Veeam Disaster Recovery Orchestrator v6 – Datalab Test

In this post, I will show how to create the Orchestrator Plan in VDRO v6 and execute the Datalab Test.

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server Appliance 8.0
• VMware vSphere 8.0
• Veeam Backup and Replication v12
• Veeam Disaster Recovery Orchestrator v6
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (Protected VM)

Remark: This architecture is NOT used for production environment, it can be used for home lab only.  For recommended architecture , please refer to this link https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vdro/userguide/architecture_overview.html?ver=60

Licenses

• VMware vCenter Server Standard Edition
• VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus Edition
• Veeam Data Platform – Premium Edition v12
• Veeam Recovery Orchestrator v6

Configuration Flow

• Create a virtual lab environment in VBR
• Setup a VM replication job in VBR
• Create an Orchetration plan
• Execute the Readiness Test
• Execute the Datalab Test

Creating a virtual machine lab environment

New Virtual Lab, then Next.

Select the target host for virtual lab, then Next.

Select the target Datastore for redirect write cache, then Next.

Select “Use proxy appliance this virtual lab“, then click “Configure” to specify the IP for the proxy appliance used for the virtual lab. Click Next.

Select “Advance single-host” then click Next.

Click “Add” to add a network mapping. Choose your production network of your VM, specify a name for the isolated network.

Click “Add” to add a network setting. Specify the Gateway IP of the production network on the first line and Mask. Specify an unused network range, then click OK.

Click Next.

Review the summary, click Apply to create the Virtual Lab.

Creating a VM replication job in VBR

Navigate to Home, then click Replication Job on the top left corner, select virtual machine (HQ_SQL). Specific the replication job name. Click Next.

Remark: I do not enable the advanced features in this demo.

Add the virtual machine, then Click.

Specific the destination host, resource pool, VM folder and Datastore. Then Next.

Specify your name of your VM replica and the restore point to keep, click Next.

Keep the proxy setting in default then click Next.

Check the “Enable application-aware processing” for application consistent snapshots. Add your credential if you need application processing. Click Next.

Specify your replication schedule, then click Apply.

Click Finish to create the Replication job and run the job.

Remark: Make sure the VM replication job is successfully completed, then you can create the orchetration plan.

Creating an Orchestration Plan

Preparation

Enter Administration. Make sure the Veeam Backup and Replication is connected in Orchestrator Agents.

Go to DataLab Configuration under Permissions. Assign Datalab to scope.

Select Admin Scope.

Optionally, associate DatabLab with recovery location, then Next.

Click Finish.

Configuration

Exit Administration, go to DataLabs.

Click “Add” to add the Lab Group.

Choose “Replica“, click Next.

Add the Replication job into Lab Groups, click Next.

Keep the default settings, click Next.

You can keep the default or add the different steps for your VM. Click Next.

Remark: In this demo, the protected VM is MS SQL, so I added a “Verify SQL Port“.

Choose credentials to be used for operations in the VM guest OS, click Next.

Click Finish.

Then click Save.

Create the Orchestrator Plan

Go to Orchestrator Plan, choose “New” on the Manage menu.

Specify the Name and details for Orchestrator Plan, click Next.

Choose the type of plan, select “Replica” option, click Next.

Remark: VDRO supports the different recovery options from your backup data.

Add VM Group into Plan Group, click Next.

Click Next.

You can keep the default or select different steps for your VM. Click Next. In this demo, I added “Verify SQL Port“.

Define your RTO and RPO settings, then click Next.

Choose the report template, then click Next.

Click Next.

Click Finish to create the orchestrator plan.

Now we can verify the orchestrator plan.

Running the Readiness Test and Datalab Test

Choose your orchestration plan, click Verify and select Run Readiness Check. Check if there is no any errors or warning in the “Latest Check” tab.

Now we can run a DataLab Test. Click Verify and select Run Datalab Test. Select your Datalab, click Next.

Click Next.

Choose your Lab Group, click Next.

Click Finish.

Then the Datalab test starts.

Go to Veeam VBR console, you can see there are three jobs are running. i.e. the Virtual Lab is started, recovery VM is power on and VRDO job is running.

After the Recovery VM is power on, it will verify the SQL port.

After the test is completed successfully, navigate to Reports and download the corresponding DataLab Test Report.

You can refer to the report for details.

Finally you need to click “Power off” to close the Datalab and revert the configuration.

This demonstration is completed. VDRO can help the customer uses one-click orchestration plans for critical applications, and rich features for documentation and testing. We will discuss how to recover the VM with orchestrator plan in next post.

Categories: Backup Veeam

Victor Wu

Chief Architect, Blogger, Author at Dell EMC Knowledge Sharing & Packt