Symmetrix VMAX and Splunk introduction

My colleague Jonas Rosland (@virtualswede) has been doing some great work with Splunk recently (check out a post from his blog here) and it got me to want to get my own hands a little dirty. So far I’ve only scratched the surface on what can be done with Splunk but I decided to put a post together on some basics. For this post I am going to talk about Symmetrix VMAX logs and how to get those into Splunk.

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Minor update to the SRDF and SRM techbook

Quick post here. As some of you may or may not know, the SRDF and VMware Site Recovery Manager techbook that I have “owned” for four years or so is now out of my hands since I moved onto a different role within EMC. Drew Tonnesen (drewtonnesen.wordpress.com) from Symmetrix Engineering is now the author of the book. Anyways the techbook has been updated to include the latest changes included in the SRDF SRA version 5.5.1 which we released a few weeks ago.

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Service release SRDF SRA 5.5.1.0 for VMware Site Recovery Manager

As I wrote about in a recent post the 5.1 version of the SRDF Storage Replication Adapter was updated in a service release. Similar fixes and a few other changes have been also added to the SRDF SRA version 5.5. If you are running VMware Site Recovery Manager version 5.1 or 5.5 this is the SRA you should be using. SRM 5.0 users can only use the 5.1 SRA (while the 5.1 SRA supports SRM 5.0 and 5.1 I recommend SRM 5.1 users use the 5.5 SRA).

So what’s new in the latest SR for SRDF SRA (5.5.1.0)?

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Service release for VMAX SRDF SRA 5.1 posted

The service release for the Symmetrix SRDF Storage Replication Adapter version 5.1 has been posted and is available for download. This isn’t a must-update release for most users but there are some important changes in them that will be very relevant for a few environments. This release will be numbered 5.1.0.2 but in some places may be referred to as 5.1.1.

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Updated SRDF Storage Replication Adapter for VMware SRM 5.5 TechBook

Quick overview, the SRDF Storage Replication Adapter for VMware SRM TechBook is an in-depth implementation guide focused on how to install, configure and manager SRDF with VMware’s vCenter Site Recovery Manager product. Overview of SRDF, the involved tools and how to perform test recovery, migrations and disaster recovery failovers.

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My last hurrah with this TechBook! Since I have moved on to a new (and exciting!) role within the Open Innovation Lab in the EMC Office of the CTO it is time for me to pass on the torch of the SRM TechBook.

Anyways you can find the updated TechBook here:

https://support.emc.com/docu38641_Using-the-SRDF-Adapter-for-VMware-Site-Recovery-Manager-5.5.pdf?language=en_US

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Virtual Storage Integrator: Symmetrix SRA Utilities 5.6

Late last week I posted a summary blog on the latest SRDF Storage Replication Adapter for VMware Site Recovery Manager here:

https://www.codyhosterman.com/2013/10/25/updated-srdf-storage-replication-adapter-released-for-srm-5-5/

I detailed out the new features etc for the 5.5 release and briefly mentioned the latest release of the Virtual Storage Integrator Symmetrix SRA Utilities that helps users configure the SRDF SRA. On 10/25, we posted the latest release of the SRA Utilities, version 5.6.

Version 5.6 of the SRA Utilities have been enhanced in tandem with the SRDF SRA to support the new features that the SRA has to offer. Most of these enhancements relate to the masking control functionality that is newly supported by the SRA.

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Updated SRDF Storage Replication Adapter released for SRM 5.5

Today EMC posted the updated SRDF Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) 5.5 for Symmetrix VMAX arrays to their website:

https://download.emc.com/downloads/DL49914_EMCSRDFSRA_5.5.0.0.exe.exe

It will be on VMware’s site shortly:

https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=SRM_SRA&productId=357&rPId=4220

This adapter includes support for VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.5 (as well as “legacy” support for SRM 5.1).

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Point-in-time test recovery with SRDF and VMware SRM

As many are probably aware, RecoverPoint 4.0 recently released support for Point-In-Time test recovery and recovery for VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager. In conjunction with the RP SRA and the Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) users can select a PiT in the past instead of automatically being forced to use the latest copy.

Since this came out (and many times prior) I have been asked can we do this with the SRDF SRA and TimeFinder along with VMware SRM? The answer is yes! The process though is somewhat different of course. By far this question is mostly targeted for test recovery only, as most conversely prefer up-to-date images when they actually failover. So this post will focus on test recovery. Continue reading “Point-in-time test recovery with SRDF and VMware SRM”

Symmetrix SRDF and VMware vCenter SRM Implementation Checklist

One of the products or maybe rather solutions that I work a lot with is integrating Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) with VMware’s vCenter Site Recovery Manager. For some shameless self-promotion (I suppose can probably drop that phrase when writing on this blog because by definition a blog is inherently self-promotion, but I digress) of the implementation guide I write it can be found here:

http://www.emc.com/collateral/software/technical-documentation/h10553-sra-vmware-5-0-tb.pdf

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