protecting vCenter server with standard vSphere replication

[BonnoB]

Hello,

Standard vSphere 5.5 environment, 1 vCenter server based on a Windows 2012 server.

1 Datacenter, sites as folders as they are connected via 1Gbit connections. ESXi hosts have Enterprise license.

It seemed a good idea to use the standard vSphere replication to create a copy of our single vCenter server to our backup site.

vSphere replication is replicating several "critical" VMs with all of the data to the backup site. Less critical servers are covered via a standard backup tool.

I now have a chicken / egg problem.

I need the webinterface to manage / restore the replicated vCenter server

I need a vCenter server in order to use the webinterface.

How does the full SR suite cover this problem?

Or do I need to fall back on my standard backup tool to backup and restore the vCenter server?

Bonno Bloksma (VCP5)

[basher]

Hello,

SRM (Site Recovery Manager) avoids the "chicken/egg" problem by requiring that users have a separate vCenter server installation at their recovery/secondary site. SRM is about protecting workloads, not infrastructure.

There are still ways to accomplish what you need, but those are not automated. See this blog post: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2012/09/21/can-i-protect-my-vcenter-server-with-vsphere-replication/

Best Regards

Stefan