5.8.5

Table Of Contents
n
A virtual IP address representing the cluster, for end users and remote collectors that point to the
vCenter Operations Manager server to use.
When a server that hosts vCenter Operations Manager becomes unavailable and is remapped by the
clustering software, any users that are logged in to vCenter Operations Manager are logged out and the
vCenter Operations Manager system becomes unavailable for about 15 seconds. Because it is installed on the
shared disk, the FSDB is not affected. The RDB remains accessible from both servers because it is installed
on a different server than the vCenter Operations Manager software.
For more information about how to install and configure of a clustered environment, see your specific
clustering documentation.
Implementing Disaster Recovery for the Server
vCenter Operations Manager has built-in abilities to enable a quick transition to a completely separate
backup vCenter Operations Manager server or cluster if the primary server or cluster is unavailable. You
must manually switch the vCenter Operations Manager software to use the backup server or cluster as the
primary server or cluster.
The separate backup server typically resides in a different location than the primary system for disaster
recovery purposes. The remote backup server or cluster contains a vCenter Operations Manager instance
that serves as a backup replication server. This instance keeps a warm, updated copy of the FSDB.
Disaster recovery has the following hardware and software requirements.
n
A separate remote vCenter Operations Manager instance that is configured as a backup server.
n
A vCenter Operations Manager FSDB replication server that is running the replication service. After the
remote FSDB is synchronized with the local FSDB, the data should be identical.
n
A vCenter Operations Manager database that is synchronized with the appropriate vendor software.
n
A scheduled batch file that copies key vCenter Operations Manager files to the backup server. For
information about the vCenter Operations Manager files that are required on the backup server, see
“Backing Up System Files,” on page 132.
When the primary server or cluster that hosts vCenter Operations Manager becomes unavailable, the
vCenter Operations Manager database should failover to the backup database by using the appropriate
vendor software. Users who were logged in to vCenter Operations Manager are logged out. The
vCenter Operations Manager system is unavailable until you configure the backup server to be the primary
server and all services are turned back on. See “Switch the Primary and Backup Servers,” on page 135.
The typical critical path timing item is the restoration of the RDB. All alerts in the new
vCenter Operations Manager system at the time of the most recent RDB backup are active, but
vCenter Operations Manager analytics should reset all alerts to the appropriate state after 15 minutes.
Switch the Primary and Backup Servers
If the primary server or cluster is unavailable, you must manually switch the vCenter Operations Manager
software to use the backup server or cluster as the primary server or cluster.
Prerequisites
Implement disaster recovery. See “Implementing Disaster Recovery for the Server,” on page 135.
Procedure
1 From the Start menu, select All Programs > VMware > vCenter Operations Enterprise > Configure
VMware vCenter Operations to start the Configure VMware vCenter Operations utility on the backup
server.
Chapter 10 Backing Up and Recovering Data
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