Automated Disaster Recovery with VMware SRM and Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SANs

Storage
Automated Disaster
Recovery with
VMware SRM and Dell
EqualLogic iSCSI SANs
By Andrew Gilman Virtualized IT infrastructures can simplify management Jon Bock and facilitate business continuity while helping minimize power consumption and procurement costs. Virtualiza-tion also helps organizations automate disaster recovery Tplans. Dell EqualLogic PS Series arrays and VMware® Site Recovery Manager (SRM) software provide inte-grated, cost-effective, automated site recovery and testing for enterprise data centers.
rganizations of all sizes have embraced vir- recovery only for application-level or departmental tualization as a key technology for consoli- implementations. But over time, this approach can dating server and storage infrastructure, leave organizations with disparate, incompatible hOelping reduce management costs and increase avail- implementations that are inefficient to manage and ability. Now IT managers are looking to use virtualiza- provide only partial protection. tion to help them overcome the challenges of Apart from the infrastructure investment for disas-traditional disaster recovery as well as tools to auto- ter recovery, organizations often lack the internal mate the recovery process. Deploying Dell EqualLogic expertise to manually coordinate site failover for what Related Categories: PS Series Internet SCSI (iSCSI) arrays in conjunction may be hundreds or thousands of servers. Although Data consolidation and with VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) software small organizations typically have fewer servers to management can help organizations implement simple, cost- manage than large organizations, they also may lack Dell EqualLogic storage effective, highly automated disaster recovery for vir- the resources or expertise available to manually Internet SCSI (iSCSI) tualized environments. develop recovery plans on their own. A typical recov-Virtualization ery plan can include hundreds of detailed steps, from VMware Addressing traditional disaster changing cable configurations to bringing recovery Visit DELL.COM/PowerSolutions recovery dilemmas site servers online in the proper order, all of which must for the complete category index. Traditional disaster recovery is challenging in part be fully documented. If an event occurs that requires because it relies on specialized hardware that is travel to a remote site, where the recovery documen-expensive and complex. Few IT staffs have the exper- tation must be followed exactly and the primary IT tise to manage and maintain specialized systems for administrator may be out of reach, then additional disaster recovery, which usually require costly out- complications can delay the site recovery. side service and support. IT managers also face sig- Plan testing can also be a significant challenge for nificant costs for licensing replication software and IT organizations. Testing is essential to help ensure a leasing the required networked bandwidth between plan works properly, and may also be required by sites. In the face of these costs and management regulatory agencies or insurance companies as proof complexity, organizations often can provide disaster that an effective disaster recovery plan is in place.
68 DELL POWER SOLUTIONS | August 2008 Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, August 2008. Copyright © 2008 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.Step by step: "Apart from the infrastructure investment Setting up for disaster recovery, organizations a disaster often lack the internal expertise to recovery manually coordinate site failover for planwhat may be hundreds or thousands IT administrators can single-handedly config-ure a disaster recovery implementation in a of servers." matter of minutes using Dell EqualLogic PS Series arrays and VMware Site Recovery However, the test process can cause storage access, and off-site replication, fur- Manager (SRM) software by following a few unacceptable disruption to organizations ther helping reduce complexity and costs. simple steps: and their customers. Typically, it takes a In addition, the lack of distance limitations day or more to repeatedly adjust and with IP networking means that a remote 1. Initialize a PS Series array at the retest a plan manually-and because the recovery site can be located almost any- production site and ano... [download for more]