In this recipe, we explore the vSphere Replication plugin.
You need the vSphere Replication deployed. You also need a second vCenter (not really required but it makes things more interesting) or a Cloud service such as VMware vCloud Air. If you want to use vCloud Air, check kb.vmware.com/kb/2083867 .
If you are new to vSphere Replication, check out the video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWRs36nS5F0
You need to have at least one replication site configured.
Last but not least, you need the vSphere Replication plugin (see the introduction to this chapter).
This recipe is split into several sections.
The first thing we need to do is register the sites for Orchestrator to use. This requires that you have already registered a site with vSphere Replication in the vSphere Web Client.
- Check out the Orchestrator inventory for the sites that the Replication can see. In my example, Replication can see my two vCenters.
- Run the workflow Library | vSphere Replication | Remote Site Management| Register VC Site, which registers the credentials for the connection to a site with Orchestrator; these workflows do not register sites in Replication.
We will now quickly set up a replication of a new VM.
- Start the workflow Library | vSphere Replication | Configure Replication | Configure Replication.
- For Site, select from your the Orchestrator inventory in Replication your Primary Site (see first figure of the section Registering Sites).
- For Source VM, select from the Orchestrator inventory in vCenter Server a VM you would like to replicate.
- For the Target Site, select your replication site from the Orchestrator inventory in Replication. Then select a target datastore.
- Last but not least, you can select replication options (if you're not sure, select the default values).
- The VM should now be replicated.
vSphere Replication is a really useful tool that is included in vSphere licensing (from Standard onward). The tool allows you to replicate VMs between sites. Please note that the recovery site doesn't have to be a separate vCenter. I have customers who have multiple sites (as in distance from each other) in the same vCenter using one Replication appliance to replicate VMs between Sites. However, two vCenters are more fun for this example.
It is a great oversight that there is no vCenter - vCenter Recovery function exposed on the API and I sincerely hope that it will be back filled at some stage.
The following vSphere Replication workflows exist:
There are a couple of things to explore.
To use vCloud Air for recovery you require a vCloud Air subscription with service credits for Disaster Recovery to the Cloud. The Replication doesn't work with service credits for Virtual Private Cloud OnDemand.
If you don't have a vCloud account, you can still test it. Just use this Hands-on Labs at https://www.vmware.com/vca-dr-hol-labs.html .
To configure a vCloud Air target, follow these steps:
- Log in to your vCloud Air .
- Click on Disaster Recovery to the Cloud and select your source datacenter (in this example UK Slough 1 6).
- Click on the Connection icon on the left side.
- Copy the URL and the Organization Name into a notepad.
- Log in to your vCenter.
- Go to vSphere Replication and then click on Manage.
-
Go to target sites and click on
. - Copy the URL into Cloud provider address and the Organization Name in the field with the same name.
- The login credentials are those you use to sign into vCloud Air.
- Click on Next and select Virtual Data Center (in this example VDC1).
- After you have finished the Connect to a Cloud Provider Wizard, you need to map the networks between vCenter and vCloud Air. Right-click on the vCloud Air connection and select Configure target networks.
- In Orchestrator, run the workflow Library | vSphere Replication | Remote Site Management | Register Cloud Site.
You are now ready to use Replication with vCloud Air.
Integration into vSphere Web Client isn't really needed as vSphere Replication already is a plugin. However, you could create some workflows that create a VM replication with your typical values. The value in this would be to use the Orchestrator user management to allow a user to run a workflow that configures replication with preset values.