Changing a VM's name + over 1 To replication in one time.

[kalagan]

Hello,

I'm new to VEEAM and here's my questions.

I actually use veeam 7 to backup and replicate my VMs.

One is very huge (3 different disks and about 1.3 Tb of datas). So when i started to copy datas from my old physical server to the VM, i replicate the VM each time i had about 50 Go of datas copied. Anyway, when i only had like 150 Go left to replicate, the replication failed and i haven't been able to restart it (error everytime). So finally, i stopped all others backups and replication and i did this one in one shot (it is still working since 24 hrs).

- First question : Does it make sense to replicate more then 1 Tb in one time? (actually average speed is about 5 mb/s - line is about 100 Mb/s).

Also, i would like to change my VM name after the replication (won't explain the reason here). I'm talking about the VM name in Vsphere (5.1) not the NetBIOS name in the OS (Windows 2008 R2).

- second question: Would it be a problem? Veeam will still see it a the same "replication job"?

Sorry for my poor English.

Thanks.

[veremin]

- First question : Does it make sense to replicate more then 1 Tb in one time? (actually average speed is about 5 mb/s - line is about 100 Mb/s).

In of large VMs it's always advisable to use replica seeding functionality in order to reduce amount of traffic sent during initial synchronization.

- second question: Would it be a problem? Veeam will still see it a the same "replication job"?

VMs are tracked by unique MorefID. Changing VM name doesn't affect its MorefID. Therefore, there won't be any issues with changing VM name.

Thanks.

[kalagan]

Hi,

Thank you for the fast reply.

I don't know much about "replica seeding" so I'm going to take a look at it.

[veremin]

Generally speaking, this procedure is recommended in case of remote replication, as it allows reduce significantly the amount of data sent through bandwidth during first replication cycle. You can use as a seed either existing backup or the newly-created one.

More information regarding this functionality can be found in the referenced section of our Help Center.

Thanks.

[kalagan]

Ok, thank you.

[veremin]

You're welcome. Should any additional help be needed, don't hesitate to let us know. Thanks.

[kalagan]

Yes, one more thing.

So i found this "tutorial" and that's what I'm actually doing (hope it is ok):

http://www.veeam.com/kb_articles.html/kb1760

Anyway,i have no job for my VM in "imported" so i used the one in "disk" to restore it in the DR. Looks to me that it's going to take a lot of time (I'm restoring the VM from Paris to Stuttgart).

Then i will do this:

9. Once this is done go into your replication job, select ‘Enable Low Connection Bandwidth’ in the Name tab and then in the ‘Seeding’ tab check ‘Map replicas to existing VMs’. You can then highlight your VM, hit ‘Edit’, and map it to the _replica VM on the TARGET datastore. Once you have mapped the _replica to the original VM, next through until you have completed the rest of the job settings and select Finish. Be sure to run the job and test it.



Is it ok? I don't find a clear documentation about "replica seeding".

[foggy]

Anyway,i have no job for my VM in "imported" so i used the one in "disk" to restore it in the DR. Looks to me that it's going to take a lot of time (I'm restoring the VM from Paris to Stuttgart).

The main point of seeding is to avoid full VM data transfer over a slow link, while what you're doing seems to be right this - you're restoring full VM image remotely. You'd better copy the compressed backup file to the remote location first, import it from there, and then either restore the VM from it in the remote site or use the "Get seed from the following backup repository" option for "automatic" seeding.

Here's another step-by-step instruction: v6 Offsite Replication : Seeding How To

[kalagan]

Sorry for the dumb question but how can i do that : "You'd better copy the compressed backup file to the remote location first"?

Anyway my restore rate is about 9Mb/s.


Oops..Sorry. I've just saw the link in your post. I'm going to check it. (i use VEEAM 7).

[veremin]

Hmm, just send a backup file to remote location as you typically send common files. Once it’s there, this backup file can be used as a replica seed.

Thanks.