5.0

About Placeholder Virtual Machines and Inventory Mapping
For each virtual machine that you add to a protection group, SRM creates a placeholder at the recovery site.
These placeholders are added to, and can be managed as part of, the recovery site's inventory.
When you add a virtual machine or template to a protection group, SRM reserves a place for it in the recovery
site's inventory by creating a subset of virtual machine files at the recovery site and then using that subset as
a placeholder to register the virtual machine with the recovery site vCenter. The presence of these placeholders
in recovery site inventory provides a visual indication to SRM administrators that the virtual machines are
protected, and to vCenter administrators that the virtual machines can be powered on and start consuming
local resources when SRM tests or runs a recovery plan.
No member of a protection group is protected until its placeholder has been created. Placeholders are not
created until valid inventory mappings have been established by either applying the site’s inventory mappings
to all members of a protection group or configuring mappings for individual members. If inventory mappings
are established for a site, you cannot override them by configuring the protection of individual virtual
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 settings of the placeholders or move them to a different folder
or resource pool.
You can treat placeholders like other members of the recovery site vCenter inventory, although they cannot
be powered on. When a placeholder is created, its folder and compute resource assignments are derived from
inventory mappings established at the protected site. A recovery site vCenter administrator can modify folder
and compute resource assignments as necessary. Changes to a placeholder virtual machine network can be
edited only in the inventory mappings. If no mapping for a network exists, the user can specify a new network
when protecting the virtual machine. Changes made to the placeholder override settings established during
the protection of the virtual machine and are preserved at the recovery site during the test and recovery.
When you recover a protected virtual machine by testing or running a recovery plan, its placeholder is replaced
by the recovered virtual machine and powered on as directed by the recovery plan. After a recovery plan test
finishes, the placeholders are restored as part of the cleanup process.
Testing and Running a Recovery Plan
Testing a recovery plan exercises nearly every aspect of a recovery plan, though several concessions are made
to avoid disrupting ongoing operations. While testing a recovery plan has no lasting effects on either the
protected or the recovery site, running a recovery plan has significant effects on both sites.
Run test recoveries as often as needed. Testing a recovery plan does not affect replication or the ongoing
operations of either site. Testing a recovery plan might temporarily suspend selected local virtual machines at
the recovery site if recoveries are configured to do so. You can cancel a recovery plan test at any time.
In the case of planned migrations, a recovery stops replication after a final synchronization of the source to the
target. For disaster recoveries, virtual machines are restored to the most recent available state, as determined
by the recovery point objective (RPO). After the final replication is completed, SRM 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.
You need different privileges when 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 Assign the Site Recovery
Manager.Recovery
Plans.Testpermission from the
Permissions tab.
Assign the Site Recovery
Manager.Recovery Plans.Recovery
permission from the Permissions tab.
Effect on virtual machines at
protected site
None Virtual machines are shut down in reverse
priority order.
Site Recovery Manager Administration Guide
14 VMware, Inc.