step by step asr, azure site recovery · step by step asr, azure site recovery asr –...

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Step by Step ASR, Azure Site Recovery

Prepared by: Mohammad Asmayal Jawad

linkedin.com/in/asmayal/

August 14, 2017


Table of Contents

WORK LOADS PROTECTED ............................................................................................................ 1

DEPLOYMENT STEPS ..................................................................................................................... 1

PREREQUISITES ................................................................................................................................2

LIMITATIONS .................................................................................................................................. 3

SET UP AZURE ................................................................................................................................ 4

PREPARE THE CONFIGURATION SERVER ............................................................................................. 4

PREPARE FOR AUTOMATIC DISCOVERY AND PUSH INSTALLATION ........................................................ 5

CREATE A RECOVERY SERVICES VAULT .............................................................................................. 5

SELECT THE PROTECTION GOAL ........................................................................................................ 6

SET UP THE SOURCE ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................. 8

RUN SITE RECOVERY UNIFIED SETUP ............................................................................................... 9

ADD THE ACCOUNT FOR AUTOMATIC DISCOVERY ............................................................................. 16

CONNECT TO VMWARE SERVERS .................................................................................................... 17

TARGET CONFIGURE ...................................................................................................................... 19

SETUP REPLICATION ....................................................................................................................... 22

VIEW AND MANAGE VM PROPERTIES .............................................................................................. 23

PREPARE VMS FOR REPLICATION .............................................................................................. 24

ENABLE REPLICATION STEPS ............................................................................................................ 24

REPLICATE VMS ............................................................................................................................ 24

ADDING PHYSICAL MACHINES, ......................................................................................................... 27

ENABLING REPLICATION ................................................................................................................. 30

TEST FAILOVER TO AZURE IN SITE RECOVERY ........................................................................... 32

PREREQUISITES .............................................................................................................................. 32

RUN A FAILOVER ............................................................................................................................. 32

CREATING A NETWORK FOR TEST FAILOVER ........................................................................................ 34

PLANNED FAILOVER .................................................................................................................... 34

RESOURCE AND USEFUL LINKS,...................................................................................................... 35


ASR – Configuration Page | 1 of 35

Work Loads Protected

Protected Servers

No Server Name Service

Type

Dependency

with Status

1 BCGOVDC12 Domain

Controller NO Protected

2 BCGOVEX2016 Exchange

Server NO Protected

3 CS-File Filer Server NO Protected

4 IPCFILE File Server NO Protected

5 OMB-FILE File Server NO Protected

6 OPCFILE File Server NO Protected

7 OMCFILE File Server NO Protected

8 CTS-AS Oracle App

Server Yes Protected

9 CTS-DB Oracle DB

Server



Deployment steps

Here's what you need to do:

1. Verify prerequisites and limitations.

2. Set up Azure network and storage accounts.

3. Prepare the on-premises machine that you want to deploy as the configuration

server.

4. Prepare VMware accounts to be used for automatic discovery of VMs, and

optionally for push installation of the Mobility service.

5. Create a Recovery Services vault. The vault contains configuration settings, and

orchestrates replication.

6. Specify source, target, and replication settings.

7. Deploy the Mobility service on VMs you want to replicate.

8. Enable replication for the VMs.

9. Run a test failover to make sure everything's working as expected.

Prerequisites

Support

requirement Details

On-premises

configuration

server

You need a VMware VM running Windows Server 2012 R2 or later.

You set up this server during Site Recovery deployment.

By default the process server and master target server are also

installed on this VM. When you scale up, you might need a separate

process server, and it has the same requirements as the configuration

server.



Support

requirement Details

On-premises

VMware

servers

One or more VMware vSphere servers, running 6.0, 5.5, 5.1 with latest

updates. Servers should be in the same network as the configuration

server (or separate process server).

We recommend a vCenter server to manage hosts, running 6.0 or 5.5

with the latest updates. Only features that are available in 5.5 are

supported when you deploy version 6.0.

On-premises

VMs

VMs you want to replicate should be running a supported operating

system, and conform with Azure prerequisites. VM should have

VMware tools running.

Limitations

Limitation Details

Azure Storage and network accounts must be in the same region as the

vault

If you use a premium storage account, you also need a standard

store account to store replication logs

You can't replicate to premium accounts in Central and South India.

On-premises

configuration

server

VMware VM adapter type should be VMXNET3.

vSphere PowerCLI 6.0 should be installed.

The machine shouldn't be a domain controller. The machine should

have a static IP address.

The host name should be 15 characters or less, and operating

system should be in English.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-support-matrix-to-azure#support-for-replicated-machine-os-versions

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-support-matrix-to-azure#support-for-replicated-machine-os-versions

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-support-matrix-to-azure#failed-over-azure-vm-requirements



Limitation Details

VMware Only 5.5 features are supported in vCenter 6.0. Site Recovery doesn't

support new vCenter and vSphere 6.0 features such as cross vCenter

vMotion, virtual volumes, and storage DRS.

VMs You can't replicate VMs with encrypted disks, or VMs with UEFI/EFI

boot.

Shared disk clusters aren't supported. If the source VM has NIC

teaming, it's converted to a single NIC after failover.

If VMs have an iSCSI disk, Site Recovery converts it to a VHD file

after failover. If the iSCSI target can be reached by the Azure VM, it

connects to it, and sees both it and the VHD. If this happens,

disconnect the iSCSI target.

If you want to enable multi-VM consistency, which enables VMs

running the same workload to be recovered together to a consistent

data point, open port 20004 on the VM.

Windows must be installed on the C drive. The OS disk should be

basic, and not dynamic. The data disk can be dynamic.

Set up Azure

1. Set up a connectivity between Azure and On-Premise

2. Set up an Azure network.

• Azure VMs will be placed in this network when they're created after failover.

• You can set up a network in Resource Manager, or in classic mode.

3. Set up an Azure storage account for replicated data.

• The account can be standard or premium.

• You can set up an account in Resource Manager, or in classic mode.

4. Prepare an account on the vCenter server or vSphere hosts, so that Site Recovery

can automatically detect VMware VMs.

Prepare the configuration server

1. Install Windows Server 2012 R2 or later, on a VMware VM.

2. Make sure the VM has access to the URLs listed in prerequisites.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-networks-create-vnet-arm-pportal

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/resource-manager-deployment-model

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/storage-create-storage-account#create-a-storage-account

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/storage-premium-storage

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-vmware-to-azure#prepare-for-automatic-discovery-and-push-installation

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-vmware-to-azure#prerequisites



3. Install VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.0.

Prepare for automatic discovery and push installation

• Prepare an account for auto-discovery: The Site Recovery process server

automatically discovers VMs. To do this, Site Recovery needs credentials that can

access vCenter servers and vSphere ESXi hosts.

1. To use a dedicated account, create a role (at the vCenter level, with

these permissions. Give it a name such as Azure_Site_Recovery.

2. Then, create a user on the vSphere host/vCenter server, and assign the role to

the user. You specify this user account during Site Recovery deployment.

Create a Recovery Services vault

1. Sign in to the Azure portal > Site Recovery

2. Click New > Monitoring & Management > Backup and Site Recovery >

3. In Name, specify a friendly name to identify the vault. If you have more than one

subscription, select one of them.

4. Create a resource group, or select an existing one. Specify an Azure region. To

check supported regions, see Geographic Availability in Azure Site Recovery Pricing

Details

5. If you want to quickly access the vault from the Dashboard, click Pin to

dashboard and then click Create.

https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?productId=491&downloadGroup=PCLI600R1

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-vmware-to-azure#vmware-account-permissions

https://portal.azure.com/

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/resource-group-template-deploy-portal

https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/site-recovery/

https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/site-recovery/



The new vault will appear on the Dashboard > All resources, and on the

main Recovery Services vaults blade.

Select the protection goal

Select what you want to replicate, and where you want to replicate to.



1. Click Recovery Services vaults > vault.

2. In the Resource Menu, click Site Recovery > Step 1: Prepare

Infrastructure > Protection goal.

In Protection goal, select To Azure > Yes, with VMware vSphere Hypervisor.



Set up the source environment

Set up the configuration server, register it in the vault, and discover VMs.

1. Click Site Recovery > Step 1: Prepare Infrastructure > Source.

2. If you don’t have a configuration server, click +Configuration server.

3. In Add Server, check that Configuration Server appears in Server type.

4. Download the Site Recovery Unified Setup installation file.

5. Download the vault registration key. You need this when you run Unified Setup.

The key is valid for five days after you generate it.



Run Site Recovery Unified Setup

Do the following before you start, then run Unified Setup to install the configuration

server, the process server, and the master target server.

• On the configuration server VM, make sure that the system clock is synchronized

with a Time Server. It should match. If it's 15 minutes in front or behind, setup

might fail.

https://technet.microsoft.com/windows-server-docs/identity/ad-ds/get-started/windows-time-service/windows-time-service



• Run setup as a Local Administrator on the configuration server VM.

• Make sure TLS 1.0 is enabled on the VM.

1. Run the Unified Setup installation file.

2. In Before you begin, select Install the configuration server and process server.

1. In Third Party Software License, click I Accept to download and install MySQL.



2. In Registration, select the registration key you downloaded from the vault.

3. In Internet Settings, specify how the Provider running on the configuration server

connects to Azure Site Recovery over the Internet.

• If you want to connect with the proxy that's currently set up on the machine,

select Connect with existing proxy settings.

• If you want the Provider to connect directly, select Connect directly without

a proxy.

• If the existing proxy requires authentication, or if you want to use a custom

proxy for the Provider connection, select Connect with custom proxy

settings.

o If you use a custom proxy, you need to specify the address, port, and

credentials.

o If you're using a proxy, you should have already allowed the URLs

described in prerequisites.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-vmware-to-azure#prerequisites



4. In Prerequisites Check, Setup runs a check to make sure that installation can run.

If a warning appears about the Global time sync check, verify that the time on the

system clock (Date and Time settings) is the same as the time zone.



5. In MySQL Configuration, create credentials for logging on to the MySQL server

instance that is installed.



6. In Environment Details, select whether you're going to replicate VMware VMs. If

you are, then setup checks that PowerCLI 6.0 is installed.

7. In Install Location, select where you want to install the binaries and store the

cache. The drive you select must have at least 5 GB of disk space available, but we

recommend a cache drive with at least 600 GB of free space.



8. In Network Selection, specify the listener (network adapter and SSL port) on

which the configuration server sends and receives replication data. Port 9443 is the

default port used for sending and receiving replication traffic, but you can modify

this port number to suit your environment's requirements. In addition to the port

9443, we also open port 443, which is used by a web server to orchestrate

replication operations. Do not use Port 443 for sending or receiving replication

traffic.

9. In Summary, review the information and click Install. When installation finishes, a

passphrase is generated. You will need this when you enable replication, so copy it

and keep it in a secure location.



After registration finishes, the server is displayed on the Settings > Servers blade in the

vault.

Add the account for automatic discovery

1. On your configuration server, launch CSPSConfigtool.exe. It is available as a

shortcut on the desktop and located in the install location\home\systems\bin

folder.

2. Click Manage Accounts > Add Account.



Note: It can take 15 minutes or more for the account name to appear in the portal. To

update immediately, click Configuration Servers > server name > Refresh Server.

Connect to VMware servers

Connect to vSphere ESXi hosts or vCenter servers, to discover VMware VMs.

• If you add the vCenter server or vSphere hosts with an account without

administrator privileges on the server, the account needs these privileges enabled:

o Datacenter, Datastore, Folder, Host, Network, Resource, Virtual machine,

vSphere Distributed Switch.

o The vCenter server needs Storage views permissions.



• When you add VMware servers, it can take 15 minutes or longer for them to

appear in the portal. To allow Azure Site Recovery to discover virtual machines

running in your on-premises environment, you need to connect your VMware

vCenter Server or vSphere ESXi hosts with Site Recovery.

Select +vCenter to start connecting a VMware vCenter server or a VMware vSphere ESXi

host.

• In Add vCenter, specify a friendly name for the vSphere host or vCenter server,

and then specify the IP address or FQDN of the server. Leave the port as 443

unless your VMware servers are configured to listen for requests on a different

port. Select the account that is to connect to the VMware vCenter or vSphere ESXi

server. Click OK.

• Enter the Vcenter information.



Target Configure

1. In Target, select the subscription and the resource group in which you want to

create the failed over VMs. Choose the deployment model that you want to use in

Azure (classic or resource management), for the failed over VMs.

2. Select the Azure storage account you want to use for replicating data. If you don't

want to use an account you've already set up, you can create a new one.

3. Select the Azure network and subnet to which Azure VMs will connect, when

they're created after failover. Select Configure now for selected machines, to

apply the network setting to all machines you select for protection.

Select Configure later to select the Azure network per machine. If you don't want

to use an existing network, you can create one.



• In Virtual Machines > Select virtual machines, click and select each machine you

want to replicate. You can only select machines for which replication can be enabled.

Then click OK.



• In Properties > Configure properties, select the account that will be used by the

process server to automatically install the Mobility service on the machine.

• By default, all disks are replicated. Click All Disks and clear any disks you don't

want to replicate. Then click OK. You can set additional VM properties later.

Setup Replication

1. In Replication settings > Configure replication settings, verify that the correct

replication policy is selected. If you modify a policy, changes will be applied to

replicating machine, and to new machines.

2. Enable Multi-VM consistency if you want to gather machines into a replication

group, and specify a name for the group. Then click OK. Note that:

• Machines in replication groups replicate together, and have shared crash-

consistent and app-consistent recovery points when they fail over.

• We recommend that you gather VMs and physical servers together so that

they mirror your workloads. Enabling multi-VM consistency can impact

workload performance, and should only be used if machines are running the

same workload and you need consistency.



1. Click Enable Replication. You can track progress of the Enable Protection job

in Settings > Jobs > Site Recovery Jobs. After the Finalize Protection job runs

the machine is ready for failover.

After you enable replication, the Mobility service will be installed if you set up push

installation. After the Mobility service is push installed on a VM, a protection job will

start and fail. After the failure, you need to manually restart each machine. Then the

protection job begins again, and initial replication occurs.

View and manage VM properties

We recommend that you verify the VM properties, and make any changes you need to.

1. Click Replicated items >, and select the machine. The Essentials blade shows

information about machines settings and status.

2. In Properties, you can view replication and failover information for the VM.

3. In Compute and Network > Compute properties, you can specify the Azure VM

name and target size. Modify the name to comply with Azure requirements if you

need to.

4. Modify settings for the target network, subnet, and IP address that will be assigned

to the Azure VM:

• You can set the target IP address.

o If you don't provide an address, the failed over machine will use DHCP.

o If you set an address that isn't available at failover, failover won't work.

o The same target IP address can be used for test failover, if the address is

available in the test failover network.

• The number of network adapters is dictated by the size you specify for the

target virtual machine:

o If the number of network adapters on the source machine is the same as,

or less than, the number of adapters allowed for the target machine size,

then the target will have the same number of adapters as the source.

o If the number of adapters for the source virtual machine exceeds the

number allowed for the target size, then the target size maximum will be

used.

o For example, if a source machine has two network adapters and the target

machine size supports four, the target machine will have two adapters. If

the source machine has two adapters but the supported target size only

supports one then the target machine will have only one adapter.

• If the virtual machine has multiple network adapters they will all connect to

the same network.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-support-matrix-to-azure#failed-over-azure-vm-requirements



• If the virtual machine has multiple network adapters then the first one shown

in the list becomes the Default network adapter in the Azure virtual machine.

5. In Disks, you can see the VM operating system, and the data disks that will be

replicated.

Prepare VMs for replication All machines that you want to replicate must have the Mobility service installed. You can

install the Mobility service in many ways:

• Install with a push installation from the process server. You need to prepare

machines in advance to use this method.

• Install using deployment tools such as System Center Configuration Manager, or

Azure automation DSC.

• Install manually

Enable replication Steps Before you start:

• When you add or modify VMs, it can take up to 15 minutes or longer for changes

to take effect, and for them to appear in the portal.

• You can check the last discovered time for VMs in Configuration Servers > Last

Contact At.

• To add VMs without waiting for the scheduled discovery, highlight the

configuration server (don’t click it), and click Refresh.

• If a VM is prepared for push installation, the process server automatically installs

the Mobility service when you enable replication.

Replicate VMs • Click Replicate application > Source.

• In Source, select On-premises

• In Source-location, select the configuration server name

• In Machine type, select Physical Machines.

• In Process server choose the process server. If you haven't created any additional

process servers this will be the configuration server. Then click OK



• In Target, select the subscription and the resource group in which you want to

create the Azure VMs after failover. Choose the deployment model that you want

to use in Azure (classic or resource management), for the failed over VMs.



• Select the Azure storage account you want to use for replicating data. If you

don't want to use an account you've already set up, you can create a new one.

• Select the Azure network and subnet to which Azure VMs will connect after

failover. Select Configure now for selected machines, to apply the network setting

to all machines you select for protection. Select Configure later to select the

Azure network per machine. If you don't want to use an existing network, you can

create one.

Adding Physical Machines, • In Physical Machines, Click the '+' button and enter Name, IP address and

choose the operating system of the machine you want to replicate.



It will take a few minutes until machines are discovered, and shown in the list.

• In Properties > Configure properties, select the account that will be used by the

process server to automatically install the Mobility service on the machine.

• By default, all disks are replicated. Click All Disks and clear any disks you don't

want to replicate. Then click OK. You can set additional VM properties later.



• In Replication settings > Configure replication settings, verify that the correct

replication policy is selected. If you modify a policy, changes will be applied to

replicating machine, and to new machines.

• Enable Multi-VM consistency if you want to gather machines into a replication

group, and specify a name for the group. Then click OK. Note that:

• Machines in replication groups replicate together, and have shared crash-

consistent and app-consistent recovery points when they fail over.

• We recommend that you gather VMs and physical servers together so that

they mirror your workloads. Enabling multi-VM consistency can impact

workload performance, and should only be used if machines are running the

same workload and you need consistency.



Enabling Replication

• Click Enable Replication. You can track progress of the Enable Protection job

in Settings > Jobs > Site Recovery Jobs. After the Finalize Protection job runs

the machine is ready for failover.



After you enable replication, the Mobility service will be installed if you set up push

installation. After the Mobility service is push installed on a machine, a protection job

will start and fail. After the failure, you need to manually restart each machine. Then the

protection job begins again, and initial replication occurs.



Test Failover to Azure in Site Recovery

Test failover is run to validate your replication strategy or perform a disaster recovery

drill without any data loss or downtime. Doing a test failover doesn't have any impact on

the ongoing replication or on your production environment. Test failover can be done

either on a virtual machine or a recovery plan. When triggering a test failover, you need

to specify the network to which test virtual machines would connect to.

Prerequisites 1. Before you do a failover, do a test failover to ensure that everything is working as

expected.

2. Prepare the network at target location before you do a failover.

Run a failover

This procedure describes how to run a failover for a recovery plan. Alternatively, you can

run the failover for a single virtual machine or physical server from the Replicated

items page

1. Select Recovery Plans >Click Failover

2. On the Failover screen, select a Recovery Point to failover to. You can use one of

the following options:

a. Latest (default): This option first processes all the data that has been sent to Site

Recovery service to create a recovery point for each virtual machine before failing them

over to it. This option provides the lowest RPO (Recovery Point Objective) as the virtual

machine created after failover has all the data that has been replicated to Site Recovery

service when the failover was triggered.

b. Latest processed: This option fails over all virtual machines of the recovery plan

to the latest recovery point that has already been processed by Site Recovery service.

When you are doing test failover of a virtual machine, time stamp of the latest

processed recovery point is also shown. If you are doing failover of a recovery plan, you

can go to individual virtual machine and look at Latest Recovery Points tile to get this

information. As no time is spent to process the unprocessed data, this option provides a

low RTO (Recovery Time Objective) failover option.

c. Latest app-consistent: This option fails over all virtual machines of the recovery

plan to the latest application consistent recovery point that has already been processed

by Site Recovery service. When you are doing test failover of a virtual machine, time

stamp of the latest app-consistent recovery point is also shown. If you are doing failover

of a recovery plan, you can go to individual virtual machine and look at Latest

Recovery Points tile to get this information.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-create-recovery-plans

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-test-failover-to-azure

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-network-design



d. Latest multi-VM processed: This option is only available for recovery plans that

have at least one virtual machine with multi-VM consistency ON. Virtual machines that

are part of a replication group failover to the latest common multi-VM consistent

recovery point. Other virtual machines failover to their latest processed recovery point.

e. Latest multi-VM app-consistent: This option is only available for recovery plans

that have at least one virtual machine with multi-VM consistency ON. Virtual machines

that are part of a replication group failover to the latest common multi-VM application-

consistent recovery point. Other virtual machines failover to their latest application-

consistent recovery point.

f. Custom: If you are doing test failover of a virtual machine, then you can use this

option to failover to a particular recovery point.



When a test failover is triggered, it involves following steps:

1. Prerequisites check: This step ensures that all conditions required for failover are

met

2. Failover: This step processes the data and makes it ready so that an Azure virtual

machine can be created out of it. If you have chosen Latest recovery point, this

step creates a recovery point from the data that has been sent to the service.

3. Start: This step creates an Azure virtual machine using the data processed in the

previous step.

Creating a network for test failover

It is recommended that when you are doing a test failover you choose a network that is

isolated from your production recovery site network that you provided in Compute and

Network settings for the virtual machine. By default, when you create an Azure virtual

network, it is isolated from other networks. This network should mimic your production

network:

1. Test network should have same number of subnets as that in your production

network and with the same name as those of the subnets in your production

network.

2. Test network should use the same IP range as that of your production network.

3. Update the DNS of the Test Network as the IP that you gave as target IP for the

DNS virtual machine under Compute and Network settings.

Planned failover

Apart from, Failover, Hyper-V virtual machines protected using Site Recovery also

support Planned failover. This is a zero-data loss failover option. When a planned

failover is triggered, first the source virtual machines are shut down, the data yet to be

synchronized is synchronized and then a failover is triggered.

When a failover is triggered, it involves following steps:

1. Prerequisites check: This step ensures that all conditions required for failover are

met

2. Failover: This step processes the data and makes it ready so that an Azure virtual

machine can be created out of it. If you have chosen Latest recovery point, this

step creates a recovery point from the data that has been sent to the service.



3. Start: This step creates an Azure virtual machine using the data processed in the

previous step.

Resource and Useful Links,

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-vmware-to-

azure

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-test-failover-

to-azure

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/physical-walkthrough-test-

failover

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-vmware-to-azure

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-vmware-to-azure



https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/physical-walkthrough-test-failover

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/physical-walkthrough-test-failover

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