VMware Cloud Director Availability Documentation

VMware Cloud Director Availability introduces a unified architecture for the disaster recovery protection and migration of VMware vSphere ^® workloads. With VMware Cloud Director Availability in both the sites, the providers and their tenants can protect and migrate vApps and virtual machines:

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.

vSphere DR and migration, introduced with VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4 uses a new deployment topology in both the sites and the providers and their tenants can protect and migrate vSphere workloads:

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.
Multiple Availability cloud sites can coexist in one VMware Cloud Director instance. In a site, all the cloud appliances operate together, supporting the replications management, secure SSL communication, and storage of the replicated data. The provider can support recovery for multiple tenants environments that can scale for handling the increasing workloads.

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.

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

In VMware Cloud on AWS, to perform administrative tasks like certificate replacement of the services of VMware Cloud Director Availability, prepare the SDDC network for allowing access to the three types of management interfaces of the Manager Service, each Replicator Service instances, and the Tunnel Service from the Trusted Compute Sources Group. For more information, see Post-configure the SDDC Networking in VMware Cloud on AWS.
For the latest updates in version 4.4.1, 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: Design Architect Network Privileges Security	Before deployment, see the latest major version 4.4 Release Notes.	What's new in version 4.4 Upgrade to version 4.4 Caveats and limitations Resolved issues in version 4.4 Known issues in version 4.4	VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4 Security Technical Implementation Guide Configuration (STIG) Readiness Guide - Version 1 Release 1 Replication Flow Security Guide Services ports Network connectivity Users roles and rights Logs Architecting VMware Cloud Director Availability
Day 1 phase: Deploy Install Configure Upgrade	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.	Replications with cloud site backed by VMware Cloud Director: Architecture for cloud site backed by VMware Cloud Director Appliances services Prerequisites Interoperability Network Requirements Appliances deployment Configuration Upgrade the cloud site	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: For vSphere DR and migration between vCenter Server sites deployment, see the Installing and Configuring a vCenter Replication Management Appliance and an On-Premises to Cloud vCenter Replication Appliance chapter. For replications with cloud site backed by VMware Cloud Director deployment, see the Installing and Configuring On-Premises to Cloud Director Replication Appliance chapter.	vSphere DR and migration between vCenter Server sites: Deployment architecture and requirements Deploy both appliances Configure and pair both appliances
		Replications with cloud site backed by VMware Cloud Director: Architecture Network requirements Deployment Configuration Upgrade
Day 2 phase: Daily Use Manage Administer	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.	Accessing Authenticating Replications Migrations Monitoring Tenant events	In VMware Cloud on AWS, day 2 preparation of the SDDC Post-configure the SDDC Networking in VMware Cloud on AWS for example, for services certificate replacement.
	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: For administering both vSphere DR and migration between vCenter Server sites and On-Premises to Cloud Director Replication Appliance, see the Administration on-premises chapter. For administering a cloud site backed by VMware Cloud Director, see the Administration in the cloud chapter.	Both On-Premises to Cloud Director Replication Appliance and vSphere DR and migration between vCenter Server sites: Back up the appliance Restore the appliance Re-pair Replace the appliance SSL certificate Change the IP address of the appliance
		Cloud site backed by VMware Cloud Director: NIC settings SSL certificates Pairing cloud sites Stretching L2 networks Provider and tenant events and notifications Maintenance

Other resources

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.
Enter each appliance-IP-address or appliance-hostname, port 443, and the root user credentials of the replication management appliances.
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.

For more information, see How do I add VMware Cloud Director Availability instance for metering in the vCloud Usage Meter documentation.

Supported versions

Use VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4.1, 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 4.4.1 or 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.

Attention: Since June 2022, VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.1.x, 4.0.x, all the earlier versions, and vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cloud Director Availability 1.0 all reached End of General Support (EOGS) and are no longer available for download from VMware. For information about the Lifecycle Policy and the Product Lifecycle Matrix, see Enterprise application support.

Looking for vCloud Availability documentation?: Since June 2020, VMware Cloud Director Availability replaces the previous product names.