Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager: Supported Platform for October 2013 Public Preview Release

[System-Center-Team]

First published on TECHNET on Nov 17, 2013
Last month we announced the public preview of Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager. This blog summarizes the supported platform matrix for this service update and new features that are available in this update.

Platform Support Matrix

In line with general availability of Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center Virtual Machine 2012 R2, the service has been updated to support these releases. Customers are required to download and install the latest Hyper-V Recovery Manager Provider that is available on the Azure Portal. Additionally, the provider and service now support production deployments.

Following is a matrix of supported platform combinations for Hyper-V Recovery Manager (Paid Preview) (October 2013 Update)

Supported System Center VMM Version	Required VMM Patch	Production Deployment Support	Hyper-V Recovery Manager Provider Version	Supported Primary Host OS Version	Supported Secondary Host OS Version
VMM 2012 R2 RTM (Recommended)		YES	October 2013 Update (Please ensure same Version of Provider is installed on all VMM Servers participating in DR)	Windows Server 2012 (With latest Patches) Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM	Windows Server 2012 (With latest Patches) Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM
VMM 2012 SP1	Cumulative Update 3 or Higher for VMM 2012 SP1 must be installed	YES	October 2013 Update (Required for production deployments) (July 2013 Update is compatible, but for production support we recommend upgrading to October update)	Windows Server 2012 (With latest Patches)	Windows Server 2012 (With latest Patches)
VMM 2012 R2 Preview		NO	July 2013 Update is compatible, but not supported for production deployments. (This configuration is not supported for production since VMM 2012 R2 RTM has been released)	Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview	Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview

Notes:

1. VMM 2012 R2 RTM version is required for managing Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM
2. Please ensure all VMM servers participating in HRM are upgraded to use the same version of Hyper-V Recovery Manager Provider. All HRM operations with different provider versions are not supported. Critical operations like Unplanned Failover will continue to work when using different providers.
3. Using different RTM versions of VMM Server on Primary and Secondary sites is supported.
4. Upgrading Provider from July Update to October Update will not require re-registration (e.g. no cert/proxy, vault setup required).

Upgrade Scenarios

1. On VMM 2012 SP1, customers can upgrade Hyper-V Recovery Manager Provider from July 2013 Update to October 2013 Update.
2. If customers are using VMM 2012 SP1 (without HRM) and are planning to upgrade to VMM 2012 R2 RTM, we require them to upgrade VMM server before installing HRM Provider October Update.
   1. Please note, in this release we are not supporting VMM 2012 SP1 + HRM Provider upgrade to VMM 2012 R2 RTM.
3. When upgrading from VMM 2012 R2 Preview to VMM 2012 R2 RTM, customers will need to re-install HRM Provider (October 2013 Update) and re-register their VMM servers with the service.

New Features

This update packs a bunch of new capabilities to further meet the needs of a dynamic, cloud scale virtualized datacenter. Here is a quick summary:

1. Support for VMM 2012 R2 RTM and Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM : As covered above, from our perspective, the single most important feature in this release, is the support for RTM versions for Windows Server and System Center and production deployment support. This should enable system administrators to start planning their HRM based DR plan roll outs for their production datacenters.
2. Support for Protection and Recovery of Generation 2 VMs : In sync with improved support for managing Generation 2 VMs in VMM 2012 R2, Hyper-V Recovery Manager service has also been updated and tested to ensure it now supports Generation 2 VMs.
3. Support for VM Migration Scenarios : Hyper-V Recovery Manager service is now intelligent to track VM migrations and re-establish replication to ensure continuous protection as the VMs move around in a datacenter. Specifically, we support the following:
   1. You can migrate Primary VM across clusters/hosts of the same OS type and VM replication will continue
   2. You can migrate replica VM across clusters/hosts of the same OS type and Hyper-V Recovery Manager will detect and fix-up the primary side settings to that replication can continue to the new secondary host
   3. Hyper-V supports live migration from Windows Server 2012 to Windows Server 2012 R2. If you are planning to migrate from Windows Server 2012 to Windows Server 2012 R2, then the guidance is to migrate Replica VM first and then migrate primary VM.
4. Host Sharing across VMM Clouds: VMM Clouds capability is a powerful way of exposing shared physical capacity to multiple tenants. Hyper-V Recovery Manager cloud configuration now supports sharing of this capacity across clouds. You can create multiple clouds on the same host-group/cluster. Cloud configuration will ensure settings are correctly configured for each cloud.
5. Improved Service Scale and Performance: Since Hyper-V Recovery Manager is a service, we regularly monitor its performance and identify areas of improvements. In this update we have pushed through significant performance and scale improvements.
6. Better management of HVR operations done outside HRM: We have made it easier to bring existing VMs that are replicating using HVR to be managed by Hyper-V Recovery Manager. In cases where VM's management state is not up to date in Hyper-V Recovery Manager, we have made it easier to remove the VM from Hyper-V Recovery Manager and re-enable protection management again.
7. Numerous bug fixes: Based on valuable feedback received from customers who participated in our private preview program, we have added a number of smaller bug fixes and improvements throughout the product and service.

Thanks,

Abhishek Agrawal, Senior Program Manager Lead, Windows Server & System Center