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 migrates, protects, fails over, and reverses failover of vApps and virtual machines. VMware Cloud Director Availability is available through the VMware Cloud Provider Program.

VMware Cloud Director Availability introduces a unified architecture for the disaster recovery and migration of vSphere workloads. With VMware Cloud Director Availability, the service providers and their tenants can migrate and protect vApps and virtual machines:
  • From an on-premises vCenter Server site to a VMware Cloud Director site
  • From a VMware Cloud Director site to an on-premises vCenter Server site
  • From one VMware Cloud Director site to another VMware Cloud Director site
Cloud Site
In a single cloud site, one VMware Cloud Director Availability instance consists of:
  • One Cloud Replication Management Appliance
  • One or more Cloud Replicator Appliance instances
  • One Cloud Tunnel Appliance
Multiple Availability cloud sites can coexist in one VMware Cloud Director instance. In a site, all the cloud appliances operate together to support managing replications for virtual machines, secure SSL communication, and storage of the replicated data. The service providers can support recovery for multiple tenant environments that can scale to handle the increasing workloads.
On-Premises Site
In an on-premises environment, a single VMware Cloud Director Availability On-Premises Appliance supports the replication management for tenants by using the VMware Cloud Director Availability vSphere Client Plug-In.

What's New in the VMware Cloud Director Availability Documentation

  • Migration to VMware Cloud Director service now contains an overview of the configuration and two new diagrams.
    Cloud Site Migrations to VMware Cloud Director service
    On-Premises Site Migrations to VMware Cloud Director service
    SDDC Network Configuration Summary is also new and lists the SDDC objects created in VMware Cloud on AWS for migrations to Cloud Director service.
  • Using Replications contains new sections:
    Replicating Thin or Thick Provisioning Virtual Disks
    Seeds affect the disk provision format.
    Replicating Other Storage
    Storage DRS (SDRS)
    Raw Device Mapping (RDM)
    Multi-Writer Disks
    Independent Disks
    Change Block Tracking (CBT)
  • Stretching Layer 2 Networks allows the service providers to stretch on-premises networks across the cloud site for migrations from the on-premises site to the cloud site that allow network connectivity between already migrated and not yet migrated virtual machines as in the same network segment.
    • VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.2 supports NSX-T backed cloud sites.
    • VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.2.1 supports both NSX-T and NSX-V in the cloud site.

Documentation Phases Map

Day 0 Operations

Represents the design phase, when requirements 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, etc.
Stage of the Lifecycle Prerequisites Documentation for Each Version Operations Additional Documentation
Day 0 Phase:
  • Design
  • Architect
  • Security
 Before deployment, see the latest major version 4.2 Release Notes.
Day 1 Phase:
  • Deploy
  • Install
  • Configure
  • Upgrade
 In the cloud site, 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 site, for the deployment prerequisites and to install, configure, or to upgrade, see the Installation, Configuration, and Upgrade Guide On-Premises.
Day 2 Phase:
  • Daily Use
  • Manage
  • Administer
 To access, authenticate, and replicate workloads for disaster recovery protection or migration, see the User Guide.
To manage paired cloud sites, replace SSL certificates, configure NIC settings, stretch networks, notify and monitor, and maintain, see the Administration Guide.

Other Resources

Looking for vCloud Availability Documentation?

Since June 2020, VMware Cloud Director Availability replaces the previous product names. For the services and the appliances naming, see the VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.0 Release Notes.