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vSphere Replication 9.0.2 | 08 AUG 2024 | Build 24171210 | Download

Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

What's New

Product Support Notice

vSphere Replication has undergone some major enhancements in this release. The now Enhanced vSphere Replication includes automated load balancing and scaling to achieve higher performance, and when enabled with VMware Live Recovery provides a 1 minute RPO.

Traditional vSphere Replication routes traffic to the replication appliance at the target site. With Enhanced vSphere Replication, replication traffic goes directly to the host at the target site, bypassing the replication appliance while supporting backward compatibility at the same time supporting a more optimized data path allowing for increased simplicity, automatic scalability and automatic load balancing.

This release of vSphere Replication supports both versions of the data paths, while the next release will deprecate the traditional vSphere Replication data path and replication through the appliance in favor of Enhanced vSphere Replication. Switching over is simple and easy, and non-disruptive with details included in the documentation. See How do I reconfigure existing replications to use vSphere Replication with enhanced replication capabilities.

Localization

vSphere Replication 9.0.2 is available in the following languages:

  • English

  • French

  • German

  • Italian

  • Japanese

  • Korean

  • Simplified Chinese

  • Traditional Chinese

  • Spanish

Beginning with the next major release, we will be reducing the number of supported localization languages. The three supported localization languages will be:

  • Japanese

  • Spanish

  • French

The following languages will no longer be supported:

  • Italian

  • German

  • Traditional Chinese

  • Korean

  • Simplified Chinese

Impact:

  • Users who have been using the deprecated languages will no longer receive updates or support in these languages.

  • All user interfaces, help documentation, and customer support will be available in the three supported languages mentioned above.

Product Documentation

In addition to the current release notes, you can use the documentation set for vSphere Replication 9.0.x that includes the following deliverables.

Compatibility

vSphere Replication 9.0.2 is compatible with vSphere 7.0 Update 3 and later, and supports ESXi versions 7.0 Update 3 and later.

For interoperability and product compatibility information, see the Compatibility Matrices for vSphere Replication 9.0.x.

For interoperability with earlier or later releases of VMware vSphere, see the Compatibility Matrices for vSphere Replication 9.0.

Installation

Download the vSphere Replication .iso image and mount it. You can deploy the vSphere Replication appliance by using the Deploy OVF wizard in the vSphere Web Client. Navigate to the \bin directory in the .iso image and use the corresponding OVF file:

  1. vSphere_Replication_OVF10.ovf: Use this file to install all vSphere Replication components, including the vSphere Replication Management Server and a vSphere Replication Server.

  2. vSphere_Replication_AddOn_OVF10.ovf: Use this file to install an optional additional vSphere Replication Server.

For more information on the installation, see the section Installing vSphere Replication in the vSphere Replication Documentation Center.

For vCenter Server to vCenter Server replications, the version of the vSphere Replication Management server on the source and the target site can be 8.8 or 9.0.x.

vSphere Replication 9.0.x requires a supported vCenter Server version on both the source site and the target site. For more information, see VMware Product Interoperability Matrices.

Upgrading vSphere Replication

You use the ISO file and the VRMS Appliance Management Interface to upgrade from vSphere Replication 8.7.x or 8.8.x to vSphere Replication 9.0.x.

You cannot upgrade vSphere Replication from versions earlier than 8.7 to version 9.0.x by using the Virtual Appliance Management Interface (VAMI). See the compatibility matrices for further information on supported versions.

Important: Before you initiate an upgrade, verify that the vSphere Replication appliance has an OVF environment, or context. See Checking and Restoring the OVF Context of the vSphere Replication Appliance (2106709).

Verify that you read the Upgrade and General sections under Known Issues.

See Upgrade Additional vSphere Replication Servers and Upgrade the vSphere Replication Appliance for the procedures on upgrading to vSphere Replication 9.0.x.

Notes:

  • When you use vSphere Replication with Site Recovery Manager, upgrade vSphere Replication on both of the protected and the recovery sites before you upgrade the Site Recovery Manager Server. After upgrading vSphere Replication, you must restart the Site Recovery Manager Server. For more information, see the VMware Site Recovery Manager Documentation.

Operational Limits of vSphere Replication

The operational limits of vSphere Replication 9.0.x are documented in the VMware Knowledge Base. See Operational Limits for vSphere Replication 8.x (KB 2102453).

Note: vSphere Replication requires additional configuration to support more than 500 replications per a vSphere Replication Management server. See Operational Limits for vSphere Replication 8.х and Configuring Upgraded vSphere Replication Appliances to Support up to 4000 Replications.

Open Source Components

The copyright statements and licenses applicable to the open source software components distributed in vSphere Replication 9.0.x are available at the vSphere Replication Open Source Disclosure page.

Caveats and Limitations

To ensure successful virtual machine replication, you must verify that your virtual infrastructure respects certain limits before you start the replication.

  • Activating VMware Live Recovery is not supported if you have replications within a single vCenter Server (ROBO replications).

  • In a federated environment with linked vCenter Server instances, when you log in to the REST API gateway local site this will automatically log you in to the remote site. You do not have to make a POST /remote-session request. It is not possible to log in to the remote site with a different user name.

  • Resizing a replicated disk of a virtual machine by non-multiple of 512 bytes is not supported. If the disk is resized by non-multiple of 512 bytes, the replication fails. To return to the OK state, the disk size must be set to a multiple of 512 bytes.

  • vSphere Replication does not support the protection of virtual machines using persistent memory (PMem) devices.

  • vSphere Replication will stop working correctly if you run the vSphere Prevent Guest Operating System Processes from Sending Configuration Messages to the Host procedure on the vSphere Replication Appliance.

  •  vSphere Replication 9.0.x does not provide support bundle management in the VRMS Appliance Management Interface. This includes lists with support bundles and deleting support bundles. To manage the support bundles through SSH, establish an SSH connection to the vSphere Replication Appliance.

  • The 5 minute RPO scales to a maximum supported limit of 50 VMs on a provisional vVol datastore.

  • vSphere Replication does not support VSS quiescing on Virtual Volumes.

  • vSphere Replication cannot replicate virtual machines that share vmdk files.

  • vSphere Replication does not support vSphere APIs for IO Filtering on both the source and the target sites. You cannot replicate a virtual machine that is assigned a VM Storage Policy that contains IOFilters, nor can you assign such a policy to the replication target VM. Before configuring a virtual machine for replication, verify that the VM Storage Policy that is assigned to it does not contain IOFilters. Do not assign VM Storage policies with IOFilters to virtual machines that are already configured for replication.

  • Deploying more than one vSphere Replication appliance produces a warning during the initial configuration process in the VRMS Appliance Management Interface. This requires user confirmation to proceed with the new appliance. This situation does not occur when deploying more than one vSphere Replication servers.

  • Each vSphere Replication Management Server can manage a maximum of 4000 replicated virtual machines. See Configuring Upgraded vSphere Replication Appliances to Support up to 4000 Replications (KB 2102463) and Requirements to the Environment... (KB 2107869).

  • vSphere Replication supports a maximum disk size of 62TB. If you attempt to activate replication on a virtual machine with a disk larger than 62TB, the virtual machine will not perform any replication operation and will not power on.

  • vSphere Replication tracks larger blocks on disks over 2TB. Replication performance on a disk over 2TB might be different than replication performance on a disk under 2TB for the same workload depending on how much of the disk goes over the network for a particular set of changed blocks.

  • vSphere Replication does not support upgrading the VMware Tools package in the vSphere Replication appliance.

  • vSphere Replication supports replicating RDMs in Virtual Compatibility Mode. RDMs in Physical Compatibility Mode cannot be configured for replication.

  • vSphere Replication does not replicate virtual machine snapshot hierarchy at the target site.

  • You can configure virtual machines that are powered off for replication. However, actual replication traffic begins when the virtual machine is powered on.

  • When using Storage DRS at a replication site, ensure that you have homogeneous host and datastore connectivity to prevent Storage DRS from performing resource consuming cross-host moves (changing both the host and the datastore) of replica disks.

  • vSphere Replication does not support VMware vSphere® Trust Authority™. vSphere Replication supports Standard Key Provider and VMware vSphere® Native Key Provider™.

  • When using the TRIM/UNMAP commands to reclaim space, if the UNMAP command is used at the source site, the replication traffic sends the command as a large stream of zeroes, unless compression is used on the replication. The data is stored as zeroes at the target site and space on the replica disks is not reclaimed.

Resolved Issues

  • The vSphere client cannot download the Site Recovery plug-in 9.0.1

    If you are using vCenter Server 7.0 Update 3, after upgrading vSphere Replication, the vSphere client cannot download the Site Recovery plug-in 9.0.1.

Known Issues

  • New - You cannot upgrade from vSphere Replication version 8.7 to version 9.0.X

    When you try to update to vSphere Replication version 9.0.x from version 8.7, the process fails with the following error:

    Loading Linux 4.19.182-2. ph3error: file'/uMlinuz-4.19.182-2.ph3' not found.Loading initial ramdisk (...)

    Workaround: Upgrade to vSphere Replication version 8.8 first, then upgrade to version 9.0.x.

  • New - In a DHCP environment the IP address changes after upgrading to vSphere Replication 9.0.2

    If the vSphere Replication appliance is deployed in a DHCP environment and you upgrade to version 9.0.2, the appliance might forcibly release the DHCP lease for the network address. As a result the IP address might change.

    Workaround: To prevent future reboots to change the network, after you complete the upgrade, reconfigure the network with the same network configuration.

Known Issues from Previous Releases

For additional information, see the Troubleshooting vSphere Replication chapter in the vSphere Replication Administration guide.

  • Enhanced replication converts to legacy replication after a failed attempt to move replica files using vSphere Storage DRS

    When you attempt to move replica files using vSphere Storage DRS and the process fails, the enhanced replication is automatically converted to legacy replication.

    Workaround: Manually reconfigure the replication to enhanced replication.

  • Enhanced Replication goes into error state

    After you configure a number of virtual machines for replication, some of them might enter error state with the following message:

    RPO_120_grp202-10.198.7.152-VD-w2k16-2021-lsisas-p-0004 RPO_120_grp202-10.198.7.152-VD-w2k16-2021-lsisas-p-0004 replication error: A replication error occurred at the vSphere Replication Server for replication 'RPO_120_grp202-10.198.7.152-VD-w2k16-2021-lsisas-p-0004'. Details: 'Error for (diskId: "RDID-RDID-number"): Cannot remove base disk: disk 'RDID-RDID-number', instance '4'; Deleting zombie instance after reparent; Prune disks could not remove disk instance (instanceKey=4) (DiskID=RDID-RDID-number); While completing partial prune'.

    Workaround: Upgrade the ESXi server to version 8.0 Update 3.

  • Changing the storage policy of a replication fails for an encrypted VM when the target datastore is vSAN or vSAN ESA

    If a replication uses a storage policy with vSAN storage attributes and virtual machine encryption, and then the replication is reconfigured to a storage policy without the vSAN storage attributes, the replication gets into an error state with the following message: 'Cannot apply policy to vSAN object <id> (status: 'failed'), fault: InvalidArgument, message: Non vSAN Profile' . This might happen in the workflows of configuring a replication with seeds, reversing a replication during a reprotect operation, or changing the storage policy during reconfigure replication.

    Workaround: Change the attributes of the new storage policy to use vSAN attributes.

  • You cannot configure a replication for a vSphere Cluster Services (vCLS) VM

    When you try to configure a replication for a vCLS VM, the process fails with the following error:

    Some of the selected virtual machines are not in a valid state for replication.

    vCLS uses agent virtual machines to maintain cluster services health and it cannot be replicated.

    Workaround: Do not configure vCLS VMs for replication.

  • vSphere Replication alarms are not visible in the alarm definitions

    vSphere Replication events might not be visible when adding an alarm definition in vCenter Server 8.0 and vCenter Server 8.0 Update 1.

    Workaround: Upgrade your vCenter Server instance to vCenter Server 8.0 Update 2.

  • Continuous HBR Agent VIB install errors in the vCenter Server tasks after upgrade

    After upgrading vCenter Server, if there are ESXi hosts in the inventory that are not managed by vSphere Lifecycle Manager, you might observe HBR Agent VIB install errors in the vCenter Server tasks view.

    Workaround: Reconfigure the vSphere Replication Management Server.

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