Prerequisites for VM replication
The following prerequisites must be met before you create a VM replication set for VMware vSphere snapshots or Microsoft Hyper-V checkpoints.
Hardware:
For best results, we recommend that each source and destination DS-Client use a minimum of 4 processors.
Licensing:
Your service provider must allocate sufficient VM Replication licenses based on either native capacity or the number of virtual machines. To check the current allocation, on the Setup menu, click View Quotas, and then in the View Quotas dialog box, see the VM Replication Storage Quota section.
Configuration:
• VM Replication Grouping (DS-System): Your service provider must add at least two DS-Clients to a VM replication group using DS‑Operator. The source DS-Client performs replication processes for the source virtual machine, and the Destination DS‑Client performs replication processes for the target virtual machine. The DS-Client with which you create a VM replication set is the source DS-Client of the VM replication set. For instructions on how to configure VM replication groups, see the DS-System User Guide.
• VMRServiceStart parameter (DS-Client): Ensure that the value of the advanced parameter VMRServiceStart is set to Yes in all the DS‑Clients that will perform VM replication processes. To view or change this setting, log on to DS-Client, on the Setup menu, click Configuration. In the Advanced tab, select the category Miscellaneous and the parameter VMRServiceStart. Select Yes as the Value, and then click Apply.
NOTE: When the VMRServiceStart parameter is set to No, the category DS-Client replication sets will be hidden in the New Backup Set Wizard, and existing VM replication sets will be inaccessible. When the parameter is set to Yes, you will be able to create new VM replication sets and run replication as long as DS‑Client has sufficient VM Replication Capacity for its VMR License. By default, this parameter is set to Yes.
• VMRSourcePort parameter (DS-Client): Ensure that the value of the advanced parameter VMRSourcePort has been set to the port that the DS‑Client will use for VM replication processes. This value is set to 8090 by default and is equivalent to the source DS-Client port number in DS-Operator. To view this value, log on to the DS-Client, on the Setup menu, click Configuration. In the Advanced tab, select the category Miscellaneous and the parameter VMRSourcePort. To change this value, type the appropriate port number as the Value, click Apply, and then stop and restart the DS-Client Service of the DS-Client for the change to take effect. If you have changed the VM replication port settings on multiple DS-Clients, stop and restart each affected DS-Client Service one at a time. Wait until the DS-Client Service on one machine has successfully restarted before you stop and restart the DS-Client Service on another machine.
Network:
• The source DS-Client must be able to connect to the destination DS-Client.
• You must ensure that the port that you have specified in the VMRSourcePort parameter is open in any firewall on the DS-Client machine.
• Your service provider must ensure that multiple DS-Clients sharing the same IP address use different ports to avoid conflicts. For information on configuring VM replication groups, see the DS-System User Guide.
• When creating a new replication set, you will be asked to specify the port used by the destination DS-Client. You must ensure that the port you specify is open in any firewall on the destination DS-Client machine.
Setup:
• Ensure that the name of the virtual machine to be replicated in the vCenter Server or in the Hyper-V Server does not contain these characters: @ \ /
• For VMware VM replication, also ensure that the name of the folder in which the virtual machine is located in the vCenter Server does not contain these characters: @ \ /
Snapshots/Checkpoints:
Before you replicate a source virtual machine, you must ensure that the source virtual machine on the source server does not contain any snapshots or checkpoints. Refer to the VMware documentation on how to manage snapshots. Refer to the Microsoft documentation on how to manage checkpoints.
NOTE: The term “source server” refers to the source vCenter Server in VMware vSphere snapshot replication or the source Hyper-V Server in Microsoft Hyper-V checkpoint replication.
Credentials for the source and destination servers:
The following recommendations apply when you are typing the credentials for the source and destination servers. That refers to the source and destination vCenter Servers in VMware vSphere snapshot replication and the source and destination Hyper-V Servers in Microsoft Hyper-V checkpoint replication.
• If logging on as a domain user, type both the domain and user name in this format: domain\username. For example: dchv\user126
• If logging on as a local user, type only the user name without the domain. For example: user126
• Ensure that DS-Client users who perform the following tasks for VM replication have administrative privileges or have access to the folder C:\ProgramData\boost_interprocess\dsclient_replication:
• Create or modify a VM replication set
• Start the VM replication process
• Import the initial VMR set (initial VM replication data) for offline VM replication
• Perform failover or failback
NOTE: The permissions should be set after DS-Client and the VM Replication Service start for the first time.