To replicate VMs for Auto Recovery, you can create a replication group using the replication group configuration tool to perform either periodic or continuous recovery operations. The configuration tool is a quick configuration method that includes only the values that are required to enable periodic or continuous recovery.
Before You Begin
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Verify that you have a hypervisor and a recovery target or plan to add these components when you create the replication group.
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Review the configuration options for adding source and destination hypervisors, adding a recovery target, and configuring a replication group:
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To use Distributed Storage datastores as destination sites for recovery, you must set up Distributed Storage clusters as storage targets. For instructions, see Configuring Distributed Storage for Auto Recovery.
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Verify that the Command Center has a storage pool that can be used as a temporary cache for the VMs before they move to the destination site. You can use disk, cloud, tape, or a HyperScale storage pool as the temporary cache. For more information, see Storage.
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For information about using replication groups in a Managed Service Provider (MSP) environment, see Requirements for Replication Groups in Managed Service Provider.
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For Hyper-V to Azure Stack Hub replication groups, you cannot use VMs that contain user-created snapshots as a source for replication. Replication jobs fail if the source VM contains user-created snapshots.
Note
If the VMs being added to a replication group are already being backed up under a different VM group, you must exclude the VMs from that VM group before adding them to the replication group.
Procedure
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From the navigation pane, go to Auto recovery > Replication groups.
The Replication groups page appears.
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In the upper-right area of the tab, click Add replication group > Virtualization.
The Configure replication group page appears.
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On the Content tab, enter the required information for the source hypervisor:
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Name: Enter a descriptive name for the replication group.
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Source Hypervisor: Select the hypervisor where the VMs are configured.
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Contents: Click Add virtual machines, select the content that you want to include in the replication group, and then click OK.
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Click Next.
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On the Target tab, enter the required information for the destination hypervisor:
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Recovery target: Select the previously-defined recovery target you want to use for this replication group.
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Advanced options: These options vary among hypervisor types. See the hypervisor-specific documentation page for replication group options.
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Click Next.
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On the Recovery options tab, configure storage for the replication group
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Storage: Select the storage to use for the replication group.
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Replicate using secondary copy: To perform replication using a secondary copy of the data instead of the primary copy, move this toggle key to the right, and then in the Storage list, select a storage pool.
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Click Next.
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To override settings for VMs, on the Override options tab, click Yes.
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To change the destination settings for VMs, from the Virtual machine list, select the VMs, and then under General Settings, configure the options you want to change.
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Click Next.
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On the Summary tab, review the settings you configured, and then click Finish.
Results
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The configuration tool creates a recovery schedule and a replication group that includes the selected source VMs.
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The properties page for a replication group includes a Replication monitor page that you can use to monitor the replication status and to perform operations.