Specifications

45 Deploying VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager with NetApp FAS/V-Series Storage Systems
APPENDIX B: NON-QUIESCED SMVI SNAPSHOT RECOVERY
By default the NetApp adapter recovers FlexVol volumes to the last replication point transferred by NetApp
SnapMirror. The 1.4.3 release of the NetApp SRM adapter provides the capability to recover NetApp
volume snapshots created by NetApp SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure. This feature is not available in
NetApp FAS/V-Series Storage Replication Adapter 2.0 for SRM 5.
This functionality is currently limited to support for snapshots created without using the option to create a
VMware consistency snapshot when the SMVI backup is created. Considering that by default the adapter
recovers the same type of image as that created by a non-quiesced SMVI created snapshot, this feature
currently has limited use cases. An example use case for this functionality would be that an application
requires recovery to the specific point in time that was created by the SMVI backup. For example, an
application runs in a VM that cannot be recovered unless it is recovered from a specific state. A custom
script is used with SMVI to place the application into this state and during this state the SMVI backup is
performed creating the NetApp Snapshot. The NetApp Snapshot now recovered by the adapter will contain
the VM with the application in the required state.
NON-QUIESCED SMVI SNAPSHOT RECOVERY CONFIGURATION RULES
The following configuration limitations apply when using the option to recover non-quiesced SMVI snapshots
with the NetApp adapter:
• This feature requires SMVI version 2.0 or newer.
• Only recovery to the most recently created SMVI snapshot is allowed.
• The option to create a VMware consistency snapshot when the SMVI backup is created must be
disabled for the SMVI job that creates the backup used for this purpose. (The NetApp adapter will
determine if this option was disabled before allowing use of the snapshot.)
• The option is only supported with volume level Asynchronous SnapMirror.
• There should be only one VMware datastore in each NetApp FlexVol being recovered.
• A SnapRestore license is required on the NetApp system.
• This is a global option that is set for all recovery plans executed while the option is set. To enable it
for specific recovery plans the option must be changed before running the desired plan.
USING THE NON-QUIESCED SMVI SNAPSHOT RECOVER FEATURE
To enable the feature change the use_smvi_snapshot option in the ontap_config.txt file located by default on
the recovery site SRM server at C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vCenter Site Recovery
Manager\scripts\SAN\ONTAP\ontap_config.txt.
Setting the value of use_smvi_snapshot to off enables the default behavior of the adapter to recover all
NetApp FlexVol volumes to the replication point created by SnapMirror.
Setting the value of use_smvi_snapshot to on enables non-quiesced SMVI snapshot recovery.
The behavior of the NetApp adapter with the option enabled depends on the recovery mode SRM is
currently executing.
DR test mode – A FlexClone volume is created using the most recent non-quiesced SMVI created
NetApp snapshot as the base snapshot of the clone. If any SMVI created snapshots newer than the
most recent non-quiesced SMVI created snapshots exist on the volume then the adapter will fail to
recover the datastore and report this failure to SRM.
DR failover mode – The FlexVol volume is reverted to the most recent SMVI created NetApp
snapshot. If any SMVI created snapshots newer than the most recent non-quiesced SMVI created
snapshots exist on the volume then the adapter will fail to recover the datastore and report this
failure to SRM. To proceed with recovery in this case, the administrator may remove the newer
snapshots from the FlexVol volume and re-run the recovery plan. SRM will re-attempt any failed
storage recovery steps from the previous run. Alternatively the administrator may disable the
use_smvi_snapshot option restoring the default behavior and re-run the recovery plan.