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Hyper-V Multi-Site Cluster Demo At Tech-Ed 2010 New Orleans

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Hyper-V cluster demo

If you are at Tech-Ed in New Orleans this week make sure you stop by the Windows Server Failover Cluster booth in the Technology Learning Center and have a look at the multi-site Hyper-V cluster demo using SteelEye DataKeeper Cluster Edition as the replication engine. I’ll also be in the booth to answer any questions you may have. SteelEye also has a booth at the show if you would like to discuss becoming a partner or customer!

Reproduced with permission from https://clusteringformeremortals.com/2010/06/08/hyper-v-multi-site-demo-at-tech-ed-2010-new-orleans/

Minimize Downtime Using High Availability Clustering And Data Replication For Sap

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Why implement high-availability cluster configuration?

What does it cost your business when your SAP system is down due to a hardware failure, an administrator mistake or for maintenance activities?  The impact can range from thousands of dollars lost in sales per minute to significant drops in employee productivity and customer satisfaction.  Through the implementation of a high-availability cluster configuration, downtime from both planned and unplanned outages can be virtually eliminated.

SteelEye and SAP AG have worked closely together to ensure that the availability needs which corporate users have for critical business infrastructure running on Linux and Windows platforms are achieved through the deployment of monitoring and switchover solutions for SAP Application Server (AS) and both JAVA and ABAP Web Application Server (WAS) environments.

Please join Steel Eye EVP of Product Management, Bob Williamson as he explains how you can minimize your downtime using SAP High Availability with SteelEye.

Reproduced with permission from https://clusteringformeremortals.com/2010/06/30/minimize-downtime-using-high-availability-clustering-and-data-replication-for-sap/

 

Install Service Packs Into Cluster While Also Minimizing Planned Downtime

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How To Install Service Packs Into A Cluster While Also Minimizing Planned Downtime

I answer this question about installing service packs into a cluster rather enough. To the extent I thought I should probably but a link to it in my blog.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/174799?p=1

This article tells you everything you need to know. By following the instructions in the article, you are minimizing the amount of planned downtime. At the same time, also giving yourself the opportunity to “test” the update on one node before your upgrade both nodes. If the upgrade does not go well on the first node, at least the application is still running on the second node until you can figure out what went wrong.

Cluster at application layer vs hypervisor layer?

This is just one of the side benefits that you get when you cluster at the application layer vs. clustering at the hypervisor layer. If this were simply a VM in an availability group, you would have to schedule downtime to complete the application upgrade. Also, you have to hope that it all went well as the only failback is to restore the VM from backup. As I discussed in earlier articles, there is a benefit to clustering at the hypervisor level. But you have to understand what you are giving up as well.

Reproduced with permission from Clusteringformeremortals.com

Advanced Availability And Disaster Recovery For Hyper-V At Techdays Germany

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I recently returned from a 10 day trip to Germany where I attended CeBIT and also presented at TechDays in Hannover and Essen with Microsoft Technical Evangelists Michael Korp and Ralf Schnell . The trip was very productive and the sessions were very well attended.

Advanced Availability for Hyper-V

My portion of the session focused on Advanced Availability for Hyper-V, specifically multi-site clusters, data replication and automated disaster recovery. Have a look at the video here.

Reproduced with permission from https://clusteringformeremortals.com/2010/03/17/advanced-availability-and-disaster-recovery-for-hyper-v-at-techdays-germany/

 

Is Vmware’s Vsphere Disaster Recovery Options Really The Better One?

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Are Vmware’s Vsphere Disaster Recovery Options Really Better Than Microsoft’s Options For Hyper-V?

Every article I read about virtualization and disaster recovery says VMware has a more robust DR solution than Microsoft. Well, I’d like to challenge that assumption. From the view where I sit, this is actually one of the areas where Microsoft has a major competitive advantage at the moment. Here is how I see it.

VMware Site Recovery Manager

This is an optional additional add on that rides on the back of Array based replication solutions. The recovery point objective is good due to the array based replication. The RTO is measured in hours, not minutes. Add in the fact that moving back to the primary data center is a very manual procedure. It basically requires that you re-create your jobs in the opposite direction. The complete end to end recovery operation of failover and failback could take the better part of a day or longer.

Microsoft Multi-Site Cluster

Virtual machine HA clustering is included with the free version of Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, as well as with Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Datacenter editions. In order to do multi-site clusters, it requires array based replication or host based replication solutions that integrate with Windows Server Failover Clustering. With a multi-site cluster, failover is measured in minutes (just about the time it takes to start a VM) and can be used with array based replication solutions such as EMC SRDF CE or HP MSA CLX or the much less expensive host based replication solutions such as SteelEye DataKeeper Cluster Edition.

Not only is failover quick with Hyper-V multi-site clusters, measured in just a few minutes. Failback is also quick and seamless as well. Add in support for Live Migrations or Quick Migration across Data Centers. I think this is one area that Microsoft actually has a much more robust solution than VMware Vsphere Disaster Recovery Options. Maybe it does not included automated DR tests, but when you consider you can failover and failback all in under 10 minutes, maybe an actual DR test performed monthly would give you a much better indication of what to expect in an actual disaster?

If you want a Hyper-V solution more like SRM, then there is an option there as well. It is called Citrix Essential for Hyper-V. But much like SRM, it is an optional add-on feature. It really doesn’t even match the RPO and RTO features that you can achieve with basic multi-site clusters for Hyper-V.

What do you think? Am I wrong or is there something I just don’t get? From my view, Hyper-V is heads and shoulders above Vsphere Disaster Recovery Options. 

Reproduced with permission by https://clusteringformeremortals.com/2010/03/10/are-vmware%E2%80%99s-vsphere-disaster-recovery-options-really-better-than-microsoft%E2%80%99s-options-for-hyper-v/