Running a test failover in Microsoft Azure is an essential part of ensuring the recoverability of your Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) and other resources in the event of a disaster or unexpected outage. Test failovers allow you to simulate a disaster recovery scenario without impacting your production environment. Here’s how you can run a test failover for Azure VMs using Azure Site Recovery:
- Prerequisites:
- Azure Subscription: You need an Azure subscription to use Azure Site Recovery.
- Azure Site Recovery Service: Ensure that you have Azure Site Recovery service set up and configured.
- Set Up Replication: Before you can perform a test failover, you need to have replication set up for your VMs. If you haven’t already set up replication, follow these steps:
- Create a Recovery Services Vault: Go to the Azure portal, navigate to “Create a resource,” and search for “Recovery Services Vault.” Follow the prompts to create a new vault.
- Set Up Replication: Within your Recovery Services Vault, navigate to “Site Recovery” and configure replication for the VMs you want to protect. Follow the instructions provided during the setup process.
- Create a Recovery Plan: A recovery plan is a set of predefined steps that dictate how VMs are brought online during a failover. You should create a recovery plan before running a test failover:
- In the Azure portal, go to your Recovery Services Vault.
- Under “Site Recovery,” click on “Recovery plans.”
- Click on “New” to create a new recovery plan and follow the wizard to add the VMs and define the steps.
- Initiate Test Failover: Once you have a recovery plan in place, you can initiate a test failover:
- In the Azure portal, go to your Recovery Services Vault.
- Under “Site Recovery,” click on “Replicated items.”
- Select the VM(s) for which you want to run a test failover.
- In the toolbar at the top, click on “Test failover.”
- Configure Test Failover Settings: You will need to configure some settings for the test failover:
- Choose the target network for the test failover VMs.
- Review the recovery point to use for the test.
- Confirm the recovery plan you want to execute.
- Initiate Test Failover: Click on the “OK” or “Start” button to initiate the test failover. Azure will create test VMs based on the selected recovery plan and configuration.
- Monitor the Test Failover: You can monitor the progress of the test failover in the Azure portal. Once the test VMs are up and running, you can log in to them and verify that they are functioning correctly.
- Complete or Clean Up the Test Failover: After testing, you can choose to either complete the test failover or clean it up. Completing the test failover will shut down the test VMs, while cleaning it up will remove the test VMs and resources.
Remember that a test failover does not impact your production environment. It’s a safe way to ensure that your disaster recovery plan is working as expected. After conducting a successful test failover, you should review the results and make any necessary adjustments to your recovery plan or configurations.
Please note that Azure services and interfaces may change over time, so it’s always a good idea to refer to the Azure documentation for the most up-to-date instructions.