vSphere Replication for Disaster
Recovery to Cloud
vSphere Replication 5.8
This document supports the version of each product listed and
supports all subsequent versions until the document is
replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of
this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
EN-001502-01
vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:
hp://www.vmware.com/support/
The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.
If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:
docfeedback@vmware.com
Copyright © 2014, 2015 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark information.
VMware, Inc.
3401 Hillview Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94304
www.vmware.com
2 VMware, Inc.
Contents
About vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud Documentation 5
Updated Information 7
About Disaster Recovery to Cloud 9
1
Disaster Recovery to Cloud System Requirements and Compatibility 11
2
Roles and Permissions that Disaster Recovery to Cloud Requires 11
Installing and Conguring vSphere Replication to Cloud 13
3
Installing vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud 13
Upgrading from Earlier Product Versions 14
How vSphere Replication Connects to Cloud 14
Conguring the Connection to the Cloud 16
Congure NTP Synchronisation in Your Environment 20
Replicating Virtual Machines to Cloud 21
4
Congure a Replication to Cloud for a Single Virtual Machine 21
Congure a Cloud Replication Task for Multiple Virtual Machines 23
Using Replication Seeds 25
Reconguring Replications to the Cloud 27
5
Recongure a Replication to Cloud 27
Monitoring and Managing Replication Tasks 29
6
States of Replication Tasks 29
Pause or Resume a Replication Task 30
Stop a Replication Task 30
Recovering Virtual Machines to Cloud 33
7
Test Recovery to Cloud 33
Planned Migration to Cloud 34
Troubleshooting vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud 37
8
vSphere Replication UI is Missing After a vCenter Server Upgrade 37
Index 39
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
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About vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud Documentation
The Disaster Recovery to Cloud Documentation supplements the vSphere Replication Administration document to
provide information about conguring your instance of vSphere Replication to allow replications to and
from cloud.
In addition, this documentation includes reference information about user roles and permissions that the
vCloud Air Disaster Recovery service requires, and procedures on conguring, monitoring, and managing
replications to and from cloud.
Intended Audience
This information is intended for anyone who wants to use vSphere Replication to replicate virtual machines
from their vSphere environment to clouds managed by vCloud Air. The information is wrien for
experienced Windows and Linux system administrators who are familiar with virtual machines technology,
virtual networks, and datacenter operations.
VMware Technical Publications Glossary
VMware Technical Publications provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. For denitions
of terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation, go to
hp://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
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Updated Information
This vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery document is updated with each release of the product or when
necessary.
This table provides the update history of the vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery document.
Revision Description
001502-01 Updated topic Chapter 1, “About Disaster Recovery to Cloud,” on page 9 to clarify that
vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery works with vCloud Air.
001502-00 Initial release.
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
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About Disaster Recovery to Cloud 1
You can subscribe to the VMware vCloud® Air™ Disaster Recovery service to protect your vSphere
workloads.
vCloud Air Disaster Recovery lets administrators of small sites to protect their vSphere virtual workloads
from a wide class of disasters by replicating those workloads into the cloud. vCloud Air Disaster Recovery
uses the host-based replication feature of vSphere Replication to copy the protected source virtual machines
into the infrastructure of the cloud provider. If a disaster occurs, the vCloud Air Disaster Recovery servers
can convert the replicated data into vApps and virtual machines in the cloud.
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
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Disaster Recovery to Cloud System
Requirements and Compatibility 2
To enable replications to the cloud, your environment must meet certain requirements in terms of additional
conguration and specic versions of the VMware products that you use.
System Requirements
Disaster Recovery to Cloud has the same requirements to the environment as vSphere Replication. In
addition, Disaster Recovery to Cloud requires that ports 10000 to 10010 of ESXi hosts are open for outgoing
trac . The required ports are open automatically when you install a VIB on each supported ESXi host in the
environment where the vSphere Replication appliance is deployed. See “How vSphere Replication Connects
to Cloud,” on page 14.
Product Compatibility
Replications to the cloud require that you run certain versions of VMware products on the source site and
on the target site. Your cloud provider ensures that the target environment is congured for replications to
cloud. You must verify that you run a supported version of the following products on the source site.
Table 2‑1. Compatible Product Versions on the Source Site for Replications to the Cloud
Product Supported Version
vSphere Replication appliance 5.6
ESXi host 5.0, 5.1, and 5.5
vCenter Server 5.1 and 5.5
vSphere Web Client 5.1 and 5.5
Roles and Permissions that Disaster Recovery to Cloud Requires
Replications to the cloud require certain users, roles, and permissions.
vSphere Web Client
On the vSphere side, you need the same credentials as the ones required for vSphere Replication. See topic
vSphere Replication Roles Reference in the VMware vSphere Replication Administration document.
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
vCloud User Credentials
When you create a connection to the target virtual data center, you provide two pairs of credentials.
Connection Credentials
System Monitoring
Credentials
Used to authenticate within the cloud organization, these credentials initiate
a user session with your cloud provider. The privileges for your user account
are managed by your cloud provider.
com.vmware.hcs.{com.vmware.hcs}:ManageRight
n
com.vmware.hcs.{com.vmware.hcs}:ViewRight
n
Organization.View Organization Networks
n
Organization.View Organizations
n
Organization VDC.View Organization VDCs
n
Credentials to the cloud are required for each target site, once per user
session, and not per operation in the vSphere Web Client. When the
authenticated user session to a target site expires, users are prompted to
input their credentials again.
Used at runtime to let the source and the target site communicate. These
credentials are stored in the vSphere Replication appliance on the source site.
The user that you provide should be assigned the vSphere Replication role,
or the following rights in your cloud organization .
com.vmware.hcs.{com,vmware.hcs}:ManageRight
n
com.vmware.hcs.{com,vmware.hcs}:ViewRight
n
Organization.View Organization Networks
n
Organization.View Organizations
n
Organization VDC.View Organization VDCs
n
Although you can use the same credentials for both connection and system monitoring, a good practice is to
use dierent pairs of credentials.
12 VMware, Inc.
Installing and Configuring
vSphere Replication to Cloud 3
Before you congure replications to the cloud, you must deploy the vSphere Replication appliance on the
source site and set up your environment to enable connections to the cloud.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“Installing vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud,” on page 13
n
“Upgrading from Earlier Product Versions,” on page 14
n
“How vSphere Replication Connects to Cloud,” on page 14
n
“Conguring the Connection to the Cloud,” on page 16
n
“Congure NTP Synchronisation in Your Environment,” on page 20
n
Installing vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
vSphere Replication is distributed as an OVF virtual appliance.
You deploy vSphere Replication by using the vSphere OVF deployment wizard.
Depending on the version of the vCenter Server on which you install vSphere Replication, the deployment
procedure might vary.
Table 3‑1. vSphere Replication Deployment Procedures
vCenter Server Version vSphere Replication Deployment Procedure
vCenter Server 5.1 See topic Deploy the vSphere Replication Virtual
Appliance in the vSphere Replication 5.1 Administration
document.
vCenter Server 5.5 See topic Deploy the vSphere Replication Virtual
Appliance in the vSphere Replication Administration
document.
I In these procedures, the steps for installing vSphere Replication on the target site concern
vCenter Server to vCenter Server replications. If you intend to use vSphere Replication only for replications
to cloud, do not aempt to install vSphere Replication on the target site. Your cloud provider ensures that
the target site is congured for replications to cloud.
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
Upgrading from Earlier Product Versions
You can upgrade vSphere Replication 5.5.x and 5.6 to vSphere Replication 5.8.
To upgrade a previously installed version of vSphere Replication to vSphere Replication for
Disaster Recovery to Cloud, you must mount the vSphere Replication ISO le in your environment and
apply the update through the virtual appliance administration interface (VAMI) on port 5480. See Upgrade
vSphere Replication by Using the Downloadable ISO Image.
If you upgrade to vSphere Replication 5.8 while the appliance is running on a vCenter Server 5.1.x, and later
upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5.x, the vSphere Replication user interface might disappear from the
vSphere Web Client. See “vSphere Replication UI is Missing After a vCenter Server Upgrade,” on page 37.
How vSphere Replication Connects to Cloud
When you create a connection to the cloud, the vCloud Tunneling Agent in the vSphere Replication
appliance creates a tunnel to secure the transfer of replication data to your cloud Organization.
When a tunnel is created, the vCloud Tunneling Agent opens a port on the vSphere Replication appliance.
ESXi hosts connect to that port to send replication data to a cloud organization. The port is picked randomly
from a congurable range. The default port range is 10000-10010 TCP.
By default, ports 10000-10010 are not open on ESXi hosts. When you power on the vSphere Replication
appliance, a vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB) is installed on all supported ESXi hosts in the vCenter Server
inventory where the appliance is deployed. The VIB creates a rewall rule, Replication-to-Cloud Trac, that
opens TCP ports 10000 to 10010 for outgoing trac. The rule is enabled automatically and takes eect
immediately when you power on the vSphere Replication appliance, or when a host is registered or
connected in the vCenter Server. If an administrator removes the VIB from a host, for example by using the
esxcli utility, the vSphere Replication appliance reinstalls the VIB the next time you restart the appliance or
when a host is restarted or reconnected to the inventory. If you do not want ports 10000 to 10010 to be open
on an ESXi host, and if you do not plan to use this host as a replication source, you can disable the
Replication-to-Cloud Trac rule. See Allow or Deny Access to an ESXi Service or Management Agent with
the vSphere Web Client.
To reduce the number of open ports or to change the ports that are used for communication between ESXi
hosts and the vCloud Tunneling Agent, you can create a custom rewall rule and recongure the agent.
Change the Cloud Tunnel Ports on ESXi Hosts
When you power on the vSphere Replication appliance, it automatically congures all ESXi hosts in your
environment to open TCP ports 10000-10010 for outgoing data transfers.
The vCloud Tunneling Agent in the vSphere Replication appliance uses ports 10000-10010 to receive data
from ESXi instances that host replication sources.
If you do not want to have unused open ports on your ESXi hosts, if the number of open ports is insucient,
or if you want to change which ports are open, you can recongure your rewall seings.
To change the default ports that are used to transfer replication data from ESXi hosts to the vCloud
Tunneling Agent, you must congure each ESXi instance that hosts a replication source virtual machine, and
the vCloud Tunneling Agent.
Procedure
1 Disable the default Replication-to-cloud rule that is created by the vSphere Replication
appliance.
For detailed procedure, see Allow or Deny Access to an ESXi Service or Management Agent with the
vSphere Web Client.
14 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 3 Installing and Configuring vSphere Replication to Cloud
2 Create a custom rewall rule on each ESXi server that hosts replication source machines.
See Creating custom rewall rules in VMware ESXi 5.0 (KB 2008226).
3 Enable the custom rewall rule that you created on each ESXi host.
See Allow or Deny Access to an ESXi Service or Management Agent with the vSphere Web Client.
What to do next
Congure the vCloud Tunneling Agent to use the ports that you congured on ESXi hosts.
Customize the Ports that vSphere Replication Uses for Tunneling
By default, the vCloud Tunneling Agent in the vSphere Replication appliance is congured to use TCP ports
ranging between 10000 and 10010 to create tunnels to the cloud. All ESXi instances that might host
replication source virtual machines must have their rewall congured to allow outgoing trac on these
ports.
For each tunnel to cloud, the vCloud Tunneling Agent allocates one unique port from the specied range.
You can recongure ESXi hosts and the vCloud Tunneling Agent to reduce the number of open ports or to
change the ports that are used to create tunnels to cloud.
After you recongure the ESXi hosts to use custom ports, you must congure the vCloud Tunneling Agent
to use the same custom ports.
Prerequisites
Verify that the ports you selected to use for cloud tunnels are open for outgoing trac on all ESXi
n
servers that host replication sources.
Verify that you know the IP address of the vSphere Replication appliance in your environment. To
n
check the IP address of the vSphere Replication appliance, select the vCenter Server in the inventory
tree, navigate to the Manage tab, click vSphere Replication, and click About.
Verify that you have root user credentials for the vSphere Replication appliance.
n
To enable SSH connections, verify that you have not disabled TCP port 22 on the vSphere Replication
n
appliance.
Procedure
1 Use a TCP client to connect to the vSphere Replication appliance and log in as the root user.
2 Run the following command to congure the ports for tunnel connections.
/opt/vmware/vcta/bin/cell-management-tool
configure-vcta-server -prl LOW -prh HIGH
Where LOW and HIGH dene the range of ports to be used for tunnel connections. To use only one
port, type the port number as the value for LOW and HIGH.
For example, the following command congures the vCloud Tunneling Agent to use only port 10001.
/opt/vmware/vcta/bin/cell-management-tool
configure-vcta-server -prl 10001 -prh 10001
N You can designate any free TCP port in your environment for the communication between ESXi
hosts and the vCloud Tunneling Agent, but you must verify that all ESXi hosts and the vCloud
Tunneling Agent are congured to use the same ports.
3 Run the following command to restart the vCloud Tunneling Agent.
service vmware-vcd restart
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
Configuring the Connection to the Cloud
In addition to installing and conguring the vSphere Replication appliance, you must congure the
connection to your cloud provider.
You can congure a connection to the cloud provider before you start the Congure Replication wizard or
while you congure a replication task.
Connect to a Cloud Provider Site
Before you congure replication tasks to the cloud, you congure the connections between your vSphere
environment and virtual data centers that belong to your cloud organizations.
You can connect a vCenter Server to multiple virtual data centers, and a virtual data center can be connected
to multiple vCenter Server instances. However, you can have only one connection between a source
vCenter Server and a target virtual data center.
Prerequisites
Verify that you have user credentials for a cloud organization in which vCloud Air is enabled. Your cloud
provider enables the Disaster Recovery to Cloud service per your contract.
Procedure
1
On the vSphere Replication tab under Manage, click the cloud connection icon .
The Connect to a Cloud Provider wizard opens.
2 On the Connection seings page, type the address of your cloud provider, the organization name, and
credentials to authenticate with the cloud.
By default, vSphere Replication uses these credentials to establish a user session to the cloud and for
system monitoring purposes. To enable system monitoring, these credentials will be stored in the
vSphere Replication appliance, unless you select to use another user account for system monitoring.
3 (Optional) If you do not want to store the credentials that you used for authentication, select the Use a
account for system monitoring check box, and type the credentials to be used for system
monitoring.
These credentials are encrypted and stored in the vSphere Replication database.
4 Click Next.
The Connect to a Cloud Provider wizard displays a list of virtual data centers to which you can connect.
If a virtual data center is already connected to the vCenter Server, that data center does not appear in
the list.
5 From the list of virtual data centers, select a target for the connection and click Next.
6 Review your seings and click Finish.
The connection to the cloud organization appears in the list of target sites. The status of the connection is
Missing network settings.
What to do next
Select the networks on the target site that vSphere Replication must use for recovery operations. See “Select
Recovery Networks on the Target Virtual Data Center,” on page 17
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Chapter 3 Installing and Configuring vSphere Replication to Cloud
Select Recovery Networks on the Target Virtual Data Center
To nalize the conguration of a connection to the target site, you must specify the networks that the
Disaster Recovery to Cloud service should use for tests and recovery operations.
When you add a new connection to the cloud, at rst it appears in Missing network settings status.
When you subscribe to the Disaster Recovery to Cloud service, VMware automatically creates two default
networks for your service—an isolated network and an external routed network. The Edge Gateway for the
routed network has a public IP address on an external interface so that it is accessible through the Internet.
You can use these networks for your virtual machines protected by the Disaster Recovery to Cloud service,
or create other networks in your cloud organization.
When you run a test recovery, vSphere Replication congures the replicated virtual machine on the target
site to connect to the test network. This lets you access the target virtual machine and verify that it operates
as expected and that data is replicated correctly per your replication seings.
The recovery network is used when you perform planned migrations and recovery operations.
vSphere Replication congures the replicated virtual machine on the target site and connects it to the
recovery network, so that you can have access.
Although you can use the same network for all recovery workows, a good practice is to run test recoveries
in a separate network.
N You can congure only one pair of networks for a cloud virtual data center.
Prerequisites
Verify that you created a connection to a cloud virtual data center. See “Connect to a Cloud Provider Site,”
on page 16.
Procedure
1
On the vSphere Replication tab under Manage, click the target network seings icon .
If your user session to the cloud has expired, the Congure Target Networks wizard prompts you to
type your credentials.
2 From the drop-down menus, select a recovery network and a test network and click Next.
The drop-down menus display only the networks that are congured for vCloud Hybrid Service.
3 On the Ready to complete page, review your seings and click Finish.
What to do next
When you test a replication or perform a recovery operation, vCloud Air automatically aaches the virtual
machine to the test or recovery network respectively.
Cloud Connection States Displayed in the vSphere Web Client
In the vSphere Web Client, on the vSphere Replication tab under Manage, you can check the status of
connections between your vSphere environment and the virtual data centers on the remote site.
The following table lists the states that you can observe, their meanings, and what you can do to change a
state back to normal.
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
Table 3‑2. Connection States
Icon Status Description Remediation
Connected The connection between
Not authenticated The remote site is online,
the source site and the
target site is working
properly.
but your user session to the
cloud has expired.
In this state, you need to
provide credentials to
manage replication tasks.
Already congured
replications are running in
the background.
Not needed.
1 Select the cloud
organization that
indicates the Not
authenticated status.
2 Click the Reconnect icon
above the list of
target sites.
3 Click Yes to conrm.
4 In the Reconnect Sites
dialog box, type the
credentials for the
remove site and click
OK.
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Chapter 3 Installing and Configuring vSphere Replication to Cloud
Table 3‑2. Connection States (Continued)
Icon Status Description Remediation
Missing network seings You have not selected the
networks to use for
recovery and test recovery
operations on the target
site.
In this state, when you start
the congure replication
wizard, you are prompted
to congure the networks
on the target site rst.
Connection issue
The SSL certicate on
n
the remote site has
been changed.
The network
n
connection between the
source site and the
target site is not
functioning properly,
or the remote site is
oine.
The cloud user that is
n
used for connection or
system monitoring
might be disabled or
deleted.
In this state, congured
replications might not be
running.
Congure the network
seings .
1 Select the cloud
organization that
indicates the Missing
network settings
status.
2 Click the network
conguration icon
above the list of target
sites.
3 Select both a recovery
network and a test
network and click Next.
4 On the Ready to
complete page, verify
that you selected the
correct networks and
click Finish.
Select the cloud
n
organization that
indicates the
Connection issue
status and click the
Reconnect icon .
If the SSL certicate on
the remote site has
changed, the thumbprint
of the new certicate is
displayed for you to
conrm.
In the inventory tree,
n
click the vCenter Server
and navigate to the
Events tab under
Monitor to search for
events related to
vSphere Replication.
Contact your cloud
n
provider to verify the
status of the remote site.
Reconnect to a Cloud Provider Site
If the state of a connection to cloud is Not authenticated, your user session to the target virtual data center
has expired.
Procedure
1 Select the cloud organization for which a Not authenticated state is displayed.
2
Click the Reconnect icon above the list of target sites.
3 Click Yes to conrm.
4 In the Reconnect Sites dialog box, type the credentials for the remote site and click OK.
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
The connection state changes to Connected.
Configure NTP Synchronisation in Your Environment
To ensure that logs on the source site are easily correlated with the logs on the cloud site, you must
synchronize the time on the vSphere Replication appliance in your environment with an NTP server.
By default, the vSphere Replication appliance is synchronized with the ESXi host on which it resides. If the
ESXi host is synchronized with an NTP server, you do not have to congure the vSphere Replication
appliance.
Procedure
1 If the ESXi host on which the vSphere Replication appliance resides is not synchronized with an NTP
server, congure NTP synchronization on the vSphere Replication appliance.
a In the vSphere inventory tree, locate the vSphere Replication appliance, right click and select Edit
.
b On the VM Options tab, click VMware Tools.
c Deselect the Synchronize guest time with host check box.
d To congure the vSphere Replication appliance to synchronize with an NTP server, edit
the /etc/ntp.conf le to enter the address of an NTP server, and run the service ntp start
command in the command line utility.
2 Congure the vCenter Server on the source site to synchronize with an NTP server.
20 VMware, Inc.
Replicating Virtual Machines to Cloud 4
You can congure replications from vSphere environments to cloud for a single virtual machine or for
multiple virtual machines.
To replicate virtual machines to cloud, you must deploy the vSphere Replication 5.6 appliance at the source
site, and your cloud provider must enable replications to the cloud in your cloud organization.
The source and target sites must be connected so that you can congure replications. Though you can create
connections to the cloud while you congure replications, the good practice is to create cloud connections
before you start the Congure Replication wizard. See “Connect to a Cloud Provider Site,” on page 16.
To avoid copying big volumes of data between the source site and the cloud over a network connection, you
can create replication seeds on the target site and congure replication tasks to use them. See “Using
Replication Seeds,” on page 25.
For each replication task, you can set a recovery point objective (RPO) to a certain time interval depending
on your data protection needs. vSphere Replication applies all changes made to replication source virtual
machines to their replicas on the target site. This process reoccurs at the RPO interval that you set.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“Congure a Replication to Cloud for a Single Virtual Machine,” on page 21
n
“Congure a Cloud Replication Task for Multiple Virtual Machines,” on page 23
n
“Using Replication Seeds,” on page 25
n
Configure a Replication to Cloud for a Single Virtual Machine
To start replicating virtual machines to your cloud organization, you congure replication from the source
site by using the vSphere Web Client.
When you congure replication, you set a recovery point objective (RPO) to determine the period of time
between replications. For example, an RPO of 1 hour seeks to ensure that a virtual machine loses no more
than 1 hour of data during the recovery. For smaller RPOs, less data is lost in a recovery, but more network
bandwidth is consumed keeping the replica up to date.
Every time that a virtual machine reaches its RPO target, vSphere Replication records approximately 3800
bytes of data in the vCenter Server events database. If you set a low RPO period, this can quickly create a
large volume of data in the database. To avoid creating large volumes of data in the vCenter Server events
database, limit the number of days that vCenter Server retains event data. See Congure Database Retention
Policy in the vCenter Server and Host Management Guide. Alternatively, set a higher RPO value.
vSphere Replication guarantees crash consistency amongst all the disks that belong to a virtual machine. If
you use VSS quiescing, you might obtain a higher level of consistency. The available quiescing types are
determined by the virtual machine's operating system. See Compatibility Matrixes for vSphere Replication
5.8 for Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) quiescing support for Windows virtual machines.
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
Prerequisites
Verify that the vSphere Replication appliance is deployed in your environment.
n
Verify that the Disaster Recovery to Cloud service is enabled in your environment and in the target
n
cloud organization.
Congure a connection to the cloud organization to which you want to replicate data. See “Connect to a
n
Cloud Provider Site,” on page 16.
If you plan to use replication seeds, verify that you read and understand the information in topic
n
“Using Replication Seeds,” on page 25.
Procedure
1 On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates.
2 In the inventory tree, right-click the virtual machine that you want to replicate and select All vSphere
Replication Actions > Replication.
The Congure Replication wizard opens.
3 Select Replicate to a cloud provider and click Next.
4 Select the target site to which you want to replicate the virtual machine.
If you have created a connection to the cloud provider, select the target virtual datacenter from the
n
list and click Next.
If the status of the connection is Not authenticated, you must provide credentials to authenticate
with the cloud organization. If you have not selected which networks on the target site to use for
recovery operations, you are prompted to.
If you have not created a connection to the cloud provider, click New Provider VDC and click
n
Next.
Follow the on-screen prompts to connect to the target cloud organization.
5 On the Target location page, select where to store replication data.
Option Procedure
Use storage policy
Use replication seeds
From the drop-down menu, select the storage policy to use for replication
placement and click Next.
a Click Next to navigate to the list of available seed vApps on the target
site.
b Select a seed vApp from the list, and click Next.
N If you remove a disk from a replication source virtual machine, the
seed disk is not deleted from the datastore on the target site.
6 (Optional) On the Replication options page, select the quiescing method for the guest operating system
of the source virtual machine.
N Quiescing options are available only for virtual machines that support quiescing.
7 On the Recovery seings page, use the RPO slider or the time spinners to set the acceptable period for
which data can be lost in the case of a site failure.
The available RPO range is from 15 minutes to 24 hours.
8 Click Next.
9 On the Ready to complete page, review the replication seings, and click Finish.
22 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Replicating Virtual Machines to Cloud
A virtual machine conguration task appears in the Recent Tasks list in the upper right of the
vSphere Web Client. A progress bar indicates that the source virtual machine is being congured for
replication.
If the conguration completes successfully, the replication task that you created appears in the list of
outgoing replications on the vSphere Replication tab under Monitor.
If the source virtual machine is powered on, the initial sync-up operation starts after the conguration . If
the source virtual machine is powered o, the initial sync starts when you power on the virtual machine.
What to do next
On the vSphere Replication tab under Monitor, you can check the status of each replication. See “States of
Replication Tasks,” on page 29.
You can click a replication task in the list and use the tabs in the boom of the vSphere Web Client to view
details about the replication, the recovery status, and the latest performed test, if test results are not cleaned
up yet.
Configure a Cloud Replication Task for Multiple Virtual Machines
To congure batches of virtual machines for replication to the cloud, you can select multiple virtual
machines and start the Congure Replication wizard.
When you congure replication, you set a recovery point objective (RPO) to determine the period of time
between replications. For example, an RPO of 1 hour seeks to ensure that a virtual machine loses no more
than 1 hour of data during the recovery. For smaller RPOs, less data is lost in a recovery, but more network
bandwidth is consumed keeping the replica up to date.
Every time that a virtual machine reaches its RPO target, vSphere Replication records approximately 3800
bytes of data in the vCenter Server events database. If you set a low RPO period, this can quickly create a
large volume of data in the database. To avoid creating large volumes of data in the vCenter Server events
database, limit the number of days that vCenter Server retains event data. See Congure Database Retention
Policy in the vCenter Server and Host Management Guide. Alternatively, set a higher RPO value.
vSphere Replication guarantees crash consistency amongst all the disks that belong to a virtual machine. If
you use VSS quiescing, you might obtain a higher level of consistency. The available quiescing types are
determined by the virtual machine's operating system. See Compatibility Matrixes for vSphere Replication
5.8 for Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) quiescing support for Windows virtual machines.
Prerequisites
Verify that the vSphere Replication appliance is deployed in your environment.
n
Verify that the Disaster Recovery to Cloud service is enabled in your environment and in the target
n
cloud organization.
Congure a connection to the cloud organization to which you want to replicate data. See “Connect to a
n
Cloud Provider Site,” on page 16.
If you plan to use replication seeds, verify that you read and understand the information in topic
n
“Using Replication Seeds,” on page 25.
Procedure
1 On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates.
2 Select a data center, navigate to the Related Objects tab, and click the Virtual Machines tab.
3 Use the Ctrl and Shift keys to select the virtual machines for which you want to congure replications.
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
4 Right-click the virtual machines and select All vSphere Replication Actions > Replication.
The Congure Replication wizard opens and Disaster Recovery to Cloud validates the virtual machines
that can be congured for replication.
5 Verify the validation results and click Next.
6 Select Replicate to a cloud provider and click Next.
7 Select the target site to which you want to replicate the virtual machine.
If you have created a connection to the cloud provider, select the target virtual datacenter from the
n
list and click Next.
If the status of the connection is Not authenticated, you must provide credentials to authenticate
with the cloud organization. If you have not selected which networks on the target site to use for
recovery operations, you are prompted to.
If you have not created a connection to the cloud provider, click New Provider VDC and click
n
Next.
Follow the on-screen prompts to connect to the target cloud organization.
8 On the Target location page, select where to store replication data.
Option Procedure
Use storage policy
Use replication seeds
9 (Optional) On the Replication options page, select the quiescing method for the guest operating system
of the source virtual machine.
From the drop-down menu, select the storage policy to use for replication
placement and click Next.
a Select the storage policy to use for virtual machines without seeds.
b Select the Use replication seeds check box and click Next.
c On the Replication seed page, assign seed vApps to source virtual
machines, and click Next.
For all source virtual machines that do not have a seed vApp assigned,
vSphere Replication applies the storage policy that you selected from
the drop-down menu on the Target location page.
N If you remove a disk from a replication source virtual machine, the
seed disk is not deleted from the datastore on the target site.
N Quiescing options are available only for virtual machines that support quiescing.
10 On the Recovery seings page, use the RPO slider or the time spinners to set the acceptable period for
which data can be lost in the case of a site failure.
The available RPO range is from 15 minutes to 24 hours.
11 Click Next.
12 On the Ready to complete page, review the replication seings, and click Finish.
For each source virtual machine, a conguration task appears in the Recent Tasks list in the upper right of
the vSphere Web Client. A progress bar indicates that the source virtual machine is being congured for
replication.
For each source virtual machine that is congured successfully, a replication task appears on the vSphere
Replication tab under Monitor.
For source virtual machines that are powered on, the initial sync operation starts after the conguration. For
source virtual machine that are powered o, the initial sync starts when you power on the virtual machines.
24 VMware, Inc.
What to do next
On the vSphere Replication tab under Monitor, you can check the status of each replication. See “States of
Replication Tasks,” on page 29.
You can click a replication task in the list and use the tabs in the boom of the vSphere Web Client to view
details about the replication, the recovery status, and the latest performed test, if test results are not cleaned
up yet.
Using Replication Seeds
For each new replication that you congure, an initial full sync operation is performed. During initial full
sync, vSphere Replication copies the whole data from the source virtual machine to a placeholder vApp on
the target site.
If the source virtual machine is too big, or the bandwidth of your network connection to the cloud is too low,
the initial full sync might take a long time. Therefore, you might choose to copy the source virtual machine
to the target site by using removable media, or other means of data transfer. Then you can congure a
replication and use the virtual machine copy on the target site as a replication seed. When a replication is
congured to use a seed vApp, vSphere Replication does not copy the whole source virtual machine to the
target site. Instead, it copies to the seed vApp only the dierent blocks between the source virtual machine
and the seed.
Chapter 4 Replicating Virtual Machines to Cloud
N vSphere Replication stores the replication data in the seed vApp. No copies of the seed vApp are
created. Therefore, a seed vApp can be used for only one replication.
Creating Seed vApps in the Cloud
Seed vApps on the target site can be created in the following ways.
Oine data transfer: You can export a virtual machine as an OVF package and let a vCloud Hybrid
n
Service administrator import the package in your cloud organization.
Clone a virtual machine: A virtual machine in the org virtual data center can be cloned to create a seed
n
vApp. vSphere Replication calculates checksum and exchanges the dierent blocks from the replication
source to the seed vApp.
Copy over the network: A source virtual machine can be copied to the cloud organization by using
n
means other than vSphere Replication to copy the initial source data to the target site.
N The size and number of disks, and their assignment to disk controllers and bus nodes must match
between the replication source and the seed virtual machine. For example, if the replication source machine
has two disks of 2 GB each, one of them assigned to SCSI controller 0 at bus number 0, and the second one
assigned to SCSI controller 1 at bus number 2, the seed vApp that you use must have exactly the same
hardware conguration - 2 disks of 2 GB each, at SCSI 0:0 and at SCSI 1:2.
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26 VMware, Inc.
Reconfiguring Replications to the
Cloud 5
You can recongure cloud replication tasks to change the quiescing method for the guest operating system,
the RPO, and other parameters of the replication.
Reconfigure a Replication to Cloud
You recongure a replication to change the RPO seings, the number of replication instances to keep, or the
quiescing method that is applied when synchronizing the replication source virtual machine to your cloud
organization.
Cloud replications appear in the Outgoing Replications list on the vSphere Replication tab under Monitor.
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Replication Home page, click the Monitor tab, and click Outgoing Replications.
2
Select the cloud replication that you want to recongure and click the replication icon ,
or right-click the replication source virtual machine and select All vSphere Replication Actions >
.
The reconguration wizard opens.
3 If the connection to the cloud organization has expired, type your user credentials and click Next to
reconnect.
4 (Optional) To recongure the quiescing method, use the drop-down menu on the Replication options
page and click Next.
5 (Optional) To recongure the RPO, click Next until you reach the Recovery seings page, and modify
the RPO value.
6 Click Next.
7 Click Finish to save your changes.
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28 VMware, Inc.
Monitoring and Managing Replication
Tasks 6
Outgoing replications are listed on the vSphere Replication tab under Monitor. You can monitor the state of
replications to the cloud, control their running state, or stop them if you no longer need them.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“States of Replication Tasks,” on page 29
n
“Pause or Resume a Replication Task,” on page 30
n
“Stop a Replication Task,” on page 30
n
States of Replication Tasks
In the vSphere Web Client, you can check the status of replication tasks for a vCenter Server. The list of
outgoing replications is located on the vSphere Replication tab under Monitoring.
Table 6‑1. Replication States
Status Description Possible Cause Solution
Not Active The replication is not running at the
moment.
Paused The replication is not running at the
moment.
The source virtual
n
machine is powered
o.
A communication
n
problem might
have occurred
between the source
ESXi host and the
target site.
A vSphere Replication
user has paused the
replication.
Power on the source
n
virtual machine.
If all replications for
n
an ESXi host are in
Not Active state,
verify that the
security rule
Replication-to-Cloud
Trac is enabled on
the host. This rule
opens TCP ports
10000 to 10010 for
outgoing
communication.
In the list of replications,
right-click the paused
replication and select
Resume.
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
Table 6‑1. Replication States (Continued)
Status Description Possible Cause Solution
Error The replication is not running at the
moment.
Status (RPO violation) For replication status OK, Sync, or
Full Sync, the replication is running,
but the RPO that is set for the
replication is not met and is violated.
For replication status Not Active or
Error, the replication is not running,
and the RPO that is set for the
replication is violated.
A conguration
n
error occurred.
A replication error
n
occurred. For
example, the target
site infrastructure is
not accessible.
The network
n
connection between
the source and the
target site is
dropping.
The bandwidth of
n
the connection
between the source
and the target site is
too low.
The replication is
n
not running, so
data cannot be
replicated on the
target site.
Try reconguring the
n
replication.
Navigate to the
n
Issues tab to check if
some problem
occurred on the
virtual machine.
Improve the network
n
connection between
the source and target
site.
Increase the RPO
n
period.
For replication status
n
Not Active or Error,
x the cause for the
status and wait for
the next sync.
Pause or Resume a Replication Task
To control the network trac between the source and the target site, you can pause and resume replications.
Prerequisites
Verify that you have enough privileges to manage replications in the vSphere Web Client. See “Roles and
Permissions that Disaster Recovery to Cloud Requires,” on page 11.
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Replication Home page, click the Monitor tab, and click Outgoing Replications.
2 Right-click the replication task that you want to pause or resume and select the corresponding menu
item.
You can pause and resume multiple replications simultaneously only if they are replicated to the same
virtual data center.
3 Click Yes to conrm.
4 If your user session to the cloud provider has expired, type your credentials and click OK to reconnect.
Stop a Replication Task
If you no longer need to replicate a virtual machine to the Cloud, you can stop the replication permanently.
When you stop a replication, data is removed from both the source and the target site. Therefore, stopping a
replication requires that both the source and the target site are online and connected.
30 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 6 Monitoring and Managing Replication Tasks
If the target site is oine, you can force stop the replication task from the source site. When you force stop a
replication, you remove the replication task only from the source site. The data on the target site remains
intact. When the target site becomes available, you must delete the replication artifacts from the target site
manually or contact your cloud provider.
N For stopped replications that use replication seeds, the seed vApps are not deleted from the target
site.
Prerequisites
Verify that you have enough privileges to manage replications in the vSphere Web Client. See “Roles and
Permissions that Disaster Recovery to Cloud Requires,” on page 11.
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Replication Home page, click the Monitor tab, and click Outgoing Replications.
2 Right-click a replication and select Stop.
You can stop multiple replication tasks simultaneously only if they are replicated to the same virtual
data center.
3 (Optional) To delete the replication only from the source site, select Force stop replication in the Stop
Replication dialog box.
N All data that was stored to the cloud during the replication remains on the target datastore, and
the replication remains visible on the target site. You must manually delete the replication artifacts from
the target site or contact your cloud provider to clean them up.
4 Click Yes to conrm.
5 If your user session to the cloud provider has expired, type your credentials and click OK to reconnect.
If both sites are online, Disaster Recovery to Cloud applies the following changes.
On the source site, removes the replication entry from the list of outgoing replications, and removes the
n
replication related congurations from the source virtual machine.
On the cloud site, removes the task from the list of incoming replications, and deletes the replication
n
data from the storage.
If only the source site is online and you selected to perform a force stop operation, the replication task is
deleted from the list of outgoing replications, and replication related congurations are removed from the
source virtual machine.
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32 VMware, Inc.
Recovering Virtual Machines to Cloud 7
You can check if virtual machines are properly replicated in the cloud, and migrate replicated virtual
machines to your cloud organization.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“Test Recovery to Cloud,” on page 33
n
“Planned Migration to Cloud,” on page 34
n
Test Recovery to Cloud
Test recoveries allow you to verify that source data is replicated correctly on the target site.
When you initiate a replication task to cloud, Disaster Recovery to Cloud creates a placeholder virtual
machine on the target virtual data center. If the replication uses a seed, that seed is the placeholder virtual
machine. The placeholder virtual machine is not visible on the network and is not accessible until you
recover it or run a test recovery.
N During test recovery, Disaster Recovery to Cloud does not create a copy of the recovered virtual
machine. When you run a test recovery, the placeholder virtual machine is recongured and connected to
the selected test network so that you can log in and verify the replication progress.
Run a Test Recovery to Cloud
You run a test recovery to verify that data is replicated correctly from the source virtual machine to the
target cloud organization.
You run test recoveries for replication tasks that appear in the vSphere Web Client, on the Monitor tab,
under vSphere Replication, in the Outgoing Replications list.
Test recoveries are allowed for the following replication statuses: OK, OK (RPO Violation), Error, Error (RPO
Violation), Full Sync, Full Sync (RPO Violation), Not Active, Not Active (RPO Violation), Paused, Sync, Sync
(RPO Violation).
N You cannot run a test recovery before you clean up your previous test results for a replication.
Prerequisites
Congure at least one replication task.
n
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
Verify that the status of the replication task allows running test recoveries.
n
N By default, the Test Status column is not visible in the list of outgoing replications. To display
the column, right-click the table header, select Show/Hide Columns, select the Test Status check box,
and click OK.
If you have run test recoveries for the replication that you want to test, verify that you cleaned up the
n
test results.
Procedure
1 In the list of replications, click the replication for which you want to run a test recovery.
2
Click the Run test recovery icon .
The Test Recovery wizard opens. If the user session to the target cloud organization is expired, the
wizard prompts you to enter user credentials.
3 On the Test recovery options page, select a data synchronization option and click Next.
4 (Optional) To power on the test virtual machine on the target site when test conguration completes,
select Power on the test virtual machine on the Ready to complete page.
5 Verify your test conguration, and click Finish.
The test recovery status appears under the list of replications, on the Test tab.
N You cannot stop a replication while a test recovery for the replication is in progress.
What to do next
After you verify that data appears as expected in the test virtual machine, clean up the test results.
Clean Up a Test Recovery
You can run a test recovery or a planned migration for a replication only after the results of its previous test
recovery are cleaned up.
In the vSphere Web Client, you can clean up test recovery results for replication tasks that appear under
vSphere Replication on the Monitor tab.
Procedure
1 In the list of replications, click a replication to check its test recovery status.
2 At Below the list, click the Test tab to view details of the test status.
3 If the test status is other than Test recovery has not been run or has been cleaned up from the
target site, click the Run test cleanup icon .
4 Click Yes.
Planned Migration to Cloud
Planned migration is an action that is available for replications to cloud. Planned migrations allow you to
move your workloads from vCenter Server to your cloud organization.
When you run a planned migration operation, the replication source virtual machine is powered o. The
placeholder virtual machine that is created in the cloud during replication is congured to run as a fully
functional virtual machine. When the recovered virtual machine is powered on in the target cloud site, the
replication task on the source is no longer active.
34 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 7 Recovering Virtual Machines to Cloud
Migrate a Virtual Machine to Cloud
You can run a planned migration to move your workload from the vCenter Server to your cloud
organization.
You might want to migrate replicated virtual machines to cloud if you plan maintenance on the source site.
Prerequisites
Verify that the source site and the target site are online.
n
Verify that you have enough privileges to initiate migrations to cloud.
n
If you have run test recoveries for the replication that you want to migrate, verify that you cleaned up
n
the test results.
Procedure
1 In the list of replications, click the replication that you want to migrate.
2
Click the Run planned migration icon .
The Planned Migration wizard opens. If the user session to the target cloud organization is expired, the
wizard prompts you to enter user credentials.
3 On the Planned migration options page, select a data synchronization option and click Next.
4 On the Source VM shutdown page, select how to stop the source virtual machine and click Next.
Option Description
Guest shutdown
Power off
Shuts down the operating system of the virtual machine within the
timeout period that you set in the time spinners. This option uses VMware
Tools. Select the Guest shutdown option only if VMware Tools is installed
in the guest operating system.
Immediately shuts down the guest operating system or powers o the
virtual machine. The guest operating system might not shut down
properly. Select the Power option only if VMware Tools is not installed
on the guest operating system.
5 (Optional) To power on the recovered virtual machine on the target site at the end of the migration
process, select Power on the recovered virtual machine on the Ready to Complete page.
6 Review your seings, and click Finish.
The replication status changes to Recovered, and the source virtual machine is no longer being replicated to
the target site.
What to do next
To continue replicating the source virtual machine to the target site, stop the replication task that is in
Recovered state and congure a new replication.
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36 VMware, Inc.
Troubleshooting vSphere Replication
for Disaster Recovery to Cloud 8
Known troubleshooting information can help you diagnose and correct problems that occur while using
vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud.
vSphere Replication UI is Missing After a vCenter Server Upgrade
After you upgrade the vCenter Server that contains the vSphere Replication 5.6 virtual appliance, the
vSphere Replication user interface is no longer visible in the vSphere Web Client.
Problem
If you upgrade a vSphere Replication appliance that runs in a vCenter Server 5.1.x, and later upgrade the
vCenter Server to version 5.5, the user interface components that are related to vSphere Replication are no
longer visible in the vSphere Web Client interface.
Cause
This problem occurs because after the upgrade of the vCenter Server instance, vSphere Replication needs to
update its extension registration in vCenter Server.
Solution
1 Use a supported browser to log in to the virtual appliance management interface (VAMI) of the
vSphere Replication appliance that is managed by the updated vCenter Server.
The VAMI URL is hps://vr_appliance_address:5480. For a list of browsers that vSphere Replication VAMI
supports, see hps://www.vmware.com/support/developer/studio/studio25/release_notes.html.
2 On the VR tab, click .
3 Under Actions, click Save and Restart.
4 After the save and restart operations complete, log out of the VAMI.
5 Clear the browser cache, log out of the vSphere Web Client, and log in again.
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vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
38 VMware, Inc.
Index
A
about disaster recovery 9
B
batch replications 23
C
changing the RPO 27
changing the quiescing method 27
cloud pairing 16
cloud permissions 11
cloud replications
multiple VMs 23
single VM 21
troubleshooting 37
cloud connections 16
compatibility 11
configuring connections 16
connection issue 17
connection status
connection issue 17
missing network settings 17
not authenticated 17
connections, configuring 16
credentials 11
D
default ports 14
definition of test recovery 33
deleting replications 30
deployment 13
disaster recovery to cloud 9
documentation overview 5
F
failover 34
failover test 33
firewall 14
firewall settings 14
forced stop 30
I
installation 13
intended audience 5
L
latest available data 33
M
managing replications 29
migration, planned 34
migration test 33
missing UI 37
missing network settings 17
modifying
quiescing 27
RPO 27
monitoring replications 29
MPIT 21
N
networks
planned migrations 17
recovery 17
test 17
not authenticated 17, 19
NTP 20
P
pairing, cloud provider 16
pairing status 17
pause replications 30
permissions 11
planned failover, configuration 35
planned migration, configuration 35
point in time 21
ports on ESXi hosts 14
product compatibility 11
Q
quiescing 27
G
glossary 5
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R
reconfiguring replications 27
reconnecting to cloud 19
recovery network 17
39
vSphere Replication for Disaster Recovery to Cloud
recovery point objective 21
recovery to the cloud 33
replication seeds 21, 25
replication status 29
replications
management 29
monitoring 29
pausing 30
resuming 30
stopping 30
replications to cloud 21
requirements 11
resume replications 30
RPO 21, 27
S
secure tunnel 14
security note 14
seed vApp 25
snapshots 21
sneakernet 21, 25
status, replications 29
synchronize recent 33
system requirements 11
T
test failover 33
test cleanup 34
test migration 33
test network 17
test recovery, defined 33
time synchronization 20
tunnel ports 14
tunneling ports 15
U
updated information 7
upgrading vSphere Replication 14
user roles 11
user session, authenticating 19
V
vCloud Tunneling Agent 15
VIB 14
VM replication to cloud 21
VR registration 37
40 VMware, Inc.
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