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Hi<br />
<br />
We are planning to create an IT DR site where a copy of the running systems in production would be kept in an online state. The IT DR site is connected over an MPLS link and is accessible from the primary site as though on the same LAN albeit a different subnet and has a windows 2003 domain controller extending the same domain/ forest to the DR site as it is on the primary.<br />
<br />
The complexity arises in the following:<br />
<br />
We have about 50 member servers with varied applications but base OS are all Windows 2K3 and 2008. Single domain, single forest environment.<br />
<br />
We intend to use Vmware's physical to virtual feature in order to take a copy of running servers, create a virtual disk and host it at the DR site in a virtualised environment.<br />
<br />
There is a need to keep the virtualised servers running at all times so that Antivirus and patch / updates can be maintained.<br />
<br />
How should the FQDN , IPs and DNS names be maintained at the DR site? If we do not attach the DR servers to domain (single DNS environment), how would we perform the bi-annual testing to have a sufficient confidence of invoking DR and maintain our required recovery time objectives?<br />
<br />
Has anyone been there and done that?<br />

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Hi

We are planning to create an IT DR site where a copy of the running systems in production would be kept in an online state. The IT DR site is connected over an MPLS link and is accessible from the primary site as though on the same LAN albeit a different subnet and has a windows 2003 domain controller extending the same domain/ forest to the DR site as it is on the primary.

The complexity arises in the following:

We have about 50 member servers with varied applications but base OS are all Windows 2K3 and 2008. Single domain, single forest environment.

We intend to use Vmware's physical to virtual feature in order to take a copy of running servers, create a virtual disk and host it at the DR site in a virtualised environment.

There is a need to keep the virtualised servers running at all times so that Antivirus and patch / updates can be maintained.

How should the FQDN , IPs and DNS names be maintained at the DR site? If we do not attach the DR servers to domain (single DNS environment), how would we perform the bi-annual testing to have a sufficient confidence of invoking DR and maintain our required recovery time objectives?

Has anyone been there and done that?


High available or duplicate systems, online in a DR scenario

Network design and methodology, also known as network architecture, is the design of a communication network. It is a framework for the specification of a network's physical components and their functional organization and configuration, its operational principles and procedures, as well as data formats used in its operation. In telecommunication, the specification of a network architecture may also include a detailed description of products and services delivered via a communications network, as well as detailed rate and billing structures under which services are compensated.

Network Architecture

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical, globally distributed system responsible for associating the name of a computer, service or other resource into an IP address for connecting to the Internet or a private network. Most prominently, it translates domain names to the numerical IP addresses needed for the purpose of computer services and devices worldwide.

VMware, a software company founded in 1998,  was one of the first commercially successful companies to offer x86 virtualization. The storage company EMC purchased VMware in 1994. Dell Technologies acquired EMC in 2016. VMware’s parent company is now Dell Technologies.

VMware has many software products that run on desktops, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, which allows the virtualizing of the x86 architecture.  Its enterprise software hypervisor for servers, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), is a bare-metal hypervisor that runs directly on the server hardware and does not require an additional underlying operating system.