Failover with network disconnected

[TitaniumCoder477]

Greetings,

Is there a way to failover a replica with network disconnected (i.e. sandbox itself)? I would think Veeam should have a "NIC disconnected" check box at the end of the failover wizard, like it does for the Instant VM recovery wizard.

When you perform failover, the state of the original VM on the source host is not affected in any way. If you need to test the VM replica and its restore points for recoverability, you can perform failover while the original VM is running. After all necessary tests, you can undo failover and get back to the normal mode of operation.

Replica Failover NOTE: If the original VM and VM replica are located in the same network and you plan to perform replica failover while the original VM is running, consider temporary disconnecting the original VM from the network to avoid IP addresses and/or machine names conflicts.

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... l?ver=95u4

If this is not currently available, please consider this a feature request.

[veremin]

No, however, for sandbox scenarios you can use SureBackup functionality. Thanks!

[TitaniumCoder477]

Yeah... about that. SureBackup needs some work. It's a wonderful feature conceptually, but even when the hardware exists (i.e. plenty of hosts) it usually proves to be a sinkhole of time for both me and support, just to get the simple stuff working, such as a heartbeat test. What I'm looking for is a simple checkbox so that I can instruct Veeam to power up that replica on that remote host BUT disco the NIC. Not rocket science. Let's consider this a feature request, or is there a better place to file a formal request?

[veremin]

No, this forum is the right place to submit such feedback; your feature request has been noted. Thanks!

[scarywolf]

I would suggest failing it over to a portgroup w/o connectivity or that is un-routed.

[TitaniumCoder477]

The scenario is Main Site <-> COLO (both connected by VPN). I want to fail over to the COLO and test the VMs there in a sandbox. I do not want to take down the tunnel or unroute traffic. This is easy to do with Instant VM recovery. We can easily virtualize from backups and check the box at the end of the wizard to keep the VM off the network. This same checkbox should exist in the failover wizard since Instant VM recovery is not an option for replicas.

[TitaniumCoder477]

Use case: When doing singular testing on VMs, I rely on the Instant VM recovery which allows me to virtualize from backups with NIC disconnected. I use vCenter to log into the VM and do internal verification. This is a service we provide to our clients regardless if they have standard or enterprise licensing. I would like to see the same functionality in replica failover. I would like to see an option at the end of the wizard to instruct Veeam to disconnect the NIC after failing over to the replica VM.

From: Veeam.External.Docfeedback@veeam.com <Veeam.External.Docfeedback@veeam.com>
Sent: Monday, July 8, 2019 10:21 AM
To: James Wilmoth
Subject: Re: Replica Failover: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... lover.html (TicketId: #114800596)

Dear James,

For testing purposes, it is better to use the SureReplica technology. For details, see SureReplica.

Thank you for reading the documentation!

With best regards,
Veeam Documentation Team



From: James Wilmoth <jwilmoth@biztechnologysolutions.com>
Sent: Wed, 12 Jun 2019 17:27 +0300
To: Veeam.External.Docfeedback@veeam.com
Subject: Replica Failover: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... lover.html


Dear Veeam Documentation Team,
Please go into more detail regarding the use case of failing over only for the purpose of testing/verifying a replica.
“If the original VM and VM replica are located in the same network and you plan to perform replica failover while the original VM is running, consider temporary disconnecting the original VM from the network to avoid IP addresses and/or machine names conflicts.” – this is not quite sufficient. For example, I want to know how to tell Veeam to disconnect the replica VM’s NIC automatically during the failover. In other words, if I am just testing for DR, I don’t want to disco my production machine’s NIC. I want to leave that well enough alone but instruct Veeam to automatically disconnect the replica VM’s NIC during the failover process.
Thanks
James Wilmoth

[HannesK]

Hello,
as the documentation team already said, SureReplica is built for that.

Could you describe your setup a little bit more in detail? Clients are replicating to you directly, or via cloud connect?

Best regards,
Hannes

[TitaniumCoder477]

This use case doesn't involve our cloud connect infrastructure. I am referring to our practice of verifying our clients backups manually. We have done this for all our SLA clients, whether or not they have licensing that provides SureBackup or SureReplica functionality. But regardless, the use case is simple. Power on a VM with the network disconnected. This is native functionality in the Instant VM Recovery process. At the end there is that check box that gives you the option to power it on without the NIC connected. Whoever thought of that was brilliant. There are MANY instances, not just in testing, where it is very convenient to have that option. I would like to see the same check box in the Failover replica process. Right now, I have to start the failover and then edit the VM instance in vSphere to disconnect the NIC. It's just an extra manual step on my part that could be eliminated (and is already eliminated in the Instant VM Recovery process).

[veremin]

James, kindly, avoid creating multiple threads with the same requests. Thank you for your understanding!

[TitaniumCoder477]

Sure!

If the root wasn't there, would anyone trip over it? I will to remember not to trip over this root each time I go this way. Hopefully Veeam can dig up the root at some point.

[HannesK]

Hi James,
I see three reasons not to implement an additional checkbox

1) you are trying to support a feature for standard edition which is available in higher editions.
2) the feature is not useful for most customers. We try to not add UI elements that only help very very few customers
3) you could automate "disconnect network" with powercli

Best regards,
Hannes

[TitaniumCoder477]

You guys are starting to tick me off. Let me translate what you just wrote:

"1) you are trying to support a feature for standard edition which is available in higher editions." = "We threw you a bone in Instant VM Recovery. If you want more, you have to bump all your clients, even the small ones, into the Enterprise tier."
2) the feature is not useful for most customers. We try to not add UI elements that only help very very few customers = "You are an island to yourself. No one else has mentioned it, so therefore it is not useful to anyone but you. Adding a checkbox to the Failover replica wizard, like we already have for the Instant VM Recovery wizard would just be too much clutter."
3) you could automate "disconnect network" with powercli = "So instead of us pleasing you, our MSP customer, you should instead cook up a PowerShell script to do it yourself."

While I love PowerShell and am proficient in it, I only use it when there is NO other option. I script when the outcome I need to achieve is not native to the system.

I posted a simple request here. Duplicate a very cool feature in one wizard into the other wizard. You already have it in Instant VM Recovery. I don't care if you have it in SureBackup. So why not have it in Failover? I don't care if you have it in SureReplica.

That's the last I'm going to say on this. If you don't implement it, that's your call. But it also reveals a higher order business decision that means what makes sense for your customers, even if just one is expressing his voice, is not as meaningful as it used to be.

[HannesK]

It seem I offended you. Sorry, that was not my goal.