In the previous part we had a closer look at customizing the IP addresses in SRM using the manual method. In this part, we will customize the IP addresses for multiple virtual machines by defining the IP customization rules in SRM.

I will not go into the small details of how this process works. It is very well documented in the vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.8 Administrator Guide on page 77 and 78 in the “Customize IP Properties for Multiple Virtual Machines by Defining IP Customization Rules” sub-chapter which you should read anyway. 🙂

Also, according to the administrator guide, the IP subnet mapping rules support IPv4 only. Rule-based IPv6 customization is not supported.

Customizing IP addresses for multiple VM’s by defining the IP customization rules

1. Open the vSphere Web Client and log in to the vCenter Server at the Protected Site.
2. On the left pane, go to Site Recovery and then go to Sites.
3. Select the Protected Site and log in if necessary.
4. Select the Manage tab and then go to Network Mappings.
5. Select the network mapping created earlier and click the Add button under the IP Customization Rule.
6. In the Add IP Customization Rule window, enter a rule name, specify the subnet IP ranges on the protected and recovery sites. Enter the default gateway, DNS servers and other necessary network settings that will be applied to the recovery site.
7. Click OK to close the window and create the new IP customization rule.

The rule should now be visible when you select the network mapping in the vSphere Web Client.

The final step is to apply the IP customization rule to the recovery settings of the protected virtual machines.

Apply IP Customization Rules to VM’s

1. With the vSphere Web Client still open on the protected site, go to Recovery Plans.
2. Select the recovery plan, click on the Related Objects tab and go to the Virtual Machines
3. Click on the Change the VM Recovery Settings button and select the IP Customization
4. Select the Use IP customization rules if applicable option from the drop-down menu and click OK.

When the recovery settings are applied you should see a message in the vSphere Web Client stating that the protected VM has been successfully reconfigured.

This concludes a rather short post on customizing IP addresses in SRM by defining the IP customization rule. Continue to part 3 where we will configure the IP addresses in SRM using the DR Customization tool.

Cheers!

– Marek.Z

• Customizing IP addresses for VM’s in SRM 5 – Part 1