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Reversing full-server jobs

After a full-server failover, the source is running on your original target hardware and your target no longer exists. You can reverse your full-server protection, which will apply the target identity to the original source hardware and establish protection from the source (running on the original target hardware) to the target (running on the original source hardware).

1. Fix the issue that caused your original source server to fail.
2. Connect the original source server to the network using the reserved IP address that you specified for this hardware. This is the IP address that was on the original source that was not failed over.
3. Remove the original source from the console and add it back in using the reserved IP address. If you are running the console on the source, you will also need to add the original target's reserved IP address before the job will be located.
4. On the Manage Jobs page, highlight the job that you want to reverse and click Reverse in the toolbar.

During the reverse process, you will see various states for the job Activity. During the Restoring process, the target identity is being established on the original source hardware. During the Synchronizing process , protection is being established from the source (on the original target hardware) to the target (on the original source hardware). The reverse protection is also established in the opposite direction. In the event you want to go back to your original hardware and roles (source on original source hardware and target on original target hardware), you can failover and reverse again.

Because the Windows product activation is dependent on hardware, you may need to reactivate your Windows registration after reverse. In most cases when you are using Windows 2003, you can follow the on-screen prompts to complete the reactivation. However, when you are using Windows 2008, the reactivation depends on your licensing type. If a Windows 2008 target comes online after reverse with an activation failure, use the steps appropriate for your license type.

• Retail licensing—Retail licensing allows the activation of a single operating system installation.
1. Open the System applet in Windows Control Panel.
2. Under Windows activation at the bottom of the page, click Change product key.
3. Enter your retail license key. You may need access to the Internet or to call Microsoft to complete the activation.
• MAK volume licensing—Multiple Activation Key (MAK) licensing allows the activation of multiple operating system installations using the same activation key.
1. View or download the Microsoft Volume Activation Deployment Guide from the Microsoft web site.
2. Using an administrative user account, open a command prompt and follow the instructions from the deployment guide to activate MAK clients. Multiple reboots may be necessary before you can access a command prompt. You may need access to the Internet or to call Microsoft to complete the activation.
• KMS volume licensing—Key Management Service (KMS) licensing allows IT professionals to complete activations on their local network without contacting Microsoft.
1. View or download the Microsoft Volume Activation Deployment Guide from the Microsoft web site.
2. Using an administrative user account, open a command prompt and follow the instructions from the deployment guide to convert a MAK activation client to a KMS client. Multiple reboots may be necessary before you can access a command prompt.

Some applications and hardware devices create and use software devices within the operating system, but they have the characteristics of a hardware device. For example, software RAID solutions are typically implemented in the operating system, however they are still designed to emulate a single piece of storage hardware. In these cases, the device will not be reversed because it appears to be a hardware device.

You may experience issues following a reverse if an application or server uses hard-linked files. For example, Windows 2008 Server Roles added after failover will not function after reverse because the hard links related to the server role were not replicated. After updating server roles, a remirror should be performed.

If your NICs were configured for network load balancing (NLB), you will have to reconfigure that after reverse.