How To Improve The Availability Of A Micrsft Exchange Server With A Vsphere Platfrm On Vsphera 2010 N Vspheme 2010

Transcription

1 - Micrsft Exchange 2010 n VMware

2 This prduct is prtected by U.S. and internatinal cpyright and intellectual prperty laws. This prduct is cvered by ne r mre patents listed at VMware, VMware vsphere, VMware vcenter, the VMware bxes lg and design, Virtual SMP and VMtin are registered trademarks r trademarks f VMware, Inc. in the United States and/r ther jurisdictins. All ther marks and names mentined herein may be trademarks f their respective cmpanies. VMware, Inc 3401 Hillview Ave Pal Alt, CA Page 2 f 18

3 Cntents 1. Intrductin VMware vsphere Platfrm Advantages Increase Availability acrss the Exchange Lifecycle Simplify Upgrades and Reduce r Eliminate Dwntime Perfrmance and Recvery Advantages Lcal Site Availability Optins VMware HA, DRS and VMtin fr High-availability Micrsft Database Availability Grups Remte Site Availability Optins VMware vcenter Site Recvery Manager Exchange 2010 DAG with Delayed Lg Replay Third-party Sftware-based Replicatin Backup and Restre Optins In-Guest Sftware Slutins VMware Data Recvery Array-based backup slutins Additinal Infrmatin Page 3 f 18

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5 1. Intrductin Micrsft Exchange 2010 n VMware By leveraging the inherent benefits f a VMware-based platfrm, a Micrsft Exchange Server 2010 deplyment n VMware vsphere ffers a chice f several availability and recvery ptins, each prviding varying levels f prtectin and cst. This slutin brief prvides a descriptin f the varius ptins available. Tpics include: vsphere Platfrm Advantages Increased Availability acrss the Exchange Lifecycle Lcal Site Availability Optins Remte Site Availability Optins Backup and Restre Optins 2. VMware vsphere Platfrm Advantages Althugh applicatin-level clustering has been the prevalent slutin fr mst Exchange implementatins, features f the vsphere platfrm can enhance the verall availability f Exchange by prviding ptins that help t limit bth planned and unplanned dwntime. In fact, fr many rganizatins, the features prvided by vsphere may satisfy the availability requirements f their business withut needing t fllw traditinal clustering appraches. Fr ther rganizatins that require a greater degree f availability, applicatin-level clustering can be cmbined with the vsphere features t create an extremely flexible envirnment, with ptins fr failver and recvery at bth the hardware and applicatin levels. Sme f the advantages f the vsphere platfrm include: Virtual machines are prtable This means that yur Exchange server is n lnger bund t a particular piece f hardware, which can enhance availability in several ways. Design decisins are n lnger permanent Yu can adjust yur CPU and memry requirements with a simple recnfiguratin and rebt. Easily upgrade t newer hardware As yur Exchange envirnment grws r changes, simply mve the Exchange virtual machine t newer hardware t accmmdate increased wrklads. Virtual machines are hardware independent Hardware independence means increased flexibility when designing bth prductin and disaster recvery cmpnents. Cluster ndes and recvery servers can be virtualized, eliminating the need fr identical hardware. VMware High Availability (HA) prtects yur server frm hardware failure If yur physical server r any critical cmpnent within the server fails fr any reasn, VMware HA will autmatically rebt the Exchange virtual machine n anther physical server, acting as a first line f defence against service utage. By cmbining VMware HA with traditinal clustering appraches, yu can mitigate bth hardware and sftware failures fr maximum availability Nte The cmbinatin f hypervisr based high-availability and MSCS is nt currently supprted fr prductin implementatins by Micrsft; hwever, VMware IT and ur custmers have reprted psitive results frm the cmbinatin. VMware Distributed Resurce Scheduler (DRS) can balance wrklads and speed recvery VMware DRS is VMware VMtin with intelligence. As Exchange wrklads increase, VMware DRS can mve a bttlenecked virtual machine t anther hst with mre available resurces, autmatically and withut dwntime. VMware DRS can als help t recver mre quickly after server hardware failure. Fr example, if a physical server fails, VMware HA will rebt the virtual machine n anther physical server. When the failed server is replaced, VMware DRS migrates the virtual machine back t its riginal lcatin with n dwntime and n interruptin t the end-user. Page 5 f 18

6 VMware ffers cnslidatin pprtunities Underutilized Exchange cmpnents, such as Hub Transprt Servers, Client Access Servers, and Dmain Cntrllers and even nn-exchange cmpnents such as underutilized file servers r Blackberry Enterprise Servers (link) can be cnslidated nt fewer physical servers fr maximum hardware utilizatin and lwer csts. 3. Increase Availability acrss the Exchange Lifecycle 3.1 Simplify Upgrades and Reduce r Eliminate Dwntime Traditinal, physical envirnment upgrades and scale-up activities require a great deal f resurces, including: Planning and implementatin time frm engineering resurces, including applicatin administratin, server administratin, and SAN administratin Sizing and acquisitin f new hardware Dwntime required t perfrm an upgrade, which results in higher csts and risks In cmparisn, scaling yur envirnment using vsphere means simply adding mre Exchange virtual machines as the client cunt increases. Physical Exchange server envirnments are tightly bund t a strage technlgy and are extremely difficult t scale. Adding mre strage capacity t Exchange virtual machines (VMs), hwever, is less cmplex because vsphere emulates strage t a simple SCSI device. The end-result is that the Exchange envirnment can be upgraded regardless f the underlying strage technlgies (iscsi r Fibre Channel). With the VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMFS), the strage capacity serving Exchange envirnments can be reduced r increased n the fly with the ht add/remve strage functinality in vsphere. Virtualized Exchange envirnments can be serviced (e.g., adding mre physical memry r CPU) withut interruptins due t the shared strage functinality frm VMware VMFS and VMware VMtin technlgy. 3.2 Perfrmance and Recvery Advantages Virtualized Exchange envirnments can recver frm: Planned and/r unplanned hardware utages using VMware HA Hardware degradatin by using VMware DRS capability t autmatically balance wrklads Applicatin failure using Micrsft Cluster Service (MSCS) r Failver Clusters within a VM n shared strage With built-in multipathing capability and advanced queuing techniques available in VM architectures, virtualized Exchange envirnments can leverage advanced cnfiguratin ptins t: Increase the IOPS/transactins t service mre clients Balance the wrklads f multiple Exchange servers sharing the same physical server t utilize multiple SAN paths and strage prcessr prts High I/O, memry- and CPU-intensive applicatins such as Exchange can better recver frm SAN errrs because the applicatins reside n VMFS, which hides SAN errrs frm guest perating systems. Page 6 f 18

7 4. Lcal Site Availability Optins Micrsft Exchange 2010 n VMware When deplying Exchange 2010, the high-availability ptins available in physical envirnment cntinue t be available in a virtual envirnment. Additinally, vsp phere features that prvide high-availability and lad distributin are als available t allw the highest level f perfrmance and recvery in the case f a hst failure. 4.1 VMware HA, DRS and VMtin fr High-availability VMware HA VMware HA prvides easy-t-use, cst-effective, high availability fr applicatins running in virtual machines. In the event f physical server failure, affected virtual machines are autmatically restarted n ther prductin servers with spare capacity. Additinally, if there is an OS-related failure within a virtual machine, the failure is detected by VMware HA and the affected virtual machine is restarted n the same physical server VMware Distributed Resurce Scheduler (DRS) VMware DRS cllects resurce usage infrmatin fr all hsts and virtual machines and generates recmmendatins fr virtual machine placement. These recmmendatins can be applied manually r autmatically. VMware DRS can dynamically lad balance all virtual machines in the envirnment by shifting wrklads acrss the entire pl f VMware ESX hsts. This ensures that critical Exchange virtual machines in the envirnment will always have the CPU and RAM resurces needed t maintain ptimal perfrmance VMware VMtin VMware VMtin leverages the cmplete virtualizatin f servers, strage and netwrking t mve a running virtual machine frm ne physical server t anther. This migratin is dne with n impact t running wrklads r cnnected users. During a VMtin, the active memry and executin state f the virtual machine is rapidly transmitted ver the netwrk t the new physical server, all while maintaining its netwrk identity and cnnectins Example: Standalne Exchange Mailbx Server VM with VMware HA, DRS, and VMtin Out f the bx, vsphere features can help t prtect yur standalne Exchange virtual machine frm server hst failure. VMware HA autmatically rebts yur Exchange VM n anther server if the current ne fails, s yur VM can be restred t nrmal peratin in the time that it takes t rebt the perating system and start the Exchange services. After the riginal server hardware is fixed r replaced, VMware DRS and VMware VMtin can be used t quickly mve the VM back t its riginal ESX hst, with n additinal dwntime. Page 7 f 18

8 Figure 1. Mailbx Server VM prtected with HA 4.2 Micrsft Database Availability Grups Micrsft Database Availability Grups (DAGs) have changed the traditinal server-failver mdel t a database-failver mdel, where individual databases can fail ver t any Exchange server in the DAG. Database Availability Grups prvide a nn-shared strage failver cluster slutin. DAGs use built-in asynchrnus lg shipping technlgy t distribute and maintain passive cpies f each database n Exchange DAG member servers. Multiple cpies f each database can be maintained, t prtect frm the lss f ne r mre Exchange DAG member servers. This slutin requires the use f Windws Server Enterprise licenses, additinal strage capacity t accmmdate each additinal cpy f a database, and a thrugh understanding f the additinal lad passive mailbxes and databases place n mailbx rle VMs. Page 8 f 18

9 4.2.1 Example: Three Exchange Mailbx Server VMs in Database Availability Grup Deplying yur database availability grups n a virtualized Exchange 2010 platfrm allws fr cnslidatin f hardware as well as tiering f yur resurces, if desired. If a virtual machine experiences perating system r applicatin level crruptin the remaining passive databases are activated and cntinue serving mailbx data t clients. In the event f an ESX hst failure the remaining passive databases are activated and the administratr may pwer n the affected virtual machines n any remaining ESX hsts t reestablish redundancy in the DAG. Figure 2. Mailbx Server VM in Database Availability Grup Page 9 f 18

10 4.2.2 Example: VMware HA Used with DAG Clustering fr Faster Recvery Database level high availability can be achieved thrugh the use f database availability grups. In the event f a server hst failure, a passive cpy f the affected mailbx databases is activated. Client access servers establish MAPI cnnectivity t the newly active database cpy and client cnnectins are reestablished. In the backgrund, VMware HA pwers-n the failed virtual machine n anther server hst, restring the DAG membership and bringing the newly passive database up t date and ready t take ver in case f a failure, r t be manually reactivated as the primary active database. While the use f database availability grups n tp f hypervisr based clustering is nt frmerly supprted by Micrsft, internal VMware tests have shwn that the tw technlgies can c-exist and can be a viable slutin t ensure maximum recverability in the case f a hst failure. Figure 3. Database Availability Grup with VMware HA Page 10 f 18

11 5. Remte Site Availability Optins Micrsft Exchange 2010 n VMware Incrprating disaster recvery has becme a leading business bjective fr new deplyments and upgrades. Leveraging built-in slutins is ideal fr prtecting a single business critical applicatin frm disaster. Sme envirnments require applicatin and hardware agnstic methds fr prtecting their missin critical applicatins and data. Deplying n vsphere prvides the flexibility t meet all f these requirements. 5.1 VMware vcenter Site Recvery Manager VMware vcenter Site Recvery Manager (SRM) makes disaster recvery rapid, reliable, manageable, and affrdable. SRM leverages VMware vsphere and leading partners strage replicatin sftware t deliver centralized management f recvery plans, autmate the recvery prcess, and enable dramatically imprved testing f recvery plans. It transfrms the cmplex hardcpy run bks assciated with traditinal disaster recvery int an integrated element f virtual infrastructure management. VMware vcenter SRM enables rganizatins t take risk and wrry ut f disaster recvery yet anther reasn the VMware virtualizatin platfrm is the safest platfrm fr data center applicatins Example: SRM and Exchange 2010 DAGs Using Exchange 2010 DAGs within the data center t prvide high-availability will meet the requirements f mst rganizatins. With DAGs, a failver can ccur autmatically at the database r server level and can take place within secnds f a detected failure. When designing a disaster recvery slutin autmated failver is usually nt a desirable feature. In many cases a DR facility is designed with a lwer SLA and has a slightly delayed versin f data than the prductin facility. Making the chice t activate the DR facility shuld be a cnscius decisin that fllws an rganizatin s change prcess. With SRM and a VMware partner s strage replicatin slutin, disaster recvery can easily be implemented t prtect the entire virtual data center, including Exchange. Failver testing can be accmplished with n prductin impact t cnfirm that the recvery-time and recvery-pint bjectives are being met. Additinally, custmizable recvery plans allw fr adding custm scripts, virtual machine pwer-n pririty and breaks. Page 11 f 18

12 Figure 4. VMware vcenter Site Recvery Manager with Database Availability Grups 5.2 Exchange 2010 DAG with Delayed Lg Replay Database cpies supprt lagged transactin lg replay. This is an imprvement t the Exchange 2007 feature standby-cntinuus replicatin (SCR). SCR uses a hard-cded reply lag f 50 transactin lg files. With Exchange 2010 and DAGs a mailbx cpy can be cnfigured with an administratr-defined lag time, in minutes, t delay the replaying f lg files int the passive database cpy. Replay lag prvides prtectin against lgical database crruptin by prviding the ability t recver up t the last cpied and inspected lg file, r t a specific pint-in-time (PIT) within the lag windw by manipulating the lg files and running eseutil Example: DAG with Delayed Lg Replay T maintain high-availability within the data center, and als prvide disaster recvery prtectin, a third database cpy can be established at a DR data center. By implementing delayed lg replay yu can ensure that lgical crruptin can be avided by requiring manual activatin f the DR databases. Testing f the disaster recvery plan shuld be perfrmed t familiarize the peratins team with the eseutil tl, which is required fr lg replay. Cnsideratins must be made fr any impact disaster recvery testing may have n active client cnnectins. Page 12 f 18

13 Figure 5. Recvery Prcess using DAG and Delayed Lg Replay 5.3 Third-party Sftware-based Replicatin Sftware-based replicatin prducts frm third-party vendrs prvide high-availability frm within the guest OS. This is similar t deplying a DAG, but with sme additinal benefits. By nt deplying DAGs yu can eliminate the supprt requirement t disable VMware HA, DRS and VMtin, and further benefit frm the virtualized envirnment. Sftware-based replicatin typically depends n an agent running in the guest OS t replicate transactins t the remte lcatin. These in-guest agents allw fr applicatinaware replicas similar t thse ffered with DAGs. VMware has a cmprehensive list f ISV partners that prvide sftware-based replicatin f Exchange servers t a DR site Example: Exchange Mailbx VMs Using Third-party Sftware-based Replicatin A stand-alne Exchange mailbx VM can be cnfigured with third-party sftware based replicatin slutin t prvide disaster recvery prtectin. An agent installed in the guest OS replicates transactins using the third-party sftware vendr s prprietary sftware t ensure cnsistency and prvides mnitring fr autmated failver in the case f a guest OS r applicatin level failure. The target lcatin can be within the same VMware HA cluster r acrss a WAN link t yur disaster recvery site. Page 13 f 18

14 Figure 6. Exchange Mailbx VMs Using Third-party Sftware-based Replicatin Page 14 f 18

15 6. Backup and Restre Optins Micrsft Exchange 2010 n VMware The feature set available t an applicatin, when deplyed in a virtual envirnment, is n different than what is available with a physical deplyment. In fact, there are mre ptins available fr prtecting entire virtual machines. This is especially useful fr applicatins that require extensive cnfiguratin. Fr Exchange 2010 the standard methds fr backup are supprted. These tend t be deplyed using a thirdparty backup agent that uses a VSS requestr t crdinate with the VSS writer t prepare the database files fr backup. Regardless f the backup slutin required, VMware and VMware partners have prvided slutins fr mst situatins. 6.1 In-Guest Sftware Slutins Many rganizatins have dedicated backup supprt teams r requirements that may nt allw them t integrate the backup slutin t the level that is available with vsphere. In these situatins traditinal backup methds are desired, and a virtualized envirnment allws that. Many f the leading backup sftware prviders are VMware partners and prvide full supprt fr using their backup slutins within a virtualized guest perating system. Backup administratrs can cntinue t deply and manage the backup agents, jbs and restres as thugh they were running n physical systems Example: In-guest Exchange-aware backup slutin Centralized backup management sftware cntrls the backup schedule, save set, and target lcatin fr all systems virtual and physical. Backup agent sftware laded within the guest perating system allws the virtual machine guest OS t be managed just as all ther systems. Additinal plug-ins frm backup sftware vendrs prvides applicatin aware supprt. Figure 7. In-guest, Agent-based Backup Prcess Page 15 f 18

16 6.2 VMware Data Recvery Micrsft Exchange 2010 n VMware VMware Data Recvery (VDR) prtects yur data at the virtual machine level capturing applicatin and system data as a full virtual machine image. VMware Data Recvery runs at the ESX hst level as a virtual appliance t prvide streamlined deplyment and full integratin with vcenter Server. VDR stres multiple restre pints fr each VM using deduplicatin technlgy t nt nly prvide pint-in-time restre capabilities, but efficiently use available disk space. As mst Exchange administratrs knw, the use f an Exchange-aware backup agent prvides database health checking and lg truncatin. While VDR can use the VSS framewrk t back up Windws guest OS virtual machines it des nt cntain the required Exchange VSS requestr t prperly back up and restre an Exchange mailbx database. Exchange peripheral rles such as the client access, hub and edge transprt rles are relatively stateless and may benefit greatly frm being prtected using VMware Data Recvery Example: Using VDR with Exchange Client Access and Hub Transprts The Client Access and Hub Transprt rles d nt stre end-user data, but they d cntain data that is critical t the functinality f the rles. Yu can quickly recver a failed Client Access r Hub Transprt virtual machine by using VMware Data Recvery t back up the entire cntents f the VM. In the case f guest OS crruptin r unsuccessful changes t the Exchange cnfiguratin the entire VM can be restred in minutes using the latest VMware Data Recvery back up image. Figure 8. Using VDR with Exchange Client Access and Hub Transprts Page 16 f 18

17 Figure 9. VDR Backup and Recvery Prcesses 6.3 Array-based backup slutins As is the case with the in-guest slutins, array-based slutins prvided by many f the leading strage vendrs cntinue t wrk with vsphere deplyments f Exchange. Array-based backup slutins fr Exchange use the Vlume Shadw Cpy Service (VSS) available with Exchange 2010 t prduce nearinstant, applicatin-aware clnes r snapshts f Exchange databases. These lcal clnes r snapshts can then be backed up t disk, tape r clned ff-site fr disaster recvery purpses. Guidance n prper deplyment methds and any additinal cnsideratins when running in a virtualized envirnment must be prvided by the strage vendr. VMware has a cmprehensive list f ISV partners that prvide arraybased replicatin f Exchange servers fr backup and restre peratins Example: Exchange Mailbx Server VM with Array-based Backup Slutin An array-based backup slutin prvides integratin with the Exchange applicatin and the underlying strage slutin. A sftware agent prvided by yur backup vendr crdinates with the Exchange VSS writers t create a supprted backup image f yur Exchange databases. These databases can later be streamed t tape as flat files fr cmpliance r archive requirements with n IO impact t the prductin data. Page 17 f 18

18 vsphere Cluster 1 - High Availability & Distributed Resurce Scheduling Third-Party Backup Server Tape Device Exchange Databases VSS Snapsht Figure 10. Exchange Mailbx Server VM with Array-based Backup Slutin 7. Additinal Infrmatin vsphere ffers many tls and features t increase the availability f Exchange VMtin, HA, and DRS can help reduce dwntime and imprve flexibility in yur Exchange 2010 architecture while lwering csts. In sme cases VMware and Exchange features can be cmbined t imprve verall availability. Hwever, a few things t keep in mind when architecting a slutin: VMtin, HA, and DRS are nt currently supprted fr MSCS ndes. We ve seen lab results and realwrld custmers cmbine the functinality successfully, just understand that there are supprt implicatins. Yu can disable HA and DRS in the prperties f the affected virtual machines. If shared strage is used by MSCS ndes, it is nly supprted n Fibre Channel. Servers, where shared strage is nt required (e.g. stand-alne, CCR and DAG ndes), can use Fibre Channel r iscsi. This pertains t strage handled by ESX hsts i.e. RDMs r Virtual Disks n VMFS vlumes. NOTE: if a LUN mapped via PassthruRDMs (Physical Cmpatibility Mde) is reset, MSCS active nde failver may be triggered in respnse t that LUN reset. This is independent frm such a LUN being used as a shared strage r nn-shared strage. Netwrk Attached Strage is nt currently supprted fr Exchange, whether the Exchange server is physical r virtual. Use f sftware iscsi initiatrs within Guest Operating Systems cnfigured with MSCS, in any cnfiguratin supprted by Micrsft, is transparent t ESX hsts and there is n need fr explicit supprt statements frm VMware. Please visit fr mre infrmatin. Page 18 f 18