VMware vSphere Replication Administration vSphere Replication 5.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at: https://docs.vmware.com/ If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to docfeedback@vmware.com VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com Copyright © 2012–2017 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark information. VMware, Inc.
Contents vSphere Replication Administration Updated Information 6 7 1 Overview of VMware vSphere Replication 8 Contents of the vSphere Replication Appliance vSphere Replication Client Plug-In Source and Target Sites 9 9 10 How vSphere Replication Works 10 2 vSphere Replication Roles and Permissions 14 Assign vSphere Replication Roles to Users Assign VRM Replication Viewer Role 14 14 Assign VRM Virtual Machine Replication User Role Assign VRM Virtual Machine Recovery User Role 15 15 Clone Exist
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 6 Upgrading vSphere Replication 35 Upgrade vSphere Replication by Using the Downloadable ISO Image 36 Update vCenter Server IP Address in vSphere Replication Management Server 37 7 Reconfigure the vSphere Replication Appliance 38 Reconfigure General vSphere Replication Settings 39 Change the SSL Certificate of the vSphere Replication Appliance Change the Password of the vSphere Replication Appliance 40 43 Change Keystore and Truststore Passwords of the vSp
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Solutions for Common vSphere Replication Problems VMware, Inc.
vSphere Replication Administration vSphere Replication Administration provides information about installing, configuring, and using VMware vSphere Replication. Intended Audience This information is intended for anyone who wants to protect the virtual machines in their virtual infrastructure by using vSphere Replication. The information is written for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and datacenter operations. VMware, Inc.
Updated Information This vSphere Replication Administration document is updated with each release of the product or when necessary. This table provides the update history of the vSphere Replication Administration document. Revision Description 7 NOV 2017 Updated the information about vSphere High Availability in topic Compatibility of vSphere Replication with Other vSphere Features. 001501-02 n Corrected the information in topic Configure vSphere Replication Connections.
Overview of VMware vSphere Replication 1 VMware vSphere Replication is an extension to VMware vCenter Server that provides hypervisor-based virtual machine replication and recovery. vSphere Replication is an alternative to storage-based replication.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration n Contents of the vSphere Replication Appliance The vSphere Replication appliance provides all the components that vSphere Replication requires. n vSphere Replication Client Plug-In The vSphere Replication appliance adds a plug-in to the vSphere Web Client. n Source and Target Sites In a typical vSphere Replication installation, the source site provides business-critical datacenter services.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration n View incoming and outgoing replications. n Monitor and manage the status of the replications. n Recover virtual machines. Source and Target Sites In a typical vSphere Replication installation, the source site provides business-critical datacenter services. The target site is an alternative facility to which you can migrate these services. The source site can be any site where vCenter Server supports a critical business need.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration As administrator, you can monitor and manage the status of the replication. You can view information for incoming and outgoing replications, source and target site status, replication issues, and for warnings and errors. When you manually recover a virtual machine, vSphere Replication creates a copy of the virtual machine connected to the replica disk, but does not connect any of the virtual network cards to port groups.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Figure 1‑2. Replication In a Single vCenter Server vSphere Web Client vCenter Server VR Appliance VR Server VR Server Replication VM VM ESXi ESXi Cluster 1 ESXi ESXi Network File Copy Network File Copy Cluster 2 You can replicate virtual machines to a shared target site. VMware, Inc.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Figure 1‑3. Replication to a Shared Target Site Source Site Replication vCenter Server VR Appliance VM ESXi ESXi VR Agent VR Agent Target Site ESXi VR Agent vSphere Web Client Source Site Replication vCenter Server VR Appliance Replicate changed blocks vCenter Server VR Appliance VM VM ESXi ESXi ESXi ESXi VR Agent VR Agent Network File Copy Network File Copy VM ESXi VR Agent VMware, Inc.
vSphere Replication Roles and Permissions 2 You can use any predefined roles or clone an existing role, and add or remove privileges from it based on your needs.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 4 Log in as the user with the assigned VRM replication viewer role. The user cannot perform modifications on the configured replication, nor on the replication sites. Running operations result in Permission to perform this operation was denied. Assign VRM Virtual Machine Replication User Role In this example, you create a vSphere Replication user who can only configure replication between sites and use a specific datastore on the target site.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Procedure 1 Log in as the Administrator user on the target site. 2 Select vCenter > Manage > Permissions and assign to this user the VRM virtual machine recovery user role with the propagate option. 3 Log in as that user on the target site. 4 Select Monitor > vSphere Replication > Incoming Replications, select the replication, and start recovery. 5 Select Recover with latest available data and follow the prompts to finish the recovery.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Table 2‑1. vSphere Replication Roles Role Actions that this Role Permits Privileges that this Role Includes VRM replication viewer n View replications. VRM remote.View VR n Cannot change replication parameters. VRM remote.View VRM VRM datastore mapper.View Host.vSphere Replication.Manage replication Virtual machine.vSphere Replication.Monitor replication VRM virtual machine replication user n View replications. Datastore.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Table 2‑1. vSphere Replication Roles (Continued) Role Actions that this Role Permits Privileges that this Role Includes VRM administrator Incorporates all vSphere Replication privileges. VRM remote.Manage VR VRM remote.View VR VRM remote.Manage VRM VRM remote.View VRM VRM datastore mapper.Manage VRM datastore mapper.View VRM diagnostics .Manage VRM session .Terminate Datastore.Browse datastore Datastore.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Table 2‑1. vSphere Replication Roles (Continued) Role Actions that this Role Permits Privileges that this Role Includes VRM target datastore user Configure and reconfigure replications. Datastore.Browse datastore Datastore.Low level file operations Used on target site in combination with the VRM virtual machine replication user role on both sites. VRM virtual machine recovery user Recover virtual machines. Datastore.Browse datastore Datastore.
vSphere Replication System Requirements 3 The environment in which you run the vSphere Replication virtual appliance must meet certain hardware requirements. vSphere Replication is distributed as a 64-bit virtual appliance packaged in the .ovf format. It has a dual core CPU, a 10GB and a 2GB hard disk, and 4GB of RAM. Additional vSphere Replication Servers require 512MB of RAM. You must deploy the virtual appliance in a vCenter Server environment by using the OVF deployment wizard on an ESXi host.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration vSphere Replication Licensing You can use vSphere Replication with certain editions of vSphere that include vSphere Replication in the license. vSphere Replication does not have a separate license as it is a feature of certain vSphere license editions.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration n Each vSphere Replication management server can manage a maximum of 500 replications. See http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2034768 for more information. Compatibility of vSphere Replication with Other vSphere Features vSphere Replication is compatible with certain other vSphere management features. You can safely use vSphere Replication in combination with certain vSphere features, such as vSphere vMotion.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Table 3‑1. Compatibility of vSphere Replication with Other vSphere Features (Continued) vSphere Feature Compatible with vSphere Replication Description VMware vSphere Flash Read Cache Yes You can protect virtual machines that contain disks that use VMware vSphere Flash Read Cache storage.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Network Based Storage Network bandwidth requirements increase if all storage is network-based because data operations between the host and the storage also use network. When you plan your deployment, be aware of the following levels of traffic: n Between the host running the replicated virtual machine and the vSphere Replication server. n Between the vSphere Replication server and a host with access to the replication target datastore.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration If you use volume shadow copy service (VSS) to quiesce the virtual machine, replication traffic cannot be spread out in small sets of bundles throughout the RPO period. Instead, vSphere Replication transfers all the changed blocks as one set when the virtual machine is idle. Without VSS, vSphere Replication can transfer smaller bundles of changed blocks on an ongoing basis as the blocks change, spreading the traffic throughout the RPO period.
Installing vSphere Replication 4 vSphere Replication uses the replication technologies included in ESXi with the assistance of virtual appliances to replicate virtual machines between source and target sites. To use vSphere Replication, you must deploy the vSphere Replication appliance on an ESXi host using the vSphere Web Client. The vSphere Replication appliance registers with the corresponding vCenter Server instance.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Deploy the vSphere Replication Virtual Appliance vSphere Replication is distributed as an OVF virtual appliance. You deploy the vSphere Replication appliance by using the standard vSphere OVF deployment wizard. Note vSphere Replication can either be deployed with IPv4 or IPv6 address. Mixing IP addresses, for example having single appliance with both IPv4 and IPv6 address, is not supported.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 9 Select a destination datastore and disk format for the virtual appliance and click Next. 10 Select a network from the list of available networks, IP protocol, IP allocation, and click Next. vSphere Replication supports both DHCP and static IP addresses. You can also change network settings by using the virtual appliance management interface (VAMI) after installation. 11 Set the password for the root account for the customized template, and click Next.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 4 5 Right-click the site in the left pane, select All vSphere Replication Actions > Connect to target site, type the IP address or name of the remote site vCenter Server and the username and password for the target site. Option Description To select an existing target site Click Select a target site and select a site from the list.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Procedure 1 In the extensionList property, click the corresponding link for the com.vmware.vcHms extension key to check the key details. 2 Verify that the displayed data is for a vSphere Replication appliance that is already lost. 3 In ExtensionManager, click unregisterExtension. 4 Type com.vmware.vcHms for the extension key value, and click Invoke Method. 5 Verify that the result displays void and not an error message.
Deploying Additional vSphere Replication Servers 5 Depending on replication traffic, you might need to deploy one or more additional vSphere Replication servers.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 3 Review the virtual appliance details and click Next. 4 Follow the prompts to select a destination host, datastore, and disk format for the virtual appliance. 5 Enter a password for the appliance that is at least eight characters long. 6 Set the network properties. Select DHCP or set a static IP address. You can change network settings after deployment in the VAMI.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration You can also reconfigure the network settings for the vSphere Replication server virtual appliance. Note vSphere Replication can either be deployed with IPv4 or IPv6 address. Mixing IP addresses, for example having single appliance with both IPv4 and IPv6 address, is not supported. When operating with IPv6 address, vSphere Replication requires that all components in the environment, such as vCenter Server instances and ESXi hosts are accessible using IPv6 address.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Unregister and Remove a vSphere Replication Server If you deployed additional vSphere Replication server instances that you no longer require, you must unregister them from the vSphere Replication appliance before you delete them. Prerequisites You deployed and registered a vSphere Replication server that you no longer require. Make sure it does not serve any replications, otherwise the operations will fail.
Upgrading vSphere Replication 6 You upgrade the vSphere Replication appliance and any additional vSphere Replication servers by using a downloaded ISO image. The downloadable ISO image is the only means of upgrading from vSphere Replication 5.5.x or 5.6 to vSphere Replication 5.8. You cannot use vSphere Update Manager or the virtual appliance management interface (VAMI) of the vSphere Replication appliance to upgrade vSphere Replication from version 5.5.x or 5.6 to version 5.8.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Upgrade vSphere Replication by Using the Downloadable ISO Image You upgrade the vSphere Replication appliance and the vSphere Replication server by using a downloadable ISO image. Prerequisites n Upgrade the vCenter Server instance that vSphere Replication extends. n Download the VMware-vSphere_Replication-5.8.x.x-build_number.iso ISO image from the vSphere downloads page.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration What to do next If your infrastructure uses more than one vSphere Replication server, you must upgrade all of the vSphere Replication servers to 5.8. Repeat these steps to upgrade each vSphere Replication server.
Reconfigure the vSphere Replication Appliance 7 If necessary, you can reconfigure the vSphere Replication appliance settings by using the virtual appliance management interface (VAMI). You provide the settings for the vSphere Replication appliance in the Deploy OVF wizard when you deploy the appliance. If you selected automatic configuration of the appliance using an embedded database, you can use the vSphere Replication appliance immediately after deployment.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration n Reconfigure vSphere Replication to Use an External Database The vSphere Replication appliance contains an embedded vPostgreSQL database that you can use immediately after you deploy the appliance, without any additional database configuration. If necessary, you can reconfigure vSphere Replication to use an external database.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 6 Type the address of the vCenter Server instance to use with this installation. You must use the same address format that you used when you installed vCenter Server. For example, if you used a fully qualified domain name during installation, you must use that FQDN. If you used an IP address, you must use that IP address. 7 Type an administrator email address. 8 Click Save and Restart Service to apply the changes.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 5 (Optional) To enforce verification of certificate validity, select the Accept only SSL certificates signed by a trusted Certificate Authority check box. See vSphere Replication Certificate Verification for details of how vSphere Replication handles certificates. 6 7 Generate or install a new SSL certificate. Option Action Generate a self-signed certificate Click Generate and Install.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration vSphere Replication can trust remote server certificates either by verifying the validity of the certificate and its thumbprint or by verifying the thumbprint only. The default is to verify by thumbprint only.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration n If you use your own certificate authority, for example one that you create and manage with the OpenSSL tools, you must add the fully qualified domain name or IP address to the OpenSSL configuration file. n If the fully qualified domain name of the appliance is VR1.example.com, add subjectAltName = DNS: VR1.example.com to the OpenSSL configuration file.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 6 Click Apply to change the password. Change Keystore and Truststore Passwords of the vSphere Replication Appliance To increase security, you can change the default passwords of the vSphere Replication appliance keystore and truststore. If you copy the keystores from the appliance to another machine, VMware recommends that you change the passwords before the copy operation. The keystore and truststore passwords might be stored in an access restricted config file.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 8 Obtain the current hms-truststore password. # /opt/vmware/hms/bin/hms-configtool -cmd list | grep truststore Example of the output: hms-truststore-password = old_password 9 Change the hms-truststore password. # /usr/java/default/bin/keytool -storepasswd -storepass old_password -new new_password -keystore /opt/vmware/hms/security/hms-truststore.jks 10 Update the configuration with the new password.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 3 Click the Network tab. 4 Click Status to review current network settings. 5 Click Address to review or modify IPv4 and IPv6 address settings. 6 IP Address Type Option Description IPv4 DHCP DHCP is not recommended if the IP address of the appliance might change if it reboots. IPv4 Static With a static IPv4 address, you can modify the IP settings, DNS settings, netmask, and host name information. IPv4 None Deactivates IPv4 addresses.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Procedure 1 Use a supported browser to log in to the vSphere Replication VAMI. The URL for the VAMI is https://vr-appliance-address:5480. 2 Type the root user name and password for the server. 3 Click the System tab. 4 Click Information. You can review information about vSphere Replication, and reboot or shutdown the appliance.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration You might need to use an external database to improve performance or load balancing, for easier backup, or to meet your company's database standards. Note vSphere Replication server inside the vSphere Replication appliance uses its own embedded database and config files. Configuring VRMS to use external database does not provide protection of losing the vSphere Replication appliance or any Additional vSphere Replication Server appliance.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration You configured vSphere Replication to use an external database instead of the database that is embedded in the vSphere Replication appliance. Databases that vSphere Replication Supports The vSphere Replication virtual appliance includes the VMware standard embedded vPostgreSQL database. You can also configure vSphere Replication to use an external database.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 2 Use either a named instance or the default instance of SQL Server. If you intend to use dynamic TCP ports, you must use a named instance of SQL Server. 3 Enable TCP on the database instance. 4 Set a TCP port. Option Action Static TCP port Set the TCP port to the default of 1433. Dynamic TCP port a Use a named instance of SQL Server. You can only use dynamic ports with a named instance of SQL Server.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 3 If they are not selected already, select the CONNECT and RESOURCE roles. These roles provide the privileges that vSphere Replication requires. Use the Embedded vSphere Replication Database If you configured vSphere Replication to use an external database, you can reconfigure vSphere Replication to use the embedded database. The vSphere Replication appliance includes an embedded vPostgreSQL database.
Replicating Virtual Machines 8 With vSphere Replication you can replicate virtual machines from a source site to a target site. You can set a recovery point objective (RPO) to a certain time interval depending on your data protection needs. vSphere Replication applies all changes made to virtual machines configured for replication at the source site to their replicas at the target site. This process reoccurs at the RPO interval that you set.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration n Stop Replicating a Virtual Machine n Reconfiguring Replications How the Recovery Point Objective Affects Replication Scheduling When you set a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) value during replication configuration, you determine the maximum data loss that you can tolerate. The RPO value affects replication scheduling, but vSphere Replication does not adhere to a strict replication schedule.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration During replication, vSphere Replication replicates all aspects of the virtual machine to the target site, including any potential viruses and corrupted applications. If a virtual machine suffers from a virus or corruption and you have configured vSphere Replication to keep PIT snapshots, you can recover the virtual machine and then revert it to a snapshot of the virtual machine in its uncorrupted state.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Configuring Replications by Using Replication Seeds When copying replication seed files to the target datastore, you can use the vSphere Web Client to create a new root folder on a Virtual SAN datastore, or place the files in an existing folder. When you configure replications that use replication seeds, you must select the folder by using its UUID name. Selecting the user-friendly folder names is not supported.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration See the VMware Virtual SAN Design and Sizing Guide at http://www.vmware.com/products/virtual-san/resources.html for explanations of objects, components, mirrors, witnesses, and Virtual SAN storage policies.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Replicating a Virtual Machine in a Single vCenter Server Instance You can use vSphere Replication to replicate a virtual machine in a single vCenter Server even if the vCenter Server instance has only one host in its inventory. When you configure replication in a single vCenter Server instance, you can select the source site as the target site for replication. You then configure replication in the same way as for an infrastructure with a source and a target site.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Prerequisites Verify that you have deployed a vSphere Replication appliance at both sites. Procedure 1 On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click vSphere Replication. 2 Select a vCenter Server and in the left pane, double click Virtual Machines. In the Related Objects tab, the Virtual Machines tab lists the virtual machines. 3 Right-click the virtual machine and select All vSphere Replication Actions > Configure replication.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration The number of replication instances that vSphere Replication keeps depends on the configured retention policy, but also requires that the RPO period is short enough for these instances to be created. For example, if you set vSphere Replication to keep 6 replication instances per day, the RPO period should not exceed 4 hours, so that vSphere Replication can create 6 instances in 24 hours. 12 Click Next.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Prerequisites To replicate virtual machines using vSphere Replication, you must deploy the vSphere Replication appliance at the source and target sites. You must power on the virtual machines to begin replication. Procedure 1 On the vSphere Web Client Home page, click vSphere Replication. 2 Select a vCenter Server and in the left pane, double click Virtual Machines. In the Related Objects tab, the Virtual Machines tab lists the virtual machines.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 12 (Optional) To save multiple replication instances that can be converted to snapshots of the source virtual machine during recovery, select Enable in the Point in time instances pane, and adjust the number of instances to keep. Note You can keep up to 24 instances per virtual machine. This means that if you set vSphere Replication to keep 6 replication instances per day, the maximum number of days you can set is 4 days.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Stop Replicating a Virtual Machine If you do not need to replicate a virtual machine, you can stop the replication of that virtual machine. Prerequisites You have configured replication on a virtual machine that you no longer need to replicate. Procedure 1 In the vSphere Replication Home page, go to the Monitor tab and click Incoming Replications or Outgoing Replications. 2 Right-click a replication and select Stop.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 3 Click Next until you reach Recovery settings. 4 Modify the RPO settings for this replication. 5 Click Finish to save your changes. Resize the Virtual Machine Disk Files of a Replication that Uses Replication Seeds vSphere Replication prevents you from resizing the virtual machine disk files during replication. If you used replication seeds for the target disk, you can resize the disk manually. Procedure 1 Stop the replication on the source site.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Change the Target Datastore Location Changing the target location of an already configured replication requires vSphere Replication to unconfigure and then reconfigure the replication. All replication instances are lost and vSphere Replication performs an initial full sync to the new location for all virtual machine disks. If a replication seed was used for some of these disks, vSphere Replication uses the seed again.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration If you selected to disable the saving of point in time instances, the instances that exist on the target site are deleted when the next replication instance appears on the target site. The moment when a new replication instance is saved on the target site depends on the RPO setting. VMware, Inc.
Performing a Recovery with vSphere Replication 9 With vSphere Replication, you can recover successfully replicated virtual machines at the target site. vSphere Replication performs a sequence of steps to recover replicated virtual machines. n If you perform a synchronization of the latest changes, vSphere Replication checks that the source site is available and source virtual machine is powered off before recovering the virtual machine on the target site.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Procedure 1 Log in to the vSphere Web Client for the target site. 2 On the Incoming Replications tab, right-click the virtual machine to recover and select Recover. 3 Select whether to recover the virtual machine with all the latest data, or to recover the virtual machine with the most recent data from the target site.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration The recovery might also fail if you use the same name for the virtual machine in a scenario where you use vSphere Replication to replicate a virtual machine in a single vCenter Server and the vCenter Server instance has only one host in its inventory. See Error Recovering Virtual Machine in a Single vCenter Server Instance for more information.
Monitoring and Managing Replications in vSphere Replication 10 vSphere Replication provides a management interface where you can monitor and manage virtual machine replication and connectivity states for local and remote sites. The Home tab in vSphere Replication lists all vCenter Servers that are joined in the same SSO server and the status of each vSphere Replication appliance with the total number of replications.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 2 Select the vCenter Server root folder. 3 Click the Summary tab. Replication States for Virtual Machines vSphere Replication shows the replication states of virtual machines that you configured for replication.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration View Replication Reports for a Site If you observe frequent RPO violations, want to learn more about the network usage of vSphere Replication, or check the status of your incoming and outgoing replications, you can view replication statistics for source and target vCenter Server sites. Prerequisites Verify that vSphere Replication is running. Procedure 1 In the vSphere Web Client Home view, click vSphere Replication.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Interpreting Replication Statistics for a Site You can use the reports that vSphere Replication compiles to optimize your environment for replication, identify problems in your environment, and reveal their most probable cause. Server and site connectivity, number of RPO violations, and other metrics give you, as an administrator, the information you need to diagnose replication issues.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Transferred Bytes Corelating the total number of transferred bytes and the number of RPO violations can help you make decisions on how much bandwidth might be required to meet RPO objectives. Table 10‑3.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Table 10‑4. Possible Replication Problems (Continued) Problem Cause Solution Error While configuring replication, the replication fails with the incorrect UUID. For example, the replication seed found and intended for use has a different UUID from the original hard disk. Reconfigure the replication. Error You do not use replication seeds during configuration, but a disk with the same name is found during configuration. Reconfigure the replication.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 4 In Replication Servers: a Click Deploy new vSphere Replication Server from an OVF template to deploy a new vSphere Replication server. For more information see Chapter 5 Deploying Additional vSphere Replication Servers b Click Register a virtual machine as vSphere Replication Server to register virtual machine as a vSphere Replication server.
Troubleshooting vSphere Replication 11 Known troubleshooting information can help you diagnose and correct problems that occur while replicating and recovering virtual machines with vSphere Replication. If you have problems with deploying vSphere Replication, replicating or recovering virtual machines, or connecting to databases, you can troubleshoot them. To help identify the problem, you might need to collect and review vSphere Replication logs and send them to VMware Support.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Shared Disk Support vSphere Replication cannot replicate virtual machines that share vmdk files in this release. Raw Device Mapping (RDM) vSphere Replication supports replicating RDMs in Virtual Compatibility Mode. RDMs in Physical Compatibility Mode cannot be configured for replication. Snapshots vSphere Replication does not replicate virtual machine snapshot hierarchy at the target site.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Manually Access the vSphere Replication Logs You can copy and use the vSphere Replication logs for system monitoring and troubleshooting. A VMware support engineer might request these logs during a support call. Use SCP or Win SCP to copy log folders and files from the vSphere Replication appliance and all Additional vSphere Replication Servers. n /opt/vmware/hms/logs/ n /opt/vmware/var/log/lighttpd/ n /var/log/vmware/ n /var/log/boot.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Table 11‑1. vSphere Replication Events (Continued) Categ ory Event Target com.vmware.vcHms.h ostUnconfiguredForH brEvent Info Folder Virtual machine is experiencing problems with vSphere Replication and must be reconfigured com.vmware.vcHms.v mMissingReplication ConfigurationEvent Error Virtual Machine VM cleaned up from vSphere Replication Virtual machine cleaned up from vSphere Replication configuration com.vmware.vcHms.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Table 11‑1. vSphere Replication Events (Continued) Categ ory Event Target com.vmware.vcHms.v mRecoveredEvent Info Virtual Machine Datastore is not accessible for vSphere Replication Server com.vmware.vcHms.d atastoreInaccessibleE vent Error Datastore vSphere Replication handled a disk addition on a virtual machine vSphere Replication detected and handled the addition of a disk to virtual machine . Disks added are com.vmware.vcHms.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Table 11‑1. vSphere Replication Events (Continued) Categ ory Event Target hbr.primary.AppQuies cedDeltaCompletedE vent Info Virtual Machine File-system consistent sync completed hbr.primary.FSQuiesc edDeltaCompletedEv ent Warni ng Virtual Machine Unquiesced crash consistent sync completed Unquiesced crash consistent sync completed. Quiescing failed or virtual machine is powered off. hbr.primary.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Solutions for Common vSphere Replication Problems Known troubleshooting information can help you diagnose and correct problems with vSphere Replication. Error at vService Bindings When Deploying the vSphere Replication Appliance When you deploy the vSphere Replication appliance, you get an error at vService bindings in the Deploy OVF Template wizard.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Connection Errors Between vSphere Replication and SQL Server Cannot be Resolved You cannot resolve a connection error between the vSphere Replication appliance and SQL Server. Problem vSphere Replication might not be able to connect to SQL Server, and you have insufficient information to solve this problem. Cause Several issues can cause this problem, and initially available information about the problem is insufficient to affect a resolution.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Solution Make sure that all hosts in the cluster are running ESXi 5.1 or newer before you use vMotion to move a Windows Server 2008 and Windows 8 virtual machine with application quiescing. Configuring Replication Fails for Virtual Machines with Two Disks on Different Datastores If you try to configure vSphere Replication on a virtual machine that includes two disks that are contained in different datastores, the configuration fails.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 4 Type the root user name and password for the appliance. You configured the root password during the OVF deployment of the vSphere Replication appliance. 5 Enter the same FQDN or literal address for vCenter Server as you set for the VirtualCenter.FQDN key. 6 Click Save and Restart Service to apply the changes. Scalability Problems when Replicating Many Virtual Machines with a Short RPO to a Shared VMFS Datastore on ESXi Server 5.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Solution 1 Upgrade ESXi Server to version 5.1 or later on the recovery site. 2 If you cannot upgrade ESXi Server to version 5.1 or later, redistribute the replicated virtual machines or adjust their RPO. n Reduce the number of virtual machines with a short RPO that replicate to a single VMFS volume, for example by using a larger number of smaller datastores.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Cause You cannot recover virtual machines with the same name in the same source and destination folder in the vCenter inventory. Solution Recover the virtual machine in a different VMs and Templates folder in the same datacenter. Optionally, after successful recovery, you can remove the old virtual machine from the vCenter inventory and drag the recovered virtual machine to the required virtual machine folder.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Solution 1 Use the Managed Object Browser (MOB) to delete the vSphere Replication extension manually. 2 Redeploy the appliance and reconfigure the replications.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration e Type the correct managed object id of the appliance VM in Appliance VM MO value. Use the vCenter Server MOB to obtain the appliance id. f Click Save and Restart Service. If you use the VAMI solution, you must repeat the steps each time that you change the vSphere Replication certificate. Unexpected vSphere Replication Failure Results in a Generic Error vSphere Replication includes a generic error message in the logs when certain unexpected failures occur.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Increase the Memory of the vSphere Replication Server for Large Deployments If you deploy an additional vSphere Replication server, you might need to increase the memory of the vSphere Replication server if that server manages large numbers of virtual machines. Problem vSphere Replication supports a maximum of 100 virtual machines per vSphere Replication server.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Uploading a Valid Certificate to vSphere Replication Results in a Warning When you upload a custom certificate to the vSphere Replication appliance, you see a warning even if the certificate is valid. Problem When you use the virtual appliance management interface (VAMI) in Internet Explorer to upload certificates to the vSphere Replication appliance, you see a certificate error: The certificate installed with warnings.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Generating Support Bundles Disrupts vSphere Replication Recovery If you generate a vSphere Replication log bundle and at the same time attempt to run a recovery, the recovery might fail. Problem In heavily loaded environments, generating log bundles can cause vSphere Replication connection problems during recovery operations. Recovery fails with the error A generic error occurred in the vSphere Replication Management Server.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration vSphere Replication Does Not Display Incoming Replications When the Source Site is Inaccessible The list of incoming replications between two remote sites fails to populate when the connection to the source site is refused. Problem When you refresh the incoming replications list on a remote site soon after the connection to the source site has become unavailable, the replications do not display due to a communication error between the two sites.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Solution Make sure the vSphere Replication appliance has access to port 80 on the storage hosts. For a list of ports that must be open for vSphere Replication, see vSphere Replication Network Ports. Anti-virus Agent in Firewall Terminates Virtual Machine Replication If a virtual machine contains virus information, an anti-virus agent in the firewall might detect the virus data and terminate the connection during replication.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration vSphere Web Client 5.1.x Non-Functioning Option Binds vSphere Replication Traffic to a Specific vmknic vSphere Web Client 5.1.x contains an option that binds vSphere Replication traffic to a specific vmknic. Problem If you use this option in vSphere Replication version 5.1.x and then upgraded to version 5.5.x, replication configuration fails due to the underlying connectivity issue. Solution Manually edit the esx.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration Cause Every virtual machine in a datastore generates regular read and write operations. Configuring vSphere Replication on those virtual machines adds another read operation to the regular read and write operations, which increases the I/O load on the storage. The performance of vSphere Replication depends on the I/O load of the virtual machines that you replicate and on the capabilities of the storage hardware.
VMware vSphere Replication Administration 2 Open the ovfEnv.xml. a If the ovfEnv.xml file is not empty, search for the vServiceEnvironmentSection element. If the vServiceEnvironmentSection element is missing, there might be a problem with the vCenter Management Web Services process on the vCenter Server machine. Verify that the vCenter Management Web Services is running on the vCenter Server machine and then try powering the vSphere Replication appliance off and on.
