This is not a step by step guide, but rather a collection of the problems I encountered when configuring a vSphere 6.0 environment to use Azure Site Recovery as a second DR site.
This is the main topics
- Cspsconfigtool accounts
- Storage Account
- Documentation
- Mobility Service
Cspsconfigtool accounts
On step 3 in “Step 6: Set up credentials for the vCenter server” adding the vCenter account is easy and it worked right away.
But when I added a second account for auto push installation (in “Step 9: Install the Mobility service”), I lost connection to my vSphere server.
To solve this, I had to go in to the the management portal and select my vCenter account again.
Storage Account
As you know ASR is still in the old portal and is using ASM, therefore we need to create a classic storage account for it to work. I had two issues:
- I was using a free 30-day trial of Azure and I only had Central US and Southeast Asia as available locations for storage accounts.
Solution: I opened a support request in the portal and 24h later the other regions was unlocked. - I was unable to select my storage account when adding new VM’s.
Solution: Use a GEO Redundant replication setting on the storage account.
Documentation
The storage account requirement was in the documentation, I just missed it. Speaking of documentation there is two ways to do this type of DR setup. The legacy way and the new way. Only problem, it’s a bit confusing where to get help and instructions. On the Quick Start page for the “New” we have a link to :
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/site-recovery-vmware-to-azure-classic/
*note the URL
On the Quick Start page for the Legacy setup we have another link
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/site-recovery-vmware-to-azure/
*note the URL
I don’t know why, but it makes my brain go sideways.
Well, independent of which you read you will find what I missed.
Mobility Service
The new documentation states that you can download the client from xxx.
In the legacy documentation it says “C:pushinstallsvcrepository”. This is also wrong. The right path is “[installation path]pushinstallsvcrepository”
In the legacy documentation we need to copy the passphrase to a file. What passphrase?
The command line installation looks good because it has the same name as the files in the previous step.
But in the new documentation we have a way to generate the passphrase, that’s good. But the command line example is just shitty.
- We have five parameters but only four explanations.
- What are the roles?
- Where do I find is UnifiedAgent.exe?
UnifiedAgent.exe is located inside the “Microsoft-ASR_UA_9.0.0.0_Windows_GA_31Dec2015_Release.exe” package. When running the executable, a temporary folder is created under c:. Inside the temporary folder you’ll find UnifiedAgent.exe.
When examining the installation process I found the correct input for a command line parameters.
UnifiedAgent.exe [/Role <Agent/MasterTarget>] [/InstallLocation <Installation Directory>] [/CSEndPoint <IP or FQDN of CS to be registered with>] [/PassphraseFilePath <Passphrase file path>]
Doing a ASR setup on Hyper-V is a lot easier. But if you really think about it, it’s almost no config at all in comparison of what you get. With all this in mind, you will make this setup in less than 4 hours.
Jon Jander @Meapax
