Skip to content
iland Cloud Official Site
iland Cloud Official Siteiland Cloud Official Site
  • Why iland
    • Submenu
      • Column 1
        • iland secure cloud console
          Secure Cloud Console
          iland compliance
          Compliance
          iland proven technology
          Cloud Platform
          iland pricing
          Pricing

      • Column 2
        • iland Security
          Security
          iland global regions
          Cloud Regions
          iland networking
          Cloud Connectivity
          iland interactive tour
          Interactive Tour

      • WHY CHOOSE iland
      • OverviewYour business is unique, your cloud should be too.
      • About ilandThe making of a market leader.
      • LeadershipMeet our experienced & knowledgeable executive team.
      • News & MediaFind out what’s new and happening at iland.
      •  
      • CareersYour future starts here. Join the #ilandlife today.
      • Technology PartnersGreat partnerships are built on great technologies.
      • Customer StoriesDiscover why customers are choosing iland Cloud.
      • BlogTips, tricks, opinions, and news from iland experts.
  • Products & Services
    • Products & Services
      • PRODUCTION HOSTING
      • Secure Cloud Overview
      • Secure Public CloudRun VMware natively. No refactoring required.
      • Secure Private CloudDedicated cloud for performance and security.
      • Object StorageS3-compatible storage for long-term retention.
      • BACKUP
      • Secure Backup Overview
      • Secure BackupSecure cloud backup for no-compromise data protection
      • Microsoft 365Complete data protection for Microsoft 365
      • DISASTER RECOVERY
      • DRaaS Overview
      • DRaaS with VeeamSimplified Disaster Recovery for your unique business
      • DRaaS with ZertoContinuous availability for 24×7 IT resilience
      • AutopilotFully-managed disaster recovery as a service.
      • DRaaS for Physical ServersReplicate physical servers to iland.
      • MANAGED SECURITY
      • Managed Security Overview
      • Continuous Risk ScanningDiscover and monitor vulnerabilities
      • Managed SIEMManaged security information and event management
      • Managed EDRManaged endpoint detection and response
      • Managed FirewallSimplify and improve network edge security
      • SUPPORTING SERVICES
      • Cloud Labs
      • Cloud Connectivity
      • Colocation/Bare-Metal
      • Managed Services
      • Migration Services
      • 24x7x365 Support
      • Strategy, Assessment & Planning
  • Solutions
    • Solutions Submenu
      • INDUSTRY
      • Education
      • Financial
      • Government
      • Healthcare
      • Column 2
        • iland Health Solutions

          Keep IT healthy.

          See our healthcare expertise.

          What's next in finance?

          Transform & modernize your IT.
          Learn More
          Learn More
  • Partners
    • Partners Submenu
      • Overview
      • Become a Partner
      • Login to Portal
  • Resources
    • Resources Submenu
      • Events
      • Webinars
      • News & Media
      • Whitepapers
      • Podcast
      • Datasheets
      • Customer Stories
      • Innovation Blog
  • Support
    • Support Submenu
      • Contact Support
      • Success Center
      • API Documentation
Search:
  • Console Login
  • Contact Us
Header Right Menu
Free Trial
  • Why iland
    • Secure Cloud Console
    • Compliance
    • Cloud Platform
    • Pricing Model
    • Security
    • Cloud Regions
    • Cloud Connectivity
    • Interactive Tour
    • WHY CHOOSE iland
    • OverviewYour business is unique, your cloud should be too.
    • About ilandThe making of a market leader.
    • LeadershipMeet our experienced & knowledgeable executive team.
    • News & MediaFind out what’s new and happening at iland.
    •  
    • CareersYour future starts here. Join the #ilandlife today.
    • Technology PartnersGreat partnerships are built on great technologies.
    • Customer StoriesDiscover why customers are choosing iland Cloud.
    • BlogTips, tricks, opinions, and news from iland experts.
  • Products & Services
    • PRODUCTION HOSTING
    • Secure Cloud Overview
    • Secure Public CloudRun VMware natively. No refactoring required.
    • Secure Private CloudDedicated cloud for performance and security.
    • Object StorageS3-compatible storage for long-term retention.
    • BACKUP
    • Secure Backup Overview
    • Secure BackupSecure cloud backup for no-compromise data protection
    • Microsoft 365Complete data protection for Microsoft 365
    • DISASTER RECOVERY
    • DRaaS Overview
    • DRaaS with VeeamSimplified Disaster Recovery for your unique business
    • DRaaS with ZertoContinuous availability for 24×7 IT resilience
    • AutopilotFully-managed disaster recovery as a service.
    • DRaaS for Physical ServersReplicate physical servers to iland.
    • MANAGED SECURITY
    • Managed Security Overview
    • Continuous Risk ScanningDiscover and monitor vulnerabilities
    • Managed SIEMManaged security information and event management
    • Managed EDRManaged endpoint detection and response
    • Managed FirewallSimplify and improve network edge security
    • SUPPORTING SERVICES
    • Cloud Labs
    • Cloud Connectivity
    • Colocation/Bare-Metal
    • Managed Services
    • Migration Services
    • 24x7x365 Support
    • Strategy, Assessment & Planning
  • Solutions
    • INDUSTRY
    • Education
    • Financial
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Column 2
  • Partners
    • Overview
    • Become a Partner
    • Login to Portal
  • Resources
    • Events
    • Webinars
    • News & Media
    • Whitepapers
    • Podcast
    • Datasheets
    • Customer Stories
    • Innovation Blog
  • Support
    • Contact Support
    • Success Center
    • API Documentation
  • Contact Us
  • Console Login
  • Free Trial
Tags: Disaster Recovery
Author: iland
Date: April 29, 2016

The Continuity Tools Explained: Replication

This is the third blog in the our brief series on continuity terminology. My first covered Snapshots – and the second covered Backup. As noted, this guide is a simple introduction to each of these concepts, and helps to explain the differences in clear, simple terms. We will discuss what each one is, isn’t, and how you might want to use them in your environment.

So – let’s get to the last one – Replication.

iland offers several solutions to help you in your time of need, should you need them. Snapshots work as a save point that you can use as needed, before a large change. Our 7-day rotational backups allow you to restore a machine to a previous state, and run once a day in all of our ECS environments. But the most powerful and flexible solution is by far our true Disaster Recovery (DR) offering. If you want the peace of mind that comes with true DR, replication is the way to go.

Replication – What it is:

Disaster Recovery Plan DialIn the simplest terms, Replication is a streaming backup of your entire production environment. Once your data has been pushed to us, and the initial seeding is complete, data is streamed continuously to your DR environment, ensuring that the replicated VMs are as close to their production doppelgangers as possible. Typically, this ensures you can bring up an environment that is minutes, sometimes even seconds, behind your live environment in the event of a true disaster.

iland partners with Zerto for replication in our Enterprise Cloud Services (ECS) environments.  A typical installation consists of two essential parts: A Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA) installed on each host, and a Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM) server that allows centralized communication and management both locally and site-to-site.

After an initial install, your entire environment begins streaming over to your DR site through a pre-configured, secure VPN Tunnel. Replication does not affect the performance of your VMs in the slightest. Since it is performed at the host level and allows for multiple VMs to be streamed at a time, syncing your entire environment is seamless, quick, and easy.

Once the initial sync (seeding) is complete, Zerto begins syncing data in an attempt to “catch up” to your live environment. Once this sync has completed, it begins to build a journal history (4 hours worth, by default) of restore points. You can choose one of hundreds of points in that window to restore your environment to, which allows you to select the most appropriate version of your environment to bring back up after a disaster. Replication will continue streaming in the background from this point on, making sure that your DR site meets your required Recovery Point Objective (RPO) – The number of minutes or seconds your DR environment is  “behind” your production environment.

In the event you do have a disaster, the technology enables you to configure Virtual Protection Groups (VPGs) that can organize and plan your failover. When failing over, these VPGs are what you select to bring up in your DR environment. VPGs allow you to restore clusters of the VMs most integral to your infrastructure with a single click, instead of restoring one VM at a time. They also allow the machines to be “pre-configured” to work in the new environment, with new network settings that match your DR site. Both of these are HUGE time savers in an actual disaster and allow you to move faster and focus on getting your environment back online as quickly as possible.

But just having a good DR plan using replication isn’t enough. You need to be able to prove that it actually works, and you and your team need to be familiar with how things will go in case of a disaster.

Replication – How it works:

Once replication is up and running in your environment, you’ll have the option to failover one of two ways:

  • Live Failover – This is the failover designed for a full on DR event. A live failover will assume that your production environment is down, and that the VMs being failed over are now supposed to be the primary VMs. Once you have failed over, replication stops coming from your production site, and it will need to be re-configured in order to continue, which will result in a need to re-seed the data. This makes sense in a true DR event, since the original environment would be destroyed or inaccessible. Obviously, this is not the best way to test your DR plan, since it breaks the replication. It can also wreak havoc on a functional live environment, depending on the settings you select (powering off live machines, for example.)
  • Failover Test – A failover test is the only only option you should ever choose, outside of an actual disaster. This will bring up the VMs that have been replicated to your DR environment, and allows you to do whatever testing you need to do, without impacting anything in your production environment whatsoever. Once you end the test, the VMs will be removed, and the data will begin syncing again. You can test any time you like, and the process is very straightforward.

Either way, reports are available in the console that show the results of the failover once it has completed.

To sum up:

  • Replication is the preferred methodfor DR for a few reasons.
    – First, it constantly streams data from your live environment to your DR site. This allows the data in your DR site to be much closer in time to the data in your live environment.
    – Second, since data is replicated at the host level, it allows for syncing of multiple VMs at a time, instead of the “one job at a time” limitations found in most Backup solutions. Plus, it has a minimal impact on your production environment, and the performance of the VMs being replicated.
  • By default, replication allows for a history of restore points stretching back 4 hours. You can failover to any of these points at any time.
  • VMs that are replicated are only accessible during a Failover Test, or after a Live Failover. While they are being replicated, they will not be accessible or configurable.
  • VMs that are involved in a current failover test will not be backed up as part of the daily backups that run in our ECS environments, since they are intended to exist temporarily.
  • Replication at iland can be controlled and managed via the Console, on the Continuity tab. You can perform Failover Tests, Live Failovers, and view any information or reports you need, all in one centralized location. This allows you to initiate a failover even if your production environment is unavailable, without having to call our support team to kick it off for you (though, they are glad to do so.)

Replication – What it isn’t:

  • Replication is not a good choice for file level backup. While it is possible to recover OS level files from a failed-over VM, using replication as a file system backup is like using a bazooka to fish. It might technically work, but it’s a mess to deal with, and you are kind of missing the point.
  • Replication is not something that will help you recover a single lost machine in your production environment. Not only is replication used to cover groups of machines, but it’s also designed to spin them up in another physical location, so it won’t help you if one of your local VMs goes bad during an update.
  • Replication does not create backup copies of VMs that you can log into. VMs in your DR site are only accessible once they have been failed over, either in a live failover, or in a test.
Categories: Cloud Backup, DRaaSBy ilandApril 29, 2016
Tags: Disaster Recovery

Author: iland

iland has been helping customers transform their mission critical applications to the Secure Cloud for hosting, protection, and recovery for over two decades. During that time, we have learned a great deal about exceeding customer expectations from every aspect of the cloud journey.

Post navigation

PreviousPrevious post:And Then Magic Happens: DRaaS and DNS ManagementNextNext post:The Continuity Tools Explained: Backups

Related Posts

iland Wins Zero Trust Security Excellence Award
July 5, 2022
Experts: Prepare for Busy 2022 Hurricane Season
July 1, 2022
Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 Done Right: Object Storage and the Cloud
June 19, 2022
What Our Customers Have to Say About 2022’s Most Pressing Cloud Challenges
June 10, 2022
Multi-Cloud, Agents, and You
May 31, 2022
365 Backup licensing update
Closing the Gap
April 18, 2022
iland, an 11:11 Systems Company
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
  • Secure Cloud
  • Backup
  • Disaster Recovery
  • Managed Security
  • Cloud Connectivity
  • 24x7x365 Support
  • Compliance
  • Free Trials
COMPANY
  • Why iland
  • Cloud Platform
  • Customer Stories
  • Careers
  • Leadership
  • Technology Partners
  • News & Media
  • Contact Support
CLOUD LOCATIONS
  • Dallas, TX
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Northern Virginia
  • Toronto, Canada
  • London, UK
  • Manchester, UK
  • Amsterdam, NL
  • Singapore
  • Melbourne, AU
  • Sydney, AU
CONNECT
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Youtube

© 2022 iland™ All Rights Reserved | Privacy Notice

Go to Top