You can customize IP settings for virtual machines for the protected site and the recovery site. Customizing the IP properties of a virtual machine overrides the default IP settings when the recovered virtual machine starts at the destination site.
If you do not customize the IP properties of a virtual machine, Site Recovery Manager uses the IP settings for the recovery site during a recovery or a test from the protection site to the recovery site. Site Recovery Manager uses the IP settings for the protection site after reprotect during the recovery or a test from the original recovery site to the original protection site.
Site Recovery Manager supports different types of IP customization.
- Use IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.
- Configure different IP customizations for each site.
- Use DHCP, Static IPv4, or Static IPv6 addresses.
- Customize addresses of Windows and Linux virtual machines.
- Customize multiple NICs for each virtual machine.
Note: You only configure one IP address per NIC.
For the list of guest operating systems for which Site Recovery Manager supports IP customization, see the Compatibility Matrices for Site Recovery Manager 8.4 at https://docs.vmware.com/en/Site-Recovery-Manager/8.4/rn/srm-compat-matrix-8-4.html.
You associate customization settings with protected virtual machines. As a result, if the same protected virtual machine is a part of multiple recovery plans, then all recovery plans use a single copy of the customization settings. You configure IP customization as part of the process of configuring the recovery properties of a virtual machine.
If you do not customize a NIC on the recovery site, the NIC continues to use the IP settings from the protected site, and vice versa, and Site Recovery Manager does not apply IP customization to the virtual machine during recovery.
You can apply IP customizations to individual or to multiple virtual machines.
If you configure IP customization on virtual machines, Site Recovery Manager adds recovery steps to those virtual machines.
- Guest OS Startup
- The Guest Startup process happens in parallel for all virtual machines for which you configure IP customization.
- Customize IP
- Site Recovery Manager pushes the IP customizations to the virtual machine.
- Guest OS Shutdown
- Site Recovery Manager shuts down the virtual machine and reboots it to ensure that the changes take effect and that the guest operating system services apply them when the virtual machine restarts.
After the IP customization process finishes, virtual machines power on according to the priority groups and any dependencies that you set.
