The vSphere Replication appliance includes a vSphere Replication server. However, you might need to deploy multiple vSphere Replication servers to meet your load-balancing needs.

You can deploy multiple vSphere Replication servers to route traffic from source hosts to target datastores without traveling between different sites managed by the same vCenter Server. You cannot deploy a second management server on the same vCenter Server.

For information about the loads that a vSphere Replication management server and a vSphere Replication server can support, see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2102453.

Prerequisites

  • Deploy vSphere Replication appliances on the source and target sites.
  • Deploy vSphere Replication servers on a network that allows them to communicate with the vSphere Replication appliances on the source and target sites.
  • Verify that the vSphere Replication servers can communicate with all the ESXi hosts on the source site that hosts the replicated virtual machines.
  • Verify that the vSphere Replication servers can communicate with all ESXi hosts on the target site.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the vSphere Client on the site where you want to deploy the additional vSphere Replication server.
  2. On the home page, select Hosts and Clusters.
  3. Right-click on a data center, host or cluster, and select Deploy OVF Template.
  4. Provide the location of the OVF file from which to deploy the additional vSphere Replication server, and click Next.
    • Select URL and provide the URL to deploy the appliance from an online URL.
    • If you downloaded and mounted the vSphere Replication ISO image on a system in your environment, select Local file > Browse and navigate to the \bin directory in the ISO image, and select the vSphere_Replication_AddOn_OVF10.ovf, vSphere_Replication_AddOn_OVF10.cert, vSphere_Replication_AddOn_OVF10.mf, vSphere_Replication-system.vmdk, and vSphere_Replication-support.vmdk files. Make sure that you do not select the vSphere_Replication_OVF10.ovf file.
  5. Accept the name, select or search for a destination folder or data center for the virtual appliance, and click Next.
    You can enter a new name for the virtual appliance. The name must be unique within each vCenter Server virtual machine folder.
  6. Select a cluster, host, or resource pool where you want to run the deployed template, and click Next.
  7. Review the virtual appliance details and click Next.
  8. Select a destination datastore and disk format for the virtual appliance and click Next.
    Encrypting the additional vSphere Replication server VM is not necessary to replicate encrypted VMs with vSphere Replication.
  9. Set the network properties. Select DHCP or set a static IP address.
    You can change network settings after deployment in the VRMS Appliance Management Interface.
  10. Enter a password for the appliance.
    The password must be at least eight characters long and must contain characters from four character classes: lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
  11. Review your settings and click Finish.
  12. Power on the vSphere Replication appliance.

What to do next

When the OVF file has deployed, register the vSphere Replication server with the vSphere Replication appliance.