Creating a Replication Group from a VM Group

A replication group is a set of virtual machines that can be replicated to a recovery target (also called destination or secondary site). The group configuration identifies source VMs and specifies how they should be replicated to the destination site. You can replicate from streaming backups or VMware IntelliSnap backups:

• From streaming backups, VMs can be replicated to all supported hypervisors. For more information, see Cross-Platform Feature Support.

From VMware IntelliSnap backups, VMs can be replicated to VMware.

When you configure replication from VMware IntelliSnap backups, failback operations are only supported if the IntelliSnap configuration uses the Virtual Server Agent Snap engine. Failback operations are not supported if you use a hardware snapshot engine, regardless of whether the replication operation is performed from a snap copy or a backup copy.

You can also configure replication for a VM group from the VM groups page, or for an individual VM from the Virtual machines page. When you configure replication for a VM group or an individual VM, you can add VMs to an existing replication group if one exists, or you can create a new replication group.

Before You Begin

• Verify that you have a source hypervisor and a destination hypervisor for the replication group.

• Review the configuration options for adding source and destination hypervisors, creating a recovery target, and configuring a replication group:

  • Amazon

  • Azure

  • Azure Stack Hub

  • Hyper-V

  • OpenStack

  • Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

  • VMware

• Create a recovery target for the destination site.

• For traditional replication, virtual machines must have been backed up at least once to be added to a replication group.

  This requirement does not apply for snapshot replication.

• For Amazon destinations, when replication uses an Amazon instance as the VSA proxy and does not specify a bucket, you must provide guest instance credentials for each guest instance on the Override options page for the replication group, including the domain or computer name, username, and password.

Procedure

1. From the navigation pane, go to Protect > Virtualization.

   The Virtual machines page appears.

2. Create a replication group for a VM or a VM Group:

   • To create a replication group for a VM, in the row for the VM, click the action button , click Configure replication, and then in the Select replication group dialog box, click Configure replication group.

   • To create a replication group for a VM Group, on the VM groups tab, in the row for the VM group, click the action button , and then click Configure replication.

   The Configure replication group page appears.

3. On the Content tab, enter the required information for the source hypervisor, and then click Next.

4. On the Target tab, enter the required information for the destination hypervisor, and then click Next.

5. Configure the override settings for some VMs or use the same settings for all VMs:

   • To override settings for specific VMs, on the Override options tab, click Yes.

     1. To change the destination settings for specific VMs, from the Virtual machine list, select the VMs, and then under General Settings, configure the options you want to change.

     2. Click Next.

   • To use the same settings for all VMs, click No.

6. On the Summary tab, review the settings you configured, and then click Finish.

Result

The wizard creates a replication schedule and a replication group that includes the selected source VMs.

The properties page for a replication group includes a Replication monitor that you can use to monitor the replication status and to perform operations.