Thinking of moving from Array based replication to VRS. Whats new?

[jedijeff]

Currently we are running Array based replication with Dell Compellent, though we have not deployed SRM yet. The replication is super fast and reliable. We are considering moving toward vSphere replication for the flexibility--ie we are not locked in Compellent pairs anymore, and we can do things like Storage Vmotion and stuff when we get SRM deployed. When I looked at VRS in 5.5 one thing that stood out was replication was done over the management network. Is that still true? Because our interface is 1Gbit, and we certainly would like to be able to use a 10Gbit link in our hosts to do that. Some other questions:

1. Can you replicate to another array in the same Vcenter? I know in 5x the appliance had to talk to another vcenter, though I believe I read some documents on how to overcome this.

2. I realize VRS can never compete on performance with array based replication, but in reality is that far behind? Yes I know a zillion variables installed. Just curious. We have about 700 VMs.

[vbrowncoat · Accepted solution]

You can use storage vMotion with ABR within the same consistency group.

In VR 6.0 you can use a dedicated replication interface instead of the mgmt interface. This was possible in 5.5 but was more of a workaround than a feature.

1. Yes

2. Not sure what you mean by "never compete". Are you looking for RPO? In that case, yes, ABR can go lower than the current 15 mins that VR offers. Otherwise "performance" wise they should be similar. Check this blog post for lots of details on the two SRM - Array Based Replication vs. vSphere Replication | VMware vSphere Blog - VMware Blogs

Does this answer your questions?

[jedijeff]

Thankyou very much. I forgot to mention Compellent SRA does not support consistency groups which is why I mentioned about svmotion.