Does Veeam Orchestrator have benefit without a Domain Controller or DNS?

[jklaw91]

My organization is a sub entity to a much larger organaization. Our IT group has full rights to the OUs for our 600 computers, 300 servers, user and group accounts but we do not have domain admin rights. We use Veeam B&R to backup and replicate to a DR site which has connectivity to Domain Controllers - but we do not replicate DCs or DNS servers. We recently purchased Veeam Disaster Recovery Orchestrator but now that I'm digging into it and just completed the Hands On Lab, I'm wondering if Orchestrator has any benefit? Since we cannot specify a DC or DNS server in the Data Lab and I'm not sure VMs will boot properly in the Data Lab and therefore not able to test booting VMs and checking services based on the information I read. Am I correct in thinking that or are there other benefits to using Orchestrator? At present we manually run test B&R failover plans of test VMs, manualy boot the test VMs in question and take screenshots to document the test VMs. The goal was to use Orchestrator to schedule, test, and document those plans, but be able to test Production in the Data Lab. Now, I'm sad and skeptical.

[HannesK]

Hello,

I'm not sure VMs will boot properly in the Data Lab

what did your tests show? Booting usually works without DC / DNS, the question is how long it takes and what type of tests you planned. Services that have no dependencies on DNS, should also work.

we manually run test B&R failover plans of test VMs, manualy boot the test VMs in question and take screenshots to document the test VMs

if that works, then Orchestrator should also work (assuming that you fail over to a separated environment)

Best regards,
Hannes

[Alec King]

Hello John,
Orchestrator allows an administrator to provide a backup of a domain controller which is strictly for DataLab use (the DC cannot be used within a normal Recovery Plan, only in a DataLab).
To achieve this -
* any VBR managed by VRO creates a backup of the DC;
* VRO administrator can add that DC to a "Lab Group" for the DataLab;
* VRO will start the DC (using instant VM recovery) in the isolated DataLab, then you start the plans you wish to test. The booting VMs in the plan will find the DC and all service/OS tests will work.
You can see details here in the User Guide.
Can your larger Org provide the backup of a DC?

And I will say regardless of the DataLab, there is definitely value for you in Orchestrator. For example the Readiness Check reports will tell you of many problems without you even needing to run a full test.

Hope that helps, let us know if you have any more questions. Thanks!

[jklaw91]

Thank you for the info.