You can use the VMware OVF Tool to deploy the Site Recovery Manager Virtual Appliance virtual machine from a client OVF template.

VMware OVF Tool ( ovftool) is a flexible command-line utility that you can use to import and export OVF packages to and from a wide variety of VMware products. For more information about the ovftool, see the VMware OVF Tool documentation.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have downloaded and installed VMware OVF Tool 4.2 or later.

Procedure

  • To deploy the Site Recovery Manager Virtual Appliance with the VMware OVF Tool, use one the following command lines.
    1. If you want to obtain network settings through DHCP:
      ovftool 
        --acceptAllEulas
        --ipAllocationPolicy=dhcpPolicy
        --ipProtocol=IPv4
        --deploymentOption=light | standard
        --name=SRM-VA-NAME
        --datastore=DATASTORE-NAME
        --network=NETWORK-NAME
        --net:"Network 1"=NETWORK-NAME
        --prop:varoot-password=ROOT-PASSWORD
        --prop:vaadmin-password=ADMIN-PASSWORD
        --prop:dbpassword=DB-PASSWORD
        --prop:ntpserver=NTP-SERVER
        --prop:network.netmode.VMware_Site_Recovery_Manager_Appliance='dhcp'
        --prop:network.addrfamily.VMware_Site_Recovery_Manager_Appliance='ipv4'
        http://HOST/PATH/srm-va_OVF10.ovf 
        vi://VC_USERNAME:VC_PASSWORD@VC_ADDRESS/DATACENTER-NAME/host/CLUSTER-NAME/Resources/RESOURCE-POOL-NAME
    2. If you want to obtain network settings through a static IP address:
      ovftool 
        --acceptAllEulas
        --ipAllocationPolicy=dhcpPolicy
        --ipProtocol=IPv4
        --deploymentOption=light | standard
        --name=SRM-VA-NAME
        --datastore=DATASTORE-NAME
        --network=NETWORK-NAME
        --net:"Network 1"=NETWORK-NAME
        --prop:varoot-password=ROOT-PASSWORD
        --prop:vaadmin-password=ADMIN-PASSWORD
        --prop:dbpassword=DB-PASSWORD
        --prop:ntpserver=NTP-SERVER
        --prop:"network.ip0.VMware_Site_Recovery_Manager_Appliance"="VA IP" 
        --prop:"network.netprefix0.VMware_Site_Recovery_Manager_Appliance"="NETWORK PREFIX"
        --prop:"network.gateway.VMware_Site_Recovery_Manager_Appliance"="GATEWAY IP"
        --prop:"network.DNS.VMware_Site_Recovery_Manager_Appliance"="DNS SERVER 1, DNS SERVER 2"
        --prop:"network.searchpath.VMware_Site_Recovery_Manager_Appliance"="DNS SEARCH PATH - DOMAIN"
        --prop:"network.netmode.VMware_Site_Recovery_Manager_Appliance"='static'
        --ipAllocationPolicy="fixedPolicy"
        --prop:network.addrfamily.VMware_Site_Recovery_Manager_Appliance='ipv4'
        http://HOST/PATH/srm-va_OVF10.ovf 
        vi://VC_USERNAME:VC_PASSWORD@VC_ADDRESS/DATACENTER-NAME/host/CLUSTER-NAME/Resources/RESOURCE-POOL-NAME
    You must replace the variables in the example with values from your environment.
    Variable Description
    light | standard The deployment type for the Site Recovery Manager Appliance virtual machine. Use the light deployment type for deployments that protect less than 1000 virtual machines. Use the standard deployment type for deployments that protect more than 1000 virtual machines.
    SRM-VA-NAME The name of the Site Recovery Manager Appliance virtual machine.
    DATASTORE-NAME The target datastore name.
    NETWORK-NAME The name of the target network.
    ROOT-PASSWORD The password for the root account, which you use to log in to the OS of the virtual appliance. The password must be at least eight characters long and must contain characters from four character classes: lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
    ADMIN-PASSWORD The password for the admin user account, which you use for access to the Site Recovery Manager Appliance Management Interface and for SSH access to the appliance OS. The password must be at least eight characters long and must contain characters from four character classes: lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
    DB-PASSWORD The password for the srmdb database account, which you use to connect to the embedded vPostgres database. The password must be at least eight characters long and must contain characters from four character classes: lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
    NTP-SERVER The NTP server host name.
    HOST The host address of the source virtual machine.
    PATH The path to the OVF package.
    NETWORK PREFIX The network prefix of the Site Recovery Manager Appliance.
    DNS SEARCH PATH - DOMAIN The domain search path for this virtual machine (use a comma or a space to separate the different names).
    GATEWAY IP ADDRESS The Gateway address of the Site Recovery Manager Appliance.
    VA IP The IP address of the Site Recovery Manager Appliance virtual machine.
    DNS IP ADDRESS The DNS address of the Site Recovery Manager Appliance .
    VC_USERNAME The user name for the target vCenter Server.
    VC_PASSWORD The password for the target vCenter Server.
    VC_ADDRESS The address of the target vCenter Server.
    DATACENTER-NAME The name of the target data center.
    CLUSTER-NAME The name of the target cluster.
    RESOURCE-POOL-NAME The name of the target resource pool.

What to do next

Configure the Site Recovery Manager Appliance to Connect to a vCenter Server at both the protected and the recovery site.