StorPool Disaster Recovery Engine

What StorPool Disaster Recovery Engine is

StorPool Disaster Recovery Engine (DRE) helps recover KVM virtual machines in cloud environments, with recovery points replicated between sites. It is included with every StorPool license at no additional cost. Per-VM policies create recovery points, while VolumeCare manages atomic storage snapshots and replication between zones. DRE can automate failover and failback, but a person must initiate those actions. Its REST API supports operations such as listing recovery points, retrieving metadata, and reverting a VM.

Supported protection models include active-passive, active-active, many-to-one, and multi-site mesh. DRE is compatible with OpenStack, CloudStack, OpenNebula, and Proxmox. StorPool must be installed at both sites, and both sites must run the same cloud management platform. Environments connected to StorPool over iSCSI are unsupported. The StorPool Storage license uses custom-quote, pay-as-you-grow pricing based on data saved, excluding redundant replicas. StorPool describes its managed service as including remote installation, initial configuration, and 24x7 support. It says transfers between separate clusters are encrypted by default and that its management systems have been audited against ISO 9001:2015 and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 requirements.

Who it suits

It suits public or private cloud builders, hosting providers, and managed service providers running KVM virtual machines with StorPool at primary and recovery sites. Both sites must use the same supported cloud management platform.

Limits

DRE is included with a StorPool license, whose pay-as-you-grow pricing is based on data saved, excluding redundant replicas. It requires StorPool at both sites and the same cloud management platform at each; iSCSI-connected environments are unsupported.

Getting started

1. Visit the StorPool website to discuss the Storage license.
2. Install StorPool at the primary and recovery sites.
3. Run the same compatible cloud management platform at both sites.
4. Set per-VM replication policies and recovery points.
5. Arrange remote installation and initial configuration through StorPool’s managed service, if needed.

Verdict

DRE adds replicated recovery points and operator-initiated failover and failback for supported KVM cloud environments. Its usefulness depends on meeting the two-site and platform requirements, and StorPool license pricing is quote-based.