Veeam B&R 12.1-Replication?

[Vmware2024]

We have 2 sites A and B.

B is our DR site we want to be able to do veeam replication to Site B if Site A goes down we want site be to come up automatically to keep things running.

We currently have Veeam B&R Advanced 12.1 can this version do this? It will automatically change the IP at Site B to Site A if Site A goes down?

System is VMware Host 8.0 site A Site B is Vmware host 7.0

Thanks in advance

[david.domask]

Hi Vmware2024,

Sure, with ReIP rules, you can configure replicas of Windows machines to automatically have their IP addresses updated if static; with Network Mapping, you can do the same with VMs that just need to connect to a network and get an IP from DHCP.

The recovery narrative depends a bit on if you have the Veeam server on site A or B (that is, does Veeam "push" the replicas from Site A to B or is Veeam on site B and "pulls"?) For the latter, nothing needs to be done, just start your failover process and all will be fine.

If it's the former, then you will first:
1. Spin up a new Veeam server if there isn't one ready already on Site B -- replicating the Veeam server isn't recommended as it may introduce delays/interruptions to normal operations during the backup/replication process, so using the Configuration Backup to restore to the new server is best in show here.
2. Restore the most recent Configuration Backup to the Site B Veeam Server
3. After restore, Veeam will rescan repositories/the backup environment to make sure it is "up to date" with any potential changes, then you can begin the failover process.

Keep in mind since your Site A VMware environment is a higher version than your Site B, the Vmware hardware version becomes relevant. The options from this post are still relevant.

[Vmware2024]

David,

To confirm with some configuration on the front end then we can configure this so that if Site A goes down the Site B will change the IPs automatically and bring Site A up automatically correct?

[david.domask]

That's correct; you will initiate a failover within Veeam, which is a very fast process to do the ReIP process and power on the replica, and then you'll be running from the replica and will have the option to commit the failover (make the replica production machine), failback (reverse-replicate from the replica to production to merge the replica data to production), or undo failover, which simply stops the replicas and discards the data created while replica was running.

Keep in mind the architecture design here -- ReIP requires that the Windows machines are mounted to the Backup Server to perform ReIP, so if the Veeam Server is far from the Vmware environment, this step may take awhile depending on the connection.

[Vmware2024]

Thanks again

2 things how can I tell if the current Replication setup I have inherited has setup the ReIP configs?

The current VBR server is in Site A so if Site A goes down how do we get the Site B to start replication and bring us on line with out the access to the VBR server?

[david.domask]

Happy to discuss with you!

If you have already configured ReIP for your replicas, the easiest way is just to test a failover -- I realize this might impact your production environment however, so if you're on Vmware, then using SureReplica will allow you to test within an isolated environment so-as to not affect production.

[Vmware2024]

We are not able to do that at the moment is there a way to drill down in the configurations to see if ReIP has been configured?

Can this be setup with Veeam Data Protection license or do we need to get Advanced or above?

[gnalley]

> It will automatically change the IP at Site B to Site A if Site A goes down?

I don't want to presume, but network connectivity during a disaster recovery is just as important as server availability. Your question concerning Site A and Site B is open and subject to a lot of interpretation. Network address segmentation/routing so that folks can communicate is the foundation. There is also DNS issues, which can lead to AD issues, and other "networking" type things that have to be considered and planned for even before you "bring up" the servers on the other side.

My advice is to "draw" your network traffic flows out, making sure to account for all your endpoints and how your servers name resolve and communicate with them.

[Vmware2024]

GNalley thanks for the response in reading all of this we need to configure a VBR server at Site A and one at Site B along with the configurations of ReIP and Network Mapping as well as possibility of still having to initiate the failover our selves am I reading this correctly?

Can you have 2 VBR servers?

[SLienenlueke]

Hello VMWare2024,

besides from the ip configuration if you want to let the replicas in side B start automatically you should use the Disaster Recovery Orchestrator.
As far as I know with VBR you can only to start the failover manually. Maybe you could implement a workaround with PS if DRO is not an option.

Cheers,
Simon

[Vmware2024]

Simon
We have VBR 12.1 Advanced It does not come with Orchestrator??

Is there a way to tell with out having to do a test if the current setup has the ReIP setup along with the network mapping?

Thank you

[MarkBoothmaa]

Have you edited the replica job itself and checked?

For Re-IP the Replica re-IP checkbox will be checked. If it is then you can check the re-IP config on the Re-IP step of the wizard.

[SLienenlueke]

I'm not sure about the licensing, but the DRA is not managed witrhin the VBR Console.
You have to set it up separately.

[YouGotServered]

It would be worth considering just putting your main VBR server in your DR environment and deploying proxies to your production environment to do the heavy lifting there. That way in the event of a DR scenario, you're ready to just log in and failover. Reducing complexity for already-stressful situations is key.

Note - you said your DR site is on Vmware 7.0 but production is 8.0. You will not be able to replicate any newer hardware-versioned VMs from 8.0 to 7.0, so keep that in mind when creating new VMs on the 8.0 hardware version, or upgrade your DR site.