Specifications

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Chapter 4 vCenter Server Heartbeat Installation on Windows Server 2008
22 To facilitate the clone of the Primary server onto the Secondary server, you must back up pertinent
components of the Primary server for restoration on to the Secondary server. Where VMware Channel
communications are fast and reliable, for instance in a LAN topology, you can directly create the backup
files over the VMware Channel connections to a partition on the Secondary server.
Where the VMware Channel connection is slower than 10 Mbit/s or risks an interruption in connection,
for example in a WAN topology, save the backup file locally and manually port the file to the Secondary
server.
You have the following options:
 For installation using the Pre-Clone technique, go to Step a of Step 23 on page 87.
 For installation using the Install Clone technique, continue with Step a of Step 22.
Continue with Step a.
a Configure Microsoft Windows Backup options. Depending on the network topology between the
servers, backup files can include or exclude application data. Including application data in the
backup file decreases the time to initially verify and synchronize the applications data on first start
up of vCenter Server Heartbeat. This is useful where VMware Channel connections are slower than
LAN speed, such as in a WAN implementation.
With Windows Server 2008, vCenter Server Heartbeat does not stop services and prevents downtime
by using the Windows Volume Shadow Service to take the backup. Including the applications’
protected data vastly increases the backup file size and therefore increases the time of the backup
operation. Due to the potential large size of the backup file, careful consideration is required when
including application data and specifying the backup folder location.
To estimate the maximum size of the backup file, add together the size of each volume that contains
system data and application data. Although the actual size of the backup file can be smaller, using
this rule of thumb helps ensure a successful installation.