5.5

About Placeholder Virtual Machine Templates
When you protect a template on the protected site, SRM creates the placeholder template by creating a
virtual machine in the default resource pool of a compute resource and then by marking that virtual
machine as a template. SRM selects the compute resource from the set of available compute resources in the
datacenter on the recovery site to which the folder of the virtual machine on the protected site is mapped.
All the hosts in the selected compute resource must have access to at least one placeholder datastore. At
least one host in the compute resource must support the hardware version of the protected virtual machine
template.
About Inventory Mappings
You must create inventory mappings so that SRM can create placeholder virtual machines.
Inventory mappings provide a convenient way to specify how SRM maps virtual machine resources at the
protected site to resources at the recovery site. SRM applies these mappings to all members of a protection
group when you create the group. You can reapply mappings whenever necessary, for example when you
add new members to a group.
SRM does not enforce an inventory mapping requirement. If you create a protection group without defining
inventory mappings, you must configure each protected virtual machine individually or use the Configure
All option. SRM cannot protect a virtual machine unless it has valid inventory mappings for key virtual
machine resources.
n
Networks
n
Folders
n
Compute resources
n
Placeholder datastores
After you configure mappings at the protected site when you configure protection, configure inventory
mappings at the recovery site to enable reprotect.
When SRM creates a placeholder virtual machine, SRM derives its folder and compute resource assignments
from inventory mappings that you establish at the protected site. A vCenter Server administrator at the
recovery site can modify folder and compute resource assignments as necessary.
Configuring Inventory Mappings for Individual Virtual Machines
You can configure mappings for individual virtual machines in a protection group. If you create inventory
mappings for a site, you can override them by configuring the protection of individual virtual machines. If
you must override inventory mappings for some members of a protection group, use the vSphere Client to
connect to the recovery site, and edit the settings of the placeholder virtual machines or move them to a
different folder or resource pool.
Changing Inventory Mappings
If you change existing inventory mappings for a site, the changes do not affect virtual machines that SRM
already protects. SRM only applies the new mappings to newly added virtual machines or if you repair a
lost placeholder for a particular virtual machine.
Because placeholder virtual machines do not support NICs, you cannot change the network configurations
of placeholder virtual machines. You can only change the network for a placeholder virtual machine in the
inventory mappings. If no mapping for a network exists, you can specify a network when you configure
protection for an individual virtual machine. Changes that you make to the placeholder virtual machine
override the settings that you establish when you configure the protection of the virtual machine. SRM
preserves these changes at the recovery site during the test and recovery.
Site Recovery Manager Installation and Configuration
80 VMware, Inc.