SERVERCENTRAL DISASTER RECOVERY AS A SERVICE (DRaaS)

THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND SERVERCENTRAL DRaaS

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DISASTER RECOVERY AS A SERVICE(DRaaS)

Virtualization provides organizations with increased flexibility and control in managing mission-critical data assets, as well as essential cost savings. Whether large or small, orga-nizations continue to aggressively pursue these initiatives in both completely virtual and hybrid physical/virtual environments.

While virtualization has been a game-changing technology, most organizations have yet to realize the benefits of this transition. The optimization of IT processes for these en-vironments, including security, compliance, and Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (BC/DR), continue to lag behind. To date, BC/DR has been the most difficult, as there haven’t been virtual-ready, easily adoptable remote replication solutions.

Until now.

SERVERCENTRAL PROVIDES TURN-KEY DRaaS FOR VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS

DISASTER RECOVERY AS A SERVICE(DRaaS)

Introducing ServerCentral Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3The Problem with Replication Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Array-Based Replication: Insufficient Granularity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Guest/OS-Based Replication: Impossible to Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Appliance-Based Replication: More Moving Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Hypervisor-Based Replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Application-Centric Protection: Another Important Differentiator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

The Advantages of Hypervisor-Based Replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Granularity: Replication Autonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Scalability: Peaceful Pacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Ease of Management: One Console for Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Server and Storage Motion: Mobile-Friendly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Hardware-Agnostic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Moving Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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DISASTER RECOVERY AS A SERVICE(DRaaS)

INTRODUCING SERVERCENTRAL DISASTER RECOVERY AS A SERVICE (DRaaS)

Powered by Zerto, ServerCentral’s Managed Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) provides virtual-ready, remote replication that’s easy to implement. Common replication technologies and methods essential

to mission-critical BC/DR initiatives have traditionally been tied to physical environments. While these solutions may work in fully virtualized environments, that doesn’t mean they’re optimized for them. Replication solutions that are not virtual-ready introduce new challenges:

If a replication solution isn’t virtual-ready, management overhead can double. Many of the cost benefits achieved through virtualization are therefore lost.

Data growth can outpace replication. A company may find its data expanding exponen-tially without a replication solution to keep pace.

In heterogeneous IT environments, replication methods are often firmly tied to a single vendor or a single hardware platform. This limits an organization’s ability to get the best solutions and services at the best price.

There is a critical need for BC/DR to align with the reality of virtualization in the data center. Competitive and compliance-related pressures are at an all-time high, and organi-zations need every advantage that a proven partner can offer.

Powered by Zerto, ServerCentral’s DRaaS solutions deliver proven, expert-managed, hypervisor-based replication backed by over 16 years of global DR experience.

THE PROBLEM WITH REPLICATION TECHNOLOGIESArray-based, guest/OS-based, and appliance-based replication technologies were de-veloped to be used with physical IT assets. As such, all three have issues that inhibit the efficiency and effectiveness that organizations require from BC/DR operations.

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DISASTER RECOVERY AS A SERVICE(DRaaS)

A brief review of the structures and limitations of these methods helps amplify the advan-tages and benefits of ServerCentral’s virtual-ready, hypervisor-based DRaaS solutions:

ARRAY-BASED REPLICATION: INSUFFICIENT GRANULARITYArray-based replication solutions are deployed as modules inside the storage array. These single-vendor solutions are specific to the storage vendor, and in many cases, do not have enough granularity.

Let’s look at an example:

Mapping between virtual disks and array volumes is complex and constantly changing. If multiple virtual machines reside on a single array volume, an array-based solution con-stantly replicates the entire volume—even if it’s just a single virtual machine. The result is poor hardware resource utilization.

Array-based replication lacks the visibility and granularity to identify specific virtual ma-chines in different locations. Consequently, organizations tend to put all disks from an enterprise application into a single storage logical unit when there are clear, operational advantages to splitting them up. All they have is a means to manage their storage, not a complete picture of the assets they have or how they’re configured.

Array Based

Atomic unit is LUN not VMComplex to manage

OS/Host Based

Footprint on every VMSuitable for small scale/SMB

Appliance Based

Atomic unit is LUN not VMAdditional hardware requirements

APP APP

OS OS OS

Virtualization

APP APP

OS OS OS

Virtualization

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DISASTER RECOVERY AS A SERVICE(DRaaS)

Array-based replication has other important disadvantages:

• It is designed to replicate physical entities. As a result, it’s oblivious to VM configuration changes.

• It requires a separate management interface. Different consoles are required for both VMs (such as VMware vSphere and Hyper-V Manager) and physical storage arrays (such as EMC).

• Vendor lock-in.

Array-based replication is inflexible, negating the advantages of virtualization.

GUEST/OS-BASED REPLICATION: IMPOSSIBLE TO SCALEGuest/OS-based replication solutions are more portable than array- based solutions, and typically simpler to manage because of their small scale. Still, guest/OS-based replication solutions have to be installed on every physical and virtual server, making it impossible to manage in a high-scale environment.

Guest/OS-based replication is ill-advised for the enterprise for a number of reasons:

• The requirement to install a module on every single server limits scalability.

• It is designed to replicate only single servers and therefore incapable of protecting multi-server, enter-prise applications. An organization that wants to protect multiple virtual machines could install a module on each virtual machine, but each virtual machine would still be protected independently.

• Users cannot get a consistent point-in-time view across multiple virtual machines. An application that spans multiple virtual machines is not protected correctly or consistently.

APPLIANCE-BASED REPLICATION: MORE MOVING PARTSLike array-based solutions, appliance-based replication is hardware-based and specific to a single platform. The advantage of appliance replication is that replication code runs on an external, physical appliance instead of the storage arrays themselves. This means that it’s more flexible and does not consume array resources.

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DISASTER RECOVERY AS A SERVICE(DRaaS)

Appliance-based solutions suffer the same disadvantages as array-based products when it comes to protecting virtual environments:

• They replicate physical entities rather than virtual entities. Their focus, therefore, is the logical unit rather than the virtual machine. This lack of granularity conflicts with the requirements and promise of virtualization.

• They require dual points of management: the physical management console and the virtualization man-agement console.

Ultimately, the key disadvantage of appliance-based replication is that in introducing more moving parts, we introduce more management complexity. The additional hardware foot-print creates additional hardware bottlenecks. As with array-based and guest/OS-based replication, appliance-based replication can work in virtual or hybrid environments, but is far from ideal.

HYPERVISOR-BASED REPLICATIONIt’s clear that replication technologies designed for physical environments present critical limitations in a virtualized setting. Still, it’s important to note that there is nothing inher-ently wrong with these technologies; they’re simply optimized for the storage layer. BC/DR in virtualized environments, however, can be delivered without compromise.

Bi-DirectionalOne-to-many

VM

PROTECTED SITE REPLICATION SITE

vCenter Server

Zerto Virtual Manager

vCenter Server

Zerto Virtual Manager

Virtual ReplicationAppliance

Virtual ReplicationAppliance

VMFS VMFS

ESX/ESXi

ESX/ESXiWANAPP APP APP APP

OS OS OS OS

VM VM VM VM

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DISASTER RECOVERY AS A SERVICE(DRaaS)

ServerCentral delivers Zerto’s innovative hypervisor-based replication solution as a fully managed service. It’s a virtual-aware, software-only, tier one replication solution pur-pose-built for virtual environments. We provide enterprise-class replication and BC/DR capabilities for all of your virtualized applications, be they in your data center or in your cloud, with the expertise to manage and maintain these configurations over their lifetime.

At the heart of this unique managed service is Zerto Virtual Replication:

• Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM) – The ZVM plugs into the management console (such as VMware VCenter or Hyper-V Manager) directly to provide visibility into the entire infrastructure. As the solution’s nerve center it keeps track of applications and information in motion in real time.

• Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA) – The VRA is a software module that is automatically deployed on physical hosts. The VRA continuously replicates data from user-selected virtual machines, compressing and sending that data to the remote site over WAN links. The VRA has the ability to tap into a VM’s IO stream because it is installed directly inside the virtual infrastructure (instead of individual machines).

• Virtual Protection Groups (VPGs) - Virtual Protection Groups are user-assigned groups of virtual ma-chines and their related virtual disks with interdependencies that require recovery from a consistent image. VPGs ensure that enterprise applications are replicated and recovered with consistency, regard-less of the underlying infrastructure. This enables organizations to deploy the application across different physical devices, reducing the complexity of the infrastructure. The ZVM recognizes VPGs and compo-nent relationships within each one, ensuring complete, accurate, and timely replication. While the core idea is readily achievable at the physical storage level, only Zerto has figured out how to do this at the virtual level for both server and storage locations.

The presence of the VRA in the VM’s IO stream is a critical distinction. Each time the VM writes to its virtual disks, the write command is captured, cloned, and sent to the designated recovery site(s). It delivers near real-time replication across small and large ap-plication footprints, whether the applications reside on ServerCentral’s network, on the customer’s network, or both.

By partnering with Zerto, gone are the days of snapshots and traditional backup pro-cesses. ServerCentral is able to offer its DRaaS solutions with continuous replication and zero impact on application performance.

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DISASTER RECOVERY AS A SERVICE(DRaaS)

APPLICATION-CENTRIC PROTECTION: ANOTHER IMPORTANT DIFFERENTIATOREnterprise applications require multiple servers. In a disaster event, they must be recov-ered from a single point-in-time image.

THE ADVANTAGES OF HYPERVISOR-BASED REPLICATIONAs a replication technology in and of itself, hypervisor-based replication offers many im-portant benefits: granularity, scalability, ease of management, server and storage motion, and hardware agnosticism.

GRANULARITY: REPLICATION AUTONOMYThe ability to replicate at the correct level of any virtual entity—be it a single virtual machine, a group of virtual machines, or a virtual application (such as VMware VApp)—is critical. Zerto’s solution can replicate all virtual machines and VApp metadata consistently. This ensures that the entire application infrastructure can be recovered in the event of a disaster via automatic failover or manual event declaration.

vCenter Server

ESX/ESXi ESX/ESXi

REPLICATION SITE

PROTECTED SITE

VMVMVM VMVRAVMVMVM

VMVMVM VMVMVM

VMVMVM

LDAPVRA

AppWebDBAppWeb

Zerto Virtual Manager

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

VDISK

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DISASTER RECOVERY AS A SERVICE(DRaaS)

A typical enterprise application includes multiple servers, each with their own respective disks. It is common for administrators to put all of those disks in a single logical storage unit in order to replicate the entire application without having to search for its individual components. The problem is that the entire logical unit must be replicated, even though it may contain other applications that are not in need of replication. This lack of granularity, where administrators cannot identify specific applications and application components to replicate, is enormously inefficient.

SCALABILITY: PEACEFUL PACINGThere are two aspects of scalability: deployment and management. As a virtual infra-structure grows, DR capabilities must grow with it. There shouldn’t be a requirement to purchase, install, and configure additional hardware.

ServerCentral selected Zerto’s hypervisor-based replication solution as the foundation for our DRaaS solutions because it is software-based. We can easily deploy and manage the BC/DR environment, no matter how fast an infrastructure expands. It also enables both your administrators and ours to perform operations and configure policies at the VM level, which optimizes ongoing performance.

EASE OF MANAGEMENT: ONE CONSOLE FOR EVERYTHINGWith no guest-host requirements or additional hardware footprint, DRaaS from ServerCentral is easy to manage. The solution resides in the hypervisor, enabling cen-tralized management. You can now manage everything from a single console (such as VMware VCenter and Hyper-V Manager). Additionally, because Zerto—the foundation of ServerCentral’s DRaaS solution—is software-based, it is user-installable (the VRA install process itself is automated), user-configurable, and scalable. Add experts in infra-structure and system administration who are available 24/7 to the mix, and DRaaS from ServerCentral couldn’t be easier.

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DISASTER RECOVERY AS A SERVICE(DRaaS)

SERVER AND STORAGE MOTION: MOBILE-FRIENDLYOne of the great advantages of virtualization is the ability to quickly move virtual ma-chines from one physical server or array logical unit (data store) to another. (This maybe done for load balancing.) With VMware, this is accomplished either manually through VMotion, or automatically using Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS). Only hypervisor-based replication can locate and replicate data no matter where it is moved.

HARDWARE-AGNOSTICHypervisor-based replication is hardware-agnostic, allowing you to replicate from any-thing to anything. This allows users to mix and match storage technologies, such as Storage Area Network (SAN) and Network-Attached Storage (NAS), or virtual disk types, such as Raw Device Mapping (RDM) and VMware File System (VMFS).

CONCLUSIONTwo key metrics in BC/DR are Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO). RPO indicates the amount of data at risk of being lost. RTO is how long it takes to recover data and restore service.

ServerCentral’s Zerto-powered DRaaS solutions achieve RPO in seconds and RTO in minutes. No other DRaaS solutions comes close.

With ServerCentral DRaaS powered by Zerto, you know that as your infrastructure expands and your replication demands grow over time, you have the best possible tech-nology in the best possible data centers—all managed by experienced infrastructure experts and system administrators.

MOVING FORWARDIf you operate a virtual or hybrid environment and are interested in virtual-aware and virtual-ready DRaaS, email us at sales@servercentral.com or call us at 312.829.1111.

We’re happy to show you how to realize the full promise of virtualization with a virtual-aware and virtual-ready DRaaS solution. We’re also happy to take you on a tour of the data center(s) in which your DR environment will reside.