Protecting VMware vCenter Server Environments › How Switchover and Switchback Work › Initiate Switchback

Initiate Switchback

After a switchover is initiated, whether manually or automatically, at some point, you will want to reverse the server roles and make the original Master the active server and the Replica the standby server. Before you switch back the roles between servers, decide if you want the data on the original Replica server to overwrite the data on the original Master. If yes, you must first perform a reverse scenario, called a backward scenario.

Note: The following steps are the same regardless of server type.

To initiate manual switchback

1. Ensure that both Master and Replica servers are available on the network and that the Engine is running.
2. Open the Manager and select the desired scenario from the Scenario pane.
3. Perform one of the following:
   • If the scenario is already running, skip directly to Step 4
   • If the scenario is not running, perform these steps and then go to Step 4:
     1. Click Run on the toolbar to start the scenario.

        Arcserve RHA detects that a switchover has occurred and verifies its state and configuration. After verification completes, the Verification Results dialog appears, listing existing errors and warnings if detected, and prompting you to approve the running of the backward scenario. If desired, click the Advanced button to open an additional pane with detailed information about the hosts that participate in the scenario.

   1. Select a synchronization method from the Run dialog and click OK to start resynchronization.

   Note: See the Arcserve RHA Administration Guide for more information on Synchronization Methods.

   After resynchronization completes, you receive a message in the Event pane: All modifications during synchronization period are replicated. Now, replication from the active server to the standby server begins.

   Note: You are now ready to reverse the roles between the Master and Replica servers.

4. Click Perform Switchover on the toolbar while the scenario is running to reverse the server roles. A confirmation message appears.
5. Click Yes to clear the message and start the switchback process.

   After the switchback is completed, the server roles are reversed back and the scenario automatically stops.

   Note: The scenario will continue to run after the switchback when the Reverse Replication Initiation option is defined as Start Automatically.

You may now run the scenario again in its original (forward) state.