Continuous Server Replication - Disaster Recovery
In order to fully use this feature, you must have the following permissions assigned to your account:
Read Server Replication
Write Server Replication
Armor, along with Zerto, provides a fully managed continuous server replication (disaster recovery) add-on product.
At a high-level, this add-on product recovers and replicates your resources into a recovery environment to help you:
Maintain your applications during an outage in your primary data center
Meet compliance requirements
If you are an upgraded user, then please review Continuous Server Replication - Disaster Recovery - for Upgraded Users.
Currently, Disaster Recovery (Continuous Server Replication) is available in the DFW01 (Dallas) and ORD01 (Chicago) environments.
Disaster Recovery recovers (and then restores) the following resources from your primary environment into a recovery environment:
Resource type | Specific components |
|---|---|
Security |
|
Infrastructure |
|
Typically, the recovery site is the closest data center to your primary data center. Currently, Armor offers this add-on product in the following locations:
Primary environment | Default recovery environment |
|---|---|
Dallas (DFW01) | Chicago (ORD01) |
Chicago (ORD01) | Dallas (DFW01) |
If you are using this feature to replicate data on the same server in which you've applied VM Protection through the Advanced Backup service, please take note of the following:
In the event of a live failover via the Continuous Server Replication service, any backups captured through the VM Protection feature of the Advanced Backup service will be lost.
At the conclusion of the failover event, upon returning to the primary site, VM Protection will need to be configured again on the server as needed. This will not happen automatically.
For example: A VM runs in DFW as the primary site (replicated to ORD as the failover target) and a live failover is performed to place the VM into the ORD data center for a temporary period of time. When the VM is returned to DFW, it will need to be reconfigured for VM Protection in order for the Advanced Backup feature to begin taking backups again. No action is needed with regard to the Continuous Server Replication feature.
Test Failovers have no impact on the Advanced Backup service. They can be performed without impact to any existing backups.
The Fileset Protection feature of the Advanced Backup service is not affected by the Continuous Server Replication service. During a failover event, fileset backups will be paused while running in the remote site, but will resume automatically once the VM is returned to the primary site.
Order Continuous Server Replication (Disaster Recovery)
You can order Continuous Server Replication (Disaster Recovery) from the Marketplace screen or from the Virtual Machines screen.
To order Continuous Server Replication (Disaster Recovery) for your load balancer, use the Marketplace screen.
Option 1: Order from the Marketplace screen
To order from the Marketplace screen:
In the Armor Management Portal (AMP), in the left-side navigation, click Marketplace.
Under Business Continuity, locate and select Continuous Server Replication.
In the drop-down menu, select the desired virtual machine.
Click Choose This.
Click Purchase.
This action will automatically create a support ticket. Armor Support will use this ticket to communicate with you regarding the provisioning process.
For first-time subscribers, it may take up to two business days for this add-on product to be fully provisioned in your account. After this first-time provisioning process, provisioning for additional virtual machines will only take 30 minutes to complete.
When Armor Support communicates that the add-on product has been fully provisioned:
Return to the Virtual Machine screen.
Locate and select the desired virtual machine.
Click Backup + Recovery.
Review the status for Server Replication. The status will change from Configuring to Enabled.
Review the following table to better understand theBackup + Recoverysection:
Column | Description |
|---|---|
Server Replication | The order status for this add-on product:
|
Protected Site | Your primary data center location |
Recovery Site | Your recovery data center location |
Status | The replication / syncing status of this add-on product
|
Current RPO (Recovery point objective) | The time of the last sync of your primary environment to the recovery environment |
After your add-on product has been fully provisioned, Armor recommends that you request a test failover, simply to verify the service is functional. To learn more, see Request a test failover and view a test failover virtual machine.
Option 2: Order from the Virtual Machines screen
To order from the Virtual Machines screen:
In the Armor Management Portal (AMP), in the left-side navigation, click Virtual Machines.
Locate and select the desired virtual machine.
Click the Backup + Recovery tab.
Click Add Server Replication.
In the drop-down menu, confirm the selected virtual machine.
Click Choose This.
Click Purchase.
This action will automatically create a support ticket. Armor Support will use this ticket to communicate with you regarding the provisioning process.
For first-time subscribers, it may take up to two business days for this add-on product to be fully provisioned in your account. After this first-time provisioning process, provisioning for additional virtual machines will only take 30 minutes to complete.
When Armor Support communicates that the add-on product has been fully provisioned:
Return to the Virtual Machine screen.
Locate and select the desired virtual machine.
Click Backup + Recovery.
Review the status for Server Replication. The status will change from Configuring to Enabled.
Review the following table to better understand the Backup + Recovery section:
Column | Description |
|---|---|
Server Replication | The order status for this add-on product:
|
Protected Site | Your primary data center location |
Recovery Site | Your recovery data center location |
Status | The replication / syncing status of this add-on product
|
Current RPO (Recovery point objective) | The time of the last sync of your primary environment to the recovery environment |
After your add-on product has been fully provisioned, Armor recommends that you request a test failover, simply to verify the service is functional. To learn more, see Request a test failover and view a test failover virtual machine
Request a test failover and view a test failover virtual machine
You can request a test failover to meet compliance requirements or to verify that the Continuous Server Replication (Disaster Recovery) add-on product was successfully provisioned in your account.
After a successful test failover, you can view the test failover virtual machine in the Armor Management Portal (AMP).
In the Armor Management Portal (AMP), on the left-side navigation, click Support.
Click Tickets + Notifications.
Click the plus ( + ) icon.
In Subject, enter Request for a test failover.
(Optional) In Add Recipient, enter the name or username of additional recipients to add to the ticket, and then select the name.
In Description, enter the name of the corresponding virtual machine.
Click Create Ticket.
Armor Support will update the ticket when the test failover is complete.
To view the test failover virtual machine, on the left-side navigation, click Infrastructure.
Click Virtual Machines.
The name of the test failover virtual machine will include the name of the primary virtual machine, along with - Test added to the name. For example, if the name of the primary virtual machine is My Company, then the name of test failover virtual machine will be My Company - Test.
The Continuous Server Replication section will not appear in the detailed screen screen for the test failover virtual machine.
(Optional) To access the test failover virtual machine in the test failover site, you must download and install the SSL/VPN client for the test failover environment.
You must download the client for your correct recovery location (DFW01-Recovery or ORD01-Recovery).
If your primary environment is DFW01, then you should download the client for ORD01-Recovery environment.
If your primary environment is ORD01, then you should download the client for DFW01-Recovery environment.
To learn how to download and install the SSL/VPN client, see SSL VPN.
To end the test failover, create a support ticket and indicate your interest to end the test failover.
Armor Support will remove the test failover virtual machine from your AMP account.
Request a live recovery and view a live recovery virtual machine
You can request a live recovery to troubleshoot during an outage in your primary environment. After a successful live recovery, you can view the live recovery virtual machine in the Armor Management Portal (AMP).
During a live recovery, Armor recommends that you do not make any changes to your recovery virtual machine. Any change you make will not replicated in the primary virtual machine.
In the Armor Management Portal (AMP), on the left-side navigation, click Support.
Click Tickets + Notifications.
Click New Ticket.
In Ticket Subject, enter Request for a Live recovery or Request for a test failover.
Armor will notify you of a data center outage. In this case, you must still submit a support ticket to request a live recovery.
(Optional) In Add Recipient, enter the name or username of additional recipients to add to the ticket, and then select the name.
In Ticket Explanation, enter the name of the corresponding virtual machine.
Click Create Ticket.
To view the status of your ticket, in the left-side navigation, click Support, and then click Tickets + Notifications.
Armor Support will update the ticket when the test failover is complete.
On the left-side navigation, click Infrastructure.
Click Virtual Machines. The recovery virtual machine will be listed in the table.
The name of the recovery virtual machine will be the same as the primary virtual machine, along with a yellow icon.
The primary virtual machine will not be listed in this table.
The Continuous Server Replication section will not appear in the detailed screen screen for the test failover virtual machine.
To access the live recovery virtual machine in the live recovery site, you must download and install the SSL/VPN client for the live recovery environment.
You must download the client for your correct recovery location (DFW01-Recovery or ORD01-Recovery).
If your primary environment is DFW01, then you should download the client for ORD01-Recovery environment.
If your primary environment is ORD01, then you should download the client for DFW01-Recovery environment.
To learn how to download and install the SSL/VPN client, see SSL VPN.
To end the live recovery, create a support ticket and indicate your interest to end the live recovery.
Troubleshooting
If you cannot view or access the Backup + Recovery section in the Virtual Machine screen, consider that:
You have not ordered Continuous Server Replication service.
To learn how to order this service, see Order Continuous Server Replication (Disaster Recovery).
Armor Support has not completely provisioned the service.
This service may take up to two business days to appear in your AMP account.
You do not have permission to order and view this service.
You must have the Read Server Replication and Write Server Replication permissions enabled. Contact your account administrator to enable this permission. To learn how to update your permissions, see Roles and Permissions.