Replication Requirements and Options for Azure (ARM)

Requirements

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.
Before you replicate or convert Red Hat Linux VMs to Azure, add required Hyper-V drivers to the VMs and perform a new backup of the VMs. For more information, see Linux VMs do not boot or are unreachable after conversion or replication to Azure.
An Azure virtualization client is required to support the conversion of virtual machines to Azure Resource Manager. For more information, see Creating a Microsoft Azure Client.

Commvault Considerations

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) must be enabled on the source VM. The user performing the conversion must be able to log on to the VM.
For Linux VMs, Hyper-V Linux integration services 4.0 or greater must be enabled on Hyper-V source VMs before replication.
Converting VHDX formatted 4K-sectored disks to Azure is not supported.
Replication of shared VHDX is not supported.
Differential disks or checkpoints of virtual machines (files with .avhd or .avhdx extensions) will not be replicated to Azure. Merge such disks to the original disk before performing the backup.

Azure VM Considerations

To enable replication deployment in Azure Resource Manager, define one or more resource groups for the application associated with the Azure virtualization client.
The VM name can contain only alphanumeric characters or the hyphen ('-' ) character; the name cannot contain any Unicode Transformation Format (UTF) characters.
The RAM and disk specification for the source VM must match the format of the Azure destination VM. For example, if the source VM RAM is less than 1.75 GB and AUTO is selected as the VM size for the conversion, only two disks will be uploaded, because of Azure restrictions.
You can choose to restore your replicated VMs as managed Azure VMs. Azure managed disks are an Azure Resource Manager feature that simplifies the management of Azure Storage. Managed disks are virtual entities and do not expose the underlying blobs or storage accounts. They can use standard or premium storage.
When you replicate source VMs from VMware or Hyper-V, the replicated VMs are Azure unmanaged disks by default. When the source VM is an Azure VM, whether the destination VM will be managed or unmanaged by default, is determined by the source VM's configuration.
To restore Azure VMs to a specific region, verify that all the components in the setup (CommServe computer, VSA proxies) have been upgraded to Service Pack 18 or a more recent service pack.

Note

After upgrading to Service Pack 18 or a more recent service pack, you do not need to make changes to the existing recovery targets, replication groups, or Live Sync schedules.
If the option Create Virtual Machine after Live Sync is not selected in the replication configuration, you must choose a standard storage account as the staging storage account. Due to a Microsoft limitation, you cannot choose a Premium storage account if this option to create a VM after Live Sync is not selected in the replication configuration. For more information, see the Microsoft article Understanding Block Blobs, Append Blobs, and Page Blobs.
Before you perform a backup for a Linux source VM that runs CentOS or Red Hat, verify that required Hyper-V drivers are installed on the source VM. Those drivers must be present on the source VM backup in order to boot the VM after conversion.
1. Enable Changed Block Tracking (CBT) for the source VM.
2. Take a snapshot of the source VM.
3. Run the following command to modify the boot image:
```
sudo dracut -f -v -N
```
4. Run the following command to verify that Hyper-V drivers are present in the boot image:
```
lsinitrd | grep hv
```
5. Verify that no dracut conf files (for example, /usr/lib/dracut/dracut.conf.d/01-dist.conf) contain the following line:
```
hostonly="yes"
```
6. Run a new backup to use for the conversion.
For more information, see Prepare a CentOS-based virtual machine for Azure.

Options

The following sections provide information about the options on each page of the Live Sync Options for Subclient wizard.

Destination

Virtualization Client: Select the Azure client for the destination site.
- Subscription Details: Displays the ID of the Azure subscription.
Proxy Client: Select the proxy to use for the replication operation.

Virtual Machines

Add VMs: Click to browse for backed up virtual machines that can be replicated.
Remove VMs: Click to remove selected VMs from the replication schedule.
VM and Disk: This column displays the list of all the virtual machines and disks selected for replication (the source). Expand each virtual machine to view the disks in that virtual machine.
Change VM display name to (Destination VM): This column displays the existing name of each destination virtual machine. To change the name of any virtual machine, click in the corresponding row and enter the new name. If the VM display name of the source VM is retained for the replicated VM, select a different destination from the Client list.

If the destination VM name matches the name of an existing virtual machine in the target location, the destination VM is not replaced unless a) it was created in a previous replication operation or b) you use the Unconditionally overwrite VM with the same name option.
Resource Group: Select the resource group in which the converted virtual machine should be created.
Region/Storage Account: Select the region for the restored VM. Then select an Azure Standard or Premium general-purpose storage account. You can select a different storage account for each virtual machine and disk.

The storage accounts listed are only those associated with the selected region for the restored VM.
Settings: Click Configure to display the Azure Virtual Machine Configuration dialog box.
- Destination VM: Displays the name of the destination VM.
- Resource Group: Select the resource group in which the converted virtual machine should be created.
- Region/Storage Account: Select the region for the restored VM. Then select an Azure Standard or Premium general-purpose storage account. You can select a different storage account for each virtual machine and disk.
  
  The storage accounts listed are only those associated with the selected region for the restored VM.
- VM size: Select a VM size from the list. The VM sizes in the list are those that are available for the resource group or cloud service you selected.
- Operating System: Select the operating system for the destination VM.
  
  If necessary, you can select the Auto Select option to automatically detect the operating system of the source VM.
  
  The operating system for the destination VM must be an operating system that is supported for Azure.
- Restore as managed VM: To restore virtual machines as managed virtual machines, select this check box.
  
  This option is enabled by default. When selected, the replication operation creates virtual machine disks in the specified storage account, and then converts them to managed disks. If you do not wish to restore your VMs as managed disks, clear the option.
- Azure Virtual Network Options:
  - Create Public IP: Select to create a public IP.
    
    If a public IP address is not required on destination VMs, clear this selection. By default, a public IP address is assigned to Azure virtual machines during replication.
  - Network Interface: Select one of the available network interfaces for the resource group from the list.
    
    You can specify any subnet in the same region as the selected resource group.
    
    If you do not select a VNet, then the first VNet in the list and the first (default) subnet that it expands to are attached to the replicated VM.
    
    Note
    
    Static IP addresses from a source VM are not replicated to the destination VM.
  - Network Security Group: Select a network security group for the destination VMs.

Restore Options

Deploy Virtual Machine Only During Failover: (Azure target only) Select this option to deploy a VM only when a failover operation is requested.

By default, when this option is not selected, a destination virtual machine is deployed immediately after a replication operation completes.

Note

When both the Restore as Managed VM option and the Deploy Virtual Machine Only During Failover option are enabled, two copies of the disks (unmanaged and managed) are maintained in the storage account selected for staging for the incremental replication.
Unconditionally overwrite VM with the same name: Replace an existing virtual machine with the same name in the target location. If the destination VM is currently powered on, the replication operation fails, regardless of the setting for this option.
Distribute VM workload: To submit separate jobs for a replication schedule, select this option and select the number of VMs per job. When this option is used, jobs are submitted sequentially, with each job beginning after the previous job has completed.