5.5

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How SRM Interacts with vSphere High Availability on page 41
You can use SRM to protect virtual machines on which vSphere High Availability (HA) is enabled.
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Protecting Microsoft Cluster Server and Fault Tolerant Virtual Machines on page 41
You can use SRM to protect Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) and fault tolerant virtual machines, with
certain limitations.
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Create, Test, and Run a Recovery Plan on page 42
You perform several sets of tasks to create, test, and run a recovery plan.
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Export Recovery Plan Steps on page 47
You can export the steps of a recovery plan in various formats for future reference, or to keep a hard
copy backup of your plans.
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View and Export Recovery Plan History on page 47
You can view and export reports about each run of a recovery plan, test of a recovery plan, or test
cleanup.
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Cancel a Test or Recovery on page 48
You can cancel a recovery plan test at any time during its run. You can cancel a planned migration or
disaster recovery at certain times during its run.
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Delete a Recovery Plan on page 48
You can delete a recovery plan if you do not need it.
Testing a Recovery Plan
When you create or modify a recovery plan, test it before you try to use it for planned migration or for
disaster recovery.
By testing a recovery plan, you ensure that the virtual machines that the plan protects recover correctly to
the recovery site. If you do not test recovery plans, an actual disaster recovery situation might not recover all
virtual machines, resulting in data loss.
Testing a recovery plan exercises nearly every aspect of a recovery plan, although SRM makes several
concessions to avoid disrupting ongoing operations on the protected and recovery sites. Recovery plans that
suspend local virtual machines do so for tests as well as for actual recoveries. With this exception, running a
test recovery does not disrupt replication or ongoing activities at either site.
If you use vSphere Replication, when you test a recovery plan, the virtual machine on the protected site can
still synchronize with the replica virtual machine disk files on the recovery site. The vSphere Replication
server creates redo logs on the virtual machine disk files on the recovery site, so that synchronization can
continue normally. When you perform cleanup after running a test, The vSphere Replication server removes
the redo logs from the disks on the recovery site.
You can run test recoveries as often as necessary. You can cancel a recovery plan test at any time.
Permission to test a recovery plan does not include permission to run a recovery plan. Permission to run a
recovery plan does not include permission to test a recovery plan. You must assign each permission
separately. See “Assign SRM Roles and Permissions,” on page 13.
Site Recovery Manager Administration
36 VMware, Inc.