Creating a Protected Group for VMware VMs

This section describes how to create a protected group at the production site for VMware VMs that need DR protection. After the protected group is created, the system automatically matches suitable protection policies for the protected group.

Prerequisites

At least one production site has been created.
A vCenter server and storage array have been added to the production site. A vCenter server and storage array have been added to the DR site.

Context

In the HyperMetro (SAN) and asynchronous replication (SAN) or HyperMetro (SAN) and synchronous replication (SAN) scenario, storage LUNs used by protected objects in a protected group must reside in a same HyperMetro consistency group, and the HyperMetro consistency group only have these LUNs.
In the HyperMetro (SAN) and asynchronous or synchronous replication (SAN) scenario, all created asynchronous or synchronous remote replications and HyperMetro are configured in one replication consistency group.
When the HyperMetro (NAS) and asynchronous replication (NAS) DR technologies are used, ensure that HyperMetro vStore pairs have been created at both HyperMetro ends and remote replication vStore pairs have been created at both replication ends. HyperMetro pairs and remote replication pairs must be in the same vStore pair. In addition, the status of HyperMetro pairs and remote replication pairs must be normal.

When HyperMetro (NAS) and HyperVault (NAS) DR is used, ensure that the local vStore and remote vStore are in a HyperMetro vStore pair, and their file systems are also paired. In addition, ensure that the HyperMetro vStore pair is working properly.
When HyperMetro (NAS) and HyperVault (NAS) DR is used, ensure that remote integrated backups are created on all the file systems in the active-active local vStore and active-active remote vStore and are stored on the same storage device.
When the network is DR Star, ensure that the LUNs used by protected objects in the protected group are in one DR Star, and only the LUNs used by protected objects exist in the DR Star.
The protected objects belonging to one protected group reside on the same storage device.

After HyperMetro (NAS) and HyperVault (NAS) DR is used to create a protection group, the policy of performing integrated backup automatically on the storage array will be disabled.

Procedure

In the menu bar, Choose Protection.
Click Create.
Select the protected object.
1. Select Production Site, vCenter, and Protection Type.
  Select Protection Type based on the used DR technologies.
  - When the datastores where the VMs managed by vCenter use the cascading replication (synchronous and asynchronous), parallel replication (synchronous and asynchronous), cascading replication (asynchronous and asynchronous), or parallel replication (asynchronous and asynchronous), set Array-Based Replication.
    The storage array provides the remote replication feature to implement protection.
  - When the datastores where the VMs managed by vCenter reside use the HyperMetro (SAN) and asynchronous replication (SAN) DR, set Array-Based Replication.
    The service data is written into the production center and same-city DR center in real time using the HyperMetro feature provided by the storage array. The production center and remote DR center are protected using the HyperReplication feature provided by the storage array.
  - When the datastores where the VMs managed by vCenter reside use the HyperMetro (NAS) and asynchronous replication (NAS) DR, set Array-Based Replication.
    The service data is protected using the HyperMetro and asynchronous replication features provided by the storage array and written into multiple data centers. In addition, the system periodically copies the data to the remote DR site based on the time policy, providing storage layer-based multi-point DR protection.
  - When the datastore group where the VMs to be protected reside using the HyperMetro (NAS) and HyperVault (NAS) DR technology, select HyperMetro.
    HyperMetro enables service data to be written to two data centers in real time and the system to periodically generate virtual copies of the service data in the storage device of the remote DR data center based on the time policy.
  - When the datastores where VMs managed by vCenter reside use the HyperMetro + replication + replication DR technology, select Storage Replication.
    The production center and same-city DR center use the active-active technology of storage arrays to write service data to the two data centers in real time. The remote replication technology of storage arrays is used between the production center and remote DR center. The asynchronous remote replication technology of storage arrays is used between remote DR center A and remote DR center B.
2. Select the datastore group where the VMs to be protected reside.
  The system automatically protects all VMs in the selected datastore group.
  A datastore group is a set of VMs on vCenter. After vCenter is added, the system will calculate the number of and group datastores on vCenter. VMs in independent remote replication pairs are in one datastore group and VMs in one consistency group are in one datastore group. The corresponding principles and overview are as follows. For details about the planning requirements, see Figure 1.
  Principle: Data consistency of all VMs at the production end must be ensured by remote replication consistency groups.
  Summary: The production LUN set corresponding to the datastore used by the set of protected VMs to be added to the same protected group must be the same as the production LUN set corresponding to the remote consistency group or remote replication relationship.
  Figure 1 DR planning principles
Click Next.

Configure a protection policy.

On the Protection Policy page, the system automatically identifies suitable protection policies. Select a policy based on your data protection solution.
- When the DR technology of cascading replication (synchronous+asynchronous) or cascading replication (synchronous+asynchronous) of the DR Star network is used, select Cascading Replication (Synchronous and Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution.
- When the DR technology of parallel replication (synchronous+asynchronous) or parallel replication (synchronous+asynchronous) of the DR Star network is used, select Parallel Replication (Synchronous and Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution.
- When the cascading replication (asynchronous+asynchronous) DR technology is used, select Cascading Replication (Asynchronous and Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution.
- When the parallel replication (asynchronous+asynchronous) DR technology is used, select Parallel Replication (Asynchronous and Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution.
- When the HyperMetro (SAN) and asynchronous replication (SAN) DR technology is used, select HyperMetro and Array-Based Replication (Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution.
- When the HyperMetro (SAN) and synchronous replication (SAN) DR technology is used, select HyperMetro and Array-Based Replication (Synchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution.
- If the HyperMetro (SAN) + asynchronous replication (SAN) DR technology is used in the DR Star network, select HyperMetro and Array-Based Replication(DR Star): Disaster Recovery Data Center Solution (Geo-Redundant Mode).
- When the HyperMetro (NAS) and asynchronous replication (NAS) DR technologie is used, select HyperMetro and Array-Based Replication (Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution.
- When the HyperMetro (NAS) and HyperVault (NAS) DR technology is used, select HyperMetro and HyperVault: Disaster Recovery Data Center Solution (Geo-Redundant Mode).
- When the SAN HyperMetro + SAN cascading replication (HyperMetro + asynchronous + asynchronous) DR technology is used, select SAN active-active + SAN cascading replication (active-active + asynchronous + asynchronous): Multi-DC Four-Copy DR Solution.
- When the SAN HyperMetro + SAN parallel replication (HyperMetro + asynchronous + asynchronous) DR technology is used, select SAN active-active + SAN parallel replication (active-active + asynchronous + asynchronous): Multi-DC Four-Copy DR Solution.
- When the SAN HyperMetro + SAN cascading replication (HyperMetro + synchronous + asynchronous) DR technology is used, select SAN active-active + SAN parallel replication (active-active + synchronous + asynchronous): Multi-DC Four-Copy DR Solution.
- When the SAN HyperMetro + SAN parallel replication (HyperMetro + synchronous + asynchronous) DR technology is used, select SAN active-active + SAN parallel replication (active-active + synchronous + asynchronous): Multi-DC Four-Copy DR Solution.
  - If there are suitable protection policies, you can select a protection policy based on your data protection solution and modify the time policy of the protection policy.
  - If there is no suitable protection policy, check whether the storage devices used by protected objects have been configured as planned. If the storage devices have not been configured, configure them as planned. After configuration, perform the following operations: On the menu bar, select Resources. Select a node under the management server. In the site node, click Storage, in the line where the storage device resides, click Refresh to refresh the storage device information under the site. Then, recreate the protected group.

Click Set to set the protection policy for the protected group.

For Cascading Replication (Synchronous and Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution and Parallel Replication (Synchronous and Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution, configure the scheduling policy for the same-city DR system and configure the scheduling, replication, and consistency policies for the remote DR system.
For Cascading Replication (Asynchronous and Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution and Parallel Replication (Asynchronous and Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution, configure the time scheduling policy, replication policy, and consistency policy for the two asynchronous ends.
For the HyperMetro and Array-Based Replication (Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution protection policy, you need to set scheduling policy, consistency policy and replication policy in asynchronous end.
For the HyperMetro and Array-Based Replication (Synchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution protection policy, you need to set consistency policy and replication policy in synchronous end.
For the SAN active-active + SAN cascading replication (active-active + asynchronous + asynchronous): Multi-DC Four-Copy DR Solution and SAN active-active + SAN parallel replication (active-active + asynchronous + asynchronous): Multi-DC Four-Copy DR Solution protection policies, you need to configure the time scheduling policy, replication policy, and consistency policy for the two asynchronous ends at the same time.
For the SAN active-active + SAN cascading replication (active-active + synchronous + asynchronous): Multi-DC Four-Copy DR Solution and SAN active-active + SAN parallel replication (active-active + synchronous + asynchronous): Multi-DC Four-Copy DR Solution protection policies, you need to configure the time scheduling policy at the synchronous end, the time scheduling policy at the asynchronous end, the replication policy, and the consistency policy.

For protection policy Parallel Replication (Asynchronous and Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution or Cascading Replication (Asynchronous and Asynchronous):Geo-Redundant DR solution, it must cover local protection and remote protection.

For protection policy HyperMetro and HyperVault: Disaster Recovery Data Center Solution (Geo-Redundant Mode), you need to set he protection policy for the protected group. See step 5 in Creating a Protected Group for VMware VMs.

Click the Scheduling Policy tab. In the Time Policy area, set the time policy for the protected group. Table 1lists related parameters.

**Table 1** Time policies
Time Policy	Description
On-demand scheduling	Manually starts protection tasks.
Period-based scheduling	Automatically starts protection tasks based on a period set by the system. NOTE: To ensure data consistency, the execution timetable for a protected group policy template must be set. You are advised to set the execution time to off-peak hours. Tasks can be executed at multiple time points of a day, a week, or a month. Alternatively, at a specific time segment of a day, a week, or a month with a fixed frequency. It is recommended that the starting time of the validate period is set to a time later than the completion of the initial synchronization. If daylight saving time (DST) is enabled on the eReplication management server, a DR protection task whose trigger time point falls within the DST shift period cannot be executed at the scheduled time. Details are as follows: (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (United States and Canada) is used as an example. The DST starts at 2016-03-12 02:00:00, and ends at 2016-11-06 02:00:00. If the start time of the protection policy falls within the first hour (2016-03-12 02:00:00 to 03:00:00) after the DST starts, for example, 2016-03-12 02:30:00, the protection group will be automatically executed with a delay of one hour, that is 2016-03-12 03:30:00. If the start time of the protection policy falls with the last hour (2016-11-06 01:00:00 to 02:00:00) before the DST ends, for example, 2016-11-06 01:30:00, the protection group will be executed after the DST ends for half an hour.

When the Scheduling Policy is set to Period-based scheduling, in the Expected RPO area, if you select Enable RPO Requirement Satisfaction Check, the actual RPO will be checked against the configured RPO. If the actual RPO exceeds the expected RPO, the system generates an alarm, indicating that the RPO requirement is not satisfied.

Expected RPO can be set to 0-31 days, 0-23 hours, and 5-59 minutes.

If days and hours are not set, the Expected RPO is 15 minutes by default.
Click the Consistency Policy tab and select Generate quiesced snapshot.
If Continue after quiesced snapshot creation failure is selected, the process is not affected if the silent snapshot fails to be created. However, the silent snapshot information will not be restored when the recovery plan is executed.
- To generate a quiesced snapshot, you need to install VMware Tools or Open VM Tools on the VM.
- When the Time Policy of a protection policy is set to Seconds, you cannot select Generate quiesced snapshot.
vCenter is used to generate quiesced VM snapshots for VM consistency protection. After quiesced snapshots are generated, the system enables the client in the startup state to be in the quiesced state during DR protection, that is, the VM pauses temporarily and the data in the memory of the VM will be updated to a disk. After the replication starts, the vCenter Server is notified to delete these quiesced snapshots.

Click Replication Policy tab to set the remote replicate rate between storage arrays. Table 2 lists related parameters.

**Table 2** Replication policies
Replication Policy	Description
Default configuration	The remote replication rate is the default one set on the storage array.
Manual configuration	Users can set the remote replication rate for each time segment. Configure the automatic remote replication rate of the storage based on the pre-set replication rate of time period. Select Manual configuration. Click a time color block to modify the replication rate during a time segment.

Click OK.

Click Next.
Set Name and Description of the protected group.
- Name: contains 4 to 32 characters, including letters, digits, underscores (_), and hyphens (-), but cannot start with a hyphen (-).
- Description: contains 0 to 255 characters.
Optional: If you do not want to manually create a recovery plan for the protected group, select Automatically create a recovery plan after creating protected groups in the lower left corner.
Click Finish.
Click OK.

Related Operations

If the protected objects of a protected group or their used storage devices change, on the menu bar, select Resources. And refresh resources or storage devices where the protected objects reside. Then go to the protected group page and refresh protected objects of the protected group by clicking More > Refresh. After the command for refreshing information is sent, you can view details about the command execution in Background Task.

If a recovery plan has been created for a protected group, you can refresh protected objects only when the recovery plan status is Ready, Clear completed, Rollback completed, or Reprotection completed.

To ensure that information about protected groups is refreshed successfully, you must refresh information about storage devices and hosts at both the production site and DR site.

In the active-passive, geo-redundant, HyperMetro (using HyperMetro SAN or mixed HyperMetro SAN and snapshot SAN), and local protection DR scenarios, refresh operations on the storage device. On the menu bar, select Resources. Choose the site in the management server and in the site node, click vCenter Server. Click Refresh in the operation area of the vCenter server to refresh information about the vCenter server. Then, the information about the protected group is automatically refreshed.