The pairing management includes establishing and re-establishing trust with cloud sites backed by VMware Cloud Director. After you initiate pairing from the local site and complete the pairing from the remote site, VMware Cloud Director Availability establishes a trust between the two sites. Re-establish the trust after upgrading VMware Cloud Director Availability, after replacing the Cloud Service certificate, or after registering additional Replicator Service instances.

Remember: As a provider you must add each Cloud Service instance or each vCenter Replication Management Appliance for metering in VMware vCloud ® Usage Meter before creating any replications. For information about adding the cloud sites in vCloud Usage Meter, see vCloud Usage Meter Integration.

Pairing Interoperability with Mismatching VMware Cloud Director Availability Versions

You can pair sites that have different VMware Cloud Director Availability major versions deployed, up to two major versions back, or (N-2), where N is the currently deployed version.

For example, you can pair a site where version 4.6 is running with a site where version 4.4 or later is running, but not with a site where version 4.3 or earlier is running. Mismatching site versions can occur when upgrading the sites one at a time, or when migrating workloads from earlier vSphere and VMware Cloud Director versions to a site with later vSphere and VMware Cloud Director versions.

Note: When pairing sites with different VMware Cloud Director Availability major versions, only the functionality of the earlier version is supported.

For example, only the functionality and features of VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4 are supported when pairing a site where version 4.4 is running with a site where version 4.6 is running.

Before pairing VMware Cloud Director Availability sites, verify the interoperability of the versions of VMware Cloud Director Availability between the source site and the destination site in the following tables:

Table 1. Pairing Interoperability Between the Version of On-Premises to Cloud Director Replication Appliance the Version of the VMware Cloud Director Availability in the Cloud Director Site

On-Premises to Cloud Director Replication Appliance

Cloud Site

3.0

 Cloud Site

3.5

 Cloud Site

4.0

 Cloud Site 4.1 Cloud Site 4.2 Cloud Site 4.3 Cloud Site 4.4 Cloud Site 4.5 Cloud Site 4.6
3.0 Supported Supported Supported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
3.5 Supported Supported Supported Supported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
4.0 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
4.1 Unsupported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
4.2 Unsupported Unsupported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Unsupported Unsupported
4.3 Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Unsupported
4.4 Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
4.5 Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Supported Supported Supported Supported
4.6 Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Supported Supported Supported
Note: Do not pair sites with more than two major versions apart.

For example, pairing version 4.6 with version 4.4 is supported but pairing version 4.6 with version 4.3 is not supported.

Table 2. Pairing Interoperability Between the Version of VMware Cloud Director Availability in the Source Cloud Director Site and the Version of the VMware Cloud Director Availability in the Destination Cloud Director Site
Source Cloud Site

VMware Cloud Director Availability

 Destination Cloud Site

3.0

 Destination Cloud Site

3.5

 Destination Cloud Site

4.0

 Destination Cloud Site 4.1 Destination Cloud Site 4.2 Destination Cloud Site 4.3 Destination Cloud Site 4.4 Destination Cloud Site 4.5 Destination Cloud Site 4.6
3.0 Supported Supported Supported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
3.5 Supported Supported Supported Supported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
4.0 Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
4.1 Unsupported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
4.2 Unsupported Unsupported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Unsupported Unsupported
4.3 Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Unsupported
4.4 Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported
4.5 Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Supported Supported Supported Supported
4.6 Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Supported Supported Supported
Important: When pairing sites, ensure that the latest maintenance patch release for the VMware Cloud Director Availability major version is deployed in each site.
  • Latest release:
    For each major version bellow, see the latest available release that must be deployed before pairing each site:
    • For version 3.0, the site must be running version 3.0.5 or if later is available.
    • For version 3.5, the site must be running version 3.5.2 or if later is available.
    • For version 4.0, the site must be running version 4.0.1.2 or if later is available.
    • For version 4.1, the site must be running version 4.1.1 or if later is available.
    • For version 4.2, the site must be running version 4.2.1 or if later is available.
    • For version 4.3, the site must be running version 4.3.1 or if later is available.
    • For version 4.4, the site must be running version 4.4.1 or if later is available.
    • For version 4.5, the site must be running version 4.5.0.1 or if later is available.
  • vSphere DR and migration between vCenter Server sites:
    This page is dedicated only for sites backed by VMware Cloud Director.
    Alternatively, for information about pairing vSphere DR and migration between vCenter Server sites with mismatching VMware Cloud Director Availability versions, see the section VMware Cloud Director Availability Supported Versions.
  • Supported versions:
    For a complete list of the currently supported VMware Cloud Director Availability versions, see the below link in Supported Versions.
  • Changelog across versions:
    For a list of all features across all the versions listed on this page, see VMware Cloud Director Availability Changelog.

Migrating from Earlier VMware Cloud Director Availability Versions

By pairing an earlier and later VMware Cloud Director Availability versions, you can migrate workloads from source sites where the later VMware Cloud Director Availability version does not support either the version of vCenter Server or VMware Cloud Director.

VMware Cloud Director Availability is fully capable of migrating workloads running on earlier vSphere and VMware Cloud Director versions that are near or are already EOS. If there is a VMware Cloud Director Availability version compatible with the vSphere and the VMware Cloud Director versions in the source site, you can pair it to VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.0 deployed in a cloud site with later vSphere and VMware Cloud Director versions. For example, see the following table:

Table 3. Migration Interoperability with Paired Sites with Earlier VMware Cloud Director Availability Versions
Migration Source Site

Early Version

 Migration Destination Site

Latest Supported Version
On-premises site A, deployed version 3.5 with vSphere 5.5 or later. Cloud site C, VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.1* with a supported VMware Cloud Director version**.
Cloud site B, deployed version 3.5 with vCloud Director 9.0 or 9.1.
Cloud site Y, deployed version 3.0 with vCloud Director 8.2, 9.0 or 9.1. Cloud site Z, VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.0* with a supported VMware Cloud Director version**.
Note: * Migrating from a site running earlier version requires a specific version of VMware Cloud Director Availability in the destination site, that may not be the latest currently available, due to the pairing interoperability. For information about the pairing interoperability between the different VMware Cloud Director Availability versions, see the tables in the top section.
  • For example, in an on-premises site with vSphere 5.5, deploy an on-premises appliance version 3.5 and pair it to VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.1 deployed in a cloud site with a supported VMware Cloud Director version**. You can then migrate all virtual machines to the later cloud site.
  • For example, in a cloud site with vCloud Director 9.0, deploy version 3.0 and pair it to VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.0 deployed in a cloud site with a supported VMware Cloud Director version**. You can then migrate all vApps to the later VMware Cloud Director site.

Supported Versions

For the currently supported VMware Cloud Director Availability versions, see the VMware Cloud Director Availability Documentation page.

VMware Cloud Director Availability Interoperability Matrices

** Before deploying VMware Cloud Director Availability in the cloud site, verify the supported versions of VMware Cloud Director and NSX by following the link below.

Before deploying On-Premises to Cloud Director Replication Appliance, verify the supported versions of vCenter Server, ESXi, and NSX by following the link below.

For information about the VMware Cloud Director Availability interoperability with other VMware products, see the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix.