Optimizing Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

S o l u t i o n P r o f i l e
Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V:
Optimizing Business Continuity and Disaster
Recovery in Microsoft Hyper-V Environments
Hitachi Data Systems

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Improving Business Continuity and
Disaster Recovery with Virtualization:
It's All about Efficiency
There is no question today of the many benefits server virtualization
can bring to IT environments. Thousands of organizations
worldwide have already virtualized their server environments and
thousands more are actively planning to do so.
Even the smallest organizations — for
enabling many organizations to implement
example, those with two or three physi-
remote replication for protection purposes
cal servers — can expect to see signifi-
for the first time and others to deploy
cant capital and operational cost savings,
simpler, more cost effective, reliable and
improved utilization, reduced energy
expansive business continuity and disaster
consumption and, importantly, improved
recovery plans.
business continuity and disaster recovery as
While organizations can improve business
a result of the consolidation server virtualiza-
continuity and disaster recovery prepared-
tion enables (see Figure 1).
ness in nonvirtualized server environments,
In fact, research shows that business conti-
there are clear advantages to virtualizing IT
nuity and disaster recovery are key driv-
environments. This applies to both servers
ers of server virtualization adoption today,
and storage.
Which of the following would you consider to be your organization’s
top server virtualization initiatives for 2009?
(percent of respondents, N=327, multiple responses accepted)
Consolidate more physical servers onto
39%
virtualization platforms
Expand number of applications running on
38%
virtual machines
Make use of virtual machine replication for
31%
disaster recovery
Improve backup and recovery of virtual
24%
machines
Improve operational processes for managing
21%
virtual environments
Move more applications from test/
21%
development to production environment
Implement virtual machine mobility/high
18%
availability functionality
ESG Research, 2009 Data Spending Intentions Survey, March 2009
Figure 1. Top Server Virtualization Initiatives for 2009

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Server virtualization allows organizations to
Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V:
reduce the number of physical servers in
Business and Technical Benefits
their environments by a factor of three, on
average. This means they have fewer physi-
cal servers to deploy, manage, maintain and
protect, allowing them to extend business
Business Benefits
continuity and disaster recovery technolo-
■■ Boosts operational resilience and efficiency; allows for zero or near zero
gies and processes to additional applica-
recovery point objectives, depending on implementation
tions and data types. In a virtualized server
■■ Increases business agility to manage growth and support changing business
environment, applications and operating
needs — in particular, service level agreements around business continuity and
systems that previously ran on multiple
disaster recovery
physical servers now run on a single virtual
■■ Reduces cost, complexity and risk
machine, which ultimately should be easier
■■ Increases utilization of existing and new assets
and more cost effective to protect.
■■ Increases economies of scale
Business continuity and disaster recov-
■■ Reduces power footprint
ery are important under normal economic
conditions, but in today’s economic climate
— in which every dollar counts — they are
technical Benefits
critical. Organizations that have efficient,
■■ Allows users to replicate data synchronously (real time) or asynchronously
effective business continuity and disaster
(near real time) to local or geographically dispersed sites, respectively
recovery processes in place can save big
dollars by significantly reducing downtime.
■■ Provides site failover protection for Hyper-V virtual machines without interfering
An estimated 85 percent of organizations
with local Quick and Live Migration functionality
that suffer a major disaster and don’t have
■■ Automates the movement, or failover, of virtual machines between sites in the
viable business continuity and disaster
event of a disaster and the resync of disks
recovery solutions in place are either out of
■■ Provides simplified failback of servers after a disaster occurs
business one year after the disaster or suffer
■■ Allows businesses to leverage the same replication and high availability
huge financial losses; therefore, it is easy to
solution for both their Windows and supported non-Windows Hyper-V virtual-
see why business continuity and disaster
ized operating systems, helping to simplify their data protection environments
recovery are driving server virtualization
adoption — and, in turn, why server virtual-
ization is driving storage virtualization. It’s all
about efficiency.
Of course, not all business continuity and di-
saster replication technologies are alike. This
solution profile details how organizations
— equipped with the right tool set — can
not only improve business continuity and
disaster recovery in Microsoft® Hyper-V™
virtualized environments but in doing so also
save money by building leaner, more cost
effective and adaptable IT environments.
Central to this discussion is Hitachi Storage
Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V, a new busi-
ness continuity and disaster recovery solu-
tion from Hitachi Data Systems. The solution
is the result of close collaboration between
Hitachi Data Systems and Microsoft.

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Hitachi Storage Cluster for
TrueCopy Synchronous or Hitachi Universal
If disaster recovery is the objective, asyn-
Microsoft Hyper-V
Replicator software. The roles of each of
chronous replication is the best choice.
these components are detailed below.
Universal Replicator’s asynchronous capa-
Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft
bilities allow organizations to replicate virtual
Hyper-V is an innovative business continuity
■■ Microsoft Windows Server 2008
machines and their associated data in near
and disaster recovery solution for Microsoft
Enterprise or Datacenter Editions.
real time over longer distances, which make
Hyper-V virtualized environments. The solu-
This is the heart of the solution; it
it ideal for protecting against wide area
tion is intended for midrange to enterprise
consists of:
disasters. It is for organizations that have
customers who are seeking to optimize
■■ Hyper-V — Microsoft’s hypervisor-
recovery point objectives of near zero.
business continuity or disaster recovery in
based server virtualization technology
Microsoft Hyper-V environments.
■■ Failover Clustering — the cornerstone
How Hitachi Storage Cluster
of Microsoft’s virtual machine migration,
Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft
for Microsoft Hyper-V Works
which allows migrations of virtual
Hyper-V marries key platform capabilities
machines between physical servers
From a high level, Hitachi Storage Cluster
of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 envi-
extends Microsoft Quick and Live Migration
ronments — specifically, virtualization and
■■ Windows Server 2008 Server Core
to remote sites, allowing users to replicate
clustering technologies — with the rich
Installation — the recommended host
virtual machines locally or across geograph-
platform capabilities of Hitachi storage —
platform for deploying production
ically separate sites. In other words, Hitachi
specifically, Hitachi Storage Cluster and
Hyper-V environments
Storage Cluster enables VMware Site
storage system–based Hitachi TrueCopy®
■■ Hitachi Storage Cluster. Hitachi
Recovery Manager (SRM)–like functionality
Synchronous and Hitachi Universal Replica-
Storage Cluster integrates Microsoft’s
in a Hyper-V environment.
tor asynchronous replication software.
Quick and Live Migration capabilities and
Hitachi storage system–based replication
Again, replicating data to remote sites in this
Hitachi Storage Cluster, Hitachi TrueCopy
technologies to enable simple, reliable,
fashion provides organizations with simple
Synchronous and Hitachi Universal Replica-
remote replication with automated failover
and reliable data protection. It can also help
tor are existing, proven Hitachi technologies.
and resynchronization of disk resources
organizations reduce physical resource
Applying Hitachi Storage Cluster to a Micro-
for simplified failback in Hyper-V virtual
requirements at remote sites, which can
soft Hyper-V virtualized environment is done
environments. Hitachi Storage Cluster
translate into considerable capital and
through a simple script delivered through
manages the direction of replication and
operational savings over the short and long
Hitachi Data Systems Global Solution Ser-
storage resource ownership within the
term.
vices. TrueCopy Synchronous is available
Hyper-V clustered environment.
on the midrange Hitachi Adaptable Modular
From an architectural standpoint, Hitachi
Storage family systems and the enterprise
■■ Hitachi TrueCopy Synchronous and
Storage Cluster integrates Hitachi storage
Hitachi Universal Storage Platform
Hitachi Universal Replicator. These
™ V and
system–based replication software (syn-
Hitachi Universal Storage Platform VM. Uni-
Hitachi storage system–based replica-
chronous or asynchronous) with Microsoft
versal Replicator is supported only by the
tion technologies perform the physical
Cluster Service (MSCS). Hitachi Storage
Hitachi Universal Storage Platform family.
replication of virtual machines and their
Cluster maintains a real time disk replica (of
associated data between the primary
the primary data site) at the remote recovery
Hitachi Storage Cluster for
and secondary sites. Which replication
site, which moves recovery nodes out of the
Hyper-V: Components and
technology an organization leverages
production data center and to remote sites
Roles
depends on its objectives — business
for added security.
continuity or disaster recovery.
Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft
The solution enables automatic failover to
If business continuity is the objective,
Hyper-V consists of three fundamental
a remote location and automated resync of
synchronous replication is the answer.
components: Microsoft Windows Server
disks when the failed site comes back on-
TrueCopy Synchronous replication allows
2008 Enterprise or Datacenter editions with
line. Applications resume processing on an
organizations to replicate virtual machines
Hyper-V, Hitachi Storage Cluster and Hitachi
exact duplicate of the production disks and,
and their data in real time and with no data
importantly, virtual machines can be failed
loss across local or metropolitan areas. It
back when ready (see Figure 2).
meets recovery point objectives of zero.

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Site A
Site B
Physical Server 1
Hitachi Universal
Hitachi Universal
Storage Platform™ V
Storage Platform V
Migration
Synchronous or
at Local
Asynchronous Replication
Site
between Storage Systems
Physical Server 3
Physical Server 2
Virtual Machines
Failover and Failback
between Sites
Figure 2. Cluster Failover and Failback
Additionally, organizations looking to
Universal Storage Platform V or Universal
Replication is a well known enabler of disas-
optimize business continuity can leverage
Storage Platform VM is used, the back end
ter recovery. However, traditional offerings
Microsoft Quick and Live Migration for local
storage can be virtualized, allowing users
have been cost and resource prohibitive,
protection of virtual machines.
to take advantage of both Hitachi and non-
requiring organizations to duplicate the pri-
Hitachi disk.
mary server environment at the remote site.
Hitachi Storage Cluster ensures that the
By virtualizing the environment, organiza-
replication traffic is moving in the proper di-
Summary
tions can save physical server costs at both
rection in the Hyper-V environment and that
primary and remote sites while realizing
recovery nodes have appropriate access to
Disaster recovery has long ranked high
many important benefits (see sidebar).
the cluster’s disk resources. This ensures
atop organizations’ IT priority lists — but its
transactional consistency and data recovery
importance is rising. Keeping systems up
For More Information
in an outage situation. Hitachi TrueCopy
and operational with full transactional con-
Synchronous and Hitachi Universal Repli-
sistency in today’s economic and business
For more information about the solution,
cator are used to maintain the replicas of
climate is paramount. Application downtime
visit www.hds.com/go/HyperV or send an
production disks at the recovery location.
or loss of data can have costly or even
e-mail to HyperV@hds.com. Additionally,
business-ending consequences.
customers can contact their local Hitachi
Hitachi storage — Adaptable Modular
Data Systems Sales Office or Hitachi Data
Storage, Universal Storage Platform V and
Systems Authorized Reseller at www.hds.
Universal Storage Platform VM — can be
com/contact-sales.html.
used to support this environment. If the

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