When you configure a continuous replication replication group for a VMware destination, identify source VMs, and then provide VMware-specific values for replication to the destination site.
Continuous replication uses block-level replication to synchronize block devices or virtual machine disks, continuously streaming updates from source to destination VMs.
Content Options Tab
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Name: Enter a descriptive name for the replication group, or change the name.
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Source hypervisor: Select the hypervisor for the source VMs.
To create a new hypervisor, click Create new.
When you edit an existing replication group, you cannot change this value.
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Contents: Click Add virtual machines, and then select the virtual machines that you want to to include in the replication group.
Target Options Tab
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Recovery target: Select a previously defined recovery target.
To create a new recovery target, click Create new.
When you edit an existing replication group, you cannot change this value.
The ESX server must have VAIO filters installed, and must meet the other requirements in System Requirements for Continuous Replication.
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Replication type: Select Continuous. The continuous replication method continuously streams updates from source to destination VMs so that the destination VM is always current.
Test Failover Options Section
You can use this section to create an isolated network for a virtual lab environment where you can test failover operations. Click Add to configure the settings in the Network Mapping dialog box, and then click Save.
Network Mapping Dialog Box
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Source Network: Select the preconfigured network to use for the recovery target.
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VLAN ID: Enter the ID you want to use for the VLAN.
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Isolated network: Enter a name for the isolated network.
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Gateway settings: To create a VM that acts as a gateway between the local devices in the isolated network and other networks, move this toggle key to the right.
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Gateway IP: Enter an IP address for the gateway VM.
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Gateway mask: Enter an IP address for the subnet mask.
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Advanced Options Section
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Disable replication after group creation: To disable replication (recovery) operations after the creation of this replication group, move this toggle key to the right.
After the replication group is created, when you are ready to start replication, go to the replication group, click Manage content and on the Target tab, move the Disable replication after group created toggle key to the left.
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Failover delay between different priority machines (in mins): Enter a value in minutes to specify how long the failover or failback operation should wait between processing VMs that are assigned different priorities.
This setting can be used to enable higher priority machines to start before processing the next set of machines.
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Continue to next priority on failure: To continue failover or failback operations when a VM cannot be included in the operation, move this toggle key to the right.
If you do not enable this option, the failover or failback operation stops when a VM cannot be processed successfully.
Customization Scripts
To configure options for pre and post failover and failback scripts, click the Actions button, click Configure script, and then choose the script that you want to configure.
Prerequisites
- VMware Tools/Open VM tools
Supported Scripts
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Windows: Batch scripts
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Linux: Shell scripts
Options
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Pre-failover script: This script is run on the production (source) VM before failover.
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Post-failover script: This script is run on the DR (Destination) VM after failover.
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Pre-failback script: This is will run on the DR (Destination) VM before failback.
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Post-failback script: This script is run on the production (source) VM after failback.
Script Options
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Path type: Select UNC or Local.
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UNC Credentials: Enter credentials or use a set of saved credentials:
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Enter credentials: Select this option to manually enter the user name and password for the UNC network.
Username: Enter the user name for a user account that has permissions to access the network path for the script.
Password: Enter the password for the user account.
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Use saved credentials: Select this option to use a set of credentials that were previously saved for the UNC network.
Credentials: Select a saved set of credentials.
Add button
: Click this button and then enter and save a set of credentials.
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VM Guest Options
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User name: Enter the user name for a user account that has permissions to access the network path for the script.
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Password: Enter the password for the user account.
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Confirm password: Enter the same password.
Recovery Options
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Recovery type: Select Latest recovery or Point in time recovery.
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Latest recovery: To maintain only the most recent copy of the source VM at the destination site, select this option.
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Point in time recovery: To maintain multiple recovery points at the destination site, select this option. Additional options appear when you select Point in time recovery.
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Storage: Select the storage pool to use as a recovery store for source data to replicate to the destination site.
The following options appear when you select Point in time recovery:
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Recovery point store: Select the Recovery Point Store on the destination site where journal entries for each recovery point are stored.
Note
By default, the maximum number of continuous replication pairs that you can create per RPStore is 10. To modify the limit for continuous replication pairs per RPStore, add the rpStorePairsLimit additional setting.
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Crash-consistent recovery points interval: To create crash-consistent recovery points, select this option, and then specify the time interval at which you want to create recovery points.
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Application-consistent recovery points interval: To create application-consistent recovery points, select this option, and then specify the time interval you want to create recovery points.
When you select this option, source VMs are quiesced to create application-consistent recovery points for destination VMs.
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Retain recovery points for: To specify how long to retain journal entries for a recovery point, select this option.
After this time period, the accumulated change history for recovery points is pruned from the Recovery Point Store and written to the destination VMDKs.
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Merge recovery points: To combine older recovery points into larger recovery points that span a longer time range (for example, daily instead of hourly), select this option.
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Merge recovery points older than: Specify the number of days that more frequent recovery points are retained.
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Recovery point interval at the end of retention: To specify the time interval between the oldest recovery points in the Recovery Point Store, select this option.
As recovery points get older and are merged, the interval between them grows longer. This option configures the maximum allowed interval for the oldest recovery points.
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Switch to latest recovery if RpStore is offline for more than: To switch to live replication if the Recovery Point Store on the destination site is inaccessible for the time interval you specify, select this option.
When you select this option, the replication service abandons the Recovery Point Store if it does not come back online within the specified period. The replication service resyncs the destination VMDK with the source VMDK, and then switches to live replication instead of granular replication. When the Recovery Point Store comes back online after the specified interval, all changes in the store are erased and all the accumulated recovery points in the store are discarded.
If you do not select this option, the replication is paused, and the change journal accumulates on the source until the store comes back online.
If you select this option, changes in the store are preserved, but not applied to the destination VM while the store is offline. If you do not select this option, the destination VM is continually updated, but all granular recovery points are lost.
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Prune and merge changes during off-peak time only: To specify whether to transfer updates for the oldest recovery points to destination VMDKs during off-peak hours, select this option.
If you select this option, recovery point updates are transferred to the Recovery Point Store only during off-peak hours, which provides better replication performance during peak hours.
If you do not select this option, recovery point updates are transferred to the destination VMDK on an ongoing basis, based on the value specified for the Retain recovery points for option.
If you select this option, you prioritize replication speed over reclaiming space in the store.
Override Options Tab
To change the destination settings for specific VMs, move the Override virtual machines toggle key to the right, select a VM in the Replication configuration list, click the actions button 
, and then select Override replication options.
General Settings
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VM display name: Enter the display name for the destination VM, or enter a prefix or suffix to apply to multiple VMs.
You can change this value only when adding a new VM or if a replication group is a warm site.
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Destination host: To select a host for the destination VM, click Browse.
You can change this value only when adding a new VM or if a replication group is a warm site.
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Datastore: Select a datastore to be used for virtual machine disks.
You can change this value only when adding a new VM or if a replication group is a warm site.
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Resource pool: Select a resource pool for the destination VM.
You can change this value only when adding a new VM or if a replication group is a warm site.
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VM folder: To replicate to a folder, click Browse and select the destination folder.
You can change this value only when adding a new VM or if a replication group is a warm site.
Network Settings
- Network settings: To create a new mapping between a source network and a destination network, click the Edit setting button
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IP Address Settings
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IP address settings: To customize IP address settings, click Add.
To customize IP address settings for continuous replication, the VSA Guest Customization package must be installed on the VSA access node.
For continuous replication, you cannot customize IP address settings to use WINS servers. You must use DNS servers.
You cannot customize IP address settings for VMs with encrypted disks. If you configure custom IP address settings for a replication group that includes VMs with encrypted disks, failover operations fail for those VMs.
If a Windows or Linux source VM uses a static IP address, you can configure an IP address for the destination VM. You can configure IP address mapping for static IP addresses for source VMs that run the following operating systems:
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Windows 2000 and later versions
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CentOS or RHEL: 5.x, 6x, 7.x, 8.x
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Ubuntu: 12.x, 14.x, 16.x
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SUSE Linux Enterprise Server: 10.x, 11.x, 12.x
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Test IP Address Settings
To customize IP address settings for this replication pair click Add.
IP Address Settings Dialog Box
Source VM Settings: Configure the source VM settings in this section to use IP customization.
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IP address: Enter the custom IP address you want to use.
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Subnet mask: Enter an IP address for the subnet mask.
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Default gateway: Enter an IP address for the default gateway machine.
Destination VM Settings: Configure the destination VM settings in this section to use IP customization for a DNS server.
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Preferred DNS server: Enter an IP address for your first preference for the DNS server.
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Alternate DNS server: Enter an IP address for your second preference for the DNS server.
Note
You cannot customize IP address settings for VMs with encrypted disks. If you configure custom IP address settings for a replication group that includes VMs with encrypted disks, failover operations fail for those VMs.
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To configure options for pre and post failover and failback scripts, click the Actions menu, click Configure script, and then choose the script that you want to configure.
Configure Priority
To configure the priority of a script, click the Actions menu, click Change priority, and specify the priority of the script. 1 is the highest priority.
Summary Tab
The summary tab displays the settings that you configured on each tab for this replication group.