Once virtual replication appliances have been paired and configured, the virtual machines can be replicated. Click the hanger next to the VM to be replicated, click “All vSphere Replication Actions” then click “Configure Replication”
NOTE: VMware is phasing out the C# client for vCenter, but hasn’t yet. In order to do SRM Configurations you still need to use this client which is why many of my examples are still using it. The act of replicating the VM I’ve chosen to use the web client because it adds extra features that the C# client is missing.
If you have a lot of replication happening, you may have more than one VR Server to handle the replication. Each VM will be assigned a VR server, and you can control which ones are used if needed. If you’re not sure, choose the Auto-assign.
Select the datastore the VM should be replicated to at the recovery site.
Select the individual disks that need to be replicated and to what datastore they should be replicated to. If multiple disks are attached to the VM, different datastores can be selected for replication.
Select if the guest operating system should be quiesed. This may be very useful for databases, exchange, etc.
Set your Recovery Point Objective (RPO). The RPO is the amount of data loss that is acceptable during a disaster. Obviously no one wants to lose data, but the lowest RPO that can be configured by vSphere Replication is 15 minutes. If you need lower RPO than this, you’ll need to select a storage replication method, likely at a cost.
Also, one of the new features with vSphere Replication 5.5 is to use multiple point in time replications. This means that you can replicate your snapshots as well as the VM, but to do this you MUST use the web client. This option is not available with the C# client.
Review the settings and choose finish.
The recent tasks will show the replication start after the initial configuration.
