Create a Fenced Network Through a VMware Restore Job

Through fenced networking, you can establish a safe environment to test your jobs without interfering with virtual machines used for production. Fenced networking can be used with with jobs running in Test Mode and Production Mode.

Running a VMware Restore job in Test Mode creates temporary virtual machines for development/testing, snapshot verification, and disaster recovery verification on a scheduled, repeatable basis without affecting production environments. Test machines are kept running as long as needed to complete testing and verification and are then cleaned up after testing and verification completes. Virtual machines created through Test mode are also given unique names and identifiers to avoid conflicts within your production environment.

Production Mode enables disaster recovery at the local site from primary storage or a remote disaster recovery site, replacing original machine images with recovered images. All configurations are carried over as part of the recovery, including names and identifiers, and all copy data jobs associated with the virtual machine continue to run.

The following procedure describes how to create a fenced network through VMware Restore jobs.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:

CONSIDERATIONS:

  • When selecting virtual machines for restore, restore points offloaded to IBM Spectrum Protect storage cannot be recovered in Test Mode.
  • Restore points that were offloaded to IBM Spectrum Protect storage cannot be used to restore VMDKs.

To create a fenced network through a VMware Restore job:

  1. From the navigation menu, expand Manage Protection, then expand Hypervisors. Expand VMware, then click Restore.
  2. In the Restore pane, review the available restore points of your VMware sources, including virtual machines, VM templates, datastores, folders, and vApps. Use the search function and filters to fine-tune your selection across specific recovery site types. Expand an entry in the Restore pane to view individual restore points by date.
  3. Select restore points and click the Add to Restore List Add to Restore List icon icon to add the restore point to the Restore List. Click the Remove Remove icon icon to remove items from the Restore List.
  4. Click Options. Set the job definition options.
  5. Select Alternate ESX Host or Cluster, then select an alternate host or cluster from the vCenter list.
  6. From the Production and Test fields, set virtual networks for production and test restore job runs. Destination network settings for production and test environments should be different locations to create a fenced network, which keeps virtual machines used for testing from interfering with virtual machines used for production. The networks associated with Test and Production will be utilized when the restore job is run in the associated mode.
  7. Set an IP address or subnet mask for virtual machines to be re-purposed for development/testing or disaster recovery use cases. Supported mapping types include IP to IP, IP to DHCP, and subnet to subnet. Virtual machines containing multiple NICs are supported.
  8. By default, the Use system defined subnets and IP addresses for VM guest OS on destination option is enabled. To use your predefined subnets and IP addresses, select Use original subnets and IP addresses for VM guest OS on destination.
  9. To create a new mapping configuration, select Add mappings for subnets and IP addresses for VM guest OS on destination, then click Add Mapping. Enter a subnet or IP address in the Source field. In the destination field, select DHCP to automatically select an IP and related configuration information if DHCP is available on the selected client. Select Static to enter a specific subnet or IP address, subnet mask, gateway, and DNS. Note that Subnet / IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Gateway are required fields. If a subnet is entered as a source, a subnet must also be entered as a destination.
  10. IP reconfiguration is skipped for virtual machines if a static IP is used but no suitable subnet mapping is found, or if the source machine is powered off and there is more than one associated NIC. In a Windows environment, if a virtual machine is DHCP only, then IP reconfiguration is skipped for that virtual machine. In a Linux environment all addresses are assumed to be static, and only IP mapping will be available.
  11. In the Destination Datastore field, set the destination datastore for a restore to an alternate ESX host or cluster.
  12. In the VM Folder Destination field, enter the VM folder path on the destination datastore. Note that the directory will be created if it does not exist. Use "/" as the root VM folder of the targeted datastore.
  13. In the Script Settings fields, select an uploaded script and a script server where the script will run. Scripts and script servers are configured through the Jobs and Monitoring > Script pane. See Configure Scripts.
  14. Pre-scripts and post-scripts are scripts that can be run before or after a job runs at the job-level. Batch and PowerShell scripts are supported.
  15. Continue job/task on script error - When enabled, if a Pre-script completes with a non-zero return code, the backup or restore is attempted and the Pre-script task status returns COMPLETED. When disabled, the backup or restore is not attempted, and the Pre-script task status returns FAILED. If a Post-script completes with a non-zero return code, the Post-script task status returns COMPLETED. When disabled, the Post-script task status returns FAILED.
  16. Click Save to save the policy options.
  17. To run the job now, click Restore. To schedule the job click Manage Jobs and define a trigger for the job definition.
  18. Once the job completes successfully, select one of the following options from the Actions menu on the Jobs Sessions or Active Clones sections on the Restore pane: 
  19. Move to Production (vMotion) migrates the virtual machine through vMotion to the Datastore and the Virtual Network defined as the "Production" Network.
  20. Clone (vMotion) migrates the virtual machine through vMotion to the Datastore and Virtual Network defined as the "Test" network.

 


IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 10.1.2

Licensed Material - Property of IBM Corp. © IBM Corporation and other(s) 2018. IBM is a registered trademark of the IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. | 8/23/2018