Steps for implementing VMware instant recovery

For best results, it is recommended that you plan your strategy for disaster recovery before a client fails. This section provides a high-level overview of the steps you must complete to implement VMware instant recovery. It identifies steps to complete before and after a client fails.

To use VMware instant recovery, you must protect your virtual machines with VMware backups. For Windows clients protected with agent-based backups, you can use Windows instant recovery as a temporary solution (see Windows Instant Recovery) and bare metal recovery as a more permanent solution (see Bare Metal Protection Overview).

Perform the following before a client fails:

I          Review the Prerequisites for implementing VMware instant recovery.

II         Run VMware backups for the clients you wish to protect with instant recovery. See Executing VMware backups.

III       Allocate storage for instant recovery on your Unitrends appliance. See Allocating storage for VMware instant recovery

IV      Configure port security to no security. See Configuring port security for VMware instant recovery.

V       Verify that you have enough space for the recovery on your ESX host.

VI      Perform the audit process to verify that a recovery point can be used to create a new VM. Repeat this step as needed to test new recovery points. For instructions, see Performing the audit process for VMware instant recovery.

Perform the following after a client fails:

VII    Perform the instant recovery process. See Performing VMware instant recovery.