Disaster recovery for file servers

For disaster recovery, maintain a BMC Server Automation file server at a secondary site distant enough from the primary site to ensure continued operation if the primary site loses functionality.

During normal operation, the secondary site's file server service is not actively used to service the Application Servers. You use the file server at the secondary site only if functionality at the primary site is lost. However, for any file server disaster-recovery solution, you must keep the secondary site's file server data synchronized with the primary site's file server data so that it is ready to provide full services whenever needed.

Implementation

To set up the disaster recovery solution, you perform the following actions:

1. At the secondary site, specify a configuration similar to the primary site.
2. Implement a mechanism for synchronizing the file server data at the secondary site with the file server data at the primary site. For example, use a product such as the EMC SRDF family of software or a utility such as rsync.
3. During a planned failover to the secondary site, disable the synchronization of the primary file server to the secondary file server.
4. Before returning to primary site usage, synchronize the file server at the primary site with the file server at the secondary site.