Requirements of the replica site with vSphere Replication

[Alfredj1204]

Hi all,

I am investigating the use of vSphere Replication to protect my important VMs. I have three questions:

1. Do I need a vCenter server at the replica/recovery site?

2. Or can I just run a vSphere Replication appliance on a stand-alone ESXi host in my recovery site?

3. Or do I need to add the ESXi server to the inventory of the vCenter server of the primary/protected site?

Thanks,

AlfredJ.

[mvalkanov]

Hi,

1. For DR with VR, it is recommended to have vCenter Server at the recovery site.

Else, in case vCenter Server is not available, you can not use vSphere Replication to consolidate the disks and rename+update the replicated config files.

If you do the consolidation manually, there is some risk of producing non-consistent image of the disks.

2. VRMS (part of the VR appliance) is extension to vCenter Server and can not workout it (UI, authorization, others).

3. You can, but that will work for planned migration. If vCenter is not available (and you don't have backup for vCenter), in case of disaster you would need to do the manual steps from 1.

You can use a single vCenter Server at a central site and use it for DR of VMs running on remote site ESXi hosts managed by the same vCenter server. Assuming that in case of disaster the central site and the vCenter Server won't be affected, but only some of the remote site hosts.

Regards,

Martin

[shivaprasada]

For your investigation. For this you needn't have to have a separate recovery site. you can still recover the VM on the Protected Site itself. ( this means 1 site and 1 VRMS).