Storage Foundation and High Availability Solutions 7.4 HA and DR Solutions Guide for Microsoft Exchange 2010 - Windows

To clone the storage configuration from the primary site to the secondary site (Volume Replicator replication method)

1. If you have not yet done so, start the Disaster Recovery Configuration Wizard and specify the information for the primary site system, the service group, and the secondary site system. In the Replication Options panel, select the Volume Replicator replication method and click Next.
2. Review the information in the Storage Validation Results panel. This panel compares the configuration at the secondary site with that on the primary. If the storage is already configured identically on both sites, the panel shows that results are identical. Otherwise, the panel shows the differences and recommended actions. You can toggle between a summary and detailed view of information about the differences.

   The detailed view shows the following:

   Disk Group	Displays the disk group name that needs to be created on the secondary site.
   Volume	Displays the list of volumes, if necessary, that need to be created at the secondary site.
   Size	Displays the size of the volume that needs to be created on the secondary site.
   Mount	Displays the mount to be assigned the volume on the secondary site.
   Recommended Action	Indicates the action that needs to be taken at the secondary to make the configuration similar to that on the primary. If the volume does not exist, a new volume will be created. If the volume exists but is of a smaller size than that on the primary, the volume will be expanded to the required size. If the volume is of a greater size than that on the primary, the volume will be recreated using the appropriate size. If the volume is the same as that on the primary, the message indicates that the volumes are identical and no action is required.

   The summary view shows the following:

   Disk groups that do not exist	Displays the names of any disk groups that exist on the primary but do not exist on the secondary.
   Existing disk groups that need modification	Displays the names of any disk groups on the secondary that need to be modified to match the primary.
   Free disks present on secondary	Displays the list of free disks that exist on the secondary along with details about the free space and total disk space information.

   If the panel displays a message indicating that the available disks are inadequate to clone the primary site configuration on the secondary, you can free some disks on the secondary or add more storage. Then, click Refresh/Validate to have the wizard update its information about the secondary storage configuration.

   You continue with the wizard to provide information for the recommended actions. Before proceeding to the service group configuration, the wizard ensures that the configuration of the disk groups and volumes for the service group is the same at the primary and secondary site.

   Click Next.

3. In the Disk Selection for Storage Cloning panel, for each of the disk groups that does not exist or is not same as the corresponding disk group at the primary site, select disks that the wizard can use to create the respective disk groups at the secondary site.

   Selecting Disks

   For each of the disk groups that needs to be created, select the required disks from the Available Disks pane. Either double-click on the host name or the >> button to move the hosts into the Selected disks pane. Under the Available Disks label, a drop-down list allows you to filter available disks by disk enclosure name. The default is All, which displays all free disks available on all enclosures.

   Click Next.

4. In the Volume Layout for Secondary Site Storage panel, complete the requested information:

   Disk Group	Displays the disk group name to which the volume belongs.
   Volume (Volume Size)	Displays the name and the size of the volume, corresponding to that on the primary, that needs to be created on the secondary.
   Available Disks	Select the disks on which you want the wizard to create the volumes. From the Available Disks pane, either double-click on the disk name or the >> button to move the disks into the Selected Disks pane. For each disk group the Available disks pane displays the list of disks that are part of the disk group. Select disks for each unavailable volume that you want to clone on to the secondary.
   Layout	By default, the same layout as the one specified for the primary volume is selected. Click Edit to change the layout to suit your specific requirements.
   Selected Disks	Displays the list of disks that have been moved in from the Available Disks pane.
   View Primary Layout	Displays the volume layout at the primary site. Use this information as a reference to specify the details for the Secondary layout.

   Click Next.

5. In the Storage Configuration Cloning Summary panel, review the displayed information. If you want to change any selection, click Back. Otherwise, click Next to allow the wizard to implement the storage configuration at the secondary site.

   Note:

   On the VEA GUI of the secondary site, a Windows dialog box might appear prompting you to format a disk. Click Cancel to close the dialog.

   The appearance of this dialog box has no impact on the operations being performed by the DR wizard. You can safely ignore it.

6. In the Implementation panel, wait until the status for all the completed tasks is marked with a check symbol, indicating successful completion. Wait until the wizard completes cloning the storage. The progress bar indicates the status of the tasks. If some task could not be completed successfully, then the task is marked with an (x) symbol. The Information column displays details about the reasons for task failure. Click Next.
7. In the Storage Cloning Configuration Result screen, view the results and click Next.
8. In the Exchange Installation panel, review the information. If Exchange is already installed on the required secondary site nodes, click Next to continue with service group cloning.

   Otherwise, if you keep the wizard running during installation, once application installation is complete, click Next to proceed with service group cloning. Otherwise, restart the DR wizard and continue through the wizard from the Welcome panel.