Virtual server workload requirements

Protecting an ESX virtual machine using host-level protection

Client and service—The Double-Take Availability for VMware Infrastructure client and service can be installed on servers running one of the following operating systems:
Microsoft Windows XP (32-bit)
Microsoft Windows 2003 (32-bit)
Microsoft Windows 2008 (32- or 64-bit)
Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit)
VirtualCenter server—VMware VirtualCenter 2.x or later (Strongly recommended: VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.1 or later)

Note:

ESX Server 3.0.0 and VirtualCenter 2.0.0 vs. ESX Server 3.0.1 or later and VirtualCenter 2.0.1 or later: Issues have been observed with ESX Server 3.0.0 and VirtualCenter 2.0.0 when an increasing number of requests are made of their web services. Such conditions tend to occur with multiple high-load virtual machines being protected. In such cases, on a few occasions damage has occurred to the source virtual machine in such a way that it is un-recoverable. The issues have not been observed in ESX Server 3.0.1 or later and VirtualCenter 2.0.1 or later; it appears that they have been resolved by VMware. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you use this product with ESX Server 3.0.1 or later and VirtualCenter 2.0.1 or later if you plan on protecting high load or multiple virtual machines.

Source and target ESX servers—VMware ESX Server 3.0.x, ESX 3.5 classic, or ESX 4.0 classic

Note:

VMware ESX Server version 3i is not supported.
When performing cross-protection between different versions of ESX, it is recommended that the source ESX version be earlier than the target ESX version (for example, ESX 3.0 on the source, and ESX 4.0 on the target). If you must have a source version that is newer than the version on the target, you must make sure that the source virtual machine does not use virtual devices that do not exist on the target ESX server. For example, do not protect a source virtual machine with VmxNet(enhanced) to a target running ESX 3.0.x which does not support VmxNet(enhanced). Or, do not replicate a source virtual machine running ESX 4.0 that has up to 10 virtual NICs to a target ESX 3.0.x server which only supports 4 virtual NICs.

Windows Firewall—Ports 6331, 443, and 22 must be opened on the source and target ESX hosts. For more information, see Configuring ports.

Note:

In order to use automatic e-mail notification, you must add VI_Service.exe to the exception list of most anti-virus and spam filters. In addition, you may need to open port 25 in your antitrust software to allow SMTP e-mail. For more information, see Setting e-mail notification options.

Protocols and Networking—Your servers must have either TCP/IP with static IP addressing or reserved DHCP addressing.

Note:

VMware does not support using MSDE as the database in a production environment.

Protecting an entire physical or virtual machine using an ESX virtual machine

Source servers—Source machines must meet the base Double-Take Availability requirements.

Note:

Double-Take Availability Virtual Recovery Assistant for ESX must be installed on the source server.
The source cannot be running a version of Windows that is newer than the version on the recovery appliance.
Virtual Recovery Assistant does not support Windows XP Professional.
Virtual Recovery Assistant supports Windows 2008 as long as the virtual recovery appliance is running Windows 2008.
The source and target cannot both be domain controllers. Only one or the other can be a domain controller. Ideally, the target should not be a domain controller or host any functionality (file server, application server, and so on) because the functionality will be removed when failover occurs.

If your source is a domain controller, it will start in a non-authoritative restore mode after failover. This means that if the source was communicating with other domain controllers before failover, it will require one of those domain controllers to be reachable after failover so it can request updates. If this communication is not available, the domain controller will not function after failover. If the source is the only domain controller, this is not an issue.

VirtualCenter server—VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.1 or later is required.
Target ESX host server—The target VMware ESX host server is a physical machine running VMware ESX Server 3.0.x, ESX 3.5 classic, or ESX 4.0 classic, Enterprise edition or higher. ESXi versions 3 and 4 are also supported as long as ESXi is managed by VCenter or VSphere.

Note:

ESX Server 3.01 or later with HotRemove patch #6921838 is required.

Virtual recovery appliance—The Double-Take Availability Virtual Recovery Assistant for ESX service runs on the Virtual Recovery Appliance. The Virtual Recovery Appliance must meet the base Double-Take Availability requirements and be hosted on the VMware ESX server where you want to create the replica virtual machines.

You must create the virtual machine to be used as the Virtual Recovery Appliance before installing Double-Take Availability. It is strongly recommended that this virtual machine be used for no other purpose than as the Virtual Recovery Appliance.

Note:

Double-Take Availability Virtual Recovery Assistant for ESX must be installed on the virtual recovery appliance.
The recovery appliance must be running a version of Windows that is the same major version or newer than the version running on the source. A recovery appliance running Windows 2003 cannot be used to protect a source running Windows 2008.
Virtual Recovery Assistant determines whether a virtual machine is eligible to be an appliance based on what ESX has listed as the guest operating system for the virtual machine. In order for Virtual Recovery Assistant to work properly, you must have both a supported guest operating system installed on the virtual machine, and the operating system must be selected correctly in ESX (per the Options tab for Virtual Machine Properties).

Clients—The Double-Take Availability client software must be installed on a 32-bit or 64-bit physical or virtual machine running one of the following operating systems:
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows 2003 with Service Pack 1 or later
Microsoft Windows 2008

Note:

The client should not be running on the source machine.

Windows Firewall—You will need to verify that port 6330 is open for Double-Take Availability Virtual Recovery Assistant communications. For more information, see Configuring firewalls with ESX.

The following table identifies supported source server/virtual recovery appliance configurations.

	Windows 2003, 32-bit source	Windows 2003, 64-bit source	Windows 2008, 32-bit source	Windows 2008, 64-bit source
Windows 2003, 32-bit appliance	yes	yes	no	no
Windows 2003, 64-bit appliance	yes	yes	no	no
Windows 2008, 32-bit appliance	yes	yes	yes	yes
Windows 2008, 64-bit appliance	yes	yes	yes	yes

Protecting an entire physical or virtual machine using a Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machine

Double-Take Console requires the following minimum system configuration:

Source servers—The source server can be any 32- or 64-bit physical or virtual machine running one of the following operating systems:
Microsoft Windows 2003 with Service Pack 1 or later
Microsoft Windows 2008

Note:

Windows 2003 Service Pack 2 is required for Hyper-V Integration Services.

Target Hyper-V host server—The target Microsoft Hyper-V host server is a physical machine running Hyper-V Windows 2008 server.

The following table identifies supported source server/target Hyper-V host configurations.

	Windows 2003, 32-bit source	Windows 2003, 64-bit source	Windows 2008, 32-bit source	Windows 2008, 64-bit source
Windows 2008, 64-bit target Hyper-V host	yes	yes	yes	yes

Ports—Ports 6320, 6330, and 135 must be opened on the source and target Hyper-V hosts. For more information, see Configuring firewalls.

Protecting a Hyper-V virtual machine using host-level protection

Source Hyper-V server—The source Hyper-V server must be running Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard, Datacenter, or Enterprise, 64-bit version, with the Hyper-V service installed

Note:

The following are not supported:

Windows Server 2008 without Hyper-V
Clustered Windows 2008 Hyper-V hosts
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008

Target Hyper-V server—The target Hyper-V server must be running Windows Server 2008 Standard, Datacenter, or Enterprise, 64-bit version, with the Hyper-V service installed

Note:

The following are not supported:

Windows Server 2008 without Hyper-V
Clustered Windows 2008 Hyper-V hosts
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008

Windows Firewall—Ports 6320, 6332, and 135 must be opened on the source and target Hyper-V hosts. For more information, see Configuring firewalls.