Configure the network settings for cloud to cloud replications

For the cloud to cloud replications, you can specify the automatically discovered network settings of the vApp or virtual machine. After performing a migration, failover, or a test failover, VMware Cloud Director Availability attaches the selected network settings in the destination cloud site.

For the cloud to cloud replications, the network settings are provided as vApp > Network > NIC and you modify the network settings at the network level.

VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.6 or later, when backed by VMware Cloud Director 10.3 or later, supports replicating:

• Routed vApp networks and vApp network services for virtual data centers backed by NSX.
• DHCP service on vApp isolated networks.

A reversed replication, since VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4 creates the following auto-resolved and original mappings for the vApp networks:

Table 1. Reversed Replication vApp Network Mappings

Original Network Mapping	Reverse Replication Network Mapping
If no destination network match for the reversed replication network is found.	No change. Keep the auto-resolved mapping of the source networks.
Alternatively, if multiple source networks connect to one destination network.
If a matching destination network for the reversed replication network is found.	Reverse the original network mapping, preserving the protected vApp configuration for connection to destination networks.

Prerequisites

• Verify that VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.6 or later is deployed in both cloud sites for replicating routed vApp networks with error-free automatic destination network mapping or for replicating the DHCP configuration on isolated networks.
• 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.

Procedure

1. To configure their destination network settings, select one or more cloud to cloud replications and click All Actions > Recovery Settings.
2. In the Recovery settings window, configure the destination network settings of the selected replications.
   • For migration and failover network settings, click the Migrate/failover tab.
   • Alternatively, for test failover network settings, click the Test tab.
   1. In the left pane, click Networks.

      Option	Description
      Source networks	See the name of the networks, and the virtual machine network interface cards (NIC).
      Type	Shows the type of the network in the source site: Direct: network that directly connects to the organization VDC network. Isolated: network only within the vApp, not connected externally. Routed: you can specify a CIDR and connect to an external network.
      Target networks	Select the destination network to connect to in the destination site after a migration, failover, or test failover: Network name select to replicate the source vApp network in the destination site and connect the destination vApp to the selected orgVDC Network name in the destination site. Isolated replicates the source networks without connecting them to any network in the destination site. Network name (Not Available) when the destination network is no longer available it is listed as grayed-out. Automatic destination network mapping For vApp routed networks during automatic mapping, VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.6 and later identify the proper destination organization VDC network by searching for a network whose subnets contain the external gateway address of the source router. This automatic mapping requires a powered-on source virtual machine with a NIC connected to the routed network. For vApp templates, a routed network cannot automatically be mapped since the captured virtual machine in the source template is powered off. For the remaining types of networks, the automatic mapping searches for a matching gateway in the destination site. In previous versions, when NSX is the backing network provider in the destination site, the source vApp routed networks are automatically converted to direct VDC networks with all network services dropped. That can result in error messages during failover, test failover, or migration, for example, due to the dropped DHCP service - for an overlapping IP address, causing the vApp to remain powered off after the recovery.

   2. In the left pane, click Nics.

      Option	Description
      vApp #VMs	To see the number of the virtual machines and their NICs, expand the name of the parent vApp then expand each NIC. For each NIC, the network resolution, by default selected as Automatic means the source network gateway matches the destination gateway. Alternatively, select an organization VDC network to connect to.
      Status	To activate the connection for that NIC to the destination organization VDC network, select the Connect at Power On check box.
      State	Select the primary NIC for each virtual machine.
      MAC Address	To reset the MAC address of the expanded NIC in the destination site, from the drop-down menu select Reset.
      IP Address	None selected by default, no IP addressing mode is specified. Static - IP POOL select to obtain an IP address for the expanded NIC from an IP pool in the destination network. To commit the IP address changes to the virtual machine guest OS, click Guest customization. DHCP select to obtain an IP address for the expanded NIC when the connected destination network is configured with a DHCP server. Static - Manual select to enter a static IP address to the expanded NIC. To commit the IP address changes to the virtual machine guest OS, click Guest customization.

   For information about Guest customization, see Configure recovery settings and guest customization.
3. Click Apply.

Results

For the selected replications, after performing a migration, failover, or a test failover, VMware Cloud Director Availability replicates the workload to the destination cloud site. Then VMware Cloud Director Availability attaches the selected network settings to the destination vApp or virtual machine.