Off-site Replication connections

[xefil]

Hello to all!

I'm planning to test offsite replication and I'm new on this product. I've still read the user guide but I'm not completely sure about the connections I need to open between all components.
My scenario will be the follow:
We have three VMvare Infrastructures.
Infrastructure one:
1 VM with Veeam Backup Server
Infrastructure two:
1 VM with Veeam Backup Proxy
Infrastructure three:
1 VM with Veeam Backup Proxy
The off-site replica will have as source host the Infrastructure two and destination host Infrastructure three.
Infrastructure one, with the Veeam Backup Server will manage all the jobs.
Until here all should be clear. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Now would be glad if someone can confirm/answer me the following points/questions. Due Infrastructure two is not controlled by us it's better to have and ask correct settings and network communications
For now it's not important which ports are used and of course I'll prevent to use NAT solutions, also the components should connect directly each other.

1. The Veeam Backup Server should see all the Veeam Backup Proxy and vice versa?
This is a must, afayk

2. The Veeam Backup Server should see all the Virtual Centers of the three installations?
This point I'm not completely sure. If the Proxy can comunicate with their own vCenter, the Veeam Backup Server could ask the jobs via Proxy Server, no?

3. Every Veeam Backup Proxy should see each other?
Of course this is the bases for the replica. AFAYK the traffic goes trought the proxies.

4. The Veeam Backup Server should see all the ESX servers in remote locations?
This point is not completely clear... I think Veeam Backup Server should communicate with every vCenter (question 2) and via vCenter the jobs are sent to the VMware hosts...

5. The Veeam Backup Proxy must be able to communicate with their own ESX servers for which will manage the replicas?
This question as well I'm not sure. The backup should start from a source ESX and end to destination ESX via proxies, also they should communicate.

6. The Veeam Backup Proxy must be able to communicate with their own vCenter to manage replicas?
I don't know, confused

7. The Veeam Backup source Proxy should * also * be able reach the destination ESX Servers?
I don't think so. The traffic goes trought destination Proxy.

8. The Veeam Backup source Proxy should * also * be able to reach the destination vCenter?
Like point 7, I don't think so.

Maybe some/all points are for you simple, but have not found all questions on the documentation.

Thank's a lot for the help!

Simon

[foggy]

Simon, Veeam backup server should have access to vCenter server, ESX(i) hosts, and both source and target backup proxies. Source backup proxy should have access to the backup server, source host, and target proxy, while target proxy should have access to the backup server, source proxy, and target host (connection to vCenter is not required for proxies). Hope this helps, thanks.

[xefil]

This was exactly what I need to know!

Thank's a lot!

Simon

[bpost]

This is how I understood it to work, but I found that the target proxy need access to my VCenter Server, Source ESXi hosts, target host, Veeam backup server, and the source proxy on the initial replication. I tried setting up a new replication for a single VM. I have a dedicate layer2 10MB connection for the replication. My initial design was to have my Veeam Backup Server(which is also my source proxy) configured with two network cards. One was for the production site the other for the dedication replication network. On the other end of the layer two connection was my Target Veeam backup proxy that is a Windows 7 virtual machine on my target ESXi host (which is just a standalone ESXi host). The windows 7 host was isolated to just the replication network. I could not get the replication to work with this setup. After reviewing the logs on the target proxy I found that it was trying to connect to my VCenter server. I added the Vcenter server to the replication network and then I saw that it was complaining about not being able to see the esxi hosts on the production network. I then just set up a route on my production network to my replication network and attempted to replicate again. This time all worked since my target proxy could see all the devices.

I don't know if it matters but my target esxi host is a stand alone host that is not defined in my production site's Vcenter.

Some additional info: Prior to deploying the standalone esxi host in my dr site I had started replications on several vm's while it was at our production site, but at that time the target proxy had access to my production network. After I moved my standalone esxi host to my dr site replication continued to work. At this time my target proxy only had access to the Veeam Backup Server and Source proxy and target host.

Does this sound right?

[xefil]

Interesting... For now I'll try to set-up the network configuration as described by foggy.
In case I'll additional issues I'll look on the proxy logs. I've first to set-up the installation at all.

Thank's for the help!

Simon

[kavanaghsteve]

Hi All,

Hoping that someone can help with an error I'm getting setting up replication. I think it could be because the Veeam server doesn't have a network route to the ESXi hosts at the target site, but the manual doesn't seem to say that this is required - traffic is between the proxy server at source site and the proxy at target site?

For a quick overview of the setup:

- 2 sites, vSphere 4.1 and a cluster of hosts on each site, Veeam 6.0.0.181
- Veeam server installed in a virtual machine at site 1
- backup proxy installed on Veeam server
- vCenter installed at site 1, manages a cluster of hosts, source for replication
- vCenter installed at site 2, manages a cluster of hosts, target for replication
- backup proxy in site 2 is installed to the vCenter server

When running a replication job from site 1 to site 2 I'm getting "Processing configuration Error: Client error: NFC storage connection is unavailable" errors. On a search of the forums it seems that these are related to the datastore browser, network paths, DNS etc. But:

- I can browse site 1datastores via the vSphere client installed on the Veeam server and download the vmx files locally
- If I setup a 'local' replication job, from ESXi host1 on site 1 to ESXi host2 on site 1 it works
- This seems to indicate to me that the problem is not in site 1?
- If I browse datastores in site 2 via vSphere client connected to vCenter in site 2 from the veeam server I get NFC failures

At the moment I have a network routes between:
- vCenter @ site 1 and ESXi hosts @ site 1
- Veeam backup and proxy server @ site 1 and ESXi hosts @ site 1
- Veeam backup and proxy server @ site 1 and vCenter/backup proxy at site 2
- vCenter and veeam proxy @ site 2 and ESXi hosts at site 2
- I don't have a route from the Veeam server on site 1 to the ESXi hosts on site 2

Other interesting thing seems to be that when the job runs a folder is being created on the datastore at the target site and the VMX file is being created in it, but the replication job then hangs when it tries to move/create the vmxf file.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice


Steve

[priusit]

I want to migrate and replicate virtual machines between 2 different datacenters (vsphere)
I understand that for the best performance you have to use a proxy in each management vlan.

Do I use the VLan of Vcenter or the VLan of the esx hosts?

Can someone with experience help me please?

[kjc3303]

Hi I don't think Veeam cares about vlans for performance

Disk > Source proxy > Network > Target proxy > Disk

So as long as your proxies can see disks and each other and vcenter you should be fine,

Kev

[warix]

Hello All,

I have one question for you.
I have two site A and B.
Site A My infra with 12 esx and one veeam server.
Site B (client site) with 3 esx and 12 vm.

My boss want to replicate site B vm into our infre site A.

But my problem is the site B can't see my vcenter.

I have Idee to deploy proxy in site B for replication job.

Is it true?

An other question my veeam server must see site B vcenter?

Thanks.

Sorry for my english I'm french

[foggy]

Please take a look at this topic for the connections required in case of offsite replication.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask if you have additional questions.

[shugo35]

Hi,

Actually we work on a solution to replicate VM from 1 site to other (on VPN link) .
We have Backup server and Backup proxy on Source and 1 backup proxy on destination.
We have 1 vCenter on both site.
For access on Destination site, can we just open access from Backup Server (on source) --> to vCenter (on destination).
And open access from Backup Proxy (on destination) --> to vCenter (on destination) and ESXi (on destination).

Or do we also need to open access from Backup Server (on source) --> to ESXi (on destination) ?

Thanks.

[foggy]

Hi, please review my first reply in this thread for answers. Thanks.