So you are about to buy a DR orchestration tool…

I believe that when you are thinking of buying a DR orchestration tool you should get a proof of concept (PofC) that shows you how it works and that it does work. If you are lucky you can get a PofC from someone that is not just a Sales SE but knows about BCDR too. … Continue reading So you are about to buy a DR orchestration tool… →

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Fast multi-tier app failovers using Cleondris

Multi - tier apps are the ones that have database servers, application servers, and web servers. I visited a customer once that had 14 layers in some of their multi-tier apps. But in this example we will have 3 but it is easy to tweak to have 4 or 5 or 14. It is important … Continue reading Fast multi-tier app failovers using Cleondris →

How to get a domain controller into a test failover - SAFELY!

Sometimes a test failover needs to have external resources inside it so that applications work properly. Or sometimes to support authentication. I once knew a customer who put a domain controller on the network that the test failover was on, and once the test was successful he put it back on the production network. Lots … Continue reading How to get a domain controller into a test failover - SAFELY! →

Cleondris HCC - very cool DR orchestration software!

Hello all, The last few months I have been working in the lab on Cleondris HCC DR orchestration software. I have been working with the vendor - Cleondris - to improve it. I have enjoyed working with the vendor as they are a great bunch of people. Their development model is cool as they do … Continue reading Cleondris HCC - very cool DR orchestration software! →

Practice Hard and BCDR sandtable exercises

Hello all, In my BCDR world I talk to people often about practice hard and realistic and do sandtable BCDR exercises. But sometimes I have to explain why and what I mean. So I thought I should put it on my blog in case it helps people. Practice Hard and Realistic I often tell people … Continue reading Practice Hard and BCDR sandtable exercises →

Your Apps failed over - now what?

This article is not a prescriptive type thing, but rather something you should talk about during your BCDR sand-table talk through before you have an outage. Your apps are now running at the DR site. How do you end users access them? There are a number of possibilities, and even combinations of things. If your … Continue reading Your Apps failed over - now what? →

Using Dynamic variables in VAO

One of the more discrete things in VAO is that you can have dynamic variables added to your report template and each time a report is generated - any type of report in fact - the variables will be replaced with the right info for the report that was processed. This is something I found … Continue reading Using Dynamic variables in VAO →

Improving failover speed in VAO

Hello there, If you are using Veeam Availability Orchestrator (VAO) you may have noticed that we limit a VM group to start 10 VMs simultaneously. If your plan has two VM groups that means the first group starts 10 VMs at a time until there are not more to start, than the next VM group … Continue reading Improving failover speed in VAO →

What else can you do with a DR Orchestration tool?

Hello all, I mention this stuff a lot and people are always surprised. So I thought I would share this here so that more of you can see this. A software package that helps you with test plans, and do failovers is a DR orchestration tool that can use replicas or backups as the source … Continue reading What else can you do with a DR Orchestration tool? →

Speeding Recovery of multiple tier applications using VAO

Hello all, I had a request to write this up so I am doing it in a bit of hurry. Don't hesitate to say it needs more detail or whatever if you need help. This example is for people working with Veeam Availability Orchestrator. Update: use the info below for tier 3, and tier 4 … Continue reading Speeding Recovery of multiple tier applications using VAO →