To protect a large number of virtual machines, you can modify the default Site Recovery Manager settings to achieve the best possible recovery times in your environment or to avoid timeouts.

You modify certain options in the Advanced Settings menus in the vSphere Client or in the Site Recovery Manager client plug-in. To modify other settings, you edit the vmware-dr.xml configuration file on the Site Recovery Manager Server or on the Site Recovery Manager Virtual Appliance. Always modify settings by using the client menus when such option exists. If you modify settings, you must make the same modifications on the Site Recovery Manager and the vCenter Server instances on both the protected and recovery sites.

To modify the settings, see Modify Settings to Run Large Site Recovery Manager Environments.

Table 1. Settings that Modify the Number of Simultaneous Power On or Power Off Operations
Option Description
srmMaxBootShutdownOps Specifies the maximum number of concurrent power-on operations for any given cluster. Guest shutdowns, but not forced power offs, are throttled according to this value. Guest shutdowns occur during primary site shutdowns (planned failover) and IP customization workflows. Modify this option per cluster in the vSphere Client by right-clicking a cluster and selecting Settings. Click vSphere DRS, then Edit > Advanced Options. Type the option to override the defaultMaxBootAndShutdownOpsPerCluster value that you can set in the vmware-dr.xml file. You can set a global value defaultMaxBootAndShutdownOpsPerCluster in the vmware-dr.xml file, and then set different srmMaxBootShutdownOps values for individual clusters in the vSphere Client. By default, throttling is turned off.
defaultMaxBootAndShutdownOpsPerCluster Specifies the maximum number of concurrent power-on operations for all clusters that Site Recovery Manager protects. Guest shutdowns, but not forced power offs, are throttled according to this value. Guest shutdowns occur during primary site shutdowns (planned failover) and IP customization workflows. You modify this setting in the vmware-dr.xml file. The srmMaxBootShutdownOps value that you can set in the vSphere Client overrides the defaultMaxBootAndShutdownOpsPerCluster value. You can set a global value defaultMaxBootAndShutdownOpsPerCluster in the vmware-dr.xml file, and then set different srmMaxBootShutdownOps values for individual clusters in the vSphere Client. By default, throttling is turned off.
defaultMaxBootAndShutdownOpsPerHost Specifies the maximum number of concurrent power-on operations on any standalone host. You can only set the option in the vmware-dr.xml file. By default, throttling is turned off.
Table 2. Settings that Modify Timeout Periods
Option Description
vrReplication.synchronizationTimeout Site Recovery Manager enforces a timeout to complete an online or offline synchronization for virtual machines replicated by vSphere Replication during a test or failover. If a synchronization does not finish within the given timeout, for example, because of a slow network or a large virtual machine, Site Recovery Manager reports a failure during a test or failover. Modify this option in the Site Recovery user interface. On the Site Recovery home tab, select a site pair and click View Details. In the left pane, select Configure > Advanced Settings > vSphere Replication. The default value is 7200 and corresponds to a working synchronization timeout period of 14400 seconds.
vrReplication.reverseReplicationTimeout The timeout period for reverse replication during reprotect operations. Modify this option in the Site Recovery user interface. On the Site Recovery home tab, select a site pair and click View Details. In the left pane, select Configure > Advanced Settings > vSphere Replication. The default value is 7200 and corresponds to a working synchronization timeout period of 14400 seconds.
storage.commandTimeout The timeout for running SRA commands in ABR-related workflows. In some cases, such as surfacing LUNs and snapshots, some arrays take longer than the default time to respond. Modify this option in the Site Recovery user interface. On the Site Recovery home tab, select a site pair and click View Details. In the left pane, select Configure > Advanced Settings > Storage. The default value is 300 seconds.