Azure DR setup

Hello Penumarthi Dora Krishna,

Setting up Azure Site Recovery (ASR) to protect your ISIM Virtual Appliance (v10.0.2.4) from on-prem to Azure involves three main phases: preparing your Azure and on-prem environments, enabling replication, and running/test failovers. Here’s a high-level, step-by-step guide you can adapt—followed by some questions to fine-tune the details.

1. Create and configure your Recovery Services vault • In the Azure Portal, search for “Recovery Services vault” and click Create. • Pick your subscription, resource group, vault name, and region. • Once created, open the vault and select “Site Recovery” → “Prepare Infrastructure.”
2. Prepare the Azure target environment • Ensure you have a resource group, storage account, and virtual network (vNet + subnet) in your target region. • In the vault’s “Target” settings, select your subscription, specify the Resource Manager model, choose your storage account, and map the Azure network/subnet where the ISIM VM will land.
3. Prepare the on-premises source environment • Stand up a Windows Server (2019 or later) on-prem to act as the ASR Configuration Server (also installs the Process Server). • From the vault’s “Source” blade, download the Unified Setup installer. • Open ports 443 and 9443 outbound, allow the required Azure URLs (backup, replication, Entra ID, storage). • Run the installer as Local Admin, accept prerequisites, point to your MySQL location (the installer includes MySQL), and register with the vault using the downloaded vault key. • Copy and securely store the auto-generated passphrase—you’ll need it to enable VM replication.
4. Install the Mobility Service on the ISIM VA • You can push-install the Mobility Service from the vault (Settings → Configuration Servers → YourServer → Migrate). • Or manually install the agent on the ISIM VM, providing the passphrase and pointing to your Configuration Server’s hostname/FQDN.
5. Configure a replication policy • In the vault, go to “Site Recovery → Replication policies” and either use the default or create a new policy. • Define snapshot frequency, retention window, app-consistent snapshot options, and network encryption settings.
6. Enable replication for your ISIM VM • In the vault under “Site Recovery → Replicated items,” click “+ Replicate.” • Select your Configuration Server, source VM (ISIM), target Azure subscription, target resource group, storage account, network mappings, and replication policy. • Review and confirm—initial replication will start.
7. Monitor initial replication • In “Replicated items,” watch for the replication health status to go to “Healthy.” • Ensure the RPO (Recovery Point Objective) meets your SLA.
8. Create and test a Recovery Plan • Under “Site Recovery → Recovery Plans,” click “+ Recovery Plan.” • Add your ISIM VM, specify start-up order (if you have multi-tier dependencies), and assign any automation/runbooks if needed. • Run a Test Failover to your Azure test network—this validates connectivity without disrupting production.
9. Perform planned or unplanned failovers • For a drill, use Planned Failover (shuts down the source VM, synchronizes changes, then brings Azure VM up). • For real outages, use Failover. After Azure VM is running and validated, Commit to finalize failover. • When primary is back online, run Failback to push changes back on-prem.

Follow-Up Questions

To tailor these steps precisely for your environment, can you confirm:

1. Which hypervisor hosts your ISIM VA (VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, physical)?
2. Have you already deployed an ASR Configuration Server on-prem?
3. How do you connect on-prem to Azure (site-to-site VPN or ExpressRoute)?
4. What Azure region, resource group, and vNet/subnet do you plan to use?
5. Do you have any existing Availability Sets or Recovery Plans for other workloads?

Reference List

1. Backup and data recovery for Azure Stack with the Infrastructure Backup Service https://docs.microsoft.com/azure-stack/operator/azure-stack-backup-infrastructure-backup
2. Replicate a virtual machine to Azure (Azure-to-Azure tutorial) https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/site-recovery/azure-to-azure-tutorial-enable-replication
3. Set up replication for applications like SQL, SAP, AD https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-workload
4. VMware-to-Azure disaster recovery with PowerShell https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/site-recovery/vmware-azure-disaster-recovery-powershell
5. Configure disaster recovery for on-premises physical servers https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/site-recovery/physical-azure-disaster-recovery
6. Replicate Azure Stack VMs to Azure using Azure Site Recovery https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/site-recovery/azure-stack-site-recovery

Hope this helps! Thanks

Azure Site Recovery (ASR) can be used to set up disaster recovery from on-premises to Azure for supported physical or virtual machines. The context provides only the generic, product-agnostic steps for configuring ASR; it does not contain ISIM-specific guidance. Below is a step-by-step outline based strictly on the available ASR documentation for on-premises workloads.

1. Validate scenario support

• Confirm that the ISIM Virtual Appliance OS and configuration are supported by Azure Site Recovery for the chosen source type (VMware VM, Hyper‑V VM, or physical server) and that Azure is the DR target.
• If using VMware or physical servers, follow the “VMware site‑to‑Azure” or “physical site‑to‑Azure” patterns; if using Hyper‑V, follow the Hyper‑V to Azure pattern.

2. Prepare Azure resources
3. Create a Recovery Services vault in the target Azure region:
   • In the Azure portal, select Create a resource > Management > Backup and Site Recovery (OMS) or Browse > Recovery Services vaults > Add.
   • Choose the region that will host the DR VMs. For same‑region migration scenarios, select the same region as the source; for DR, select the DR region.
4. Ensure a storage account or managed disk configuration is available in the DR region for replicated data, as per ASR requirements. Reference steps: see “Step 1: Create a Recovery Services vault” and related instructions in the migration article that reuses the ASR VMware/physical guidance.
5. Prepare on‑premises environment and connectivity
6. Ensure outbound HTTPS (443) connectivity from the on‑premises ISIM appliance network to required Azure endpoints:
   • Microsoft Entra ID: login.microsoftonline.com
   • Backup: *.backup.windowsazure.com
   • Replication: *.hypervrecoverymanager.windowsazure.com
   • Storage: *.blob.core.windows.net
   • Optional telemetry: dc.services.visualstudio.com
   • Time sync: time.windows.com
7. Configure firewalls to allow HTTPS (443) to the above URLs. For IP‑based rules, allow the Azure Datacenter IP ranges for the subscription’s region.
8. Install and configure ASR components (depending on platform)

A. For VMware source (typical for virtual appliances)

1. Deploy the Azure Site Recovery replication appliance (modernized):
   • Recommended: Use the OVF template in the on‑premises VMware environment.
     1. Download the OVF template for the replication appliance.
     2. Deploy the OVF to create the appliance VM.
     3. Power on the appliance VM, accept the Microsoft Evaluation license.
     4. Set the administrator password and finalize setup; the VM reboots.
   • Alternative: PowerShell setup if OVF is restricted.
     1. Download the PowerShell zip from the documented link and copy it to the appliance VM.
     2. Extract the zip.
     3. Run DRInstaller.ps1 as Administrator on the appliance VM.
2. In the Recovery Services vault, go to Site Recovery > Prepare infrastructure and set Protection goal to To Azure and the appropriate source type (for VMware: “VMware” / “Not virtualized / Other” as per the referenced flow).
3. Register the replication appliance with the vault using the vault registration key downloaded from the vault.
4. Ensure the mobility service (ASR agent) is installed on the ISIM VM if required by the VMware scenario.

B. For physical server source

1. Run Azure Site Recovery Unified Setup on a dedicated configuration server (on‑premises):
   1. Run the Unified Setup installer as Local Administrator.
   2. In Before You Begin, select Install the configuration server and process server.
   3. Accept the Third Party Software License to install MySQL.
   4. In Registration, provide the vault registration key downloaded from the Recovery Services vault.
   5. In Internet Settings, configure how the configuration server connects to Azure Site Recovery:
      • Use existing proxy, direct connection, or custom proxy with credentials.
   6. In Prerequisites Check, verify all checks pass, including global time sync.
   7. In MySQL Configuration, create credentials for the MySQL instance.
   8. In Environment Details, select No when replicating physical servers.
   9. In Install Location, choose a drive with at least 5 GB free (600 GB recommended for cache).
2. Ensure the ISIM physical appliance can reach the configuration server and that the mobility service is installed on the ISIM OS if required.

C. For Hyper‑V source

• Install the Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Provider on the VMM server or Hyper‑V host.
• Install the Microsoft Azure Recovery Services agent on Hyper‑V host servers.

5. Enable protection for the ISIM appliance
6. In the Recovery Services vault, under Site Recovery, use Enable replication / Step 1: Prepare infrastructure and subsequent steps to:
   • Select the source (VMware site, Hyper‑V site, or physical server configuration server).
   • Select the target (Azure subscription, region, resource group, VNet, and storage/managed disks).
   • Choose the ISIM Virtual Appliance VM (or physical server) as the machine to protect.
   • Configure replication policy (RPO, retention, app‑consistent snapshots if supported by the OS).
7. Start replication and monitor initial sync until it completes and recovery points are available.
8. Design the DR recovery plan
9. Map on‑premises networks to Azure VNets so that the failed‑over ISIM VM has appropriate network connectivity.
10. Create a recovery plan in the Recovery Services vault that includes:
    • The ISIM appliance VM.
    • Any dependent VMs (e.g., directory, database, or application servers ISIM depends on).
11. Order groups and scripts in the recovery plan so dependencies start in the correct sequence.
12. Test failover (DR drill)
13. Run a test failover from the Recovery Services vault using the recovery plan:
    • Choose an isolated test VNet in Azure.
    • Validate that the ISIM appliance boots correctly and can reach required services (e.g., identity stores, databases) in the test environment.
14. Verify that ISIM application services function as expected in DR mode.
15. After validation, clean up the test failover resources from the vault.
16. Run periodic DR drills and plan for actual failover
17. Periodically run DR drills (planned test failovers) to ensure:
    • Replication is healthy.
    • ISIM and its dependencies are recoverable.
18. For real disasters, use planned or unplanned failover from the Recovery Services vault, following the documented failover procedures.

Note: The context does not include ISIM‑specific configuration (such as application‑level replication, licensing, or post‑failover reconfiguration). Those steps must be taken from ISIM vendor documentation and combined with the generic ASR steps above.

References:

• Set up disaster recovery for RDS using Azure Site Recovery
• Set up disaster recovery for RDS using Azure Site Recovery#implementation-checklist
• Deploy Azure Site Recovery replication appliance - Modernized
• Migrate to Premium Storage by using Azure Site Recovery
• Set up disaster recovery to Azure for on-premises physical servers
• Disaster recovery overview and infrastructure guidelines for SAP workload
• Common questions about Azure-to-Azure disaster recovery