Replication for HA Scenario

[ivanildogalvao]

Friends, can someone explain to me how the replica Veeam works, I'm on a client soon and he has three IBM servers with ESXi 4.1 and an IBM server with Veeam 6, a hard disk of one of the ESXi server from this client has problem RAID, I will try to recover there, just do not want to take risks, so that now I'm finishing a backup of all virtual machines on this server, using Veeam 6, but I want to replicate a VM is important that the database in SQL 2005 production, it will replicate the VM where it is ESXi, ESXi to another, as if the original host fails, then I turn on the replica of the other VM on ESXi, I just created a continuous replication job and he is beginning to replicate, after completion of replication, it will keep the replica up to date with the original VM, right? Considering that I am using continuous replication?
What do you suggest me the best configuration for this scenario?

Thank you!

[ivanildogalvao]

Imagine the following scenario:

1 - I enable continuous replication of a VM importantly, a VMware host X to host a VMware Y.
2 - The VMware Host X has problem on the hard drive, then get on the job Veeam and disable replication and then boot up the virtual machine replica and put it into production.
3 - After 10 days, I can fix my VMware host X, put a new HD, I want the virtual machine back to it, what is the procedure? It would create a new replication job only copying from Vmware VMware Y to X?

And please, can someone explain the function of the restoration using the "Failback" and "failover to replica"?

And the continuous replication, how it works? Replica qie the VMS are on the job every x minutes?

Thanks !

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello,

Had you had a chance to review the recording of our webinar which describes all these features in great details? Furthermore, our User Guide (starting from page 47) contains technical explanation of all these features, please have a look.

Hope this helps!

[smile_dav]

Imagine the following scenario:

1 - I enable continuous replication of a VM importantly, a VMware host X to host a VMware Y.
2 - The VMware Host X has problem on the hard drive, then get on the job Veeam and disable replication and then boot up the virtual machine replica and put it into production.
3 - After 10 days, I can fix my VMware host X, put a new HD, I want the virtual machine back to it, what is the procedure? It would create a new replication job only copying from Vmware VMware Y to X?

And please, can someone explain the function of the restoration using the "Failback" and "failover to replica"?

And the continuous replication, how it works? Replica qie the VMS are on the job every x minutes?

Thanks !

Failover to replica happens before the failback.
Failover to replica essentially means moving your production to your replica on VMware host Y with the restore point you've chosen via the Veeam console.
Failback means to move your production back to VMware host X, including moving the delta you've created when using the replica on host Y for production.

There are a few ways of moving your production on host X to host Y and host Y back to host X. The simplest way is to use Veeam to failover, you can simply choose failback on the replica in Veeam. During the failback, Veeam would compare the replica and the source VM, then replica the delta and apply it to the source VM. Please remember to commit to failover before you failback.
Simply powering on the replica VM during failover would mean you'll have to create a new job to replicate the VM on host Y over to the VMware host X during failback.

Continuous replication is to replicate the VM non stop, i.e. start a new replication session as soon as you've finished one. The time between the replication really depends on how big your VM is and how much delta it generates between the replications. I've seen continuos replication as short as 1 min to 1 1/2 mins, but when it is that short, you'll have to set the number of restore points to keep to a very large number.
When using continuos replication one of the things you should keep in mind is that your replica might contain the same problem as your source VM, i.e. a virus, so you when you failover, you'll need to choose the appropriate restore point carefully.

Regarding Step 3, please remember to backup your VM on VMware host Y during the failover, it doesn't happen often, but you have to plan for the best and prepare for the worst.

[ivanildogalvao]

Got it, thanks for the friends return, and to read the guide Veeam, passad I did this week, as my English is too basic, sometimes 100% and do not understand why I ask in the forum.

I will set up a scenario of continuous replication + backup on my account, so I assure you, continuous replication will help me climb the VM as soon as possible and updated, in case I lose the source host, since the backup I have a warrant second option, if necessary.

It is advisable to keep the backup continuously too? Or it can cause bottlenecks and other problems between backup and replication?

Thank you all!

[foggy]

While it's completely up to your specific backup&recovery needs, it's a common practice to use replicas for short term retention for a good RTO and backups for a much longer (and less regular) retention. Obviously, more frequent backups put more stress on production so you have to come up with some acceptable schedule.