you can see, the VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Extension is available for download and installation. Click on the Download and Install link.
  4. Install the certificate and click on Ignore.
  5. When download is finished, click on Run to install the plug-in.
  6. Follow the steps in the installation wizard and click Finish to complete the installation.
  7. Click on Close to close the plug-in manager window.
  8. Go to Home in the vSphere Client. The SRM 5 plug-in should now be visible under Solutions and Applications.

Remember to install the plug-in also on the vCenter Server at the Recovery Site. Proceed to part 3 where we will connect the Protected Site to the Recovery Site.

Cheers!

- Marek.Z

Posted in Site Recovery Manager, SRM 5, vCenter, VMware, vSphere 5 | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

How to: VMware Site Recovery Manager 5 – Part 1: Preparation

Posted by Marek.Z on 1 May 2012

The last couple of weeks I have been playing around with VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5 in my home lab after attending the vCenter Site Recovery Manager: Install, Configure, Manage course. As you all probably know, SRM is an end-to-end disaster recovery product that automates the recovery of VMs that reside on replicated LUNs. The version 5 of SRM comes with vSphere Replication (VR for short) which is a technique that copies the VMs from one host to another. In the next blog posts I will give you a quick start tutorial of SRM 5 with VR.

Lab Setup

As you can see in the drawing below, I have built 2 sites for testing purposes, Site A is the Protected Site and Site B is the Recovery site.

The installation process of SRM 5 is quite straight forward but the database and the ODBC connection must be set up first.

Database

Before the installation you have to create a database and an ODBC connection for the deployment of SRM 5. I used the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express which was installed during the vCenter Server installation. Make sure you have the SQL Management Tools installed on your system.

  1. Before creating the database, open the SQL Server Configuration Manager and under the SQL Server Network Configuration -> Protocols, edit the properties of TCP/IP. Make sure that all IP addresses are active and enabled. Verify that no TCP Dynamic Ports are assigned and the default TCP/IP port is set to 1433. Check Windows Firewall if TCP port 1433 is allowed for inbound connection. 
  2. Start the SQL Server Management Studio and edit the properties of the SQL Server. Select Security and set the Server Authentication to SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode. Click OK to save the settings, exit the SQL Server Manager and restart the SQL Server Service.
  3. Open the SQL Server Management Studio again, right click on Database and select New Database. Provide a suggestive name (i.e. SRMBD) and leave all setting to default. Click OK to create the database.
  4. Next, create a user account that will be accessing the SRM database. Go to Security and right click Logins, select New Login. Provide a suggestive name (i.e. srmadmin), set the authentication to SQL Server and provide a password. Un-check the “Enforce password expiration” option. Select Server Roles in the left side pane and verify that Public is selected. Proceed to User Mapping and select your SRM database created in step 3. Make sure DB_Owner and Public are selected as the database role membership. Click OK.
  5. Go to your SRM database, expand Security, right click Schemas and select New Schema. Enter a name for the schema (Note: the schema name must be the same as the database user name, in this case: srmadmin) and enter the name of the user created in step 4. Click OK.
  6. Next, expand the Users under Security of your database. Edit the properties of the user account created in step 4 (i.e. srmadmin) and change the default schema to the one created is step 5. Click OK and close the SQL Server Management Studio.

ODBC Connection

SRM 5 uses 32-bit ODBC connection. You can open the odbcad32.exe from the %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64 folder.

  1. In the ODBC Data Source Administrator, select System DSN and click on the Add button. Scroll down and select the SQL Server Native Client. Click Finish.
  2. Provide a name for the data source (i.e. SRM) and select the server from the pull down menu. Click Next.
  3. Change the authentication to SQL Server and provide the username and password created in step 4 of the database creation (i.e. srmadmin). Click Next.
  4. In the next window, change the Default Database to the one created in step 3 of the database creation. Click Next.
  5. Leave all settings to default and click Finish.
  6. Click on Test Data Source to test the connection to the database. Click OK to close the ODBC Administrator.

The environment is now ready for SRM 5 installation. Repeat these steps for the Recovery Site. Continue to part 2, the installation of SRM 5.

Cheers!

- Marek.Z

Posted in Site Recovery Manager, SRM 5, vCenter, VMware, vSphere 5 | Tagged: , , , , | 11 Comments »

 
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