replication questions

[wb2]

We're on ESX5.1 using the free replication appliance.

What is everyone's experience with the VSS option when setting up replication?  Is it really necessary or does it cause more problems with good.

I'm also running into issues with the 2TB limit.  I have some 4 TB drives so what I ended up doing is creating 3 x 1.5TB drives and then striped them within W2k8R2.  This way I'm hoping VMware replication won't complain about the drive size.  I know this isn't a Windows forum, but are there any options out there for doing the equivalent of DFS but without using MS's solution?  I simply want to spread my main company file share across multiple servers for better performance and so I don't have to deal with software striping within Windows to get my replication to work.

[vfk]

In-guest software stripping is possibly the worst solution you can implement, this leaves you exposed to potential data loss, if you lose any one of the vdisk you look everything.

What do you have against using DFS solution?  It is perfectly suited for the type problem you are trying to solve.

vfk

[wb2]

DFS is a fantastic solution, but will be a big project for the time that I have currently to roll out.  Is there really no other solution?  Or quicker 3rd party DFS alternative?

[vfk]

I wouldn't recommend taking short-cuts,  if it is a BIG project, then go back to the project sponsor or your manager and present your case, explain the limitation you're currently facing and propose a proper solution and leave it to them to decide.  Any temp fix you put in place now will become permanent fix and you will not have time to fix it later, but you will spend a lot of time fire fighting.  As they say, there is never enough time to do it right the first time, but there is always time to do it all over again.

[wb2]

You must live in a perfect world.  :smileyhappy:

Is Microsoft's DFS really the only option.  No other software company has thought of making a better mouse trap?

[vfk]

I don't live in a perfect world, but experience will teach not make the same mistake over and over again. I have working in project oriented environment and know the price of shortcuts. TBH I don't know of any other software that will do what you are looking...hopefully someone can shed some light on the topic.

[WessexFan]

Before my time at my current workplace, they used this god-awful product called Avail.. do some research on it. I moved us to DFS-R on 2008 R2 and it is what it is .. it's easy to deploy but hope to goodness it doesn't break because that makes for a bad day. .. 2012 R2 File Services seem to be a step in the right direction with server-side dedupe, etc..

[wb2]

I think my hangup is the migration.  I haven't seen anything that can replace DFS just yet.  I assume I could setup DFS and replicate current shares to several new servers, remap the existing drive letters pointing to the new name space, then "convince" everyone to reprogram all their spreadsheets, databases, shortcuts, etc using the new location?  Then get rid of the original servers and shares.  Is that how the typical migration goes?  Do companies that have fully embraced DFS drop all drive letter usage?  Or still use a single drive letter to point to the global name space?  And maybe one for personal folders?  Or I'm sure you can just have your personal folder drop into the same single name space right?

[WessexFan]

What are you using now? What you are looking for is DFS .. one target to many servers. vSphere Replication isn't built for that its just a little DR solution if you aren't replicating via SAN, Veeam, or whatever..Zerto even.  There are many ways to stand up DFS, you just have to find the right one for your environment.

Good luck! :smileyhappy:

[vfk]

wb2, this is probably the best time to do that as everyone is likely to accept this is part of the migration.  This is something outside your control and you've tried to keep distribution and changes to minimum.  As long as you keep relative path consistent, you shouldn't have too much to worry about.  I don't really worry about shortcuts, it is a shortcut, it can be recreated.  A bigger worry is  data loss.  You will need to have a good communication with your customers, explain up coming changes and how it will affect them.  If possible, create new file servers, setup DFS, test everything and slowly migrate shares.

I have just completed file server migration and restructured how shares are accessed; I have had complaints about shortcuts, and few other bits, I just took it on the chin and explained this is essential to improve resiliency and performance, and most people where like,oh ok.

vfk

[blabarbera]

My experience with VSS and VR has been mixed. I've experienced a lot of this:

VMware KB: Creating a quiesced snapshot of a Windows virtual machine generates Event IDs 50, 57, 137, 140, or 12289 …

...which is tied to this:

Auto-recovery fails on all but the first volume of an MBR disk

Still looking for a solution, however the Microsoft article doesn't leave me with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

[vhenryanchante]

Hola te recomiendo Que cuando crees maquinas virtuales, los disco del windows de gran tamaño lo hagas por separado y no sean amarrados a una sola LUN, asi podras hacer replication por disco de los mas importante dentro de un servidor de gran tamaño, respecto a los snapshop, no te los recomiendo si manejas grandes volumenes, como buena practica es mejor un disco pequeño para el sistema operativo y el resto como externo.

saludos