Disaster Recovery and Virtualization

Advanced Data Protection Methodologies

Disaster Recovery and Virtualization

• Presented by Chris Wolf

• Senior Analyst

• Burton Group

• cwolf@burtongroup.com

• www.burtongroup.com

• www.chriswolf.com

Abstract

• This session examines changing IT operations to incorporate virtualization into an organization’s disaster recovery plans.

• Advanced backup and DR architectures, including SAN and iSCSI integration, snapshots, continuous data protection (CDP), and serverless proxy backups are discussed.

What I Assume You Know

• Virtualization platform familiarity• Basic knowledge of general

backup and data protection concepts

By The End Of The Session, You’ll Know The Following

• Methodologies for using virtualization to assist in disaster recovery

• Current virtualization backup architectures

DR Staging -- The Virtualization Advantage

• Easier to maintain DR site• No specific hardware requirements• Fewer hardware resources needed

DR Site

NY Site Seattle Site

Site Requirements

• Hardware resources to support restaging or failover of production site

• System-by-system hardware and software inventory

• Backup media• Data protection, OS, virtualization and

application software• Recovery procedures• Detailed network diagrams

DR Staging -- Virtualization Approaches

• One-to-many• Generic VM image used in recovery of

several production systems

• One-to-one• Single VM image created for each

production system

One-to-many DR Staging

• Common VM staged for each production OS

• Requires fewer resources• Backup/recovery software pre-

installed

Recovery VM Recovery VM

One-to-one DR Staging

• Individual recovery VM maintained for each production system

• Requires more resources• Simpler recovery

Recovery VMs Recovery VMs

Maintaining DR VM Data

• Approaches• Scheduled backups and restores• Offline copies• Replication/Continuous Data

Protection

Offline Backups

• VM shut down or suspended prior to backup, resumed following backup

• Provides full system image-level backup best suited for disaster recovery (DR)

• Individual file recovery:• Mount backup disk image • Copy individual file

Offline Backups -- Scripting Methods

• VMware ESXvmware-cmd <vmx path> <start | stop | suspend>vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/vol10/vm1/vm1.vmx suspend

• MS Virtual ServerobjVM.save objVM.startup

• Xenxe vm-shutdownxe vm-exportxe vm-start

Agent-based Backups

• Most popular• Agent installed

in VM and physical host

• Beware I/O bottlenecks

OS Virtualization Backups

• File level backups secured with single agent on physical host

• Open file/application backups:• Install backup agents into each VE• Use a script prior to backup to:

•Close open files•Shut down databases•Back up databases

VE/VPS File Structure

• Each VPS is stored as a subfolder of the /vz/private folder

Serverless Backup

Raw Device Mapping (RDM)

• Used to mount a SAN LUN or physical disk to a VM• Supports Vmotion, HA, DRS

• Virtual Mode• SCSI emulation, supports

VMware snapshots

• Physical Mode• Limited emulation, P2V

clustering, SAN management

Consolidated Backup (VCB)

• Backup proxy quieces VM• File Level

(W2K and up)• VM mounted via

local mount path• Files backed up

• Image Level• VM image copied

to backup proxy

• VM resumed

VCB Gotchas

• Restore view starts from backup proxy• Administrators must restore to VCB

proxy and then manually copy individual files to source system

• Granular file level not supported on Linux

• Requirements:• FC or iSCSI SAN• Backup Proxy - Windows Server 2003

More VCB Gotchas

• Requires pre/post backup scripting for backup ISVs

• Not all vendors can work with Vmotion• Disk image backups uncompressed by

default• Authentication via local ESX

account/password stored in text file (encrypted via SSL during VCB session)

VCB and Serverless Backups

• Requires advanced/proxy agent

• Simplifiedrestores

VM Snapshots

• Creates full images of online VMs• VMware

Creates snapshots using vcbmounter• Microsoft

Creates snapshots using DPM and VSS• Xen

Live snapshots expected by the end of year• SWsoft

vzbackup is run to perform a live backup

Continuous Data Protection

• Provides ability to synchronize DR VM with production VM continuously

• DR VM could be backed up at regular intervals for long term data protection and archiving

Continuous Replication

Maintaining a DR Site via Replication

Replication

Disk ArrayDisk Array Storage Virtualization

Appliance

Storage Virtualization

Appliance

Storage Virtualization Vendors

• Appliance-based: Falconstor, Datacore, IBM, Network Appliance

• Switch-based: Brocade, Cisco, EMC

What’s it gonnatake to get you to buy one of these switches?

Business Continuity

•Removing business disruption caused by:

• Maintenance, updates, patches• Disasters, unplanned failures

•These are handled differently

Zero Downtime Maintenance

• VMware VMotion• Xen, Virtual Iron LiveMigration• Windows Server Virtualization

Service Quick Migration• Move running virtual machine

between like physical hosts• No loss of application or system state

HA and Virtualization

• VMware HA• Microsoft Virtual Server and Microsoft

Cluster Services (MSCS)• Virtual Iron LiveRecovery• XenSource HA• Xen

•Red Hat: Xen and RHEL Cluster Suite integration

•Novell: Xen and SLES Heartbeat2 integration

HA Limitations

• Monitors Virtual Machines and physical host on which it is running

• Protects against failures of underlying hardware

• Little/No protection against application or OS failure

• SteelEye

Putting It All Together

• Offline images or VM snapshots secured after each major VM update for DR preparedness

• Local protection provided by disk-to-disk (D2D) backups

• DR site maintained via replication, backup restore, removable media

Use At The Office

• http://downloads.chriswolf.com• Backup scripts• VM appliances• VMware SAN Deployment Guide• Virtual Machine Backup Guide

Recommendations / Summary

• All data protection strategies should be planned from a restore perspective

• Consider Raw disks as an enabler for backup and data protection flexibility

• Every organization is different -- so your data protection plan should be unique too

Questions?

• Audience Q&A• cwolf@burtongroup.com

www.chriswolf.com

For More Information

• Virtualization: From the Desktop to the Enterprise

• www.chriswolf.com• www.searchservervirtualization.com• www.vmblog.com• www.virtualization.info

• I’ll be available at the Ask-the-Expert booth today/tomorrow from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM.