Showing posts with label Site Recovery Manager. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Site Recovery Manager. Show all posts

Monday, June 25, 2018

The case of a forgotten Site Recovery Manager (SRM) DB Admin password

While getting ready to upgrade our vCenter from 6.0 to 6.5 and SRM from 6.1.1 to 6.5 we faced an issue were the SRM Embedded DB Admin Password was not documented.

Follow the steps to reset your forgotten password - 

1) You will need to edit the pg_hba.config file under -

C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Embedded Database\data\pg_hba.conf

We had our install on the E:\ drive but the data folder was nowhere to be found. 

So I started searching for the pg_hba.config file and found it under - 

C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Embedded Database\data

2) Make a backup of pg_hba.config

3) Stop service -
       Display Name -  VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Embedded Database
       Service Name - vmware-dr-vpostgres

4) Edit pg_hba.config in Wordpad.

5) Locate the following in the file - 

             # TYPE DATABASE USER ADDRESS METHOD
             # IPv4 local connections:
                 host all all 127.0.0.1/32 md5
             # IPv6 local connections:
                 host all all ::1/128 md5

6) Replace md5 with trust so the changes look like the following - 

             # TYPE DATABASE USER ADDRESS METHOD
             # IPv4 local connections:
                 host all all 127.0.0.1/32 trust
             # IPv6 local connections:
                 host all all ::1/128 trust

7) Save the file and start VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Embedded Database service.

8) Open command prompt as Administrator and navigate to - 
     E:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Embedded Database\bin
  Note: You might have installed in a different drive. 

9) Connect to the postgres database using - 
        psql -U postgres -p 5678 
     This will bring you to a prompt -  postgres=#
     Note: 5678 is the default port. If you chose a different port during installation, replace it                
    accordingly. If unsure open ODBC and check under System DSN.

10) Run the following to change the password - 
       ALTER USER "enter srm db user here" PASSWORD 'new_password';
     Note: srm db user can be found under ODBC - System DSN. new_password should be in single quotes.

11) If the command is successful, you will see the following output - ALTER ROLE


12) Your password has now been reset. Now you can take a backup of the Database.
       Note: You cannot take a backup without resetting the password because it will prompt you for a password 😊

13) To take a backup run the following - 
       pg_dump.exe -Fc --host 127.0.0.1 --port 5678 --username=dbaadmin srm_db > e:\
       destination_location
 

14) Revert the changes made to the pg_hba.config file (Replace trust with md5 or just replace the file you previously backed up.

15) Restart the VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Embedded Database service.

16) Go to Add/Remove Programs, select Vmware vCenter Site Recovery Manager and click Change.


17) Be patient it takes a while to load. On the next screen select Modify and click next.

18) Enter PSC address and the username/password.


19) Accept the Certificate

20) Enter information to register the SRM extension

21) Next choose if you want to create a new certificate or to use existing. Mine was still valid so used the existing one.

22) And finally you enter the new password you reset in Step 10. 

23) Once the setup is complete. Make sure the  VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Server service started. If not, manually start it. 

Reference: A quick google search brought up the following and we also had a case open with VMware who suggested to follow the same exact blog   http://www.virtuallypeculiar.com/2018/01/resetting-site-recovery-managers.html

Thursday, March 15, 2018

VMware Stack Upgrade

I’m working on a plan to upgrade our existing VMware Stack and wanted to write a detailed post about all components involved and the order of upgrade.

Current State –

·        Primary and Recovery site with XtremIO Arrays on both ends with physical RecoverPoint appliances for array based replication.
·        vCenter Servers on both sites (with embedded Platform Services Controller) running on Windows Server 2012 R2 with an external SQL Database.
·         ESXi 6.0.0, 3825889
·         Site Recovery Manager (SRM) 6.1.1.13825
·         Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) 2.2.0.3
·         XtremIO (XIOS) 4.0.15-24, XMS 4.2.1
·         RecoverPoint (RPA) 4.4.1
·         Avamar 7.3

Future State –
·         vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 6.5 U1f
·         ESXi 6.5, 7388607
·         SRM 6.5.1, 6014840
·         SRA 2.2.0.3
·         XIOS 6.0.1, XMS 6.0.1
·         RecoverPoint (RPA) 5.1
·         Avamar 7.5

 There are numerous inter-dependencies to get to the future state.

·         Avamar 7.3 is not compatible with vCenter 6.5
·         RPA 4.4.1 is not compatible with ESXi 6.5
·         Upgrading SRM from 6.0.x to 6.5 is not supported. You have to upgrade to 6.1.x before you upgrade to 6.5 (in my case that’s not required since already running on 6.1.1.x)
·         Any vCenter upgrade will break SRM until both sides are on the same level. I have Array replication active in case of a disaster while upgrading SRM.

Prerequisites –

·         Backup of vCenter Database on primary and recovery site.
·         Backup of SRM vPostgres Database on primary and recovery sit. (Explained in detail below)
·         Primary and Recovery Site Platform Services Controller and vCenter server instances must be running.

Order of Upgrade –

·         Upgrade Avamar to 7.5
·         RPA 4.4.1 is not compatible with ESXi 6.5 hence upgrade that to RPA 5.1
·         Upgrade vCenter Server to VCSA 6.5 GA at primary site.
·         Upgrade SRM to 6.5 at primary site. Note: SRM cannot be upgraded from 6.1.1 to 6.5.1
·         Upgrade SRA at primary site – Not required since running on latest
·         vCenter Server to VCSA 6.5 GA at recovery site.
·         Upgrade SRM to 6.5 at recovery site.
·         Upgrade SRA at recovery site – Not required since running on latest.
·         Upgrade vCenter from 6.5 GA to 6.5U1g at primary site.
·         Upgrade SRM from 6.5 to 6.5.1 at primary site.
·         Upgrade vCenter Server to VCSA 6.5U1g at recovery site.
·         Upgrade SRM from 6.5 to 6.5.1 at recovery site.
·         Verify connection between SRM. Verify Protection groups and recovery plans are valid.
·         Upgrade ESXi to 6.5, 7388607 at recovery site.
·         Upgrade ESXi to 6.5, 7388607 at primary site.
·         Upgrade virtual hardware and then VMtools on Virtual Machines – Can be scheduled during the next available outage window.
·         Upgrade XIOS and XMS to 6.0.1

Backup & Restore (if required) the SRM Embedded vPostgres Database -

1)      Log into the system on which you installed Site Recovery Manager Server.
2)      Stop the Site Recovery Manager service.
3)      Navigate to the folder that contains the vPostgres commands.
4)      If you installed Site Recovery Manager Server in the default location, you find the vPostgres commands in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Embedded Database\bin.
5)      Create a backup of the embedded vPostgres database by using the pg_dump command.
pg_dump -Fc --host 127.0.0.1 --port port_number --username=db_username srm_db > srm_backup_name. To create a backup you need the admin password. We did not have the Admin password documented. Here is a link on how to reset the Admin password - http://virtuallycurious.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-case-of-forgotten-site-recovery.html
You set the port number, username, and password for the embedded vPostgres database when you installed Site Recovery Manager. The default port number is 5678. The database name is srm_db and cannot be changed.
6)      Start the Site Recovery Manager service.
7)      Restore (if things go south) by using the pg_restore command
pg_restore -Fc --host 127.0.0.1 --port port_number --username=db_username --dbname=srm_db srm_backup_name

References –

·         VMware Product Interoperability Matrices -http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/sim/interop_matrix.php
·         Update sequence for vSphere 6.5 and its compatible VMware products (2147289) - https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2147289
·         Backup and Restore the embedded vPostgres Database - https://docs.vmware.com/en/Site-Recovery-Manager/6.5/srm-install-config-6-5.pdf
·        EMC Recoverpoint SRA compatibility Matrix - https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/detail.php?deviceCategory=sra&productid=39129
·        Compatibility Matrix for SRM 6.5 - https://www.vmware.com/support/srm/srm-compat-matrix-6-5.html