INF-BCO1505

Vmware vSphere Replication: Technical Walk-Through with Engineering

Aleksey Pershin, VMware, Inc. Ken Werneburg, VMware, Inc.

#vmworldinf

Disclaimer

This session may contain product features that are

currently under development.

This session/overview of the new technology represents

no commitment from VMware to deliver these features in any generally available product.

Features are subject to change, and must not be included in

contracts, purchase orders, or sales agreements of any kind.

Technical feasibility and market demand will affect final delivery. Pricing and packaging for any new technologies or features
discussed or presented have not been determined.

Agenda

Introduction to vSphere Replication Whats New in 2012

vSphere Replication and SRM

Configuring VR Replication VR Internals Failover and Test Automated Reprotect and Failback Summary

Agenda

Introduction to vSphere Replication Whats New in 2012

vSphere Replication and SRM

Configuring VR Replication VR Internals Failover and Test Automated Reprotect and Failback Summary

Introduction to vSphere Replication: Protection for SRM

vSphere Replication enables simple and reliable protection for all Virtual Machines

Replication technology built into the vSphere platform

vSphere vSphere

Replicates individual VMs

Replicates between heterogenous datastores

Asynchronous replication with RPO >= 15 min Recovery and test are done through SRM recovery plans

Released in 2011

Introduction to vSphere Replication: Architecture

Protected Site
vSphere Client SRM Plug-In DB DB DB

Recovery Site
vSphere Client SRM Plug-In DB

SRM Server

vCenter Server

vCenter Server

SRM Server

VRMS VRS ESX DB ESX ESX ESX ESX

VRMS DB

VRA

VRA

VRA

Replication

VMFS

VMFS

Storage

VMFS

VMFS

Storage

Agenda

Introduction to vSphere Replication
Whats New in 2012 vSphere Replication and SRM Configuring VR Replication VR Internals Failover and Test Automated Reprotect and Failback Summary

vSphere Replication: Protection Built-in to the Platform!

vSphere

Replication Engine
vSphere

Delivered with the vSphere Platform

Bundled with most vSphere Editions

New in 2012, Built-in Protection for the Platform

Standalone vSphere Replication

Simple per-VM recovery

Automated reprotect and failback workflows in SRM for VR Simplified installation and configuration
Choice to use the embedded database for VRMS VRMS and VR Server combined in a single virtual appliance

Application level quiescing

Performance improvements

Agenda

Introduction to vSphere Replication
Whats New in 2012 vSphere Replication and SRM Configuring VR Replication VR Internals Failover and Test Automated Reprotect and Failback Summary

10

vSphere Replication and SRM

SVR is now independent of SRM SVR can replicate within a single vCenter SRM can be installed after SVR SRM will discover and use SVR and its replication Upgrade to SRM Gain automation, test recovery, failback, customization, reporting... SVR and SRM can coexist

See a more detailed session on using SVR

INF-BCO1436 vSphere Replication: Use Cases and Implementation Tips

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vSphere Replication Architecture

vSphere Web UI Protected Site Recovery Site

vCenter VR Appliance VR Appliance

vCenter

VM VM VM

VR Agent

(Further Appliances for SRM)

NFC Service ESX vSphere vSphere

VR vSCSI Filter vSphere vSphere vSphere

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Agenda

Introduction to vSphere Replication Whats New in 2012

vSphere Replication and SRM

Configuring VR replication VR Internals Failover and Test Automated Reprotect and Failback Summary

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Configuring VR Replication

VR replication is configured per VM in vCenter

Selectable RPO from 15 min up to 24 hours

Selectable destination datastore (per virtual disk)
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Configuring VR Replication: Multiple VMs

All VMs will have the same settings (RPO, quiescence, etc.)
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Seeding the Initial Copy to Save Time and Bandwidth

The user can provide the seed for the initial copy

The seed can be delivered through any out-of-band channel The more recent, the better The user directs the wizard to the seed files when configuring replication

If using seeds when configuring en masse

The seed files must be placed in a specific way at the target Refer to the VR user manual for more details

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Agenda

Introduction to vSphere Replication
Whats New in 2012 vSphere Replication and SRM Configuring VR Replication VR Internals Failover and Test Automated Reprotect and Failback Summary

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First, It Does an Initial Full Sync of Source and Target

Compares disk IDs to avoid mismatches Calculates checksum of all blocks at source and target Exchanges and compares checksums to determine delta

Replicates all changed blocks necessary to align VMDKs

E B D E

Source Disk

tcp/31031

Seed Disk

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After Full Sync, We Switch to Sending the Delta

LightWeight Deltas

Crash consistent if quiescing is turned off Allows cross-disk consistency within a VM Ongoing I/O not penalized with replication active Lightweight snapshots are not the same as VM snapshots (redo logs)

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Normally Sends Only Changed Blocks

Switches to delta after first sync VR Agent tracks all changing blocks via vSCSI filter Changed blocks replicated as per RPO

AII

B B

CI

DI

E E

AII A

CI

DI

A C D

Source Disk

tcp/44046

Target Disk

Disks are always consistent

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Lightweight Snapshots and the LWD Protocol

VR Filter

Writes tracked by vSCSI filter driver

Each replica corresponds to a lightweight snapshot Bitmap of changed blocks is maintained between replications

During a sync changed blocks are read and sent to the target
LWD protocol Light Weight Deltas Port 31031 Initial replication traffic Port 44046 Ongoing replication traffic

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Replication Consistency
Maintains point-in-time consistency VM has a known RPO Guarantees cross-disk consistency All disks within a VM treated as an entity Every replica is a crash consistent image of the VM A VMDK will never be corrupt Guest quiescing adds file system consistency Improves OS recoverability with VSS App-level quiescing adds application level consistency Flush application writers with VSS

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Protecting Against Network Failures

VR vSCSI filter discards a snapshot only after a sync is completed VR Server writes each replica into a separate redo log A redo log is snapshotted only after a sync is completed Old replicas are collapsed only after a sync is completed There is always at least one valid replica that corresponds to a valid lightweight snapshot

Redo log collected

LWD Shipped Blocks changed
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Write committed to replica vmdks

The Replication Scheduler

The scheduler runs in the VR agent on each ESX host
Minimizes RPO violations across all VMs on the host Tries to minimize the overall bandwidth usage within RPO constraints Statistical analysis to predict sync durations Can do early syncs in anticipation of large syncs

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Agenda

Introduction to vSphere Replication
Whats New in 2012 vSphere Replication and SRM Configuring VR Replication VR Internals Failover and test Automated Reprotect and Failback Summary

25

Failover and Test

During a failover, a replica is surfaced as a VM in vCenter

Replication is automatically stopped All replicas are collapsed to avoid a performance penalty at runtime

During a test (SRM only), a snapshot of a replica is surfaced as a VM

Replication continues to run while test is in progress The test VM can write to the disks without affecting the replicas After the test the test snapshot is discarded
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Agenda

Introduction to vSphere Replication
Whats New in 2012 vSphere Replication and SRM Configuring VR Replication VR Internals Failover and Test Automated Reprotect and Failback Summary

27

SRM Allows for Automated Reprotect and Failback

SRM provides additional automation workflows Reprotect Test recovery after reprotect Failback A successful planned migration is required for reprotect Failover shuts down protected VMs and disables power-on All VM files are left at the protected site Reprotect automatically configures VMs for replication in the opposite direction
(VMDK1) VMDK2

VMDK1

(VMDK2)

V M D K1
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V M D K2

All replication settings preserved Original VMs used as seeds Detects manually configured replications

Agenda

Introduction to vSphere Replication
Whats New in 2012 vSphere Replication and SRM Configuring VR Replication VR Internals Failover and Test Automated Reprotect and Failback Summary

29

Summary

vSphere Replication provides robust and cost effective replication More features and improvements coming in 2012
Automated reprotect and failback in SRM Application level quiescing Simplified installation

vSphere Replication for SMBs

Offered with Essentials Plus licenses and above Can be upgraded to SRM to provide automation, test, failback

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More Good Stuff!

http://blogs.vmware.com/vSphere/Uptime

Twitter @vmKen

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Thank You

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Learn more about VMware for SMBs

vmware.com/go/smb

blogs.vmware.com/smb
bit.ly/VMworld_SMB

VMwareCloudContest.com

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FILL OUT A SURVEY

EVERY COMPLETE SURVEY IS ENTERED INTO DRAWING FOR A $25 VMWARE COMPANY STORE GIFT CERTIFICATE

INF-BCO1505

Vmware vSphere Replication: Technical Walk-Through with Engineering

Aleksey Pershin, VMware, Inc. Ken Werneburg, VMware, Inc.

#vmworldinf