Specifications

35 Deploying VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager with NetApp FAS/V-Series Storage Systems
Another option, with regard to infrastructure server dependencies, is to put such servers in a protection
group to be recovered and verified first, before application server protection groups are recovered.
Make sure that each protection group/recovery plan contains the appropriate infrastructure servers, such as
Active Directory servers, to facilitate testing in the DR test bubble networks.
PROVIDING ACTIVE DIRECTORY SERVICES AT THE DR SITE
It is recommended that Microsoft Active Directory servers not be recovered with SRM as this can result in
issues with domain controllers becoming out of sync in the environment. Active Directory services can be
more reliably provided at the DR site by using existing servers in that location.
DOCUMENTATION AND MESSAGE STEPS
Document any specifics of the DR plan that are not maintained specifically within SRM. For example, if you
have built multiple recovery plans that must be ran in a specific order or only after other external
requirements have been met ensure these are documented and use the message step feature, inserting a
message step at the beginning of the outlining any external requirements for a successful run of that plan.
REALISTIC DR TESTING
Perform a realistic walk-through test. Don’t depend on any infrastructure or services that won’t be available
during a real DR scenario. For example, make sure you are not relying on primary site name resolution
services while performing a DR test.
Using the test bubble network to verify application server operation is part of a complete test.
11 KNOWN BEHAVIORS
SRM DOES NOT INVOKE/CONFIGURE SNAPMIRROR TRANSFERS
SRM will only invoke SnapMirror quiesce and break commands. SnapMirror configuration and update
scheduling must be done outside of SRM and prior to configuring SRM. For best practices on configuring
your SnapMirror transfers, see the SnapMirror Best Practices Guide, TR-3446.
MANAGING RDM DEVICES WITH NETAPP SNAPDRIVE FOR WINDOWS
NetApp SnapDrive for Windows manages the creation of snapshots for LUNs connected to VMs by raw
device maps. To do this SnapDrive requires access to the vCenter server managing the VM. After a SRM
failover the vCenter server has been changed to the server at the DR site. For SnapDrive to function
properly after failover the vCenter server setting must be updated. This can be automated using SRM
command steps. For details please see NetApp KB article kb56952
https://now.netapp.com/Knowledgebase/solutionarea.asp?id=kb56952
SUPPORTED SNAPMIRROR VOLUME LAYOUTS
Be sure to follow the data layout rules outlined in the section Requirements and Assumptions above to make
sure of supportability with SRM.
RDM SUPPORT
With the release of VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager version 1.0U1 raw disk maps are now
supported in SRM.
SRM DYNAMIC LUN ACCESS
Compute resources (ESX hosts and clusters) are mapped between sites in SRM inventory mappings. ESX
clusters or individual non-clustered ESX hosts can be mapped to ESX clusters or non-clustered ESX hosts
at the DR site. When individual ESX hosts are mapped between sites SRM will attempt to recovery LUNs
and present the recovered LUNs only to the specific ESX host as specified in the inventory mappings
settings, this is referred to as dynamic LUN access in SRM.
If you have followed NetApp best practices in TR-3428 for VI3 or TR-3749 for vSphere where it is
recommended to create one igroup for each cluster or group of ESX hosts that share LUNs, then it may not
be possible for the storage adapter to present a LUN only to one specific ESX host. Instead the LUN will be
presented in the single igroup and be made visible to all ESX hosts in that igroup. This is typically
acceptable as implementing the cluster igroup model indicates that the intended design was that all LUNs
presented to a host in the cluster or igroup should be accessible by any host in that cluster. However, if it is
required that a LUN recovered by SRM be presented to only one host or subset of hosts at the DR site then