Are long distance vmotion, and cross-vcenter vmotion incompatible, with SRM?

[dtsmith62]

We are planning our 5.5 to 6.0 upgrades. Two sites have SRM involved. We would like to be able to deploy in such a way as to make long distance and cross-vCenter vMotion possible in the future. However it seems these may be incompatible with SRM.

Cross-vCenter vMotion requires enhanced link mode. Enhanced link mode requires the vCenters to use the same PSC. A dependency between the protected site and the recovery site as would be created by putting the two SRM vCenters in linked mode is a non-starter. You need to be able to log in to your recovery site vCenter if the protected site is blown away by a tornado.

Maybe the answer is; cross-vCenter vMotion is incompatible with SRM unless you create the deployment model with redundant load balanced PSC servers. Locating one PSC geographically separated from the protected site. Even in that scenario, it is unclear to me if you would have to re-point the recovery site vCenter in a disaster. Again, I think enhanced vMotion literally requires the 2 vCenters to be pointed to the *same* PSC, not just PSCs in the same SSO domain.

I have a case open with VMware and I will share the results if it's helpful. Both protected site and recovery site use our corporate Active Directory as the identity source but I don't think that will help us if we are in linked mode and lose a PSC.

[dtsmith62 · Accepted solution]

Well, the flaw in my logic is that the vCenters in enhanced linked mode need to point to the *same* PSC.  At least in SRM 6.1 there is some good news here.

Thanks VMware Federal support;

Site Recovery Manager 6.1 Documentation Center

[vbrowncoat]

Both of these will work in an SRM environment, though only cross-vCenter vmotion is explicitly integrated with SRM, and that is only in SRM 6.1 when used with stretched storage.

Enhanced linked mode doesn't require vCenters to use the same PSC, just that the PSCs need to be in the same domain. You are correct it would create a dependency if it required both to connect to the same which is why it's not a requirement

Site Recovery Manager 6.1 Documentation Center

If you used LD or cross-VC vmotion (cross-VC not in conjuction with stretched storage) for a VM protected by SRM without first unprotecting the VM it could cause problems with replication, protection groups and recovery plans. It a lot of ways it would be similar to removing a VM from inventory without first removing protection.