I have done several successful Site Recovery Manager (SRM) deployments with configurations that use array based replication and vSphere Replication (and even both). Even though I am in no way an expert, I do have a good (though maybe not as deep as it should be) understanding of how SRM and vSphere Replication products work.
The book is short, I was able to read it cover to cover in a couple of afternoons, but it is packed with information. The author provides very clear step by step procedures, including screenshots, walking you through the process of deploying and configuring the different components required for both SRM and vSphere Replication. I especially liked the way the author walked through the different recovery options including test recovery, planned migrations, recovery, forced recovery, and re-protecting in great detail.
The book is about using SRM and vSphere Replication and does not specifically cover the design of disaster recovery and replication solutions. It does provide an overview of the SRM and the vSphere Replication architecture along with a lot of helpful tips to be used when making design decisions. Abhilash has provided several tables listing the pros and cons of the different deployment options. Through these tables and the accompanying text the author does a great job outlining the features and limitations of different deployment decisions. So even though it is not a “design” book, it does provide a nice reference for why to choose one method over another.
Another thing I really liked is Abhilash provided an outline in what he is using in his lab to create the multi-site environment. Would have been nice to see a little more detail here, but he gives you a good starting point. I have not had SRM spun up in my lab in quite awhile but reading this book has provided me with a bit of inspiration to get it set back up, specifically to review some of the new features that the latest 5.5 version of SRM and vSphere Replication provide.
