Change replica failover behavior

[nmdange]

We've been doing some testing with VM replica failovers. So far, I've only tested the "planned failover" option, so I'm not sure if it's specific to this type of failover. I've noticed that after the failover is completed, Veeam will automatically power on the replica VM, even if the production VM was powered off. Then, if the VM fails to power on, for whatever reason, Veeam marks the session as failed and then turns the production VM back on.

Is there any way to change this behavior? The power on failure has been transient in some cases, or something we need to manually change on the replica VM before powering it on (due to differences in our production and DR environments). Ideally, I'd like the option to disable both powering on the replica VM during a failover (so we can decide to do it within VCenter and SCVMM afterwards), and also to prevent Veeam from turning on the source VM if a failover job fails. I get for convenience it makes sense in most cases to do this automatically, but it's causing us issues with our testing when Veeam does it when we don't want it to.

[david.domask]

Hi nmdange,

Just for clarity, are you using VMware or HyperV in the environment? I see you mention SCVMM and vCenter, so just a little unclear if the VMs are specifically VMware or HyperV Vms.

If VMware, consider SureReplica for testing your replicas. This works similarly to SureBackup but uses the Replicas as a source instead.

If it's Hyper-V or SureReplica isn't suitable for you, consider Failover Plans instead for the testing. Planned Failover is designed for situations when you know you need to shift your workload from Production to DR and want to ensure the latest changes from production are synced. It can be used like you're wanting, but it's meant for a different purpose, hence the behaviors that stymie your testing efforts.

Failover Plans don't interact with the production and similarly can be undone with a simple "undo" or failback if desired.

Consider these options, as I think they better meet what you're looking for.

[nmdange]

We've seen this behavior with both VMWare and Hyper-V. But we're doing end-user DR testing, so the systems need to be accessible on the network. Does a failover plan let you tell Veeam to not automatically power on the VM? That's what I want Veeam to not do.

[david.domask]

Hi nmdange,

Can you maybe elaborate a bit more on the test you want to perform? Failover testing implies that the replica is powered on, as the failover process specifically brings the replica up and running, but if your goal is not to power on the replica VMs, I'm not quite understanding what is being tested. Can you explain the workflow a bit more for your test?

[nmdange]

My goal is to power on the replica VMs, but I have to make some config changes on the VMs before I can power them on successfully in the DR site. So, I want Veeam to not do it automatically, which causes the failover job to fail.

[weisker]

I second that. We also have VMs that would need manual reconfiguration before powering on, because we can't change settings in the replication job.
For instance, we need to limit the number of CPU cores or downsize memory to fit into the constraints of the DR site. For us usually DR sites are a little less powerful than the production site.
Many VMs our customers would need in a DR situation are optional and can be turned on later if it is really needed by some employee.

So just an option to not power on the replica VM on failover would be the easiest option. Either on manual failover or in a failover plan.