Help me use crossover cable for replication traffic

[chris32lr]

Hello all,

I have one ESXi 5 host with two virtual machines and a crossover cable attached to a backup server. I setup each of the ports in vCenter as VMKernels and am trying to direct the traffic used for replication over this cable. I've been searching and haven't been able to figure out exactly how to do this.

Thanks everyone,
Chris

[foggy]

Hello, Chris. Could you please clarify whether you are going to perform backup or replication of your VMs? As for replication, you actually need two hosts, where the second (target) one will host the replica VMs. Are you referring to replication between ESXi hosts over crossover cable?

[chris32lr]

Hello, Chris. Could you please clarify whether you are going to perform backup or replication of your VMs? As for replication, you actually need two hosts, where the second (target) one will host the replica VMs. Are you referring to replication between ESXi hosts over crossover cable?

Hi foggy,

I apologize for being so vague. I'm going to perform replication of the VMs. I do have two hosts, but one is just a warm backup where the replica VMs are being hosted. I do want to replicate between ESXi hosts over the crossover cable.

Thanks,
Chris

[foggy]

Assuming your Veeam B&R is installed on a VM and a default proxy server is used for replication, have you tried to specify the corresponding IP address (the one belonging to the NIC used by crossover cable) of the target host in that VM's etc\hosts file?

[chris32lr]

Foggy,

Currently Veeam B&R is installed on a separate machine. I didn't want to put it on one of the VMs because if that VM goes down then I can't access Veeam. I'm in the process of moving my VMs off the current machine so I can do some much needed upgrades, then once it's done, move them back. To get 100% of the information off the VMs I was going to power them down, then replicate it over, then power the replicas on.

[veremin]

I didn't want to put it on one of the VMs because if that VM goes down then I can't access Veeam

Have you ever considered putting into use configuration backup functionality?

The feature called Configuration Backup is responsible for retrieving configuration data directly from the SQL database. It’s a subtle and recommended way for protecting VB&R Server - with such an option, should any disaster situation happen (VB&R VM goes down, for instance), all you would need to do is to reinstall your B&R software and restore configuration files; and after that everything will go back to normal.

Thanks.

[foggy]

Currently Veeam B&R is installed on a separate machine.

Then to route the replication traffic between ESXi hosts over crossover cable, you need a proxy on the source host and could try to implement the suggestion given above on that VM (specify target proxy IP in source proxy's etc\hosts file).

To get 100% of the information off the VMs I was going to power them down, then replicate it over, then power the replicas on.

That's not actually required if you use application-aware image processing.

[foggy]

Ah, I've just realized that you have crossover cable between the source host and Veeam B&R, not between the hosts, is that right? If so, adding VMKernel for the second host's NIC and adding it to Veeam B&R console using the corresponding IP address should do the trick. Have you tried that?

[chris32lr]

Ah, I've just realized that you have crossover cable between the source host and Veeam B&R, not between the hosts, is that right? If so, adding VMKernel for the second host's NIC and adding it to Veeam B&R console using the corresponding IP address should do the trick. Have you tried that?

I apologize for the delay. Unfortunately that isn't correct. I have a crossover cable between the source host and the backup target. Veeam B&R is on a machine separate from these two machines. It seems as though the best/easiest solution would be to install Veeam B&R on one of the virtual machines. Is this a safe assumption?

As far as application-aware image processing goes, would this work even with Exchange? So, while replication is running and an e-mail comes in, it will replicate the new e-mail?

[Vitaliy S.]

It seems as though the best/easiest solution would be to install Veeam B&R on one of the virtual machines. Is this a safe assumption?

Yes, using virtual backup proxy should give you much better job performance rates (comparing to the network mode).

As far as application-aware image processing goes, would this work even with Exchange? So if the replication runs and an e-mail comes in, it will replicate the new e-mail?

I wouldn't recommend replicating your Exchange server without this option enabled, so make sure you use it all the time. Your server will be replicated at the state when Veeam B&R takes the snapshot, all changes that will happen after that will be replicated on a subsequent job run.

[foggy]

As far as application-aware image processing goes, would this work even with Exchange? So, while replication is running and an e-mail comes in, it will replicate the new e-mail?

Here is a couple of webinars covering all the aspects of Exchange backup&recovery with Veeam, just for better understanding of the concept:
http://www.veeam.com/videos/advanced-ex ... -1320.html
http://www.veeam.com/go/vPower-webinar

Thanks.

[chris32lr]

Here is a couple of webinars covering all the aspects of Exchange backup&recovery with Veeam, just for better understanding of the concept:
http://www.veeam.com/videos/advanced-ex ... -1320.html
http://www.veeam.com/go/vPower-webinar

Thanks.

Thanks foggy. One more quick question. Can you verify that the VSS Veeam uses for application-aware image processing won't break the Backup Exec agent for Exchange? We are using Backup Exec inside the guest OS for granular recovery of exchange/sql/etc.

[veremin]

In fact, we didn’t use Symantec products in our labs, so, it’s rather hard to make any speculations whether everything is likely to work as expected or not. Though, according to the best practice, it’s advisable to disable one or the other solution, so that, they can’t interfere each other.

Having both of them enabled might definitely lead to unexpected consequences. Moreover, it makes little sense to have both of them implemented, since granular application data can be easily restored by Veeam, as well.

Thanks.

[chris32lr]

Understood. Thanks again.

Take care

[foggy]

Yes, it is not recommended to have VSS components from both vendors installed on the same VM.

[Heiko]

Hi

We are using the solution process > How to replicate over a designated DR link

[chris32lr]

Foggy/Heiko,

I've tried using the solution provided here: http://forums.veeam.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7966 before seeing Heiko's post. However, as soon as I add a VMKernel port to the vswitch on the ESXi host that hosts my live production VMs, it breaks connection to the internet even if it's enabled only for management traffic. I installed Veeam B&R on one of the live production VMs inside the ESXi box.

Heiko, using your solution process, you say "The Veeam Virtual Machine has two vnic assigned". Did you add the second vmnic as a VMKernel port or just added it as an adapter and changed the IP in the host?

I wanted to do something like this:

Production ESXi Box (10.0.0.7):
1 host = 10.0.0.2 < -- Veeam installed on here
2nd host = 10.0.0.4
Crossover Cable = 192.168.x.1 <-- Outside the LAN subnet (backup network)

Backup ESXi box (10.0.0.5):
Crossover Cable = 192.168.x.2 (backup network)