VM Group Replication Options for Azure

When you configure a replication group for an Azure Resource Manager destination, identify source VMs, and then provide Azure-specific values for replication to the destination site.

Content Options

Name: Enter a descriptive name for the replication group, or change the name.
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.
Contents: Click Add virtual machines, and then select the virtual machines that you want to include in the replication group.

Target Options

Recovery target: Select a previously defined recovery target or click Create new to create a new recovery target.

When you edit an existing replication group, you cannot change this value.
- Periodic: To configure a replication group that keeps the source and destination machines in sync periodically (every few minutes, hours, or days), select this option, and then configure the frequency of replication operations.
Frequency: Select the frequency for replication operations. The default frequency is 4 hours.

To restore multiple instances or VMs simultaneously, select Automatic to distribute the workload (instances or VMs) in the auto recovery job across the access nodes that are assigned for the destination hypervisor. This option is available for operations both from streaming backups or IntelliSnap backup copies.

First, the instances or VMs are assigned to the access nodes by a region match. If access nodes are not available in the same region, then the instances or VMs are assigned using the round-robin method.

If you already configured the Access Node setting on the recovery target, you can change that setting in the replication group Access Node option.

If you select an access node group to restore VMs, the Commvault software distributes the workload (instances or VMs) in the restore job across the access nodes (also called proxies) that are available in the access node group.
Warm site recovery (Restore destination VM at the time of failover): Move this toggle key to the right to create a destination VM only during a failover.

Advanced Options

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.
Unconditionally overwrite if it already exists: When you select this option, the first replication operation replaces an existing VM with the same name in the target location, even if the destination VM is running.

Replications that apply incremental updates are not affected by this setting. Incremental updates are applied to the destination VM without overwriting the VM. If the destination VM is currently running, replication fails.

Note

When the Restore as a managed VM option is enabled and the replicated VM is active on the destination site, two copies of the disks (unmanaged and managed) are maintained in the storage account selected for staging for the incremental replication. The replicated VM is deployed on the destination site only after a failover operation.
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.
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 menu, click Configure script, and then choose the script that you want to configure. These scripts will be run for all the VMs in the group.

Pre-failover script: This script is run on the production (source) VM before failover.
Post-failover script: This script is run on the Auto Recovery (Destination) VM after failover.
Pre-failback script: This is will run on the Auto Recovery (Destination) VM before failback.
Post-failback script: This script is run on the Production (Source) VM after failback

Override Options

General settings

To change the destination settings for specific VMs, select the VMs from the Virtual machine list. You can enter the following information:

VM display name: Enter a string that is added to source VM names to create display names for the destination VMs, or enter a prefix or suffix to apply to multiple VMs.

You can only change this value when adding a new VM or if a replication group is a warm site for Azure.
Resource group: Select the resource group in which the converted virtual machine should be created.

You can only change this value when adding a new VM or if a replication group is a warm site for Azure.
Region: Select the region for the restored VM.

This field applies only to Azure.
Availability zone: For Azure managed disks, select the pre-defined availability zone for the restored VM.

The zones listed apply only to the region selected for the restored VM. If you select the Auto option rather than a specific availability zone (1, 2, or 3), and if the feature is supported for the specified region and VM size, the VM is restored to the same availability zone as the source VM, otherwise, it is restored without a zone (No Zone).

You can only change this value for new recovery targets or if a replication group is a warm site for Azure.
Storage account: 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.

You can only change this value when adding a new VM or if a replication group is a warm site for Azure.
VM size: Select a VM size from the list. The VM sizes in the list are those that are available for the resource group you selected.
Disk Type: For managed disks, select the disk type for the destination VM: Original (same as the source VM), Standard HDD, Standard SSD, Premium SSD.

Consider the following:
- When the Disk Type for the recovery target is set to Auto select, the destination VM disk type is as follows:
  - For Azure to Azure replication, the destination VM disk type is the same as the source VM.
  - For any other virtual platform (such as VMware) to Azure replication, the destination VM disk type is standard HDD.
- When the Disk Type for the recovery target is set to Premium SSD, but in the Replication Group Override window, the Disk Type is set to Original, the destination VM disk type is as follows:
  - For Azure to Azure replication, the destination VM disk type is the same as the source VM.
- When the Disk Type for the recovery target is set to Auto select, and in the Replication Group Override window, the Disk Type is set to Original, the destination VM disk type is as follows:
  - For Azure to Azure replication, when in the Replication Group Override window, the VM size selected does not support premium SSD (for example, D2v3), the destination VM disk type is standard HDD.
  - For Azure to Azure replication, when in the Replication Group Override window, the VM size selected supports premium SSD (for example, B2ms), the destination VM disk type is the same as the source VM.
Virtual Network: Select the virtual network for destination VM from the list. Virtual networks are listed based on the region selected. You can leave the default selection as Auto Select.
Security group: Select a network security group for the destination VMs.

IP address settings

Preferred private IP type: Select either Dynamic or Static. If you select Static, enter the IP address.

Create/assign public IP: If you select this setting, the Public IP type setting appears.

Public IP type: Select either Dynamic or Static. If you select Static, select the public IP from the list

Test failover settings

Virtual network: Select the virtual network for test failover VM from the list. Virtual networks are listed based on the region selected. You can leave the default selection as Auto Select.
VM size: Select the VM size for the test failover VM from the list. VM sizes are listed based on the region selected. You can leave the default selection as Auto Select.
Security group: Select a network security group for the test failover VMs.