You can edit the settings of a virtual machine in a protection group. Editing the settings of a virtual machine to add or change storage devices, such as hard disks or DVD drives, can affect the protection of that virtual machine.
If you use array-based replication, adding or changing devices on a virtual machine affects protection depending on how you create the new device.
- If the new device is on a replicated datastore that is not part of a protection group, the protection group that contains the virtual machine goes into the Not Configured state. Reconfigure the protection group to add the datastore that contains the new device to the protection group.
- If the new device is on a replicated datastore that a different protection group protects, the protection of the virtual machine is invalid.
- If the new device is on an unreplicated datastore, you must replicate the datastore or remove protection from the device.
- If you use Storage vMotion to move a virtual machine to an unreplicated datastore, or to a replicated datastore on an array for which Site Recovery Manager does not have a storage replication adapter (SRA), the protection of the virtual machine is invalid. You can use Storage vMotion to move a virtual machine to datastore that is part of another protection group.
If you add a device to a virtual machine that you protect by using vSphere Replication, you must reconfigure vSphere Replication on the virtual machine to select the replication options for the new device. For information about reconfiguring vSphere Replication settings, see the vSphere Replication documentation at https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vsphere-replication-pubs.html.
After you modify virtual machines, you must reconfigure protection for any virtual machines that have a status of Not Configured, Device Not Found, Unresolved Devices, or Mapping Missing. See Apply Inventory Mappings to All Members of a Protection Group and Configure Inventory Mappings for an Individual Virtual Machine in a Protection Group.
Disabling Replication on a Protected Virtual Machine
All virtual machines in a protection group must be configured for either array-based replication or vSphere Replication. If you disable replication on a virtual machine that is part of a protection group, Site Recovery Manager cannot recover that virtual machine and the status for that protection group is Not Configured.
- If you remove protection from a virtual machine that is part of array-based replication protection group, you must move the files of that virtual machine to an unprotected datastore. If you leave the files of an unprotected virtual machine in a datastore that Site Recovery Manager has included in a datastore group, recovery fails for the entire datastore group.
- If you disable vSphere Replication on a virtual machine that you included in a protection group, recovery fails for this virtual machine but succeeds for all of the correctly configured virtual machines in the group. You must edit the protection group to remove the virtual machine. See Add or Remove Datastore Groups or Virtual Machines to or from a Protection Group.
