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BlueXP disaster recovery

What's new in BlueXP disaster recovery

Contributors amgrissino netapp-bcammett

Learn what’s new in BlueXP disaster recovery.

30 October 2024

Reporting

You can now generate and download reports to help you analyze your landscape. Predesigned reports summarize failovers and failbacks, show replication details on all sites, and show job details for the past seven days.

30-day free trial

You can now sign up for a 30-day free trial of BlueXP disaster recovery. Previously, free trials were for 90 days.

Refer to Set up licensing.

Disable and enable replication plans

A previous release included updates to the failover test schedule structure, which was needed to support daily and weekly schedules. This update required that you disable and re-enable all existing replication plans so that you will be able to use the new daily and weekly failover test schedules. This is a one-time requirement.

Here's how:

  1. From the top menu, select Replication plans.

  2. Select a plan and select the Actions icon to show the drop-down menu.

  3. Select Disable.

  4. After a few minutes, select Enable.

Folder mapping

When you create a replication plan and map compute resources, you can now map folders so that VMs are recovered in a folder you specify for datacenter, cluster, and host.

For details, refer to Create a replication plan.

VM details available for failover, failback, and test failover

When a failure occurs and you are starting a failover, performing a failback, or testing the failover, you can now see details of the VMs and identify which VMs did not restart.

VM boot delay with ordered boot sequence

When you create a replication plan, you can now set a boot delay for each VM in the plan. This enables you to set a sequence for the VMs to start to ensure that all your priority one VMs are running before subsequent priority VMs are started.

For details, refer to Create a replication plan.

VM operating system information

When you create a replication plan, you can now see the operating system for each VM in the plan. This is helpful in deciding how to group VMs together in a resource group.

For details, refer to Create a replication plan.

VM name aliasing

When you create a replication plan, you can now add a prefix and suffix to the VM names on the disaster recovery sit. This enables you to use a more descriptive name for the VMs in the plan.

For details, refer to Create a replication plan.

Clean up old snapshots

You can delete any snapshots that are no longer needed beyond your specified retention count. Snapshots might accumulate over time when you lower your snapshot retention count, and you can now remove them to free up space. You can do this anytime on demand or when you delete a replication plan.

Reconcile snapshots

You can now reconcile snapshots that are out of sync between the source and target. This might occur if snapshots are deleted on a target outside of BlueXP disaster recovery. The service deletes the snapshot on the source automatically every 24 hours. However, you can perform this on demand. This feature enables you to ensure that the snapshots are consistent across all sites.

For details, refer to Manage replication plans.

20 September 2024

Support for on-premises to on-premises VMware VMFS datastores

This release includes support for VMs mounted on VMware vSphere virtual machine file system (VMFS) datastores for iSCSI and FC protected to on-premises storage. Previously, the service provided a technology preview supporting VMFS datastores for iSCSI and FC.

Here are some additional considerations regarding both iSCSI and FC protocols:

  • FC support is for client front-end protocols, not for replication.

  • BlueXP disaster recovery supports only a single LUN per ONTAP volume. The volume should not have multiple LUNs.

  • For any replication plan, the destination ONTAP volume should use the same protocols as the source ONTAP volume hosting the protected VMs. For example, if the source uses an FC protocol, the destination should also use FC.

2 August 2024

Support for on-premises to on-premises VMware VMFS datastores for FC

This release includes a technology preview of support for VMs mounted on VMware vSphere virtual machine file system (VMFS) datastores for FC protected to on-premises storage. Previously, the service provided a technology preview supporting VMFS datastores for iSCSI.

Note NetApp doesn't charge you for any previewed workload capacity.

Job cancel

With this release, you can now cancel a job in the Job Monitor UI.

Refer to Monitor jobs.

17 July 2024

Failover test schedules

This release includes updates to the failover test schedule structure, which was needed to support daily and weekly schedules. This update requires that you disable and re-enable all existing replication plans so that you will be able to use the new daily and weekly failover test schedules. This is a one-time requirement.

Here's how:

  1. From the top menu, select Replication plans.

  2. Select a plan and select the Actions icon to show the drop-down menu.

  3. Select Disable.

  4. After a few minutes, select Enable.

Replication plan updates

This release includes updates to replication plan data, which resolves a "snapshot not found" issue. This requires that you change the retention count in all replication plans to 1 and initiate an on-demand snapshot. This process creates a new backup and removes all older backups.

Here's how:

  1. From the top menu, select Replication plans.

  2. Select the replication plan, click the Failover mapping tab, and click the Edit pencil icon.

  3. Click the Datastores arrow to expand it.

  4. Note the value of the retention count in the replication plan. You will need to reinstate this original value when you're finished with these steps.

  5. Reduce the count to 1.

  6. Initiate an on-demand snapshot. To do so, on the Replication plan page, select the plan, click the Actions icon, and select Take snapshot now.

  7. After the snapshot job completes successfully, increase the count in the replication plan back to its original value that you noted in the first step.

  8. Repeat these steps for all existing replication plans.

5 July 2024

This BlueXP disaster recovery release includes the following updates:

Support for AFF A-series

This release supports the NetApp AFF A-series hardware platforms.

Support for on-premises to on-premises VMware VMFS datastores

This release includes a technology preview of support for VMs mounted on VMware vSphere virtual machine file system (VMFS) datastores protected to on-premises storage. With this release, disaster recovery is supported in a technology preview for on-premises VMware workloads to on-premises VMware environment with VMFS datastores.

Note NetApp doesn't charge you for any previewed workload capacity.

Replication plan updates

You can add a replication plan more easily by filtering VMs by datastore on the Applications page and by selecting more target details on the Resource mapping page.
Refer to Create a replication plan.

Edit replication plans

With this release, the Failover mappings page has been enhanced for better clarity.

Refer to Manage plans.

Edit VMs

With this release, the process for editing VMs in the plan included some minor UI improvements.

Refer to Manage VMs.

Fail over updates

Before you initiate a failover, you can now determine the status of VMs and whether they are powered on or off. The failover process now enables you to take a snapshot now or choose the snapshots.

Failover test schedules

You can now edit the failover tests and set daily, weekly, and monthly schedules for the failover test.

Refer to Manage plans.

Updates to prerequisite information

BlueXP disaster recovery prerequisites information has been updated.

15 May 2024

This BlueXP disaster recovery release includes the following updates:

Replicating VMware workloads from on-premises to on-premises

This is now released as a general availability feature. Previously, it was a technology preview with limited functionality.

Licensing updates

With BlueXP disaster recovery, you can sign up for a 90-day free trial, purchase a pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) subscription with Amazon Marketplace, or Bring Your Own License (BYOL), which is a NetApp License File (NLF) that you obtain from your NetApp Sales Rep or from the NetApp Support Site (NSS).

For details about setting up licensing for BlueXP disaster recovery, refer to Set up licensing.

5 March 2024

This is the General Availability release of BlueXP disaster recovery, which includes the following updates.

Licensing updates

With BlueXP disaster recovery, you can sign up for a 90-day free trial or Bring Your Own License (BYOL), which is a NetApp License File (NLF) that you obtain from your NetApp Sales Rep. You can use the license serial number to get the BYOL activated in BlueXP digital wallet. BlueXP disaster recovery charges are based on provisioned capacity of datastores.

For details about setting up licensing for BlueXP disaster recovery, refer to Set up licensing.

For details about managing licenses for all BlueXP services, refer to Manage licenses for all BlueXP services.

Edit schedules

With this release, you can now set up schedules to test compliance and failover tests so that you ensure that they will work correctly should you need them.

For details, refer to Create the replication plan.

1 February 2024

This BlueXP disaster recovery preview release includes the following updates:

Network enhancement

With this release, you can now resize the VM CPU and RAM values. You can also now select a network DHCP or static IP address for the VM.

  • DHCP: If you choose this option, you provide credentials for the VM.

  • Static IP: You can select the same or different information from the source VM. If you choose the same as the source, you do not need to enter credentials. On the other hand, if you choose to use different information from the source, you can provide the credentials, IP address, subnet mask, DNS, and gateway information.

For details, refer to Create a replication plan.

Custom scripts

Can now be included as post failover processes. With custom scripts, you can have BlueXP disaster recovery run your script after a failover process. For example, you can use a custom script to resume all database transactions after the failover is complete.

For details, refer to Fail over to a remote site.

SnapMirror relationship

You can now create a SnapMirror relationship while developing the replication plan. Previously, you had to create the relationship outside of BlueXP disaster recovery.

For details, refer to Create a replication plan.

Consistency groups

When you create a replication plan, you can include VMs that are from different volumes and different SVMs. BlueXP disaster recovery creates a Consistency Group Snapshot by including all the volumes and updates all the secondary locations.

For details, refer to Create a replication plan.

VM power-on delay option

When you create a replication plan, you can add VMs to a Resource Group. With Resource Groups, you can set a delay on each VM so that they power up on a delayed sequence.

For details, refer to Create a replication plan.

Application-consistent Snapshot copies

You can specify to create application-consistent Snapshot copies. The service will quiesce the application and then take a Snapshot to obtain a consistent state of the application.

For details, refer to Create a replication plan.

11 January 2024

This preview release of BlueXP disaster recovery includes the following updates:

Dashboard more quickly

With this release, you can access information on other pages from the Dashboard more quickly.

20 October 2023

This preview release of BlueXP disaster recovery includes the following updates.

Protect on-premises, NFS-based VMware workloads

Now with BlueXP disaster recovery, you can protect your on-premises, NFS-based VMware workloads against disasters to another on-premises, NFS-based VMware environment in addition to the public cloud. BlueXP disaster recovery orchestrates the completion of the disaster recovery plans.

Note With this preview offering, NetApp reserves the right to modify offering details, contents and timeline before General Availability.

27 September 2023

This preview release of BlueXP disaster recovery includes the following updates:

Dashboard updates

You can now click into the options on the Dashboard, making it easier for you to review the information quickly. Also, the Dashboard now shows the status of failovers and migrations.

Replication plan updates

  • RPO: You can now enter the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Retention count in the Datastores section of the Replication plan. This indicates the amount of data that must exist that is not older than the set time. If, for example, you set it at 5 minutes, the system can lose up to 5 minutes of data if there’s a disaster without impacting business critical needs.

  • Networking enhancements: When you are mapping networking between source and target locations in the virtual machines section of the replication plan, BlueXP disaster recovery now offers two options: DHCP or static IP. Previously, just DHCP was supported. For static IPs, you configure the subnet, gateway, and DNS servers. Additionally, you can now enter credentials for virtual machines.

  • Edit schedules: You can now update replication plan schedules.

    Refer to Manage resources.

  • SnapMirror automation: While you are creating the replication plan in this release, you can define the SnapMirror relationship between source and target volumes in one of the following configurations:

    • 1 to 1

    • 1 to many in a fanout architecture

    • Many to 1 as a Consistency Group

    • Many to many

1 August 2023

BlueXP disaster recovery preview

BlueXP disaster recovery preview is a cloud-based disaster recovery service that automates disaster recovery workflows. Initially, with the BlueXP disaster recovery preview, you can protect your on-premises, NFS-based VMware workloads running NetApp storage to VMware Cloud (VMC) on AWS with Amazon FSx for ONTAP.

Note With this preview offering, NetApp reserves the right to modify offering details, contents and timeline before General Availability.

This release includes the following updates:

Resource groups update for boot order

When you create a disaster recovery or replication plan, you can add virtual machines into functional resource groups. Resource groups enable you to put a set of dependent virtual machines into logical groups that meet your requirements. For example, groups could contain boot order that can be executed upon recovery. With this release, each resource group can include one or more virtual machines. The virtual machines will power on based on the sequence in which you include them in the plan. Refer to Select applications to replicate and assign resource groups.

Replication verification

After you create the disaster recovery or replication plan, identify the recurrence in the wizard, and initiate a replication to a disaster recovery site, every 30 minutes BlueXP disaster recovery verifies that the replication is actually occurring according to the plan. You can monitor the progress in the Job Monitor page. Refer to Replicate applications to another site.

Replication plan shows recovery point objective (RPO) transfer schedules

When you create a disaster recovery or replication plan, you select the VMs. In this release, you can now view the SnapMirror associated with each of the volumes that are associated with the datastore or VM. You can also see the RPO transfer schedules that are associated with the SnapMirror schedule. RPO helps you determine whether your backup schedule is enough to recover after a disaster. Refer to Create a replication plan.

Job Monitor update

The Job Monitor page now includes a Refresh option so that you can get an up-to-date status of operations. Refer to Monitor disaster recovery jobs.

18 May 2023

This is the initial release of BlueXP disaster recovery.

Cloud-based disaster recovery service

BlueXP disaster recovery is a cloud-based disaster recovery service that automates disaster recovery workflows. Initially, with the BlueXP disaster recovery preview, you can protect your on-premises, NFS-based VMware workloads running NetApp storage to VMware Cloud (VMC) on AWS with Amazon FSx for ONTAP.