How to replicate over a designated DR link

[Heiko]

Hi
Question: How to get Veeam Backup & Replication v5 to replicate over a designated DR link.

Configuration scenario:
vCenter runs in a virtual machine
Veeam Backup ver 5 runs in Virtual Machine with two vnic's assigned. One for prod and dr link
ESXi 4.1 runs in production and ESX 4.1 console versions runs in DR (so that we can replicate to it) All ESX hosts are connected to the vCenter
DR site hosts critical production systems and thus two links are required. The links may not interfere. No static routes have been configured on the core routers.
From the ESX hosts we can ping both sides via the DR and production link because we added the routes on ESX (esxcfg-route command)
From the Virtual Machines that are connected to both networks we can ping over both links

Example configuration below
Production
ESX01 has two management vSwitches with different subnet
vSwitch0 ip: 192.168.x.x - Production LAN
vSwitch1 ip: 192.170.x.x - DR LAN

DR site
vSwitch0 ip: 192.168.x.x - Production LAN
vSwitch1 ip: 192.170.x.x - DR LAN

The Virtual Machine network has a separate vSwitch (vSwitch2) for production network. The vCenter server is a virtual machine and currently in the Production LAN (192.168.x.x).

The solution that i currently did is to add the ESX hosts via IP's via the DR link to the Veeam Backup through the DR vnic. But my problem is what if a Virtual Machine did vMotion to a different host. This would mean the job will fail. vCenter can only have a single IP it listen on.
Does anyone have a similar scenario and what would your advice be?

I have logged a call at Veeam. The forum i posted to see how others Veeam customers are implementing the above.
Hope the above makes sense?

Thank you in advanced
Heiko

[Heiko]

Figured out the solution. Its actually logical

The Veeam Virtual Machine has two vnic assigned. From the job selection I select from the vCenter and for the destination I select the ESX host based on ip which resides on the DRLink. All is working and vMotion as well.

[Vitaliy S.]

Heiko, thank you for sharing this information.

[whynotq]

makes logical sense and saves me some time, i've been asked this question today. so if I connect to the hosts and vCentre based on the IP used for the Backup/DR LAN rather than the management LAN this will work? sounds simple enough i'll give it a try.

thanks

Paul

[Heiko]

Remember that vCenter can only listen on a single IP address. Might be that you get connections problems. The requirement was that management traffic goes over the production link and all replication traffic over the DR link. (Security reason to physical separate links) Thus to my understanding its important that the target/destination ESX/ESXi host should be the IP that communicates over the DR link. I created a separate vSwitch with a dedicated pnic that has been vlaned to to only communicate with the DRLink subnet and nothing else. Remember to add routes on the ESX/ESXi host so that you can have communication on both links. Command line I used was esxcfg-route.