DRS launch settings - AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery
DRS launch settings parameters

DRS launch settings

The DRS launch settings section allows you to control a variety of server-specific settings.

DRS launch settings interface showing instance type, startup, IP, OS licensing, and server tag options.

To edit these settings for a single server, take the following steps:

  1. Go to the Source servers page.

  2. Select a source server to update.

  3. Under the Actions menu, select Edit DRS launch settings and you will be navigated to the Edit DRS launch template page within the AWS DRS console.

  4. Change the settings according to your preferences.

  5. Click Save settings.

Alternatively:

  • Go to the Source servers page.

  • Select a specific source server.

  • Go to the Launch settings tab.

  • Click Edit in the DRS launch settings section.

DRS launch settings parameters

The DRS launch settings include the following parameters:

  • Instance type right-sizing – choose whether to allow AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery to launch a drill, recovery, or failback instance type that best matches the hardware configuration of the source server. If you activate this feature, any modification you make to the instance type in the EC2 launch template will be overwritten by the service.

    • If you select the Active (basic) option, AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery will launch an AWS instance type that best matches the OS, CPU, and RAM of your source server. AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery will launch a new instance type after every change of configuration on the source server (for example, added/removed disks, added/removed RAM). Instance types are only chosen from the C5 family.

    • If you select the Active (in-aws) option, AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery will periodically update the EC2 launch template based on the hardware configuration of the EC2 instance source server.

    • If you select Inactive, AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery will launch the AWS instance type as configured in your EC2 launch template. Select this option if you want to determine the instance type that will be launched in AWS for all your drill or recovery servers.

    Important

    • The AWS instance type selected by AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery when this feature is activated will overwrite the instance type defined in your EC2 launch template.

    • Hardware changes and the resulting AWS instance type change may take up to 90 minutes to be processed by AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery.

    The right-sizing instance type selected by AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery will be featured on the Server details tab.

  • Start instance upon launching – Choose whether you want to start your drill and recovery instances automatically upon launch or whether you want to launch them in a stopped state.

    If you choose No, you will have to start the drill or recovery AWS instance manually from the EC2 Console.

  • Copy Private IP – Choose whether you want AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery to ensure that the private IP used by the drill or recovery instance matches the private IP used by the source server. AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery will monitor the source server on an hourly basis to identify the private IP and will use the private IP of the primary network interface.

    The No option is chosen by default. Choose No if you do not want the private IP of the drill or recovery instance to match that of the source machine.

    Choose Yes if you want to use a private IP. The IP will be shown in brackets next to the option.

    Note

    • If you choose Yes, ensure that the IP range of the subnet you set in the EC2 launch template includes the private IP address.

    • If the both the source server and the drill or recovery instance share the same subnet though a VPN, then the source private IP is already in use, and the Copy private IP option should not be used.

    Copy private IP will be deactivated if you set a value for Launch into instance ID, as this setting cannot affect an already launched instance.

  • Transfer server tags – Choose whether you want AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery to transfer any user-configured custom tags from your source servers onto your drill or recovery instance. These tags are attached to all source servers, all launched drill and recovery instances, and all of the ephemeral resources that are created on your AWS Account during the normal operation of AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery. Transfer server tags only copies tags associated with the source servers in the AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery console, and does not copy the EC2 source server tags (in case of AWS to AWS DR implementation).

    These resources include:

    • EC2 instances

    • Conversion groups

    • Security groups

    • EBS volumes

    • Snapshots

    Note

    • AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery automatically adds system tags to all resources.

    • Tags that are added on the EC2 launch template will take precedence over tags that are transferred directly from the source server.

    You can always add tags from the Amazon EC2 console as described in this Amazon EC2 article.

    Transfer server tags will be deactivated if you set a value for Launch into instance ID, as this setting cannot affect an already launched instance.

  • Launch into instance ID - Configure an existing instance ID to launch into, instead of creating a new instance. This field allows to select an EC2 instance from the list of EC2 instances available in this region. The EC2 instance to launch into must have a tag with key AWSDRS and value AllowLaunchingIntoThisInstance to appear in the list, and it must be stopped prior to launching into it. When this value is set, the Transfer server tags and Copy private IP settings will be deactivated, as they cannot apply to an already launched instance.

    Note

    For the instance to appear and perform as a recovery instance in DRS and allow to run post-launch actions on it, it needs to have an instance profile that includes the policies AWSElasticDisasterRecoveryRecoveryInstancePolicy and AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore. The role AWSElasticDisasterRecoveryRecoveryInstanceWithLaunchActionsRole, installed from the Default post-launch actions settings page if not already present, contains these policies and can be used as an instance profile.

    The launch into an instance will fail if the following pre-requisites are not met:

    1. The instance to launch into must have the required tag with key AWSDRS and value AllowLaunchingIntoThisInstance.

    2. The instance to launch into has been stopped.

    3. The instance to launch into must have the same operating systems platform (Linux or Windows) as that of the server it is protecting.

    4. If the instance to launch into is a Linux it must have the BIOS boot mode, and if Windows it must have the same boot mode as that of the server it is protecting.

    5. The instance to launch into must have the x86_64 architecture, HVM virtualization and an EBS root device.

    6. OS licensing can only be Bring Your Own License (BYOL) if the instance’s platform is Linux or if the instance’s tenancy is dedicated host.

    7. Transfer server tags and Copy private IP must be deactivated (this is done automatically when Launch into instance ID is set via the console).

  • OS licensing – Choose whether you want to Bring Your Own Licenses (BYOL) from the source server into the drill or recovery instance.

    The Use default option will use the default licensing mechanism for your operating system.

    Choose BYOL if:

    • You are migrating a Linux server. All Linux licenses are BYOL by default. Any RHEL, SUSE, or Debian licenses will be transferred in their current form to the recovered instance. Make sure that the terms of your licenses allow this license transfer.

    • You want to BYOL your Windows licenses. This will set up a dedicated host through which all the licenses from the Windows source server will be automatically transferred to the drill or recovery instance.

    Important

    If you activate BYOL licensing for Windows, you have to change the Placement.tenancy type in the EC2 launch template to Host. Otherwise, instance launch will fail.

    Note