This is the next blog in the series about VMware Success 360, where we explore how Accelerators and Success Pathways can help you achieve specific outcomes. For more information on Accelerators and Success Pathways, read the first blog in the VMware Success 360™ Success Pathways blog series.
Disaster Recovery with VMware Cloud™ on AWS Success Pathway
VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery™ is an on-demand disaster recovery and ransomware recovery service that provides an easy-to-use Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution and offers cloud economics to keep your recovery costs under control. It works in conjunction with VMware Cloud on AWS, where you can protect your VMware vSphere® VMs by replicating them to the cloud and recovering them to a target software-defined data center (SDDC) on VMware Cloud on AWS.
This Success Pathway helps with the implementation of this flexible and low-cost disaster-recovery solution. It is comprised of accelerators that will introduce you to VMware Cloud on AWS, help you onboard your first SDDC, assist with discovering application dependency in order to determine protection requirements, and finally activates VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery, sets up protection groups, and tests disaster recovery scenarios.
By completing this Success Pathway, you will be well-equipped to start protecting your vSphere workloads without the added expense of deploying a secondary data center.
Task 1 – Plan and Size Your Disaster Recovery
To start, you need to build a foundational understanding of the solution and identify basic parameters such as prerequisites and sizing. Upon completing this task, you should understand the basic requirements and deployment procedure for VMware Cloud on AWS and VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery.
You can choose from one or more of the following Accelerators:
- VMware Cloud DR Planner – This provides a web-based tool for easy-to-use sizing and costing for VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery and VMware Site Recovery™ (VSR).
- Getting Started with VMware Cloud on AWS – This VMware online document provides guidance on creating cloud SDDCs using VMware Cloud on AWS, configuring basic networking and other parameters for your SDDC, and connecting an SDDC to your on-premises data center.
- Plan and Size DR Resources – Provides useful tools, documents, and videos for onboarding into VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery.
Task 2 – Onboard and Create Your First SDDC
This task focuses on activating VMware Cloud on AWS infrastructure. It provides details on the prerequisites for deploying VMware Cloud on AWS infrastructure, as well as the process for deploying the first SDDC.
You can choose from one or more of the following Accelerators:
- VMware Cloud on AWS Build Workshop – This workshop provides a remotely delivered activity that activates your account in AWS (if required) and deploys the first SDDC in your VMware Cloud on AWS environment.
- VMware Cloud on AWS Guided Workshop – This guided workshop provides a walkthrough of the process of activating your VMware Cloud on AWS infrastructure, as well as deploying and connecting to an SDDC. (Available on request)
- VMware Cloud on AWS On-Demand Webinar – This on-demand webinar provides an overview of the process of activating your VMware Cloud on AWS infrastructure, as well as deploying and connecting to an SDDC. (Available on request)
- VMware Cloud on AWS Onboarding Resources – Provides useful materials such as videos, and documents for onboarding into VMware Cloud on AWS and creating the first SDDC.
Task 3 – Design Networking, Security and Operations
Once the SDDC is deployed in VMware Cloud on AWS, you will receive more guidance on how to best optimize and operate the cloud infrastructure by reviewing and implementing the general design concepts for operating VMware Cloud on AWS infrastructure.
You can choose from one or more of the following Accelerators:
- VMware Cloud Reference Architecture – This blog provides a catalog of solution architectures for enterprise-scale deployment, which are designed to provide ideas and recommended topologies based on real-world examples for deploying, configuring, and managing each of the proposed solutions.
- Optimize SDDC for Scale Build Workshop – A VMware subject matter expert will provide advice on enhancing the design of your VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC deployment to prepare for expanding your consumption.
- Optimize SDDC for Scale Guided Workshop – A VMware subject matter expert will provide a walkthrough of the architecture of VMware Cloud on AWS and how to best optimize your SDDC. (Available on request)
- Optimize SDDC for Scale On-Demand Webinar –This webinar provides an overview of the architecture of VMware Cloud on AWS and how to best optimize your SDDC. (Available on request)
Task 4 – Setup App Discovery and Analysis Toolchain
To fully protect an application, you will need to understand the application’s dependencies. This task outlines guidance that includes a procedure for deploying and activating VMware Aria Operations™ for Networks, which is used for application dependency mapping.
You can choose from one or more of the following Accelerators:
- Onboard VMware Aria Operations for Networks Getting Started Build Workshop – A VMware subject matter expert will deploy and configure Aria Operations for Networks into your on-premises environment, which can be used later to discover application dependency in the infrastructure.
- Onboard VMware Aria Operations for Networks Getting Started Guided Workshop – A VMware subject matter expert provides a walkthrough of the deployment of VMware Aria Operations for Networks. (Available on request)
- Onboard VMware Aria Operations for Networks Getting Started for On-Premises Deployment Guidance – This on-demand webinar provides guidance for deploying VMware Aria Operations for Networks on-premises. (Available on request)
Task 5 – Analyze Your App Priorities and Dependencies
Once VMware Aria Operations for Networks is deployed on-premises, you can use the solution to analyze your applications and build dependency mappings. This will help ensure the application is fully protected. You can choose from one or more of the following Accelerators:
- Consume VMware Aria Operations for Networks to Discover Application Dependencies Build Workshop – A VMware subject matter expert assists with configuring VMware Aria Operations for Networks to tag and discover on-premises environments to determine application infrastructure dependencies.
- Consume VMware Aria Operations for Networks Application Discovery Guided Workshop – A VMware subject matter expert will walk through the application dependencies mapping and discuss Application Discovery using Aria Operations for Networks. (Available on request)
- Consume VMware Aria Operations for Networks Application Discovery On-Demand Webinar – This webinar provides an overview of the process of application dependency discovery using VMware Aria Operations for Networks. (Available on request)
Task 6 – Setup Disaster Recovery Tools
The next step is deploying and activating the disaster recovery solution, which is VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery. This is a cloud-based DR solution that provides you with a low-cost, on-demand disaster recovery solution.
You can choose from one or more of the following Accelerators:
- Adopt VMware Cloud on AWS – Adopt VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery Build Workshop – A VMware subject matter expert will activate and configure VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery solution, which protects on-premises vSphere-based workloads to the public cloud.
- Adopt VMware Cloud on AWS – Adopt VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery Guided Workshop – A VMware subject matter expert provides a walkthrough of the process of deploying and configuring VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery for disaster recovery, enabling you to prepare for planning DR to the cloud. (Available on request)
- Adopt VMware Cloud on AWS – Adopt VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery On-Demand Webinar – This webinar provides an overview of how to set up VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery and recover your on-premises workloads to VMware Cloud on AWS. (Available on request)
Task 7 – Create Your Protection Groups and Disaster Recovery Plans
Once the VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery solution is activated, you will need to configure protection groups and DR plans to protect your workloads. These are the workloads discovered previously (in Task 5) as part of the application dependencies discovery process.
You can choose from one or more of the following Accelerators:
- Consume VMware Cloud on AWS Create Protection Groups and DR Plans Build Workshop – A VMware subject matter expert will design and configure disaster-recovery protection groups and plans for on-premises workloads for your VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery solution, which protects on-premises vSphere-based workloads to the public cloud.
- Consume VMware Cloud on AWS – Create Protection Groups and DR Plans Guided Workshop – A VMware subject matter expert will provide a walkthrough for the process of creating Protection Groups and DR Plans in VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery. (Available on request)
- Consume VMware Cloud on AWS – Create Protection Groups and DR Plans On-Demand Webinar – This webinar provides an overview of how to create protection groups and disaster-recovery plans in VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery. (Available on request)
- Consume VMware Cloud on AWS – DR Protection Groups and Recovery Resources – Provides useful materials for consuming protection groups in VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery, as well as running recovery plans.
Task 8 – Optimize Your Cloud Disaster Recovery
Finally, to ensure the efficiency of your disaster plans and to best optimize them, you will need to test these DR plans in VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery.
You can choose from one or more of the following Accelerators:
- Optimize VMware Cloud on AWS – Run DR Plans Build Workshop – A VMware subject matter expert verifies the integrity of your disaster-recovery DR Plans in VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery, by running a test of the configured DR plans to ensure successful recovery in case of a site failure.
- Optimize VMware Cloud on AWS – Run DR Plans Guided Workshop – A VMware subject matter expert provides a walkthrough of the process of failing over to the DR site and testing DR Plans in VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery. (Available on request)
- Optimize VMware Cloud on AWS – Run DR Plans On-Demand Webinar –This webinar provides an overview of how-to test DR Plans in VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery to ensure DR Plans integrity. (Available on request)
- Optimize VMware Cloud on AWS – Test Recovery Resources – Provides useful materials for testing recovery in VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery.
What’s next?
After completing this Success Pathway, you should have the knowledge necessary to plan, activate and configure DR tools. Next, you will need to determine the scope of your DR plans, and which applications need protection using VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery.
Still curious about Accelerators and Success Pathways? For more information, read the first blog in the VMware Success 360™ Success Pathways blog series.
Additional blogs in the series:
