VMware Cloud Director Availability™ is a Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS) solution. Between multi-tenant clouds and on-premises, with asynchronous replications, VMware Cloud Director Availability protects, migrates, fails over, and reverses failover of vApps and virtual machines. VMware Cloud Director Availability is available through the VMware Cloud Provider Program.
- Between an on-premises vCenter Server site and a provider cloud site backed by VMware Cloud Director™.
- Between multi-tenant provider cloud sites that are backed by VMware Cloud Director.
- Between an on-premises vCenter Server site and a provider cloud vCenter Server site.
- Between providers cloud vCenter Server sites.
- Cloud site:
-
- In a multi-tenant provider cloud site backed by VMware Cloud Director, one VMware Cloud Director Availability instance consists of the following number of cloud appliances:
- one Cloud Replication Management Appliance,
- one, or more Cloud Replicator Appliance instances,
- and one Cloud Tunnel Appliance.
- In a provider cloud vCenter Server site, one instance of VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4 or later consists of one vCenter Replication Management Appliance. VMware Cloud Director is not required.
- In a multi-tenant provider cloud site backed by VMware Cloud Director, one VMware Cloud Director Availability instance consists of the following number of cloud appliances:
- On-premises site:
-
In an on-premises disaster recovery environment, tenants manage the replications by using the
VMware Cloud Director Availability vSphere Client Plug-In, supported by a
VMware Cloud Director Availability On-Premises Appliance. In the on-premises
vCenter Server instance, depending on the provider cloud site, deploy the on-premises appliance:
- as either an On-Premises to Cloud Director Replication Appliance,
- or as an On-Premises to Cloud vCenter Replication Appliance.
What's new
- For the latest updates, see the Release Notes.
- For information about vSphere DR and migration and the new deployment topology architecture for replications between an on-premises vCenter Server site and a provider cloud vCenter Server site, see the Installation and Configuration Guide On-Premises and the following architecture diagram:
- For information about the new deployment architecture and the required open network ports on the firewalls, see Deployment architecture and requirements.
- After meeting the prerequisites, for information about deploying the new appliances and licensing the vCenter Replication Management Appliance, see Deploy both appliances.
- For information about completing the configuration, pairing the new appliances and adding the vCenter Replication Management Appliance for metering, see Configure and pair both appliances.
Documentation phases map
- Day 0 operations:
-
Represents the design phase, when requirements and security are specified and the architecture is completed.
- Day 1 operations:
- Contains the prerequisites for deploying the virtual appliances and their installation and configuration as designed in the Day 0 phase. Also in this phase, the infrastructure, network, and external services are initially configured. The initial design is deployed and the infrastructure is configured, based on the designed specifications.
- Day 2 operations:
- Focuses on the daily routine operations like authentication, using replications, and maintenance, monitoring, and troubleshooting. Configuring the settings of the network interface cards (NIC), replacing the SSL certificates of the appliances, stretching L2 networks, configuring provider and tenants events, bandwidth throttling, evacuating datastore, and others.
Stage of the Lifecycle | Prerequisites Documentation for Each Version | Operations | Additional Documentation |
---|---|---|---|
Day 0 phase:
|
Before deployment, see the latest major version 4.4 Release Notes. | ||
Day 1 phase:
|
In a cloud site backed by VMware Cloud Director, for the deployment prerequisites and to install and configure, or to upgrade, see the Installation, Configuration, and Upgrade Guide in the Cloud. | Migration to Cloud Director service Guide contains the architecture, the SDDC configuration, deployment, and pairing necessary for migration to VMware Cloud Director service from on-premises and from cloud sites. | |
In the on-premises vCenter Server site and in a provider cloud vCenter Server site, for the deployment prerequisites and to install, configure, or to upgrade, see the Installation, Configuration, and Upgrade Guide On-Premises. For the interoperability and the required vSphere license, see Interoperability and vSphere product edition.
Note:
|
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Day 2 phase:
|
To access, authenticate, and replicate workloads for disaster recovery protection or migration, see the User Guide procedures that are common for replications with any site. | ||
To manage paired cloud sites, replace SSL certificates, configure NIC settings, stretch networks, notify and monitor, and maintain, see the Administration Guide. For common administrative procedures for any site, see the Monitoring and troubleshooting chapter.
Note:
|
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Other resources
- Replication Flow
- Migration to Cloud Director service Guide
- Architecting VMware Cloud Director Availability
- VMware Cloud Director Availability Product page
- VMware Cloud Director Availability Product interoperability matrix
- VMware Cloud Director Availability Upgrade path
- VMware Cloud Director Availability Network ports
- VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4 Configuration maximums
- VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4 API Programming Guide
- VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4 API Reference
- VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4 STIG Readiness Guide - Version 1 Release 1
vCloud Usage Meter integration
VMware vCloud® Usage Meter must meter the configured for protection or migration virtual machines using VMware Cloud Director Availability.
- Metering Instances:
-
As a
provider, you must meter the consumption data of
VMware Cloud Director Availability and generate monthly usage reports for protections and for migrations, by adding each cloud
VMware Cloud Director Availability instance in vCloud Usage Meter, depending on the network access:
- When vCloud Usage Meter is internal to the network of VMware Cloud Director Availability, you must meter each VMware Cloud Director Availability cloud site in vCloud Usage Meter by adding:
- each instance of Cloud Replication Management Appliance, or
- each instance of vCenter Replication Management Appliance.
- Alternatively, when vCloud Usage Meter is external to the network of VMware Cloud Director Availability, you must meter the entire VMware Cloud Director Availability cloud site in vCloud Usage Meter by adding the Service Endpoint:443, and the root user credentials of the Replication Management Appliance. For cloud sites backed by VMware Cloud Director, also activate Allow admin access from anywhere on the Settings page in the Cloud Replication Management Appliance.
- When vCloud Usage Meter is internal to the network of VMware Cloud Director Availability, you must meter each VMware Cloud Director Availability cloud site in vCloud Usage Meter by adding:
Supported versions
Use VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4, or versions 4.3.x, or 4.2.x for replications with multi-tenant cloud sites backed by VMware Cloud Director. Pairing sites requires using the latest maintenance patch release for VMware Cloud Director Availability. For information about the pairing interoperability and the latest release, see Managing pairing with cloud sites backed by VMware Cloud Director.
- vSphere DR and migration
- Use VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4 at both sites, where providers deploy and pair a new vCenter Replication Management Appliance and tenants deploy and pair a new On-Premises to Cloud vCenter Replication Appliance.