System information

About vSphere Replication Protection Groups
You can include virtual machines that you configured for vSphere Replication in vSphere Replication
protection groups.
Virtual machines in the vCenter Server inventory that are configured for vSphere Replication are available
for selection when you create or edit a vSphere Replication protection group.
You select a location for the replica virtual machine on the target site when you configure
vSphere Replication on a virtual machine. When you include a virtual machine with vSphere Replication in
a protection group, Site Recovery Manager creates a placeholder virtual machine for recovery. The replica
virtual machine that vSphere Replication creates and the placeholder virtual machine that
Site Recovery Manager creates can both reside on the same datastore on the recovery site because they are
created in different datastore folders. When the replica and placeholder virtual machines are in the same
datastore, Site Recovery Manager creates the placeholder virtual machine name by using the replica virtual
machine name with the suffix (1). Site Recovery Manager applies the inventory mappings to the
placeholder virtual machine on the recovery site.
vSphere Replication synchronizes the disk files of the replica virtual machine according to the recovery
point objective that you set when you configured vSphere Replication on the virtual machine. When you
perform a recovery with Site Recovery Manager, Site Recovery Manager powers on the replica virtual
machine and registers it with vCenter Server on the recovery site in the place of the placeholder virtual
machine.
When using vSphere Replication protection groups, Site Recovery Manager is dependent on
vSphere Replication, but vSphere Replication is not dependent on Site Recovery Manager. You can use
vSphere Replication independently of Site Recovery Manager. For example, you can use
vSphere Replication to replicate all of the virtual machines in the vCenter Server inventory, but only include
a subset of those virtual machines in protection groups. Changes that you make to vSphere Replication
configuration can affect the Site Recovery Manager protection of the virtual machines that you do include in
protection groups.
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Site Recovery Manager monitors the vSphere Replication status of the virtual machines in
vSphere Replication protection groups. If replication is not functioning for a virtual machine in a
protection group, Site Recovery Manager cannot recover the virtual machine.
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If you unconfigure vSphere Replication on a virtual machine, Site Recovery Manager continues to
include that virtual machine in protection groups in which you included it. Site Recovery Manager
cannot recover that virtual machine until you reconfigure replication. If you unconfigure
vSphere Replication on a virtual machine, you can remove it from the protection group manually.
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If you configured vSphere Replication on a virtual machine that resides on a datastore that
Site Recovery Manager already protects with array-based replication, Site Recovery Manager reports an
error if you try to include that virtual machine in a vSphere Replication protection group.
If you remove a virtual machine with vSphere Replication from a protection group, vSphere Replication
continues to replicate the virtual machine to the recovery site. The virtual machine does not recover with the
rest of the virtual machines in the protection group if you run an associated recovery plan.
Create Protection Groups
You create protection groups to enable Site Recovery Manager to protect virtual machines.
You can organize protection groups in folders. Different views in the vSphere Web Client display the names
of the protection groups, but they do not display the folder names. If you have two protection groups with
the same name in different folders, it might be difficult to tell them apart in some views in the
vSphere Web Client. Consequently, ensure that protection group names are unique across all folders. In
environments in which not all users have view privileges for all folders, to be sure of the uniqueness of
protection group names, do not place protection groups in folders.
Site Recovery Manager Administration
32 VMware, Inc.