VMware VMs

Public Check Items

Check and configure the following items in the VMware VM environment at the production and DR ends.

1. Check the version of vCenter Server installed at the production end and the DR end.

   eReplication is compatible with VMware, for details about the VMware versions supported by eReplication, see the Application Support Matrix sheet in the OceanStor BCManager 8.2.0 eReplication Compatibility List.

   1. Double-click the vSphere Client icon and enter vCenter Server IP address and its administrator account. Click Login.
      

      You will be prompted by an alarm about installing a certificate upon the login. Install a certificate as instructed or ignore the alarm.

      

      An administrator account of the vCenter Server is required for logging in to and later locating the vCenter Server. The username and password can be obtained from the vCenter server administrator.

      

   2. On the menu bar, choose Help > About VMware vSphere and view the vCenter Server version.

2. When an ESXi cluster is used, ensure that Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) is enabled and the automation level of DRS is not Manual.
   1. Choose Inventory > Hosts and Clusters. In the navigation tree on the left, right-click the ESXi cluster and choose Edit and Configure from the shortcut menu.
   2. Click Cluster function and select Open VMware DRS.
   3. Click VMware DRS and do not select Manual in Automation level.

3. When recovering VMware VMs from a disaster, ensure that the VM names do not contain pound signs (#).

   Otherwise, you may fail to modify the VM's configuration file while performing a recovery plan, planned migration, or fault recovery.

4. Confirm that virtual disks used by the protected VM are not in the independent mode (persistent or non-persistent).
5. Check whether the VM to be protected contains the RDM disk. If yes, the backup copy cannot be mounted or rolled back. You are advised to remove the RDM disk from the VM.

Check Items at the Production End

Before performing DR protection for or recovering VMs, ensure that VMware Tools or Open VM Tools has been installed on the VMware VMs. The VMware Tools version or Open VM Tools version needs to match the vSphere vCenter version. Otherwise, unexpected failures may occur. For details about how to obtain and install VMware Tools or Open VM Tools, see the related VMware documentation.

1. Check whether VMware Tools or Open VM Tools has been installed on the VMs that require DR protection at the production end and whether the VMware Tools or Open VM Tools version is proper.

   Choose Inventory > Hosts and Clusters. In the navigation tree, click a VM that requires DR protection. In the function pane, click the Summary tab and view information about VMware Tools in the General area. If VMware Tools or Open VM Tools is not installed on the VM, install it. If the VMware Tools or Open VM Tools version is improper, install the proper one.

   • If VMware Tools or Open VM Tools is not installed, information shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2 is displayed.
   Figure 1 VMware Tools not installed
   
   Figure 2 Open VM Tools not installed
   
   • If VMware Tools or Open VM Tools has been installed but its version is improper, information shown in Figure 3 is displayed.
   Figure 3 Incorrect version of VMware Tools or Open VM Tools installed
   
   • If VMware Tools has been installed and its version is proper, information shown in Figure 4 or Figure 5 is displayed.
   Figure 4 Proper version of VMware Tools installed
   
   Figure 5 Proper version of Open VM Tools installed
   

Check Items at the Storage End

1. Operating systems of VMs can only be installed on virtual disks.
2. Disks, except those where operating systems of VMs reside, can be RDM disks. If VMs use disks of the virtual RDM type, you can create quiesced snapshots for VMs to ensure VM consistency and recover VMs using the snapshots. If VMs use disks of the physical RDM type, quiesced snapshots cannot be created for these disks.
3. A consistency replication relationship has been created for the LUN corresponding to the datastore used by the VM.:
   • A remote replication relationship has been established between the LUNs used as the datastore used by the production VMs and LUNs used as the datastore used by the remote DR VMs. The remote replication pair status is normal.
   • If a VM uses a datastore consisting of multiple LUNs, the LUNs must reside in the same consistency group.
   • If a VM uses multiple datastores, the LUNs used by the datastores must reside in the same consistency group.
   • If a datastore used by multiple VMs is created using multiple LUNs, the LUNs must reside in the same consistency group.
   • If one or more VMs use the same RDM disk, the LUNs used by the RDM disk, the datastores where the disks files reside, and VMs must be in the same consistency group.

4. Check whether information about initiators of production/DR ESXi hosts (cluster) and test ESXi hosts (cluster) is displayed on the array.
5. Ensure that the secondary LUN of the remote replication at the DR end is not mapped to the ESXi hosts (cluster) at the DR end.
6. Check that the primary and secondary LUNs on the storage array are correctly mapped to the production ESXi hosts (cluster). For a cluster consisting of ESXi hosts, ensure that the hosts included in the host group to which the primary and secondary LUNs are mapped are all the ESXi hosts only in the cluster.