Managing a Zerto Virtual Manager Cluster
  
Managing a Zerto Virtual Manager Cluster
 
What is Zerto’s Failover Cluster?
When you have a Zerto system, you want your system to always be up and running, and to never go down. But, as with all systems, your Zerto system will need maintenance, (like security patches, and operating system updates) and will need to be upgraded with the latest Zerto releases.
In order to perform these maintenance procedures, Zerto has integrated with Microsoft’s Failover Cluster feature and now allows their customers to install Zerto Virtual Manager in a clustered environment.
With a clustered ZVM environment running, you are then able to easily perform the following:
■ Operating System maintenance
■ Change an existing Zerto Virtual Manager to a clustered Zerto Virtual Manager
■ Upgrade your Zerto Virtual Manager
Clustered Concepts
 
Term or phrase
Definition
clustered role
Clustered applications and services
node
Clustered nodes (meaning, servers) are connected by physical cables and by software. If one or more of the cluster nodes fail, other nodes begin to provide service continuously.
Active/passive node
A resources cluster where only one instance is active at any given time.
Zerto Failover Cluster Role Mover
The Zerto Failover Cluster Role Mover tool facilitates an unobtrusive move of the clustered role from one node to the other, with minimal consequences to Zerto Virtual Manager.
switch node
 
Microsoft Failover Clustering
A Windows Server feature that enables you to group multiple servers together into a fault-tolerant cluster (renamed in Windows Server 2008 from Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS))
Minimal downtime
The time it takes for the ZVR to start.
 
 
 
Use Cases
With your clustered Zerto Virtual Manager environment running, you are able to perform the following procedures:
Operation
Description
Follow procedure...
Operating System maintenance
You have a running clustered Zerto Virtual Manager, which has one active and one passive node.
You need to perform operating system maintenance on both of the nodes.
Performing Maintenance on your Zerto Virtual Manager Operating System
Change existing ZVM to a clustered ZVM
You have an existing ZVM environment, and you want to change it to a clustered ZVM environment, then you can follow the procedure
Switching from a Non-Clustered (Standard) Environment to a Clustered Environment
Zerto Virtual Manager upgrade
You have a running clustered Zerto Virtual Manager, which has one active and one passive node.
You need to perform ZVM upgrade on both of the nodes.
After release of Zerto 7.0U1 you will be able to perform this procedure to upgrade from Zerto 7.0 to Zerto 7.0U1.
 
Note:
To install a ZVM cluster, see Zerto Virtual Replication Installation Guide for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V Environments, in the section Installing Zerto in Clustered vSphere Environments.