DR Site Replication and Failover

[sosborne]

I have implemented a Veeam Backup Infrastructure which involves a virtual VBR at the primary site (which will be replicated to the DR site), and a physical proxy/backup repository at each site. The vCenter is virtual and is currently at the primary site (this will also be replicated to the DR site).

I am starting to play around with replication on test VMs but it has me thinking about replication and failover overall particularly with regards to our backup infrastructure. We have a L2 site to site link (100 MB) and the main external WAN links. The replication will occur over the site to site link which is not redundant (although obviously there are the main external links). With that in mind I think it makes sense to have the virtual VBR and vCenter at the primary site given that if the site to site link goes down we are cut off from VMware and Veeam management until it can be restored (even though I understand best practice would place both at the DR site). Does that make sense?

And how would I potentially implement fail over especially to avoid the flip side an outage at the primary? I understand there are automated failover tricks that can be setup using VeeamONE and scripts. Is this the best way? Are there alternatives, or is that Veeam Orchestrator territory?

Furthermore the VBR and vCenter are backed up (and copied to the DR), as is the Veeam Backup Configuration.

Any and all advice is welcome and appreciated.

[foggy]

Hi Simon, for faster failover, it is recommended to have backup server responsible for replication jobs located in DR site. You can either have two of them (local for backups and remote for replication) or quickly fire up a new backup server locally in case link gets down, import configuration and continue your backups. As for vCenter, you can have it at source and point target backup server to DR hosts directly.

[sosborne]

Thanks for the reply. I have heard that having the VBR at DR is best for fail-over and I am thinking about the options but I also want to cover all the bases if I can. Is it possible to have two backup servers installed into a single instance? And if so how do you go about installing it?

Otherwise if I replicate the VBR to the DR site isn't it possible to automate fail-over in certain circumstances with the likes of VeeamONE:

https://forums.veeam.com/veeam-one-f28/ ... 24149.html

And similarly automate fail-over for vCenter.

I haven't done much with replication yet so I may probably need a deeper understanding.

[foggy]

Is it possible to have two backup servers installed into a single instance? And if so how do you go about installing it?

Not sure I understand what do you mean by "instance" here.

Otherwise if I replicate the VBR to the DR site isn't it possible to automate fail-over in certain circumstances with the likes of VeeamONE:

Yes, in this case you would need to start Veeam B&R replica manually.

[sosborne]

Hi Simon, for faster failover, it is recommended to have backup server responsible for replication jobs located in DR site. You can either have two of them (local for backups and remote for replication) or quickly fire up a new backup server locally in case link gets down, import configuration and continue your backups. As for vCenter, you can have it at source and point target backup server to DR hosts directly.

I was responding (albeit unclearly) to your previous comment regarding having two VBR's as I wasn't clear whether a replicated VBR would seamlessly 'pick up the baton' if the original failed (regardless of location). Or whether you were referring to having two distinct VBR's that manage the same backup infrastructure and jobs etc. And that if you were referring to the latter how do you go about install the 2nd VBR?

[foggy]

Yes, I meant having two Veeam B&R instances, one local for performing backup jobs and another one remote responsible solely for replication. Since they would point to the same source hosts, the same license could be used for both.

[newbyam]

Dear users,

I don't know if this is the correct forum for asking this question.

I have already installed veeam server at the same place at main VMware infrastructure, I'm successfully doing replicas of every VM in Primary site, but I'm wondering how to make failover all if PS falls and I need to start my failover replicas in Disaster Recovery.

Of course I can start them manually but it isn't the correct way to do that

I need to buy another Veeam serial for DR? how are the best practises to do that?

Thank you in advance.

BR

[DGrinev]

Hey,

You need two things:
1. Another instance of Veeam B&R which doesn't require an additional license.
2. Configuration backup from the primary Veeam B&R.
In disaster situation you can fire up Veeam B&R at the DR site, restore config backup and initiate Failover through the UI.
Please read this discussion above for additional information. Thanks!

[skrause]

If your primary site and secondary site have a reliable network link and you prefer to do everything through one VBR console, you can run the VBR server out of the secondary site full-time (keeping a config backup in the primary site for secondary site disaster situations). Just make sure you have all of the necessary components (repositories, backup proxies, interaction proxies) in the primary site to run and store backups.