chapter 8 implementing disaster recovery and high availability hands-on virtual computing

Chapter 8 Implementing Disaster Recovery

and High Availability

Hands-On Virtual Computing

Hands-On Virtual Computing

Objectives

• Describe backup and recovery concepts for virtual machines

• Use VMware Server and Hyper-V to back up and recover virtual machines

• Plan a high-availability system that uses clustering

• Use VMware Server and Hyper-V to set up clustering

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Hands-On Virtual Computing 3

Understanding Backup and Recovery Concepts for Virtual Machines

• Offline backups– Stable backups are created during downtime, when

files are closed and offline to user access

• Quiesced online backup (warm backup)– Backing up applications while they are in use

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Backup Types

• Archive attribute – Enabled when the file is created or a change is made

to the file

• Full backup – Backs up all selected files and folders and clears the

archive attribute on these files and folders

• Incremental backup – Backs up only files that have changed since the last

full or incremental backup

Hands-On Virtual Computing 5

Hands-On Virtual Computing

Backup Types (continued)

• Differential backup – Backs up only the files changed since the last full

backup took place

• Daily backup– Uses the file’s modified date to copy selected files

that have been modified on the day the daily backup is performed

• Copy backup– Identical to a full backup but does not clear the

archive attribute for any files and folders it backs up

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Hands-On Virtual Computing 7

Hands-On Virtual Computing

Making Backups with the Volume Shadow Copy Service

• Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) – Consistent shadow copies of data files can be

backed up and restored reliably

• VMware Server and Hyper-V – Compatible with VSS backups– Allows virtual machines to be backed up while

running

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Developing a Backup and Recovery Strategy

• Running servers as virtual machines – Makes the backup and restore processes much

easier

• When performing regular backups of virtual servers from the host computer – Log files on a virtual server do not show it has been

backed up

• Good backup plan – Should include a backup of each virtual machine’s

files made from the host computer

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Implementing Backup and Recovery Systems

• Drawback of using Windows Server Backup – Is limited to backing up entire volumes, so you can

not select specific folders to include or exclude from the backup

– System volume (drive C) must be included in all backups

– Can select only full or incremental backup types

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Installing the Windows Server Backup Software

• Activity 8-1: Installing Windows Server Backup

• Time Required: 10 minutes

• Objective: Install Windows Server Backup on a virtual machine

• Requirements: The Windows Server 2008 Child 1 virtual machine created in Chapter 7; VMware Server or Hyper-V

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Backing Up Virtual Machines

• Before performing a manual or one-time backup– You must run a scheduled backup to provision

(allocate) the disks

• To perform a scheduled backup– Start Windows Server Backup from the

Administrative Tools menu

• Creating a scheduled backup in Windows Server Backup – Enables you to automate the backup process

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Backing Up Virtual Machines (continued)

• Activity 8-2: Performing a Windows Server 2008 Scheduled Backup

• Time Required: 10 minutes

• Objective: Use Windows Server Backup to perform a scheduled backup

• Requirements: Completion of Activity 8-1

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Backing Up Virtual Machines from the Host

• VSS Writer service– Interacts with VMware Tools on virtual servers when

making a backup– Can notify the virtual server and applications of the

backup process and update log files

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Backing Up Virtual Machines from the Host (continued)

• Activity 8-3: Enabling the VMware VSS Writer Service

• Time Required: 10 minutes

• Objective: Configure the VSS Writer service for VMware Server

• Requirements: VMware Server running on Windows Vista

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

• Activity 8-4: Backing Up Virtual Machines from the Host

• Time Required: 20 minutes

• Objective: Back up a virtual machine from the host computer with Vista Backup

• Requirements: Windows Vista and completion of Activity 8-3; a second partition on the Vista computer’s removable drive with at least 12 GB free space for storing the backup

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Backing Up Virtual Machines from the Host (continued)

Understanding High Availability for Virtual Machines

• High availability – Uses computing technology to allow computers to

work together in a group called a cluster

• Cluster – Uses multiple computers to provide protected

applications and shared data to client computers

• Failover – Makes applications available immediately through

another computer in the cluster

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Windows Server 2008 Clustering Components and Concepts

• Clustering– Should provide high availability of servers through

redundancy

• Cluster components– Shared cluster storage– Two private networks used only by cluster nodes– Public network that connects cluster nodes to clients

and other network resources

• Storage area network (SAN)– Private network that uses a dedicated, high speed

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Hands-On Virtual Computing 23

Hands-On Virtual Computing

Windows Server 2008 Clustering Components and Concepts (continued)• iSCSI

– Allows clustered computers to send SCSI-formatted data requests to the network-attached cluster device via IP packets

• Logical unit numbers (LUNs)– Used to identify a disk or volume that is mapped to a

drive letter on a clustered server

• iSCSI target– Storage device displaying a LUN

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

• iSCSI initiator– Clustered server connecting to the storage device

with a LUN

• Cluster heartbeat– A signal between cluster nodes for determining node

status

• Stretch clustering – Support clusters with nodes running on different

networks

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Windows Server 2008 Clustering Components and Concepts (continued)

Hands-On Virtual Computing 26

Hands-On Virtual Computing

Windows Server 2008 Clustering Components and Concepts (continued)

• Load balancing– User requests can be handled by multiple cluster

nodes

• Active/passive cluster– Only one cluster node hosts the application at any

time

• Failback– Service or application is moved back to its original

server automatically when the server is brought back as an active node in the cluster

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Clustering Hyper-V Virtual Servers for Quick Migration and Failover

• To set up clustering with Hyper-V– You need to move virtual machine files to a shared

storage device, and then enable Hyper-V as a clustered service on each cluster node

• Quick migration – Cluster process in which you move a service

manually from the primary host to another cluster host

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Hands-On Virtual Computing 30

Hands-On Virtual Computing

Using Clustering with Virtual Machines

• Planning cluster networks– To build a cluster, you need three networks

• Private network dedicated to the cluster

• Private network dedicated to the iSCSI SAN

• Third network for general use

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Planning Cluster Networks

• Activity 8-5: Planning the Cluster Configuration

• Time Required: 20 minutes

• Objective: Gather information for planning a cluster

• Requirements: The Windows Server 2008 Child 1 and Child 2 virtual servers created in Chapter 7

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Preparing Servers for Clustering

• Activity 8-6: Installing Active Directory on the Domain Controller

• Time Required: 20 minutes

• Objective: Install Active Directory on a Windows Server 2008 domain controller

• Requirements: Completion of Activity 8-5; Windows Server 2008 running on the host computer

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Preparing Servers for Clustering (continued)

• Activity 8-7: Adding a Member Server to the Domain

• Time Required: 10 minutes

• Objective: Configure a member server.

• Requirements: Completion of Activities 8-5 and 8-6

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Installing an iSCSI Target

• Activity 8-8: Installing iSCSI Emulator Software

• Time Required: 20 minutes

• Objective: Download and install iSCSI emulator software on your designated iSCSI target

• Requirements: Completion of Activities 8-5 through 8-7; access to the Internet from the iSCSI target

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Installing an iSCSI Target (continued)

• Activity 8-9: Creating Shared iSCSI Target Devices

• Time Required: 20 minutes

• Objective: Create shared iSCSI target devices

• Requirements: Completion of Activity 8-8; 2 GB free disk space on the iSCSI target computer

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Installing an iSCSI Target (continued)

• Activity 8-10: Connecting Servers to the iSCSI Target Device

• Time Required: 20 minutes

• Objective: Use Windows Server 2008 iSCSI Initiator to connect to a shared iSCSI target device

• Requirements: Completion of Activities 8-5 through 8-9

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Installing the Failover Clustering Service

• Activity 8-11: Installing the Failover Clustering Service

• Time Required: 10 minutes

• Objective: Install the Failover Clustering service

• Requirements: Completion of Activities 8-5 through 8-10

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Creating Cluster Configurations

• Activity 8-12: Creating a Cluster Configuration

• Time Required: 10 minutes

• Objective: Use the Failover Cluster Management snap-in to create a cluster

• Requirements: Completion of Activity 8-11

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Creating Cluster Configurations (continued)

• Activity 8-13: Configuring a Clustered Service

• Time Required: 10 minutes

• Objective: Configure the File Server service as a clustered service

• Requirements: Completion of Activity 8-12

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Creating Cluster Configurations (continued)

• Activity 8-14: Moving the File Server Service to Another Cluster Node

• Time Required: 10 minutes

• Objective: Move a clustered service from one node to another

• Requirements: Completion of Activity 8-13

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Hands-On Virtual Computing

Creating Cluster Configurations (continued)

• Activity 8-15: Shutting Down the Cluster Service

• Time Required: 10 minutes

• Objective: Use the Failover Cluster Management snap-in to shut down the cluster service and return the member server to a stand-alone server

• Requirements: Completion of Activity 8-14

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Summary

• Offline backups– Back up closed files and applications

• Backups can be categorized as full, incremental, or differential

• Full backup – Backs up all files on a selected volume

• Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) – Uses the quiesce process to create a shadow copy

of a file or database

Hands-On Virtual Computing 43

Summary (continued)

• Both VMware Server and Hyper-V – Are compatible with VSS backups, allowing virtual

machines to be backed up while running

• When backing up virtual machines– You can store backups on virtual hard disks

• Windows Server Backup – Backup software included with Windows Server 2008

• Cluster – Provides protected applications and shared data to

client computers

Hands-On Virtual Computing 44

Hands-On Virtual Computing

Summary (continued)

• If any computer in the cluster fails– The failover process ensures availability of

applications and data

• Cluster components– Some form of shared storage, private networks used

only by cluster nodes, and a public network

• Quick migration – Cluster process in which you move a service

manually from the primary host to another cluster host

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