using ipm with vmware's site recovery manager

Application Note

Using IPM with VMware’s Site Recovery Manager

Eaton’s Intelligent Power Manager (IPM) continues to simplify data center management. Among its virtualization-rich feature set is its ability to avoid a disaster by triggering VMware’s Site Recovery Manager when the data center utility power is disrupted (and when other events jeopardize power availability), leaving the data center to be powered by UPS battery. VMware’s Site Recovery Manager (SRM—see Figure 1) will initiate synchronization and startup of a backup site.

According to VMware, business continuity/disaster recovery (BCDR) is at the top of data center initiatives. In fact, a Forrester Research1 survey rates BCDR as the number one priority for SMB data centers, and number two for enterprise data centers.

SRM provides two types of replication options: vSphere Replication and Storage-based Replication. IPM has been tested with vSphere Replication, which has three advantages for SMB data centers: 1) it’s cost-efficient, offering the potential for large storage cost savings, and the replication software is included in SRM5 at no additional charge; 2) it’s simple – replication is managed directly from vCenter at the virtual machine (VM) level; and 3) it’s powerful, reaching recovery point objectives between 15 minutes and 24 hours, and scalable up to 500 VMs.2

Figure 2, from VMware’s Partner Exchange 2012, presents an overview and the benefits of planned migration.

The benefits of IPM integration with VMware SRM include:

1. Starts recovery process on several different events. IPM will initiate the execution of a recovery plan upon several different events.

2. Less down time for end users. VMs will be down only for the amount of time required to transfer the latest snapshot and will restart once the transfer is complete. The unprotected VMs will continue to run on the primary site.

3. Customization for end users. Users can customize the script included in the package as per their needs. For instance, when users want to configure SRM with IPM for low battery and protection loss features, they’re able to make such customizations. This allows users to best align their needs with this integration.

4. Unattended execution of recovery plan before server crash. SRM with IPM provides recovery even before the entire site crashes. With the use of the SRM feature, users will have the backup ready even before the crash, which keeps them secured all the time.

IPM will be configured to initiate the planned migration of SRM, using the following steps: • Install latest version of IPM. • Download and extract Eaton SRM package from http://pqsoft-

ware.eaton.com/explore/eng/network/net_sol.htm. • Copy PSVMSrm module and place it in root folder of IPM (e.g C:\

Program Files\Eaton\IntelligentPowerManager).

Figure 1. VMware’s overview of Site Recovery Manager, slide from CIM3105 at VMware partner Exchange, Feb. 2012 in U.S.

Figure 2. VMware’s overview and benefits of planned migration.

1 Forrester Research, Inc, Global IT Budgets, Priorities, And Emerging Technology Tracking Survey, Q2 2010, provided in VMware’s CIM1305 presentation PEX February, 2012

2 Limitations: no automated failback, no FT, templates, linked clones or physical RDMs

• Copy remaining .ps1 files and place in the root folder of IPM (e.g. C:\Program Files\Eaton\IntelligentPowerManager).

• Copy the SRM.js script and place it in the “C:\Program Files\Eaton\IntelligentPowerManager\configs\scripts”.

• Configure SRM.js script as per the requirement. Refer to the user manual or readme file to learn more about script configuration.

• Restart IPM service.

This script is designed to execute different Powershell scripts upon user scenarios related to UPSs and virtual power sources (VPSs). To learn more about VPS, refer Chapter 8 (redundancy) of the IPM user manual on http://pqsoftware.eaton.com/explore/eng/network/net_sol.htm. This script is user configurable, and users can use the power scenarios mentioned as per requirement. The following power scenarios are mentioned in the script:

1. UPS power failure and power restore

If the protected site experiences a UPS power failure, then IPM triggers the execution of the user-created recovery plan. If power is restored before the recovery plan starts, the script will cancel its initiation.

This is a time-based mechanism, so users will have to provide the time in minutes to wait for the recovery plan to start.

2. UPS low battery (if the UPS battery capacity is less than the capacity limit set in the NMC)

If the UPS powering a protected site experiences a low battery warning alarm, i.e., battery capacity is lower than the battery low warning level defined for it, then IPM initiates the execution of the recovery plan.

3. UPS low battery (the runtime to empty: time remaining for UPS to drain out)

If the UPS powering a protected site experiences a low battery warning alarm, i.e., UPS RunTimetoEmpty time is equal to the time mentioned in the script, then IPM initiates the execution of the recovery plan.

The default value of RunTimetoEmpty parameter is 500 seconds. Since it’s a user-configurable parameter, users can set the value as per their needs.

To know the current value of RunTimetoEmpty, use the link http://<IP address of UPS NIC>/upsprop.xml.

4. UPS fan failure/internal failure and failure repair

If there’s any internal failure or fan failure in a UPS, then IPM initiates the execution of the recovery plan. If the failure is repaired before the recovery plan starts, the script will cancel its initiation.


5. UPS over temperature and normal temperature

If an internal temperature of a UPS increases, then IPM initiates the execution of the recovery plan. If the UPS reaches normal temperature before the recovery plan starts, then the script will cancel its initiation.


6. VPS—redundancy loss and restore

If one of the UPSs experiences a communication loss, power fail or low battery then the loss of a redundant UPS has occurred. In this case, IPM initiates the execution of the recovery plan. If redundancy is restored before the recovery plan starts, the script will cancel its initiation.


7. VPS—protection loss

If all the UPSs experience a communication loss, power fail or low battery, then a protection loss has occurred. In this case, IPM initiates the execution of recovery plan.

Protection Group CreationA protection group is a group of VMs that will be protected upon recovery. Refer below to the screenshots. Users can select the VMs in the protection group as per their needs.

After selecting the site and protection group type, all protected VMs will be listed as shown in the next screenshot. Users can select those VMs that they want to be a part of the protection group.

After this, users will enter the name of the protection group and an optional description, and then protection group will be created.

Figure 3. Creation of protection group.

Figure 4. Selection of replicated VMs.

2 EATON CORPORATION Eaton.com

Application Note

The screenshot below shows how to set the priority to VMs in a protection group. Users can set VM priority ranging from 1 to 5. To set the priority, they’ll have to create a recovery plan. As shown in the screenshot below, go to the VM tab in the recovery plan and right click on VM to set the priority.

Recovery Plan CreationBefore creating a recovery plan, users have to configure SRM. To learn more about it, refer to the SRM admin guide or user manual, or follow subsequent chapters where this application note shows SRM configuration.

A recovery plan is a set of steps performed when a disaster occurs. Refer to the screenshot below (Figure 8), which shows that users can have multiple recovery plans, and decide which one is applicable for specific conditions. For example, in case of power fail, users can create a recovery plan named PowerFail.

Figure 5. Provide name and optional description.

Figure 6. Completion of protection group.

Figure 7. Setting priority to VMs in a protection group.

Figure 8. Creation of the recovery plan.


Application Note

The following screen shots show how to create a recovery plan. It starts with users selecting the protection group that will be recovered after executing the recovery plan.

After selecting the protection group, users will have to select the network to run the recovery plan. Refer to the screenshot below (Figure 10).

Now the recovery plan named ‘Power Fail’ is created and ready to be executed.

Figure 9. Select protection groups.

Figure 10. Select which network to use for the recovery plan.

Figure 11. Select name and provide description of recovery plan.

Figure 12. Creation of recovery plan.


Application Note

Recovery Plan Flow in SRMFigure 13 (below) shows the steps for a planned migration process when there’s a utility power failure. The first step in the process is to synchronize the storage, which allows the backup site to get synched with the primary site.

Figure 14 (below) shows the PowerFail recovery plan initiating due to a power failure. Note that if power restores before the recovery process starts, the initiation will be aborted.

The screenshots above and below (Figures 15 and 16) show that this planned migration affects Priority 1, 3 and 5 VMs. As shown above, Fedora is given priority 1, RHEL5 is given priority 3 and Win2003 is given priority 5. VMs with low priority will be shut down first and VMs with high priority will be powered on first. The next screenshot shows an exploded view of the shutdown at the protected site, including the VMs restarting at the recovery site and the completion progress.

Figure 13. Steps taken in the recovery plan defined as PowerFail.

Figure 14. Recovery plan in process; pre-synchronization of sites is complete, shutdown of VMs at protected site is in process.

Figure 15. Power on for priority VMs at backup site.

Figure 16. Exploded view of shutdown VMs at protected site and preparing protected site VMs for migration.


Application Note

The completion screen is shown below. Besides providing notification that the planned migration is complete, it also provides direction on failback to the original protected site.

When integrating Eaton’s IPM with VMware’s SRM, the data center has the ability to perform a planned migration rather than a disaster recovery. As long as the data center manager provides sufficient battery time to go through the steps of the recovery plan, the planned migration mode works well and offers a backup without data loss.

Figure 17. Completion of recovery plan.

Eaton CorporationElectrical Sector1111 Superior AvenueCleveland, OH 44114 U.S.A.Eaton.com

8609 Six Forks RoadRaleigh, NC 27615 U.S.A.Toll Free: 1.800.356.5794 Eaton.com/powerquality

© 2012 Eaton CorporationAll Rights ReservedPrinted in USACOR196FXAJuly 2012

Eaton is a registered trademark of Eaton Corporation.

All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

For more information, visit Eaton.com/virtualization.

Application Note

using ipm with vmware's site recovery manager

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