Backup VM's @ SRM secondary site

[Marcel]

Hi All,

I have a question from a customer. We are going to implement VMware SRM 4 at this customer. He wants to move the backup to the secondary site. Is this supported? Can I use Veeam to backup VM's that are protected by SRM on the secondary site?

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Marcel, yes, you can backup VMs that are protected by SRM, no issues here. Thanks!

[Marcel]

Thanks Vitaliy.

Other question. How do I get invited for the Veeam party @ VMworld Europe?

[Vitaliy S.]

Contact Anton for the invites and make sure you visit us at the Booth!

[cgrvy]

I've searched but cant seem to find if anyone is doing something similar to this - so apologies if I am missing something obvious!.

Has anyone backed up an SRM replica machine, is this even supported? If so what are the limitations, do I need to stop vSphere replication to get a recoverable vm? Is there a whitepaper that states that this is supported?

I have two sites - live and DR. I want to replicate my vm's from live to dr and then use Veeam to back them up.

Many Thanks!

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Ciaran,

Didn't try it, but If you can create a snapshot on this VM, then the backup job should also run fine.

Thanks!

[cgrvy]

Hi Vitaly,

Is my suggest config supported?

Thanks!

[Vitaliy S.]

There is no whitepaper for that, but based on the post you've been merged to, you shouldn't experience any issues while backing up SRM replicated VMs.

[cgrvy]

Thanks again Vitaliy,

Marcel - how did you get on with this config if you don't mind me asking? Any issues?

[chrisdearden]

Are you looking to back up the SRM replica's ? Are they visable in vcenter as powered off VM's ?

[cgrvy]

Hi Chris, I'm not sure if SRM does. I'll have a look, this is a design that I am working on, there is no SRM in the environment yet. I'm open to looking at any replication option SRM, vSphere Replication, Zerto etc. I realise there will be pro's and con's to any product.

[chrisdearden]

It may have changed in latter versions of SRM but pre Host Based replication , the replica wasn't available , which would make backing it up via VADP quite hard. It is possible to run backups of replicated VM's with Veeam, but you may well miss out on some changed block tracking ( because there is always a snapshot on the replica VM , CBT cannot be enabled )

[cgrvy]

Chris - my RPO's are quite high - talking a minimum of 4 hours, so recent changes being lost are ok.

[chrisdearden]

4 hour RPO ? What about RTO ? Do you have any particular need for the fail-over orchestration ? It sounds like Veeam replication could be a good fit , especially if you have requirement to change VM Ip addresses.

[wreedps]

Did you ever figure out how to backup SRM/VRepl Replicas with Veeam at the DR site?