VMware vSphere Replication - 6.1 Administrator’s Guide
VMware vSphere
Replication
Administration
vSphere Replication 6.1
VMware vSphere Replication Administration
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Contents
vSphere Replication Administration 6
Updated Information 7
Overview of VMware vSphere Replication 8
1
Contents of the vSphere Replication Appliance 9
vSphere Replication Client Plug-In 9
Source and Target Sites 10
How vSphere Replication Works 11
Isolating the Network Traffic of vSphere Replication 13
Replication Data Compression 18
vSphere Replication Roles and Permissions 20
2
Assign vSphere Replication Roles to Users 20
Assign VRM Replication Viewer Role 20
Assign VRM Virtual Machine Replication User Role 21
Assign VRM Virtual Machine Recovery User Role 21
Clone Existing VRM Administrator Role and Modify Privileges 22
vSphere Replication Roles Reference 22
vSphere Replication System Requirements 26
3
vSphere Replication Licensing 26
vSphere Replication Network Ports 27
Operational Limits of vSphere Replication 27
Compatibility of vSphere Replication with Other vSphere Features 28
vSphere Replication Compatibility with Other Software 29
Bandwidth Requirements for vSphere Replication 29
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Installing and Uninstalling vSphere Replication 32
4
Install vSphere Replication 33
Uninstall vSphere Replication 41
Unregister vSphere Replication from vCenter Server if the Appliance Was Deleted 43
Deploying Additional vSphere Replication Servers 45
5
Deploy an Additional vSphere Replication Server 45
Register an Additional vSphere Replication Server 46
Reconfigure vSphere Replication Server Settings 46
Unregister and Remove a vSphere Replication Server 48
3
VMware vSphere Replication Administration
Disable the Embedded vSphere Replication Server 48
Upgrading vSphere Replication 50
6
Order of Upgrading vSphere and vSphere Replication Components 51
Upgrade vSphere Replication by Using the Downloadable ISO Image 51
Upgrade to vSphere Replication 6.1.2 by Using the Downloadable ISO Image 53
Update the vCenter Server IP Address in the vSphere Replication Management Server 54
Reconfigure the vSphere Replication Appliance 56
7
Reconfigure General vSphere Replication Settings 57
Change the SSL Certificate of the vSphere Replication Appliance 58
Change the Password of the vSphere Replication Appliance 61
Change Keystore and Truststore Passwords of the vSphere Replication Appliance 61
Configure vSphere Replication Network Settings 63
Configure vSphere Replication System Settings 64
Update the NTP Server Configuration 65
Reconfigure vSphere Replication to Use an External Database 66
Use the Embedded vSphere Replication Database 69
Replicating Virtual Machines 71
8
How the Recovery Point Objective Affects Replication Scheduling 72
How the 5 Minute Recovery Point Objective Works 73
How Retention Policy Works 73
Replicating a Virtual Machine and Enabling Multiple Point in Time Instances 75
Using vSphere Replication with Virtual SAN Storage 75
Using vSphere Replication with vSphere Storage DRS 77
How vSphere Replication Synchronizes Data Between vCenter Server Sites During Initial
Configuration 77
Replicating Virtual Machines Using Replication Seeds 79
Replicating a Virtual Machine in a Single vCenter Server Instance 79
Best Practices For Using and Configuring vSphere Replication 80
Configure Replication for a Single Virtual Machine to vCenter Server 81
Configure Replication for Multiple Virtual Machines to vCenter Server 83
Move a Replication to a New vSphere Replication Server 86
Stop Replicating a Virtual Machine 87
Reconfiguring Replications 88
Performing a Recovery with vSphere Replication 92
9
Recover Virtual Machines by Using vSphere Replication 92
Failback of Virtual Machines in vSphere Replication 94
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Monitoring and Managing Replications in vSphere Replication 95
10
View the Replication Summary for a Site 95
View Replication Reports for a Site 97
Identifying Replication Problems in the Issues Tab 99
Manage Target Sites 100
Manage vSphere Replication Servers 100
Troubleshooting vSphere Replication 102
11
Generate vSphere Replication Support Bundle 102
vSphere Replication Events and Alarms 103
Solutions for Common vSphere Replication Problems 107
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vSphere Replication Administration
vSphere Replication Administration provides information about installing, configuring, and using
VMware vSphere Replication.
Intended Audience
This information is intended for anyone who wants to protect the virtual machines in their virtual
infrastructure by using vSphere Replication. The information is written for experienced Windows or Linux
system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and datacenter operations.
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Updated Information
This vSphere Replication Administration document is updated with each release of the product or when
necessary.
This table provides the update history of the vSphere Replication Administration document.
Revision Description
7 NOV 2017 Updated the information about vSphere High Availability in topic Compatibility of vSphere Replication with Other
vSphere Features.
EN-001756-03
EN-001756-02
EN-001756-01
EN-001756-00 Initial release.
n
Updated the Prerequisites in topic Set Up a VMkernel Adapter for vSphere Replication Traffic on a Source
Host.
n
Updated the Prerequisites in topic Set Up a VMkernel Adapter for vSphere Replication Traffic on a Target
Host.
n
Updated the information in topic Upgrade vSphere Replication by Using the Downloadable ISO Image.
n
Updated the information in topic Isolating the Network Traffic of vSphere Replication.
n
Added topic Upgrade to vSphere Replication 6.1.2 by Using the Downloadable ISO Image.
n
Updated the information in topic How vSphere Replication Works.
n
Updated the information about the Interoperability of vSphere Replication in topics Chapter 6 Upgrading
vSphere Replication, Configure Replication for a Single Virtual Machine to vCenter Server, Configure
Replication for Multiple Virtual Machines to vCenter Server, and vSphere Replication Compatibility with Other
Software.
n
Corrected the information about the location of the hms-configtool in topic Change Keystore and Truststore
Passwords of the vSphere Replication Appliance.
n
Updated the information in topic Generate vSphere Replication Support Bundle.
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Overview of
VMware vSphere Replication 1
VMware vSphere Replication is an extension to VMware vCenter Server that provides hypervisor-based
virtual machine replication and recovery.
vSphere Replication is an alternative to storage-based replication. It protects virtual machines from partial
or complete site failures by replicating the virtual machines between the following sites:
n
From a source site to a target site
n
Within a single site from one cluster to another
n
From multiple source sites to a shared remote target site
vSphere Replication provides several benefits as compared to storage-based replication.
n
Data protection at lower cost per virtual machine.
n
A replication solution that allows flexibility in storage vendor selection at the source and target sites.
n
Overall lower cost per replication.
You can use vSphere Replication with the vCenter Server Appliance or with a standard vCenter Server
installation. You can have a vCenter Server Appliance on one site and a standard vCenter Server
installation on the other.
With vSphere Replication, you can replicate virtual machines from a source datacenter to a target site
quickly and efficiently.
You can deploy additional vSphere Replication servers to meet your load balancing needs.
After you set up the replication infrastructure, you can choose the virtual machines to be replicated at a
different recovery point objective (RPO). You can enable multi-point in time retention policy to store more
than one instance of the replicated virtual machine. After recovery, the retained instances are available as
snapshots of the recovered virtual machine.
You can use VMware Virtual SAN datastores as target datastores and choose destination storage profiles
for the replica virtual machine and its disks when configuring replications.
Note VMware Virtual SAN is a fully supported feature of vSphere 5.5 Update 1 and later.
You can configure all vSphere Replication features in the vSphere Web Client. You can manage sites
monitor the status of a replication through the replication management and monitoring dashboard.
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VMware vSphere Replication Administration
n
Contents of the vSphere Replication Appliance
The vSphere Replication appliance provides all the components that vSphere Replication requires.
n
vSphere Replication Client Plug-In
The vSphere Replication appliance adds a plug-in to the vSphere Web Client.
n
Source and Target Sites
In a typical vSphere Replication installation, the source site provides business-critical data center
services. The target site is an alternative facility to which you can migrate these services.
n
How vSphere Replication Works
With vSphere Replication, you can configure replication of a virtual machine from a source site to a
target site, monitor and manage the status of the replication, and recover the virtual machine at the
target site.
n
Isolating the Network Traffic of vSphere Replication
You can isolate the network traffic of vSphere Replication from all other traffic in a data center's
network.
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Replication Data Compression
You can configure vSphere Replication to compress the data that it transfers through the network.
Contents of the vSphere Replication Appliance
The vSphere Replication appliance provides all the components that vSphere Replication requires.
n
A plug-in to the vSphere Web Client that provides a user interface for vSphere Replication.
n
An embedded database that stores replication configuration and management information.
n
A vSphere Replication management server:
n
Configures the vSphere Replication server.
n
Enables, manages, and monitors replications.
n
Authenticates users and checks their permissions to perform vSphere Replication operations.
n
A vSphere Replication server that provides the core of the vSphere Replication infrastructure.
You can use vSphere Replication immediately after you deploy the appliance. The vSphere Replication
appliance provides a virtual appliance management interface (VAMI) that you can use to reconfigure the
appliance after deployment, if necessary. For example, you can use the VAMI to change the appliance
security settings, change the network settings, or configure an external database. You can deploy
additional vSphere Replication Servers using a separate .ovf package.
vSphere Replication Client Plug-In
The vSphere Replication appliance adds a plug-in to the vSphere Web Client.
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You use the vSphere Replication client plug-in to perform all vSphere Replication actions.
n
Configure connections between vSphere Replication sites.
n
View all vCenter Server instances that are registered with the same SSO and status of each
vSphere Replication extension.
n
Deploy and register additional vSphere Replication servers.
n
Configure the replication of individual or multiple virtual machines.
n
View incoming and outgoing replications.
n
Monitor and manage the status of the replications.
n
Recover virtual machines.
Source and Target Sites
In a typical vSphere Replication installation, the source site provides business-critical data center
services. The target site is an alternative facility to which you can migrate these services.
The source site can be any site where vCenter Server supports a critical business need. The target site
can be in another location, or in the same facility to establish redundancy. The target site is usually
located in a facility that is unlikely to be affected by environmental, infrastructure, or other disturbances
that might affect the source site.
vSphere Replication has the following requirements for the vSphere® environments at each site:
n
Each site must have at least one data center.
n
The target site must have hardware, network, and storage resources that can support the same
virtual machines and workloads as the source site.
n
The sites must be connected by a reliable IP network.
n
The target site must have access to networks (public and private) comparable to those on the source
site, although not necessarily the same range of network addresses.
Connecting Source and Target Sites
Before you replicate virtual machines between two sites, you must connect the sites. When connecting
sites, users at both sites must have the VRM remote.Manage VRM privilege assigned.
When you connect sites that are part of the same SSO domain, you need to select the target site only,
without providing authentication details, because you are already logged in.
When you connect sites that belong to different SSO domains, the vSphere Replication Management
Server must register with the Platform Services Controller (PSC) on the target site. You must provide
authentication details for the target site, including IP or FQDN of the server where PSC runs, and user
credentials. See Configure vSphere Replication Connections.
After connecting the sites, you can monitor the connectivity state between them on the Target Sites tab.
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VMware vSphere Replication Administration
How vSphere Replication Works
With vSphere Replication, you can configure replication of a virtual machine from a source site to a target
site, monitor and manage the status of the replication, and recover the virtual machine at the target site.
When you configure a virtual machine for replication, the vSphere Replication agent sends changed
blocks in the virtual machine disks from the source site to the target site, where they are applied to the
copy of the virtual machine. This process occurs independently of the storage layer. vSphere Replication
performs an initial full synchronization of the source virtual machine and its replica copy. You can use
replication seeds to reduce the amount of time and bandwidth required for the initial replication.
During replication configuration, you can set a recovery point objective (RPO) and enable retention of
instances from multiple points in time (MPIT).
As administrator, you can monitor and manage the status of the replication. You can view information for
incoming and outgoing replications, source and target site status, replication issues, and for warnings and
errors.
When you manually recover a virtual machine, vSphere Replication creates a copy of the virtual machine
connected to the replica disk, but does not connect any of the virtual network cards to port groups. You
can review the recovery and status of the replica virtual machine and attach it to the networks. You can
recover virtual machines at different points in time, such as the last known consistent state.
vSphere Replication presents the retained instances as ordinary virtual machine snapshots to which you
can revert the virtual machine.
vSphere Replication stores replication configuration data in its embedded database. You can also
configure vSphere Replication to use an external database.
You can replicate a virtual machine between two sites. vSphere Replication is installed on both source
and target sites. Only one vSphere Replication appliance is deployed on each vCenter Server. You can
deploy additional vSphere Replication Servers.
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Network File
Copy
ESXi
ESXi
VR Agent
VM
vCenter Server
vSphere Web Client
VM
Target site is the location of
the virtual machine replica
Source site is the location of
the original virtual machine
VR Appliance
vCenter Server
ESXi
VR Agent
VR Appliance
vSphere Web Client
Source Site
Target Site
Replicate
changed blocks
Replication
ESXi
ESXi
vSphere Web Client
vCenter Server
ESXi
VR Appliance
Cluster 1
Cluster 2
VM
ESXi
VM
Replication
VR ServerVR Server
Network
File Copy
Network
File Copy
VMware vSphere Replication Administration
Figure 1‑1. Replication Between Two Sites
You can also replicate a virtual machine between datastores at the same vCenter Server. In that topology
one vCenter Server manages hosts at the source and at the target. Only one vSphere Replication
appliance is deployed on the single vCenter Server. You can add multiple Additional vSphere Replication
servers in a single vCenter Server to replicate virtual machines to other clusters.
To perform recovery, the vCenter Server managing the target datastore, the vSphere Replication
appliance, and any additional vSphere Replication Servers managing the replication must be up and
running.
Figure 1‑2. Replication In a Single vCenter Server
You can replicate virtual machines to a shared target site.
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VR Appliance
changed blocks
vCenter
Server
Source Site
Target Site
ESXi ESXi
VM
vCenter Server
ESXi
VR Agent
ESXi
VR Agent
ESXi
VR Agent
VR Appliance
vCenter
Server
Source Site
Replication
ESXi
VR Agent
ESXi
VR Agent
ESXi
VR Agent
VM
VM
Replication
VM
VR Appliance
Replicate
vSphere Web Client
Network
File Copy
Network
File Copy
VMware vSphere Replication Administration
Figure 1‑3. Replication to a Shared Target Site
Isolating the Network Trac of vSphere Replication
You can isolate the network traffic of vSphere Replication from all other traffic in a data center's network.
Isolating the replication traffic helps you ensure that sensitive information is not routed to the wrong
destination, and helps you enhance the network performance in the data center, because the traffic that
vSphere Replication generates does not impact other types of traffic. You isolate the network traffic to the
vSphere Replication Server by dedicating a VMKernel NIC on each ESXi host on the primary site that
sends data to the vSphere Replication Server. See Set Up a VMkernel Adapter for vSphere Replication
Traffic on a Source Host.
If you are using a distributed network switch, you can take advantage of the vSphere Network I/O Control
feature to set limits or shares for incoming and outgoing replication traffic on each ESXi host. The feature
allows you to manage the network resources that vSphere Replication uses.
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By default, the vSphere Replication appliance has one VM network adapter that is used for various traffic
types.
n
Management traffic between vSphere Replication Management Server and vSphere Replication
Server.
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Replication traffic from the source ESXi hosts to the vSphere Replication Server.
n
Traffic between vCenter Server and vSphere Replication Management Server.
You can add network adapters to the vSphere Replication appliance and use the VAMI to configure a
separate IP address to use for each traffic type.
In the combined vSphere Replication appliance, the IP address that is used for management traffic
between the vSphere Replication Management Server and vSphere Replication Server is localhost
127.0.0.1. Therefore, you do not need to add network adapters for this type of traffic.
When the vSphere Replication Management Server and the vSphere Replication Server run on separate
appliances, you can specify a non-localhost IP address to be used by the vSphere Replication
Management Server.
Note After the IP address of the vSphere Replication server on the target site changes, you must
manually reconfigure replications on the source site to point to the new IP address.
In addition you must configure static routes on each ESXi host at the source site with how to
communicate with the target site and the reverse. See http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2001426. For replications
to flow in the opposite direction, you must configure reverse routes on the target site ESXi hosts.
Set Up a VMkernel Adapter for vSphere Replication Trac on a
Source Host
You create VMkernel adapters to isolate the outgoing replication traffic on source ESXi hosts.
Note One VMkernel adapter must handle one traffic type.
Perform this procedure for every ESXi host that is used as replication source, and for which you want to
isolate the replication traffic.
Prerequisites
n
Verify that the vSphere Replication virtual appliance is deployed and registered with the
vCenter Server.
n
Verify that the ESXi host is version 6.0 or later.
n
For distributed network switches, verify that you have a port group that you can dedicate to the new
VMkernel adapter.
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Web Client, navigate to the ESXi host.
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2 Under Manage, select Networking, and select VMkernel adapters.
3
Click the Add host networking icon .
The Add Networking wizard opens.
4 On the Select connection type page, select VMkernel Network Adapter and click Next.
5 On the Select target device page, select a port group or a standard switch and click Next.
6 On the Port properties page, under VMkernel port settings, configure the IP settings and TCP/IP
stack to comply with your environment.
Note vSphere Replication requires that all components in your environment, such as
vCenter Server, ESXi hosts, and the vSphere Replication appliance use the same IP version, IPv4 or
IPv6.
7 Under Available services, select vSphere Replication traffic and click Next.
8 Apply the IP settings, click Next, and Finish to complete the wizard.
The VMkernel adapter that you created for outgoing vSphere Replication traffic appears in the list of
adapters. The outgoing replication data from the ESXi host is sent to the vSphere Replication server
through this adapter.
What to do next
You can add a vNIC to the vSphere Replication appliance and use the VAMI to configure an IP address to
use for incoming replication data.
Set Up a VMkernel Adapter for vSphere Replication Trac on a
Target Host
You create VMkernel adapters to isolate the incoming replication traffic on target ESXi hosts.
Note One VMkernel adapter must handle one traffic type.
Perform this procedure for every ESXi host that is used as replication target, and for which you want to
isolate the replication traffic.
Prerequisites
n
Verify that the ESXi host is version 6.0 or later.
n
For distributed network switches, verify that you have a port group that you can dedicate to the new
VMkernel adapter.
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Web Client, navigate to the ESXi host.
2 Under Manage, select Networking, and select VMkernel adapters.
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3
Click the Add host networking icon .
The Add Networking wizard opens.
4 On the Select connection type page, select VMkernel Network Adapter and click Next.
5 On the Select target device page, select a port group or a standard switch and click Next.
6 On the Port properties page, under VMkernel port settings, configure the IP settings and TCP/IP
stack to comply with your environment.
Note vSphere Replication requires that all components in your environment, such as
vCenter Server, ESXi hosts, and the vSphere Replication appliance use the same IP version, IPv4 or
IPv6.
7 Under Available services, select vSphere Replication NFC traffic and click Next.
8 Apply the IP settings, click Next, and Finish to complete the wizard.
The VMkernel adapter that you tagged for NFC traffic appears in the list of adapters. The
vSphere Replication Server routes the replication data to the adapter, and the ESXi host saves the data
to a datastore.
Create a VM Network Adapter to Use for Incoming Replication
Trac on the Combined vSphere Replication Appliance
By default, the combined vSphere Replication appliance has one VM network adapter that is used by the
vSphere Replication server for replication traffic, and by the vCenter Server for virtual machine
management.
The IP address that is used for vSphere Replication management traffic is localhost 127.0.0.1. Because
the default VM network adapter is used for different types of traffic, you can add a second adapter to the
appliance, and configure vSphere Replication to use the second adapter only for incoming replication
traffic.
Prerequisites
n
Verify that the vSphere Replication virtual appliance is deployed and registered with the
vCenter Server.
Procedure
1 Power off the vSphere Replication appliance and edit the VM Hardware settings to add a new VM
NIC.
a Right-click the VM and select Edit Settings.
b From the New Device drop-down menu at the bottom of the Virtual Hardware tab, select
Network, and click Add.
The new network adapter appears in the list of devices at the right.
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c Expand the properties of the new network adapter to verify that Connect At Power On is
selected.
You can assign a static MAC address or leave the text box empty to obtain an IP address
automatically.
d Click OK to close the Edit Setting dialog box.
2 Power on the vSphere Replication appliance.
3 From the Summary tab of the vSphere Replication appliance, take a note of the IP address of the
new network adapter.
You can click View all XX IP addresses to check the IP address of the new NIC.
4 Use a supported browser to log in to the vSphere Replication VAMI.
The URL for the VAMI is https://vr-appliance-address:5480.
5 On the VR tab, click Configuration.
6 In the IP Address for Incoming Storage Traffic text box, enter the IP address of the new network
adapter that you added.
7 Click Apply Network Settings.
The vSphere Replication appliance uses the IP address that you assigned only for incoming replication
traffic.
Create VM Network Adapters to Isolate the Network Trac of a
vSphere Replication Server
By default, the vSphere Replication Server appliance has one VM network adapter that is used by the
vSphere Replication Server for management and replication traffic.
Because the default VM network adapter is used for different types of traffic, you can add network
adapters to the appliance, and configure vSphere Replication to use a separate adapter for each traffic
type.
Prerequisites
Verify that you have deployed the vSphere Replication Server appliance in your environment and that it is
registered as a vSphere Replication Server in the vSphere Web Client.
Procedure
1 Power off the vSphere Replication appliance and edit the VM Hardware settings to add a new VM
NIC.
a Right-click the VM and select Edit Settings.
b From the New Device drop-down menu at the bottom of the Virtual Hardware tab, select
Network, and click Add.
The new network adapter appears in the list of devices at the right.
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c Expand the properties of the new network adapter to verify that Connect At Power On is
selected.
You can assign a static MAC address or leave the text box empty to obtain an IP address
automatically.
d Click OK to close the Edit Setting dialog box.
2 Repeat Step 1 to add another VM NIC.
3 Power on the vSphere Replication appliance.
4 From the Summary tab of the vSphere Replication appliance, take note of the IP address of the new
network adapters.
You can click View all XX IP addresses to check the IP addresses of the new NICs.
5 Use a supported browser to log in to the vSphere Replication VAMI.
The URL for the VAMI is https://vr-appliance-address:5480.
6 On the VRS tab, click Configuration.
7 Enter the IP addresses of the new VM NICs that you want to use to isolate the network traffic of
vSphere Replication.
Option Description
IP Address for Incoming Storage
Traffic
IP Address for VRMS Management
Traffic
The IP address to be used by the vSphere Replication Server for incoming
replication data.
The IP address to be used by the vSphere Replication Management Server to
manage the vSphere Replication Server.
8 Click Apply Network Settings.
The different types of traffic that vSphere Replication generates are handled by separate NICs.
Replication Data Compression
You can configure vSphere Replication to compress the data that it transfers through the network.
Compressing the replication data that is transferred through the network saves network bandwidth and
might help reduce the amount of buffer memory used on the vSphere Replication server. However,
compressing and decompressing data requires more CPU resources on both the source site and the
server that manages the target datastore.
Data Compression Support
vSphere Replication 6.x supports end-to-end compression when the source and target ESXi hosts are
version 6.0. The support of data compression for all other use cases depends on the versions of source
and target ESXi hosts. The vSphere Replication servers on both the source and target sites must be 6.x.
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Table 1‑1. Support for Data Compression Depending on Other Product Versions
ESXi Host that Manages the Target
Source ESXi host
Earlier than 6.0 Any supported version vSphere Replication does not support
6.0 Earlier than 6.0 The ESXi host on the source site sends
Datastore Data Compression Support
data compression for the source ESXi
host, so the option Enable network
compression for VR data is disabled in
the Configure Replication wizard.
compressed data packets to the
vSphere Replication server on the target
site. The vSphere Replication server
searches the target site for ESXi 6.0 hosts
that can decompress the data. If no 6.0
hosts are available for the target
datastore, the vSphere Replication server
uses the resources of the
vSphere Replication appliance to
decompress the data, and sends the
uncompressed data to the ESXi host.
6.0 6.0 This is an environment that supports full
end-to-end compression. The ESXi host
on the source site compresses the data,
and the vSphere Replication server on the
target site passes the data off to the ESXi
host where the host decompresses the
data and writes it to disk.
Data Compression and vSphere vMotion
If data compression is disabled, you can perform vMotion operations on replication source machines
between any pair of hosts that support vMotion and vSphere Replication.
When data compression is enabled, if both the source and the target ESXi hosts support data
compression, vMotion operations can be performed as usual. However, if the target ESXi host is earlier
than 6.0, vSphere Replication prevents vMotion from moving replication source VMs to that host because
it does not support data compression. This prevents DRS from performing automated vMotion operations
to hosts that do not support compression. Therefore, if you need to move a replication source VM to an
ESXi host earlier than 6.0, before you perform the vMotion operation, you must reconfigure the replication
to disable data compression.
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vSphere Replication Roles and
Permissions 2
You can use any predefined roles or clone an existing role, and add or remove privileges from it based on
your needs.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n
Assign vSphere Replication Roles to Users
n
Assign VRM Replication Viewer Role
n
Assign VRM Virtual Machine Replication User Role
n
Assign VRM Virtual Machine Recovery User Role
n
Clone Existing VRM Administrator Role and Modify Privileges
n
vSphere Replication Roles Reference
Assign vSphere Replication Roles to Users
You create roles and assign permissions for vSphere Replication in the same way as you do in vCenter.
See vSphere Users and Permissions in vSphere Security.
Assign VRM Replication Viewer Role
In this example, you create a vSphere Replication user that can view replication sites and replications
configured between them, but cannot perform modifications.
Prerequisites
n
Verify that you have two sites connected and replication configured between them.
n
Verify that you have another user account for each site.
Procedure
1 Log in as Administrator on the source site.
2 Select vCenter > Manage > Permissions and assign the VRM replication viewer role with the
propagate option to this user.
3 Assign the same privilege on the target replication site.
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VMware vSphere Replication Administration
4 Log in as the user with the assigned VRM replication viewer role.
The user with the VRM replication viewer role cannot perform modifications on the configured replication,
nor on the replication sites. The following error message appears when this user tries to run an operation:
Permission to perform this operation was denied.
Assign VRM Virtual Machine Replication User Role
In this example, you create a vSphere Replication user who can only configure replication between sites
and use a specific datastore on the target site.
Prerequisites
n
Verify that two sites are connected.
n
Verify that you have another user account for each site.
Procedure
1 Log in as the Administrator user on the source site.
2 Select vCenter > Manage > Permissions and assign to this user the VRM virtual machine
replication user role with the propagate option.
3 Assign the same privilege on the target replication site.
4 On the target site, select the datastore to store your replica files, and select Manage > Permissions.
5 Edit the assigned permission and assign the VRM target datastore user role.
6 Log in as that user on the source site, select the virtual machine, and click Configure Replication to
start the configuration wizard.
7 Select the target site and enter the same user credentials.
8 Accept the default selections until Target Location.
9 For the target location, select the datastore to which you granted permission.
Selecting a datastore for which the user lacks the Target datastore user role results in the error
message Permission to perform this operation was denied.
Assign VRM Virtual Machine Recovery User Role
In this example, you create a vSphere Replication user who can perform only recovery operations.
Prerequisites
n
Verify that you have two sites connected and replication configured between them.
n
Verify that you have another user account for the target site.
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VMware vSphere Replication Administration
Procedure
1 Log in as the Administrator user on the target site.
2 Select vCenter > Manage > Permissions and assign to this user the VRM virtual machine
recovery user role with the propagate option.
3 Log in as that user on the target site.
4 Select Monitor > vSphere Replication > Incoming Replications, select the replication, and start
recovery.
5 Select Recover with latest available data and follow the prompts to finish the recovery.
Clone Existing VRM Administrator Role and Modify Privileges
In this example, you create a vSphere Replication user who cannot modify the replication infrastructure.
The user cannot register additional vSphere Replication servers.
Prerequisites
n
Verify that you have a replication site.
n
Verify that you have another user account.
Procedure
1 Log in as the Administrator user and clone the VRM Administrator role.
2 In the cloned role, remove the Manage VR privileges.
3 Select vCenter > Manage > Permissions and assign the cloned user with Propagate privilege.
4 Log in as the cloned user and select Manage > vSphere Replication > Replication Servers.
Trying to register a vSphere Replication server results in the error message Permission to perform
this operation was denied.
vSphere Replication Roles Reference
vSphere Replication includes a set of roles. Each role includes a set of privileges, which enable users
with those roles to complete different actions.
For information about how to assign roles, see Assigning Roles in the vSphere Web Client in vSphere
Security.
Note When assigning permissions with no propagation, make sure that you have at least Read-only
permission on all parent objects.
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Table 2‑1. vSphere Replication Roles
Role Actions that this Role Permits Privileges that this Role Includes
Objects in vCenter Server
Inventory that this Role Can
Access
VRM
replication
viewer
VRM virtual
machine
replication user
n
View replications.
n
Cannot change replication
parameters.
n
View replications.
n
Manage datastores.
n
Configure and unconfigure
replications.
n
Manage and monitor
replications.
n
View defined storage
capabilities and storage
profiles.
Requires a corresponding user
with the same role on the target
site and additionally
vSphere Replication target
datastore user role on the target
datacenter, or datastore folder or
each target datastore.
VRM remote.View VR
VRM remote.View VRM
VRM datastore mapper.View
Host.vSphere Replication.Manage
replication
Virtual machine.vSphere
Replication.Monitor replication
Datastore.Browse Datastore
VRM remote.View VR
VRM remote.View VRM
VRM datastore mapper.Manage
VRM datastore mapper.View
Host.vSphere Replication.Manage
replication
Virtual machine.vSphere
Replication.Configure replication
Virtual machine.vSphere
Replication.Manage replication
Virtual machine.vSphere
Replication.Monitor replication
Profile-driven storage .Profile-
driven storage view
vCenter Server root folder with
propagation, at source site
(outgoing replications) and target
site (incoming replications).
Alternatively, vCenter Server root
folder without propagation on
both sites and virtual machine
without propagation on the
source site.
vCenter Server root folder with
propagation on both sites.
Alternatively, vCenter Server root
folder without propagation on
both sites, virtual machine
without propagation on the
source site, source datastores
without propagation on the
source site.
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VMware vSphere Replication Administration
Table 2‑1. vSphere Replication Roles (Continued)
Role Actions that this Role Permits Privileges that this Role Includes
Objects in vCenter Server
Inventory that this Role Can
Access
VRM
administrator
Incorporates all
vSphere Replication privileges.
VRM remote.Manage VR
VRM remote.View VR
VRM remote.Manage VRM
VRM remote.View VRM
VRM datastore mapper.Manage
VRM datastore mapper.View
VRM diagnostics .Manage
VRM session .Terminate
Datastore.Browse datastore
Datastore.Low level file operations
Host.vSphere Replication.Manage
replication
Resource.Assign virtual machine to
resource pool
Virtual machine.Configuration.Add
existing disk
Virtual machine.Configuration.Add
or remove device
Virtual machine.Interaction.Power
On
Virtual machine.Interaction.Device
connection
Virtual machine.Inventory.Register
Virtual machine.vSphere
Replication.Configure replication
Virtual machine.vSphere
Replication.Manage replication
Virtual machine.vSphere
Replication.Monitor replication
Profile-driven storage .Profile-
driven storage view
vCenter Server root folder with
propagation on both sites.
Alternatively, vCenter Server root
folder without propagation on
both sites, virtual machine
without propagation on the
source site, target datastore,
target virtual machine folder with
propagation on the target site,
target host or cluster with
propagation on the target site.
VRM
diagnostics
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Generate, retrieve, and delete log
bundles.
VRM remote.View VR
VRM remote.View VRM
VRM diagnostics .Manage
vCenter Server root folder on
both sites.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration
Table 2‑1. vSphere Replication Roles (Continued)
Role Actions that this Role Permits Privileges that this Role Includes
Objects in vCenter Server
Inventory that this Role Can
Access
VRM target
datastore user
VRM virtual
machine
recovery user
Configure and reconfigure
replications.
Used on target site in combination
with the VRM virtual machine
replication user role on both sites.
Recover virtual machines. Datastore.Browse datastore
Datastore.Browse datastore
Datastore.Low level file operations
Datastore.Low level file operations
Host.vSphere Replication.Manage
replication
Virtual machine.Configuration.Add
existing disk
Virtual machine.Configuration.Add
or remove device
Virtual machine.Interaction.Power
On
Virtual machine.Interaction.Device
connection
Virtual machine.Inventory.Register
Resource.Assign virtual machine to
resource pool
Datastore objects on target site,
or datastore folder with
propagation at target site, or
target datacenter with
propagation.
Secondary vCenter Server root
folder with propagation.
Alternatively, secondary
vCenter Server root folder
without propagation, target
datastore without propagation,
target virtual machine folder with
propagation, target host or
cluster with propagation.
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vSphere Replication System
Requirements 3
The environment in which you run the vSphere Replication virtual appliance must meet certain hardware
requirements.
vSphere Replication is distributed as a 64-bit virtual appliance packaged in the .ovf format. It is
configured to use a dual core CPU, a 16 GB and a 2 GB hard disk, and 4 GB of RAM. Additional
vSphere Replication servers require 716 MB of RAM.
You must deploy the virtual appliance in a vCenter Server environment by using the OVF deployment
wizard on an ESXi host.
vSphere Replication consumes negligible CPU and memory on the source host ESXi and on the guest
OS of the replicated virtual machine.
Note vSphere Replication can be deployed with either IPv4 or IPv6 address. Mixing IP addresses, for
example having a single appliance with an IPv4 and an IPv6 address, is not supported. To register as an
extension, vSphere Replication relies on the VirtualCenter.FQDN property of the vCenter Server. When
an IPv6 address is used for vSphere Replication, the VirtualCenter.FQDN property must be set to a
fully qualified domain name that can be resolved to an IPv6 address or to a literal address. When
operating with an IPv6 address, vSphere Replication requires that all components in the environment,
such as vCenter Server and ESXi hosts are accessible using the IPv6 address.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n
vSphere Replication Licensing
n
vSphere Replication Network Ports
n
Operational Limits of vSphere Replication
n
Compatibility of vSphere Replication with Other vSphere Features
n
vSphere Replication Compatibility with Other Software
n
Bandwidth Requirements for vSphere Replication
vSphere Replication Licensing
You can use vSphere Replication with certain editions of vSphere that include vSphere Replication in the
license.
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vSphere Replication does not have a separate license as it is a feature of certain vSphere license
editions.
n
vSphere Essentials Plus
n
vSphere Standard
n
vSphere Enterprise
n
vSphere Enterprise Plus
If you have the correct vSphere license, there is no limit on the number of virtual machines that you can
replicate by using vSphere Replication.
You cannot use vSphere Replication to replicate virtual machines on ESXi hosts that do not have the
correct vSphere license. If you install vSphere Replication on an ESXi host that does not have the correct
license and try to configure replication for virtual machines on that host, the replication fails with a
licensing error.
If you configure a virtual machine for replication on a host with the correct vSphere license and move it to
a host with an unsupported license, vSphere Replication stops replication of that virtual machine. You can
disable vSphere Replication on a configured virtual machine on the unlicensed host.
vSphere Replication Network Ports
vSphere Replication uses default network ports for intrasite communication between hosts at a single site
and intersite communication between hosts at the protected and recovery sites.
For a list of all the ports that must be open for vSphere Replication, see
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2087769.
For the list of default ports that all VMware products use, see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1012382.
Operational Limits of vSphere Replication
vSphere Replication has certain operational limits.
To ensure successful virtual machine replication, you must verify that your virtual infrastructure respects
certain limits before you start the replication.
n
You can only deploy one vSphere Replication appliance on a vCenter Server instance. When you
deploy another vSphere Replication appliance, during the boot process vSphere Replication detects
another appliance already deployed and registered as an extension to vCenter Server. You have to
confirm if you want to proceed with the new appliance and recreate all replications or shut it down and
reboot the old appliance to restore the original vSphere Replication extension thumbprint in
vCenter Server.
n
Each newly deployed vSphere Replication appliance can manage a maximum of 2000 replications.
See http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2102453 for more information.
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VMware vSphere Replication Administration
n
Upgraded vSphere Replication appliances that use the embedded vSphere Replication database
require additional configuration to enable the support of a maximum of 2000 replications. See
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2102463. No additional configuration is required for vSphere Replication
appliances that are configured to use an external database.
Compatibility of vSphere Replication with Other vSphere Features
vSphere Replication is compatible with certain other vSphere management features.
You can safely use vSphere Replication in combination with certain vSphere features, such as vSphere
vMotion. Some other vSphere features, for example vSphere Distributed Power Management, require
special configuration for use with vSphere Replication.
Note You cannot upgrade VMware Tools in the vSphere Replication appliance.
Table 3‑1. Compatibility of vSphere Replication with Other vSphere Features
Compatible with
vSphere Feature
vSphere Replication Description
vSphere vMotion Yes You can migrate replicated virtual machines by using vMotion. Replication
continues at the defined recovery point objective (RPO) after the migration is
finished.
vSphere Storage
vMotion
vSphere High
Availability
vSphere Fault
Tolerance
vSphere DRS Yes Replication continues at the defined RPO after resource redistribution is
vSphere Storage
DRS
VMware Virtual
SAN datastore
Yes You can move the disk files of a replicated virtual machine on the source site
using Storage vMotion with no impact on the ongoing replication.
Yes You can protect a replicated virtual machine by using HA. Replication continues
at the defined RPO after HA restarts a virtual machine. vSphere Replication
does not perform any special HA handling.
Note You cannot protect the vSphere Replication appliance itself by using HA.
No vSphere Replication cannot replicate virtual machines that have fault tolerance
enabled. You cannot protect the vSphere Replication appliance itself with FT.
finished.
Yes On the source site, Storage DRS can move the disk files of replicated virtual
machines with no impact on the ongoing replication.
On the target site, you must register the vSphere Replication appliance with the
vCenter Single Sign-On service to enable the communication between Storage
DRS and the vSphere Replication Management server. See Register the
vSphere Replication Appliance with vCenter Single Sign-On.
Yes You can use VMware Virtual SAN datastores as the source and target datastore
when configuring replications.
Note VMware Virtual SAN is a fully supported feature of vSphere 5.5 Update 1
and later.
vSphere
Distributed Power
Management
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Yes vSphere Replication coexists with DPM on the source site. vSphere Replication
does not perform any special DPM handling on the source site. You can disable
DPM on the target site to allow enough hosts as replication targets.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration
Table 3‑1. Compatibility of vSphere Replication with Other vSphere Features (Continued)
Compatible with
vSphere Feature
vSphere Replication Description
VMware vSphere
Flash Read Cache
vCloud APIs Not applicable No interaction with vSphere Replication.
vCenter
Chargeback
VMware Data
Recovery
Yes You can protect virtual machines that contain disks that use VMware vSphere
Flash Read Cache storage. Since the host to which a virtual machine recovers
might not be configured for Flash Read Cache, vSphere Replication disables
Flash Read Cache on disks when it starts the virtual machines on the recovery
site. vSphere Replication sets the reservation to zero. Before performing a
recovery on a virtual machine that is configured to use vSphere Flash Read
Cache, take note of the virtual machine's cache reservation from the
vSphere Web Client. After the recovery, you can migrate the virtual machine to
a host with Flash Read Cache storage and restore the original Flash Read
Cache setting on the virtual machine manually.
Not applicable No interaction with vSphere Replication
Not applicable No interaction with vSphere Replication.
vSphere Replication Compatibility with Other Software
vSphere Replication is compatible with certain versions of ESXi, vCenter Server, Site Recovery Manager,
databases, and Web browsers.
vSphere Replication is compatible with the same versions as vCenter Server, except for ESXi:
vSphere Replication requires ESXi 5.0 or later. See the following documents for more information.
n
Interoperability Pages for vSphere Replication 6.1 at https://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere-
replication/doc/vr-interop-pages-6-1.html.
n
For vSphere Replication interoperability with backup software when using VSS, see
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2040754.
n
VMware Compatibility Guide at http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/search.php
n
Browser compatibility at vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client Software Requirements in vSphere
Installation and Setup.
n
Browser compatibility of the VAMI depends on browsers supported by VMware Studio. See
https://www.vmware.com/support/developer/studio/studio25/release_notes.html.
Bandwidth Requirements for vSphere Replication
Before configuring replications, VMware recommends that determine storage and network bandwidth
requirements for vSphere Replication to replicate virtual machines efficiently.
Storage and network bandwidth requirements can increase when using vSphere Replication. The
following factors play a role in the amount of network bandwidth vSphere Replication requires for efficient
replication.
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Network Based Storage
Network bandwidth requirements increase if all storage is network-based because data operations
between the host and the storage also use network. When you plan your deployment, be aware of the
following levels of traffic:
n
Between the host running the replicated virtual machine and the vSphere Replication server.
n
Between the vSphere Replication server and a host with access to the replication target datastore.
n
Between the host and storage.
n
Between storage and the host during redo log snapshots.
Network based storage is a concern when you are replicating virtual machines within a single vCenter
Server instance that shares the network for the levels of traffic listed. When you have two sites with a
vCenter Server instance on each site, the link speed between the two sites is the most important as it can
slow down replication traffic between the two sites.
Dataset Size
vSphere Replication might not replicate every virtual machine nor every VMDK file in the replicated virtual
machines. To evaluate the dataset size that vSphere Replication replicates, calculate the percentage of
the total storage used for virtual machines, then calculate the number of VMDKs within that subset that
you have configured for replication.
For example, you might have 2TB of virtual machines on the datastores and usevSphere Replication to
replicate half of these virtual machines. You might only replicate a subset of the VMDKs and assuming all
the VMDKs are replicated, the maximum amount of data for replication is 1TB.
Data Change Rate and Recovery Point Objective
The data change rate is affected by the recovery point objective (RPO). To estimate the size of the data
transfer for each replication, you must evaluate how many blocks change in a given RPO for a virtual
machine. The data change rate within the RPO period provides the total number of blocks that
vSphere Replication transfers. This number might vary throughout the day, which alters the traffic that
vSphere Replication generates at different times.
vSphere Replication transfers blocks based on the RPO schedule. If you set an RPO of one hour,
vSphere Replication transfers any block that has changed in that hour to meet that RPO.
vSphere Replication only transfers the block once in its current state at the moment that
vSphere Replication creates the bundle of blocks for transfer. vSphere Replication only registers that the
block has changed within the RPO period, not how many times it changed. The average daily data
change rate provides an estimation of how much data vSphere Replication transfers or how often the
transfers occur.
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