Recovery options at our DR site

[notesguru99]

Hi All,
Veeam newbie here and I've searched the forum first, but not quite found my answer, so I'm just after your advice please...

We have our main office, centralised with one vCenter5 server, 20 odd VM's, one NetApp SAN for production and a cheaper bespoke SAN for local backups. At our DR site we have another el cheapo SAN and at the moment I am (slowly) copying my backups via Veeam from our production site to our DR site. However it struck me that if the production site was wiped out, lets say both SAN's exploded, like they do, how would I actually restore my production servers at my DR site?

I don't have Veeam installed at my DR site, I guess that would be step one?
I backup my config, so I need to replicate/copy that to my DR site too I presume?
I only have on vCenter server at my production site, so even if I reconfigure a Veeam server how would I restore my backups without a vcenter server? Or can I restore my vcenter backup first???

For vmware users, do you prefer copy backup jobs or replication tasks for DR? My users could live without server access for a day or two at a push.
Do you use something else like Site Recovery Manager for your DR site? Am I being too much of a cheapskate?
I know if I had another NetApp at my DR site my worries would be over with SnapMirror and SnapVault but another 30-40k spend is out of the question!

Many thanks in advance!
Stuart

[PTide]

Hi,

I don't have Veeam installed at my DR site, I guess that would be step one?

Not necessarily. You can keep a replica of your VM on your DR site or keep a backup of your config.

I backup my config, so I need to replicate/copy that to my DR site too I presume?

Correct. Either will do. You can use your config backup in order to deploy a new VBR on physical/virtual host, or you can replicate your VBR to DR site which means that if you ever decide to restore your VBR it's going to be virtual.

I only have on vCenter server at my production site, so even if I reconfigure a Veeam server how would I restore my backups without a vcenter server? Or can I restore my vcenter backup first???

If your vCenter is virtual you could replicate/backup it to DR as well. However, you will need a standalone ESXi host, for more details please see these articles and threads: 1, 2, 3

For vmware users, do you prefer copy backup jobs or replication tasks for DR?

In my opinion there is no "or". Backup copy job is a must for every VM you might need to restore after disaster. If there are any VMs that have to be up and running ASAP then I'd set up a replication for them in addition to backup and backup copy jobs.

I know if I had another NetApp at my DR site my worries would be over with SnapMirror and SnapVault

Sounds like a "silver-bullet". Sadly, there is no such thing. Every time you get done with one set of worries you get another one right away! =)

Thank you.

UPDATE: Also a good thread to read

[notesguru99]

Thanks for the reply and the link, most useful