Administrator Guide

• If the application needs to be recovered with VSS consistency, revert to the previous vSphere snapshot and then delete the vSphere
snapshot using the vSphere Client. This must be done before the virtual machine is powered on automatically by SRM or manually
through human intervention.
• If application or data consistency is not required for disaster recovery purposes, the virtual machines at the recovery site may be
immediately powered on in a vSphere snapshot state. However, it is not advisable to allow virtual machines to continue running for
extended periods of time in a snapshot state. The vSphere snapshots for each virtual machine should be committed and deleted as
soon as possible.
Related tasks
Restore Data with VSS Consistency on page 60
Storage vMotion
vSphere enables the ability of a virtual machine to migrate between hosts using vMotion and between storage using Storage vMotion.
vMotion will not create any issues for Replay Manager as long as all vSphere hosts are zoned and mapped to the necessary volumes,
however, there are some usage considerations.
CAUTION: Do not use the VMware Datastores backup extension if you are using Storage vMotion. Storage vMotion will
cause a Replay Manager job to fail if the VMware Datastores backup extension was used for the job.
Replay Manager jobs using the VMware Virtual Machines backup extension are not impacted by Storage vMotion as long as the Storage
vMotion destination is a Storage Center configured in Replay Manager. Every time a Replay Manager job using this extension is run,
Replay Manager will update the virtual machine's file locations as necessary before performing the job. The Replay Manager job will be
updated accordingly and no action will be required of the administrator.
Storage DRS
vSphere Storage DRS (also known as SDRS) leverages the Storage vMotion feature when configured for fully automated mode.
VMware Tools
vSphere snapshots leverage and rely on the VMware Tools installation inside of the guest virtual machine for VSS integration to obtain
application and data consistent snapshots. A VMware Tools failure likely results in the failure of a Replay Manager job and/or negatively
affects the necessary application and data consistency desired in a Replay.
NOTE:
Ensure that the VMware Tools software inside each guest virtual machine is current. Doing so increases the
reliability and success of Replay Manager jobs. VMware Tools generally need to be upgraded with each new version of
the vSphere Hypervisor installed. It is most important to upgrade the software when there is a major version release.
Replay Manager Best Practices 61