Before deploying a protected site, consider how many vCenters you need to protect and how many cloud file systems you will need in order to support your protected VMs.

From a deployment perspective, a protected site consists of a vCenter Server, one or more Cyber Recovery connectors, and a cloud file system.

A ptotected site topology consists of a vCenter Server, a Cyber Recovery connector, and a cloud file system.

Multiple vCenters can be registered to a single protected site as long as each vCenter has a unique IP address and does not belong to a different protected site associated with the same cloud file system.

You can have two vCenters in a single protected site if each vCenter has its own unique IP address.

A single vCenter can be registered to more than one protected site as long as each protected site is associated with a unique cloud file system.

You can register one vCenter to two protected sites, as long as each protected site has its own unique cloud file system.

However, a single vCenter cannot be registered to more than one protected site that is using one cloud file system.

You cannot use a single vCenter with two protected sites if you are only using one cloud file system.

Protected Sites with More than One Cloud File System

To expand your protected site capacity, you can leverage multiple cloud file systems.

For example, you can use one vCenter, two protected sites, with each site replicating to its own cloud file system.
Note: If using the same vCenter across multiple sites, ensure that VMs in each protected site are clearly distinguished from each other, so you do not end up replicating the same VM to both cloud file systems. You can use tags to clearly mark VMs that belong to a specific protected site.

You can use on vCenter for two or more protected sites if each protected site has its own cloud file system.

Moving VMs Between Sites Protecting the Same SDDC

When you have multiple protected sites protecting the same SDDC, you might want to move some VMs from one protected site to another.

Moving VMs between two protected sites of the same SDDC

To move VMs between sites that are protecting the same SDDC, follow these guidelines:

Moving VMs protected by standard-frequency snapshot

In this scenario, you have two protected sites protecting the same SDDC using standard-frequency snapshots, and you want to move a VM from Site-A to Site-B. To do this:
  1. Add the VM to a protection group for standard-frequency snapshots on Site-B.
  2. Take a manual snapshot of the VM and and allow full seeding to the cloud file system.
  3. After the VM has been fully seeded on the cloud file system, remove the VM from the protection group on Site-A.
Note: This process does not migrate snapshots from Site-A to Site-B.

Moving VMs protected by high-frequency snapshots

In this scenario, you have two protected sites protecting the same SDDC using high-frequency snapshots, and you want to move a VM from Site-A to Site-B. To do this:
  1. Add the VM to protection group for standard-frequency snapshots on Site-B.
  2. Take a manual standard-frequency snapshot of the VM and and allow full seeding to the cloud file system.
  3. Remove the VM from the original protection group on Site-A.
  4. Use the Cyber Recovery connector to deactivate high-frequency snapshots from the VM.
  5. Change the protection group to take high-frequency snapshots.
  6. Create a new snapshot schedule for the protection group to start protecting that VM.