Dell EMC ME4 Series - Operation

Using SRM for disaster recovery
After storage system replication and VMware SRM software are congured at local and remote sites and you have congured at least one
replication set, use MESM to schedule replications. Then use SRM to create and test one or more recovery plans. At this point, SRM is able
to provide disaster recovery, failover and failback, and reprotect operations.
The VMware Site Recovery Manager Administration guide provides detailed instructions and information regarding these operations. The
guide is available at the VMware support website.
Topics:
• Volume discovery
• Create a recovery plan
• Test a recovery plan
• Failover and failback
• Automatic failover
• Reprotection
• Automated failback
Volume discovery
SRM obtains information from the SRA about what volumes are being replicated. SRM then compares that list to the volumes it recognizes
in a VMware environment.
For SRM planned migrations in non-disaster situations, SRM can initiate a replication to ensure that the replicated data is current.
For disaster recovery situations, SRM attempts to create a current replication. If this is not possible because, for instance, the protected
site is oine, SRM uses the most recent replication available at the remote site.
Use the replication scheduler to regularly perform replications to minimize data loss in the event of a disaster, or regularly create SRM
planned migrations. In either case, ensure that the volumes to be replicated from the protected site are in a valid state so that the most
recent replication at the remote site can be used in production.
For instructions on how to congure replication schedules, see the chapter on using replication in the Dell EMC ME4 Series Storage
System Administrator’s Guide.
Create a recovery plan
Create a recovery plan to establish how virtual machines are recovered. A basic recovery plan includes steps that use default values to
control how virtual machines in a protection group are recovered at the recovery site. You can customize the plan to meet your needs.
Recovery plans are dierent from protection groups. Recovery plans indicate how virtual machines in one or more protection groups are
restored at the recovery site.
The Recovery tab of the main SRM window guides you through the steps necessary to create, test, and run a recovery plan. For detailed
instructions, see the VMware publication Site Recovery Manager Administration guide.
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8 Using SRM for disaster recovery