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 or IntelliSnap backup copy of a virtual machine (Azure Stack Hub source VM) to a synced copy of the virtual machine (Azure Stack Hub destination VM). The replication operation deconfigures the destination VM on Azure Stack Hub and then applies incremental changes on the blob storage from the source VM backups since the last sync point. After replication applies the incremental changes, it reconfigures the VM.
You can replicate VMs to the same Azure subscription or a different subscription, and to the same Azure Stack Hub deployment or a different deployment.
You can configure replication to initiate replication 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, the scheduled replication runs but does not replicate any data.
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 Stack Hub, 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 an Azure Stack Hub site 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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