Tasks for deploying InfoScale Storage and Volume Replicator with Microsoft failover clustering


Tasks for deploying InfoScale Storage and Volume Replicator with Microsoft failover clustering
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You can set up a disaster recovery (DR) solution using SFW with a Microsoft failover cluster and Volume Replicator on Windows Server systems.

The example describes a generic database application in order to present general recommendations that apply to applications in a DR solution.

The process for setting up and working with the SFW-Microsoft failover cluster-Volume Replicator disaster recovery solution has four main parts:

The steps for setting up the failover cluster that were described in the High Availability section of this guide are the basic foundation on which this disaster recovery solution is built.

See Tasks for deploying InfoScale Storage with Microsoft failover clustering.

The main differences in the process of setting up the cluster for a disaster recovery rather than for HA alone are that you need to make sure that the Volume Replicator option is selected during the InfoScale Storage installation and to configure the Volume Replicator Security Service (VxSAS) after the installation completes. In setting up the secondary site, the cluster process is similar.

Once the two clusters are set up, one at the primary site and the other at the secondary site, Volume Replicator is used to enable replication from the primary site to the secondary site.

The high-level objectives and the tasks to complete each objective for the configuration are as follows:

Table: Tasks for deploying InfoScale Storage with Microsoft failover clustering and Volume Replicator

Objective	Tasks
See Part 1: Setting up the cluster on the primary site.
See Reviewing the prerequisites and the configuration.	Verify hardware and software prerequisites. Review configuration requirements.
See Installing and configuring the hardware.	Set up and configure the hardware according to the manufacturers' instructions.
See Installing Windows and configuring network settings.	Install the operating system on both nodes. Make necessary networking settings on both nodes.
See Establishing a Microsoft failover cluster.	Refer to Microsoft documentation for instructions on establishing a Microsoft failover cluster.
See Installing InfoScale Storage (primary site).	See Veritas InfoScale Installation and Upgrade Guide.
See Setting up security for Volume Replicator.	Complete the steps to configure VxSAS.
See Creating SFW disk groups and volumes.	In SFW on the primary cluster node, create two or more dynamic cluster disk groups on the storage - one or more for the application data files and one for the mirrored quorum. The disk group for the quorum can be created later, if desired.
See Creating a group for the application in the failover cluster.	Create a group for the application using the Microsoft Failover Cluster Management tool. Include the cluster disk group or groups for the application as Volume Manager Disk Group type resources in the group.
See Installing the application on cluster nodes.	Install the application program files on the local drive of the first node. Install files relating to the data and logs on the shared storage. Move the cluster resources to the second node. Make sure that the volumes on the second node have the same drive letters or mount points that they had on the first node. Install the application on the second node.
See Completing the setup of the application group in the failover cluster.	Refer to the application documentation for help on creating its resource. Establish the appropriate dependencies. Test the application group by moving the cluster resources to the other node.
See Implementing a dynamic quorum resource.	Create a dynamic disk group for the quorum with a mirrored volume if this task was not done earlier. Make the disk group a Volume Manager Disk Group type resource in the default Cluster Group. Change the quorum resource to the dynamic mirrored quorum resource.
See Verifying the cluster configuration.	Move the cluster resources to the second node. Move them back to the first node. Optionally, simulate a failure by turning off the power to the server that has control of the cluster resources.
See Completing the primary site configuration.	Complete the primary site configuration.
See Part 2: Setting up the cluster on the secondary site.
See Repeating cluster configuration steps for the secondary site.	Install and configure hardware Install Windows and configure network settings Establish the Microsoft failover cluster Install SFW with the Volume Replicator option and Microsoft Cluster option Install Volume Replicator Security Services (VxSAS) Create SFW disk groups and volumes Set up a group for the application in Failover Cluster Management Install the application on cluster nodes Complete the setup of the application group in Failover Cluster Management Change the quorum resource to the dynamic quorum resource Perform a final testing of the cluster
See Part 3: Adding the Volume Replicator components for replication.
See Configuring the Replicator Log volumes for Volume Replicator.	Use SFW to create Replicator Log volumes for the primary and secondary sites if this wasn't done earlier when configuring the SFW disk groups and volumes for the application.
See Creating the Replicated Data Sets with the wizard.	Create Replicated Data Sets with Volume Replicator's Replicated Data Set wizard and start replication for the primary and secondary sites.
See Creating resources for Volume Replicator.	In Failover Cluster Management, create the network name and IP resource to be used for Volume Replicator replication.
See Creating an RVG resource and setting the dependencies.	In Failover Cluster Management, create an RVG resource for replication. Set the application resource dependency on the RVG resource. Remove the direct dependency of the application resource on the Volume Manager Disk Group resource.
See Part 4: Maintaining normal operations and recovery procedures.
See Normal operations: Monitoring the status of the replication.	Monitor replication. Perform planned migration.
See Disaster recovery procedures.	Complete the recovery procedures after the primary site goes down.