Azure Site Recovery orchestrates replication and failover in a number of scenarios:
**On-premises Hyper-V site to Azure protection with Hyper-V replication**
Orchestrate replication, failover, and recovery from an on-premises site with one or more Hyper-V servers but without System Center VMM. Virtual machine data is replicated from a source Hyper-V host server to Azure. Read Getting started with Azure Site Recovery: Protection Between an On-Premises Hyper-V Site and Azure with Hyper-V Replication.
**On-premises VMM site to on-premises VMM site protection with Hyper-V replication**
Orchestrate replication, failover, and recovery between on-premises VMM sites. Virtual machine data is replicated from a source Hyper-V host server to a target host server. Read Getting started with Azure Site Recovery: Protection Between Two On-Premises VMM Sites with Hyper-V Replication.
**On-premises VMM site to on-premises VMM site protection with SAN replication**
Orchestrates end-to-end replication, failover, and recovery using storage array-based replication between SAN devices that host virtual machine data in source and target on-premises sites. Read Getting started with Azure Site Recovery: : Protection Between Two On-Premises VMM Sites with SAN replication.
**On-premises VMM site to Azure protection**
Orchestrate replication, failover, and recovery between an on-premises VMM site and Azure. Replicated virtual machine data is stored in Azure storage. Read Getting Started with Azure Site Recovery: Protection between an On-Premises VMM Site and Azure.
**On-premises VMWare site to on-premises VMWare site with InMage**
InMage Scout is a recent Microsoft acquisition that provides real-time replication between on-premises VMWare sites. Right now InMage is available as a separate product that’s obtained via a subscription to the Azure Site Recovery service. Read Getting Started with Azure Site Recovery: Protection between an On-Premises VMWare Sites with InMage.
In this case I’ll create a Hyper-v Replica to Azure and I used a S2S VPN check here if you need how to setup a VPN network to Azure Read
https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/how-to-setup-azure-vpn-for-site-to-site-cross-premises-or-create-a-virtual-network-for-point-to-site-vpn-azure-winserv/
I did create a Windows backup To azure blog post Read https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/azure-recovery-services-for-microsoft-azure-backup-easy-backup-to-azure-recovery-backup-asr/
And a while ago a On-premises VMM site to on-premises VMM site protection with Hyper-V replication Read https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/azure-site-recovery-service-asrs-hyper-v-to-azure-recovery-mvpbuzz/
I already did the Hyper-v vs Hyper-v See my blog post. Read https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/windowsazure-hyper-v-recovery-manager-azure-hyperv-recovery-msteched-tee13-draas/
So we have a network already in place an now we creating the Site Recovery vault.
Now that the vault is ready we can Select the Right option for the Configuration
select Between an on-premises Hyper-V site and Azure
The next step is creating a Hyper-V site
Create a Hyper-V site to group together one or more Hyper-V servers located in a physical location such as a branch office.
Give the Hyper-v site a name
Next step is Prepare the Hyper-V Servers
Download the Provider installation and the registration key. The registration key should be downloaded at a secure location. Run Provider setup on the Hyper-V server and register the server with the key.
In a clustered Hyper-V setup run setup & registration on each node to install the Provider and register the cluster with Azure Site Recovery.
But first we are downloading the the registration key file and the latest version of the Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Provider for Hyper-V. Download the key to a secure location that can be accessed by Hyper-V servers in the site. Run Provider setup on each Hyper-V server to install it and register the server with the key. In a Hyper-V cluster run setup on each node.
Above a simple steps and easy to do when running the Azure Site Recovery Provider another Setup will be started.
The file installs two components :
Azure Site Recovery Provider : Handles communication and orchestration between the Hyper-V server and the Azure Site Recovery portal.
Azure Recovery Services Agent : Handles data transport between virtual machines running on the source Hyper-V server and Azure storage.
I’ll use the windows Update Option
Choosing the File path location and When the installation is done I check the Continue button.
I do not us a proxy
In this step we need the Vault credential Key that we just downloaded. and put it in place The server will register in the vault and is ready to use.
In the Azure portal you can see that the Hyper-v Server is registered and connected.
For storage we need a dedicated Storage Account, If you need more IOPS then you need the proper steps to do this.
Keep in mind that the Storage account and the Azure Site Recovery vault must be in the same region.
Next step is creating a Protection Group.
Protection groups group together virtual machines that have the same protection settings.
You can Change the Replication Settings or leave them default. I changed it to speed things up.
Specify the copy frequency, and optionally set system restore points. You can also set the frequency for creating system restore points that use the Volume Snapshot Service (VSS). Specify when the initial replication should occur. If you want to conserve bandwidth, select an off-peak time.
Now that this is in place we can connect the Networks to Azure.
The Final steps are selecting a VM that is replicated to Azure
Thru the agent we see our VM’s on premise and as you can see Azure Won’t support Gen 2 VM’s so if all you vm’s are GEN 2 then abandon this recovery scenario.
A strange option the OS selection is there Windows or Linux ?
Why ? there is an agent on my hyper-v server that can read my hyper-v settings
Now that we selected the VM and in our rule is direct replication it is starting re replication.
It took me 5 min to replicate the server as you can see in the replication statistic. We are ready to test this VM.
At the bottom we select Test Failover and Select the network to use. ( as I have Multiple networks )
Testing the Replication and starting up the VM I see my DC is replicated to Azure and ready to go, as my network has a s2s connection the Dc can talk to the domain on premise ( I use a test vm for this to avoid Active directory Corruption )
the view in the Azure Virtual machines
In the Job view we need to approve that the VM is correctly working
After that I approved that the VM is working the Job will continue and delete the VM and clean up the VM.
Again tested a Azure feature that could be a life saver when you need a DR solution.
Happy clustering
Robert Smit
@clusterMVP
https://robertsmit.wordpress.com
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Azure Backup Agent is an add-on for the 64-bit versions of the Windows 8.1, Windows 8, and Windows 7 operating systems, as well as the following servers: Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2 (SP2). With the Azure Backup Agent you can schedule file and folder backups from your computer or server to Microsoft Azure Backup. If you would prefer to use Windows PowerShell, you can also use the Azure Backup cmdlets to transfer data between your computer or servers and your Azure Backup vault in the cloud.
Getting Started with Azure Backup is a short video that walks you through the initial setup of Azure Backup.
First we create a Recovery Service Vault, in this case a Backup Vault and places in my region. or you use one outside your region.
Just make sure you have a fast line to the internet 
Now that the Vault is created we take the next Step to Register and install the Backup agent.
First we need the Credentials for this vault
OR if you go into the vault on the right pane there are the links to download the Agent and the Credentials.
After Downloading the files we run the Setup with the MARSAgentInstaller
There is not much to configure on this agent the only thing we need is the credential key we also downloaded.
If you are using a Proxy fill in the Proxy adress and user name is needed
After the Installation you need to register the server with the Azure vault.
This is the step where we need the Vault key that we created in Azure and also saved to the local server.
and there is a keyphrase needed you can create one by your self 32 characters are needed 
I choose generate and save the file on a different location.
Now we are ready to use the Backup tool. the tool is simple just like the Windows Server Backup tool just select the files and GO.
in the right pane there is an option to go to the Azure portal and or get a new passphrase but one thing that is not there is to see on what Azure subscription the backup is using.
I tested this with the new agent and the performance with the basic is between 80 and 200 Mbps you could pay for more bandwidth but using a full backup on 5 servers at 200Mbps to different vaults is fine for me.
But if you do need to limit the backup then there is a throttling option.
Also the restore is easy to use and the details are in the console , it is all basic but it works for me
When Restoring the files there is a search option and a browse option in your backup client.
and placing the files in a different location is also an option.
There is no file viewing in the Azure portal or browsing you can only see the backup disk and the date.
A usage overview and the servers that are back-upping to this vault
There are some limits in place :
There is no limit to the amount of data you can back up to an Azure Backup vault. The size of the data source (virtual machine (VM), volume or SQL database) that you want to back up to a vault cannot exceed 1.65 Terabytes (TB). If the data source exceeds 1.65 TB you can do either of the following:
- Divide the large data source into smaller sources prior to backup.
- Pick and choose files and folders from the volume to back up so that the total amount of data being backed up from the volume is less than 1.65 TB.
You can have 25 vaults per subscription, and up to 50 servers per vault. In total you can have 1250 servers per subscription.
this will do in most cases.
It would be cool if there was a central administration Tool to manage all the backups
Get more info about Azure Backup
http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/backup/
Happy Azure Clustering
Robert Smit
@ClusterMVP
https://robertsmit.wordpress.com
Technorati Tags: Windows Azure,Azure File service,Windows,Server,Clustermvp,Blob,cloud witness
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This Morning I thought why not build a rocking Fast SQL Cluster in Azure. But the Next next Cluster operation is way to easy I decided to build this with the G series and with the Windows technical preview with the latest options. A G5 Server has 32 Cores and 448GB memory and only 6TB disk space. In this demo setup I used 3 G5 Servers and a little disk space
So I created a fresh new network for this.
and later I can create a hybrid S2S VPN to my other Clusters. See My other Blog post about VPN
https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/how-to-setup-azure-vpn-for-site-to-site-cross-premises-or-create-a-virtual-network-for-point-to-site-vpn-azure-winserv/
I Create a DC that is holding my Service Accounts and I use Azure For the Cloud Witness
Check my blog on how to configure Cloud Witness
https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/configuring-advanced-quorum-configuration-as-a-cloud-witness-windows-azure-files-cloud-azure-winserv-witness/
Doing a quick performance test on the G5 Machine. D and C drive
The same on a A1 machine D and C drive
The G5 CPU
As we Create the Cluster and I added some disk to the Cluster we have the following Configuration
With SQL 2014 I can use a CSV for the Database files So I created a CSV from 300GB this is more than enough to hold this test install and hold my two G5 Series SQL Server 2014 Ent. instances
To save Time and Costs I use the SQL ini file that I used in the first SQL Instance for the Second instance, This will not bring the fully automatic install as I don’t use the Service accounts But a Quick Next Next Finish will do the trick.
Using the CSV as Storage
On the Second instance I do a Install From ini file based setup. If you need more info on how to do this read my previous blog posts
Installing the SQL server is just as described in my blog post below
AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instances SQL Server 2014
https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/alwayson-failover-cluster-instances-sql-server-2014-in-part2-azure-winserv-sql-msteched/
Windows 2012R2 Failover Cluster With SQL Server 2014 AlwaysOn Options
https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/2014/05/14/windows-2012r2-failover-cluster-with-sql-server-2014-alwayson-options-part1-cloud-azure-winserv-sql-msteched/
If you want to see the installation Steps I created a movie with about the same steps. the whole Process creating and install SQL in just 15 Minutes. not fully untended just for showing you what is possible.
https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/windows-server-2012-r2-with-sql-server-2014-cluster-installation-in-less-than-15-minutes-winserv-rocks-movie/
Now that We have 2 SQL servers Running One instance on both nodes
The First node is holding my CSV volume ( more about this on another blog )
for demo I can’t fully load the SQL and this is only for showing that you can build a SQL Server 2014 Cluster Based on a CSV in Windows Azure.
And you can resize the G5 VM’s to a smaller size if needed.
But keep in mind the D drive is a temporary drive and will not hold data if the server is turned off !!
With the vNext there a re a lot off new options possible. For now I burned my Azure Credits See you next time.
Happy clustering
Robert Smit
@ClusterMVP
https://robertsmit.wordpress.com
Technorati Tags: Windows Azure,Azure File service,Windows,Server,Clustermvp,Blob,cloud witness
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G-series sizes provide the most memory, the highest processing power and the largest amount of local SSD of any Virtual Machine size currently available in the public cloud. This extraordinary performance will allow customers to deploy very large scale-up enterprise applications. G-series offers up to 32 vCPUs using the latest Intel® Xeon® processor E5 v3 family, 448GB of memory, and 6.59 TB of local Solid State Drive (SSD) space. This powerful VM size easily handles deployments of mission critical applications such as large relational database servers
But keep in mind that the Disk space is just temp space and if the VM is turned off all the data is gone!!
6TB disk space sound nice but is only for Temp Stuff and not suitable for storing your data!!
Costs
As you can see picking the right Azure VM is important to save money Cores vs Memory vs DiskSpace
So just for a demo setup you could have nice machines for little costs.
At this time G-Series VMs cannot be in the same Cloud Service as A-Series, D-Series or DS-Series VMs. These different VMs can be place into the same Virtual Network as long as it is a Regional Virtual Network . Additionally, resizing an existing Virtual Machine of any other series to a G-Series size is not supported at this time. Please delete and recreate the Virtual Machine using existing disks to change the size of an existing Virtual Machine.
But before you can use this a good thing to know is that each Azure Account has 20 cores this can easy increased
In the Azure portal under settings and Usage you can see your current Core Limit
To extend this you need to create a Support Ticket ( no costs ) and even the Upgrade is Free !
Click on your email right top screen and there is an option Contact Microsoft Support.
And Pick Azure Billing
If you have Multiple Subscriptions then pick the right one for the upgrade.
After filling in all the details you will see a pick list of predefined items
Check the Quota or Core Increase Request
pick the Cores Virtual machines and Cloud Services. Or just VM cores
Just give a simple text on what you want. see also the sample.
In this case there is no need to speed things up so Class C is fine for me. Even I picked C the upgrade was done within 60 Minutes. Great Service !
and after I checked if the Call is executed like I asked I saw 100 Cores and 100 Storage Accounts.
Azure is great an very Flexible but remember Cloud Services Cost money*
In the Next Blog post I will create a Big Cluster With all the Hybrid stuff the Modern Cluster Can have.
Happy clustering
Robert Smit
@ClusterMVP
https://robertsmit.wordpress.com
Technorati Tags: Windows Azure,Azure File service,Windows,Server,Clustermvp,Blob,cloud witness
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2015 is a big year for Microsoft there are a lot of new product coming this year. This month there will be a lot of new releases of the new products ( see zdnet ) Microsoft has started to send out invites to its second Windows 10 event, which is being held in Redmond on January 21st 2015.
Microsoft has started to send out invites to its second Windows 10 event, which is being held in Redmond on January 21st
And as always new builds are ready for testing Windows 10 and Windows Server 2015. The Windows 10 version was OK but not rock shocking. But the Windows Server version will it be worth to upgrade from Windows Server 2012 R2 well as Microsoft Said “ it depends “ but for me it is a big YES there are so much cool things in Windows Server 2015 as Windows Volume Replication Storage Replica https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/first-look-at-windows-volume-replication-storage-replica-in-windows-server-windows10-winserv-storage-wvr/
And a lot of nice blog post are waiting about the new stuff. And it Will take time to play with this.
But what about the Old stuff ? I see a lot of Products that are EOL but Do you care ?
I guess not.
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
Lifecycle Start Date 5/28/2003
Mainstream Support End Date 7/13/2010
Extended Support End Date 7/14/2015
So in 10 Years you are still running XP and 2003 Servers so why not ? why upgrade ?
Currently my server and my desktop are running fine on those products and I don’t need any other product to do my job.
Oh ok but what about large company’s or security ( hahaha yeh right XP and 2003 ) but what if my old hardware is broken is that the moment that you will use new Software ? does the ITPRO manage his servers or is he waiting that someone is calling he my app is not working.
So there is no need for migration ? but did you know when using Microsoft SA you can use the latest versions and even if you are using 2003 you are paying for 2012R2. So why not upgrading the old stuff.
So if you are running say Windows Server 2003 and it runs an application that is say .NET this can be easily migrated to 2012R2 but did you know that even .NET 4.5 has an Extended Support End Date 1/12/2016
And also Microsoft Forefront Security for * are ending on 12/31/2015
and Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004 Enterprise Edition is also stopping on 4/14/2015
See the whole list http://support2.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?sort=PN&alpha=&Filter=FilterES&esdate=12
IT company’s will try to help you to transfer your old “ legacy “ to a new modern datacenter
but don’t get fooled upgrading to Windows Server 2008 is as just as bad the Mainstream Support End Date 1/13/2015
Is already Passed….
There is only one way so save costs step on the upgrade/renew highway Rolling Upgrades We’re rolling out our first new build to the Windows Insider
But maybe Azure is the best place to start think about all the cost to run this server on premise. ? But is upgrading even possible ?
Windows Server 2003 is often x32 so there is no upgrade to Windows Server 2012R2 X64 Rebuilding is the best option and your only option.
and Some Migrations are not even migrations say you are running a 2003 DC with just placing a 2012 Server and make this a DC you are migrating the 2003 AD setting the FSMO roles over and you are done. and yes those apps all created by IT guys who are already retired but still this app is the Core app off your Company. Just start over in 2012 R2.
Check your Applications and your servers with Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit
The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit is an agentless inventory, assessment, and reporting tool that can securely assess IT environments for various platform migrations—including Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Office 2013, Office 2010, Office 365, Windows Server 2012 and Windows 2012 R2, SQL Server 2014, Hyper-V, Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track, and Windows Azure.
If you need more guidance check out the MVA site
Migrating Legacy Windows Server to 2012 R2 and Microsoft Azure
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As in my previous blog post I named Storage Replication and Storage Spaces Shared nothing. This item is all about Storage Replication.
As there are many blog post all about this item I will show you not the easy part but a Hybrid Replication to Azure. As machines are getting faster in Azure I guess this will do for my Storage Replication.
Storage Replica (SR) is a new feature that enables storage-agnostic, block-level, synchronous replication between servers for disaster recovery, as well as stretching of a failover cluster for high availability. Synchronous replication enables mirroring of data in physical sites with crash-consistent volumes ensuring zero data loss at the file system level. Asynchronous replication allows site extension beyond metropolitan ranges with the possibility of data loss.
see the Windows Server Technical Preview Step-by-Step Guide for Storage Replica.
Disaster Recovery (DR) refers to a contingency plan for recovering from site catastrophes so that the business continues to operate. Data DR means multiple copies of production data in a separate physical location. For example, a stretch cluster, where half the nodes are in one site and half are in another. When using synchronous replication this is also known as a metro-cluster; when using asynchronous replication, it is often referred to as a geo-cluster.
Service level agreements (SLAs) define the availability of a business’ applications and their tolerance of down time and data loss during planned and unplanned outages. Recovery Time Objective (RTO) defines how long the business can tolerate total inaccessibility of data. Recovery Point Objective (RPO) defines how much data the business can afford to lose.
Storage Replication is:
The destination volume is not accessible while replicating
The Microsoft implementation of asynchronous replication is different than most.
SR is not DFSR
SR is not backup
SR is not Hyper-V Replica or SQL AlwaysOn
WVR is SR.
You will find many instances of the terms “WVR” or “Windows Volume Replication” in the Windows Server Technical Preview.
The Setup
The Setup between on-premise and Azure is based on a Azure VPN for Site-to-Site Described in this blog post : How to setup Azure VPN for Site-to-Site Cross-Premises or Create a Virtual Network for Point-to-Site
All my servers are running windows Server Technical Preview
The Nodes are named win2015-3,win2015-4 and in azure win2015-6 All the machines are domain joined and pingable
Appropriate firewall and router rules to allow ICMP, SMB (port 445) and WS-MAN (port 5985) bi-directional traffic between all cluster nodes.
A network between the two sets of servers with at least 8Gbps throughput and average of ≤5ms round trip latency when sending non-fragmented 1472-byte ICMP packets for at least 5 minutes. ( I do not have this in this configuration )
The problem is when you dan’t have a connection that is fast enough the replica will drop the connection and you will see this in the eventlog
So testing the the Line holds : But I know I’m in trouble with this.
ping win2015-6.mvp.local -4 -l 1472 -n 300
Ping statistics for 172.16.0.4:
Packets: Sent = 300, Received = 300, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 4ms, Maximum = 54ms, Average = 6ms
This should be something like this:
To test If the Disk Holds use DISKSPD or copy a large file to generate some write load on the source server volume.
The goal is to keep 95th percentile latency under 50ms
My sample line diskspd.exe -c10G -d120 -t4 -o8 -h -w100 -b32K -r32k -L H:\testfile.dat > c:\win2015-3base.txt
%-ile | Read (ms) | Write (ms) | Total (ms)
———————————————-
min | N/A | 0.275 | 0.275
95th | N/A | 32.694 | 32.694
IOPS are important but latency is a true indicator of application performance.
To install All the options that are needed in the cluster you can use PowerShell or do this by hand in the GUI.
my $servers holds all the nodes and then I install the Features. ( a reboot in needed )
$Servers = ‘win2015-3′,’win2015-4′,’win2015-5′,’win2015-6′
$Servers | ForEach { Install-WindowsFeature –ComputerName $_ –Name WVR,Failover-Clustering,Multipath-IO,Hyper-V –IncludeManagementTools -restart }
Now that all the bits are in place we can create a new cluster Or if you already have a cluster you can use that one. ( see my blog post 15 minute install )
New-Cluster -Name HybridClu -Node ‘win2015-3′,’win2015-4′,’win2015-5′,’win2015-6′ -StaticAddress 10.255.255.18
Configure a File Share Witness or Cloud (Azure) witness ( see my blog post Configuring cloud witness quorum Windows Server Cluster Azure Files )
Now that the Cluster is in place We can start with the Storage I have attached 3 extra disk to my Azure VM
And Several Disks to my on-premises Cluster nodes all small disk as I just want to test this and all is just as an Sample.
There are several options in the Configuration As shown in the Guides see the Windows Server Technical Preview Step-by-Step Guide for Storage Replica.
So this Config is not the basic and see If I can find the Borders of the Configuration. Remember IOPS and Latency is important to get this done ( Express route to the Home will be the best Christmas gift )
I build a Storage Pool off 3 disks and created here 2 disk on with the Exact same Size.
Keep in mind that the Disk needs to be GPT and you can set this in the Disk manger but also with diskpart
DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 3
Create
But This is not always enough when you see Event ID 10381 in the WVR then you need to set Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition
Status: Unknown NTSTATUS Error code: 0xc0530191
A serious problem has been identified with the contents of the disk partitioning layout resulting from a missing Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition. WVR requires that the disk have an MSR partition prior to the creation of the WVR partition database. Without the MSR partition, WVR cannot create the WVR partition database which prevents the disk, or any of the partitions or volumes contained by the disk, being involved in replication. To correct the problem, the MSR partition must be created on the disk. This is typically achieved by (re-)initializing the disk. Note that initializing the disk will involve the destruction of all the contained partitions and volumes on that disk. To use the disk for WVR, the disk must have been initialized with the GPT (GUID Partition Table) layout. Once this has been done, the required partitions and volumes can be created, and the partitions and/or volumes can be provisioned for replication as normal.
So clean the partition and start over. Create Partition with MSR and GPT. Only then the Disk will work for Storage Replication ( WVR )
DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 3
Create Partition MSR Size=32
So I created 4 disk with the exact same size and GPT and MSR this should do the Trick. In my case I use only 3GB disks as this is the minimal specs for most things.
Now Create and Place Holder for your Disk in the Cluster
Name it and place One disk in this Role
Now the easy part just run one-liner in PowerShell you can do this in the GUI but this is not the best method now in the Technical Preview.
In PowerShell you will see Quickly if it is working
What We will need :
Two node names Source :win2015-3 and Destination : win2015-6
Create Two Replication groups Azure_group08 & Azure_group09 ( tested this a lot and broke all Replica’s )
Pick the Drive Letters
Source Data : H
Source LOG : E
Destination Data : I
Destination LOG : W
And Pick a Logsize
To create the Windows Volume Replication all in one PowerShell
New-SRPartnership -SourceComputerName win2015-3 -SourceRGName Azure_group08 -SourceVolumeName h: -SourceLogVolumeName e: -DestinationComputerName win2015-6 -DestinationRGName Azure_group09 -DestinationVolumeName i: -DestinationLogVolumeName w: -LogSizeInBytes 2gb
This will trigger the Cluster and this will create the Groups and it will add the Log disk to the Data Disk group after a bit of ping pong with the disk they will failover and come on/offline failover the disks and the Cluster Layout will be something like this
My Resource Group Hybrid Repl and the Replication has created the WVR Azure_group09
now with all Running you can see what is my Group and Partnership
Get-SRGroup
Get-SRPartnership
You can also reverse the Replication if needed
but looking at the Events in WVR you can see if the Replication is ok Ensure that events 5002, 2200, 5015 , 5005, 5001, and 5009
Event logs Source and Destination
If you want to change the Logsize “ LogSizeInBytes 2gb “ then you have to rebuild the Replica there is currently no option for that.
Last Part is the Removal of the Replica , It make sense that in the Cluster Failover manager you can delete the replica but If you do this the replica is not totally removed this is a bug. so best to remove the replica is by PowerShell.
Get-SRPartnership | Remove-SRPartnership
Get-SRGroup | % { Remove-SRGroup -Name $_.name }
Removing the Replica will give the disk the status Available Storage.
As I meshed up my other Replication on deleting this in the Cluster Failover Manager GUI, This is hard To fix and you have to go deep to fix this.
Diskpart is you best friend on this.
Hopefully this walk true is helpful and see what you can do with the hybrid environment. If you need more help here is the Forum
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/f843291f-6dd8-4a78-be17-ef92262c158d/getting-started-with-windows-volume-replication?forum=WinServerPreview
Other Options for storage Replication : While Windows “Shared Disk Failover Cluster” is not yet supported for Microsoft Azure Virtual
Machines, 3rd-party software SIOS Datakeeper can be used as an alternative: http://us.sios.com/products/datakeeper-cluster
Source : http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/11/11/high-availability-for-a-file-share-using-wsfc-ilb-and-3rd-party-software-sios-datakeeper/
My next blog post will be : How does DAS-only storage work in a failover cluster? at [11:00]: ( Storage Spaces Shared Nothing )
If you want more info about Windows Server Technical Preview get here the Guides that you can use to start with the new Stuff
Guides :
Happy clustering
Robert Smit
@ClusterMVP
https://robertsmit.wordpress.com
Technorati Tags: Windows Azure,Azure File service,Windows,Server,Clustermvp,Blob,cloud witness
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Within the New Version Windows Server there are a lot of new options that you can use to get your IT to the Max. On Teched there where several good Sessions that gives us a sneak preview of what is coming. A lot of control is now days by PowerShell and the GUI is no longer leading.
IF we are looking to the Storage replica this is a great feature between Servers But in the Next blogs I’ll Show you how to Extend your Cluster to the MAX. This is real cool.
With the release of the Windows Server Technical Preview, Microsoft unveiled a new feature, Storage Replica. There is a Guide a step-by-step guide to help you started.
In the Edge Show Symon interviews Claus Joergensen (Principal Program Manager) and Ned Pyle (Senior Program Manager) about replication enhancements coming in the next version of Windows Server. Claus first talks about Shared-Nothing Storage Spaces, which provides storage for a failover cluster using direct-attached storage, rather than a SAN. Next Ned talks about the new Storage Replica feature which provide a native synchronous replication solution for multi-site clusters and disaster recovery.
The interview with Claus about Shared-Nothing Storage Spaces begins at [06:45]:
- What were the main storage design goals for this release?
- How does a scale-out file server work?
- How does DAS-only storage work in a failover cluster? at [11:00]:
- How does this solution provide higher-availability for virtual machines?
- Where can people go to learn more about this solution?
The Most interesting part is that Claus talks about local disk in your Server and Pool them together in a Storage Space this sounds really cool. But how does it work now ? Lets find out. See my Next Blog Post.
There are some Great Guides that you can use to start with the new Stuff
Guides
As an Demo I build a Cluster and it has one node in Azure and four nodes in my private Cloud and massive traffic To Azure However this may not be Best Practice yet As products evolving the sky is the limit.
One thing is really really important and that is naming as seen in my screen shot the LOG disk and the Data Disk are twisted :-(
There is also a lot off useful logging and we will need it. The Technical preview is full with undocumented options and full with options that are not there yet as shown in the Teched slides.
In the NEXT blogs I’ll show you on how to create a Hybrid Replication Cluster THIS is DEMO Only. You need Fast Internet and Fast Azure Servers but that is no problem.$$
Download Windows Server Technical Preview evaluations:
Happy clustering
Robert Smit
@clusterMVP
https://robertsmit.wordpress.com
Technorati Tags: Windows Azure,Azure File service,Windows,Server,Clustermvp,Blob,cloud witness
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I do not us a proxy 
A strange option the OS selection is there Windows or Linux ?
