Performing on-demand replication

VM replication sets are listed in the Backup Sets tree. After a VM replication set has been created, you can replicate the virtual machine(s) in the set.

NOTE: Before replicating virtual machines, ensure that no snapshot or checkpoint currently exists in the source virtual machine on the source server. Refer to the VMware documentation on how to manage snapshots. Refer to the Microsoft documentation on how to manage checkpoints.

NOTE: Sufficient VM Replication Capacity must be available before a VM replication process can begin by schedule or on demand. See information on the prerequisite “Licensing”.

The replication of virtual machines is performed automatically when if you have assigned a schedule to the VM replication set. Otherwise, follow these steps to replicate virtual machine(s) on demand:

1. Browse the Backup Sets tree, right-click the VM replication set that has the virtual machine(s) you need to replicate, and click Replicate Now.

2. In the Select items for on-demand replication screen, ensure that the virtual machine(s) you want to replicate are selected and click Next.

3. In the Select options for on-demand replication screen, specify the value for Stop on errors if necessary. Otherwise, keep the default value, 0.

The VM replication process begins. The process varies depending on whether the replication set is configured for offline VM replication (Initial backup) or online VM replication (default).

The source DS-Client will directly send the replication data of the source virtual machine to the destination DS-Client. When the VM replication process is complete, the source virtual machine will be replicated to the destination server (that is, the destination vCenter Server for VMware vSphere snapshot replication or the destination Hyper-V Server for Microsoft Hyper-V checkpoint replication).

The source DS-Client will download the replication data onto a local disk location specified for the option Initial backup. You then need to (1) manually copy the replication data from the local disk of the source DS-Client machine to a local disk of the destination DS-Client machine, and (2) import the replication data. When the import is complete, a snapshot or checkpoint of the source virtual machine will be replicated to the destination server. To continue, see “Importing replication data (Offline replication)”.