VM Group Replication Options for Hyper-V

When you configure replication for a Hyper-V VM group, Commvault creates an orchestrated replication group by default. This approach aligns replication with backup plan recovery point objectives (RPOs), providing consistent protection and simplified disaster recovery for cyber resilience use cases.

Use this configuration to prepare virtual machines for failover to a secondary site, either by pre-creating them (hot site) or creating them during failover (warm site).

How replication works

For Hyper-V VM groups:

• Replication is orchestrated automatically when you configure recovery.

• Replication uses backups that are created by the associated backup plan.

• The backup plan RPO determines how frequently data is replicated.

• Multiple virtual machines are replicated in a coordinated way to support application consistency during failover.

• Destination virtual machines can be:

• Pre-created before a disaster (hot site)

• Created only during failover (warm site)

Replication supports the following data sources:

• Streaming backups

• Backup copies of Hyper-V virtual machines

Requirements

• A VM group is configured.

• A backup plan is associated with the virtual machines.

• A recovery target is available.

Orchestrated replication (default)

Orchestrated replication is automatically selected when you configure replication for a VM group.

• Replicates virtual machines that are already protected by a backup plan

• Uses the RPO defined in the backup plan

• Aligns replication with backup operations for consistency and efficiency

• Supports coordinated failover of multiple virtual machines

This is the recommended configuration for most environments.

Configure replication options for a Hyper-V VM group

Use this procedure when you create or edit a replication group.

General

• Replication group name: Enter a descriptive name for the replication group, or modify the default name.

• Production site hypervisor: Displays the source hypervisor for the virtual machines. This value cannot be edited.

Content

Add the virtual machines that you want to replicate and fail over during a disaster.

• Add: Click Add, and then select virtual machines from the VM group. You can enable automatic updates to keep the replication group synchronized when virtual machines are added or removed.

Storage

• Copy for replication: Select the storage copy to use for replication.

• MediaAgent: Select the MediaAgent used for browse and recovery operations.

Recovery options

• Target: Select a previously defined recovery target.

  To create a new recovery target, click Add.

  When you edit an existing replication group, you cannot change this value.

• Access node: Select a Virtual Server Agent (VSA) access node to perform replication operations.

Recovery time objective (RTO)

• Warm site: Creates destination virtual machines only during failover.

• Hot site: Pre-creates destination virtual machines to reduce recovery time during failover.

• Enable replication immediately after group creation: Turn on this option to start replication immediately after the replication group is created. If turned off, replication does not start automatically.

Override options (optional)

You can override replication settings for individual virtual machines.

To modify settings for a virtual machine, in the VM row, click the Action menu, and then select Override replication options or Change priority.

• VM display name: Enter the display name for the destination virtual machine.

  You can modify this value only when adding a new VM or when the replication group is configured as a warm site.

• Restore location: Select the destination location for the virtual machine.

• Destination folder: Browse and select a destination folder.

  You can modify this value only when adding a new VM or when the replication group is configured as a warm site.

• Register virtual machine with failover cluster: Registers the virtual machine with a failover cluster on the destination client.

  • Requirements:

    • The virtualization client user must be a member of the Hyper-V Administrators group.

    • The user must have full cluster permissions (Read and Full Control).

• Network adapter: Select the network adapter for the destination virtual machine.

Advanced options (optional)

• Validate destination VM (power on and off): Verifies that the destination VM is bootable by powering it on and off. Changes made during validation are not saved.

  If guest tools are not installed, validation is skipped. If validation fails, the VM reverts to the last valid state.

• Unconditionally overwrite if VM already exists: Overwrites an existing virtual machine with the same name during the first replication.

  Caution

  This option replaces the existing destination virtual machine and deletes its current state.

• Continue to next priority on failure: Continues replication for lower-priority virtual machines if a higher-priority VM fails.

• Failover delay between different priority machines (in minutes): Specifies the delay between processing virtual machines with different priorities.

• Disk provisioning: Select the disk provisioning type for the destination virtual machine:

  • Auto

  • Dynamic

  • Fixed

  For domain controller virtual machines, select Fixed.

Summary

The Summary tab displays the settings that you configured on each tab for this replication group.

Technical reference

• The production site hypervisor is always Hyper-V and cannot be modified.

• The recovery target cannot be changed after the replication group is created.

• Some override settings depend on:

  • Warm versus hot site configuration

  • Whether the virtual machine is newly added or already replicated

Support boundary

Replication for VM groups always uses orchestrated replication.

Independent replication scheduling isn’t available at the VM group level.

To use replication workflows that operate independently of backup plans, use configurations outside of VM groups.