In this post we will see about the system requirements for installing and configuring the site recovery manager. Site Recovery Manager basically installed in the windows server but you should take care of some of the system requirements before installing so that you don’t face any issues later on.
In this series of SRM we will be working with SRM Implementation and Configuration so that you can easily configure site recovery manager for your vSphere Infrastructure. Site Recovery Manager basically provides the complete disaster recovery solution for your VMware Infrastructure. Where you can setup DR Site and you do recovery of your virtual machines at the DR Site when Disaster occurs at DC Site.
It is always recommended to have system requirements to smoothly install any of the product or solution. Let’s discuss system requirements before installing Site Recovery Manager.
System Requirements:
Operating System Requirements:
| Component | Description |
| Operating System | Windows Server 2008 R2 and Higher Edition |
| Processor | At least two 2.0GHz or higher Intel or AMD x86 processors. Site Recovery Manager deployments that manage large environments require four 2.0GHz CPUs. |
| Memory | 4GB minimum. You might require more memory if you use the embedded database, as the content of the database grows. The memory requirement increases if Site Recovery Manager manages large environments. |
| Disk Storage | 5GB minimum. If you install Site Recovery Manager on a different drive to the C: drive, the Site Recovery Manager installer still requires at least 1GB of free space on the C: drive. This space is required for extracting and caching the installation package. You might require more disk storage if you use the embedded database, as the content of the database grows. |
| Networking | 1 Gigabit recommended for communication between Site Recovery Manager sites. Use a trusted network for the deployment and use of Site Recovery Manager and for the management of ESXi hosts. |
Complete system requirements before starting with SRM Installation:
- Install the appropriate version of Platform Services Controller and vCenter Server on both sites. You cannot mix Site Recovery Manager, Platform Services Controller, or vCenter Server versions across sites. You can check for VMware Product Interoperability guide for compatibility. If you are using SRM 8.1 then you can use different version of vCenter Server but check for the compatibility before planning.
- It is recommended to install SRM on the different server but in case if you have very small environment you can install SRM and vCenter Server on the same system (If you are using VCSA then you will require windows server for installing SRM.)
- Always use the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) for vCenter, vSphere Replication and other VMware Components, It is not recommended to use IP Addresses. Make Forward and Reverse DNS records for all the components.
- Obtain the address of the Platform Services Controller instance for both sites. The Platform Services Controller must be running and accessible during Site Recovery Manager installation.
- Obtain the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user name and password for both of the local and remote sites.
- Make sure you have proper time synchronization available for all the components. If your all the components are on the VM then make sure to use for NTP Server and VMware Tools for Time synchronization.
- You will require one Windows system account with appropriate privileges to install and run Site Recovery Manager Services. You can configure the Site Recovery Manager service to run under a specified user account. The account can be a local user or a domain user that is a member of the Administrators group on the machine on which you are installing Site Recovery Manager. Alternatively, you can configure Site Recovery Manager to run under the Local System account during installation.
- If you are using the Embedded database then you don’t require any username and password.
- If you are using External database then make sure you create database source name (DSN) for 64-bit open database connectivity (ODBC) on the Windows Server where SRM will be installed. (Both the sites ) Obtain the Username and Password for the database connectivity.
- To use Site Recovery Manager with vSphere Replication, deploy the appropriate version of vSphere Replication on both of the protected and recovery sites before you install Site Recovery Manager Server. The Site Recovery Manager installer verifies the version of vSphere Replication during installation and stops if it detects an incompatible version. This verification is not performed if you install vSphere Replication after you install Site Recovery Manager Server, which might lead to incompatible versions. Incompatible versions of Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication cause the vSphere Web Client to stop working. You can check the product compatibility before installing SRM.
- To use Site Recovery Manager with Array Based Replication, Check for the Storage Array compatibility and download and install SRA (Storage Replication Adapter) at both the sites.
- SRM installer comes as an Windows Installer so download appropriate Installer from VMware Portal.
Networking Port Requirements for Site Recovery Manager :
Site Recovery Manager Server 8.1 network ports:
| Port No | Protocol | Source | Target | Description | ||
| 443 | HTTPS | SRM | vCenter Server | Default port for the SRM HTML 5 user interface. | ||
| 443 | HTTPS | SRM | vCenter Server | Default SSL Web Port for incoming TCP traffic. | ||
| 443 | HTTPS | SRM | Platform Service Controller | Traffic from SRM Server to local and remote Platform Services Controller. | ||
| 443 | HTTPS | SRM on the recovery site | Recovery site ESXi host. | Traffic from the SRM Server on the recovery site to ESXi hosts when recovering or testing virtual machines with configured IP customization, or callout commands on recovered virtual machines. | ||
| 902 | TCP and UDP | SRM on the recovery site | Recovery site ESXi host. | Traffic from the SRM Server on the recovery site to ESXi hosts when recovering or testing virtual machines with IP customization, with configured callout commands on recovered virtual machines, or that use raw disk mapping (RDM). All NFC traffic for updating or patching the VMX files of virtual machines that are replicated using vSphere Replication use this port. | ||
| 1433 | TCP | SRM | Microsoft SQL Server | SRM connectivity to Microsoft SQL Server (for SRM database) | ||
| 1521 | TCP | SRM | Oracle Database Server | SRM database connectivity to Oracle. | ||
| 1526 | TCP | SRM | Oracle Database Server | SRM database connectivity to Oracle. | ||
| 9086 | HTTPS | vSphere Web Client | SRM | All management traffic to SRM Server goes to this port. This includes traffic by external API clients for task automation and HTTPS interface for downloading the UI plug-in and icons. This port must be accessible from the vCenter Server proxy system. Used by vSphere Web Client to download the SRM client plug-in. |
Site Pairing Port Requirements:
| Port | Source | Target | Description |
| 9086 | vCenter Server | SRM Server on target site | From the ESXi host at the protected site to the vSphere Replication appliance at the recovery site. |
| 9086 | SRM Server | SRM Server on target site | From the ESXi host at the protected site to the vSphere Replication appliance at the recovery site. |
| 443 | SRM Server | Platform Services Controller and vCenter Server | SRM to vCenter Server communication – local and remote. |
Network ports that must be open on SRM and vSphere Replication Protected and Recovery sites:
| Port | Source | Target | Description |
| 31031 | ESXi host | vSphere Replication appliance on the recovery site | From the ESXi host at the protected site to the vSphere Replication appliance at the recovery site. (For Initial Replication Traffic) |
| 8043 | SRM | vSphere Replication appliance on the recovery and protected sites | Management traffic between SRM instances and vSphere Replication appliances. (HTTPS) |
Licensing Requirements for SRM:
Site Recovery Manager requires a license key on any site on which you protect virtual machines (For Protected and Recovery Sites.) :
Install a Site Recovery Manager license key at the protected site to enable protection in one direction from the protected site to the recovery site.
Install the same Site Recovery Manager license keys at both sites to enable bidirectional protection, including reprotect.
Site Recovery Manager checks for a valid license whenever you add a virtual machine to or remove a virtual machine from a protection group. If licenses are not in compliance, vSphere triggers a licensing alarm and Site Recovery Manager prevents you from protecting further virtual machines. Configure alerts for triggered licensing events so that licensing administrators receive a notification by email.
Site Recovery Manager Licenses Required for Recovery and Reprotect:
You have a site that contains 25 virtual machines for Site Recovery Manager to protect.
For recovery, you require a license for at least 25 virtual machines, that you install on the protected site to allow one-way protection from the protected site to the recovery site.
For reprotect, you require a license for at least 25 virtual machines, that you install on both the protected and the recovery site to allow bidirectional protection between the sites.
Site Recovery Manager in using shared Platform Service Controller:
You can share an external Platform Services Controller across several vCenter Server instances. In this case, you can use the same Site Recovery Manager license on different vCenter Server instances as long as the vCenter Server instances belong to the same Platform Services Controller.
Site Recovery Manager supports protection for up to 5,000 virtual machines and is able to simultaneously run up to 10 recovery plans containing up to 2,000 virtual machines. Up to 500 virtual machines can be included in a single protection group and Site Recovery Manager provides support for up to 500 protection groups.
Note: Above Specified requirements are for Site Recovery Manager 8.1, If you are using different version then requested to check for the requirements from VMware to avoid issues.
In the Next post we will see on Site Recovery Manager Installation.
Checkout Site Recovery Manager Deep Dive for Installation,Configuration and Recovery :
Site Recovery Manager Deep Dive
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Reference: VMware Docs.
