6.1

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Site Recovery Manager supports Storage DRS clusters containing datastores from different consistency
groups. If you migrate a virtual machine to a datastore that is not part of a protection group, then you
have to reconfigure the protection group to include that datastore.
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Site Recovery Manager supports Storage vMotion without limitation between non-replicated datastores
and between replicated datastores in the same consistency group. In those cases, Storage DRS can
perform automatic Storage vMotion in clusters in automatic mode, or issue recommendations for
Storage vMotion in clusters in manual mode.
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Special considerations apply to Storage vMotion between a replicated and a non-replicated datastore, or
between replicated datastores in different consistency groups. In those cases, Storage DRS does not
automatically initiate or recommend Storage vMotion. Manually initiated Storage vMotion results in a
warning detailing the possible impact.
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Do not use Storage DRS or Storage vMotion to move virtual machines regularly. Do not accept
recommendations to manually move virtual machines regularly. You can move virtual machines
occasionally, but excessive movement of virtual machines can cause problems. Moving virtual
machines requires the array to replicate virtual machines over the network, which takes time and
consumes bandwidth. When Storage DRS or Storage vMotion moves virtual machines, you might
encounter problems during a recovery:
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If Storage DRS or Storage vMotion moves a virtual machine to a different consistency group within
the same protection group, there is a short period between Site Recovery Manager propagating the
new location of the virtual machine to the recovery site and the array replicating the changes to the
recovery site. In addition, there is another period during which the arrays replicate the source and
target consistency groups to a consistent state on the recovery site. While the array is propagating
all of the changes to the recovery site, disaster recovery of this virtual machine might fail.
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If Storage DRS or Storage vMotion moves a virtual machine to a different protection group,
Site Recovery Manager generates a protection error for this virtual machine. You must unconfigure
protection of the virtual machine in the old protection group and configure protection of the virtual
machine in the new protection group. Until you configure protection in the new protection group,
planned migration or disaster recovery of this virtual machine fails.
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Adding a disk to a protected virtual machine results in the same problems as for moving an entire
virtual machine. Site Recovery Manager does not prevent you from doing this, but if a virtual machine
contains an unreplicated disk and you do not exclude the disk from protection, powering on the virtual
machine fails after the move.
Using Site Recovery Manager with vSphere Replication on Sites with Storage
DRS or Storage vMotion
Follow the guidelines if you use vSphere Replication to protect or recover virtual machines on sites that use
Storage DRS or Storage vMotion.
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vSphere Replication is compatible with vSphere Storage vMotion and vSphere Storage DRS on both
protected and recovery sites. You can use Storage vMotion and Storage DRS to move replica disk files
of a virtual machine that vSphere Replication protects, with no impact on replication.
Site Recovery Manager detects the changes and fails over the virtual machine successfully.
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Site Recovery Manager supports Storage DRS clusters on the recovery site with datastores containing
the vSphere Replication replica disks.
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vSphere Replication is compatible with Storage vMotion and saves the state of a disk or virtual machine
when the home directory of a disk or virtual machine moves. Replication of the disk or virtual machine
continues normally after the move.
Site Recovery Manager Administration
124 VMware, Inc.