Through the use of CBT technology, failbacks to the original site are optimized to send only what has changed. If the VM is still available at the primary site, there is no need to retransmit the whole VM, just the changed portion. This reduces egress charges as things return to normal at the primary site. It also reduces the time required to return to normal by shrinking failback times as compared to transmitting an entire VM.

VxRail provides a significant advantage to organizations through the quick availability of updates. Cloud platforms apply updates with an untiring cadence to provide users with optimal environments that are patched for vulnerabilities and security risks. When failing back to the primary site, it is important that both environments are at nearly the same version to minimize the possibility of any issues. This advantage makes VxRail the optimal on-premises platform for disaster recovery. The ability to keep VxRail up to date serves an important role as part of DR. It minimizes the time IT needs to spend ‘preparing’ to return to normal operations and allows them to spend more time on the real work of returning to normal operations.

One of the considerations of returning to normal operations is how quickly the primary site can be repaired, or a new site brought online. VxRail inherently accelerates the return to normal operations, because it is a hyperconverged infrastructure. The need to focus on individual data center silos is lifted and the focus shifts to addressing a unified environment. 

By addressing the data center as a unified environment, IT can realize operational efficiencies that are unattainable with traditional siloed infrastructure. For example, there is no longer a pause as part of the hand off between infrastructure teams because those handoffs are unified as part of VxRail. This smooth transition translates to greater speed and agility when returning to normal operations.

When VxRail is coupled with the failback capabilities of VMware Cloud DR, the steps to return a site to operational status can be reduced. This reduction can allow IT staff to focus on other pressing issues that arise during a DR failback. When an organization has already been through one disaster, failback shouldn’t be another.