Specifications

VMware and BEA WebLogic Solutions Deployment Guide
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7. Automate physical server maintenance by dynamically relocating BEA WebLogic Server virtual
machines without disruption to end users.
8. Optimize the service level of distributed applications by controlling the aggregate allocation of
resources for the entire set of virtual machines running the distributed BEA WebLogic and non-BEA
WebLogic application environments.
5. High Availability: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
VMware Virtualization works alongside BEA WebLogic Server clustering to deliver enhanced infrastructure
and application high availability for critical business functions. Using VMware Infrastructure, customers can
implement a unified disaster recovery (DR) platform that allows many production BEA WebLogic Server
virtual machines to be recovered in the event of hardware failure without investing in costly one-to-one
mapping of production and DR hardware. While a BEA WebLogic Server cluster consists of multiple BEA
WebLogic Server instances running simultaneously and working together to provide application failover and
load-balancing, VMware VMotion™ enables the live migration of running BEA WebLogic Server virtual
machines from one physical server to another with zero downtime, continuous service availability, and
complete transaction integrity. Live migration of virtual machines enables companies to perform hardware
maintenance without scheduling downtime and disrupting business operations. VMware HA provides easy to
use, cost effective high availability for BEA WebLogic applications running in virtual machines. In the event
of physical server failure, affected BEA WebLogic Server virtual machines are automatically restarted on
other physical servers that have spare capacity. VMware HA minimizes downtime and IT service disruption
while eliminating the need for dedicated stand-by hardware and installation of additional software. VMware
HA provides uniform high availability across the entire virtualized IT environment without the cost and
complexity of failover solutions tied to either operating systems or specific applications. VMware
Consolidated Backup provides an easy to use, centralized facility for LAN-free backup of virtual machines.
VMware Consolidated Backup simplifies backup administration and reduces the load for ESX Servers.
Key Benefits:
1. Development and Test Images can be saved for backup, audit etc using snapshots and
consolidated backup.
2. Layers of Images can be saved for regression (ie, keep exact version of OS, BEA
WebLogic Server, patches, state etc.) using snapshots and backup.
3. Snapshots enable point in time restores and rollbacks during test and development
problem resolution.
4. Automatic failure detection of physical servers running the BEA WebLogic Servers in
production.
5. Ensure capacity availability to support BEA WebLogic Server virtual machine failovers.
6. Automatic restart of failed BEA WebLogic Server virtual machines using VMware HA.
7. Full and incremental file backup of virtual machines using VMware consolidated backup
8. Full image backup of BEA WebLogic Server virtual machines for disaster recovery
9. Migration of BEA WebLogic Server virtual machines from failing server hardware using
Live Migration without disruption to end users.
10. Restore from snapshots and backups during system failures or disaster recovery
11. Failover over SAN during disaster recovery by using SAN replication and restarting BEA
WebLogic Server virtual machines in DR sites.
The BEA-VMware solution discussed in this document will focus on addressing three distinct value
propositions that VMware product suite brings to an Enterprise BEA WebLogic deployment. The focus of this
deployment guide is on Server Containment, Rapid Provisioning and Change Management.
The key features of VMware Infrastructure discussed in this deployment guide (including templates, cloning,
snapshots, P2V etc.) can be directly leveraged to provide all of the benefits discussed above.