Array replication or Veeam replication?

[HendersonD]

We are thinking about purchasing either two Pure Storage arrays or two Nimble arrays
In either case, one array would be in our data center and one array in our disaster recovery site
Our data center and DR site have a 10 gig fiber connection
We would like data replicated from our data center to our DR site
Should we use the snapshot/replication ability built into the array or use Veeam replication?

We would like to replicate every hour so we have a decent recovery point objective (RPO). Our recovery time time objective (RTO) is about 3-4 hours

[skrause]

Array replication will typically have less impact on your production systems.

The downside of using array replication (at least with those vendors) is that you can't use Veeam to manage your failover plans, you would have to spin up your machines in the new location in some other way.

[Shestakov]

Steve is correct. I would try Veeam replication first to see if you are satisfied with the replication speed. If it`s fast enough, I`d use Veeam replication to have everything under control in the single console.
As for Nimble vs. Pure, I read mostly positive feedback of both of them. You can easily find a dozen topics with customer`s feedback here on the forums. Here is an example.
Thanks!

[dellock6]

I'd add two other adantages of host-level replication:
- granularity per vm instead of per volume
- application consistency vs crash consistency

[HendersonD]

My understanding is Veeam replication uses a VMWare snapshot first. Would taking a snapshot every hour during the day be OK? The worry is my production VMs performance would suffer while the snapshot is being taken.

If I do use array based replication, standing up the VMs in my DR site if I needed to would be a matter of using the hosts I have in the DR site to reach into storage, locate each VM and add them. Once added they can be powered up. Do I have this correct or am I missing something?

[skrause]

My understanding is Veeam replication uses a VMWare snapshot first. Would taking a snapshot every hour during the day be OK? The worry is my production VMs performance would suffer while the snapshot is being taken.

It always depends on the application running on the servers you are replicating. The only way to know what impact the snapshots will have is to test things. Typically, since CBT is used by replication, the snapshots are not open very long because the change rate between restore points is usually pretty low.

If I do use array based replication, standing up the VMs in my DR site if I needed to would be a matter of using the hosts I have in the DR site to reach into storage, locate each VM and add them. Once added they can be powered up. Do I have this correct or am I missing something?

That is overall pretty correct. If you need to change IP addresses/network settings/etc that will be another step. A lot of those things can probably be automated by other systems (VMware PowerCLI scripts, etc). Veeam failover plans can actually make those changes for you if you use Veeam to do your replication.

[BartP]

Should we use the snapshot/replication ability built into the array or use Veeam replication?
We would like to replicate every hour so we have a decent recovery point objective (RPO). Our recovery time time objective (RTO) is about 3-4 hours

There is a lot to be said about Array vs Veeam replication, but without going to much into dept i agree with what is said and definitely give Veeam a try.
Veeam offers more possibilities by leveraging your data and being able to use the automation provided by Failover planning.
When you would use an array replica for DR, the chance on dataloss is bigger and failback options are often limited.

Just my 2 cents.