Configuring Site Recovery Manager (SRM) Inventory Mappings

Products

• VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.x
• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

This article provides guidance on configuring inventory mappings in VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) version 8.x. Inventory mappings are essential for associating resources such as networks, folders, and resource pools between the protected site and the recovery site. Proper configuration of these mappings ensures that SRM can effectively manage and recover virtual machine environments during failover operations. This article outlines the procedure for creating and managing these mappings using the vSphere Client, including both automatic and manual mapping options.

Environment

• VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.x and 9.x
• VMware Live Recovery

Cause

The cause for needing to configure inventory mappings in Site Recovery Manager arises from the requirement to align and associate corresponding resources between the protected site and the recovery site. Without properly configured mappings, SRM cannot correctly translate or connect networks, folders, and resource pools across sites, which can lead to failed or incomplete recovery operations during a disaster event. This misalignment occurs because resource names and structures may differ between sites, necessitating explicit mapping to ensure seamless failover and re-protect processes.

Resolution

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client, click Site Recovery > Open Site Recovery.

2. On the Site Recovery home tab, select a site pair, and click View Details.

3. On the Site Pair tab , expand Configure and select the type of resource to configure (e.g., network, folder, resource pool).

 and select the type of resource to configure.

4. Click New to create a new mapping.

5. Select whether to create the mapping automatically or manually and click Next.

    Note: This step only applies to network mappings and folder mappings. Automatic mapping is only available for network and folder mappings. You must configure the resource mappings manually.

6. Select the items on the protected site to map to items on the recovery site.

• If you selected automatic mapping, expand the inventory items on the left to select a parent node on the local site, for example a data center or a folder, then expand the inventory items on the right to select a parent node on the remote site.
• If you selected manual mapping, expand the inventory items on the left to select a specific object on the local site, then expand the inventory items on the right to select the object on the remote site to which to map this object.
• If you select manual mapping, you can map multiple items on the local site to a single item on the remote site. You can select only one item at a time on the remote site.

Note: If you are using virtual machine protection groups, you must explicitly configure network mapping between the two ends of the universal wire to ensure that the virtual machines recover on the same universal wire.

7. Click ADD MAPPINGS.

Notes:

• • The mappings appear at the bottom of the page.
  • If you selected automatic mapping, Site Recovery Manager automatically maps all of the items under the node that you selected on the protected site to items that have the same name under the node that you selected on the recovery site.

8. Click Next.

9. (Optional) On the Prepare reverse mappings page, select the check box for a mapping.

Notes:

• • Selecting this option creates a corresponding mappings from the item on the remote site to the item on the local site.
  • You require reverse mappings to establish bidirectional protection and to run re-protect operations.
  • You cannot select this option if two or more mappings have the same target on the remote site.

10. (Optional) If you are configuring network mappings, in the Test networks page, click Change. In the Edit Test Network page, select the network to use when testing recovery plans.

Notes:

• • You can configure Site Recovery Manager to create an isolated network on the recovery site for when you test a recovery plan.
  • Creating an isolated test network allows the test to proceed without adding extra traffic on the production network on the recovery site.
  • Select Isolated network (auto created) to automatically create an isolated network on the recovery site to use for testing. This is the default option.
  • Select a specific network on the recovery site to use for tests.

11. Click Finish to create the mappings.

12. Repeat Step 3 through Step 11 to establish mappings for the remaining resource types.

Additional Information

For more information, see:

• Configure Inventory Mappings 8.8
• Configure Inventory Mappings 9.0