Recovery

To verify a VM is eligible for vMotion, click on the SRM protection group and then the Virtual Machines tab. The VM will have Yes in the vMotion Eligible column.

For a given VM in the recovery plan, to disable or override a vMotion for a VM, click on the VM and choose Configure Recovery.

Deselect the Use vMotion for planned migration box if it is preferred for SRM to not attempt to vMotion that VM.

To start a recovery, click Run.

When the recovery wizard is initiated, you have one more option to disable vMotion for all VMs in the plan if you choose. The default is to attempt it for all eligible VMs.

If you choose to vMotion:

It is highly advisable to pre-connect the datastores on the target ESXi hosts prior to recovery or the recovery plan will hang until you connect and mount the datastores manually.

SRM will, if enabled, attempt to vMotion all applicable VMs. For all others, it will unregister them on the source vCenter, and then register and power them on within the target vCenter according to SRM resource mappings.

If the datastores are not presented prior to recovery and vMotion is enabled, the recovery plan will hang on the step Prepare stretched storage for VM migration at the protected site waiting for the storage as it will not be able to vMotion the VMs.

You can manually connect the datastores during the recovery and rescan the hosts to allow the process to progress. The ideal option though is to connect them prior to recovery.

If vMotion is not chosen:

If vMotion is deselected during the recovery, it is disabled for all VMs, or the environment does not support cross-vCenter vMotion, it is not required to have volumes preconnected to the target ESXi hosts. In this case, the SRA will connect them automatically during the Configure recovery site storage step.

If the datastores are not present and vMotion is enabled, the recovery plan will hang on the step Prepare stretched storage for VM migration at the protected site waiting for the storage as it will not be able to vMotion the VMs.

The datastores are not automatically attached until a later step in the recovery plan. If the datastores are not connected (and it is preferred to have the SRA connected them as needed), vMotion attempts must be disabled for the respective VMs, or the entire recovery plan. To ensure that vMotion is not attempted for an entire plan, deselect the option when starting the recovery.

Note that there is no operation on the FlashArray for the entire recovery. Verify the recovery.

Note that unlike an active/passive SRM recovery, the datastores remain mounted on the source vCenter.