FailOver and FailBack are the significant recovery processes of virtual machine replication which are actually involved in the backup and disaster recovery process. When you want to have a copy of your virtual machine using which your business running, then you will really need a substitute for that VM to use during disaster.
From the business point of view, they want to have a backup of the virtual machine using which the businesses are running, that is not actually in a backup format which need some downtime to have the actual machine up and run, instead in a ready to use format which doesn’t need any down time and keep the business running. Replication is a kind of process clubbed with FailOver and FailBack, that fulfills the aforementioned scenario.
If you replicate the virtual machine in a regular time interval as a replica of original in an offsite location, then you could possibly use that replica as a primary machine to maintain the business needs when a disaster occurs. Even if you maintain a replica to overcome the primary VM during disaster it actually needs some manual effort to be done before using as a primary machine like Power ON the VM with a certain recovery point, configuring of Network and IP to the machine which further need an individual who can handle all these technical stuffs. This is where we really need automated recovery process which doesn’t really need any manual effort and let the business run nearly without no downtime.
FailOver and FailBack are an orchestrated and automated process, to have the replica VM as a primary VM during disaster. FailOver is the process which will automatically power on the VM with the recovery point needed and with the Network and IP configuration that the replica configured with while triggering. That is, Once the FailOver process triggered the VM will be Powered ON with the necessary recovery point chosen and with the same Network and IP configurations that were configured during the replication process nearly without any downtime.
The FailBack process could be done in several ways. Meanwhile in the FailOver phase, the primary VM gone for a troubleshoot process and its back to normal, now the FailBack process will ensure the data that has been added to the replica machine during FailOver state will be committed to the primary machine while triggering. That is when the FailBack process triggered the difference between virtual disks of the primary VM which were recovered and the replica VM which is in the FailOver state will be calculated and will be transferred and committed to the primary VM and the replica will goes off state and the primary VM will take over its actual role.
The another way to use the Fail Back is, if the primary VM was not recovered even after the troubleshoot process and its completely dead, then the replica will be replicated as a new VM to the primary VM location or to another location with the data added during the FailOver state.
Vembu’s VMReplication clubbed with FailOver and FailBack functionalities will fulfill all the above scenarios and helps the businesses to overcome the hurdles to have the actual machine which running business, during the disaster situation.
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Got questions? Email us at: vembu-support@vembu.com for answers.
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