How to restore Production on a DR site using StarWind Asynchronous Replication

IMPORTANT: Starting from 14869 build, the Asynchronous replication feature was excluded and deprecated. Please remove all Asynchronous replicas and LSFS devices before the update. See more information in the release notes: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/release-notes-build

Scenario

StarWind storage cluster on the Primary site with Asynchronous storage replication to the Disaster Recovery site.

Case Study

Primary site is down without any way to start a Production during accepted Recovery Time Objective (RTO).

Case Solution

NOTE: By design, the device on Asynchronous node is LSFS (Log-Structured File System). Snapshots can be mounted only in Read-Only mode.

To restore the Production from a Read-Only Snapshot:

1. Connect to the Asynchronous node using StarWind Management Console and mount the snapshot;
2. Connect the newly created snapshot device as an iSCSI target in Microsoft iSCSI Initiator;
3. Bring the connected disk online in Disk Management;
4. Copy the necessary information and import VMs from the mounted Read-Only disk to another storage/location;
5. Run the Production using the copied data;

To restore the Production from the replicated device on the Asynchronous node:

1. Connect to Asynchronous node using StarWind Management Console and re-add the existing device in a new target having previously removed Asynchronous replica to it;
2. Wait for device mounting in StarWind Management Console;
3. Connect the newly added device as an iSCSI target in Microsoft iSCSI Initiator;
4. Bring the connected disk online in Disk Management;
5. Import and Register the necessary VMs in Hyper-V Manager.

More information can be found in this guide: StarWind Virtual SAN® Asynchronous replication and Disaster Recovery