Is it possible to have vSphere Replication with SAN level Replciation at the same time on the same hosts and VMs?

[Fersua01]

Hello ;

I am trying to determined if it is possible to have both types of replication in SRM or if it is a simple process to change from SAN level, not Virtual Storage Replication, to host level (vSphere Replication). I have read the admin and installation guide and search for documentation about this but haven't found anything either indicating that it is possible or how to do so.

Current configuration is 2 Dell EqualLogic SANs with SAN level replication and SRM installed and configured. There are 2 Thin Volumes with about 10 VMs currently being replicated  from Site 1 to Site 2.

The ESX OS revsion is ESX5.1 u1 Ent+ Lic, the SRM version is 5.1, the SRA version is 2.2.

Any assistance or information will be greatly appreciated.

Fernando Suarez

[vNEX]

Hi Fernando,

Yes you can check sources below:

Upgrading vSphere Replication

Using Standalone vSphere Replication 5.1 with SRM 5.1

vSphere Replication 5.1 is also available as a standalone extension of vCenter Server, that is independent of SRM. If you installed the standalone version of vSphere Replication 5.1 and then install SRM 5.1, all existing pairings and replications are immediately accessible through the SRM user interface, except for pairings and replications in a single vCenter Server. Pairings and replications in a single vCenter Server are visible only in the vSphere Replication user interface.

Migration of the vSphere Replication database is not supported. If you upgrade vSphere Replication 5.1 to SRM 5.1, vSphere Replication uses the embedded database. The standalone version of vSphere Replication 5.1 and SRM 5.1 can coexist and work together in the same infrastructure. For example, you can replicate 100 virtual machines with vSphere Replication but choose to protect only 50 of them with SRM. You can manage all of the replications by using either the vSphere Replication interface in the vSphere Web Client or by using the SRM interface. Some limitations apply to the management of the replications, depending on which interface you use.

■ You cannot manage replications in a single vCenter Server instance in the SRM interface.

■ You cannot use the vSphere Replication interface in the vSphere Web Client to manually recover virtual machines that SRM protects.

■ You cannot deploy additional vSphere Replication servers by using the vSphere Replication interface in the vSphere Web Client.

Update Releases
You can obtain update releases of vSphere Replication 5.1 by using Update Manager or by using the VAMI of the vSphere Replication appliance.

VMware KB: Operational Limits for SRM and vSphere Replication

Combined Array-Based and vSphere Replication Protection Limits with SRM

With SRM, you can run array-based protection groups alongside vSphere Replication protection groups in the same SRM Server. However, the total number of protection groups cannot exceed 250. For example, you cannot create 150 array-based protection groups and then create 250 vSphere Replication protection groups, as this creates 400 protection groups in total. If you have 150 array-based protection groups, you can create an additional 100 vSphere Replication protection groups, to make a total of 250 protection groups.

If you deploy vSphere Replication on a vCenter Server instance that already has SRM vSphere Replication, you cannot discover the existing SRM vSphere Replication appliances through the vCenter Extension Manager. All replications that you already configured are set to an error state. If you deployed vSphere Replication 5.1 by mistake, you must shut down the vSphere Replication appliance and restart the existing SRM vSphere Replication appliance. Then you can return the virtual machines to green status using the multiple virtual machine configuration wizard in SRM.

Using Standalone vSphere Replication 5.1 with SRM 5.1

vSphere Replication 5.1 is also available as a standalone extension of vCenter Server, that is independent of SRM. If you installed the standalone version of vSphere Replication 5.1 and then install SRM 5.1, all existing pairings and replications are immediately accessible through the SRM user interface, except for pairings and replications in a single vCenter Server. Pairings and replications in a single vCenter Server are visible only in the vSphere Replication user interface.

Migration of the vSphere Replication database is not supported. If you upgrade vSphere Replication 5.1 to SRM 5.1, vSphere Replication uses the embedded database. The standalone version of vSphere Replication 5.1 and SRM 5.1 can coexist and work together in the same infrastructure. For example, you can replicate 100 virtual machines with vSphere Replication but choose to protect only 50 of them with SRM. You can manage all of the replications by using either the vSphere Replication interface in the vSphere Web Client or by using the SRM interface. Some limitations apply to the management of the replications, depending on which interface you use.

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Regards,

P.

[mvalkanov]

Hi,

While it is technically possible (but not officially supported) to replicate the same VM at the same time using:

- vSphere replication

- underlying storage replication

the destination path for VR needs to be some datastore mounted at the target site

The same VM at the same site can not be part of different SRM protection groups.

For array-based replication protection groups, SRM processes the whole datastore and all protected VMs on it.

VR is at single-VM level and target datastore must be mounted at all times at host at the target site.

If you want to migrate from storage replication to VR, you can:

- perform test failover

- clone the test failover VMs at the recovery site to other datastores

- perform test cleanup

- unconfigure the array-based replication

- configure VR on the VMs and use the copies at the target site as initial seeds

Regards,

Martin

[Fersua01]

Thanks this is what I was looking for. Now convincing the powers to be will be the challenge.