Replicate over WAN

[Emanuele Rossi]

Hi,
we need to replicate 2 virtual machine from one site to another by wan (4MB).
This is our configuration:

Site A
1 ESXi with 2 virtual machine with 600gb of data.
The storage is a DAS (direct attached storage)

Site B
1 ESXi with Veeam Backup virtual machine installed

We try to set up a job using a vstorage api over network option but is still running after few days. is there something wrong? or i need to follow another way to make my goal?

Thanks in advance.

Emanuele Rossi

[Gostev]

According to my math you need 341 hours (14 days) just to pump 600GB of data through 4Mb pipe under ideal conditions.

[vEskin]

Emanuele, you'd better use a standard feature of Veeam's replication: perform initial replication over removable storage, to eliminate initial 600GB transfer via slow wan.

[Emanuele Rossi]

Emanuele, you'd better use a standard feature of Veeam's replication: perform initial replication over removable storage, to eliminate initial 600GB transfer via slow wan.

Tnaks for your reply.
Could you please tell me whic are the steps to do that?
The veeam backup need to be in the site B or A?
Which backup otion i have to choose?

Thanks
Emanuele

[Vitaliy S.]

Emanuele,

In order to perform initial replication over removable storage you need to install VB&R server on the source site.

Please take a look at our User Guide for the steps required:
http://www.veeam.com/files/guide/veeam_ ... _guide.pdf (pages 70-71)

Thanks!

[slidek9]

Vitaliy S.

Just picking up with this. Now the initial replication has to be done from the source site, but OC in a proper DR situation the source site would be unavailable.

So, is there a method of doing the initial replication at the source site, and then taking this replication down to the target site; firing up another Veeam box at the target site and feeding it the inital replication data?

I think I can see to ways here:

1. Do the initial replication at the source site and then when its done, Migrate the Veeam server down to the target site and continue the job.

2. Do the initial replication at the source site, then, delete the Veeam VM at the source site (as its unneeded) and fire up another Veeam server at the target site and keep the target LUN pre-populated.

Now I can see option 1 working (though it may break if it expects the datastore to have a different id); but I cannot see option 2 working as it will have no CBT information with a new job on a new server?

What would be the best method to use inital replication AND keep the controlling server at the target site for DR use?

[Vitaliy S.]

So, is there a method of doing the initial replication at the source site, and then taking this replication down to the target site; firing up another Veeam box at the target site and feeding it the inital replication data?

Well.. you can perform initial replication then move the entire Veeam box to the target site, another approach would be to perform initial replicaton, then move Veeam SQL database and redeploy Veeam console ponting to the old database. Both methods are pretty much the same.

1. Do the initial replication at the source site and then when its done, Migrate the Veeam server down to the target site and continue the job.

Yes, that would work.

2. Do the initial replication at the source site, then, delete the Veeam VM at the source site (as its unneeded) and fire up another Veeam server at the target site and keep the target LUN pre-populated.

You need to move Veeam SQL configuration database and reuse it with a new deployment.

Now I can see option 1 working (though it may break if it expects the datastore to have a different id); but I cannot see option 2 working as it will have no CBT information with a new job on a new server?

If you have everything under the same vCenter server and you do not reconfigure Veeam Backup server after migration, then everything should be fine. Option 2 would only work if you move Veeam SQL configuration database.

What would be the best method to use inital replication AND keep the controlling server at the target site for DR use?

I guess you should stick to option 1, as it is one of the most commonly used scenarios among our customers.

Thank you.

[icebun]

Stupid question but when using the Initial replication tick box option and pointing to the removable drive can I ask the following:-

Once the intial sync has been done and data copied to the WAN site do I "untick" the initial replication checkbox before I recommence the sync over the WAN?

Thanks.

[Alexey D.]

No, you don't have to uncheck it - B&R knows that you've already performed initial replication (there's a record in database).

[icebun]

Thanks Alexy for the answer and super quick reseponse. Brilliant!

[Matt-WGSB]

Hello

i'm going through the same procedure but I have already one VM replicated across the WAN to the DR site. If I follow Option 2 above, will I need to replicate that VM again? If so, is there any other method that will allow me to keep that replication going?

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Matthew, currently If you want to continue replication job for this VM, you need to move Veeam B&R configuration database to an offsite location and re-use it with a new backup server deployment.

[Matt-WGSB]

Okay thanks Vitaliy.

I was hoping I could somehow merge the config db for the currently replicating VM with the db for the VMs I plan on replicating using the "Initial Replication" option, but it sounds like if I want to keep just one VEEAM server I will need to reseed the VM that is currently replicating?

[Vitaliy S.]

Yes, that's right, however with our upcoming version 6, you should be able to map replicas into existing VMs in the DR site, no re-seeding will be required.