> CommCell Console > Backup and Restore Agents > Snapshot Management > Supported Agents > VMware > Replication

Configuring Direct Replication

Configure a separate subclient for virtual machines using direct replication.

You can configure direct replication in the following ways:

  • Using a VM software snapshot: If the Virtual Server Agent Snap engine is specified on the IntelliSnap Operations tab of the subclient properties, the IntelliSnap backup takes a software snapshot of each VM, saves the snapshots on the source VMs, and uses those snapshots as source for the replication operation.

  • Using a hardware snapshot: If the snap engine for the storage array is specified on the IntelliSnap Operations tab of the subclient properties, the IntelliSnap backup takes a hardware snapshot and uses that snapshot as source for the replication operation.

Configure the Live Sync Direct Snapshot Retention option so that snapshots are pruned regularly.

Considerations

  • If a virtual machine in a direct replication schedule is protected by multiple subclients, the VM will be replicated from the subclient with the latest backup.

  • Direct replication can be configured to replicate VMs to different ESXi servers that are part of the same vCenter or a different vCenter.

  • VMware can retain a maximum of 32 virtual machine snapshots. After the snapshot limit is reached, any subsequent backup jobs fail.

Procedure

  1. Create a storage policy to be used for the direct replication subclient, and disable the backup copy option. For direct replication, this ensures that only the snapshot is saved.

    IMPORTANT

    Disabling the backup copy option for the storage policy will affect all of the backup operations associated with the storage policy.

    To disable the backup copy, configure the associated storage policy as follows:

    1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Policies > Storage Policy > storage_policy.

    2. Right-click the storage policy, and then click Properties.

    3. Select the Snapshot tab.

    4. Clear the Enable Backup Copy option.

    5. Click OK.

  2. If necessary, create separate subclients for VMs that should be backed up using VM-level snapshots and VMs that should be backed up with hardware snapshots.

  3. Configure the array settings in the subclient properties.

    1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers > virtualization_client > Virtual Server > VMware > backup_set.

    2. Right-click the subclient, and then click Properties.

      The Subclient Properties dialog appears.

    3. Select the IntelliSnap Operations tab.

    4. In the Available Snap Engines field, select one of the following:

      • For a VM-level snapshot, select Virtual Server Agent Snap.

      • For a hardware snapshot, select the snapshot engine for the storage array.

    5. Select the Live Sync Direct Snapshot Retention option and specify the number of snapshots to be retained on source VMs for direct replication operations.

      When the number of snapshots on a source VM reaches this number, the oldest snapshot is pruned as part of the next backup job. Setting the snapshot retention ensures that snapshots are not retained indefinitely when they are no longer needed for direct replication operations.

    6. Click OK.

What To Do Next

Continue with Configuring Replication to select virtual machines and provide information for replication operations.

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