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machines. If you need to override inventory mappings for a few members of a protection group, use the vSphere
Client to connect to the recovery site and edit the network settings of the placeholders or move them to a
different folder or resource pool. If a member of a protection group loses its protection, its placeholder is
removed from the recovery site until the protection has been restored.
Placeholders can be treated like any other members of the recovery site vCenter inventory, although they
cannot be powered on. When a placeholder is created, its folder, network, and compute resource assignments
are derived from inventory mappings established at the protected site. Its permissions are inherited from the
protected virtual machine that it represents. A recovery site vCenter administrator can modify these
assignments and permissions as necessary. Changes made to the placeholder override settings established by
inventory mapping, and are preserved in the recovery site SRM database.
When a protected virtual machine is recovered by testing or running a recovery plan, its placeholder is
unregistered, and the recovered virtual machine is registered in its place and powered on as directed by the
recovery plan. After a recovery plan test completes, the placeholders are restored as part of the cleanup process.
Understanding Recovery and Test Recovery
A test recovery exercises nearly every aspect of a recovery plan, though several concessions are made to avoid
disrupting ongoing operations. While a test recovery has no lasting effects on either site, a recovery has
significant effects on both sites.
You can (and should) run test recoveries as often as needed. A test recovery does not affect replication or the
ongoing operations of either site (though it might temporarily suspend selected local virtual machines at the
recovery site). You can pause, resume, or cancel a recovery plan test at any time.
A recovery stops replication (after a final synchronization of the source to the target) and makes changes at
both sites that require significant time and effort to reverse. Because of this, the privilege to test a recovery plan
and the privilege to run a recovery plan must be separately assigned. A running recovery plan cannot be paused
or canceled.
Table 1-1 lists the differences between testing and running a recovery plan.
Table 1-1. Differences Between Testing and Running a Recovery Plan
Test a Recovery Plan Run a Recovery Plan
Required privileges Site Recovery Manager > Recovery
Plan > Test
Site Recovery Manager > Recovery Plan >
Run
Effect on virtual machines at
protected site
none Virtual machines are shut down in reverse
priority order.
Effect on virtual machines at
recovery site
Local virtual machines are suspended
if required by the plan. Suspended
virtual machines are restarted after
the test is complete.
Local virtual machines are suspended if
required by the plan.
Effect on replication Temporary snapshots of replicated
storage are created at the recovery site
and the arrays are rescanned to
discover them.
All replicated datastores are synchronized,
then replication is stopped, and the target
devices at the recovery site are made
writable.
Network Recovered virtual machines are
connected to a test network.
Recovered virtual machines are connected
to a datacenter network.
Interruption Can be paused or canceled. Must run to completion.
Chapter 1 Administering VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager
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