Zerto Virtual Manager Failover 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 able to reduce downtime when performing maintenance procedures such as:

Operating System maintenance
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
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.

Upgrading Zerto Clustered Environments

Note:  

To install a ZVM cluster, seeZerto Virtual Replication Installation Guide for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V Environments, in the section Installing Zerto in Clustered vSphere Environments.