VMware vSphere Replication - 6.5 Installation Manual
VMware vSphere
Replication Installation
and Configuration
vSphere Replication 6.5
VMware vSphere Replication Installation and Configuration
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Contents
vSphere Replication Installation and Configuration 5
1
Updated Information 6
Overview of VMware vSphere Replication 7
2
Contents of the vSphere Replication Appliance 8
vSphere Replication Client Plug-In 8
Source and Target Sites 9
How vSphere Replication Works 9
Replication Data Compression 12
vSphere Replication System Requirements 14
3
vSphere Replication Licensing 14
vSphere Replication Network Ports 15
Operational Limits of vSphere Replication 15
Compatibility of vSphere Replication with Other vSphere Features 16
vSphere Replication Compatibility with Other Software 17
Bandwidth Requirements for vSphere Replication 17
Installing and Uninstalling vSphere Replication 20
4
Install vSphere Replication 21
Uninstall vSphere Replication 29
Unregister vSphere Replication from vCenter Server if the Appliance Was Deleted 31
Configuring the Customer Experience Improvement Program 33
5
Categories of Information That VMware Receives 33
Join or Leave the Customer Experience Improvement Program in the vSphere Web Client 33
Isolating the Network Traffic of vSphere Replication 34
6
Set Up a VMkernel Adapter for vSphere Replication Traffic on a Source Host 35
Set Up a VMkernel Adapter for vSphere Replication Traffic on a Target Host 36
Create a VM Network Adapter to Use for Incoming Replication Traffic on the Combined
vSphere Replication Appliance 37
Create VM Network Adapters to Isolate the Network Traffic of a vSphere Replication Server 38
Deploying Additional vSphere Replication Servers 40
7
Deploy an Additional vSphere Replication Server 40
Register an Additional vSphere Replication Server 41
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VMware vSphere Replication Installation and Configuration
Reconfigure vSphere Replication Server Settings 41
Unregister and Remove a vSphere Replication Server 43
Disable the Embedded vSphere Replication Server 43
Upgrading vSphere Replication 45
8
Order of Upgrading vSphere and vSphere Replication Components 46
Upgrade vSphere Replication by Using the Downloadable ISO Image 46
Update the vCenter Server IP Address in the vSphere Replication Management Server 48
Reconfigure the vSphere Replication Appliance 49
9
Reconfigure General vSphere Replication Settings 50
Change the SSL Certificate of the vSphere Replication Appliance 51
Change the Password of the vSphere Replication Appliance 54
Change Keystore and Truststore Passwords of the vSphere Replication Appliance 54
Configure vSphere Replication Network Settings 56
Configure vSphere Replication System Settings 57
Update the NTP Server Configuration 58
Reconfigure vSphere Replication to Use an External Database 59
Use the Embedded vSphere Replication Database 62
vSphere Replication Roles and Permissions 64
10
Assign vSphere Replication Roles to Users 64
Assign VRM Replication Viewer Role 64
Assign VRM Virtual Machine Replication User Role 65
Assign VRM Virtual Machine Recovery User Role 65
Clone Existing VRM Administrator Role and Modify Privileges 66
vSphere Replication Roles Reference 66
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vSphere Replication Installation
and Configuration 1
vSphere Replication Installation and Configuration provides information about installing and configuring
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 Installation and Configuration document is updated with each release of the
product or when necessary.
This table provides the update history of the vSphere Replication Installation and Configuration
document.
Revision Description
7 NOV 2017 Updated the information about vSphere High Availability in topic Compatibility of vSphere Replication with Other
vSphere Features.
EN-002113-03
EN-002113-02
EN-002113-01
EN-002113-00 Initial release.
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Clarified the information in topic Deploy the vSphere Replication Virtual Appliance.
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Updated the information in topic Deploy an Additional vSphere Replication Server.
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Updated the information in topic Disable the Embedded vSphere Replication Server.
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Updated the information in topic Chapter 6 Isolating the Network Traffic of vSphere Replication.
n
Updated the Prerequisites in topic Set Up a VMkernel Adapter for vSphere Replication Traffic on a Source
Host.
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Updated the Prerequisites in topic Set Up a VMkernel Adapter for vSphere Replication Traffic on a Target
Host.
n
Updated the information in topic Deploy the vSphere Replication Virtual Appliance.
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Overview of
VMware vSphere Replication 2
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:
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From a source site to a target site
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Within a single site from one cluster to another
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From multiple source sites to a shared remote target site
vSphere Replication provides several benefits as compared to storage-based replication.
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Data protection at lower cost per virtual machine.
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A replication solution that allows flexibility in storage vendor selection at the source and target sites.
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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 Installation and Configuration
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Contents of the vSphere Replication Appliance
The vSphere Replication appliance provides all the components that vSphere Replication requires.
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vSphere Replication Client Plug-In
The vSphere Replication appliance adds a plug-in to the vSphere Web Client.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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A plug-in to the vSphere Web Client that provides a user interface for vSphere Replication.
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An embedded database that stores replication configuration and management information.
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A vSphere Replication management server:
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Configures the vSphere Replication server.
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Enables, manages, and monitors replications.
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Authenticates users and checks their permissions to perform vSphere Replication operations.
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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.
You use the vSphere Replication client plug-in to perform all vSphere Replication actions.
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Configure connections between vSphere Replication sites.
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View all vCenter Server instances that are registered with the same SSO and status of each
vSphere Replication extension.
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VMware vSphere Replication Installation and Configuration
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Deploy and register additional vSphere Replication servers.
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Configure the replication of individual or multiple virtual machines.
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View incoming and outgoing replications.
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Monitor and manage the status of the replications.
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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:
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Each site must have at least one data center.
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The target site must have hardware, network, and storage resources that can support the same
virtual machines and workloads as the source site.
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The sites must be connected by a reliable IP network.
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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.
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.
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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
VMware vSphere Replication Installation and Configuration
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.
Figure 2‑1. Replication Between Two Sites
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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 Installation and Configuration
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 2‑2. 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 Installation and Configuration
Figure 2‑3. Replication to a Shared Target Site
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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VMware vSphere Replication Installation and Configuration
Table 2‑1. 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 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:
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vSphere Replication Licensing
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vSphere Replication Network Ports
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Operational Limits of vSphere Replication
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Compatibility of vSphere Replication with Other vSphere Features
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vSphere Replication Compatibility with Other Software
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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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VMware vSphere Replication Installation and Configuration
vSphere Replication does not have a separate license as it is a feature of certain vSphere license
editions.
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vSphere Essentials Plus
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vSphere Standard
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vSphere Enterprise
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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.
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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.
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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 Installation and Configuration
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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 Installation and Configuration
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.
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Interoperability Pages for vSphere Replication 6.5 at https://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere-
replication/doc/vr-interop-pages-6-5.html.
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For vSphere Replication interoperability with backup software when using VSS, see
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2040754.
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VMware Compatibility Guide at http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/search.php
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Browser compatibility at vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client Software Requirements in vSphere
Installation and Setup.
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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VMware vSphere Replication Installation and Configuration
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:
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Between the host running the replicated virtual machine and the vSphere Replication server.
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Between the vSphere Replication server and a host with access to the replication target datastore.
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Between the host and storage.
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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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VMware vSphere Replication Installation and Configuration
If you use volume shadow copy service (VSS) to quiesce the virtual machine, replication traffic cannot be
spread out in small sets of bundles throughout the RPO period. Instead, vSphere Replication transfers all
the changed blocks as one set when the virtual machine is idle. Without VSS, vSphere Replication can
transfer smaller bundles of changed blocks on an ongoing basis as the blocks change, spreading the
traffic throughout the RPO period. The traffic changes if you use VSS and vSphere Replication handles
the replication schedule differently, leading to varying traffic patterns.
If you change the RPO, vSphere Replication transfers more or less data per replication to meet the new
RPO.
Link Speed
If you have to transfer an average replication bundle of 4GB in a one hour period, you must examine the
link speed to determine if the RPO can be met. If you have a 10Mb link, under ideal conditions on a
completely dedicated link with little overhead, 4GB takes about an hour to transfer. Meeting the RPO
saturates a 10Mb WAN connection. The connection is saturated even under ideal conditions, with no
overhead or limiting factors such as retransmits, shared traffic, or excessive bursts of data change rates.
You can assume that only about 70% of a link is available for traffic replication. This means that on a
10Mb link you obtain a link speed of about 3GB per hour. On a 100Mb link you obtain a speed of about
30GB per hour.
To calculate the bandwidth, see Calculate Bandwidth for vSphere Replication.
Calculate Bandwidth for vSphere Replication
To determine the bandwidth that vSphere Replication requires to replicate virtual machines efficiently, you
calculate the average data change rate within an RPO period divided by the link speed.
If you have groups of virtual machines that have different RPO periods, you can determine the replication
time for each group of virtual machines. For example, you might have four groups with RPO of 15
minutes, one hour, four hours, and 24 hours. Factor in all the different RPOs in the environment, the
subset of virtual machines in your environment that is replicated, the change rate of the data within that
subset, the amount of data changes within each configured RPO, and the link speeds in your network.
Prerequisites
Examine how data change rate, traffic rates, and the link speed meet the RPO. Then look at the
aggregate of each group.
Procedure
1 Identify the average data change rate within the RPO by calculating the average change rate over a
longer period then dividing it by the RPO.
2 Calculate how much traffic this data change rate generates in each RPO period.
3 Measure the traffic against your link speed.
For example, a data change rate of 100GB requires approximately 200 hours to replicate on a T1
network, 30 hours to replicate on a 10Mbps network, 3 hours on a 100Mbps network.
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Installing and Uninstalling
vSphere Replication 4
vSphere Replication uses the replication technologies included in ESXi with the assistance of virtual
appliances to replicate virtual machines between source and target sites.
Installing vSphere Replication
To use vSphere Replication, you must deploy the vSphere Replication appliance on an ESXi host by
using the vSphere Web Client.
The vSphere Replication appliance registers as an extension with the corresponding vCenter Server
instance. For example, on the source site, the vSphere Replication appliance registers with the
vCenter Server instance on the source site. Only one vSphere Replication appliance is allowed per
vCenter Server.
The vSphere Replication appliance contains an embedded vSphere Replication server that manages the
replication process. To meet the load balancing needs of your environment, you might need to deploy
additional vSphere Replication servers at each site. Additional vSphere Replication servers that you
deploy are themselves virtual appliances. You must register any additional vSphere Replication server
with the vSphere Replication appliance on the corresponding site.
The vSphere Replication appliance provides a virtual appliance management interface (VAMI). You can
use this interface to reconfigure the vSphere Replication database, network settings, public-key
certificates, and passwords for the appliances.
Uninstalling vSphere Replication
To uninstall vSphere Replication from your environment, you must unregister the appliance from the SSO
service and from the vCenter Server, and then delete the vSphere Replication appliance.
In the event of deleting the vSphere Replication appliance before unregistering it from the SSO server
and the vCenter Server, a special procedure must be performed to clean your environment up.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n
Install vSphere Replication
n
Uninstall vSphere Replication
n
Unregister vSphere Replication from vCenter Server if the Appliance Was Deleted
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VMware vSphere Replication Installation and Configuration
Install vSphere Replication
The installation procedure of vSphere Replication involves several steps.
Procedure
1 Prepare Your Environment to Install vSphere Replication
Before you deploy the vSphere Replication appliance, you must prepare the environment.
2 Deploy the vSphere Replication Virtual Appliance
vSphere Replication is distributed as an OVF virtual appliance.
3 Register the vSphere Replication Appliance with vCenter Single Sign-On
You must register the vSphere Replication Management Server with vCenter Single Sign-On on both
the source and the target sites.
4 Configure vSphere Replication Connections
To use vSphere Replication between two sites managed by different vCenter Server instances, you
need to configure a connection between the two vSphere Replication appliances.
Prepare Your Environment to Install vSphere Replication
Before you deploy the vSphere Replication appliance, you must prepare the environment.
Procedure
1 Verify that you have vSphere and vSphere Web Client installations for the source and target sites.
2 In the vSphere Web Client, select the vCenter Server instance on which you are deploying
vSphere Replication, click Configure > Settings > Advanced Settings, and verify that the
VirtualCenter.FQDN value is set to a fully-qualified domain name or a literal address.
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.
What to do next
You can deploy the vSphere Replication appliance.
Deploy the vSphere Replication Virtual Appliance
vSphere Replication is distributed as an OVF virtual appliance.
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