To take advantage of the most recent features in replication, use the Command Center to configure and run replication operations. For more information, see Disaster Recovery and Replication.
The replication feature enables incremental replication from a streaming backup of a virtual machine (VMware, Hyper-V, or Azure source VM) to a synced copy of the virtual machine (Azure destination VM). The replication operation deconfigures the destination VM on Azure and then applies incremental changes on the blob storage from the source VM backups since the last sync point. After the replication operation applies the incremental changes, it reconfigures the VM.
You can configure replication to initiate automatically after backups or on a scheduled basis (for example, daily or once a week), without requiring any additional action from users. Using backup data for replications minimizes the impact on the production workload by avoiding the need to read the source VM again for replication.
If no new backups have been run since the last replication operation, the scheduled replication operation runs but does not replicate any data.
You can also configure replication to restore the virtual machine (VMware, Hyper-V, or Azure source VM) as a managed virtual machine. Azure managed disks are an Azure Resource Manager feature that simplifies the management of Azure Storage. Managed disks can use Standard or Premium storage. Managed disks are virtual entities and do not expose the underlying blobs or storage accounts.
Note
Before you convert a VM from a non-Azure hypervisor using a "restore as" operation or a Live Sync operation, verify that the source VM meets the requirements for non-endorsed distributions. This verification is important because Linux VMs that are based on an endorsed distribution of Azure have the prerequisites that enable them to run on Azure, but VMs that originate from other hypervisors might not. For more information, see Information for Non-Endorsed Distributions.
To replicate VMs to Azure, you must specify a Windows access node (VSA proxy) for the Azure recovery target.
Replication from Azure to Azure
You can perform replication operations from Azure Resource Manager to Azure Resource Manager.
Note
Replication from Azure Classic to Azure Classic is not supported.
You can replicate to the same Azure subscription or a different subscription, and to the same region or a different region.
Replication for Azure is supported from streaming backups or IntelliSnap backup copies.
Disaster Recovery
Replication can be used to create and maintain warm recovery sites for virtual machines running critical business applications. Replication offers the following benefits:
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Replication uses backup data to replicate virtual machines on Azure, which reduces the impact on production servers.
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Replication is hardware agnostic; there is no need to reproduce the original hardware environment at the recovery site.
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The recovery time objective (RTO), the time interval between a service interruption and the restoration of services from the recovery site, is the time needed to power on the virtual machines at the recovery site. Automated validation and the ability to specify new network connections at the recovery site ensure that startup time is minimized.
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The recovery point objective (RPO), the acceptable time interval within which virtual machine data must be recoverable, is determined by the frequency of backups.
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Backup data can be copied to Azure classic and/or Azure resource manager where replication operations are performed. Deduplication and compression reduce the amount of data that needs to be transferred over the wide area network (WAN).
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Orchestration features support continuity of operations:
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Planned failover to validate the DR site or perform maintenance on the primary site
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Unplanned failover for quick site recovery
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Failback to move operations back to the primary site
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