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VmProtect 9 Replica

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Hello,
Could you explain me how replica works?
for example, is there a rotation scheme?

Thank you in advance

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Posts: 22
Comments: 3800

Hi Sove,

In the current version of Acronis Backup for VMware (former vmProtect 9) replication process is creating an exact copy of the source VM and all subsequent replication task runs are updating the replica VM incrementally, overwriting the previous state (the incremental changes are obtained through VMware CBT). Therefore there is no need in any special rotation scheme as only 1 (last) recovery point in time is stored on replica.

P.S. additional info: on replica VM we create a technical snapshot which is used to rollback its state if there was a failover event or if the replication task fails for whatever reasons (to ensure that replica is not broken).

P.P.S If you need any additional details please let me know and I'll try to explain the process more thoroughly.

Thank you.
--
Best regards,
Vasily
Acronis Backup for VMware Program Manager

Hi Vasily,
thanks for your reply.

We have also scheduled backup of VM, every day at 20:00 with GFS rotation scheme...Can replica task create problem on snapshot creation?
What are the best practice to configure replication? ...without create problem with network performace...

Thank you in advance.

frestogaslorastaswastavewroviwroclolacorashibushurutraciwrubrishabenichikucrijorejenufrilomuwrigaslowrikejawrachosleratiswurelaseriprouobrunoviswosuthitribrepakotritopislivadrauibretisetewrapenuwrapi
Posts: 22
Comments: 3800

Hi Sove,

It is practically possible (it does work), but not recommended to perform replication and backup at the same time, since it will impose double load onto the environment (both backup and replication processes will read data from the VMs), so as long as your replication and backup tasks are scheduled for different time you are good.

Other than that the recommendations really depend on your particular RPO/RTO requirements: you can run replication as often as you like, so that the replica VM contains the most recent state of the source VM. The consideration here is whether there is any impact from creation of quiesced snapshot on the source VM. Depending on the VM it can take up to several minutes to create the snapshot, so this will be a natural limitation for how often you can run replication (for example running it every 5 minutes may not work).

In my practice I've seen users running replication either once a day or once every hour - these approaches cover most of the scenarios.

Thank you.
--
Best regards,
Vasily
Acronis Backup for VMware Program Manager

Hi,
I activated replication task in my environment; from log i see that for every disk of two VM there is the same warning:

31 Informazioni 16/03/14 08:02:05 Impossibile utilizzare Changed Block Tracking per il disco '[VMFS01] SRV/SRV-000002.vmdk' con ID di modifica ''.
Informazioni aggiuntive:
--------------------
Codice errore: 28
Modulo: 471
LineInfo: 8a6ffa21bef03118
Campi:
Messaggio: Impossibile utilizzare Changed Block Tracking per il disco '[VMFS01] SRV/SRV-000002.vmdk' con ID di modifica ''.
--------------------
Codice errore: 25
Modulo: 471
LineInfo: 8a6ffa21bef03110
Campi:
Messaggio: Impossibile chiamare la funzione.
--------------------
Codice errore: 197
Modulo: 83
LineInfo: 26eed62d2c1408fb
Campi:
Messaggio: Impossibile ottenere le aree modificate del disco da Changed Block Tracking 'Codice errore SOAP: '12', Descrizione: 'Error caused by file /vmfs/volumes/52d3fbab-a82a3e7c-5a76-000af72563de/SRV/SRV-000002.vmdk', Dettaglio: 'Nessun dettaglio.''.

....

--------------------
35 Informazioni 16/03/14 08:41:28 Connessione a 'VMware vCenter Server 5.5.0 build-1476327' effettuata correttamente.
36 Informazioni 16/03/14 08:41:28 Connessione a 'VMware ESXi 5.5.0 build-1474528' effettuata correttamente attraverso VMware vCenter Server.
37 Attenzione 16/03/14 08:41:29 Apertura del disco virtuale '[VMFS01] SRV/SRV-000002.vmdk' tramite la rete a causa di problemi interni.
Informazioni aggiuntive:
--------------------
Codice errore: 64
Modulo: 83
LineInfo: 434f6bb6bcc4faa7
Campi:
Messaggio: Apertura del disco virtuale '[VMFS01] SRV/SRV-000002.vmdk' tramite la rete a causa di problemi interni.
--------------------
Codice errore: 33
Modulo: 83
LineInfo: 242258ad58c706f5
Campi:
Messaggio: Impossibile trovare l'host richiesto. Verificare se l'host è in linea e non in "Modalità manutenzione".
--------------------
Are they normal errors? What could i check to avoid them?
Volume 52d3fbab-a82a3e7c-5a76-000af72563de is VMFS where vm are stored.
During backup there is no error with CBT...

Kind regards

frestogaslorastaswastavewroviwroclolacorashibushurutraciwrubrishabenichikucrijorejenufrilomuwrigaslowrikejawrachosleratiswurelaseriprouobrunoviswosuthitribrepakotritopislivadrauibretisetewrapenuwrapi
Posts: 22
Comments: 3800

Hi Sove,

According to the log there is a problem reading the CBT information from the VM, so it makes sense to reset it as described in http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&ext… article for particular VM. It could be that the problem appears only during replication, since it's trying to read the CBT record different from the one read during backup event. There is a CBT record for each snapshot event and obviously there are different snapshots used for backup and replication operations, so most likely the replication snapshot CBT record is broken, so CBT must be reset on the VM.

Thank you.
--
Best regards,
Vasily
Acronis Backup for VMware Program Manager

Hi Vasily,
thank you for prompt reply; last night Acronis executed replica whithout any errors or warnings. But...i have a doubt..

I see that Replica process only 64KB ???? (i attached screenshot)
Given that Backup task run at 20:00, are there any problem with CBT tracking? What type of check rep. task do?from last replica or from last backup?

Thank you for your patience

Mauro

Attachment Size
173013-112351.png 5.56 KB
frestogaslorastaswastavewroviwroclolacorashibushurutraciwrubrishabenichikucrijorejenufrilomuwrigaslowrikejawrachosleratiswurelaseriprouobrunoviswosuthitribrepakotritopislivadrauibretisetewrapenuwrapi
Posts: 22
Comments: 3800

Hi Sove,

Most likely it is a GUI glitch caused by CBT reset/malfunction. If CBT was reset then the next replication run must be performed in full mode, i.e. transferring the whole VM data into the replica (which seems to be true if you check the time it took to complete replication). The amount of data transfer should get back to normal after the next replication run.

Thank you.
--
Best regards,
Vasily
Acronis Backup for VMware Program Manager