Tiers
of (Hyper-V) disaster recovery:
---------------------------------------------
Tier: omg we’re f*cked
No backups of VHD or VM config files.
No alternate hypervisors to run VM’s on.
Make sure your resume is up to date and
your phone number is unlisted.
Backup Software Cost: nada/zip/zero. Use
all that extra money for beer. Hurray!
Hardware Cost: hardware? Who needs a
server? Just use the free hyper-v server install on a desktop PC.
Tier:
living la vida loca
Filesystem level backups of VHD files
through a program using VSS service. (example: Hyperoo)
You will have to manually restore, then
re-create VM configurations (including reconfiguring IP addresses of NICs in
each VM)
Make sure you have some sort of
documentation that you made your boss aware restoring from hardware failure
will take days or weeks.
Backup Software Cost: somewhere in the
range of $158 and up (depending on software used)
Hardware Cost: Backup server, disk
space, tape drive(s). If you are lucky you can re-purpose an old machine you
virtualized for no (additional) cost.
NOTE: database dumps and transaction
dumps for SQL Server/Oracle/etc databases are handled outside of VM backup
mechanism. (i.e. you don’t rely on VM backups to back up your relational
databases)
NOTE: you do NOT (!) use a VM for a
fileserver and store production data inside a VM. (File server
backups/replication are handled outside of VM’s)
Tier:
Tums and Pepto-Bismol are your friends
VM level backups of VM’s to disk/tape
through a program that is VM aware ( Veeam, Backup Exec, etc)
You can use your backup software to
selectively restore VM’s to another hypervisor than they were backed up from.
Time to restore all your VM’s can vary
but might take several hours.
Backup images may be several hours/days
old (lost transactions)
Backup Software Cost: $1,000 to $6,0000
(depends on how many sockets/servers you are backing up)
Hardware Cost: Backup server, disk
space, tape drive(s). If you are lucky you can re-purpose an old machine you
virtualized for no (additional) cost.
NOTE: database dumps and transaction
dumps for SQL Server/Oracle/etc databases are handled outside of VM backup
mechanism. (i.e. you don’t rely on VM backups to back up your relational
databases)
NOTE: you do NOT (!) use a VM for a
fileserver and store production data inside a VM. (File server
backups/replication are handled outside of VM’s)
Tier:
I may have a nervous twitch in my eye but I can sleep at night
VM level backups of VM’s to disk/tape
through a program that is VM aware (Veeam, Backup Exec, etc)
VM level replication to a(n) alternate
hypervisor(s) using replication software (Veeam, etc)
You can use your backup software to
selectively restore VM’s to another hypervisor than they were backed up from.
You can failover a VM from a dead
hypervisor to a replica on another hypervisor.
Time to restore all your VM’s can vary
but might take a few minutes to several hours.
Backup images may be a couple hours old
(lost transactions), but if you are replicating frequently, especially
important VM’s storing data locally, you can minimize this impact somewhat.
Backup Software Cost: $1,000 to $6,0000
(depends on how many sockets/servers you are backing up)
Hardware Cost: Backup server, disk
space, tape drive(s). If you are lucky you can re-purpose an old machine you
virtualized for no (additional) cost. At least two hypervisors required. (maybe
three if you need off-site recovery options)
NOTE: database dumps and transaction
dumps for SQL Server/Oracle/etc databases are handled outside of VM backup
mechanism. (i.e. you don’t rely on VM backups to back up your relational
databases)
NOTE: you do NOT (!) use a VM for a
fileserver and store production data inside a VM. (File server
backups/replication are handled outside of VM’s)
Tier:
I leave work at 5 on the dot every day.
Clustered/SCVMM environment. Multiple
hypervisors in a cluster enabling live migration, load balancing,
Automatic/managed failover from a failed
hypervisor to other members in the cluster.
Time to failover/bring back up in crash
recovery state all your VM’s can be measured in minutes.
VM level backups of VM’s to disk/tape
through a program that is VM aware (Veeam, Backup Exec, etc)
Backup Software Cost: $1,000 to $6,0000
(depends on how many sockets/servers you are backing up)
Hardware Cost: Backup server, disk
space, tape drive(s). At least two hypervisors required. (maybe three if you
need off-site recovery options). SAN (iSCSI target) server required also.
The only point of failure in this
scenario would be if your SAN storage fails. (which can happen obviously) This
would require you to restore from backups to another SAN and reconfigure
hyper-v cluster.
Tier: The sound of the waves relaxes me as I sip my
Pina Colada
Clustered/SCVMM environment. Multiple
hypervisors in a cluster enabling live migration, load balancing,
Automatic/managed failover from a failed
hypervisor to other members in the cluster.
SAN (iSCSI) storage replicated in HA
(high availability) fashion with automatic IP failover. (software or hardware
solutions)
Time to failover/bring back up in crash
recovery state all your VM’s can be measured in minutes.
VM level backups of VM’s to disk/tape
through a program that is VM aware (Veeam, Backup Exec, etc) (Although at this
point, these backups might be more for “point in time” recovery for
non-disaster reasons)
Cost: If you are in this category, your
company probably has more annual revenue than most small countries, so cost is
not an issue.
