After performing a failover or a migrate task, return the workload from the destination site back to the original source site by reversing the replication.

After failing over or migrating from the source site to the destination site, the workload runs on the destination site. A subsequent reverse task replicates the failed-over or migrated workload data back to the original source protected workload.
Optimized reverse
VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.3 and later skip performing a full synchronization back to the original source workload when performing a reverse task by transferring only the deltas when the original source workload was not powered on since the initial failover or migration, meaning there were no blocks changed in the original source and the original source disks are not modified in any way.

This optimized reverse is available for a limited amount of time after the initial failover or migration, by default for a week. Under Details of the failed-over replication, see the Optimized reverse expiration time, available for up to seven days from the time of the migration. After this time expires, or the original source workload was powered on, reversing the replication skips the optimized reverse and performs a full synchronization.

Note: When reversing a replication from a cloud site back to an on-premises site, VMware Cloud Director Availability uses the original datastore for the placement of the workload, regardless of the current on-premises local placement setting.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that in the destination datastore, at least double the allocated storage of the virtual machine is available for a successful reverse operation. For information about the storage requirements, see Storage Space Consumption in the Destination.
  • Verify that VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.3 or later is deployed in both the source and in the destination sites for using the optimized reverse.
  • Verify that you can access VMware Cloud Director Availability as a tenant or as a service provider. For more information, see Accessing VMware Cloud Director Availability.
  • Verify that the replication is in a Failed-Over recovery state, before you can start a reverse task. For information about failing over, see Failover of a Replication or Migrate a Replication.
  • Verify that the number of disks in the seed virtual machine matches that of the source virtual machine. Performing a reverse task with mismatching configuration of disks fails with the Disks of provided seed VM don't match the disks of the source VM message. For more information, see Selecting Replicated Disks.

Procedure

  1. In the left pane, choose a replication direction by clicking Incoming Replications or Outgoing Replications.
  2. Select an exiting replication that is failed-over and click All actions > Reverse.
  3. In the Reverse window, to confirm the reversal click Reverse.

    Reversing the replication enables the replication traffic and recovers the replication back to the source site.

    The Last changed column shows the reverse task progress in percentages. After reversing a replication, the direction of this replication reverses. To see the reversed replication:
    • After reversing an incoming replication, in the left pane click Outgoing Replications.
    • After reversing an outgoing replication, in the left pane click Incoming Replications.
  4. (Optional) In the bottom pane, to monitor the progress of the task, click the Tasks tab.

Results

After the reverse task completes, the reversed replication overwrites the original source workload. The reversed workload runs in the destination site, while protected in the original source site. When the reverse task completes, the Recovery state column of this replication shows a Reversed state.

What to do next

  • You can test, fail over, or migrate the reversed workload back in the original source site. For more information, see Test Failover a Replication, Failover of a Replication, or Migrate a Replication.

    When any of those tasks completes, the Recovery state column of this replication shows a green Failed-Back state. Then, after failing-back a reversed replication you can only perform a reverse task.

  • You can pause the reversed replication and edit the replication configuration. You can permanently stop the traffic of this replication, remove the replication and remove all retained replication instances, by clicking All actions > Delete replication.