Zerto Virtual

Manager
Administration
Guide

ZVR-ADV-3.5U5-01-26-12-14

Copyright 2014, Zerto Ltd. All rights reserved.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Zerto Ltd. Zerto Ltd. does not assume
responsibility for any printing errors that may appear in this document. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval systems, for any purpose other than the purchaser's
personal use, without the prior written permission of Zerto Ltd.
All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.
ZVR-ADV-3.5U5-01-26-12-14

Table of Contents
About This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Intended Audience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Overview of Content in This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Zerto Virtual Replication Documentation Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Support and Feedback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chapter 1: Introduction to Zerto Virtual Replication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

What is Zerto Virtual Replication? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Zerto Virtual Replication Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
How Zerto Virtual Replication Recovery Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Benefits of Using Zerto Virtual Replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Chapter 2: Accessing the Zerto User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Different Ways to Access the Zerto User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Using the Zerto DR Management User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Using the vSphere Client Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Using the vSphere Web Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Adding a Security Certificate to Enable Access to the Zerto User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 3: Site Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Setting Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Sizing Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
VMDK Size Limitations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
WAN Sizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Estimating the Bandwidth Requirements Between Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Collecting Data Characteristics for VMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Estimating the Required Bandwidth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Site Configuration Advanced Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Defining the Maximum Bandwidth Used by Zerto Virtual Replication Between Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Defining the Default Script Timeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Defining the Scaling Used for Performance Graphs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Enable Replication to the Same Site That is Protecting the Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Defining the Replication Pause Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Defining the Failover and Move Operation Default Commit Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Configuring Email Notifications for Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Defining Resource Report Sampling Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Reviewing Supported Host Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Defining Zerto Support Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Editing Information About a Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Seeing What is Licensed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Submitting a Support Ticket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Chapter 4: Overview of Recovery Flows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Flow for a Disaster Recovery Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Flow for a Test Failover Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Flow for an Offsite Backup and Restore Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Chapter 5: Setting Up Offsite Backups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Creating an Offsite Backup Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Editing an Offsite Backup Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Chapter 6: Protecting Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Configuring Virtual Protection Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
The Role of the Journal During Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
What happens After the VPG is Defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Disaster Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Offsite Backups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Chapter 7: Protecting Virtual Machines to and From a vCenter Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Creating a Virtual Protection Group to a Recovery Site vCenter Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Protecting Virtual Machines to the Same Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Examples Where Replication to the Same Site is Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Protecting a Single Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Protecting a vApp (Via the VMware Web Client or Client Console) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Chapter 8: Protecting Virtual Machines to and From vCloud Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Replication From a vCenter Server to vCloud Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Replication From vCloud Director to vCloud Director. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Replication From vCloud Director to a vCenter Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Chapter 9: Monitoring Zerto Virtual Replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Monitoring Recovery Details The Summary Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Monitoring VPGs The VPGs Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Monitoring a VPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Monitoring Recent Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Monitoring Recent Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Monitoring Recent Tasks For a Specific VPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Monitoring Recent Activities For a Specific VPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Monitoring Protected Virtual Machines The VMs Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Monitoring VPG Usage by Remote Sites and Site Topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
The Sites Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
The Topology Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Monitoring Virtual Replication Appliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Monitoring VRAs The VRAs Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Monitoring a VRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Monitoring Datastores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Monitoring Repositories for Offsite Backups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Monitoring Offsite Backups The Offsite Backups Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Chapter 10: Managing VPGs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Modifying a VPG Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Modifying the Journal Size Hard Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Modifying the Retention Period for Offsite Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Adding a Virtual Machine to an Existing VPG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Modifying Protected Virtual Machine Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
Modifying a Protected RDM Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
Moving a Virtual Machine To or From a Protected vApp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Pausing the Protection of a VPG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Forcing the Synchronization of a VPG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Deleting a VPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Deleting a VPG When the Status is Deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Running an Unscheduled Offsite Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Ensuring Application Consistency Checkpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Adding a Checkpoint to Identify a Key Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Ensuring Transaction Consistency in Microsoft Windows Server Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Running Scripts Before or After Recovering a VPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Creating a Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Example Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Exporting and Importing VPG Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
VPG Statuses and Synchronization Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
VPG Statuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
VPG Synchronization Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Managing Protection When a Recovery Datastore Will Be Unavailable (Datastore Maintenance) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Chapter 11: Managing VRAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Installing a VRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Upgrading VRAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Editing VRA Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Resetting the Host Passwords Required By More Than One VRA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Changing a Recovery VRA For Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Uninstalling VRAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Handling a Ghost VRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
Managing Protection During VMware Host Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Managing Protection When Moving a Host to a Different Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Chapter 12: Managing a Zerto Virtual Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Check Connectivity Between Zerto Virtual Replication Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Reconfiguring the Zerto Virtual Manager Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Reconfiguring the Microsoft SQL Server Database Used by the Zerto Virtual Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Replacing the SSL Certificate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Pair to Another Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

153
154
156
157
158

Chapter 13: Overview of Disaster Recovery Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

The Failover Test Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
The Move Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
The Failover Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
The Clone Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161

Chapter 14: Testing Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

The Test Failover Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Starting and Stopping Failover Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Viewing Test Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Live Disaster Recovery Testing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Basic Verification User Traffic Is Not Run against the Recovered VMs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Run User Traffic Against the Recovered VMs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Chapter 15: Migrating a Protection Group to the Recovery Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

The Move Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Moving Protected Virtual Machines to the Remote Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Reverse Protection For a Moved VPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Chapter 16: Managing Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

The Failover Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Initiating a Failover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Reverse Protection For a Failed Over VPG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
What Happens When the Protected Site is Down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Initiating a Failover During a Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Chapter 17: Cloning a Protection Group to the Recovery Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

The Clone Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Cloning Protected Virtual Machines to the Remote Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Chapter 18: Restoring an Offsite Backup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

The Restore Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Restoring Protected Virtual Machines From an Offsite Backup Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Chapter 19: Zerto Virtual Replication Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Outbound Protection Over Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Protection Over Time by ZORG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Recovery Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Resource Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
VPG Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Backup Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204

Chapter 20: Zerto Virtual Replication and VMware Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Using the VMware Web Client or Client Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206
Stopping a vCenter Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206
Protecting Virtual Machines in a vApp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206
Protecting Virtual Machines that Use Thin-Provisioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Zerto Virtual Replication and VMware Clusters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
VMware High Availability (VMHA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
DRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208
Zerto Virtual Replication and Storage Profiles and Storage Clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208
Zerto Virtual Replication and Fault Tolerance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208
Zerto Virtual Replication and Host Affinity Rules and CPU Pinning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208
Ensuring VPG Integrity When Using vMotion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209
Zerto Virtual Replication and Storage vMotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209
VMware Host Maintenance Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209
VMware Roles and Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209

Chapter 21: Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211

Ensuring the Zerto Virtual Manager is Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
Troubleshooting Needs Configuration Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Troubleshooting GUI Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Troubleshooting VRA Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Handling Lack of Storage Space for Recovered Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Collecting Zerto Virtual Replication Logs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Collecting Log Information for the ZertoVssAgent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Understanding the Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Chapter 22: The Zerto Virtual Manager User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Add Checkpoint Dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Add Group Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Add Site Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Add Static Route Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Advanced Settings Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Alerts Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Backup Settings Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Repository Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Scheduler Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Backup Window Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Boot Order Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Browse for VMDK File Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Change Host Password Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Change Recovery Host Dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Compatibility Matrix Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Configure & Install VRA Dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Configure Network Mapping Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Configure Notifications Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Configure Paired Site Routing Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Configure Provider vDCs Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Configure Restored VM Dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Configure Restored VM DNS Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Configure vCD Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Configure VM Dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Configure VM Dialog (vCD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Configure VNIC Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Configure VNIC Dialog (vCD). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240
Configure Volume Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Configure Volume Dialog (vCD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Delete VPG Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Edit Backup Repository Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Edit VRA Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
Events Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Manage Journal Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Manage Sites Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Manage Static Routes Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Manage VPG Dialog Protecting a vApp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .248
Manage VPG Dialog Protecting to a vCenter Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Manage VPG Dialog Protecting to vCD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Manage VPG Dialog Protecting vCD to vCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
New Repository Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
New VPG Dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Offsite Clone Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Open Support Ticket Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Outbound Protection Over Time Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .260
Pause Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .260
Protection Over Time by Organization Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Recent Activities Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Recovery Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Resource Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Restore VPG Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264
Resume Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Select Recovery Point Dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Select VMs Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Site Information Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Sites Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Stop Failover Test Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Summary Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Time-based Bandwidth Throttling Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Topology Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Usage Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
VMs Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
VPG Performance Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
VPGs Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
VRAs Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Zerto Virtual Replication License Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .280

Chapter 23: Zerto Glossary of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

About This Guide

Zerto Virtual Replication provides a business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) solution in a virtual environment,
enabling the replication of mission-critical applications and data as quickly as possible and with minimal data loss. When
devising a recovery plan, these two objectives, minimum time to recover and maximum data to recover, are assigned
target values: the recovery time objective (RTO) and the recovery point objective (RPO). Zerto Virtual Replication enables
a virtual-aware recovery with low values for both the RTO and RPO. In addition, Zerto Virtual Replication enables
protecting virtual machines for extended, longer term, recovery from an offsite backup.
This guide describes how to configure and manage Zerto Virtual Replication to implement business continuity and disaster
recovery (DR) solutions in a VMware virtual environment.

Intended Audience
This guide is for the use of experienced VMware administrators.

Overview of Content in This Guide

This guide contains the following chapters:
Chapter Title

Description

Introduction to Zerto Virtual Replication Describes the underlying concepts and architecture of Zerto Virtual
Replication.

Accessing the Zerto User Interface

Describes how to access the Zerto User Interface.

Site Configuration

Describes the processes available to manage protection and

recovery sites using Zerto Virtual Replication.

Overview of Recovery Flows

Describes disaster recovery and offsite backup flows from the initial
protection to the recovery of virtual machines.

Setting Up Offsite Backups

Describes how to set up Zerto Virtual Replication doe extended

recovery, enabling offsite backups in addition to disaster recovery.

Protecting Virtual Machines

Describes how to set up protection for virtual machines.

Protecting Virtual Machines to and From Describes how to protect virtual machines to a vCenter Server,
a vCenter Server
including protecting a vApp.

Protecting Virtual Machines to and From Describes how to protect virtual machines to vCloud Director.
vCloud Director

Monitoring Zerto Virtual Replication

Describes the different ways of monitoring the protected virtual

machines and the protection and recovery sites.

10

Managing VPGs

Describes the processes available to manage VPGs using Zerto

Virtual Replication.

11

Managing VRAs

Describes the processes available to manage VRAs using Zerto

Virtual Replication.

12

Managing a Zerto Virtual Manager

Describes the processes available to manage the Zerto Virtual

Manager using Zerto Virtual Replication.

13

Overview of Disaster Recovery

Operations

Describes the available recovery procedures and when they are

used.

About This Guide

Chapter Title

Description

14

Testing Recovery

Describes how to test recovery to ensure the results you want.

15

Migrating a Protection Group to the

Recovery Site

Describes the process of migrating protected virtual machines from

the protected site to the recovery site.

16

Managing Failover

Describes the process of recovery from the protected site to the

recovery site.

17

Cloning a Protection Group to the

Recovery Site

Describes the process of cloning protected virtual machines from

the protected site to the recovery site.

18

Restoring an Offsite Backup

Describes the process of restoring an offsite backup from a

repository.

19

Zerto Virtual Replication Reports

Describes the reporting and monitoring capabilities available with

Zerto Virtual Replication.

20

Zerto Virtual Replication and VMware

Features

Describes the interaction between Zerto Virtual Replication and

commonly used VMware features such as vMotion, DRS and HA.

21

Troubleshooting

Describes how to resolve problems, including generating logs.

23

Zerto Glossary of Terms

A glossary of terms used throughout Zerto Virtual Replication.

Zerto Virtual Replication Documentation Set

The Zerto Virtual Replication documentation set includes the following documentation:
Zerto Virtual Replication Release Notes

Details specific to this release of Zerto Virtual Replication.

Zerto Virtual Replication Installation

Guide

How to install and initially configure Zerto Virtual Manager.

Zerto Cloud Manager Installation Guide How to install Zerto Cloud Manager.
Zerto Virtual Manager Administration
Guide

How to implement and manage replication and a disaster recovery (DR) solution
in a virtual environment using Zerto Virtual Replication.

Zerto Cloud Manager Administration

Guide

This guide: How to configure and continue to manage Zerto Virtual Replication
using Zerto Cloud Manager.

Zerto Virtual Replication PowerShell

Cmdlets Guide

How to install and use the Zerto Virtual Replication Windows PowerShell cmdlets,
including the cmdlets to use when upgrading Zerto Virtual Replication.

Zerto Virtual Replication REST API

Reference Guide

How to use the Zerto Virtual Replication REST APIs to manage disaster recovery
programmatically.

Zerto Virtual Replication Guide to

Alarms, Alerts and Events

Information about all the alarms, alerts and events that can be issued by Zerto
Virtual Replication during daily operations with resolutions to problems where
possible.

In addition the following is available for cloud service providers:

Zerto Virtual Replication Guide to Using Microsoft Word-based documentation for the cloud service provider to include as
the Zerto Self-service Portal
part of their customer documentation, for customers using the Zerto Self-service
Portal to manage disaster recovery.
The documentation is available in both PDF and HTML formats.

10

About This Guide

Support and Feedback

Please send suggestions to improve the documentation to Zerto support.

11

Chapter 1: Introduction to Zerto Virtual Replication

Disaster recovery is the process of preparing for recovery or continuation of IT processing tasks that support critical
business processes in the event of a threat to the IT infrastructure. This chapter describes Zerto Virtual Replication general
concepts to enable replication and recovery in a virtual environment.
The following topics are described in this chapter:

What is Zerto Virtual Replication?, below.

Zerto Virtual Replication Architecture, on page 13.
How Zerto Virtual Replication Recovery Works, on page 13.
Benefits of Using Zerto Virtual Replication, on page 14.

For details about Zerto Virtual Replication for cloud service providers and enterprises using the Zerto Cloud Manager to
manage multiple sites, also refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Installation Guide and Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.

What is Zerto Virtual Replication?

Zerto Virtual Replication provides a business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) solution in a virtual environment,
enabling the replication of mission-critical applications and data as quickly as possible and with minimal data loss. When
devising a recovery plan, these two objectives, minimum time to recover and maximum data to recover, are assigned
target values: the recovery time objective (RTO) and the recovery point objective (RPO). Zerto Virtual Replication enables
a virtual-aware recovery with low values for both the RTO and RPO.
Zerto Virtual Replication is installed in both the protected and the recovery sites.
You can manage the replication from within a standalone browser-based user interface, enabling recovery management
from anywhere, or from either a vSphere Web Client or Client console. Managing the set up and recovery is also available
programmatically, either via a set of PowerShell cmdlets or REST APIs.
Recovery that does rely on native replication functionality, such as recovery available with Microsoft Active Directory or
SQL Server, can also be replicated using Zerto Virtual Replication, and whether the native replication functionality is used
or not is determined by site considerations, such as increased complexity of having multiple points of control and possible
additional costs incurred when using vendor native replication.
You configure replication by first pairing the site with virtual machines to be protected with a recovery site. You then
define what virtual machines you want replicated in groups, where the virtual machines in the group comprise the
application and data you want to protect. You can group different virtual machines together or keep them separate. By
creating different replication groups, you can customize the replication requirements for each group to better optimize the
recovery plan.
Disaster recovery is based on the premise that you will want to recover with a minimum RPO. However, to enable full
recovery in cases such as virus attacks, Zerto Virtual Replication provides the ability to recover to any point in time up to
five days prior to the disaster. When recovery further back than five days is required, Zerto Virtual Replication provides an
extended recovery, using an offsite backup mechanism that enables you to recover to a recovery site based on a daily or
weekly backup going as far back as a year. The majority of the processing for both disaster recovery and extended recovery
is done at the recovery site, minimizing the impact on the production site.

12

Introduction to Zerto Virtual Replication

Zerto Virtual Replication Architecture

Zerto Virtual Replication comprises the following components:
Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM) A Windows service, which manages everything required for the replication between the
protection and recovery sites, except for the actual replication of data. The ZVM interacts with the vCenter Server to get
the inventory of VMs, disks, networks, hosts, etc. and then the Zerto User Interface is used to create and manage
protected virtual machines. The ZVM also monitors changes in the VMware environment and responds accordingly. For
example, a vMotion operation of a protected VM from one host to another is intercepted by the ZVM and the Zerto User
Interface is updated accordingly.
Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA) A virtual machine installed on each ESX/ESXi hosting virtual machines to be
protected or recovered, to manage the replication of data from protected virtual machines to the recovery site.
Virtual Backup Appliance (VBA) A VBA is a Windows service, which manages back-ups within Zerto Virtual Replication.
The VBA service runs on the same machine as the Zerto Virtual Manager service and is responsible for the repositories
where offsite backups are stored. These repositories can be local or on a shared network.
Zerto user interface plug-in A plug-in in the vSphere Web Client and Client console that enables managing recovery
using Zerto Virtual Replication from the vSphere Client console.
Zerto User Interface Recovery using Zerto Virtual Replication is managed in a browser using the Zerto DR Management
UI, or via the vSphere Web Client or vSphere Client console.
The following diagram shows how the main Zerto Virtual Replication components are deployed across sites to provide
disaster recovery across these sites.1

How Zerto Virtual Replication Recovery Works

Installing Zerto Virtual Replication installs the Zerto Virtual Manager, which sits in the hypervisor layer. You manage these
Zerto Virtual Managers one on each of the protected and recovery sites via any of the following to perform the required
replication:

A standalone browser-based GUI

The vSphere Web Client or Client console
In-house scripts, using either Zerto Virtual Replication REST APIs or PowerShell cmdlets.

In the protected site you define the virtual machines that you want to replicate, either individually or together, as a virtual
protection group (VPG). The virtual machines that you include in the VPG can come from one or more ESX/ESXi hosts in
the vCenter Server. In this way, you can protect applications that run on multiple virtual machines and disks as a single unit
a VPG. An example of an application that runs on multiple virtual machines includes software that requires a web server
1. For cloud-based architecture diagrams, see Zerto Virtual Replication Zerto Cloud Manager Installation.

13

Introduction to Zerto Virtual Replication

and database, both of which run on virtual machines different than the virtual machine where the application software
runs.
Every write is copied by Zerto Virtual Replication and sent, asynchronously, to the recovery site, while the write continues
to be processed on the protected site. For greater efficiency and performance, the write is compressed before being sent to
the recovery site with throttling techniques being used to prioritize network traffic.
On the recovery site the write is written to a journal managed by a Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA). Each protected
virtual machine has its own journal.
Every few seconds, a checkpoint is also written to the journals. These checkpoints ensure write order fidelity and crashconsistency to each checkpoint. During recovery you pick one of these crash-consistent checkpoints and recover to this
point. Additionally, checkpoints can be manually added by the administrator, with a description of the checkpoint. For
example, when an event is going to take place that might result in the need to perform a recovery, you can pinpoint when
this event occurs as a checkpoint written to each journal.
The VRA manages the journals for every virtual machine that will be recovered to the ESX/ESXi hosting that VRA. It also
manages images of the protected volumes for these virtual machines. During a failover, you can specify that you want to
recover the virtual machines in the VPG using the last checkpoint or you can specify an earlier checkpoint, in which case
the recovery of the mirror images under the VRA are synchronized to this checkpoint. Thus, you can recover the
environment to the point before any corruption and ignore the later writes in the journal that were corrupted, either caused
by a crash in the protected site or for other reasons, such as a virus.
To improve the RTO during recovery, the user is able to start working even before the virtual machine volumes on the
recovery site have been fully synchronized. Every request is analyzed and the response returned either from the virtual
machine directly or from the journal if the information in the journal is more up-to-date. This continues until the recovery
site virtual environment is fully synchronized, up until the last checkpoint or an earlier checkpoint, when the integrity of the
protected site was assured.
When recovery to a point in further back than the time saved in the journal is required, an offsite backup can be restored.
Offsite backups are an extension of disaster recovery, with the virtual machine files such as the vmx and vmdk files saved
to a repository for up to one year and used to restore the virtual machines to the point of the stored offsite backup at the
recovery site.

Benefits of Using Zerto Virtual Replication

Datacenter optimization and virtualization technologies have matured and are now well adopted into the IT infrastructure.
As more and more applications are deployed in a virtualized infrastructure, there is a growing need for recovery
mechanisms to support mission critical application deployments while providing complete BC and DR.
Traditional replication and disaster recovery solutions were not conceived to deal with the demands created by the
virtualization paradigm. For example, most replication solutions are not managed in the hypervisor layer, considering the
virtual machines and disks, but at the physical disk level, hence they are not truly virtualization aware.
The lack of virtualization awareness creates a huge operational and administrative burden. It also results in operational
inflexibility. Zerto Virtual Replication has been designed to resolve these issues by being fully virtualization aware.

Fully Virtual Sits in the Hypervisor

Zerto Virtual Replication software sits in the hypervisor level. Protection groups are configured with virtual machines and
virtual disks, without the need to consider the physical disks.

14

Introduction to Zerto Virtual Replication

Focus is on the Application, Not the Physical Storage

By considering the physical disk level and not the virtual disk level, traditional replication is not truly application aware.
Even virtual replication recovers block writes at the SCSI level and not at the application level. Zerto Virtual Replication is
truly application focused, replicating the writes from the application in a consistent manner.

Hardware Agnostic
Because Zerto Virtual Replication software manages recovery of virtual machines and virtual disks only, it does not matter
what hardware is used in either the protected or recovery sites; it can be from the same vendor or different vendors. As
long as the storage device supports the SCSI protocol, any storage device can be used. With Zerto Virtual Replication the
logical storage is separated from the physical storage so that the vendor and type of actual storage hardware do not need
to be considered.

Fully Scalable
Zerto Virtual Replication sits in the hypervisor level and enables defining software-only Virtual Replication Appliances
(VRAs) on each ESX/ESXi host to manage the replication of virtual machines on that host. Increasing the number of ESX/
ESXi hosts is handled by defining a new VRA on each new ESX/ESXi host. There is no need to install additional software to
the vCenter Server to handle additional ESX/ESXi hosts or virtual machines and no need to consider additional hardware
acquisitions.

Efficient Asynchronous Replication

Writes are captured by the Zerto Virtual Replication software in the hypervisor level, before they are written to the
physical disk at the protected site. These writes are sent to the recovery site asynchronously, thus avoiding long distance
replication latency to the production applications.
Also, because these writes are captured and sent to the recovery site, it is only these delta changes and not the whole file
or disk that is sent to the recovery site, reducing the amount of network traffic, which reduces WAN requirements and
significantly improves both RPO and RTO targets.

One-Click Failover and Control of the Recovery Process

When recovery is required, the administrator clicks on a button in the Zerto Virtual Replication user interface to initiate
failover. This means that control of when a recovery is initiated remains in the hands of the administrator, who can decide
when to initiate the recovery and, by selecting a checkpoint, to what point-in-time to recover to.

One-Click Migration
Application migrations can be resource intensive projects that take weeks of planning, execution and downtime. With
Zerto Virtual Replication migrations are greatly simplified and can be completed without extended outages or
maintenance windows and across different types of hardware and different versions of VMware products, including from a
vCenter environment to a vCloud environment.

Offsite Backup
Zerto Virtual Replication provides an offsite back up option that enables saving the protected virtual machines offsite for
up to one year in a state where they can be easily deployed. Because the backups use the same mechanism used for
disaster recover, the performance impact on the production site is minimal, since the processing is performed on the
recovery site. The offsite backups are fixed points saved either weekly or monthly.

15

Introduction to Zerto Virtual Replication

Minimal RPO
Zerto Virtual Replication utilizes continuous data protection, sending a record of every write in the virtual protection group
to the recovery site. The transfer of this information is done over an optimized WAN asynchronously. If recovery is
required, all the data that was transferred to the recovery site is available resulting in recovery within the requested RPO.

Minimal RTO
During recovery the mirrors of the virtual machines that need recovering are recovered in the recovery site from the Virtual
Replication Appliance and synchronized to the checkpoint requested for this failover. During this synchronization, users
can access the virtual machine on the recovery site. Every request is analyzed and the response returned either from the
virtual machine directly or from the journal for the virtual machine, if the information in the journal is more up-to-date. This
continues until the recovery site virtual environment is fully synchronized.
In traditional replication architectures, either a complete LUN with all the data for multiple machines is replicated or a
single LUN is used for each machine. In both of these cases, the wasted storage and all the inflexibility, both in terms of
planning and operating recovery, means that although replication is achieved, either it is has a high RTO or it is prone to
errors. A single LUN can be used to store the data for multiple virtual machines and Zerto Virtual Replication makes sure
that only the data relevant to the virtual machine requiring replication is in fact replicated. In addition, you can also create
VPGs across different LUNs.

Policy-based
In the protected site you define the virtual machines that you want to recover, either individually or as groups, as a virtual
protection group (VPG). The virtual machines that you include in the VPG can come from one or more ESX/ESXi hosts in
the vCenter Server. In this way, you can protect applications that run on multiple virtual machines and disks as a single
unit, in a single VPG.

WAN Optimization Between Protected and Recovery Sites

Using compression to minimize bandwidth and other techniques such as throttling to prioritize network traffic to reduce
the impact on day-to-day operations, you can make sure that the communication between the protected and recovery
sites is fully optimized.
Zerto Virtual Replication also uses signature matching to reduce the amount of data sent across the WAN. During
synchronization of the protected site and recovery site for every virtual machine in a VPG, Zerto Virtual Replication
maintains a map of disk sectors so that in the case when there is a need to resynchronize sites, the map signatures can be
used to ensure that only data where changes occurred are passed over the WAN.
Note: Zerto Virtual Replication can also work with third-party WAN optimization and acceleration technologies, such as
those supplied by Riverbed Technologies, Silver Peak, and others.

WAN Resilience on Both the Protected and Recovery Sites

Zerto Virtual Replication is highly resilient to WAN interruptions. In order to reduce storage overhead used for replication
purposes, on WAN failure or when the load over the WAN is too great for the WAN to handle, Zerto Virtual Replication
starts to maintain a smart bitmap in memory, in which it tracks and records the storage areas that changed. Since the
bitmap is kept in memory, Zerto Virtual Replication does not require any LUN or volume per VPG at the protected side.
The bitmap is small and scales dynamically, but does not contain any actual IO data, just references to the areas of the
protected disk that have changed. The bitmap is stored locally on the VRA within the available resources. Once the WAN
connection resumes or the load returns to normal traffic, Zerto Virtual Replication uses this bitmap to check whether there
were updates to the protected disks and if there were updates to the disks, these updates are sent to the recovery site.

16

Introduction to Zerto Virtual Replication

DR Management Anywhere or a Single Point of Control

With Zerto Virtual Replication everything can be managed from:
A standalone browser-based UI Enabling disaster recovery management from anywhere using any device.
The VMware vSphere Web Client or VMware Client console You do not need to access multiple consoles to configure
and manage the replication. This reduces the number of control points and provides a unified method of configuring and
managing recovery. You manage and control both protected and recovery sites from same vSphere Web Client or Client
console.

Fully Compatible with VMware Product Line

Zerto Virtual Replication runs in the VMware vCenter Server hypervisor and is compatible with other VMware features,
such as vMotion.

17

Chapter 2: Accessing the Zerto User Interface

You manage the protection and replication of virtual machines in vSphere, between the protected and recovery sites, using
the Zerto User Interface.
The following topics are described in this chapter:

Different Ways to Access the Zerto User Interface, below

Adding a Security Certificate to Enable Access to the Zerto User Interface, on page 20

Zerto also provides a set of PowerShell cmdlets and REST APIs to enable incorporating some of the disaster recovery
functionality within scripts or programs.
On first access to the user interface, you might have to set up secure communication, as described in Adding a Security
Certificate to Enable Access to the Zerto User Interface, on page 20.

Different Ways to Access the Zerto User Interface

You manage your vCenter site, including the protection and replication of virtual machines between the protected and
recovery sites, using one of the following ways:

The Zerto DR Management User Interface.

The vSphere Client console.
The vSphere Web Client.

Using the Zerto DR Management User Interface

To use the Zerto DR Management User Interface:
1.

In a browser, enter the following URL:

https://zvm_IP:9669
where zvm_IP is the IP address of the Zerto Virtual Manager for the site you want to manage.

2.

Login using the user name and password for the vCenter Server connected to the Zerto Virtual Manager.

Note: You cannot protect a vApp, as a vApp, using the Zerto DR Management User Interface.

Using the vSphere Client Console

To use the vSphere Client console:
1.

Login using the user name and password for the vCenter Server connected to the Zerto Virtual Manager.

2.

Access the Zerto tab, displayed for the root node.

Note: The Zerto tab is also displayed for a datacenter node showing the same information as for the root node. For a
virtual machine or vApp node the Zerto tab displays information specific to the virtual machine or vApp.

18

Using the vSphere Web Client

You can use the VMware Web Client to manage Zerto Virtual Replication.
The vSphere Web Client is a service that when installed enables a browser-based interface for configuring and
administering virtual machines enabling you to connect to a vCenter Server system to manage an ESXi host through a
browser. The following procedure describes how to configure the vSphere Web Client to display Zerto Virtual Replication
dialogs.
This procedure is valid for vSphere Web Client version 5.1 communicating with vCenter Server from version 5.0 and higher.
Note: The following procedure assumes that the vSphere Web Client version 5.1 has been installed. Although you can run
the vSphere Web Client version 5.1 with vSphere Server 5.0 and 5.1, when installing the vSphere Web Client you need
access to a vSphere Server version 5.1 which includes an option for single sign on, required by the vSphere Web Client
installation.
Note: Setting up Zerto Virtual Replication to be used via the vSphere Web Client disables the use of other VMware plugins, such as VDP and VSA, causing them to disappear from the web client. This is a known VMware problem, see http://
kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2042455. To resolve
this issue, set up two web clients, on different servers. On one run Zerto Virtual Replication and on the other run the
VMware plug-ins.
To set up the vSphere Web Client to work with to work with Zerto Virtual Replication:
1.

When the vSphere Web Client service is installed on a Microsoft Windows platform: Copy and run
VsphereWebClientPluginEnabler.exe to the machine where you run the web client service. This file is
located in the Zerto Virtual Replication folder under the folder where Zerto Virtual Replication was
installed. You can copy VsphereWebClientPluginEnabler.exe to any folder on the relevant machine. Run
VsphereWebClientPluginEnabler.exe as an administrator.
When the vSphere Web Client is installed on a Linux platform, via the vCenter Server Linux Virtual Appliance (vCSA):
In the directory /var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client, open the webclient.properties file in a text editor
and add the following to the file:.
scriptPlugin.enabled = true

2.

Restart the vSphere Web Client service.

Note: After the service has started you might have to wait a few minutes before you can open the vSphere Web Client
in your browser.

To use the vSphere Web Client:

1.

Login using the user name and password for the vCenter Server connected to the Zerto Virtual Manager.

2.

In the browser, navigate to a vSphere node supported by Zerto Virtual Replication, such as the root node or a virtual
machine, and choose the Classic Solutions tab, which is now displayed after the Related Objects tab.
Note: With Chrome and Firefox browsers, you must load the script plug-in page in an external tab at least once before
it appears inside the vSphere Web Client. The Classic Solutions tab is displayed when there is a plug-in
installed, in this case the Zerto Virtual Replication user interface plug-in.

3.

If prompted, allow blocked content to be displayed.

19

Accessing the Zerto User Interface

4. If more than one plug-in is installed, click Zerto to display the Zerto Virtual Replication UI.

Adding a Security Certificate to Enable Access to the Zerto User

Interface
Access to the Zerto User Interface requires a security certificate.
Note: Any certificate created by the user must be created with the binding flag set.
To install a security certificate for Zerto Virtual Manager:
Note: The following procedure is based on Microsoft Internet Explorer. The procedure is similar for Google Chrome and for
Mozilla Firefox.
On first access to the Zerto User Interface, if you havent installed the security certificate, the Security Alert dialog is
displayed.

20

Accessing the Zerto User Interface

Note: Access the Zerto User Interface using the IP and not the name of the machine where Zerto Virtual Replication is
installed.

1.

Click View Certificate.

The Certificate dialog is displayed.

2.

Click Install Certificate.

The Certificate Import Wizard dialog is displayed.

3.

Follow the wizard: Place all the certificates in the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store: Select
the Place all certificates in the following store option and browse to select the Trusted
Root Certification Authorities store.

4. Continue to the end of the wizard. Click Yes when the Security Warning is displayed.

5.

Click OK that the installation was successful.

6.

Click OK when prompted and then Yes in the Security Alert dialog to continue.

21

Chapter 3: Site Configuration

There are a number of configuration tasks that you can perform.

The following topics are described in this chapter:

Setting Permissions, below.

Sizing Considerations, on page 22.
Site Configuration Advanced Settings, on page 27.
Editing Information About a Site, on page 33.
Seeing What is Licensed, on page 35.
Submitting a Support Ticket, on page 36.

Setting Permissions
Zerto Virtual Replication supplies a number of default permissions that enable a VMware administrator to perform specific
actions:
Live Failover / Move Enables performing a failover or move.
Manage cloud connector Enables installing and uninstalling Zerto Cloud Connectors. For details, refer to Zerto Cloud
Manager Administration Guide.
Manage Sites Enables editing the site configuration, including site details, pairing and unpairing sites, updating the
license and editing advanced site settings.
Manage VPG Enables creating, editing, and deleting a VPG and adding checkpoints to a VPG.
Manage VRA Enables installing and uninstalling VRAs.
Test Failover Enables performing a test failover.
Viewer For internal use only.
These permissions are assigned as privileges to the Administrator role when Zerto Virtual Replication is installed. You can
define additional roles and assign these roles the privileges they need. All privileges are implemented at the root level, and
thus apply to every object in the vCenter Server.

Sizing Considerations
There are a number of sizing issues to consider when setting up your disaster recovery, including the following:

VMDK Size Limitations, below

WAN Sizing, on page 23

VMDK Size Limitations

VMware imposes the following limits that impact on Zerto Virtual Replication.
ESXi 5.5 hosts The sum of all VMDKs of all virtual machines protected on a particular ESXi must be lower than 64TB.
ESXi 5.0 and 5.1 hosts The sum of all VMDKs of all virtual machines protected on a particular ESXi must be lower than,
by default, 20TB. Using an ESX tweak, this can grow as high as 64TB.

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Site Configuration

ESX/ESXi 4.x hosts The sum of all VMDKs of all virtual machines protected on a particular ESXi must be lower than, by
default, 4TB. Using an ESX tweak, this can grow as high as 32TB.
This limit includes not only the VRA and any shadow VRAs, but also all virtual machines running on that host.
To adjust the value:
1.

Log in to vCenter Server or the ESX/ESXi host using VMware Infrastructure (VI) Client. If connecting to vCenter
Server, select the ESX/ESXi host from the inventory.

2.

Click the Configuration tab.

3.

Click Advanced Settings.

4. Select VMFS3.
5.

Update the field in VMFS3.MaxHeapSizeMB.

In ESX/ESXi 4.x, the maximum heap size is 128MB.
In ESXi 5.x, the maximum heap size is 256MB.

6.

Reboot the host for the changes to take affect.

Note: The net effect of this change is that the ESX/ESXi kernel will require a small amount of additional memory, such as
the 128MB used to get a maximum of 32TB for ESX/ESXi 4.x hosts specified in the above procedure, for the larger heap,
but it will allow virtual machines with more than 4TB (ESXi/ESX 4.x) or 8TB (ESXi 5.0/5.1) of virtual disk to be addressed.

WAN Sizing
When preparing your deployment, you need to verify that the connectivity between the two sites has bandwidth capacity
that can handle the data to be replicated between the sites.
Zerto Virtual Replication employs sophisticated compression algorithms to reduce the bandwidth required between the
sites. While compression can be very effective in reducing the bandwidth requirements, its efficiency is dependent on data
characteristics.
Note: Zerto Virtual Replication can also work with third-party WAN optimization and acceleration technologies, such as
those supplied by Riverbed Technologies, Silver Peak, and others.

Estimating the Bandwidth Requirements Between Sites

Estimating the bandwidth requirements between the protected and recovery sites involves the following tasks:
1.

Enable vCenter Server data collection.

2.

Collect data characteristics for VMs.

3.

Use the Zerto WAN Sizing Estimator to calculate the estimated bandwidth requirements.

Contact Zerto support to get a copy of the Zerto WAN Sizing Estimator.
To enable vCenter Server data collection:
1.

Via the vSphere Client console connect to the vCenter Server.

2.

In the Administration menu item, select vCenter Server Settings.

3.

Select Statistics.

The vCenter Server Settings dialog is displayed.

23

Site Configuration

4. Make sure that the Statistics Level value for all interval durations up to and including the one day duration is at least 2.
If any of the durations have a value less than 2, do the following, starting with the smallest interval:
a) Select the interval and click Edit.
b) Change Statistics Level to Level 2.
c) Click OK.

5.

Repeat step 4 for all the values up to and including the 1 day interval duration.

6.

Click OK and wait for at least a day before using the aggregate usage data.

Collecting Data Characteristics for VMs

You can collect data characteristics for the virtual machines in a VPG in one of the following ways:

Via vSphere Client console performance statistics.

By running a script to collect the data characteristics.

24

Site Configuration

By using operating system performance monitors, such as the Microsoft Performance Monitor utility for Windows
operating systems or the iostat command for Linux operating systems. For further information about this option,
contact support at [email protected].

Collect data for a minimum of one day. Collecting this information impacts on performance and therefore the collection
period should be long enough to gather a true representation of usage but not too long. The first procedure described
below, to collect data characteristics for the VMs via the vSphere Client console performance statistics, uses a timeframe
of one day and the second procedure, to collect data characteristics for the VMs by running a script to collect the data
characteristics uses a timeframe of seven days.
Note: When running vCenter Server versions before version 5.x, if any of the virtual machines use NFS storage, metrics for
the NFS storage are not generated by the vCenter Server.
To collect data characteristics for the VMs via the vSphere Client console performance statistics:
1.

In the vSphere Client console select the VM and open the Performance tab.

2.

Click Advanced.

3.

Click the Charts Options link.

The Customize Performance Chart dialog is displayed.

4. In Chart Options, drill-down in Disk and select Past day.

5.

In Counters, click None to clear all the selections and then select Disk Write Rate or Write Rate.

6.

Click OK.
A chart similar to the following is generated:

25

Site Configuration

Use the chart for the average write rate of the VM.
To collect data characteristics for the VMs via a script:
Note: The following script and the samples supplied with the download, require vSphere PowerCLI and permissions to
access the vCenter Server using the script.

Run a script similar to the following:

$report = @()
Get-VM | %{
$stats = Get-Stat -Entity $ -Stat disk.write.average -Start (Get-Date).adddays(-7)
-ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if($stats){
$statsGrouped = $stats | Group-Object -Property MetricId
$row = "" | Select Name, WriteAvgKBps, WriteAvgMBps
$row.Name = $_.Name
$row.WriteAvgKBps = ($statsGrouped |
where {$_.Name -eq "disk.write.average"} |
%{$_.Group | Measure-Object -Property Value -Average}).Average
$row.WriteAvgMBps = $row.WriteAvgKBps/1024
$row.WriteAvgKBps = "{0:N2}" -f $row.WriteAvgKbps
$row.WriteAvgMBps = "{0:N2}" -f $row.WriteAvgMBps
$report += $row
}
}
$report | Export-Csv "C:\ZertoOutput.csv"
Note: If you want a value other than seven days, change the value of the adddays() function. For example to collect
data for three days, use adddays(-3).
Use the file, C:\ZertoOutput.csv, for the average write rate of the VM.

Note: Versions of this script are included in the download with this document.

Estimating the Required Bandwidth

Use the average write rate for the virtual machines in a VPG in the Zerto WAN Sizing Estimator to estimate the minimum
bandwidth required.
Note: Contact Zerto support to get a copy of the Zerto WAN Sizing Estimator.
For each VM you also have to decide whether compression will be enabled for the VM, based on the data characteristics.

26

Site Configuration

To use the Zerto WAN Sizing Estimator:

1.
2.

Open the Zerto WAN Sizing Estimator.

Enter the following information:
The VM name.
The Write KB/s data, based on the statistics gathered in the previous task. Use a period for the decimal mark.
Define whether compression is enabled for this VM: Select Yes or No.
The application data characteristics: Select Compressed or Compressible.

Note: The Zerto WAN Sizing Estimator colors the cell red if you decide to employ compression on compressed data and
orange if you decide to avoid compression for compressible data.
The Zerto WAN Sizing Estimator calculates the total bandwidth estimation for your deployment, using a minimum value of
5 Mb/sec. The estimation is displayed on the top of each page of the Zerto WAN Sizing Estimator.
You can estimate the WAN sizing required without using the Zerto WAN Sizing Estimator using the following procedure.
To estimate sizing without using the Zerto WAN Sizing Estimator:
1.

For each virtual machine in the VPG multiply the KB/sec, based on the statistics gathered by 8 and divide the result by
1024 to provide an answer in Mb/sec Divide this result by 2 if compression is enabled for the VM and the data is
compressible.

2.

Sum the results of step 1.

WAN Mb/sec = SUM(KB/sec * (8/1024/(1 or 2 if compressible data that will be
compressed)))

The result is an estimate of the required Mb/sec for the WAN.

Note: If the result is less than 5 Mb/sec, you must use a minimum dedicated bandwidth of at least 5 Mb/sec.

Site Configuration Advanced Settings

The Advanced Settings dialog under Site Settings enables configuring additional, advanced, site settings.
These include the maximum bandwidth that Zerto Virtual Replication uses between the protected and recovery sites,
default script timeout and Graphical Scaling of the performance graphs displayed in VPG Details tabs.
To specify site settings:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, click the configuration (cog) button.

The Site Settings dialog is displayed.

27

Site Configuration

2.

Click Advanced Settings.

The Advanced Settings dialog is displayed.

Scroll to see all the options:

28

Site Configuration

3.

Make any required changes to the settings, click Save and then Close. The following settings can be defined in the
Advanced Settings dialog:
Defining the Maximum Bandwidth Used by Zerto Virtual Replication Between Sites, below.
Defining the Default Script Timeout, on page 30.
Defining the Scaling Used for Performance Graphs, on page 30.
Enable Replication to the Same Site That is Protecting the Virtual Machines, on page 30.
Defining the Replication Pause Time, on page 31.
Defining the Failover and Move Operation Default Commit Policy, on page 31.
Configuring Email Notifications for Alerts, on page 31.
Defining Resource Report Sampling Period, on page 32.
Reviewing Supported Host Versions, on page 32.
Defining Zerto Support Settings, on page 33.

You also use the Advanced Settings dialog to setup vCloud Director and Zerto cloud connector static routes. For
details, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.

Defining the Maximum Bandwidth Used by Zerto Virtual Replication

Between Sites
Bandwidth Throttling The maximum bandwidth that Zerto Virtual Replication uses from this site to recovery sites. The
default value is for Zerto Virtual Replication to automatically assign the bandwidth used per VPG, based on using the
maximum available and then prioritizing the usage according to priority set for the VPGs sending data over the WAN. You
can use the slider to set the Mb/sec. If you are going to protect virtual machines on this site as well as recover virtual
machines to this site, for example via failback, you have to also set the bandwidth on the remote site out to this site.
Note: The minimum supported bandwidth is 5 Mb/sec.
For details about estimating the bandwidth, see Sizing Considerations, on page 22.
Time-based Bandwidth Throttling If you know that the bandwidth needs specific throttling for a certain time, for
example, during the daily peak transaction period you can override the general throttling of the bandwidth for these
specific times.
To configure time-based throttling:
1.

Check the Time-based Bandwidth Throttling checkbox and then click Configure.
The Time-based Bandwidth Throttling dialog is displayed.

29

Site Configuration

2.

Specify the maximum bandwidth for the period.

3.

In the From fields, select the start time for the throttling.

4. In the To fields, select the end time for the throttling.

5.

Click OK.

6.

Click Save.

Note: These throttling features can be disabled at the request of Zerto support.

Defining the Default Script Timeout

Default Script Execution Timeout The time out in seconds for a script to run before or after a failover, move or test
failover. For details about scripts, see Running Scripts Before or After Recovering a VPG, on page 130.

Defining the Scaling Used for Performance Graphs

Graphical Scaling Fields enable changing the scaling used in the performance graphs:

VPG performance graphs, for example in the VPG Details tab:

IOPS The IO between the applications running on the virtual machines in the VPG and the VRA.
Throughput The MBs for the applications running on the virtual machines being protected.
WAN Traffic The traffic between the sites.
RPO The time since the last checkpoint was written to the journal.

VRA performance graphs, for example in the VPG Details tab:

CPU The percentage of CPU usage by the VRA.
VRA Local Memory The percentage of the VRA memory used by protected volumes managed by the VRA.
VRA Remote Memory The percentage of the VRA memory used by recovery volumes managed by the VRA.

Enable Replication to the Same Site That is Protecting the Virtual Machines
When a single vCenter is used, for example with remote branch offices, when replicating from one datacenter to another
datacenter, both managed by the same vCenter Server, you have to enable replication to the same vCenter Server and
pairing is not required.
Enable replication to self When the same site is used for both the protected and recovery sites, specify this option to
enable recovery to the same site.

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Site Configuration

Defining the Replication Pause Time

Replication Pause Time The time to pause when synchronizing a VPG if continuing the synchronization will cause all the
checkpoints in the journal to be removed. A synchronization can occur, for example, after the WAN or the recovery site
host was down.
During the synchronization, the latest changes in the protection site are added to the journal and older data in the journal is
moved to the mirror virtual disk managed by the VRA for the virtual machine. As the synchronization continues and more
old data is moved out of the journal, the checkpoints associated with the data are also removed from the journal and new
checkpoints are not added to the journal. If the synchronization continues for too long, all the checkpoints can be removed
from the journal meaning all recovery operations, test failover, move and failover, can no longer be performed.
The replication pause time is an amount of time that the synchronization pauses, when the number of checkpoints in the
journal becomes too small. This time can then be used by the administrator to resolve the issue, for example by cloning the
virtual machines in the VPG, described in Cloning Protected Virtual Machines to the Remote Site, on page 188, before
continuing with the synchronization. The value set here is applied to existing and new VPGs.

Defining the Failover and Move Operation Default Commit Policy

Failover/Move Commit Policy The policy to use during a failover or move operation, described in Initiating a Failover,
on page 179 and Moving Protected Virtual Machines to the Remote Site, on page 173 respectively. The following options
are available:
None The failover or move operation must be manually committed or rolled back by the user.
Commit After the time specified in the Default Timeout field the failover or move operation is committed,
unless manually committed or rolled back by the user before the time out value is reached. During the specified time
you can check the recovered VPG virtual machines.
Rollback After the time specified in the Default Timeout field the failover or move operation is rolled back,
unless manually committed or rolled back by the user before the time out value is reached. During the specified time
you can check the recovered VPG virtual machines.
The value set here applies as the default for all failover or move operations from this point on but can be changed when
defining a failover or move operation.
Default Timeout The time out in minutes after which a Commit or Rollback commit policy is performed. A value of
zero indicates automatically performing the commit policy, without waiting for any user interaction.

Configuring Email Notifications for Alerts

Email Notifications Click Configure Notifications and configure Zerto Virtual Replication alerts to be sent to an email
address, so as to be better informed when an alert occurs.

31

Site Configuration

To configure email notifications:

1.

Check the Use Email Notifications box.

2.

Specify the SMTP server Address of the vCenter Server. The Zerto Virtual Manager must be able to reach this
address.

3.

If the SMTP Server Port was changed from the default, 25, specify the port number.

4. Specify a valid email address for the email sender name in the Sender Account field.
5.

Specify a valid email address where you want to send the email in the To field.
You can test that the email notification is set up correctly by clicking Send Test Email. An email with the subject ZVR
Test Email is sent to the email address specified in the To field.

6.

Specify if you want to be notified by email about any Zerto Virtual Replication alerts issued. An email is sent when the
alert is issued and after it has been successfully handled and the alert is no longer valid.

7.

If offsite backups are generated, specify if you want to be sent these reports by email. Configure the reporting
parameters as described in Configure Backup Reporting, below.

8.

Click Save.

Configure Backup Reporting

Check Backup reports and then click Configure Backup Reporting to configure the backup reporting parameters.

To configure email notifications:

1.

Specify whether you want a backup report sent daily or weekly.

Daily To send a daily backup report
Weekly To send a weekly backup report. Select the day of the week from the dropdown list.

2.

Specify the time of day to send the backup report.

Defining Resource Report Sampling Period

Specify when you want to take resource samples to identify resource usage, either daily at a specific hour and minute or
hourly at a specific minute within each hour.
The time set is the time that the sample is taken, so for example, if you set a daily time at 12:00, you will get a sample taken
at midday every day. Note that collecting a sample hourly provides a higher resolution picture of replication traffic than if
collected every daily.
Information is saved for 90 days when the sampling period is hourly and for one year when the sampling period is daily.
These samples are used to generate resource reports as described in Resource Report, on page 199.

Reviewing Supported Host Versions

Zerto Virtual Replication works with most ESX/ESXi hosts. For a list of the supported hosts, click Compatibility Matrix.
The Compatibility Matrix dialog is displayed, listing all the supported host versions.

32

Site Configuration

Defining Zerto Support Settings

When moving the mouse pointer over the top right of the dialog, a Support tab is displayed on the right of the list.

Clicking the tab opens the Settings Requested by Zerto Support dialog.

This dialog has the following functions:

Support settings for use only in coordination with Zerto support.

Sending analytics to Zerto. When the checkbox is selected analytics are sent to Zerto which are used solely to improve
Zerto Virtual Replication.

Editing Information About a Site

You provide information about the site during installation, to make it easier to identify the site in the in the user interface
and to identify the contact person at the site. After installation you can updated these settings.
To update information about the local site:
In the Zerto User Interface, the Summary tab is displayed. Site information is displayed in the heading area.
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, click the configuration (cog) button.

The Site Settings dialog is displayed.

33

Site Configuration

2.

Click the Site Information button.

The Site Information dialog for the site is displayed.

3.

Define general information about the site.

Site Name The name used to identify the site.
Site Location Information such as the address of the site or a significant name to identify it.
Contact Name Te name of the person to contact if a need arises.
Contact Email An email address to use if a need arises.
Contact Phone A phone number to use if a need arises.

4. If the credentials to access the vCenter Server from the Zerto Virtual Manager change, specify the new credentials:
User Name The administrator name used to access the vCenter Server. The name can be entered using either of the
following formats:
username
domain\username
Password The password used to access the vCenter Server for the given user name. To ensure security, after saving
the settings, the password field is cleared.
5.

Click Save.

34

Site Configuration

Seeing What is Licensed

The Zerto license includes information such as the number of virtual machines that can be protected and the license expiry
date. You can see the details of what is licensed via the The Site Settings dialog.

The cloud and enterprise license include the following details:

License The license key itself.
License ID An identifier for the license.
License Type What is licensed: whether the license restricts the number of virtual machines that can be protected or the
number of sockets used.
Expiry Date The license expiry date.
Quantity The maximum amount licensed, either virtual machines or sockets, based on the license type. If blank, the
quantity is unlimited.
Max Sites The maximum number of sites allowed.
An enterprise license also includes the following:
Usage Expandable table that lists the sites using the license and number of protected virtual machines in each site.

A warning is generated when either the license expires or the more than the licensed number of virtual machines are being
protected. Protection continues but the license should be updated. After getting a new license key you can update Zerto
Virtual Replication with this key.
Note: The number of virtual machines is independent of whether they are in vApps or not.
To update a license key:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, click the configuration (cog) button.

The Site Configuration dialog is displayed.

2.

Click License.

35

Site Configuration

The Zerto License dialog is displayed.

3.

Enter a valid license key and click Update.

4. Click Close.
The license is updated on the local site and the paired remote sites.

Submitting a Support Ticket

You can open a ticket to Zerto support directly from Zerto Virtual Replication.
Note: The clocks on the machines where Zerto Virtual Replication is installed must be synchronized with UTC and with
each other (the timezones can be different). Zerto recommends that the clocks are synchronized using NTP. If the clocks
are not synchronized with UTC, submitting a support ticket can fail.
To open a support ticket:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, click the configuration (cog) button.

The Site Settings dialog is displayed.

2.

Click the Submit Support Ticket button.

The Open Support Ticket dialog for the site is displayed.

36

Site Configuration

3.

Specify the ticket details:

Subject The subject of the support ticket.
Type The type of ticket being opened.
Description A description of the ticket in addition to the information supplied in the subject.
SSP Email Address A valid email address registered with Zerto, with permission to open tickets.

4. Click Submit.
The ticket is processed and the progress displayed. If the email address is not valid the ticket is rejected. Once the ticket
submission starts, it cannot be canceled.

37

Chapter 4: Overview of Recovery Flows

Zerto Virtual Replication enables protecting virtual machines, for both disaster recovery or for extended, longer term,
recovery from an offsite backup, by protecting the relevant virtual machines in virtual protection groups. A virtual
protection groups (VPG) is a group of virtual machines that you want to group together for recovery purposes. For
example, the virtual machines that comprise an application like Microsoft Exchange, where one virtual machine is used for
the software, one for the database and a third for the Web Server, require that all three virtual machines are replicated to
maintain data integrity.
The following topics are described in this chapter:

Flow for a Disaster Recovery Operation, below.

Flow for an Offsite Backup and Restore Operation, on page 39.

On creation of the VPG each protected virtual machine in a VPG replicated on the recovery site under the VRA on the host
specified in the VPG definition as the host for the recovery of the virtual machine.
Every write to the protected virtual machine in a VPG is copied by the VRA on the same host as the protected machine and
passed to the VRA on the host in the recovery site specified in the VPG definition as the host for the recovery of the virtual
machine. These writes first are saved in a journal for a specified period and then moved to replica virtual disks managed by
the VRA, which mirror the protected virtual machine disks.

Flow for a Disaster Recovery Operation

Virtual machines are protected in VPGs. Once a VPG is created, Zerto Virtual Replication creates a copy of the protected
virtual machines on the recovery site under the management of a Virtual Replication Appliance, VRA, on every host where
the machines are to be recovered.
Disaster recovery using Zerto Virtual Replication enables recovering from a disaster to any point between the moment just
before the disaster and a specified amount of time in the past up to five days. The recovery is done in real time at the
recovery site with a minimal RTO.
A recovery operation is one of the following:

A failover
A planned move of the protected virtual machines from the protected to the recovery site
A clone of the protected virtual machine is required on the recovery site

When a recovery operation is performed, the VRA creates the virtual machines defined in the VPG and attaches the virtual
disks to these machines. It then promotes the data from the journal to the virtual machine disks.
The following table references the appropriate procedure to protect virtual machines:

Protect virtual machines from a

vCenter and recover to a vCenter

User Interfacea

Reference

All Zerto User

Interfaces

Creating a Virtual Protection Group to a Recovery Site

vCenter Server, on page 52.

Protect and recover virtual machines

to the same vCenter

Protecting Virtual Machines to the Same Site, on page 62.

Protect a single virtual machine in a vSphere Web Client Protecting a Single Virtual Machine, on page 63.
vCenter and recover to a vCenter
or Client console only
Protect a vApp in a vCenter and
recover to a vCenter
Protect virtual machines to or from
vCloud Director

Protecting a vApp (Via the VMware Web Client or Client

Console), on page 65.
All Zerto User
Interfaces

Protecting Virtual Machines to and From vCloud Director,

on page 74.

a. The user interface column identifies instances where only a specific Zerto User Interface can be used.

38

After initializing the VPG, all writes to the protected virtual machines are sent by the VRA on the relevant host for each
virtual machine on the protected site to the VRA on the recovery site specified as the recovery host for the virtual machine.
The information is saved in the journal for the virtual machine with a timestamp, ensuring write-fidelity. Every few seconds
the Zerto Virtual Manager causes a checkpoint to be written to every journal on the recovery site for every virtual machine
in the VPG, ensuring crash-consistency.
The data remains in the journal until the time specified for the journal when it is moved to the relevant mirror disks, also
managed by the VRA for the virtual machine. In this way, you can recover the virtual machines using the mirror disks and
then promoting the data from the journal to include the final few hours of data for each virtual machine. Refer to The Role
of the Journal During Protection, on page 47 for more details about the journal.
The following table references the procedures to recover virtual machines protected in a VPG:
Reference
General overview of recovery procedures

Overview of Disaster Recovery Operations, on page 159.

Recover virtual machines using a live failover

Managing Failover, on page 178.

Planned move of protected virtual machines

Migrating a Protection Group to the Recovery Site, on page 172.

Clone of protected virtual machines

Cloning a Protection Group to the Recovery Site, on page 188.

Flow for a Test Failover Operation

When testing that the recovery works as planned, the VRA creates the virtual machines defined in the VPG and uses
scratch disks to simulate the virtual machine disks for the duration of the test. This enables the ongoing protection of the
virtual machines and the possibility of a live failover if required during the test.
The following table references the procedure to recover virtual machines:
Reference
General overview of recovery procedures

Overview of Disaster Recovery Operations, on page 159.

Testing failover

Testing Recovery, on page 162.

Flow for an Offsite Backup and Restore Operation

If there is a requirement to extend the recovery ability to more than five days available with disaster recovery, Zerto Virtual
Replication provides an offsite back up option that enables saving the protected virtual machines offsite for up to one year
in a state where they can be easily deployed. The recovery virtual machines are saved in a repository of offsite backups
which can extend as far back as a year. These offsite backups are fixed points saved either weekly or monthly in addition to
the almost immediate recovery available in cases of a disaster. When the offsite backup job starts, the Virtual Backup
Appliance (VBA) on the recovery site communicates with the VRAs to create the virtual machine files, such as the vmx
and vmdk files in the repository, including the data from the journal. To save space the offsite backups can be compressed
before they are stored in the repository.
During a restore of an offsite backup, the VBA communicates with the VRA on the recovery site to create the virtual
machines and their disks from the information in the repository.
The following table references the procedure to set up repositories to enable protecting virtual machines in a VPG with
extended recovery:
Reference
Setting up repositories for extended recovery
(offsite backup)

Setting Up Offsite Backups, on page 42.

39

Overview of Recovery Flows

The following table references the appropriate procedure to protect virtual machines for extended backup:

Protect virtual machines from a

vCenter and recover to a vCenter

User
Interfacea

Reference

All Zerto User

Interfaces

Creating a Virtual Protection Group to a Recovery Site vCenter

Server, on page 52.

Protect and recover virtual machines to

the same vCenter
Protect a single virtual machine in a
vCenter and recover to a vCenter

Protecting Virtual Machines to the Same Site, on page 62.

Protect a vApp in a vCenter and

recover to a vCenter

vSphere Web Protecting a Single Virtual Machine, on page 63.

Client or Client
console only
Protecting a vApp (Via the VMware Web Client or Client
Console), on page 65.

Protect virtual machines to or from

vCloud Director

All Zerto User

Interfaces

Protecting Virtual Machines to and From vCloud Director, on

page 74.

a. The user interface column identifies instances where only a specific Zerto User Interface can be used.

After initializing the VPG, Zerto Virtual Replication periodically checks that the schedule to run an offsite backup has not
been passed, either a daily offsite backup or a weekly offsite backup. At the scheduled backup time, the offsite backup is
run and the offsite backup file stored in the specified repository.
Offsite backups are kept for the retention period specified in the VPG. However, over time the number of stored offsite
backups is reduced to save space.
The following table references the procedures to restore virtual machines:
Reference
Restore backed up protected virtual machines to the recovery site

Restoring an Offsite Backup, on page 192.

The number of stored offsite backups for daily backups is as follows:

Retention
period

Daily Weekly Monthly Number of Maximum Number of

Backups Days to Oldest Backup

1 week

1 month

11

35

3 months

13

91

6 months

16

175

9 months

19

259

12 months

11

22

343

That is, an offsite backup is kept for each day for the current week and then the oldest offsite backup for the previous week
is kept for the previous four weeks and then the oldest monthly backup is kept for the rest of the retention period.
The number of stored offsite backups for weekly backups is as follows:
Retention
period

Weekly Monthly Number of Maximum Number of

Backups Days to Oldest Backup

1 week

1 month

58

3 months

121

6 months

10

205

9 months

13

289

12 months

12

16

373

40

Overview of Recovery Flows

That is, an offsite backup is kept for each week for the current month and then the oldest backup for the month is kept and
then the oldest monthly backup is kept for the rest of the retention period.

41

Chapter 5: Setting Up Offsite Backups

Disaster recovery using Zerto Virtual Replication enables recovering from a disaster to any point between the moment just
before the disaster and a specified amount of time in the past up to five days. The recovery is done in real time at the
recovery site with a minimal RTO.
If there is an additional requirement to extend the recovery ability to more than five days, Zerto Virtual Replication
provides an offsite back up option that enables saving the protected virtual machines offsite in a state where they can be
easily deployed for up to one year.
The virtual machine files are saved in a repository accessible from the recovery site for the required period. Each virtual
machine can have multiple offsite backups created according to a fixed schedule.
The offsite backups are managed by a Windows service, the Virtual Backup Appliance (VBA). The VBA is installed as part
of the Zerto Virtual Replication installation. During an offsite backup, the VBA communicates with the VRAs on the
recovery site to create the virtual machine files, such as the vmx and vmdk files in a repository. The offsite backups are
fixed points saved either weekly or monthly in the repository. Before you can create an offsite backup for virtual machines,
you must first create one or more repositories for the offsite backup jobs.
The following offsite backup set up options are described in this chapter:

Creating an Offsite Backup Repository, below.

Editing an Offsite Backup Repository, on page 44.

Creating an Offsite Backup Repository

You define the repositories where offsite backups are defined on the recovery site and can be stored, either locally, at the
recovery site, or on a network share which uses the SMB, Server Message Block, protocol. When an offsite backup is
defined, the repository where you want this offsite backup stored is specified.
To create an offsite backup repository:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface for the recovery site, click the Setup tab and then the Repositories tab.

2.

Click New Repository.

The New Repository dialog is displayed.

42

Setting Up Offsite Backups

Specify the following settings:

Repository Name Specify a unique name for the repository.
Repository Type Either specify that the repository resides on a local or shared network disk, using the SMB protocol,
accessible from the recovery site. If the repository location is a network drive, this drive can be mounted to third party
storage, such as Amazon Web Services, AWS.
Path The path from the recovery site where the repository will reside. The path must be accessible from the Zerto
Virtual Manager, so if the repository is on a different domain to the Zerto Virtual Manager, the domain must be
included in the path.
Username Username to access the Network Share drive. The name can be entered using either of the following
formats:
username
domain\username
This field is not displayed when the type is Local.
Password Password to access the Network Share drive. This field is not displayed when the type is Local.
Validate Button You must validate the path specified. If the folder does not exist, you are asked if you want to create
it.
Set as Default Repository Check if you want the repository to be used as the default when specifying extended
recovery in a VPG.
Enable Compression Check this option to compress backups stored in the repository. Compression is done using zip
compression, set to level six. If you want better compression, which requires more CPU, or less compression to reduce
the CPU overhead, contact Zerto support.
3.

Click Save.
The repository is created.

You can define more than one repository and when defining offsite backup, you specify which repository to use. The
default repository is the default displayed when an offsite backup is defined.
Note: A cloud service provider using Zerto Cloud Manager must also add the repository to either the vCenter resources or
vCD resources in the Zerto Cloud Manager, as described in the Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
You can export the list of repositories with their details to an Excel worksheet by clicking the Export button.
After creating a repository you can specify virtual machines to be backed up to the repository, described in either
Protecting Virtual Machines to and From a vCenter Server, on page 52 or Protecting Virtual Machines to and From

43

Setting Up Offsite Backups

vCloud Director, on page 74, and restore backed up machines as described in Restoring Protected Virtual Machines
From an Offsite Backup Repository, on page 192.

Editing an Offsite Backup Repository

You edit the repositories from the Repositories tab.
To edit an offsite backup repository:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface for the recovery site, click the Setup tab and then the Repositories tab.

2.

Click the Edit icon for the repository to edit.

The Edit Backup Repository dialog is displayed.

Specify the following settings:

Repository Name Specify a unique name for the repository.
Repository Type Either specify that the repository resides on a local or shared network disk, using the SMB protocol,
accessible from the recovery site. If the repository location is a network drive, this drive can be mounted to third party
storage, such as Amazon Web Services, AWS.
Path The path from the recovery site where the repository will reside. The path must be accessible from the Zerto
Virtual Manager, so if the repository is on a different domain to the Zerto Virtual Manager, the domain must be
included in the path.
Capacity The overall capacity of the repository.
Free Space The amount of free space currently available for the repository.
Username Username to access the Network Share drive. The name can be entered using either of the following
formats:
username
domain\username
This field is not displayed when the type is Local.
Password Password to access the Network Share drive. This field is not displayed when the type is Local.
Validate Button You must validate the path specified. If the folder does not exist, you are asked if you want to create
it.
Set as Default Repository Check if you want the repository to be used as the default when specifying extended
recovery in a VPG.
Enable Compression Check this option to compress backups stored in the repository. Compression is done using zip
compression, set to level six. If you want better compression, which requires more CPU, or less compression to reduce
the CPU overhead, contact Zerto support.
3.

Click Save.

44

Setting Up Offsite Backups

The edited repository is details are saved.

45

Chapter 6: Protecting Virtual Machines

Virtual machines are protected in virtual protection groups. A virtual protection groups (VPG) is a group of virtual
machines that you want to group together for recovery purposes. For example, the virtual machines that comprise an
application like Microsoft Exchange, where one virtual machine is used for the software, one for the database and a third
for the Web Server, require that all three virtual machines are replicated to maintain data integrity.
Once a virtual machine is protected, all changes made on the machine are replicated in the remote site. The replicated
virtual machines in the remote site can be recovered to any point in time defined for the VPG or if a period further in the
past is required, an offsite backup can be restored.
On the creation of a VPG, a replica of each virtual machine disk in the VPG is created under a VRA on the recovery site.
These replica VMDKs must be populated with the data in the protected virtual machines, which is done by synchronizing
the protected virtual machines with the recovery site replicas. This synchronization between the protected site and remote
site takes time, depending on the size of the virtual machine.
After the initial synchronization completes, only the writes to disk from the virtual machine in the protected site are sent to
the remote site. These writes are stored by the Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA) in the remote site in a journal for a
specified period, after which, the old writes are promoted to the replica virtual disk managed by the VRA.
The number of VPGs that can be defined on a site is limited only by the number of virtual machines that can be protected.
Each site can protect a maximum of 5000 virtual machines.
Note: If two paired sites both have VPGs defined such that if the VPGs on one site are recovered to the paired site, the
5000 virtual machine limit still applies and if the total exceeds this limit, VPGs that take the number of virtual machines
over the limit will not be recovered.
The following topics are described in this chapter:

Configuring Virtual Protection Groups, below.

The Role of the Journal During Protection, on page 47.
What happens After the VPG is Defined, on page 49.

Configuring Virtual Protection Groups

You protect one or more virtual machines in a VPG. The VPG must include at least one virtual machine. After creating a
VPG, you can add or remove virtual machines as required. Each virtual machine that can be protected can have a
maximum of 15 disks.
The VPG includes the virtual machines to recover. These virtual machines can be defined under a single ESX/ESXi host or
under multiple ESX/ESXi hosts.The recovery can also be to a single ESX/ESXi host or multiple ESX/ESXi hosts. The virtual
machines are also recovered with the same configuration as the protected machines. For example, if a virtual machine in
the protected site is configured so that space is allocated on demand (thin provisioning) and this machine is protected in a
VPG, then during recovery the machine is defined in the recovery site as thin provisioned.
Note: In order to create a VPG you must have a recovery site available with a host with a VRA installed. The recovery site
can either be a remote site, paired with the protected site, or the protected site itself, in the case where both the protection
and recovery are to the same site.
The VPG definition consists of the following:
General Settings A name to identify the VPG and the priority to assign to the VPG.
Virtual machines to be protected The list of virtual machines being protected with details about the machine as well
as the boot order to apply to groups of the virtual machines during recovery.
Replication Settings VPG replication settings, such as the recovery site, host and storage and the VPG SLA. SLA
information includes the default journal history settings and how often tests should be performed on the VPG. The
defaults are applied to every virtual machine in the VPG but can be overridden per virtual machine, as required.

46

Note: Cloud service providers can group the VPG SLA properties together in a service profile. When a service profile is
used, the VPG SLA settings cannot be modified unless a Custom service profile is available.
Storage Settings By default the storage used for the virtual machine definition is also used for the virtual machine
data. This storage can be overridden per virtual machine, as required.
Recovery Settings Recovery details include the networks to use for recovered virtual machines and scripts that
should be run either at the start or end of a recovery operation.
NIC Settings Specify the network details to use for the recovered virtual machines after a live or test failover or
migration.
Backup Settings Specify the backup properties that govern the VPG backup, including the repository where the
backups are saved.
You can protect most types of virtual machines running in a vCenter. However, you cannot protect virtual machines with
VirtualEthernetCardLegacyNetworkBackingInfo NICs nor with IDE devices. Also, protected virtual machine VMDK
descriptor files should be default disk geometry settings. Both the disk geometry and BIOS geometry are written in the
descriptor file under ddb.geometry.sectors and ddb.geometry.biosSectors respectively. If these values do not each equal
63 then there may be a recovery issues unless you configure the VPG using preseeded volumes.

The Role of the Journal During Protection

After defining a VPG, the protected virtual machine disks are synced with the recovery site. After initial synchronization,
every write to a protected virtual machine is copied by Zerto Virtual Replication. The write continues to be processed
normally on the protected site and the copy is asynchronously sent to the recovery site and written to a journal managed
by a Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA). Each protected virtual machine has its own journal.
In addition to the writes, every few seconds all journals are updated with a checkpoint time-stamp. Checkpoints are used
to ensure write order fidelity and crash-consistency. A recovery can be done to the last checkpoint or to a user-selected,
crash-consistent, checkpoint. This enables recovering the virtual machines, either to the last crash-consistent point-intime or for example, when the virtual machine is attacked by a virus, to a point-in-time before the virus attack.
Data and checkpoints are written to the journal until the specified journal history size is reached, which is the optimum
situation. At this point, as new writes and checkpoints are written to a journal, the older writes are written to the virtual
machine recovery virtual disks. When specifying a checkpoint to recover to, the checkpoint must still be in the journal. For
example, if the value specified is 24 hours then recovery can be specified to any checkpoint up to 24 hours. After the time
specified, the mirror virtual disk volumes maintained by the VRA are updated.
During recovery, the virtual machines at the recovery site are created and the recovery disks for each virtual machine,
managed by the VRA, are attached to the recovered virtual machines. Information in the journal is promoted to the virtual
machines to bring them up to the date and time of the selected checkpoint. To improve the RTO during recovery, the
virtual machine can be used even before the journal data has been fully promoted. Every request is analyzed and the
response is returned from the virtual machine directly or, if the information in the journal is more up-to-date, it comes from
the journal. This continues until the recovery sites virtual environment is fully restored to the selected checkpoint.
Each protected virtual machine has its own dedicated journal, consisting of one or more volumes. A dedicated journal
enables journal data to be maintained, even when changing the host for the recovery. The default datastore used for a
journal when protecting to a vCenter Server is the datastore used for recovery of each virtual machine. Thus for example, if
protected virtual machines in a VPG are configured with different recovery datastores, the journal data is by default stored
for each virtual machine on that virtual machine recovery datastore. The default datastore used for a journal when
protecting to a vCloud Director is the datastore with the most free space, that has either been defined as a journal
datastore for the provider vDC, in the Configure Provider vDCs dialog or any datastore visible to the recovery host
if the journal datastore was not defined in the Configure Provider vDCs dialog.

47

Protecting Virtual Machines

The journals for the protected virtual machines are defined as part of the VPG definition and by default are defined to
reside on the same datastore as the virtual machine. This can be overridden at the virtual machine and VPG levels as
follows.
Allows Storage Notes
Tiering
Default Journal

No

The journal is located on the virtual machine recovery datastore.

By default, the recovery datastore for each virtual machine is the same as the
virtual machine recovery datastore.

Journal datastore No
separate from VM
datastore for each
VM

Specify a journal datastore for each virtual machine. All journals for the virtual
machine are stored in this datastore.

Journal Datastore Yes

for Each VPG

Specify a journal datastore for each VPG. All journals for the virtual machines in
the VPG are stored in this datastore.

Journal Datastore Yes

for Multiple VPGs

Enables the use of advanced settings such as storage IO controls etc., to provide
individualized service to customers by grouping VPGs by customer and assigning
each group to a specific datastore.
This option is recommended for cloud service providers.

Journal Sizing
The journal is always thin-provisioned. The provisioned journal size initially allocated for a journal is 16GB. The provisioned
journal size is the current size of all the journal volumes.
If the journal grows to approximately 80% of the provisioned journal size or less than 6GB remains free, a new volume is
added to increase the journal size. Each new journal volume added is bigger than the previous volume. The journal size can
increase up until a specified hard limit.
When the amount of the journal used is approximately 50% of the provisioned journal size, the biggest unused journal
volume from the added volumes is marked for removal. This volume is then removed after the time equivalent to three
times the amount specified for the journal history, or twenty-four hours, whichever is more if it is still not used.
With VMFS datastores and when the VRA is on a host ESXi that is version 5.1 or higher, the journal can also reclaim unused
space on a volume.
Reclaiming space on a volume does not change the provisioned journal size, the current size of all the journal volumes.
Also, unused space is not reclaimed when using NFS datastores or any datastore with a host with a version less than 5.1.
When a virtual machine journal becomes close to a specified hard limit, Zerto Virtual Replication starts to move data and
checkpoints to the target disks. Once this begins, the maintained history begins to decrease. If the journal history falls
below 75% of the value specified for the journal history, a warning alert is issued in the GUI. If the history falls below one
hour, an error is issued. However, if the amount of history defined is only one hour, an error is issued if it is less than 45
minutes.
If the datastore where the journal resides drops below 30GB or 15% of the total datastore size, whichever is the smaller of
these two values, the datastore itself is considered full and an error alert is issued and all writes to journal volumes on that
datastore are blocked. Replication is halted, but history is not lost. As such, the RPO begins to steadily increase until space
is made available on the datastore.
Testing Considerations When Determining Journal Size
When a VPG is tested, either during a failover test or before committing a Move or Failover operation, a scratch volume is
created for each virtual machine being tested. The scratch volume created uses the same size limit defined for the virtual
machine journal.

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Protecting Virtual Machines

The size limit of the scratch volume determines the length of time that you can test for. Larger limits enable longer testing
times if the constant rate of change is constant. If a small hard limit size is set for this amount of history, for example 23
hours, the scratch volume created for testing will also be small, thus limiting the time available for testing.

What happens After the VPG is Defined

After defining a VPG and clicking Save in the Manage VPG dialog, the VPG is created. The VRA in the remote site is
updated with information about the VPG and then the data on the protected virtual machines are synchronized with the
replication virtual machines managed by the VRA on the recovery site. This process can take some time, depending on the
size of the VMs and the bandwidth between the sites.

During this synchronization, you cannot perform any replication task, such as adding a checkpoint, on the virtual machine.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on. The VRA requires an active IO
stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized across the sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there
is no IO stack to use to access the protected data to replicate to the target recovery disks and an alert is issued.

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Protecting Virtual Machines

Once synchronized, the VRA on the recovery site includes a complete copy of every virtual machine in the VPG. After
synchronization the virtual machines in the VPG are fully protected, meeting their SLA, and the delta changes to these
virtual machines are sent to the recovery site.

Note: The values for each virtual machine in the VPG include the provisioned storage and used storage. These values are
the values that are used in the vCenter Server and displayed in the vSphere Client console per virtual machine in the Virtual
Machines tab for the root vCenter Server node. Each value is the sum of both the hard disk and memory. Thus, a virtual
machine with 1GB hard disk and 4GB memory will show 5GB provisioned storage.
For details of the screen, see Monitoring a VPG, on page 92.

Disaster Recovery
After initializing the VPG, all writes to the protected virtual machines are sent by the VRA on the relevant host for each
virtual machine on the protected site to the VRA on the recovery site specified as the recovery host for the virtual machine.
The information is saved in the journal for the virtual machine with a timestamp, ensuring write-fidelity. Every few seconds
the Zerto Virtual Manager causes a checkpoint to be written to every journal on the recovery site for every virtual machine
in the VPG, ensuring crash-consistency.
The data remains in the journal until the time specified for the journal when it is moved to the relevant mirror disks, also
managed by the VRA for the virtual machine. In this way, you can recover the virtual machines using the mirror disks and
then promoting the data from the journal to include the final few hours of data for each virtual machine. Refer to The Role
of the Journal During Protection, on page 47 for more details about the journal.

Offsite Backups
After initializing the VPG, Zerto Virtual Replication periodically checks that the schedule to run an offsite backup has not
been passed, either a daily offsite backup or a weekly offsite backup. At the scheduled backup time, the offsite backup is
run and the offsite backup file stored in the specified repository.

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Protecting Virtual Machines

Offsite backups are kept on the recovery site for the retention period specified in the VPG. However, over time the number
of stored offsite backups is reduced to save space.
The number of stored offsite backups for daily backups is as follows:
Retention
period

Daily Weekly Monthly Number of Maximum Number of

Backups Days to Oldest Backup

1 week

1 month

11

35

3 months

13

91

6 months

16

175

9 months

19

259

12 months

11

22

343

That is, an offsite backup is kept for each day for the current week and then the oldest offsite backup for the previous week
is kept for the previous four weeks and then the oldest monthly backup is kept for the rest of the retention period.
The number of stored offsite backups for weekly backups is as follows:
Retention
period

Weekly Monthly Number of Maximum Number of

Backups Days to Oldest Backup

1 week

1 month

58

3 months

121

6 months

10

205

9 months

13

289

12 months

12

16

373

That is, an offsite backup is kept for each week for the current month and then the oldest backup for the month is kept and
then the oldest monthly backup is kept for the rest of the retention period.

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Chapter 7: Protecting Virtual Machines to and From a

vCenter Server

When both the protected site and recovery site are vCenter Servers, protection can be as follows:

Creating a Virtual Protection Group to a Recovery Site vCenter Server, below.

Protecting Virtual Machines to the Same Site, on page 62.
Protecting a Single Virtual Machine, on page 63.
Protecting a vApp (Via the VMware Web Client or Client Console), on page 65.

The protection can be set up to cope with either:

A disaster, enabling recovery to any point in time in the five days prior to the disaster

Or,
Extended recovery to backup files saved either daily or weekly for a period up to one year. The same dialog is used to
set up both disaster recover and extended recovery.

Creating a Virtual Protection Group to a Recovery Site vCenter

Server
You can protect virtual machines to a recovery site vCenter Server.
To create a virtual protection group (VPG):
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, click the New VPG button.

The New VPG dialog is displayed, unless there is only one possible recovery site, in which case the Manage VPG
dialog is displayed.
When protection is to an enterprise, the enterprise version of the New VPG dialog is displayed.

Specify the recovery site and click Continue.

When protection is to a cloud service provider using Zerto Cloud Manager, the cloud version of the New VPG dialog is
displayed.

Specify the ZORG and recovery site supplied by the cloud service provider and click Continue.

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Note: If the recovery site has vCD defined, the Recovery site is vCD checkbox is automatically selected. To
recover to the underlying vCenter Server, uncheck the box.
The Manage VPG dialog is displayed. The dialog can vary dependent on whether the license being used is a cloud
license or an enterprise license and whether Zerto Cloud Manager is used or not.
The Manage VPG dialog when an enterprise license is used:

When protecting to a site with a cloud license, WAN compression is always implemented, so the WAN
Compression checkbox is not displayed.

When protecting to a cloud site and the cloud service provider uses Zerto Cloud Manager, WAN compression is
always implemented, so the WAN Compression checkbox is not displayed and the VPG SLA values are controlled
by a service profile. In addition, each VPG is defined for a Zerto Organization, ZORG, defined in the Zerto Cloud
Manager. The ZORG is also part of the VPG definition.

The Manage VPG dialog is divided in to the following sections:

General Settings A name to identify the VPG and the priority to assign to the VPG.
Virtual machines to be protected The list of virtual machines being protected with details about the machine as well
as the boot order to apply to groups of the virtual machines during recovery.

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Protecting Virtual Machines to and From a vCenter Server

Replication Settings VPG replication settings, such as the recovery site, host and storage and the VPG SLA. SLA
information includes the default journal history settings and how often tests should be performed on the VPG. The
defaults are applied to every virtual machine in the VPG but can be overridden per virtual machine, as required.
Note: Cloud service providers can group the VPG SLA properties together in a service profile. When a service profile is
used, the VPG SLA settings cannot be modified unless a Custom service profile is available.
Storage Settings By default the storage used for the virtual machine definition is also used for the virtual machine
data. This storage can be overridden per virtual machine, as required.
Recovery Settings Recovery details include the networks to use for recovered virtual machines and scripts that
should be run either at the start or end of a recovery operation.
NIC Settings Specify the network details to use for the recovered virtual machines after a live or test failover or
migration.
Backup Settings Specify the backup properties that govern the VPG backup, including the repository where the
backups are saved.
2.

Optionally, change the name provided for the VPG in the VPG Name field.
Note: The name must be unique per ZORG, when a ZORG is specified or every VPG when a ZORG is not specified.
Zerto Virtual Replication checks that the name is unique as long as a VPG with the same name is not being defined
while this VPG is still being created.

3.

When the Zerto Cloud Manager is used select the service profile.
Service Profile The name of the service profile to use which determines the VPG SLA settings for the group, which
apply to every virtual machine in the group. To change the VPG SLA settings, select the Custom Service Profile.

4. If the VPG SLA settings are editable, when the Zerto Cloud Manager is not used or when a Custom service profile is
available, specify these settings for the group, which apply to every virtual machine in the group.
Recovery Policy Whether you want to protect the virtual machines against a disaster only with the ability to recover
to a point in time up to five days before the disaster, or also want to extend the recovery to include offsite backups of
the virtual machines, going back for a maximum of one year.
DR Properties The properties you want for the VPG for disaster recovery.
Priority (QOS) Used to determine the priority for transferring data from the protected site to the recovery site
when there is limited bandwidth and more than one VPG is defined on the protected site. When there are updates
to virtual machines protected in VPGs with different priorities, first the updates from the VPG with the highest
priority are passed over the WAN. Medium priority VPGs will only be able to use whatever bandwidth is left after
the high priority VPGs have used it. This is also true between medium and low priorities. Note that updates to the
protected virtual machines are always sent across the WAN before synchronization data, such as during a
Bitmap Sync or Delta Sync. During a synchronization, only after updates to the virtual machines are sent
over the WAN, based on the VPG priority, is synchronization data from the VPG sent, and the synchronization
data from the VPG with the highest priority is passed over the WAN before data from medium and low priority
VPGs.
Target RPO Alert The maximum desired time between each automatic checkpoint being written to the journal
before an alert is issued. In reality checkpoints are written more frequently.
Default Journal History The time for which all write commands are saved in the journal.
The more time saved the more space is required for each journal in the VPG to store the information saved. The
maximum journal size can be configured by clicking the configuration button to display the Manage Journal
dialog:

When custom values are selected for the Journal Size Hard Limit and Journal Size Warning
Threshold fields, the following is displayed:

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Protecting Virtual Machines to and From a vCenter Server

Journal Datastore The datastore used for the journal data for each virtual machine in the VPG. To change the
default, you must first specify a default host and then select one of the datastores accessible by this host to be
used as the journal datastore. When you select a specific journal datastore, the journals for each virtual machine
in the VPG are stored in this datastore, regardless of where the recovery datastores are for each virtual machine.
In this case, all the protected virtual machines must be recovered to ESX/ESXi hosts that can access the specified
journal datastore.
Journal Size Hard Limit The maximum size that the journal can grow, either as a percentage or fixed amount.
When the value is Unlimited the size for the journal is unlimited and it can grow to the size of the recovery
datastore. When the value is Custom, you can specify a maximum journal size, either as a percentage of the
virtual machine volume size or as a fixed maximum size. The minimum journal size, set by Zerto Virtual
Replication, is 8GB. The journal is always thin-provisioned.
Journal Size Warning Threshold The size of the journal that triggers a warning that the journal has neared its
hard limit, either as a percentage or fixed amount. You can specify the value as unlimited or change the value to
Custom in order to specify a threshold, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed
size, both of which must be less than the configured hard limit so that the warning will be generated if needed. In
addition to the warning threshold, Zerto Virtual Replication will issue a message when the free space available for
the journal is close to being as full as it can be.
Test Frequency Reminder The time recommended between testing the integrity of the VPG. A warning is issued
if a test is not done within this time frame.
WAN Compression (displayed when the Zerto Virtual Replication license is an enterprise license) Whether the
data is compressed before being transferred to the recovery site or not. Compressing the data is more efficient
but results in a small performance degradation. Enable WAN compression if network considerations are more
critical than CPU usage considerations. Even if WAN compression is selected, Zerto Virtual Replication decreases
the level of compression if it takes too many resources. The VRA automatically adjusts the compression level
according to CPU usage, including totally disabling it if needed. Zerto Virtual Replication can also work with thirdparty WAN optimization and acceleration technologies, such as those supplied by Riverbed Technologies, Silver
Peak, and others. When third-party WAN optimization is implemented, it is recommended to disable the VPG
WAN compression.
Backup Properties If you specified that the recovery policy is Extended Recovery, specify the offsite backup
properties you want. Extended recovery extends the ability to recover virtual machines in a VPG going back one year.
Repository Name The name of the repository where the offsite backups are written. Repositories are configured
via the Setup tab as described in Creating an Offsite Backup Repository, on page 42. The repository details can
be viewed by clicking the configuration button to display the Backup Settings dialog:

The repository tab shows the repository which can be either a local drive or an SMB network share drive. If
the repository resides on a network share drive, username and password information to access the drive is
also displayed.

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Protecting Virtual Machines to and From a vCenter Server

Job Start Time The time to start an offsite backup job. The backup job schedule can be configured by clicking the
calendar button to display the Backup Settings dialog:

Retention Period The length of time to keep each backup job, up to a maximum of one year.
Job Start Time The time in the day to start the backup job.
Automatic Retry The policy to use if the backup job does not complete successfully, including the number
of retries that will be attempted and the time to wait after a job fails before retrying to run the job.
Backup Window If there are specific times on specific days in the week when you do not want a backup job
run, check the Backup Window checkbox and the click the configuration (cog) button to display the
Backup Window dialog. By default all tines on all days are valid to start a backup. Click the times per day
when you do not want a backup job to run.
Retention Period The period to keep the offsite backups, specified in the Backup Settings dialog. For
details of how this affects the number of backups saved, refer to Offsite Backups, on page 50.
5.

Verify the settings for the VPG.

ZORG (displayed when Zerto Cloud Manager is used) The Zerto organization. For details, refer to Zerto Cloud
Manager Administration Guide.
Recovery Site The site to which you want to recover the virtual machines. The recovery site selected in the New
VPG dialog is displayed and cannot be changed here.

6.

Optionally, specify default values for the virtual machines you want to protect in the VPG. These default properties
can be overridden for each virtual machine in the group. The default value fields include a filter option, enabling fast
access to one of the items when there are too many items to see at a glance. Entering a value in the field filters the
results based on the value. The filter value is not case-sensitive.
Host The default cluster, resource pool or ESX/ESXi host, in the recovery site which handles the replicated data. If
the site is defined in Zerto Cloud Manager, only a resource pool can be specified and the resource pool must also have
been specified as a resource in Zerto Cloud Manager1. For details about Zerto Cloud Manager, refer to Zerto Cloud
Manager Administration Guide.
When a resource pool is specified, Zerto Virtual Replication checks that the resource pool capacity is enough for any
virtual machines specified in the VPG. If a resource pool is specified and DRS is disabled for the site later on, all the
resource pools are removed by VMware and recovery will be to any one of the hosts in the recovery site with a VRA
installed on it.
Note: All resource pool checks are made at the level of the VPG and does not take into account multiple VPGs using
the same resource pool. If the resource pool CPU resources are specified as unlimited in the Edit Setting dialog for the
resource pool, the actual limit is inherited from the parent but if this inherited value is too small, failover move and
failover test operations can fail, even without a warning alert being issued by Zerto Virtual Manager.
Datastore The default datastore volume to use for all the recovered virtual machine files as well as for their data
volumes. Every datastore for the selected default recovery host is included in the drop-down options. The displayed
datastores are accessible by the default host. If a cluster or resource pool is selected for the host, only datastores that
are accessible by every ESX/ESXi host in the cluster or resource pool are displayed. When specifying the recovery
storage for a virtual machine with a storage cluster, you have to specify a datastore in the cluster.

1. If Zerto Cloud Manager is used, vSphere Standard edition cannot be used.

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Protecting Virtual Machines to and From a vCenter Server

Note: Zerto Virtual Replication uses the SCSI protocol. Only disks that support this protocol can be specified.
Failover/Move Network The default network to use during a failover or move in which the recovered virtual
machines will run.
Failover Test Network The default network to use when testing the failover of virtual machines in the recovery site.
Zerto recommends using a fenced-out network so as not to impact the production network at this site.
Folder The default folder where the virtual machines are recovered. Select a folder from the list or the
[Default]ZertoRecoveryFolder folder.
The default values are used as the defaults for all the virtual machines in the VPG, but can be overridden for each
virtual machine configuration, as described in the following steps.
If values are not specified for the default values, values must be specified per virtual machine in the VPG, as
described in the following steps.
7.

Add virtual machines to the list of virtual machines that you want to protect in this group.
a) Click Add.
The Select VMs dialog is displayed with a list of virtual machines that are not protected. Virtual machines with
IDE disks cannot be protected and are not displayed. Zerto Virtual Replication supports the SCSI protocol and only
virtual machines with disks that support this protocol can be specified.
Each virtual machine that can be protected can have a maximum of 15 disks.
b) Select one or more virtual machines to be protected. If the site is defined in Zerto Cloud Manager, and the cloud
service provider is responsible for both the protection and recovery sites, an In Cloud Disaster Recovery, ICDR,
scenario, the virtual machine must be part of a resource pool and the resource pool must also have been defined
as a resource for the ZORG in Zerto Cloud Manager. For details about Zerto Cloud Manager, refer to Zerto Cloud
Manager Administration Guide.
c) Click OK.

8.

To specify the boot order of virtual machines in a VPG, click Boot Order.
When machines are started up on recovery, for example after a move operation, the virtual machines in the VPG are
not started up in a particular order. If you want specific virtual machines to startup before other machines, you can
specify a boot order. The virtual machines are defined in groups and the boot order applies to the groups and not
between individual virtual machines in the groups. You can specify a delay between groups during startup.
The Boot Order Settings dialog is displayed.

Initially, virtual machines in the VPG are displayed together under the default group. If you want specific machines to
start before other virtual machines, define new groups with one or more virtual machines in each group.
Note: There is no boot order for virtual machines in a group, only between groups.
a) Click Add or Remove to add or remove groups. You cannot remove the Default group nor a group which
contains a virtual machine.
b) To change the name of a group select the group and change the value in the Group Name field to the required
name.
c) Use the arrow buttons to move virtual machines from one group to another.

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Protecting Virtual Machines to and From a vCenter Server

d) Use the arrow buttons to change the startup order by moving the groups up or down the list.
e) Optionally, in Startup Action, specify a time delay between starting up the virtual machines in the group and
starting up the virtual machines in the next group. For example, assume three groups, Default, Server and Client
defined in this order. The Start-up delay defined for the Default group is 10, for the Server group is 100 and for the
Client group 0. The virtual machines in the Default group are started together and after 10 seconds the virtual
machines in the Server group are started. After 100 seconds the virtual machines in the Client group are started
up.
f) Click OK to save the boot order.
9.

If you want a specific recovery configuration for a virtual machine in the VPG, select the virtual machine from the list
and click Configure. Otherwise, the default values specified as part of the VPG properties are used for the virtual
machine recovery configuration.
Note: If default values were not specified, values must be specified here.
The Configure VM dialog is displayed.

The Configure VM dialog enables configuring how the protected virtual machine will be recovered, including details
about the volumes and NICs used by the virtual machine and the VMware file for the virtual machine.
Make any changes you want to the virtual machine specification on the recovery site and click Save to save the
configuration.
10. Optionally, select a volume and click Configure Selected Volume to configure the datastore used for the replicated
virtual machine vmdk files.
Note: A recovery host must be specified before you can configure recovery volumes.
The datastore specified for the replication must have at least the same amount of space as the protected volume and
then an additional amount for the journal. The amount of additional space needed for the journal can be fixed by
specifying a maximum size for the journal, or can be calculated as the average change rate for the virtual machines in
the VPG, multiplied by the length of time specified for the journal history.
Note: You can use the vSphere Client console Performance tab for each virtual machine to help estimate the change
rate. For more details, refer to Collecting Data Characteristics for VMs, on page 24.
If you click Configure Selected Volume, the Configure Volume dialog is displayed.

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Protecting Virtual Machines to and From a vCenter Server

a) Specify the datastore for recovery from one of the options.

If a cluster or resource pool is selected for the host, only datastores that are accessible by every ESX/ESXi host in
the cluster or resource pool are displayed.
Swap Disk If the virtual machine to be replicated includes a swap disk as part of its configuration, you can
specify a mirror disk for replication that is marked as a swap disk. In this case, data is not replicated to the swap
disk after initial synchronization.
Recovery Datastore The datastore to use to create disks for the replicated data. Also specify whether the target
is thin provisioned. If the source disk is thin provisioned, the default for the recovery volume is that it is also thin
provisioned.
Raw Disk (RDM) The VMware RDM (Raw Device Mapping) to use for the replication: By default, RDM is
recovered as thin-provisioned VMDK in the datastore specified in the VM Recovery Datastore field in the
Configure VM dialog, and not to RDM. You cannot define an RDM disk if the virtual machine uses a BusLogic
SCSI controller, nor when protecting or recovering virtual machines in an environment running vCenter Server 5.x
with ESX/ESXi version 4.1 hosts. Only a raw disk with the same size as the protected disk can be selected from the
list of available raw disks. Other raw disks with different sizes are not available for selection. The RDM is always
stored in the recovery datastore used for the virtual machine. The following limitations apply to protecting RDM
disks:
RDM disks with an even number of blocks can replicate to RDM disks of the same size with an even number of
blocks and to VMDKs.
RDM disks with an odd number of blocks can only replicate to RDM disks of the same size with an odd number
of blocks and not to VMDKs.
Preseed A virtual disk (the VMDK flat file and descriptor) in the recovery site that has been prepared with a
copy of the protected data. Using this option is recommended particularly for large disks so that the initial
synchronization is much faster since a Delta Sync is used to synchronize any changes written to the recovery
site after the creation of the preseeded disk. When not using a preseeded disk the initial synchronization phase
has to copy the whole disk over the WAN. When using a preseeded VMDK, you select the datastore and exact
location, folder and name, of the preseeded disk, which cannot be an IDE disk. Zerto Virtual Replication takes
ownership of the preseeded disk, moving it from its source folder to the folder used by the VRA. Only disks with
the same size as the protected disk can be selected when browsing for a preseeded disk. The datastore where the
preseeded disk is placed is also used as the recovery datastore for the replicated data. If the preseeded disk is
greater than 1TB on NFS storage, the VPG creation might fail. This is a known VMware problem when the NFS
client does not wait for sufficient time for the NFS storage array to initialize the virtual disk after the RPC
parameter of the NFS client times out. The timeout default value is 10 seconds. Refer to the VMware
documentation, http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/
search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1027919, which describes the configuration option to
tune the RPC timeout parameter using the esxcfg-advcfg -s <Timeout> /NFS/SetAttrRPCTimeout
command.
Note the following conditions:
If the protected disks are non-default geometry, configure the VPG using preseeded volumes.
If the protected disk is an RDM disk, it can be used to preseed to a recovery VMDK disk. Zerto Virtual
Replication makes sure that the VMDK disk size is a correct match for the RDM disk.
If the VPG is being defined for a Zerto Organization, ZORG, the location of the preseeded disk must be
defined in the Zerto Cloud Manager. For details, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
b) Click Save.
11. Optionally, select a NIC and click Configure Selected NIC to configure the NIC used to for the replicated VM disks.
A recovery host must be specified before you can configure recovery NICs.

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Protecting Virtual Machines to and From a vCenter Server

Note: You can configure a maximum of four NICs. If you configure more, a failover, move, or test failover operation will
fail.
If you click Configure Selected NIC, the Configure VNIC dialog is displayed.

Specify the network details to use for the recovered virtual machines after a live recovery or migration, in the Failover/
Move tab, and for the recovered virtual machines when testing the replication, in the Failover Test tab. If the settings
are the same for both failover and move networks and for the failover test network, after setting the values in either
tab, click the copy button, Copy to test or Copy to failover, to copy all the settings defined in the one tab to the other tab.
In each tab specify the following:
a) The network to use for this virtual machine.
b) Whether the Media Access Control address (MAC address) used on the protected site should be replicated on
the recovery site. The default is to use the same MAC address on both sites. Check the box to create a new MAC
address on the recovery site.
c) Whether to keep the default VNIC IP configuration or not. You can only change the VNIC IP for virtual machines
with VMware Tools running for the following operating systems: Windows 2003 and higher, Red Hat Enterprise
Linux versions 5-6, SUSE Linux Enterprise versions 10-11 and CentOS versions 5-6.x.
If you can change the VNIC IP, check the Change Failover VNIC IP Configuration in the Failover/
Move tab or Change Test VNIC IP Configuration in the Failover Test tab. If you select to use a static IP
connection, you set the IP address, subnet mask and default gateway to use. Optionally, change the preferred and
alternate DNS server IPs and the DNS suffix. If you select to use DHCP, the IP configuration and DNS server
configurations are assigned automatically, to match the protected virtual machine. You can change the DNS
suffix.
If the virtual machine has multiple NICs but is configured to only have a single default gateway, fill in a 0 for each
octet in the Default gateway field for the NICs with no default gateway.
Note: During a failover, move or test failover, if the recovered virtual machine is assigned a different IP to the original
IP, after the virtual machine has started it is automatically rebooted so that it starts up with the correct IP. If the same
network is used for both production and test failovers, it is recommended to change the IP address for the virtual
machines started for the test, so that there is no IP clash between the test machines and the production machines.
d) Click Save.
12. The virtual machine details include the following:
Recovery Host The cluster, resource pool or ESX/ESXi that will host the recovered virtual machine. If the site is
defined in Zerto Cloud Manager, only a resource pool can be specified and the resource pool must also have been
defined in Zerto Cloud Manager. For details about Zerto Cloud Manager, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration
Guide.
When a resource pool is specified, Zerto Virtual Replication checks that the resource pool capacity is enough for any
virtual machines specified in the VPG. If a resource pool is specified and DRS is disabled for the site later on, all the
resource pools are removed by VMware and recovery is to any one of the hosts in the recovery site with a VRA
installed on it.

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Protecting Virtual Machines to and From a vCenter Server

Note: All resource pool checks are made at the level of the VPG and does not take into account multiple VPGs using
the same resource pool. If the resource pool CPU resources are specified as unlimited in the Edit Setting dialog for the
resource pool, the actual limit is inherited from the parent but if this inherited value is too small, failover move and
failover test operations can fail, even without a warning alert being issued by Zerto Virtual Manager.
VM Recovery Datastore The datastore where the VMware metadata files for the virtual machine is stored, such as
the vmx file. If a cluster or resource pool is selected for the host, only datastores that are accessible by every ESX/ESXi
host in the cluster or resource pool are displayed. This is also the datastore where RDM backing files for recovery
volumes are located. When specifying the recovery storage for a virtual machine with a storage cluster, you have to
specify a datastore in the cluster.
Recovery Folder The folder where the virtual machine is recovered to.
If default values were specified in the Manage VPG dialog, they are used for the virtual machine configuration and are
displayed in the Recovery Host, VM Recovery Datastore and Recovery Folder fields. You can change these values for
the specific virtual machine by selecting new values from the drop-down lists.
Journal Size Hard Limit The maximum size that the journal can grow. You can specify the value as unlimited or
change the value to Custom in order to specify a maximum journal size, either as a percentage of the virtual machine
volume size or as a fixed maximum size.
Journal Size Warning Threshold The size of the journal that triggers a warning that the journal is almost full. You can
specify the value as automatically determined by Zerto Virtual Replication or change the value to Custom in order to
specify a threshold, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed size.

VM Journal DS The datastore used by the journal for the virtual machine.
13. Click Save to save the virtual machine configuration.
14. Configure all the virtual machines in the VPG in the same way.
15. Optionally, expand the Recovery scripts option at the bottom of the dialog to specify the settings for scripts to
run on the recovery site before or after executing a failover, move or test failover.

Command to run The name of the script to run, including the full path. The script must be located on the same
machine as the Zerto Virtual Manager for the recovery site.
Params The values of any parameters to pass to the script. Separate parameters with a space.
Timeout (sec) The time out in seconds for the script to run. If the script runs before executing a failover, move or test
failover and the script fails or a timeout value is reached, an alert is generated and the failover, move or test failover is
not performed. If the script runs after executing a failover, move or test failover and the timeout value is reached, an
alert is generated. The default timeout value is specified in the Site Configuration Advanced Settings
dialog.
For more details about running scripts with Zerto Virtual Replication, see Running Scripts Before or After Recovering
a VPG, on page 130.
16. Click Save.
The VPG is created. For details of what happens after saving the VPG, see What happens After the VPG is Defined, on
page 49.

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Protecting Virtual Machines to the Same Site

The same site can be used for both the protected and recovery sites. To enable replication to the same site, check the
Enable replication to self option in the Advanced Settings dialog, as described in Enable Replication to
the Same Site That is Protecting the Virtual Machines, on page 30.
Even if the site is not paired with another site, VPGs can be created.

Examples Where Replication to the Same Site is Required

The following list of examples is not exclusive and is intended to provide useful scenarios where replicating to the same
site can be advantageous:

In an organization that does not have a recovery site but wants to protect its virtual machines that use one datastore
by creating recovery on a second datastore. this protects against a disaster happening to the primary datastore.
Where the same vCenter Server manages different datacenters in different geographical locations. One of the
datacenters can be used as the recovery site. For example with remote offices or branch offices.
Between hosts in different clusters. Within a cluster VMware provides the tools to ensure that if there is a problem
with one host in the cluster, the virtual machines belonging to that host are vMotioned to another host, but this is not
possible between clusters.
protection against viruses, even in a single cluster, a different host can serve as the recovery host for an internal
problem with a virtual machine, such as a virus.

To define a VPG to recover to the protection site:

1.

Click New VPG.

If the site is not paired with another site, the Manage VPG dialog is displayed with the Recovery Site value
specified as site (Local) where site is the site used for both protection and recovery.

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If the site is paired with another site, the New VPG dialog is displayed with the Recover Site list including site
(Local) where site is the site used for both protection and recovery.

The procedure is the same as when protecting a virtual machines, described in Creating a Virtual Protection Group to
a Recovery Site vCenter Server, on page 52.
For details of what happens after saving the VPG, see What happens After the VPG is Defined, on page 49.

Protecting a Single Virtual Machine

You can protect a virtual machine, that is not already included in a VPG, directly via the Zerto tab for the virtual machine in
vSphere Client console. You are presented with the following options:

To create a new VPG that includes the virtual machine, as described in To create a virtual protection group (VPG):,
on page 52. When using the Zerto User Interface, use this procedure.
To add the virtual machine to an existing VPG. The virtual machine is added to the VPG, as described in To add a
virtual machine to an existing VPG via the vSphere Client console or Web Client:, below.
To create a new VPG that you intend should only include one virtual machine, as described in To protect a single
virtual machine:, on page 64. In this case, the VPG name is automatically defaulted to the name of the virtual
machine.

Note: You cannot protect virtual machines with VirtualEthernetCardLegacyNetworkBackingInfo NICs or with IDE devices.

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To add a virtual machine to an existing VPG via the vSphere Client console or Web Client:
1.

In the vSphere Client console or vSphere Web Client, select the Zerto tab for the virtual machine to be added.

2.

Click Add to Virtual Protection Group (VPG).

The Select VPG for VM Addition dialog is displayed.

3.

Select the VPG from the list of VPGs.

4. Click Save.
The Manage VPG dialog is displayed, with the virtual machine added to the list of protected virtual machines.
5.

Configure the virtual machine configuration, as described in To create a virtual protection group (VPG):, on page 52,
starting with step 9.

6.

Click Save.

The virtual machine is added to the VPG. This process may take a few minutes. The protected and recovery sites are then
synchronized so that the recovery site includes the replication of the added virtual machine in the VPG. After
synchronization, the delta changes to the virtual machine are sent to the recovery site.
To protect a single virtual machine:
1.

In the vSphere Client console, select the Zerto tab for the virtual machine to be protected.

2.

Click Protect as a Standalone VM.

The New VPG dialog is displayed, unless there is only one possible recovery site, in which case the Manage VPG
dialog is displayed.
When protection is to an enterprise, the enterprise version of the New VPG dialog is displayed.

Specify the recovery site and click Continue.

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When protection is to a cloud service provider using Zerto Cloud Manager, the cloud version of the New VPG dialog is
displayed.

Specify the ZORG and recovery site supplied by the cloud service provider and click Continue.
Note: If the recovery site has vCD defined, the Recovery site is vCD checkbox is automatically selected. To
recover to the underlying vCenter Server, uncheck the box.
3.

Make any required changes to the VPG properties, as described in Creating a Virtual Protection Group to a Recovery
Site vCenter Server, on page 52.

4. Click Save.
The VPG is created. For details of what happens after saving the VPG, see What happens After the VPG is Defined, on
page 49.

Protecting a vApp (Via the VMware Web Client or Client Console)

You can protect a vApp as a single entity in a VPG for any vApp defined under an ESX/ESXi host. All the virtual machines
defined in the vApp VPG are protected and you can migrate or recover the whole vApp as a single entity to the recovery
site.
In addition to being able to protect the vApp, you can protect individual virtual machines in the vApp, in the same way as
you protect any other virtual machine. However, if you protect a virtual machine in the vApp, you cannot then protect the
vApp as a single entity.
The individual machines in a vApp can be protected using the Zerto DR Management UI. A vApp can only be protected as
a vApp via the vSphere Web Client or Client console.
Note: Nested vApps are not protected. Also, if you drag a protected vApp under another vApp to nest it, the protection is
removed. You cannot protect vApps which include virtual machines with VirtualEthernetCardLegacyNetworkBackingInfo
NICs or with IDE devices.
To protect a vApp:
1.

In the vSphere Web Client or Client console for the protected site, select the vApp node and then the Zerto tab.
If the vApp contains virtual machines that are protected, the tab displays a message that the vApp contains protected
VMs and you have to remove the protection from these VMs before continuing to protect the vApp.
Each virtual machine in the vApp can have a maximum of 15 disks.
Note: If the site is defined in Zerto Cloud Manager, and the cloud service provider is responsible for both the
protection and recovery sites, an In Cloud Disaster Recovery, ICDR, scenario, the virtual machine must be part of a
resource pool and the resource pool must also have been defined as a resource for the ZORG in Zerto Cloud Manager.
For details about Zerto Cloud Manager, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.

2.

Click Create New VPG.

The New VPG dialog is displayed, unless there is only one possible recovery site, in which case the Manage VPG
dialog is displayed.
When protection is to an enterprise, the enterprise version of the New VPG dialog is displayed.

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Specify the recovery site and click Continue.

When protection is to a cloud service provider using Zerto Cloud Manager, the cloud version of the New VPG dialog is
displayed.

Specify the ZORG and recovery site supplied by the cloud service provider and click Continue.
Note: If the recovery site has vCD defined, the Recovery site is vCD checkbox is automatically selected. To
recover to the underlying vCenter Server, uncheck the box.
The Manage VPG dialog is displayed. The name of the VPG is the name of the vApp. You cannot add or remove
virtual machines from the VPG.
The Manage VPG dialog when an enterprise license is used:

When protecting to a site with a cloud license, WAN compression is always implemented, so the WAN
Compression checkbox is not displayed.

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When protecting to a cloud site and the cloud service provider uses Zerto Cloud Manager, WAN compression is
always implemented, so the WAN Compression checkbox is not displayed and the VPG SLA values are controlled
by a service profile. In addition, each VPG is defined for a Zerto Organization, ZORG, defined in the Zerto Cloud
Manager. The ZORG is also part of the VPG definition.

3.

If the VPG SLA settings are editable, when the Zerto Cloud Manager is not used or when a Custom service profile is
available, specify these settings for the group, which apply to every virtual machine in the group.
Recovery Policy Whether you want to protect the virtual machines against a disaster only with the ability to recover
to a point in time up to five days before the disaster, or also want to extend the recovery to include offsite backups of
the virtual machines, going back for a maximum of one year.
DR Properties The properties you want for the VPG for disaster recovery.
Priority (QOS) Used to determine the priority for transferring data from the protected site to the recovery site
when there is limited bandwidth and more than one VPG is defined on the protected site. When there are updates
to virtual machines protected in VPGs with different priorities, first the updates from the VPG with the highest
priority are passed over the WAN. Medium priority VPGs will only be able to use whatever bandwidth is left after
the high priority VPGs have used it. This is also true between medium and low priorities. Note that updates to the
protected virtual machines are always sent across the WAN before synchronization data, such as during a
Bitmap Sync or Delta Sync. During a synchronization, only after updates to the virtual machines are sent
over the WAN, based on the VPG priority, is synchronization data from the VPG sent, and the synchronization
data from the VPG with the highest priority is passed over the WAN before data from medium and low priority
VPGs.
Target RPO Alert The maximum desired time between each automatic checkpoint being written to the journal
before an alert is issued. In reality checkpoints are written more frequently.
Default Journal History The time for which all write commands are saved in the journal.
The more time saved the more space is required for each journal in the VPG to store the information saved. The
maximum journal size can be configured by clicking the configuration button to display the Manage Journal
dialog:

When custom values are selected for the Journal Size Hard Limit and Journal Size Warning
Threshold fields, the following is displayed:

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Journal Datastore The datastore used for the journal data for each virtual machine in the VPG. To change the
default, you must first specify a default host and then select one of the datastores accessible by this host to be
used as the journal datastore. When you select a specific journal datastore, the journals for each virtual machine
in the VPG are stored in this datastore, regardless of where the recovery datastores are for each virtual machine.
In this case, all the protected virtual machines must be recovered to ESX/ESXi hosts that can access the specified
journal datastore.
Journal Size Hard Limit The maximum size that the journal can grow, either as a percentage or fixed amount.
When the value is Unlimited the size for the journal is unlimited and it can grow to the size of the recovery
datastore. When the value is Custom, you can specify a maximum journal size, either as a percentage of the
virtual machine volume size or as a fixed maximum size. The minimum journal size, set by Zerto Virtual
Replication, is 8GB. The journal is always thin-provisioned.
Journal Size Warning Threshold The size of the journal that triggers a warning that the journal has neared its
hard limit, either as a percentage or fixed amount. You can specify the value as unlimited or change the value to
Custom in order to specify a threshold, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed
size, both of which must be less than the configured hard limit so that the warning will be generated if needed. In
addition to the warning threshold, Zerto Virtual Replication will issue a message when the free space available for
the journal is close to being as full as it can be.
Test Frequency Reminder The time recommended between testing the integrity of the VPG. A warning is issued
if a test is not done within this time frame.
WAN Compression (displayed when the Zerto Virtual Replication license is an enterprise license) Whether the
data is compressed before being transferred to the recovery site or not. Compressing the data is more efficient
but results in a small performance degradation. Enable WAN compression if network considerations are more
critical than CPU usage considerations. Even if WAN compression is selected, Zerto Virtual Replication decreases
the level of compression if it takes too many resources. The VRA automatically adjusts the compression level
according to CPU usage, including totally disabling it if needed. Zerto Virtual Replication can also work with thirdparty WAN optimization and acceleration technologies, such as those supplied by Riverbed Technologies, Silver
Peak, and others. When third-party WAN optimization is implemented, it is recommended to disable the VPG
WAN compression.
Backup Properties If you specified that the recovery policy is Extended Recovery, specify the offsite backup
properties you want. Extended recovery extends the ability to recover virtual machines in a VPG going back one year.
Repository Name The name of the repository where the offsite backups are written. Repositories are configured
via the Setup tab as described in Creating an Offsite Backup Repository, on page 42. The repository details can
be viewed by clicking the configuration button to display the Backup Settings dialog:

The repository tab shows the repository which can be either a local drive or an SMB network share drive. If
the repository resides on a network share drive, username and password information to access the drive is
also displayed.

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Job Start Time The time to start an offsite backup job. The backup job schedule can be configured by clicking the
calendar button to display the Backup Settings dialog:

Retention Period The length of time to keep each backup job, up to a maximum of one year.
Job Start Time The time in the day to start the backup job.
Automatic Retry The policy to use if the backup job does not complete successfully, including the number
of retries that will be attempted and the time to wait after a job fails before retrying to run the job.
Backup Window If there are specific times on specific days in the week when you do not want a backup job
run, check the Backup Window checkbox and the click the configuration (cog) button to display the
Backup Window dialog. By default all tines on all days are valid to start a backup. Click the times per day
when you do not want a backup job to run.
Retention Period The period to keep the offsite backups, specified in the Backup Settings dialog. For
details of how this affects the number of backups saved, refer to Offsite Backups, on page 50.
4. Verify the vApp settings for the VPG.
ZORG (displayed when Zerto Cloud Manager is used) The Zerto organization.
Recovery Site The site to which you want to recover the vApp. The recovery site selected in the New VPG dialog is
displayed and cannot be changed here.
vApp Recovery Cluster/Host The cluster, resource pool or ESX/ESXi host in the recovery site which handles the
replicated data. This value cannot be overridden for each virtual machine configuration, unless it is to another host in
the same cluster. If the site is defined in Zerto Cloud Manager, only a resource pool can be specified and the resource
pool must also have been specified as a resource in Zerto Cloud Manager1. For details about Zerto Cloud Manager,
refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
When a resource pool is specified, Zerto Virtual Replication checks that the resource pool capacity is enough for any
virtual machines specified in the VPG. If a resource pool is specified and DRS is disabled for the site later on, all the
resource pools are removed by VMware and recovery will be to any one of the hosts in the recovery site with a VRA
installed on it.
Note: All resource pool checks are made at the level of the VPG and does not take into account multiple VPGs using
the same resource pool. If the resource pool CPU resources are specified as unlimited in the Edit Setting dialog for the
resource pool, the actual limit is inherited from the parent but if this inherited value is too small, failover move and
failover test operations can fail, even without a warning alert being issued by Zerto Virtual Manager.
vApp Folder The default folder where the vApp is recovered. Select a folder from the list or the
[Default]ZertoRecoveryFolder folder.
5.

Optionally, specify default values for the virtual machines in the vApp.
Datastore The default datastore volume to use for all the recovered virtual machine files as well as for their data
volumes. Every datastore for the selected default recovery host is included in the drop-down options. The displayed
datastores are accessible by the default host. If a cluster or resource pool is selected for the host, only datastores that
are accessible by every ESX/ESXi host in the cluster or resource pool are displayed. When specifying the recovery
storage for a virtual machine with a storage cluster, you have to specify a datastore in the cluster.

1. If Zerto Cloud Manager is used, vSphere Standard edition cannot be used.

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Note: Zerto Virtual Replication uses the SCSI protocol. Only disks that support this protocol can be specified.
Failover/Move Network The default network to use during a failover or move in which the recovered virtual
machines will run.
Failover Test Network The default network to use when testing the failover of virtual machines in the recovery site.
Zerto recommends using a fenced-out network so as not to impact the production network at this site.
The default values are used as the defaults for all the virtual machines included in the VPG, but can be overridden for
each virtual machine configuration, as described in the following steps.
Note: You define the boot order for vCenter Server vApps in the vSphere Client console, via Edit Settings for the
vApp.
6.

If you want a specific recovery configuration for a virtual machine in the VPG, select the virtual machine from the list
and click Configure. Otherwise, the default values specified as part of the VPG properties are used for the virtual
machine recovery configuration.
Note: If default values were not specified, values must be specified here.
The Configure VM dialog is displayed.

The Configure VM dialog enables configuring how the protected virtual machine will be recovered, including details
about the VMware file for the virtual machine, and the volumes and NICs used by the virtual machine.
Make any changes you want to the virtual machine specification on the recovery site and click Save to save the
configuration.
7.

Optionally, select a volume and click Configure Selected Volume to configure the volume used to replicate the virtual
machine disks.
The datastore specified for the replication must have at least the same amount of space as the protected volume and
then an additional amount for the journal. The amount of additional space needed for the journal can be fixed by
specifying a maximum size for the journal, or can be calculated as the average change rate for the virtual machines in
the VPG, multiplied by the length of time specified for the journal history.
Note: You can use the vSphere Client console Performance tab for each virtual machine to help estimate the change
rate. For more details, refer to Collecting Data Characteristics for VMs, on page 24.
If you click Configure Selected Volume, the Configure Volume dialog is displayed.

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a) Specify the datastore for recovery from one of the options.

If a cluster or resource pool is selected for the host, only datastores that are accessible by every ESX/ESXi host in
the cluster or resource pool are displayed.
Swap Disk If the virtual machine to be replicated includes a swap disk as part of its configuration, you can
specify a mirror disk for replication that is marked as a swap disk. In this case, data is not replicated to the swap
disk after initial synchronization.
Recovery Datastore The datastore to use to create disks for the replicated data. Also specify whether the target
is thin provisioned. If the source disk is thin provisioned, the default for the recovery volume is that it is also thin
provisioned.
Raw Disk (RDM) The VMware RDM (Raw Device Mapping) to use for the replication: By default, RDM is
recovered as thin-provisioned VMDK in the datastore specified in the VM Recovery Datastore field in the
Configure VM dialog, and not to RDM. You cannot define an RDM disk if the virtual machine uses a BusLogic
SCSI controller, nor when protecting or recovering virtual machines in an environment running vCenter Server 5.x
with ESX/ESXi version 4.1 hosts. Only a raw disk with the same size as the protected disk can be selected from the
list of available raw disks. Other raw disks with different sizes are not available for selection. The RDM is always
stored in the recovery datastore used for the virtual machine. The following limitations apply to protecting RDM
disks:
RDM disks with an even number of blocks can replicate to RDM disks of the same size with an even number of
blocks and to VMDKs.
RDM disks with an odd number of blocks can only replicate to RDM disks of the same size with an odd number
of blocks and not to VMDKs.
Preseed A virtual disk (the VMDK flat file and descriptor) in the recovery site that has been prepared with a
copy of the protected data. Using this option is recommended particularly for large disks so that the initial
synchronization is much faster since a Delta Sync is used to synchronize any changes written to the recovery
site after the creation of the preseeded disk. When not using a preseeded disk the initial synchronization phase
has to copy the whole disk over the WAN. When using a preseeded VMDK, you select the datastore and exact
location, folder and name, of the preseeded disk, which cannot be an IDE disk. Zerto Virtual Replication takes
ownership of the preseeded disk, moving it from its source folder to the folder used by the VRA. Only disks with
the same size as the protected disk can be selected when browsing for a preseeded disk. The datastore where the
preseeded disk is placed is also used as the recovery datastore for the replicated data. If the preseeded disk is
greater than 1TB on NFS storage, the VPG creation might fail. This is a known VMware problem when the NFS
client does not wait for sufficient time for the NFS storage array to initialize the virtual disk after the RPC
parameter of the NFS client times out. The timeout default value is 10 seconds. Refer to the VMware
documentation, http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/
search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1027919, which describes the configuration option to
tune the RPC timeout parameter using the esxcfg-advcfg -s <Timeout> /NFS/SetAttrRPCTimeout
command.
Note the following conditions:
If the protected disks are non-default geometry, configure the VPG using preseeded volumes.
If the protected disk is an RDM disk, it can be used to preseed to a recovery VMDK disk. Zerto Virtual
Replication makes sure that the VMDK disk size is a correct match for the RDM disk.
If the VPG is being defined for a Zerto Organization, ZORG, the location of the preseeded disk must be
defined in the Zerto Cloud Manager. For details, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
b) Click Save.
8.

Optionally, select a NIC and click Configure Selected NIC to configure the NIC used to for the replicated VM disks.
Note: You can configure a maximum of four NICs. If you configure more, a failover, move, or test failover operation will
fail.

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If you click Configure Selected NIC, the Configure VNIC dialog is displayed.

Specify the network details to use for the recovered virtual machines after a live recovery or migration, in the Failover/
Move tab, and for the recovered virtual machines when testing the replication, in the Failover Test tab. If the settings
are the same for both failover and move networks and for the failover test network, after setting the values in either
tab, click the copy button, Copy to test or Copy to failover, to copy all the settings defined in the one tab to the other tab.
In each tab specify the following:
a) The network to use for this virtual machine.
b) Whether the Media Access Control address (MAC address) used on the protected site should be replicated on
the recovery site. The default is to use the same MAC address on both sites. Check the box to create a new MAC
address on the recovery site.
c) Whether to keep the default VNIC IP configuration or not. You can only change the VNIC IP for virtual machines
with VMware Tools running for the following operating systems: Windows 2003 and higher, Red Hat Enterprise
Linux versions 5-6, SUSE Linux Enterprise versions 10-11 and CentOS versions 5-6.x.
If you can change the VNIC IP, check the Change Failover VNIC IP Configuration in the Failover/
Move tab or Change Test VNIC IP Configuration in the Failover Test tab. If you select to use a static IP
connection, you set the IP address, subnet mask and default gateway to use. Optionally, change the preferred and
alternate DNS server IPs and the DNS suffix. If you select to use DHCP, the IP configuration and DNS server
configurations are assigned automatically, to match the protected virtual machine. You can change the DNS
suffix.
If the virtual machine has multiple NICs but is configured to only have a single default gateway, fill in a 0 for each
octet in the Default gateway field for the NICs with no default gateway.
Note: During a failover, move or test failover, if the recovered virtual machine is assigned a different IP to the original
IP, after the virtual machine has started it is automatically rebooted so that it starts up with the correct IP. If the same
network is used for both production and test failovers, it is recommended to change the IP address for the virtual
machines started for the test, so that there is no IP clash between the test machines and the production machines.
d) Click Save.
9.

The virtual machine details include the following:

vApp Recovery Cluster/Host The host that was specified in the Manage VPG dialog to host the recovered virtual
machines in the vApp.
VM Recovery Datastore The datastore where the VMware file for the virtual machine is stored. If the host is a
cluster or resource pool, only datastores that are accessible by every ESX/ESXi host in the cluster or resource pool are
displayed. This is also the datastore where RDM backing files for recovery volumes are located.
If a default value was specified in the Manage VPG dialog for the datastore, it is used for the virtual machine
configuration and is displayed in the VM Recovery Datastore field. You can change the value for the specific
virtual machine by selecting a different datastore from the drop-down list.
Recovery Folder The folder where the virtual machine is recovered to, that was specified in the Manage VPG dialog.

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Journal Size Hard Limit The maximum size that the journal can grow. You can specify the value as unlimited or
change the value to Custom in order to specify a maximum journal size, either as a percentage of the virtual machine
volume size or as a fixed maximum size.
Journal Size Warning Threshold The size of the journal that triggers a warning that the journal is almost full. You can
specify the value as unlimited or change the value to Custom in order to specify a threshold, either as a percentage of
the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed size.

VM Journal DS The datastore used by the journal for the virtual machine.
10. Click Save to save the virtual machine configuration.
11. Configure all the virtual machines in the VPG in the same way.
12. Click Save to save the virtual machine configuration.
13. Optionally, expand the Recovery scripts option at the bottom of the dialog to specify the settings for scripts to
run on the recovery site before or after executing a failover, move or test failover.

Command to run The name of the script to run, including the full path. The script must be located on the same
machine as the Zerto Virtual Manager for the recovery site.
Params The values of any parameters to pass to the script. Separate parameters with a space.
Timeout (sec) The time out in seconds for the script to run. If the script runs before executing a failover, move or test
failover and the script fails or a timeout value is reached, an alert is generated and the failover, move or test failover is
not performed. If the script runs after executing a failover, move or test failover and the timeout value is reached, an
alert is generated. The default timeout value is specified in the Site Configuration Advanced Settings
dialog.
For more details about running scripts with Zerto Virtual Replication, see Running Scripts Before or After Recovering
a VPG, on page 130.
14. Click Save to create the VPG configuration for the vApp.
The VPG is created for the vApp. For details of what happens after saving the VPG, see What happens After the VPG is
Defined, on page 49.

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vCloud Director

When VMware vCloud Director is installed at either the protected or recovery site, protection involving vCD can be as
follows:

Replication From a vCenter Server to vCloud Director, below.

Replication From vCloud Director to vCloud Director, on page 80.
Replication From vCloud Director to a vCenter Server, on page 87.

The protection can be for set up to cope with a disaster, enabling recovery to any point in time in the five days prior to the
disaster or extended recovery to a backup files saved either daily or weekly for a period up to one year. The same dialog is
used to set up both disaster recover and extended recovery.
When the vCD site is set up within Zerto Cloud Manager, as described in Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide, the
vCenter Server underlying the vCD for the site cannot be specified as either the protected site or recovery site. When Zerto
Cloud Manager is not used, the vCenter Server underlying the vCD can be specified.
Zerto Virtual Replication does not replicate fenced mode settings. If fenced mode is configured in the vCD, it must be
enabled for recovered virtual machines after a failover or move. This can lead to clashes with MAC addresses and IP
addresses. If this occurs the MAC address or IP address must be configured after the failover or move.
When vCloud Director is used, you can have the journals on separate datastores from the recovery volumes. For example,
you might prefer to keep the recovery volumes on storage with better performance, security, and reliability and the journal
on less expensive storage1.
Note: You cannot protect virtual machines with VirtualEthernetCardLegacyNetworkBackingInfo NICs or with IDE devices.

Replication From a vCenter Server to vCloud Director

When both sites have vCloud Director installed, you can protect:

Virtual machines and vApps in the underlying vCenter Server that have not been imported to vCD.
vCD vApps. For details of protecting from vCD, refer to Replication From vCloud Director to vCloud Director, on
page 80, and Replication From vCloud Director to a vCenter Server, on page 87.

To define a VPG to vCloud Director:

1.

Click New VPG.

2.

In the New VPG dialog select the ZORG and recovery site from the list of recovery sites.
If the protected site is a vCenter Server, the following dialog is displayed:

Note: If the selected recovery site is a vCD, the Recovery site is vCD checkbox is selected.

1. As part of recovery after a failover or move operation, the data in the journal is promoted to the recovered virtual machines. During this promotion, the
virtual machines can be used, and Zerto Virtual Replication makes sure that what the user sees is the latest data, whether from the virtual machine disks
or from the journal. If the journal is on a slow storage device, this is reflected in the response time the user experiences.

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When VMware vCloud Director is installed at the protected site and there are vCD vApps defined at the protection
site, clicking New VPG results in the following New VPG dialog being displayed:

3.

Click Continue.
The following dialog is displayed if the recovery vCD is vCD 5.0 and Zerto Cloud Manager is used, so a ZORG is
required as part of the VPG definition:

If the recovery vCD is vCD 5.1 and higher, the information displayed for each virtual machine in the vCD vApp includes
the information about the storage profile used for the virtual machine.
Note: Storage profiles were introduced to vCD in version 5.1 and allow users to intelligently provision applications,
mapping virtual machines to storage levels according to predefined service levels, storage availability, performance
requirements or cost. This mechanism lets users define and label storage tiers to be used by Storage Distributed
Resource Scheduler and Storage vMotion. Virtual machines that run applications that require the highest level of
performance are mapped to tier one storage, while less critical applications are mapped to the lower tiers.
4. Optionally, change the name provided for the VPG in the VPG Name field.
Note: The name must be unique per ZORG. Zerto Virtual Replication checks that the name is unique as long as a VPG
with the same name is not being defined while this VPG is still being created.
5.

If the VPG SLA settings are editable, when the Zerto Cloud Manager is not used or when a Custom service profile is
available, specify these settings for the group, which apply to every virtual machine in the group.

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Recovery Policy Whether you want to protect the virtual machines against a disaster only with the ability to recover
to a point in time up to five days before the disaster, or also want to extend the recovery to include backups of the
virtual machines, going back for a maximum of one year.
DR Properties The properties you want for the VPG for disaster recovery.
Priority (QOS) Used to determine the priority for transferring data from the protected site to the recovery site
when there is limited bandwidth and more than one VPG is defined on the protected site. When there are updates
to virtual machines protected in VPGs with different priorities, first the updates from the VPG with the highest
priority are passed over the WAN. Medium priority VPGs will only be able to use whatever bandwidth is left after
the high priority VPGs have used it. This is also true between medium and low priorities. Note that updates to the
protected virtual machines are always sent across the WAN before synchronization data, such as during a
Bitmap Sync or Delta Sync. During a synchronization, only after updates to the virtual machines are sent
over the WAN, based on the VPG priority, is synchronization data from the VPG sent, and the synchronization
data from the VPG with the highest priority is passed over the WAN before data from medium and low priority
VPGs.
Target RPO Alert The maximum desired time between each automatic checkpoint being written to the journal
before an alert is issued. In reality checkpoints are written more frequently.
Default Journal History The time for which all write commands are saved in the journal. Each protected virtual
machine has a dedicated journal on the recovery site associated with the replicated virtual machine. This enables
journal data to be maintained, even when changing the target host for the recovery. When specifying a checkpoint
to recover to, the checkpoint must still be in the journal. For example, if the value specified here is 24 hours then
recovery can be specified to any checkpoint up to 24 hours. Data and checkpoints continue to be written to the
journal until the specified journal history is reached, which is the optimum situation. At this point, as new writes
and checkpoints are written to a journal, the older writes are written to the virtual machine recovery virtual disks
maintained by the VRA. You can further configure the journal by clicking the configuration button to display the
Manage Journal dialog.

Journal Size Hard Limit The maximum size that the journal can grow, either as a percentage or fixed
amount. When the value is Unlimited the size for the journal is unlimited and it can grow to the size of the
recovery datastore. When the value is Custom, you can specify a maximum journal size, either as a
percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed maximum size. The minimum journal size, set by
Zerto Virtual Replication, is 8GB. The journal is always thin-provisioned.
Journal Size Warning Threshold The size of the journal that triggers a warning that the journal has neared
its hard limit, either as a percentage or fixed amount. You can specify the value as unlimited or change the
value to Custom in order to specify a threshold, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or
as a fixed size, both of which must be less than the configured hard limit so that the warning will be generated
if needed. In addition to the warning threshold, Zerto Virtual Replication will issue a message when the free
space available for the journal is close to being as full as it can be.
Test Frequency Reminder The time recommended between testing the integrity of the VPG. A warning is issued
if a test is not done within this time frame.
Backup Properties If you specified that the recovery policy is Extended Recovery, specify the offsite backup
properties you want. Extended recovery extends the ability to recover virtual machines in a VPG going back one year.
Repository Name The name of the repository where the offsite backups are written. Repositories are configured
via the Setup tab as described in Creating an Offsite Backup Repository, on page 42. The repository details can
be viewed by clicking the configuration button to display the Backup Settings dialog:

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The repository tab shows the repository which can be either a local drive or an SMB network share drive. If
the repository resides on a network share drive, username and password information to access the drive is
also displayed.
Job Start Time The time to start an offsite backup job. The backup job schedule can be configured by clicking the
calendar button to display the Backup Settings dialog:

Retention Period The length of time to keep each backup job, up to a maximum of one year.
Job Start Time The time in the day to start the backup job.
Automatic Retry The policy to use if the backup job does not complete successfully, including the number
of retries that will be attempted and the time to wait after a job fails before retrying to run the job.
Backup Window If there are specific times on specific days in the week when you do not want a backup job
run, check the Backup Window checkbox and the click the configuration (cog) button to display the
Backup Window dialog. By default all tines on all days are valid to start a backup. Click the times per day
when you do not want a backup job to run.
Retention Period The period to keep the offsite backups, specified in the Backup Settings dialog. For
details of how this affects the number of backups saved, refer to Offsite Backups, on page 50.
6.

Specify the vCD settings for the VPG.

ZORG (displayed when Zerto Cloud Manager is used) The Zerto organization.
Recovery Site The site paired with the local site, to which you want to recover the virtual machines. The recovery site
selected in the New VPG dialog is displayed and cannot be changed here.
Recovery Org vDC Select the organization datacenter, as defined in vCloud Director, from the available list. The
displayed list is that list that is specified during the vCD configuration. For details refer to Zerto Cloud Manager
Administration Guide. The Recovery Storage Profile values are determined by the Recovery Org vDC.
vCD Guest Customization When checked, VMware Guest OS Customization is enabled for the virtual machine in
vCloud Director. Enabling guest customization means that the computer name and network settings configured for
this virtual machine are applied to its Guest OS when the virtual machine is powered on.

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7.

Specify the default values for the group.

Failover/Move Network The default Org Network to use during a failover or move in which the recovered virtual
machines will run.
Failover Test Network The default Org Network to use when testing the failover of virtual machines in the recovery
site.
The default values are used as the defaults for all the virtual machines included in the VPG, but can be overridden for
each virtual machine configuration, as described in the following steps.
Note: You define the boot order for vCloud Director vApps in the vCloud Director console.

8.

Add virtual machines to the list of virtual machines that you want to protect in this VPG.
a) Click Add.
The Select VMs dialog is displayed with a list of virtual machines that are not protected in the underlying
vCenter Server and that have not been imported to vCD.
Only virtual machines with a maximum of 15 disks can be protected.
b) Select one or more virtual machines to be protected. If the site is defined in Zerto Cloud Manager, and the cloud
service provider is responsible for both the protection and recovery sites, an In Cloud Disaster Recovery, ICDR,
scenario, the virtual machine must be part of a resource pool and the resource pool must also have been defined
as a resource for the ZORG in Zerto Cloud Manager. For details about Zerto Cloud Manager, refer to Zerto Cloud
Manager Administration Guide.
c) Click OK.
Note: The hardware version of the virtual machine must be the same or less than the hardware version supported by
the vDC in vCloud Director otherwise recovery of the virtual machine in vCD is not permitted. Set the supported
hardware level in the Provider vDC Properties for the vDC in the vCloud Director console.

9.

If you want a specific recovery configuration for a virtual machine in the VPG, select the virtual machine from the list
and click Configure. Otherwise, the default values specified as part of the VPG properties are used for the virtual
machine recovery configuration.
The Configure VM dialog is displayed.
Note: If default network values were not specified, values must be specified here.
The following dialog is displayed if the target vCD version is less than is vCD 5.1:

If the target vCD is vCD 5.1 and higher, you can also specify the storage profile from the available list in the VM
Advanced Settings.
The Configure VM dialog enables configuring how the protected virtual machine will be recovered, including details
about the NICs and volumes used by the virtual machine.
10. Optionally, select a volume and click Configure Selected Volume.
The Configure Volume dialog is displayed.

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a) Specify the datastore for recovery from one of the options.

Swap Disk If the virtual machine to be replicated includes a swap disk as part of its configuration, you can
specify a mirror disk for replication that is marked as a swap disk. In this case, data is not replicated to the swap
disk after initial synchronization.
Use vCD managed storage profile The datastore is allocated based on the available free space. You can specify
whether the recovery volume is thin-provisioned or not. If the Org vDC only supports thin-provisioned volumes,
you cannot change the setting.
Preseed A virtual disk (the VMDK flat file and descriptor) in the recovery site that has been prepared with a
copy of the protected data. Using this option is recommended particularly for large disks so that the initial
synchronization is much faster since a Delta Sync is used to synchronize any changes written to the recovery
site after the creation of the preseeded disk. When not using a preseeded disk the initial synchronization phase
has to copy the whole disk over the WAN. Browse to the preseed folder configured for the customer and the disk
name, of the preseeded disk. In order to use a preseeded VMDK, do the following:
Create a folder in vCD to use for the preseeded disks in the datastore you want to use for the customer.
Specify this datastore as a provider datastore for preseeded disks in the Configure provider vDCs
dialog, from the Advanced Settings dialog, as described in Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
In the Zerto Cloud Manager specify the Preseed Folder Name for the ZORG, in the Manage ZORG tab.
Zerto Virtual Replication searches for the preseeded folder in the available datastores in the Org vDCs specified in
the vCD Cloud Resources for the ZORG in the Zerto Cloud Manager and takes ownership of the preseeded disk,
moving it from its source folder to the folder used by the VRA. Note that if the virtual machine has more than one
preseeded disk, these disks must reside on the same datastore. If the preseeded disk is greater than 1TB on NFS
storage, the VPG creation might fail. This is a known VMware problem when the NFS client does not wait for
sufficient time for the NFS storage array to initialize the virtual disk after the RPC parameter of the NFS client
times out. The timeout default value is 10 seconds. Refer to the VMware documentation, http://kb.vmware.com/
selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1027919, which describes the
configuration option to tune the RPC timeout parameter using the esxcfg-advcfg -s <Timeout> /NFS/
SetAttrRPCTimeout command.
If the VPG is being defined for a Zerto Organization, ZORG, the location of the preseeded disk must be defined in
the Zerto Cloud Manager. For details, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
Note: Zerto Virtual Replication supports the SCSI protocol and only disks that support this protocol can be specified.
Virtual machine RDMs in a vCenter Server are replicated as VMDKs in a vCD environment.
b) Click Save.
11. Optionally, select the Failover/Move or Failover Test tab and then select a NIC and click Configure Selected NIC.
The Configure VNic dialog is displayed.

By default, the NIC configuration for the failover or move production environment is copied automatically to the
configuration for the test environment.
Specify the Org vDC network details to use for the recovered virtual machine:
a) The Org vDC network to use for this virtual machine or none if disconnected.
b) The VNIC IP configuration. You can only change the VNIC IP for virtual machines with VMware Tools running for
the following operating systems: Windows 2003 and higher, Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 5-6, SUSE Linux

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Enterprise versions 10-11 and CentOS versions 5-6.x, in which case you can select to have a static IP assigned,
either from a pool of IPs or manually assign the IP address.

If the virtual machine being protected has a static IP defined for a NIC, this is configured in the VPG NIC
configuration for the virtual machine, automatically.
c) The Media Access Control address (MAC address). The default is the MAC address used on the protected site so
that both the protected machine and recovered machine use the same MAC address. Either accept the default
Mac address or select Reset, to reset the MAC address on recovery of the machine.
d) Click Save.
12. The virtual machine details include the following:
Journal Size Hard Limit The maximum size that the journal can grow. You can specify the value as unlimited or
change the value to Custom in order to specify a maximum journal size, either as a percentage of the virtual machine
volume size or as a fixed maximum size.
Journal Size Warning Threshold The size of the journal that triggers a warning that the journal is almost full. You can
specify the value as automatically determined by Zerto Virtual Replication or change the value to Custom in order to
specify a threshold, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed size.
Note: The journal sizes values can only be edited if Zerto Cloud Manager is not used or if the service profile is
Custom.
If the recovery vCD is vCD 5.1 and higher:
Storage Profile Storage profiles enable mapping virtual machines to storage levels according to predefined
service levels, storage availability, performance requirements or cost. You can define and label storage tiers and
then specify the tier to use as a storage profile, for each virtual machine in the VPG. The default storage profile is
the default for the Recovery Org vDC.
Note: When moving or failing over a VPG from a site with one version of vCD to a site running a different version of
vCD, the Reverse Protection link to configure the reverse protection can change to Missing
Configuration in red, to highlight that there are settings required for one version that are not required by the other
version.
13. Click Save to save the virtual machine configuration.
14. Configure all the virtual machines in the VPG in the same way.
15. Optionally, specify the settings for scripts to run on the recovery site before or after executing a failover, move or test
failover.
16. Click Save.
The VPG is created. For details of what happens after saving the VPG, see What happens After the VPG is Defined, on
page 49.
The virtual machines in the VPG are protected as a vCD vApp in the recovery site. When recovering the VPG, reverse
replication is configured to either virtual machines or vApps, depending on what was originally protected.

Replication From vCloud Director to vCloud Director

When both sites have vCloud Director installed, you can protect:

Virtual machines and vApps in the underlying vCenter Server that have not been imported to vCD. For details of
protecting from vCenter Server, refer to Replication From a vCenter Server to vCloud Director, on page 74.
vCD vApps. For details of protecting from vCD to a vCenter Server, refer to Replication From vCloud Director to a
vCenter Server, on page 87.

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The protected machines are protected as vCD vApps in the recovery site vCD.
To define a VPG to protect a vCD vApp to vCloud Director:
1.

Click New VPG.

2.

In the New VPG dialog select the ZORG and then the vCD vApp option and select the vCD vApp to protect.

Only vCD vApps with a maximum of 15 disks per virtual machine can be protected.
3.

Select the recovery site from the list of recovery sites.

If the selected recovery site is vCD, the Recovery site is vCD checkbox is selected.
Note: The hardware version of the virtual machine must be the same or less than the hardware version supported by
the vDC in vCloud Director otherwise recovery of the virtual machine in vCD is not permitted. Set the supported
hardware level in the Provider vDC Properties for the vDC in the vCloud Director console.

4. Click Continue.
The Manage VPG dialog is displayed:

5.

The VPG name is the name of the vCD vApp. Optionally, change this name in the VPG Name field.
Note: The name must be unique per ZORG. Zerto Virtual Replication checks that the name is unique as long as a VPG
with the same name is not being defined while this VPG is still being created.

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6.

If the VPG SLA settings are editable, when the Zerto Cloud Manager is not used or when a Custom service profile is
available, specify these settings for the group, which apply to every virtual machine in the group.
Recovery Policy Whether you want to protect the virtual machines against a disaster only with the ability to recover
to a point in time up to five days before the disaster, or also want to extend the recovery to include backups of the
virtual machines, going back for a maximum of one year.
DR Properties The properties you want for the VPG for disaster recovery.
Priority (QOS) Used to determine the priority for transferring data from the protected site to the recovery site
when there is limited bandwidth and more than one VPG is defined on the protected site. When there are updates
to virtual machines protected in VPGs with different priorities, first the updates from the VPG with the highest
priority are passed over the WAN. Medium priority VPGs will only be able to use whatever bandwidth is left after
the high priority VPGs have used it. This is also true between medium and low priorities. Note that updates to the
protected virtual machines are always sent across the WAN before synchronization data, such as during a
Bitmap Sync or Delta Sync. During a synchronization, only after updates to the virtual machines are sent
over the WAN, based on the VPG priority, is synchronization data from the VPG sent, and the synchronization
data from the VPG with the highest priority is passed over the WAN before data from medium and low priority
VPGs.
Target RPO Alert The maximum desired time between each automatic checkpoint being written to the journal
before an alert is issued. In reality checkpoints are written more frequently.
Default Journal History The time for which all write commands are saved in the journal. Each protected virtual
machine has a dedicated journal on the recovery site associated with the replicated virtual machine. This enables
journal data to be maintained, even when changing the recovery host for the recovery. When specifying a
checkpoint to recover to, the checkpoint must still be in the journal. For example, if the value specified here is 24
hours then recovery can be specified to any checkpoint up to 24 hours. Data and checkpoints continue to be
written to the journal until the specified journal history is reached, which is the optimum situation. At this point, as
new writes and checkpoints are written to a journal, the older writes are written to the virtual machine recovery
virtual disks maintained by the VRA. You can further configure the journal by clicking the configuration button to
display the Manage Journal dialog.

Journal Size Hard Limit The maximum size that the journal can grow, either as a percentage or fixed
amount. When the value is Unlimited the size for the journal is unlimited and it can grow to the size of the
recovery datastore. When the value is Custom, you can specify a maximum journal size, either as a
percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed maximum size. The minimum journal size, set by
Zerto Virtual Replication, is 8GB. The journal is always thin-provisioned.
Journal Size Warning Threshold The size of the journal that triggers a warning that the journal has neared
its hard limit, either as a percentage or fixed amount. You can specify the value as unlimited or change the
value to Custom in order to specify a threshold, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or
as a fixed size, both of which must be less than the configured hard limit so that the warning will be generated
if needed. In addition to the warning threshold, Zerto Virtual Replication will issue a message when the free
space available for the journal is close to being as full as it can be.
Test Frequency Reminder The time recommended between testing the integrity of the VPG. A warning is issued
if a test is not done within this time frame.
Backup Properties If you specified that the recovery policy is Extended Recovery, specify the offsite backup
properties you want. Extended recovery extends the ability to recover virtual machines in a VPG going back one year.
Repository Name The name of the repository where the offsite backups are written. Repositories are configured
via the Setup tab as described in Creating an Offsite Backup Repository, on page 42. The repository details can
be viewed by clicking the configuration button to display the Backup Settings dialog:

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The repository tab shows the repository which can be either a local drive or an SMB network share drive. If
the repository resides on a network share drive, username and password information to access the drive is
also displayed.
Job Start Time The time to start an offsite backup job. The backup job schedule can be configured by clicking the
calendar button to display the Backup Settings dialog:

Retention Period The length of time to keep each backup job, up to a maximum of one year.
Job Start Time The time in the day to start the backup job.
Automatic Retry The policy to use if the backup job does not complete successfully, including the number
of retries that will be attempted and the time to wait after a job fails before retrying to run the job.
Backup Window If there are specific times on specific days in the week when you do not want a backup job
run, check the Backup Window checkbox and the click the configuration (cog) button to display the
Backup Window dialog. By default all tines on all days are valid to start a backup. Click the times per day
when you do not want a backup job to run.
Retention Period The period to keep the offsite backups, specified in the Backup Settings dialog. For
details of how this affects the number of backups saved, refer to Offsite Backups, on page 50.
7.

Specify the vCD Settings for the group.

ZORG (displayed when Zerto Cloud Manager is used) The Zerto organization.
Recovery Site The site paired with the local site, to which you want to recover the virtual machines. The recovery site
selected in the New VPG dialog is displayed and cannot be changed here.
Recovery Org vDC Select the organization data center, as defined in vCloud Director, from the available list. The
displayed list is that list that is specified during the vCD configuration. For details refer to Zerto Cloud Manager
Administration Guide. The Recovery Storage Profile values are determined by the Recovery Org vDC.
vCD Guest Customization When checked, VMware Guest OS Customization is enabled for the virtual machine in
vCloud Director. Enabling guest customization means that the computer name and network settings configured for
this virtual machine are applied to its Guest OS when the virtual machine is powered on.

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Network Mapping The networks to use for failover and move operations, for failover test operations, and for test
failover operations after a failover or move when reverse protection is configured. After selecting a target Org vDC, the
vApp Network Mapping Configure button is enabled. Click the Configure button to display the Configure
Network Mapping dialog:

The list of current Org Networks is displayed and you can specify what network to use in each of the situations.
<Isolated> means that the network is an internal only vApp network.
Note: You define the boot order for vCloud Director vApps in the vCloud Director console.
8.

If you want a specific recovery configuration for a virtual machine in the VPG, select the virtual machine from the list
and click Configure. Otherwise, the default values specified as part of the VPG properties are used for the virtual
machine recovery configuration.
The Configure VM dialog is displayed.
Note: If default network values were not specified, values must be specified here.
The following dialog is displayed if the target vCD version is less than is vCD 5.1:

If the target vCD is vCD 5.1 and higher, you can also specify the storage profile from the available list in the VM
Advanced Settings.
The Configure VM dialog enables configuring how the protected virtual machine will be recovered, including details
about the NICs and volumes used by the virtual machine.
9.

Optionally, select a Volume and click Configure Selected Volume.

The Configure Volume dialog is displayed.

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a) Specify the datastore for recovery from one of the options.

Swap Disk If the virtual machine to be replicated includes a swap disk as part of its configuration, you can
specify a mirror disk for replication that is marked as a swap disk. In this case, data is not replicated to the swap
disk after initial synchronization.
Use vCD managed storage profile The datastore is allocated based on the available free space. You can specify
whether the recovery volume is thin-provisioned or not. If the Org vDC only supports thin-provisioned volumes,
you cannot change the setting.
Preseed A virtual disk (the VMDK flat file and descriptor) in the recovery site that has been prepared with a
copy of the protected data. Using this option is recommended particularly for large disks so that the initial
synchronization is much faster since a Delta Sync is used to synchronize any changes written to the recovery
site after the creation of the preseeded disk. When not using a preseeded disk the initial synchronization phase
has to copy the whole disk over the WAN. Browse to the preseed folder configured for the customer and the disk
name, of the preseeded disk. In order to use a preseeded VMDK, do the following:
Create a folder in vCD to use for the preseeded disks in the datastore you want to use for the customer.
Specify this datastore as a provider datastore for preseeded disks in the Configure provider vDCs
dialog, from the Advanced Settings dialog, as described in Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
In the Zerto Cloud Manager specify the Preseed Folder Name for the ZORG, in the Manage ZORG tab.
Zerto Virtual Replication searches for the preseeded folder in the available datastores in the Org vDCs specified in
the vCD Cloud Resources for the ZORG in the Zerto Cloud Manager and takes ownership of the preseeded disk,
moving it from its source folder to the folder used by the VRA. Note that if the virtual machine has more than one
preseeded disk, these disks must reside on the same datastore. If the preseeded disk is greater than 1TB on NFS
storage, the VPG creation might fail. This is a known VMware problem when the NFS client does not wait for
sufficient time for the NFS storage array to initialize the virtual disk after the RPC parameter of the NFS client
times out. The timeout default value is 10 seconds. Refer to the VMware documentation, http://kb.vmware.com/
selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1027919, which describes the
configuration option to tune the RPC timeout parameter using the esxcfg-advcfg -s <Timeout> /NFS/
SetAttrRPCTimeout command.
If the VPG is being defined for a Zerto Organization, ZORG, the location of the preseeded disk must be defined in
the Zerto Cloud Manager. For details, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
Note: Zerto Virtual Replication supports the SCSI protocol. Only disks that support this protocol can be specified.
Virtual machine RDMs in a vCenter Server are replicated as VMDKs in a vCD environment.
b) Click Save.
10. Optionally, select the Failover/Move or Failover Test tab and then select a NIC and click Configure Selected NIC.
The Configure VNic dialog is displayed.

By default, the NIC configuration for the failover environment is copied automatically to the configuration for the test
environment.
Specify the network details to use for the recovered virtual machines:
a) The network to use for this virtual machine or none if disconnected.
b) The VNIC IP configuration. You can only change the VNIC IP for virtual machines with VMware Tools running for
the following operating systems: Windows 2003 and higher, Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 5-6, SUSE Linux

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Enterprise versions 10-11 and CentOS versions 5-6.x, in which case you can select to have a static IP assigned,
either from a pool of IPs or manually assign the IP address.

If the virtual machine being protected has a static IP defined for a NIC, this is configured in the VPG NIC
configuration for the virtual machine, automatically.
c) The Media Access Control address (MAC address). The default is the MAC address used on the protected site so
that both the protected machine and recovered machine use the same MAC address. Either accept the default
Mac address or select Reset, to reset the MAC address on recovery of the machine.
d) Click Save.
11. The virtual machine details include the following:
Journal Size Hard Limit The maximum size that the journal can grow. You can specify the value as unlimited or
change the value to Custom in order to specify a maximum journal size, either as a percentage of the virtual machine
volume size or as a fixed maximum size.
Journal Size Warning Threshold The size of the journal that triggers a warning that the journal is almost full. You can
specify the value as automatically determined by Zerto Virtual Replication or change the value to Custom in order to
specify a threshold, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed size.
Note: The journal sizes values can only be edited if Zerto Cloud Manager is not used or if the service profile is
Custom.
If the target vCD is vCD 5.1 and higher:
Storage Profile Storage profiles enable mapping virtual machines to storage levels according to predefined
service levels, storage availability, performance requirements or cost. You can define and label storage tiers and
then specify the tier to use as a storage profile, for each virtual machine in the VPG. The default storage profile is
the default for the Recovery Org vDC.
Note: When moving or failing over a VPG from a site with one version of vCD to a site running a different version of
vCD, the Reverse Protection link to configure the reverse protection can change to Missing
Configuration in red, to highlight that there are settings required for one version that are not required by the other
version.
12. Click Save to save the virtual machine configuration.
13. Configure all the virtual machines in the VPG in the same way.
14. Optionally, specify the settings for scripts to run on the recovery site before or after executing a failover, move or test
failover.
15. Click Save.
The VPG is created. For details of what happens after saving the VPG, see What happens After the VPG is Defined, on
page 49.
The virtual machines in the VPG are protected as a vCD vApp in the recovery site. When recovering the VPG, reverse
replication is configured to either virtual machines or vApps, depending on what was originally protected.
Note: Changing the name of a vCD vApp after a VPG has been defined does not result in the name of the VPG changing.
When recovering the VPG, via a move or failover operation, reverse replication is configured to a vCD vApp.

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Replication From vCloud Director to a vCenter Server

If you want the replication to be to a vCenter Server, the vCD vApp is replicated in the recovery site as a vApp.
Note: Because recovery is as a vApp, DRS must be enabled in the recovery site. When protecting virtual machines in
vCenter Server and recovering to vCloud Director, after a recovery with reverse protection, from the vCD to the vCenter,
the virtual machines are not replicated back to the original site as a vApp.
To define a VPG to protect a vCD vApp to vCenter Server:
1.

Click New VPG.

2.

In the New VPG dialog select the ZORG and then the vCD vApp option and select the vCD vApp to protect.

3.

Select the recovery site from the list of recovery sites.

Only vCD vApps with a maximum of 15 disks per virtual machine can be protected.
If the selected recovery site is a vCD, the Recovery site is vCD checkbox is selected. Uncheck this box to
replicate the vCD vApp to the underlying vCenter Server.
4. Click Continue.
The procedure is the same as when protecting a vApp, described in Protecting a vApp (Via the VMware Web Client
or Client Console), on page 65, except that changing the name of a vCD vApp after the VPG has been defined does
not result in the name of the VPG being changed.
When recovering the VPG, via a move or failover operation, reverse replication is configured to a vCD vApp.

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You can monitor information about all the VPGs either protected at the local site or recovered to the local site in the VPGs
tab. You can also drill-down to monitor information about a specific VPG displayed in the VPGs tab or about the virtual
machines being protected by VPGs. You can also view summary details of the protected and recovery sites in either the
protected or recovery site as well as monitor the status of each virtual protection group and any of the virtual machines
being protected in either site.
The following VPG monitoring options are described in this chapter:

Monitoring Recovery Details The Summary Tab, below.

Monitoring VPGs The VPGs Tab, on page 90.
Monitoring a VPG, on page 92.
Monitoring Recent Tasks, on page 93.
Monitoring Protected Virtual Machines The VMs Tab, on page 97.

The following site monitoring option is described in this chapter:

Monitoring VPG Usage by Remote Sites and Site Topology, on page 99.

The following VRA monitoring option is described in this chapter:

Monitoring Virtual Replication Appliances, on page 101.

The following datastore monitoring option is described in this chapter:

Monitoring Datastores, on page 104.

The following offsite backup monitoring options are described in this chapter:

Monitoring Repositories for Offsite Backups, on page 105.

Monitoring Offsite Backups The Offsite Backups Tab, on page 106.

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Monitoring Recovery Details The Summary Tab

Once the protected and recovery sites have been paired, you can view information about the sites and the defined virtual
protection groups from the root vCenter Server node Zerto tab.
View summary details of both the protected and recovery sites.

The information includes the number of virtual machines being protected and the number of VPGs defined. The arrows
between the sites indicates the direction of the protection. For example, in the above diagram there are three VPGs defined
on the production site that are protected to recovery sites and there are two VPGs defined on recovery sites that are
protected to the production site.
The following information is displayed in the left area:

The site name and IP address of the Zerto Virtual Manager for this site.
The number of virtual machines meeting the target RPO, the SLA, out of the total number of virtual machines included
in VPGs.
The number of VPGs meeting the target RPO, the SLA, out of the total number of VPGs defined on the site.
The amount of storage being protected of the total possible for all the virtual machines in all the VPGs defined on this
site.
The current site performance, which includes the following information:
IOPS (IO per second) The IO between all the applications running on the virtual machines being protected and
the VRA that sends a copy to the remote site for replication.
VRA CPU Usage The percentage of the CPU being used by the VRA.
Throughput The MBs for all the applications running on the virtual machines being protected. There can be a
high IO rate with lots of small writes resulting in a small throughput as well as a small IO with a large throughput.
Thus, both the IOPS and Throughput values together provide a more accurate indication of performance.
WAN Traffic The traffic between the sites.
When applicable, the date of the last test performed and the name of the VPG tested.
The amount of recovery storage being replicated to this site from remote sites.

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The following information is displayed in the right area:

If the pairing is to one site only, the site name and IP address of the Zerto Virtual Manager for the paired site,
otherwise, the title Multiple Peers.
The number of virtual machines meeting the target RPO, the SLA, out of the total number of virtual machines included
in VPGs protected on the remote sites.
The number of VPGs meeting the target RPO, the SLA, out of the total number of VPGs protected on the remote sites.
The amount of storage being replicated out of the total possible for all the virtual machines in all the VPGs protected
on the remote sites.
The amount of recovery storage being replicated to the remote sites, which includes both the journal and target disk
sizes.

Monitoring VPGs The VPGs Tab

View specific details of the VPGs in the VPGs tab. This tab lists all the VPGs from both the local and remote sites and
provides summary details of each VPG.

The following information is displayed:

Alert status indicator The color indicates the alert status of the VPG:
Green The VPG is being replicated, including syncing the VPG between the sites.
Orange The VPG is being replicated but there are problems, such as an RPO value larger than the Target RPO
Alert value specified for the VPG.
Red The VPG is not being replicated, for example because communication with the remote site is down.
Direction The direction of the replication, from this site to the remote site or from the remote site to this site.
Func Icons you click to perform further actions, such as editing or deleting the VPG.
Name The name of the VPG. The name is a link: Click on the VPG name to drill-down to more specific details about the
VPG displayed in a dynamic tab.
Priority The priority specified for the VPG in its definition.

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# VMs The number of VMs being protected in the VPG.

Protected Site The name of the site where the VPG is protected.
Recovery Site The name recovery site for the VPG.
Actual RPO The time since the last checkpoint was written to the journal. This should be less than the Target RPO
Alert value specified for the VPG.
Protection Status The current status of the VPG, such as Meeting SLA. Where appropriate, the percentage of the
operation completed, such as syncing, is displayed.
State The current substatus of the VPG, such as Delta syncing. Where appropriate, the percentage of the operation
completed, such as syncing, is displayed.
Last Test The date and time of the last failover test performed on this VPG.
Type (not shown by default) Icons describing the protected and recovery sites:
vCenter Server to vCenter Server.
vCenter Server to vCloud Director.
vCloud Director to vCenter Server.
vCloud Director to vCloud Director.
ZORG (not shown by default) A name given to the organization by a cloud service provider. For details, refer to Zerto
Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
Provisioned Storage (not shown by default) The provisioned storage for all the virtual machines in the VPG. This value is
the sum of the values that are used in the vSphere Client console per virtual machine in the Virtual Machines tab for the root
vCenter Server node. Each value is the sum of both the hard disk and memory. Thus, a virtual machine with 1GB hard disk
and 4GB memory will show 5GB provisioned storage.
Used Storage (not shown by default) The storage used by all of the virtual machines in the VPG. This value is the sum of
the values that are used in the vSphere Client console per virtual machine in the Virtual Machines tab for the root vCenter
Server node.
IO (not shown by default) The IO per second between all the applications running on the virtual machines in the VPG and
the VRA that sends a copy to the remote site for replication.
Throughput (not shown by default) The MBs for all the applications running on the virtual machines being protected.
There can be a high IO rate with lots of small writes resulting in a small throughput as well as a small IO with a large
throughput. Thus, both the IOPS and Throughput values together provide a more accurate indication of performance.
Network (not shown by default) The amount of WAN traffic.
Retention Policy (not shown by default) Whether the VPG is protected against a disaster only with the ability to recover
to a point in time up to five days before the disaster, or extended to include offsite backups of the virtual machines, going
back for a maximum of one year.
Backup Status (not shown by default) The status of the backup.
Backup Repository (not shown by default) The name of the repository where the job is stored.
Restore Point Range (not shown by default) The restore points for the backup jobs out of the total backup jobs run for
the VPG.
Backup Scheduling (not shown by default) The schedule for the offsite backup.
Filtering Information
You can filter the list so that you can easily identify the VPGs and virtual machines you want to monitor.
You can filter columns by clicking the filter icon and then either by typing part of the value only, for example with the
Source Site field, or you can filter using actual values, for example with the Priority field. The filter changes color
from gray to blue when a filter is applied. A link in the filter area enables clearing the filter.

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Saving Details of Virtual Protection Groups to File

You can save details of every VPG displayed in the VPGs tab to a CSV file, which can be opened using programs such as
Microsoft Excel.
In the VPGs tab, click Actions and then Export CSV and specify where to save the VPG details.

Monitoring a VPG
You monitor the status of a specific VPG by drilling-down for the VPG in the VPGs tab or from a virtual machine in the VMs
tab. The specific VPG details are displayed in a dynamic tab.

The view provides the following information:

The status of the protection, such as Meeting SLA, Failing Over, Initializing. For details, see VPG
Statuses and Synchronization Triggers, on page 136. The status is color-coded, as follows:
Blue The VPG is being initialized.
Green The VPG is fully protected, based on the SLA settings.
Orange The VPG is protected, but some of the SLA settings are not being met.
Red The VPG is not being protected. Depending on the reason, recovery is still possible.

Gray The VPG is in failover.

Summary details, including the number of virtual machines being protected in the VPG, amount of data protected on
the local site and the amount being replicated on the recovery site and the date and time of the last failover test.
Performance details:
IOPS The IO per second between all the applications running on the virtual machines in the VPG and the VRA
that sends a copy to the remote site for replication.
WAN Traffic The traffic between the sites.
Throughput The MBs for all the applications running on the virtual machines being protected. There can be a
high IO rate with lots of small writes resulting in a small throughput as well as a small IO with a large throughput.
Thus, both the IOPS and Throughput values together provide a more accurate indication of performance.
Current RPO The time since the last checkpoint was written to the journal. This should be less than the Target
RPO Alert value specified for the VPG.

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Configuration details including the VPG SLA settings defined for the VPG. The Type icons describe the protected and
recovery sites:
vCenter Server to vCenter Server.
vCenter Server to vCloud Director.
vCloud Director to vCenter Server.
vCloud Director to vCloud Director.
For information about the other configuration details, see Configuring Virtual Protection Groups, on page 46.

A table of the protected virtual machines. The following information is provided for each virtual machine:
The name of the virtual machine, with the boot order group for the virtual machine.
The protected and recovery ESX/ESXi hosts.
The protected and recovery datastores.
The provisioned and used storage and the recovery data size, which is the size of the provisioned recovery disk
and the journal size.
The networks specified for failovers and moves and for test failovers.
The recovery folder.

Monitoring Recent Tasks

You can monitor the recent tasks performed either for all Zerto Virtual Replication or for a specific VPG.

Monitoring Recent Tasks

In the title bar the last task run for all Zerto Virtual Replication, or a currently running task, is displayed, with the
percentage completed and the total number of running tasks as a link.

The color represents the status of the task, as follows:

Blue The task is running.
Green The task completed successfully
Red The task failed.
If no tasks are running, only a Show recent tasks link is displayed.
The following operations can be controlled directly in the task bar:

Stop a failover test. The Stop Failover Test dialog is displayed.

Commit or Rollback a failover or move operation.
Resume a paused VPG.
Abort a backup job.
Stop a clone operation.

When more than one task is being run that can be controlled from the task bar, only the latest operation can be controlled.

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Click the link to expand the Tasks area at the bottom of the dialog or move the separator in the tasks area to expand this
area.

You can move the separator bar up or down to show more or less tasks. You can also change the period of time to show
tasks by clicking the time in the tasks bar.
The default is to list all tasks in the specified period but you can filter the tasks by the following:

All tasks
Running tasks
Completed tasks
Failed tasks

The following information is displayed about each task:

Task The task.
Status The task status, running, completed or failed.
Related Entities The names of the entities affected by the task, such as the VPGs and sites.
Initiated by The user who initiated the task, either the user who logged on or the system.
Started The starting time for the task.
Completed The ending time for the task.
Notes The ending time for the task.
Click Export to export the listing of tasks as a Microsoft Excel worksheet.

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Monitoring Recent Tasks For a Specific VPG

You can see the most recent actions for a specific VPG from within the VPG details view, either by clicking the tasks link in
the title bar or by clicking the Recent Activities button.
When you click the tasks link, the tasks view for the specific VPG is displayed.

You can switch the view to view the all the tasks in the specified period by clicking All in the tasks pane.
The color represents the status of the task, as follows:
Blue The task is running.
Green The task completed successfully
Red The task failed.
The following operations can be controlled directly in the task bar:

Stop a failover test. The Stop Failover Test dialog is displayed.

Commit or Rollback a failover or move operation.
Resume a paused VPG.
Abort a backup job.
Stop a clone operation.

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Monitoring Recent Activities For a Specific VPG

When you click the Recent Activities button, the Recent Activities dialog is displayed.

The information in the Recent Activities dialog is similar to that displayed in the Tasks area but includes a
description and does not include the related entities nor both the start and end times of the task.
Note: The Recent Activities dialog is useful when you need to identify recovery disks, for example when keeping
the target disks after deleting a virtual machine from a VPG or after deleting the VPG.
Time and Date The date of the activity.
Type The name of the event.
User The user who initiated the event.
Description A description of the event. Clicking More displays the full description and can be used when the displayed
description is truncated.

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Whether the activity was successful or not is shown for each activity. The last activity, whether successful or if the last
activity failed, is shown in the icon at the left of the Recent Activities button.

Monitoring Protected Virtual Machines The VMs Tab

View specific details of the protected VMs in the VMs tab. This tab lists all the protected virtual machines from both the
local and remote sites and provides summary details of each virtual machine.

The following information is displayed:

Alert status indicator The color indicates the alert status of the VPG:
Green The virtual machine is being replicated, including syncing the VPG between the sites.
Orange The virtual machine is being replicated but there are problems, such as an RPO value larger than the
Target RPO Alert value specified for the VPG.
Red The virtual machine is not being replicated, for example because communication with the remote site is down.
Func Icons you click to perform further actions, such as editing or deleting the VPG.
VM Name The name of the virtual machine. The name is a link: Click on the VM name to drill-down to more specific
details about the VPG for that VM displayed in a dynamic tab.
VPG Name The name of the VPG. The name is a link: Click on the VPG name to drill-down to more specific details about
the VPG displayed in a dynamic tab.
IO The IO per second between all the applications running on the virtual machine and the VRA that sends a copy to the
remote site for replication.
Throughput The MBs for all the applications running on the virtual machine being protected. There can be a high IO rate
with lots of small writes resulting in a small throughput as well as a small IO with a large throughput. Thus, both the IOPS
and Throughput values together provide a more accurate indication of performance.
Network The amount of WAN traffic.
Provisioned Storage The provisioned storage for the virtual machine in the recovery site. This value is the sum of the
values that are used in the vCenter Server and displayed in the vSphere Client console per virtual machine in the Virtual

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Machines tab for the root vCenter Server node. Each value is the sum of both the hard disk and memory. Thus, a virtual
machine with 1GB hard disk and 4GB memory will show 5GB provisioned storage.
Used Storage The storage used by the virtual machine in the recovery site. This value is the sum of the values that are
used in the vCenter Server and displayed in the vSphere Client console per virtual machine in the Virtual Machines tab for
the root vCenter Server node.
Actual RPO The time since the last checkpoint was written to the journal. This should be less than the Target RPO
Alert value specified for the VPG.
Protection Status The current status of the virtual machine, such as Meeting SLA. Where appropriate, the percentage of
the operation completed, such as syncing, is displayed.
Last Test The date and time of the last failover test performed on the VPG protecting this virtual machine.
Direction (not shown by default) The direction of the replication, from this site to the remote site or from the remote site
to this site.
Type (not shown by default) Icons describing the protected and recovery sites:
vCenter Server to vCenter Server.
vCenter Server to vCloud Director.
vCloud Director to vCenter Server.
vCloud Director to vCloud Director.
Protected Site (not shown by default) The name of the site where the virtual machine is protected.
Recovery Site (not shown by default) The name recovery site for the virtual machine.
ZORG (not shown by default) The ZORG name given to the organization by a cloud service provider. For details refer to
Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
State The current substatus of the VPG, such as Delta syncing. Where appropriate, the percentage of the operation
completed, such as syncing, is displayed.
Priority (not shown by default) The priority specified for the VPG in its definition.
Retention Policy (not shown by default) Whether the VPG is protected against a disaster only with the ability to recover
to a point in time up to five days before the disaster, or extended to include offsite backups of the virtual machines, going
back for a maximum of one year.
Backup Status (not shown by default) The status of the backup.
Backup Repository (not shown by default) The name of the repository where the job is stored.
Restore Point Range (not shown by default) The restore points for the backup jobs out of the total backup jobs run for
the VPG.
Backup Scheduling (not shown by default) The schedule for the offsite backup.
Determining Which Columns to Display and the Order They Are Displayed
Right-clicking in the list enables selecting the Edit Columns dialog, where you can specify what columns to display in
the list.
You can also drag-and-drop column headers to rearrange the order the columns are displayed. A thick vertical bar shows
where a column can be dragged and dropped.
You can also reset the display to the default display by right-clicking in the list and selecting the Reset Columns item.

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Filtering Information
You can filter the list so that you can easily identify the VPGs and virtual machines you want to monitor.
You can filter columns by clicking the filter icon and then either by typing part of the value only, for example with the
Source Site field, or you can filter using actual values, for example with the Priority field. The filter changes color
from gray to blue when a filter is applied. A link in the filter area enables clearing the filter.

Monitoring VPG Usage by Remote Sites and Site Topology

You can display information about the remote sites for the local site either as a list via the Sites tab or graphically via the
Topology tab.

The Sites Tab

View specific details of the paired sites in the Sites tab. This tab lists all the paired sites to the local site and provides
summary details of each paired site.

The following information is displayed:

Alert status indicator The color indicates the alert status of the site:
Green The site is running without problems.
Orange The site has a problem that does not stop the protection of virtual machines, such as an RPO value larger
than the Target RPO Alert value for a VPG.
Red The site is not running correctly, for example because communication with the site is down.
Site Name The name specified for the paired site during installation or in the Site Configuration dialog.
ZORG A name given to the organization by a cloud service provider. For details refer to Zerto Cloud Manager
Administration Guide.
# VPGs The total number of VPGs being protected by the site and replicated to the site.
# VMs The total number of virtual machines being protected by the site and replicated to the site.
Location The location specified for the paired site during installation or in the Site Configuration dialog.

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Provisioned Storage The maximum storage that can be protected.

Used Storage The total storage being protected by both sites.
Network The amount of WAN traffic.
IO The IO per second between all the applications running on the virtual machine in the VPG and the VRA that sends a
copy to the remote site for replication.
Incoming Throughput The MBs for all the applications running on the virtual machine being protected. There can be a
high IO rate with lots of small writes resulting in a small throughput as well as a small IO with a large throughput. Thus,
both the IO and Incoming Throughput values together provide a more accurate indication of performance.
Version (not shown by default) The Zerto Virtual Replication version installed at this site.
Determining Which Columns to Display and the Order They Are Displayed
Right-clicking in the list enables selecting the Edit Columns dialog, where you can specify what columns to display in
the list.
You can also drag-and-drop column headers to rearrange the order the columns are displayed. A thick vertical bar shows
where a column can be dragged and dropped.
You can also reset the display to the default display by right-clicking in the list and selecting the Reset Columns item.

The Topology Tab

The Topology tab graphically displays the sites and details about the sites, including the number of VPGs and virtual
machines being protected. Hovering the mouse over a site displays the IP address for that site.

You can refresh the display and make the display larger or smaller using the slider.
Clicking on a site selects that site and details of the selected site are displayed in the Selected Site Details pane.
The alert status indicator shows the alert status of the site:
Green The site VPGs are being replicated, including syncing the VPGs between the sites.
Orange The VPG is being replicated but there are problems, such as an RPO value larger than the Target RPO Alert
value specified for the VPG.

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Red The site VPGs are not being replicated, for example because communication with the remote site is down.

Monitoring Virtual Replication Appliances

You can monitor information about all the VRAs for the local site in the VRAs tab. You can also drill-down to monitor
information about a specific VRA displayed in the VRAs tab:

Monitoring VRAs The VRAs Tab, below.

Monitoring a VRA, on page 103.

Monitoring VRAs The VRAs Tab

View specific details of the VRAs in the VRAs tab, under the Setup tab. This tab lists all the hosts in the local vCenter and
details of VRAs for each host, when installed.

The following information is displayed:

Host Address The ESX/ESXi host IP address for the VRA. If the host is part of a cluster, the cluster name is displayed
with the hosts under the cluster.
Host Version The ESX/ESXi version.
Alert status indicator The color indicates the alert status of the VRA:
Green The VRA is functioning as required.
Orange The VRA is functioning, but there are problems.
Red There is a problem with the VRA, for example communication with the Zerto Virtual Manager is down.
VRA Name The name of the VRA virtual machine.
VRA Status The VRA status. For example, Installed, Ghost VRA.
VRA Address The IP address of the VRA virtual machine.
VRA Version Either Latest if the version installed is the most current version or Outdated if it can be upgraded. A
tooltip displays the actual version.

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VRA Group The group of VRAs to which this VRA belongs. VRAs can be grouped together when they use different
networks so they can be grouped by network, for example when the same vCenter Server supports two datacenters with
separate networks and you are replicating from one datacenter to the second datacenter.
# VPGs The number of VPGs with a virtual machine for which the VRA either manages the protection or the recovery of
the data.
# VMs The number of virtual machines for which the VRA either manages the protection or the recovery of the data.
VRA RAM (not shown by default) The amount of memory allocated to the VRA to buffer data before it is sent to the
recovery site or at the recovery site before it is written to the journal.
DS (not shown by default) The datastore used by the VRA.
DS Cluster (not shown by default) The datastore cluster used by the VRA.
VC Network (not shown by default) The network used by the VRA.
# Volumes (not shown by default) The number of volumes for which the VRA either manages the protection or the
recovery of the data.
# of Protected VPGs (not shown by default) The number of VPGs with a virtual machine for which the VRA manages the
protection of their data.
# of Protected VMs (not shown by default) The number of virtual machines for which the VRA manages the protection
of their data.
# of Protected Volumes (not shown by default) The number of volumes for which the VRA manages the protection of
their data.
# of Recovery VPGs (not shown by default) The number of VPGs with a virtual machine for which the VRA manages the
recovery of the data.
# of Recovery VMs (not shown by default) The number of virtual machines for which the VRA manages the recovery of
the data.
# of Recovery Volumes (not shown by default) The number of volumes for which the VRA manages the recovery of the
data.
You can limit the display to hosts with VRAs installed via the Show hosts without a VRA installed toggle. When this toggle is
set to On all hosts are displayed, and when set to Off only hosts with a VRA installed are displayed.
Click Export to export the VRA list as a Microsoft Excel worksheet.
Determining Which Columns to Display and the Order They Are Displayed
Right-clicking in the list enables selecting the Edit Columns dialog, where you can specify what columns to display in
the list.
You can also drag-and-drop column headers to rearrange the order the columns are displayed. A thick vertical bar shows
where a column can be dragged and dropped.
You can also reset the display to the default display by right-clicking in the list and selecting the Reset Columns item.
Filtering Information
You can filter the list of VRAs in the VRAs tab.
You can filter columns by clicking the filter icon and then either by typing part of the value only, for example with the VRA
Group field, or you can filter using actual values, for example with the #VPGs field. The filter changes color from gray to
blue when a filter is applied. A link in the filter area enables clearing the filter.

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Monitoring a VRA
You monitor the status of a specific VRA by drilling-down for the VRA in the VRAs tab. The specific VRA details are
displayed in a dynamic tab.

The view provides the following information:

The status of the VRA, such as Installed, Removing.

Summary details, including the ESX/ESXi host details and the number of VPGs and virtual machines being protected
or recovered by this VRA.
Performance details:
CPU Usage The percentage of CPU usage by the VRA.
Local Memory Usage The percentage of the VRA memory used by protected volumes managed by the VRA. If
the memory consumption is high you can consider vMotioning some of the virtual machines to a different host.
Remote Memory Usage The percentage of the VRA memory used by recovery volumes managed by the VRA. If
the memory consumption is high you can consider changing the target host for some of the virtual machines to a
different host.
Configuration details including the VRA virtual machine name, the datastore it uses and network it connects to and the
VRA RAM and network details defined when installing the VRA.
A table of the VPGs with virtual machines managed by this VRA, including the name of the VPG, the protected and
recovery sites, the VPG status and usage information.
A table of the virtual machines managed by this VRA, including the name of the virtual machine, the name of the VPG
used to protect the virtual machine, the protected and recovery sites, the VPG status and usage information.

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Monitoring Datastores
View specific details of the datastores used by Zerto Virtual Replication in the Datastores tab, under the Setup tab. This tab
lists all the datastores used by Zerto Virtual Replication with an option to show all the datastores per cluster or for the
hosts in the vCenter Server, whether used by Zerto Virtual Replication or not.

The following information is displayed:

Datastore Per cluster or for each host in the vCenter Server.
Alert status indicator The color indicates the alert status of the datastore:
Green The datastore is functioning as required.
Orange The datastore is functioning, but there are problems, such as not enough free space.
Red There is a problem with the datastore.
Device The datastore device identifier.
Total Usage (GB) The amount of GB used in relation to the total amount available.
DR Usage (GB) The amount of GB used by Zerto Virtual Replication in relation to the total amount available.
Type The type of datastore.
Recovery Size The amount space used for recovery.
Journal Size The amount space used by the journals.
# VRAs The number of VRAs using the datastore.
# Protected VMs (not shown by default) The number of protected virtual machines using the datastore.
# Incoming VMs (not shown by default) The number of virtual machines are specified to be recovered using the
datastore.
Click Export to export the Repository details as a Microsoft Excel worksheet.

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Determining Which Columns to Display and the Order They Are Displayed
Right-clicking in the list enables selecting the Edit Columns dialog, where you can specify what columns to display in
the list.
You can also drag-and-drop column headers to rearrange the order the columns are displayed. A thick vertical bar shows
where a column can be dragged and dropped.
You can also reset the display to the default display by right-clicking in the list and selecting the Reset Columns item.
Filtering Information
You can filter the list of datastores in the Datastores tab.
You can filter columns by clicking the filter icon. The filter changes color from gray to blue when a filter is applied. A link in
the filter area enables clearing the filter.

Monitoring Repositories for Offsite Backups

View specific details of the repositories that can be used for offsite backup jobs in the Repositories tab, under the Setup tab.
This tab lists all the repositories created for the site.

The following information is displayed:

star Indicates that the starred repository is the default repository.
Func Enables editing or deleting the repository.
Repository Name The name of the repository.
Connectivity Whether the repository is connected or not.
Path The path to the repository.
Capacity The overall capacity of the repository.
Free Space The amount of free space currently available for the repository.
Active Backups The number of backup jobs currently active that use are stored in the repository.

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Restore Points The restore points for the backup jobs out of the total backup jobs saved to the repository.
Compression A value in this field denotes that the backups stored in the repository are compressed.
Click New Repository to display the New Repository dialog for creating a new repository.
Click Export to export the Repository details as a Microsoft Excel worksheet.
Determining Which Columns to Display and the Order They Are Displayed
Right-clicking in the list enables selecting the Edit Columns dialog, where you can specify what columns to display in
the list.
You can also drag-and-drop column headers to rearrange the order the columns are displayed. A thick vertical bar shows
where a column can be dragged and dropped.
You can also reset the display to the default display by right-clicking in the list and selecting the Reset Columns item.
Filtering Information
You can filter the list of repositories in the Repositories tab.
You can filter columns by clicking the filter icon and then either by typing part of the value only, for example with the
Repository Name field, or you can filter using actual values, for example with the Connectivity field. The filter
changes color from gray to blue when a filter is applied. A link in the filter area enables clearing the filter.

Monitoring Offsite Backups The Offsite Backups Tab

View specific details of the offsite backup jobs in the Offsite Backups tab. This tab lists all the defined offsite backups and
their statuses.

The following information is displayed in the VPGs tab:

VPG The name of the VPG.
Backup Site The site where the virtual machines are backed up. The backup jobs are stored either locally at this site
or on a network shared drive which is accessible from this site.
Status The status of the job: Running or Scheduled.
Repository Name The name of the repository where the job is stored.

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VPG Size The VPG size of the last run stored on disk.
Last Run Result The result of the last run: Full success, Partial success or Failed.
Restore Points The restore points for the backup jobs out of the total backup jobs run for the VPG.
Protected Site (not shown by default) The name of the site where the VPG is protected.
ZORG Name (not shown by default) A name given to the organization by a cloud service provider. For details refer to
Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
Last Run Time (not shown by default) The time of the last run.
Next Scheduled Run (not shown by default) The time of the next scheduled run.
Last Full Backup (not shown by default) The date and time of the last full backup.
# VMs (not shown by default) The number of virtual machines in the offsite backup.
# Volumes (not shown by default) The number of volumes in the offsite backup.
The following information is displayed in the VPGs tab:
VM Name The name of the virtual machine.
VPG The name of the VPG.
Backup Site The site where the virtual machines are backed up. The backup jobs are stored either locally at this site
or on a network shared drive which is accessible from this site.
Status The status of the job.
Repository Name The name of the repository where the job is stored.
VM Size The size of the virtual machine stored on disk.
Last Run Result The result of the last run: Full success, Partial success or Failed.
Restore Points The restore points for the backup jobs out of the total backup jobs run for the VPG.
Last Full Backup The date and time of the last full backup.
Protected Site (not shown by default) The name of the site where the VPG is protected.
ZORG Name (not shown by default) A name given to the organization by a cloud service provider. For details refer to
Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
Last Run Time (not shown by default) The time of the last run.
Next Scheduled Run (not shown by default) The time of the next scheduled run.
# Volumes (not shown by default) The number of volumes in the offsite backup.
Click Actions > Edit to abort a running job. Any virtual machine volumes already stored in the repository are not removed
and the job status is partial if there are any stored volumes.
Click Actions > Abort to abort a running job. Any virtual machine volumes already stored in the repository are not removed
and the job status is partial if there are any stored volumes.
Click Actions > Run Backup to start a job for a selected VPG, outside of the schedule for that VPG.
Click Export to export the backup list as a Microsoft Excel worksheet.
Determining Which Columns to Display and the Order They Are Displayed
Right-clicking in the list enables selecting the Edit Columns dialog, where you can specify what columns to display in
the list.
You can also drag-and-drop column headers to rearrange the order the columns are displayed. A thick vertical bar shows
where a column can be dragged and dropped.
You can also reset the display to the default display by right-clicking in the list and selecting the Reset Columns item.

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Filtering Information
You can filter the list of VPGs in the Offsite Backup tab.
You can filter columns by clicking the filter icon and then either by typing part of the value only, for example with the
Repository Name field, or you can filter using actual values, for example with the Status field. The filter changes
color from gray to blue when a filter is applied. A link in the filter area enables clearing the filter.

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Chapter 10: Managing VPGs

After defining virtual protection groups (VPGs) the virtual machines specified as part of each VPG are protected. There are
a number of ongoing management tasks that you can perform on a VPG, such as specifying a checkpoint to enable
recovery to that specific point or you can modify the configurations of existing VPGs.
The following VPG management options are described in this chapter:

Modifying a VPG Definition, on page 109.

Adding a Virtual Machine to an Existing VPG, below.
Modifying Protected Virtual Machine Volumes, on page 116.
Moving a Virtual Machine To or From a Protected vApp, on page 117
Pausing the Protection of a VPG, on page 117.
Forcing the Synchronization of a VPG, on page 120.
Deleting a VPG, on page 121.
Running an Unscheduled Offsite Backup, on page 122.
Ensuring Application Consistency Checkpoints, on page 123.
Running Scripts Before or After Recovering a VPG, on page 130.
Exporting and Importing VPG Definitions, on page 134.
VPG Statuses and Synchronization Triggers, on page 136.
Managing Protection When a Recovery Datastore Will Be Unavailable (Datastore Maintenance), on page 140.

Monitoring VPGs and the VMs that are protected is described in Monitoring Zerto Virtual Replication, on page 88.

Modifying a VPG Definition

You can modify a VPG via the Zerto tab for a virtual machine included in a VPG or from the VPGs tab in the Zerto tab for
the vCenter Server. You can modify the VPG properties as well as adding virtual machines to the VPG, as described in
Adding a Virtual Machine to an Existing VPG, on page 111, deleting virtual machines from the VPG or changing the
information about how virtual machines are recovered, such as adding or removing volumes from the virtual machine.
Note: You cannot edit the VPG while a backup job is running.
After modifying the VPG, the definition is updated. While the VPG definition is being updated, you cannot perform any
operations on the VPG, such as adding a checkpoint, editing the VPG properties or failing the VPG. After the definition is
updated, the VPG is synchronized with the recovery site and also during this time you cannot perform any task that
requires the protected and recovery sites to be synchronized together, such as adding a checkpoint or failing the VPG. You
can however make changes to the VPG definition, such as changing the history that is maintained as long as the data
requirements for the VPG or any of the virtual machines in the VPG are not changed. If you change the datastore
requirements for any of the virtual machines in the VPG, the VPG definition is re-updated and the synchronization process
is restarted.
Note: Synchronization after adding a removing a virtual machine volume for a virtual machine in the VPG results in all
checkpoints being removed and the checkpoint mechanism restarting after synchronization completes.

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To modify a VPG:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, click the Edit icon for the VPG from the list of VPGs in the VPGs tab. You can also select
the VPG to display the VPG details and click Actions and then click Edit.

The Manage VPG dialog is displayed as a tab, enabling editing the VPG, including adding and removing virtual
machines from the VPG.
Note: If the VPG was previously viewed, and the tab for this VPG is still displayed, you can access the details by
selecting the tab.

2.

Make any required changes to the VPG definition, as described in To create a virtual protection group (VPG):, on
page 52.
Note: If the Journal Size Hard Limit or Journal Size Warning Threshold in the VPG SLA settings
for the VPG, or the default values, Host, Datastore, Failover Network, Test Network or Folder are
changed, the changed values are not applied to existing virtual machines but only to new virtual machines added to
the VPG.

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3.

Click Save.
When a virtual machine is removed from a VPG, a warning is displayed when you remove the virtual machine and
another message is displayed when trying to save the VPG, whether to save the recovery volumes or not, which can be
used for preseeding, if the virtual machine is added back to the VPG.

The VPG configuration is modified. The VPG is updated and then synchronized with the recovery site, if required, for
example when changing the host.
Note: Synchronization after deleting a virtual machine from a VPG results in all checkpoints being removed and the
checkpoint mechanism restarting after synchronization completes.

Modifying the Journal Size Hard Limit

If the journal size hard limit is reduced, if the current size is greater than the newly defined size, the journal remains at the
current size. When the amount of the journal used falls below the hard limit value it will not grow greater than the new
hard limit. Unused journal volumes from the added volumes are marked for removal and removed after the time equivalent
to three times the amount specified for the journal history, or twenty-four hours, whichever is more.
Note: If the Journal Size Hard Limit or Journal Size Warning Threshold in the VPG SLA settings for
the VPG are changed, the changed values are not applied to existing virtual machines but only to new virtual machines
added to the VPG.

Modifying the Retention Period for Offsite Backups

If the retention period was shortened, the number of backup jobs further back than the new retention period are deleted
from the repository.

Adding a Virtual Machine to an Existing VPG

You can add a virtual machine, that is not already included in a VPG, to an existing VPG.
Only virtual machines with a maximum of 15 disks can be protected.
Note: You cannot edit the VPG to add a virtual machine while a backup job is running.
After adding the virtual machine the VPG is updated. While the VPG definition is being updated, you cannot perform any
operations on the VPG, such as adding a checkpoint, editing the VPG properties or failing the VPG. After the definition is
updated, the VPG is synchronized with the recovery site for the added virtual machine and also during this time you cannot
perform any task that requires the protected and recovery sites to be synchronized together, such as adding a checkpoint
or failing the VPG. You can, however, make changes to the VPG definition, as described in Modifying a VPG Definition,
on page 109.
Note: Adding a virtual machine to a VPG results in all checkpoints being removed and new ones are not added until the
added virtual machine is synchronized.
You can add a virtual machine to an existing VPG, either via the VPG definition or, in the vSphere Client console or Web
Client, via the Zerto tab for the virtual machine to add, as described in To add a virtual machine to an existing VPG via the
vSphere Client console or Web Client:, on page 64.

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To add a virtual machine to an existing VPG via the VPG definition:

1.

In the Zerto User Interface, click the Edit icon for the VPG from the list of VPGs in the VPGs tab. You can also select
the VPG to display the VPG details, click Actions, then click Edit.

The Manage VPG dialog is displayed, enabling editing the VPG, including adding and removing virtual machines from
the VPG. The VPG SLA, Settings and Default Values sections of the dialog can vary dependent on whether
the license being used is a cloud license or an enterprise license, whether Zerto Cloud Manager is used or not, whether
a vApp is being protected and whether the target site is vCD.

When protecting to a site with a cloud license, WAN compression is always implemented, so the WAN
Compression checkbox is not displayed. When protecting to a cloud site and the cloud service provider uses Zerto
Cloud Manager, WAN compression is always implemented, so the WAN Compression checkbox is not displayed
and the VPG SLA values are controlled by a service profile.
2.

Click Add and select the virtual machine to add to the VPG from the list and then click OK. You can search for a specific
virtual machine from the list.

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Note: If the site is defined in Zerto Cloud Manager, and the cloud service provider is responsible for both the
protection and recovery sites, an In Cloud Disaster Recovery, ICDR, scenario, the virtual machine must be part of a
resource pool and the resource pool must also have been defined as a resource for the ZORG in Zerto Cloud Manager.
For details about Zerto Cloud Manager, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
3.

Configure the virtual machine configuration, as described in To configure the virtual machine in the VPG:, below.

4. Click Save.
The virtual machine is added to the VPG. This process may take a few minutes. The protected and recovery sites are then
synchronized so that the recovery site includes the replication of the added virtual machine in the VPG. After
synchronization, the delta changes to the virtual machine are sent to the recovery site.
If the virtual machine is added to a VPG replicating to a resource pool, Zerto Virtual Replication checks that the additional
virtual machine doesnt exceed the resource pool capacity, such that the sum of the virtual machine reservation is less than
or equal to the resource pool CPU and storage settings.
To configure the virtual machine in the VPG:
1.

If you want a specific recovery configuration for a virtual machine in the VPG, select the virtual machine from the list
and click Configure. Otherwise, the default values specified as part of the VPG properties are used for the virtual
machine recovery configuration.
Note: If default values were not specified, values must be specified here.
The Configure VM dialog is displayed.

The Configure VM dialog enables configuring how the protected virtual machine will be recovered, including details
about the volumes and NICs used by the virtual machine and the VMware file for the virtual machine.
Make any changes you want to the virtual machine specification on the recovery site and click Save to save the
configuration.
2.

Optionally, select a volume and click Configure Selected Volume to reconfigure the volume used to replicate the virtual
machine disks.
If you click Configure Selected Volume, the Configure Volume dialog is displayed.

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a) Specify the datastore for recovery and whether the volume is a swap disk:
If a cluster or resource pool is selected for the host, only datastores that are accessible by every ESX/ESXi host in
the cluster or resource pool are displayed.
Swap Disk If the virtual machine to be replicated includes a swap disk as part of its configuration, you can
specify a mirror disk for replication that is marked as a swap disk. In this case, data is not replicated to the swap
disk after initial synchronization.
Recovery Datastore The datastore to use to create disks for the replicated data. Also specify whether the target
is thin provisioned. If the source disk is thin provisioned, the default for the recovery volume is that it is also thin
provisioned.
Raw Disk (RDM) The VMware RDM (Raw Device Mapping) to use for the replication: By default, RDM is
recovered as thin-provisioned VMDK in the datastore specified in the VM Recovery Datastore field in the
Configure VM dialog, and not to RDM. You cannot define an RDM disk if the virtual machine uses a BusLogic
SCSI controller, nor when protecting or recovering virtual machines in an environment running vCenter Server 5.x
with ESX/ESXi version 4.1 hosts. Only a raw disk with the same size as the protected disk can be selected from the
list of available raw disks. Other raw disks with different sizes are not available for selection. The RDM is always
stored in the recovery datastore used for the virtual machine. The following limitations apply to protecting RDM
disks:
RDM disks with an even number of blocks can replicate to RDM disks of the same size with an even number of
blocks and to VMDKs.
RDM disks with an odd number of blocks can only replicate to RDM disks of the same size with an odd number
of blocks and not to VMDKs.
Preseed A virtual disk (the VMDK flat file and descriptor) in the recovery site that has been prepared with a
copy of the protected data. Using this option is recommended particularly for large disks so that the initial
synchronization is much faster since a Delta Sync is used to synchronize any changes written to the recovery
site after the creation of the preseeded disk. When not using a preseeded disk the initial synchronization phase
has to copy the whole disk over the WAN. When using a preseeded VMDK, you select the datastore and exact
location, folder and name, of the preseeded disk, which cannot be an IDE disk. Zerto Virtual Replication takes
ownership of the preseeded disk, moving it from its source folder to the folder used by the VRA. Only disks with
the same size as the protected disk can be selected when browsing for a preseeded disk. The datastore where the
preseeded disk is placed is also used as the recovery datastore for the replicated data. If the preseeded disk is
greater than 1TB on NFS storage, the VPG creation might fail. This is a known VMware problem when the NFS
client does not wait for sufficient time for the NFS storage array to initialize the virtual disk after the RPC
parameter of the NFS client times out. The timeout default value is 10 seconds. Refer to the VMware
documentation, http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/
search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1027919, which describes the configuration option to
tune the RPC timeout parameter using the esxcfg-advcfg -s <Timeout> /NFS/SetAttrRPCTimeout
command.
Note the following conditions:
If the protected disks are non-default geometry, configure the VPG using preseeded volumes.
If the protected disk is an RDM disk, it can be used to preseed to a recovery VMDK disk. Zerto Virtual
Replication makes sure that the VMDK disk size is a correct match for the RDM disk.
If the VPG is being defined for a Zerto Organization, ZORG, the location of the preseeded disk must be
defined in the Zerto Cloud Manager. For details, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
b) Click Save.
3.

Optionally, select a NIC and click Configure Selected NIC to configure the NIC used to for the replicated VM disks.
Note: You can configure a maximum of four NICs. If you configure more, a failover, move, or test failover operation will
fail.

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If you click Configure Selected NIC, the Configure VNIC dialog is displayed.

Specify the network details to use for the recovered virtual machines after a live recovery or migration, in the Failover/
Move tab, and for the recovered virtual machines when testing the replication, in the Failover Test tab. If the settings
are the same for both failover and move networks and for the failover test network, after setting the values in either
tab, click the copy button, Copy to test or Copy to failover, to copy all the settings defined in the one tab to the other tab.
In each tab specify the following:
a) The network to use for this virtual machine.
b) Whether the Media Access Control address (MAC address) used on the protected site should be replicated on
the recovery site. The default is to use the same MAC address on both sites. Check the box to create a new MAC
address on the recovery site.
c) Whether to keep the default VNIC IP configuration or not. You can only change the VNIC IP for virtual machines
with VMware Tools running for the following operating systems: Windows 2003 and higher, Red Hat Enterprise
Linux versions 5-6, SUSE Linux Enterprise versions 10-11 and CentOS versions 5-6.x.
If you can change the VNIC IP, check the Change Failover VNIC IP Configuration in the Failover/
Move tab or Change Test VNIC IP Configuration in the Failover Test tab. If you select to use a static IP
connection, you set the IP address, subnet mask and default gateway to use. Optionally, change the preferred and
alternate DNS server IPs and the DNS suffix. If you select to use DHCP, the IP configuration and DNS server
configurations are assigned automatically, to match the protected virtual machine. You can change the DNS
suffix.
If the virtual machine has multiple NICs but is configured to only have a single default gateway, fill in a 0 for each
octet in the Default gateway field for the NICs with no default gateway.
Note: During a failover, move or test failover, if the recovered virtual machine is assigned a different IP to the original
IP, after the virtual machine has started it is automatically rebooted so that it starts up with the correct IP. If the same
network is used for both production and test failovers, it is recommended to change the IP address for the virtual
machines started for the test, so that there is no IP clash between the test machines and the production machines.
d) Click Save.
4. The virtual machine details include the following:
Recovery Host The cluster, resource pool or ESX/ESXi that will host the recovered virtual machine. If the site is
defined in Zerto Cloud Manager, only a resource pool can be specified and the resource pool must also have been
defined in Zerto Cloud Manager. For details about Zerto Cloud Manager, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration
Guide.
When a resource pool is specified, Zerto Virtual Replication checks that the resource pool capacity is enough for any
virtual machines specified in the VPG. If a resource pool is specified and DRS is disabled for the site later on, all the
resource pools are removed by VMware and recovery will be to any one of the hosts in the recovery site with a VRA
installed on it.
Note: All resource pool checks are made at the level of the VPG and does not take into account multiple VPGs using
the same resource pool. If the resource pool CPU resources are specified as unlimited in the Edit Setting dialog for the

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resource pool, the actual limit is inherited from the parent but if this inherited value is too small, failover move and
failover test operations can fail, even without a warning alert being issued by Zerto Virtual Manager.
VM Recovery Datastore The datastore where the VMware metadata files for the virtual machine is stored, such as
the vmx file. If a cluster or resource pool is selected for the host, only datastores that are accessible by every ESX/ESXi
host in the cluster or resource pool are displayed. This is also the datastore where RDM backing files for recovery
volumes are located. When specifying the recovery storage for a virtual machine with a storage cluster, you have to
specify a datastore in the cluster.
Recovery Folder The folder where the virtual machine is recovered to.
If default values were specified in the Manage VPG dialog, they are used for the virtual machine configuration and are
displayed in the Recovery Host, VM Recovery Datastore and Recovery Folder fields. You can change these values for
the specific virtual machine by selecting new values from the drop-down lists.
Journal Size Hard Limit The maximum size that the journal can grow. You can specify the value as unlimited or
change the value to Custom in order to specify a maximum journal size, either as a percentage of the virtual machine
volume size or as a fixed maximum size.
Journal Size Warning Threshold The size of the journal that triggers a warning that the journal is almost full. You can
specify the value as automatically determined by Zerto Virtual Replication or change the value to Custom in order to
specify a threshold, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed size.

VM Journal DS The datastore used by the journal for the virtual machine.
5.

Click Save to save the virtual machine configuration.

Modifying Protected Virtual Machine Volumes

Adding or deleting volumes for a virtual machine protected in a VPG, are automatically reflected in the volumes used for
the mirror virtual machine, managed by the VRA in the recovery site.
If you add a volume to the virtual machine the total number of disks cannot exceed 15.
Resizing non-RDM volumes of a virtual machine protected in a VPG are automatically reflected in the volumes used for the
mirror virtual machine, managed by the VRA in the recovery site.
Changing the defined size of a journal of a virtual machine in a VPG is automatically reflected in the VRA in the recovery
site.
Note: If the recovery site vCenter Server is version 4.0, the recovery site volumes are not resized and the VPG state
changes to Needs Configuration. If the protected volume is associated with an RDM as a target for replication, the RDM will
need to be resized manually, as described in Modifying a Protected RDM Volume, below.

Modifying a Protected RDM Volume

If a RDM volume for a protected virtual machine is replicated to an RDM volume in the recovery site and the protected
RDM volume is resized, it is not automatically resized in the recovery site.
Note: If the RDM volume is replicated to a VMDK in the recovery site, the recovery site VMDK is automatically resized
when the protected site RDM is resized.

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To enable protecting a VPG after resizing a protected virtual machine RDM volume:
1.

Remove the protected virtual machine from the VPG.

Note: If the VPG contains more than one virtual machine, remove the protected virtual machine from the VPG, and
save the changes. If the VPG contains only one virtual machine, delete the VPG, and, if the virtual machine target disks
are of VMDK format, make sure to choose to keep the target disks when the option is displayed.

2.

Resize the RDM (both local and remote) as described in the VMware Expanding the size of a Raw Device Mapping
(RDM) knowledge base article.
Note: The vCenter will not detect that RDMs were resized unless this procedure is followed.

3.

Protect the virtual machine again after resizing the RDM.

At this point, the VPG will go through a Delta Sync to compare protected and recovery volumes for changes, and once
synchronized, it will enter the Meeting SLA state.

Moving a Virtual Machine To or From a Protected vApp

In vSphere Client console you can reconfigure vApps by dragging virtual machines to or from the vApp. In this case the
Zerto Virtual Replication protection is updated automatically to recognize the changes to the vApp.
Removing a virtual machine from the vApp results in that virtual machine no longer being protected. However, protection
of the remaining virtual machines continues uninterrupted. Conversely, moving a virtual machine to the vApp causes that
machine to be automatically added to the VPG, with, wherever possible, the vApp default values set. The vApp VPG is
updated and synchronization begins for the added VM between the protected and recovery sites.
Whenever a virtual machine is moved to or from a vApp, all the checkpoints are removed, since the VPG configuration is
essentially new.
Note: If the default values cannot be set, for example the default recovery datastore does not have enough room, then the
VPG is saved with a status of Needs Configuration. To initiate protecting the added virtual machine, you have to edit the
VPG to define the datastore to use for the virtual machine and the test and failover networks.
If the added virtual machine was protected, it is unprotected before being protected as part of the vApp. If the added
virtual machine was originally protected in a VPG containing other virtual machines, the VPG is resynchronized after the
virtual machine which is added to the vApp is removed. If the added virtual machine was protected as the only virtual
machine in the VPG, the VPG is deleted.

Pausing the Protection of a VPG

During periods when the WAN bandwidth is utilized to its maximum, you can pause the protection of a VPG, to free-up
some of this bandwidth. After pausing the protection, the VPG can still be recovered, to the last checkpoint written to the
journal before the pause operation.
Note: It is recommended to add a checkpoint to the VPG to pause, if you might want to recover the VPG to the latest point
in time before being paused.
Note: You cannot pause a VPG while a backup job is running.
To pause the protection of a VPG:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, access the VPGs or VMs tabs and select the VPG to display the VPG details.

2.

Click Actions and then click Pause.

A warning is displayed and if you click OK to this warning, the VPG protection is paused.

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Note: If the VPG was previously viewed, and the tab for this VPG is still displayed, you can access the details by
selecting the tab.
The VPG protection is paused until you click the Resume button.
To resume the protection of a VPG:
Click the Resume button via Actions, in the Pause area of the VPG details tab or in the task bar.
Note: A message is issued that the VPG is paused.
After resuming protection, a Bitmap Sync will most probably be performed to synchronize the protection and
recovery sites.

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To pause the protection of more than one VPG:

1.

In the Zerto User Interface, access the VPGs or VMs tabs.

2.

Select the VPGs to pause and click Actions and then click Pause.
The Pause dialog is displayed.

3.

Select the VPGs to pause and click OK.

The protection of the selected VPGs is paused until you click the Resume button to restart the protection.

To resume the protection of more than one VPG:

1.

Click Actions and then click Resume in the VPGs or VMs tabs to select which VPGs you want to resume protecting.
The Resume dialog is displayed.

2.

Select which VPGs you want to resume protecting and click OK.

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After resuming protection, a Bitmap Sync will most probably be performed to synchronize the protection and
recovery sites.

Forcing the Synchronization of a VPG

If the protected virtual machines are updated such that they are no longer synchronized with their mirror machines in the
recovery site, you can force the resynchronization of the machines. An example of when the machines can be out-of-sync
is when there is a rollback of a virtual machine to a VMware snapshot. In this case, the recovery virtual machine will
include changes that have been rolled back in the protected machine, so that they are no longer synchronized.
You can force the synchronization of the machines in a VPG to remedy this type of situation.
Note: You cannot force the synchronization of a VPG while a backup job is running.
To forcibly synchronize a VPG:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, access the VPGs or VMs tabs and select the VPG to display the VPG details.

2.

Click Actions and then click Force Sync.

Note: If the VPG was previously viewed, and the tab for this VPG is still displayed, you can access the details by
selecting the tab.
The VPG starts to synchronize with the recovery site. As the journal fills up during the synchronization, older checkpoints
are deleted from the journal to make room for the new data and the data prior to these checkpoints are promoted to the
virtual machine virtual disks. Thus, during the synchronization, you can recover the virtual machine to any checkpoint still
in the journal, but as times progresses the list of checkpoints available can lessen. If the journal is not big enough to
complete the synchronization without leaving at least ten minutes worth of checkpoints, the synchronization pauses for
the time specified in the Replication Pause Time value for the VPG, to enable intervention to ensure recovery to a
checkpoint remains available. The intervention can be, for example, increasing the size of the journal, or cloning the journal
as described in Deleting a VPG, below.

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Deleting a VPG
You can delete a VPG via the Zerto tab for a virtual machine included in a VPG. Any offsite backups stored for the VPG are
not deleted.
Note: You cannot delete a VPG while a backup job is running. Deleting a VPG does not remove the repositories and the
virtual machines that were backed up for a deleted VPG can be restored.
To delete a VPG:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, access the VPGs or VMs tabs and select the VPG to display the VPG details.

2.

Click Actions and then click Delete.

Note: If the VPG was previously viewed, and the tab for this VPG is still displayed, you can access the details by
selecting the tab.
The Delete dialog is displayed.
3.

Check Keep target disks at the peer site if you might reprotect the virtual machines. Checking this
option means that the target replica disks for the virtual machines are saved so that they can be used as preseeded
disks if the virtual machines are reprotected.

4. Click Next and then OK to delete the VPG.

The VPG configuration is deleted. The VRA on the recovery site that handles the replication for the VPG is updated
including keeping or removing the replicated data for the deleted VPG, dependent on the Keep target disks at
the peer site setting during the deletion.
The locations of the saved target disks are specified in the description of the event for the virtual machines being
removed, event EV0040, displayed in the Events nested tab, under the Alerts and Events tab.

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Deleting a VPG When the Status is Deleting

If, for whatever reason, the VPG cannot be deleted the VPG status changes to Deleting and the sub status is VPG
waiting to be removed. Attempting to delete the VPG a second time causes the following to be displayed:

Retry Retry deleting the VPG.

Force Delete Forcibly delete the VPG. This option leaves the target disks, regardless of whether they were wanted or not.
Cancel Cancel the delete operation.

Running an Unscheduled Offsite Backup

After initializing the VPG, Zerto Virtual Replication periodically checks that the schedule to run an offsite backup has not
been passed, either a daily offsite backup or a weekly offsite backup. At the scheduled backup time, the offsite backup is
run and the offsite backup file stored in the specified repository.
To run an unscheduled offsite backup:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, access the VPGs or VMs tabs and select the VPG to display the VPG details.
Note: You can also start from the Offsite Backup tab.

2.

Click Actions and then click Run Backup.

Note: If the VPG was previously viewed, and the tab for this VPG is still displayed, you can access the details by
selecting the tab.

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The offsite backup starts. You can monitor the progress in the Offsite Backup tab and the tasks pane. During the backup
job you cannot perform any other operation on the VPG without first aborting the job. You can start a live failover and you
are then prompted to abort the job.
Scheduled backup runs for the VPG are be skipped until the unscheduled run ends.
If the job runs out of the configured backup window, the virtual machines that are already stored in the repository are kept
but remaining virtual machines in the VPG are not backed up. The job is reported as a partial backup.

Ensuring Application Consistency Checkpoints

Checkpoints are recorded automatically every few seconds in the journal. These checkpoints ensure crash-consistency
and are written to the virtual machine journals by the Zerto Virtual Manager and each checkpoint has the same timestamp
set by the Zerto Virtual Manager. During recovery you pick one of these crash-consistent checkpoints in the journal and
recover to this point.
The crash consistent checkpoints are assured in terms of write order fidelity. For example, if write A on any virtual machine
in the VPG occurred before write B on any virtual machine in the VPG, than any checkpoint will either contain:

Neither of the writes

Both writes, and if they overlap the B data takes precedence
Only A indicating the checkpoint occurred between A and B

The coordination is done by the Zerto Virtual Manager.

You can also integrate Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) with Zerto Virtual Replication to ensure transaction
consistency in a Microsoft Windows server environments.
This section describes the different options available to ensure application consistency:

Adding a Checkpoint to Identify a Key Point, below.

Ensuring Transaction Consistency in Microsoft Windows Server Environments, on page 124.

You can also use a script to place the application in a quiesced mode, such as Oracle Hot Backup mode, and execute the
Zerto Virtual Replication PowerShell cmdlet Set-Checkpoint, then release the quiesced mode. For more information
about Zerto Virtual Replication PowerShell Cmdlets, refer to Zerto Virtual Replication Cmdlets.
Note: In order to receive application consistent checkpoints, there is a performance impact on the virtual machine itself as
a result of the application-consistent mechanism used, such as VSS, since the guest operating system and any integrated
applications will be quiesced. This performance impact may be negligible and is not always necessary since not all
applications require these enhanced checkpoints in order to achieve successful application recovery. Also, Zerto Virtual
Replication only requires the guest and application to quiesce for a brief moment, just long enough to add a checkpoint.

Adding a Checkpoint to Identify a Key Point

In addition to the automatically generated checkpoints, you can manually add checkpoints to ensure application
consistency and to identify events that might influence the recovery, such as a planned switch over to a secondary
generator. You can recover the machines in a VPG to any of the checkpoints in the journal, either those added
automatically or those added manually. Thus, recovery is done to a point-in-time when the data integrity of the protected
virtual machines is ensured.
Note: Adding a checkpoint manually does not guarantee transaction consistency.
Note: Changes to a VPG that result in re-synchronization of the VPG results in all checkpoints being removed and
restarted after synchronization completes. A forced synchronization of the VPG only removes checkpoints if the journal
fills up during the synchronization.

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To add a checkpoint to a VPG:

1.

In the Zerto User Interface, click Checkpoint.

The Add Checkpoint dialog is displayed.

The list of VPGs is displayed with the requested VPG selected. You can select more VPGs to add the same checkpoint
to, for example, when there is a site occurrence for which you want to add a checkpoint. You can also add the same
checkpoint to VPGs on multiple sites by selecting the site option for which you want to see the list of VPGs from which
to select the relevant VPGs: Local Site, Remote Site and Show All.
Note: Crash-consistency is per VPG and not across VPGs, even if a checkpoint was added to multiple VPGs.
2.

Enter a name for the checkpoint.

3.

Click Save.

When testing a failover, as described in Testing Recovery, on page 162, or actually performing a failover, as described in
Managing Failover, on page 178, you can choose the checkpoint as the point to recover to.

The checkpoints listed include checkpoints added via the ZertoVssAgent, as described in Ensuring Transaction
Consistency in Microsoft Windows Server Environments, below.

Ensuring Transaction Consistency in Microsoft Windows Server

Environments
The Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) enables taking manual or automatic offsite backup copies or
snapshots of data, even if it has a lock, on a specific volume at a specific point-in-time over regular intervals. This ensures
not just that the data is crash consistent but also transaction consistency if recovery is needed.
Zerto Virtual Replication enables adding checkpoints to the journal that are synchronized with VSS snapshots.

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To use Zerto Virtual Replication with VSS to ensure application consistency you must install the ZertoVssAgent on every
virtual machine that uses VSS and that you want to protect with Zerto Virtual Replication. The ZertoVssAgent is available
from Zerto Ltd. in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
You can install the ZertoVssAgent on the following supported Windows operating systems:
32-Bit Operating Systems

64-Bit Operating Systems

Windows Server 2003 SP2

Windows Server 2003 SP2

Windows Server 2008, all versions (SPs and R2)
Windows Server 2012, all versions (SPs and R2)

To install the ZertoVssAgent:

1.

Download and then run the appropriate version of the ZertoVssAgent from the Zerto Support Portal downloads page,
either ZertoVss32Agent.msi or ZertoVss64Agent.msi on the virtual machines that uses VSS and that you want to protect
with Zerto Virtual Replication.
ZertoVss32Agent.msi is for 32-bit Windows operating systems and ZertoVss64Agent.msi is for 64-bit Windows
operating systems.
Note: Only a single virtual machine in a VPG can have application consistent checkpoints and the VSS checkpoint is
only applied to the virtual machine where the ZertoVssAgent is installed. Thus, even if more than one virtual machine
runs VSS, you only install the Zerto VssAgent on one of the virtual machines in the VPG. Also, the virtual machine
where the ZertoVssAgent is installed must have network connectivity to the local Zerto Virtual Manager in order to be
able to add VSS checkpoints successfully.

2.

Follow the wizard through the installation.

The Zerto Virtual Manager Connections Settings dialog is displayed.

3.

Specify the IP address and HTTP port number for the Zerto Virtual Managers managing the protection of the virtual
machines, both for the local site and optionally, for the paired, remote site. If the same vCenter Server is used both for
protecting and recovering virtual machines, specify the IP address and HTTP port number for the single Zerto Virtual
Manager installed.
Note: The default HTTP port number when Zerto Virtual Replication is installed is 9080.
If you enter a wrong IP address or port you can correct the address or port after the installation completes by editing
the ZertoVssAgentGUI.exe.conf file in the ZertoVssAgent folder under the folder where the ZertoVssAgent
is installed, for example, C:\Program Files (x86)\Zerto.

4. Click OK.
The ZertoVssAgent is installed and the Add VSS Checkpoint is placed on the desktop. The agent runs as a Windows
service, ZertoVssprovider.
You can add a checkpoint to the Zerto Virtual Replication via the Add VSS Checkpoint dialog, via the command line or
as a scheduled task. The ZertoVssAgent ensures that the virtual machine is in an application consistent state and then
sends the checkpoint to the Zerto Virtual Manager, which then adds the checkpoint to the journals for the VPG containing
that virtual machine.
The checkpoint is logged for the entire VPG, however any other virtual machine in the VPG will have a crash-consistent
checkpoint.

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To add a checkpoint while ensuring application consistency via the Add VSS Checkpoint dialog:
1.

On a virtual machine where the ZertoVssAgent has been installed, click Start > Programs > Zerto Virtual Replication >
Add VSS Checkpoint or double-click the Add VSS Checkpoint icon on the desktop.
The Add VSS Checkpoint dialog is displayed.

2.

Enter a name for the checkpoint.

3.

Click OK.

Note: A message that the process was completed is displayed on the machine where the ZertoVssAgent has been installed.
The handling of the checkpoint by the Zerto Virtual Manager is done asynchronously and you can check via the recent
tasks list in the Zerto User Interface that the checkpoint is added in the VPG.
To add a checkpoint while ensuring application consistency via the command line:
1.

Open the command line dialog as an administrator.

2.

Navigate to the directory where the ZertoVssAgent is installed. The default location is C:\Program
Files\Zerto\ZertoVssAgent\.

3.

In the command line, run the following:

ZertoVssAgent.exe <localURL> <localPort> <remoteURL> <remotePort> <checkpoint>
where:
localURL The URL for the Zerto Virtual Manager that manages the protected site.
localPort The HTTP port for the Zerto Virtual Manager that manages the protected site.
remoteURL The URL for the Zerto Virtual Manager that manages the recovery site.
remotePort The HTTP port for the Zerto Virtual Manager that manages the recovery site.
checkpoint The name of the checkpoint.

Note: A message that the process was completed is displayed on the machine where the ZertoVssAgent has been installed.
The handling of the checkpoint by the Zerto Virtual Manager is done asynchronously and you can check via the recent
tasks list in the Zerto User Interface that the checkpoint is added in the VPG.
To schedule checkpoints:
1.

Open the Task Scheduler.

2.

Under the Actions menu item, select Create Task.

The Create Task dialog is displayed.

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3.

Enter the following:

Name A name for the task.
Run whether the user is logged on or not Make sure that this is checked.
Run with highest privileges Make sure that this is checked.
The Windows Scheduled Task will be created and run by the currently logged in user. It is recommended after the task
is created to change this to NT AUTHORITY\Network Service permissions and follow the steps to allow the
correct permissions as described in To set COM permissions for VSS when Access Denied Errors are received:, on
page 128.

4. Select the Triggers tab and configure a new trigger.

The New Trigger dialog is displayed.

5.

Select the Actions tab and create a new action to start the ZertoVssAgent with the IP address and port of the Zerto
Virtual Manager and the checkpoint to use. For example:
C:\Program Files\Zerto\ZertoVssAgent\ZertoVssAgent.exe and
106.18.206.10:9080 106.18.206.10 9080 VSSTaskCP

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6.

Click OK.

7.

Select the Settings tab and make changes as required. Make sure Stop the task if it runs longer than
is not selected.

8.

Click OK.

There are certain permissions required for the windows scheduled task to execute successfully. For example, you may see
the following in the event logs:
Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error querying for the
IVssWriterCallback interface. hr = 0x80070005
This is often caused by incorrect security settings in either the writer or requestor process.
If this is the case, the service which runs the Windows Scheduled Task must have NT AUTHORITY\Network Service
permissions or be using the SYSTEM account to run the task. VSS operations are performed as NT
AUTHORITY\Network Service which is not granted COM access by default on the service assigned to Windows
Scheduled Tasks.
The following procedure is only required if the windows scheduled task is using the Network Services account.
The correct permissions can be assigned by using the Component Services application, accessed by running
dcomcnfg.exe, in the windows guest.
To set COM permissions for VSS when Access Denied Errors are received:
1.

Run dcomcnfg.exe.
The Component Services dialog is displayed.

2.

Expand the Component Services node to My Computer and right-click to access the Properties menu.

3.

Select the COM Security tab and click Edit Limits under Access Permissions.

The My Computer Properties dialog is displayed.

4. Add the NETWORK SERVICE local access.

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5.

Click OK and verify that the user is now in the Access Permission list.

6.

Click OK to commit these changes.

Access Denied messages should no longer be written in the event viewer for VSS. Additionally, you can grant
Network Service full control over HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\Diag. You can
also check this key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\VssAccessControl which
should at least contain the DWORD NT Authority\NetworkService set to value 1.
You may also add a new DWORD like DOMAIN\MyZertoServiceUserAccount and set its value to 1.

During recovery you can recover to the VSS checkpoint, ensuring both application consistency and that the data is crash
consistent for this virtual machine. For details, refer to To test failover:, on page 163 and To initiate a failover:, on page
179.

Test to See if Guest Can be Quiesced Successfully

If you are not receiving the checkpoints or if you wish to test if the Windows guest can be quiesced successfully, a
snapshot may be taken of the VM via the vSphere Client. If VMware tools are installed, VMware can quiesce the Windows
guest operating system. If this snapshot takes a long time to generate, then the ZertoVssAgent checkpoints may fail. For
example, if this operation takes longer than the frequency of the Windows scheduled task, then either the task must be set
to a higher interval or the Windows guest must be troubleshooted to lower the quiesce time.
Note: To check if the Windows guest can be quiesced successfully, you must first uninstall the ZertoVssAgent and then
take the VMware snapshot.

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Changing the Zerto Virtual Manager Used by the ZertoVssAgent

When you install the ZertoVssAgent, you specify the Zerto Virtual Manager to use to manage the addition of checkpoints
for the virtual machines that uses VSS and that you want to protect in VPGs. You can change the IP and port of the VPG
that you specified during the installation either by rerunning the installation and selecting the Repair ZertoVssAgent
option or by editing IP and port values in the ZertoVssAgentGUI.exe.conf file in the folder where the ZertoVssAgent
is installed.

Running Scripts Before or After Recovering a VPG

Before and after executing a failover, move or test failover, you can run executable scripts, such as Windows bat files or
PowerShell scripts. A pre-recovery script is always run at the beginning of the recovery operation. A post-recovery script is
run after all the virtual machines are powered on at the recovery site.
The scripts must be saved to the machine where the remote Zerto Virtual Manager is installed.
Note: It is recommended to duplicate scripts on the Zerto Virtual Managers for both the protected and recovery sites, so
that if reverse replication is required, the scripts are available. The location of the script for reverse replication, on the
machine where the Zerto Virtual Manager which manages the protected site is installed, must be to the same path as in
the remote Zerto Virtual Manager machine. For example, if the scripts are saved to C:\ZertScripts on the remote
Zerto Virtual Manager machine, they must be saved to C:\ZertScripts on the local Zerto Virtual Manager machine.
The scripts can include environment variables which can be included as part of the script itself, or passed to the script as
parameters. When the script is passed an environment variable as a parameter, the variable is evaluated before executing
the script. The following environment variables are available:
%ZertoVPGName% The name of the VPG. If the name includes a space, enclose the variable in double quotes (). For
example, the VPG MyVPG uses the format %ZertoVPGName% but the VPG My VPG uses the format
%ZertoVPGName%.
%ZertoOperation% The operation being run: FailoverBeforeCommit, FailoverRollback, Test,
MoveBeforeCommit, MoveRollback. Use the result returned for this variable to limit when the script runs, dependent
on the operation. The scripts are run after all the virtual machines are powered on at the recovery site and the variable is
set to FailoverBeforeCommit or MoveBeforeCommit. Use FailoverRollback or MoveRollback when
rolling back the Failover or Move operation, to undo whatever changes a previous script has done (such as updates to the
DNS records).
%ZertoVCenterIP% The IP address of the vCenter Server where the VPG is recovered.
%ZertoVCenterPort% The port used by the Zerto Virtual Manager to communicate with the vCenter Server the
default is 443.
%ZertoForce% A Boolean value, Yes/No, that dictates whether to abort the recovery operation if the script fails. For
example, whether to rollback a Move operation when the script fails and returns a non-zero value.
For example, if a specific VPG should not be migrated, the pre-recovery script can determine whether to continue based on
the values of the %ZertoOperation% and %ZertoVPGName%.
When specifying scripts in the definition of a VPG, expand the recovery scripts to display the script fields and enter values
for the Pre-recovery Script and Post-recovery Script:

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Command to run The name of the script to run, including the full path. The script must be located on the same
machine as the Zerto Virtual Manager for the recovery site.
Params The values of any parameters to pass to the script. Separate parameters with a space.
Timeout (sec) The time out in seconds for the script to run. If the script runs before executing a failover, move or test
failover and the script fails or a timeout value is reached, an alert is generated and the failover, move or test failover is
not performed. If the script runs after executing a failover, move or test failover and the timeout value is reached, an
alert is generated. The default timeout value is specified in the Site Configuration Advanced Settings
dialog.

Creating a Script
There are many ways to create scripts to run before or after a recovering a VPG. The following procedure uses a Windows
PowerShell file (.ps1) or a batch (.bat) file.
To create a script:
1.

Create a file on the machine where the Zerto Virtual Manager that manages the recovery is installed.

2.

Enter the script that you want to run in the file.

3.

Save the file as a Windows PowerShell file (.ps1) or batch (.bat) file.
When writing a PowerShell script, you can include the environment variables in the script. For example, the following
code snippet shows the use of the %ZertoOperation% environment variable:
$Operation = "%ZertoOperation%"
If ($Operation -eq "FailoverBeforeCommit" -or "MoveBeforeCommit")
{ desired code here }
else { alternative code here }

4. Update Command to run and Params fields for all the VPG definitions that you want to run the script.
Note: It is recommended to test both a PowerShell and Batch script by running it from the command line, to ensure it runs
correctly. Note that passing parameters is implemented differently for the two script types. For information about passing
command line parameters, refer to the relevant PowerShell or Batch file documentation.

Example Scripts
The following scripts are examples of how to provide scripts to use with Zerto Virtual Replication:

Example 1 Recording Failover Tests, below.

Example 2 Moving Virtual Machines to a Resource Pool After a Failover, on page 132.
Example 3 Replace DNS A and PTR Records, on page 133.

Example 1 Recording Failover Tests

The following script, c:\ZertoScripts\TestedVPGs.bat, writes the VPG name and date to the
TestedVPGs.txt file every time a failover test is run:
SET isodt=%date:~10,4%-%date:~7,2%-%date:~4,2% %time:~0,2%-%time:~3,2%-%time:~6,2%
IF %1==Test ECHO %2 %isodt% >> c:\ZertoScripts\Results\ListOfTestedVPGs.txt
Where %1 is the first parameter in the list of parameters, %ZertoOperation%, and %2 is the second parameter in the
list of parameters, %ZertoVPGName%.
Note: If the file ListOfTestedVPGs.txt does not exist it is created, as long as the folder,
c:\ZertoScripts\Results, exists.

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Update Command to run and Params fields for all the VPG definitions that you want to run the script.
Command to run c:\ZertoScripts\TestedVPGs.bat
Params %ZertoOperation% %ZertoVPGName%
Whenever a failover test is run on the relevant VPGs the TestedVPGs.txt file is updated with the name of the VPG and
the date and time the test was run.

Example 2 Moving Virtual Machines to a Resource Pool After a Failover

The following PowerShell script is an example of how to move virtual machines into resource pools as a post-recovery
script. This script would typically be used when you want to move virtual machines into a resource pool following a
failover. Note that this script is a basic example and requires some configuration, as noted in the comments of the script:
##The following are a list of requirements for this script:
##
- This script must be present in the same directory on both sites listed in
##
the Manage VPGs dialog
##
- PowerShell v2.0 installed on both Zerto Virtual Managers
##
- VMWare PowerCLI installed on both Zerto Virtual Managers
##
##This script was written by Zerto Support and is used at the customer's own risk
## and discretion.
##
##Note: The desired resource pool MUST exist on the vCenter Server prior to
##running this script.
##
##To run this script from the VPG screen, an example command is 'powershell.exe'
##with the parameter 'C:\ZertoScripts\Move-VMs.ps1'
##
##START OF SCRIPT
##
##PowerCLI requires remote signed execution policy - if this is not enabled,
##it may be enabled here by uncommenting the line below.
##Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Force
##Below are the variables that must be configured.
##Variables:
##The location of this script
$strMoveScriptLoc = "C:\Zerto Scripts\"
##vCenter IP address
$strVCenterIP = "10.10.10.10"

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##vCenter user account to use; account must have ability to move desired machines
$strVCUser = "Administrator"
##vcenter user password
$strVCPw = "password"
##Name of resource pool in vCenter
$strResPool = "ResourcePool"
##Array of VMs to move; it includes ALL VMs in the VPG and is case sensitive.
$strVMtoMove = @("VM-1", "VM-2", "VM-3")
##The PowerCLI snap-in must first be registered
Add-PSSnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core
##Move to directory where script is located
CD $strMoveScriptLoc
##Connect to target VC server based on variables above
Connect-VIServer -Server $strVCenterIP -Protocol https -User $strVCUser -Password
$strVCPw
##execute the move for each VM specified
foreach ($objVM in $strVMtoMove){
Move-VM -VM $objVM -Destination $strResPool }
##Disconnect from session with VC server
Disconnect-VIServer -Server $strVCenterIP -Force
##End of script

Example 3 Replace DNS A and PTR Records

The following script, c:\ZertoScripts\DNS-Change.ps1, replaces multiple DNS A and PTR records for the two
DNS servers, mydns1 and mydns2.
Note: This example is for reference only. It is shown as an example of how powerful scripting before or after a failover,
move or test operation can be. The script requires CSV files with a precise format and that all prerequisites for
DNSCMD.exe are available, among other requirements, that if not fulfilled can cause errors to the system.
Therefore, if you want to implement a similar script at your site, contact Zerto support.
## Set DNS servers in an array
$DNSservers= @("mydns1", "mydns2")
## Filepath to script and CSV files
$FP = "C:\ZertoScripts\"
CD $FP
Foreach($DNSserver in $DNSservers) {
Import-CSV .\DNS-OldA.csv | foreach {
dnscmd $DNSserver /RecordDelete $_.zone $_.hostname A $_.ip /f}
Import-CSV .\DNS-NewA.csv | foreach {
dnscmd $DNSserver /RecordAdd $_.zone $_.hostname A $_.ip}
Import-CSV .\DNS-OldPTR.csv | foreach {
dnscmd $DNSserver /RecordDelete $_.reversezone $_.lowip PTR $_.fqdn /f}
Import-CSV .\DNS-NewPTR.csv | foreach {
dnscmd $DNSserver /RecordAdd $_.reversezone $_.lowip PTR $_.fqdn}
}

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The script must be in the same folder, C:\ZertoScripts\, on both the local and remote Zerto Virtual Managers and
this is the folder is the folder specified for the variable $FP in the script.
Update Command to run and Params fields for all the VPG definitions that you want to run the script.
Command to run CMD:powershell.exe
Params C:\ZertoScripts\DNS-Change.ps1

Exporting and Importing VPG Definitions

You can save the VPG definitions to an external file and import these definitions back to Zerto Virtual Replication, for
example exporting the settings before uninstalling a version of Zerto Virtual Replication and importing the settings after
reinstalling Zerto Virtual Replication.
To export VPG settings:
1.

Click Start > Programs > Zerto Virtual Replication > Zerto Diagnostics.
The Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics menu dialog is displayed.

2.

Select the Export Protection Group Settings option and click Next.

3.

Select the destination for the file to contain exported settings and specify the Zerto Virtual Manager IP address and
port where the VPGs are protecting virtual machines.

4. Click Next.
The list of exported VPGs is displayed.
5.

Click Done.

Note: If you are uninstalling Zerto Virtual Replication, the VPGs are deleted. To prevent having to perform a full
synchronization when the VPG definitions are imported, it is recommended to delete the VPGs in the Zerto User Interface,
keeping their target disks.
To import VPG settings:
1.

Click Start > Programs > Zerto Virtual Replication > Zerto Diagnostics.
The Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics menu dialog is displayed.

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2.

Select the Import Protection Group Settings option.

3.

Click Next.

4. Select the file previously exported and enter the Zerto Virtual Manager IP address and port specified when exporting
the VPGs.
5.

Click Next.
The list of exported VPGs is displayed.

6.

Select the VPGs to import. Only VPGs with names that are not already defined can be imported. VPGs in the import
files with the same name as an existing VPG are displayed in the list disabled.

7.

Click Next.
The list of imported VPGs is displayed. If the VPG could not be imported the reason for the failure is specified.

8.

Click Done.

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VPG Statuses and Synchronization Triggers

During normal operations the VPG status can change, dependent on circumstances. For example, if a change is made to
the VPG definition, or an operation such as move or failover is performed on the VPG or an external event impacts the
protection such as the WAN going down. When the status changes, resulting in the VPG being synchronized, for example
with a Delta Sync, the estimated time to complete the synchronization is displayed under the VPG status, and if
relevant, the synchronization trigger, such as Network Congestion.

VPG Statuses
The following statuses are displayed:
Status

Substatus

Deleting

Deleting the VPG

Comment

VPG waiting to be removed

Failing Over

Committing Failover

The VPG is being failed over.

Failing over Before commit

A VPG being failed over is in the initial stage, before

committing the failover.

Promoting

The failover has completed and the data from the

journal is being promoted to the failed over virtual
machine disk.

Rolling back Failover

The failover is being rolled back to prior to the failover.

History Not Meeting SLA

See Not Meeting SLA, below.

The VPG is meeting the RPO SLA setting.

Initializing

Creating VPG
Initial Sync
Syncing
Volume Initial Sync

Meeting SLA

Bitmap Syncing
Delta Syncing (When Force Sync is
applied)
Recovery is Possible

Moving

After a rollback.

Committing Move
Moving Before commit
Promoting
Rolling back Move

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Status

Substatus

Comment

Not Meeting SLA

Delta Sync (When Force Sync is not This status means that the VPG is not meeting the
applied)
journal history nor RPO SLA settings.
Delta Syncing a volume
Error
Full Syncing
Full Syncing a volume
Needs configuration
Site disconnection
Site disconnection. No checkpoints
VM not protected error
VPG has no VMs

RPO Not Meeting SLA

See Not Meeting SLA, above.

The VPG is meeting the journal history SLA setting.

The following provides a full description of the sub-statuses are displayed:

Substatus

Description

Backing Up

An offsite backup is running.

Bitmap Syncinga

A change tracking mechanism of the protected machines during a disconnected state or

when a VRA buffer is full. In these situations, Zerto Virtual Replication starts to maintain a
smart bitmap in memory, in which it tracks and records the storage areas that changed. Since
the bitmap is kept in memory, Zerto Virtual Replication does not require any LUN or volume
per VPG at the protected side.
Note: The VRA buffer is defined in the Amount of VRA RAM field when installing the VRA.
The bitmap is small and scales dynamically. It contains references to the changed areas of
the protected disk, but not to the actual I/O.
When required, Zerto Virtual Replication starts to maintain a smart bitmap in memory, to
track and record storage areas that change. When the issue that caused the bitmap sync is
resolved, the bitmap is used to check updates to the protected disks and send any updates to
the recovery site. A bitmap sync occurs during the following conditions:

Synchronization after WAN failure or when the load over the WAN is too great for the
WAN to handle, in which case the VPGs with the lower priorities will be the first to enter
a Bitmap Sync.
When there is storage congestion at the recovery site, for example when a recovery site
VRA cannot handle all the writes received from the protected site in a timely fashion.
When the VRA at the recovery site goes down and is then rebooted.

During the synchronization, new checkpoints are not added to the journal but recovery
operations are still possible. If a disaster occurs requiring a failover during a bitmap
synchronization, the VPG status changes to Recovery Possible and you can recover to
the last checkpoint written to the journal.
Note: If the synchronization takes longer than the configured history, all the checkpoints in
the journal can be lost, preventing a failover from being performed. For the resolution of this
situation, see Defining the Replication Pause Time, on page 31.
For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on. The
VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized across
the sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access the
protected data to replicate to the target recovery disks.
Committing Failover

Failing over the VPG.

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Substatus

Description

Committing Move

Completing the move, including removing the protected virtual machines.

Creating VPG

The VPG is being created based on the saved definition.

Deleting the VPG

Deleting the VPG.

Delta Syncinga

The Delta Sync uses a checksum comparison to minimize the use of network resources. A
Delta Sync is used when the protected virtual machine disks and the recovery disks should
already be synchronized, except for a possible few changes to the protected disks, for
example, when the target recovery disk is defined as a preseeded disk or after a VRA
upgrade, or for reverse protection after a move or failover. or after the vCenter Server was
down and then restarted
During the synchronization, new checkpoints are not added to the journal. Also, recovery
operations are not possible during a Delta Sync.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on.
The VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized
across the sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access
the protected data to replicate to the target recovery disks.

Delta syncing a volumea

Synchronization when only delta changes for a volume needs synchronizing, for example,
when a virtual machine is added to a VPG using a preseeded disk.
During the synchronization, new checkpoints are not added to the journal. Also, recovery
operations are not possible when delta syncing a volume.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on.
The VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized
across the sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access
the protected data to replicate to the target recovery disks.

Error

Problem situation, for example, when a ZVM is disconnected from a VRA used to protect
virtual machines. The VPG cannot be recovered until the problem is resolved,

Failing over - Before

commit

Preparing the VPG virtual machines in the recovery site.

Full Syncinga

Full synchronization to ensure that the protected disks and recovery disks are the same after
some change to the system. This type of sync is the same as an Initial Sync but occurs
after protection started. In general, this type of sync should not happen.
During the synchronization, new checkpoints are not added to the journal. Also, recovery
operations are not possible.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on.
The VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized
across the sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access
the protected data to replicate to the target recovery disks.

Full syncing a volumea

Synchronization when a full synchronization is required on a single volume.

During the synchronization, new checkpoints are not added to the journal. Also, recovery
operations are not possible.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on.
The VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized
across the sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access
the protected data to replicate to the target recovery disks.

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Substatus

Description

Initial Synca

Synchronization performed after creating the VPG to ensure that the protected disks and
recovery disks are the same. Recovery operations cannot occur until after the initial
synchronization has completed.
Adding a virtual machine to a VPG is equivalent to creating a new VPG and an initial
synchronization is performed. In this case, any checkpoints in the journal become unusable
and only new checkpoints added after the initial synchronization completes can be used in a
recovery. The data in the journal however remains and is promoted to the recovered virtual
machine as part of a recovery procedure.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on.
The VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized
across the sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access
the protected data to replicate to the target recovery disks.

Journal storage error

There was an I/O error to the journal. For example, if the journal was full and the size was
increased. Once the problem is resolved a synchronization is required.

Moving - Before commit

Preparing the VPG virtual machines in the recovery site.

Needs Configuration

One or more configuration settings are missing, for example, when reverse protection is not
specified or a virtual machine is added to a vApp.

Promoting

Updating recovered virtual machines in the VPG with data from the journal.

Recovery is possible

Communication with the Zerto Virtual Manager at the protected site is down so continuing
protection is halted, but recovery on the remote site is available (compare with Site
disconnection).

Recovery storage error

There was an I/O error to the recovery storage. For example, the datastore is almost full or
the virtual machines are turned off and the recovery disks are inaccessible.

Recovery storage profile

error

The storage profile in the recovery site specified to be used by the VPG cannot be found.

Rolling back

Rolling back to an initial status, for example, after canceling a cloning operation on the VPG.

Rolling back Failover

Rolling back a Failover operation before committing it.

Rolling back Move

Rolling back a Move operation before committing it.

Site disconnection

Communication with the Zerto Virtual Manager at the remote, recovery, site is down so
continuing protection is halted (compare with Recovery is possible, below).

Site disconnection. No
checkpoints

Communication with the Zerto Virtual Manager at the remote, recovery, site is down and
there are no checkpoints to use to recover the VPG at the recovery site.

Syncing

Status while type of synchronization is being evaluated.

User paused protection

Protection is paused to enable solving a Journal disk space problem, for example, by
increasing the disk size or cloning the VPG.

VM not protected error

A virtual machine in the VPG is no longer being protected. For example, when the virtual
machine was moved to another host without a VRA or when a protected site VRA is
uninstalled.

Volume Initial Synca

Synchronization when a full synchronization is required on a single volume, for example,

when changing the target datastore or adding a virtual machine to the VPG without using a
preseeded disk.
During the synchronization, new checkpoints are not added to the journal. Also, recovery
operations are not possible during a Volume Initial Sync.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on.
The VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized
across the sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access
the protected data to replicate to the target recovery disks.

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Substatus

Description

VPG has no VMs

A configured VPG where the virtual machines have been removed from it, for example when
changing both the datastore and host for the virtual machines in the VPG, causes the VPG to
be recreated.

VPG waiting to be
removed

An attempt to remove the VPG failed and it must be forcibly removed. For details, see
Deleting a VPG When the Status is Deleting, on page 122.

Zerto Virtual Manager

paused protection

Protection is paused to enable solving a Journal disk space problem, for example, by
increasing the disk size or cloning the VPG.

a. Synchronization after a recovery starts after the promotion of data from the journal to the virtual machine disks ends. Thus, synchronization of virtual
machines can start at different times, dependent on when the promotion for the virtual machine ends. All synchronizations are done in parallel, whether
a delta sync or full sync, etc.

VPG Synchronization Triggers

The following synchronization triggers can be applied:
Trigger

Description

Force Sync

The user requested to synchronize the VPG, as described in Forcing the Synchronization of a
VPG, on page 120.

Network Congestion

The network bandwidth is not wide enough to handle all the data, causing some of the data to
be backed up.

Protected Storage Error

An I/O error occurred to a protected virtual machine, after the data was sent to the recovery
side.

Protected VRA
Congestion

The host where the VRA is installed is highly loaded: many updates are made to the
protected machines at the same time, causing a time lapse before the updates are passed to
the recovery site.

Recovery or Journal
Storage Error

There was an I/O error either to the recovery storage or journal, for example if the journal
was full and the size was increased. Once the problem is resolved a synchronization is
required.

Recovery Storage
Congestion

The recovery datastore is being written to a lot, causing a delay for some of the data passed
from the protected site to be written to disk.

Recovery VRA
Communication Problem

A network error, such as the network being down for a period, requires a synchronization of
the VPG between the two sites, for example a Bitmap Sync.

VPG Configuration
Changed

The configuration of the VPG changed resulting in a synchronization being required. For
example, the size of the journal was changed.

Managing Protection When a Recovery Datastore Will Be

Unavailable (Datastore Maintenance)
When access to a recovery datastore is not available, for example, during maintenance of the datastore, you have to
change the datastore in all affected VPGs to enable protection to continue.
Note: Changing the datastore directly in the Configure VM dialog or if the datastore used for the journal is not set to
Default in the Manage Journal dialog, causes the VPG to undergo an initial synchronization.
During the following procedures the journal used for recovery is reset and until the VPG returns to a protecting state,
recovery is not possible.

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To enable protection to continue when a virtual machine recovery datastore will be unavailable:
1.

Remove all virtual machines from the VPG definitions that use the unavailable datastore as the recovery datastore, as
specified in the Configure VM dialog from the VPG, keeping the recovery volumes.

When saving the VPG a warning is displayed.

2.

Click No.
Note: A VPG must always have at least one virtual machine defined and therefore you cannot remove all the virtual
machines from a VPG at once. If all the VPGs use a datastore that requires maintenance, remove all but one of the
virtual machines and after completing this procedure, adding the virtual machines back to the VPG, repeat the
procedure with the last virtual machine.

3.

Change the default recovery datastore in the VPG definition to a new default datastore, if it was set to the unavailable
datastore.

4. Move the saved volumes to the default datastore.

5.

Add the virtual machine back to the VPG, and configure the virtual machine volumes to use the saved volumes as
preseeded volumes accessed from the Configure VM dialog.

6.

Click Save to save the virtual machine configuration and then the VPG.

The VPG will undergo a Delta Sync before returning to a Meeting SLA status.

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To enable protection to continue when a journal datastore will be unavailable:

1.

Delete the VPG but check Keep target disks at the peer site. Checking this option means that the
target replica disks for the virtual machines are kept so that you can preseed to these disks so the synchronization is
faster.

2.

Recreate the VPG, specifying the journal datastore you want to use in the Manage Journal dialog and the default
recovery datastore.

3.

Add the virtual machine to the VPG, and configure the virtual machine volumes to use the saved volumes as
preseeded volumes accessed from the Configure VM dialog.

4. Click Save to save the virtual machine configuration and then the VPG.
The VPG will undergo a Delta Sync before returning to a Meeting SLA status.

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Chapter 11: Managing VRAs

A VRA is a Zerto Virtual Replication virtual machine that manages the replication of virtual machines across sites. A VRA
must be installed on every ESX/ESXi which hosts virtual machines that require protecting in the protected site and on
every ESX/ESXi that will host the replicated virtual machines in the recovery site. The VRA compresses the data that is
passed across the WAN from the protected site to the recovery site. The VRA automatically adjusts the compression level
according to CPU usage, including totally disabling it if needed.
The VRA is a custom, very thin, Linux-based virtual machine with a small footprint, disk memory and CPU and
increased security since there are a minimum number of services installed.
It is recommended to install a VRA on every ESX/ESXi host so that if protected virtual machines are moved from one host
in the cluster to another host in the cluster there is always a VRA to protect the moved virtual machines. If you are
protecting a vApp, you must install a VRA on every ESX/ESXi host in the cluster on both the protected and recovery sites
and ensure that DRS is enabled for these clusters.
During normal operation, a VRA might require more disks than a single virtual machine can support. If this situation arises,
the VRA creates new shadow VRA virtual machines, used by the VRA to maintain additional disks (a diskbox). These
virtual machines must not be removed. A VRA can manage a maximum of 500 volumes, whether these are volumes being
protected or recovered.
Note: VRAs and shadow VRAs are configured and managed by the Zerto Virtual Manager. You cannot take snapshots of
VRAs as snapshots cause operational problems for the VRAs.
The priority assigned to a VPG dictates the bandwidth used. The Zerto Virtual Manager distributes bandwidth among the
VRAs based on this priority and the VPGs with higher priorities are handled before writes from VPGs with lower priorities.
There are a number of tasks that you might need to perform on VRAs, including installing a new VRA on a host added to
the vCenter Server or uninstalling VRAs and moving the data maintained by a VRA to another VRA when an ESX/ESXi
host requires VMware maintenance.
The following VRA management options are described in this chapter:

Installing a VRA, below

Upgrading VRAs, on page 146.
Editing VRA Settings, on page 148.
Resetting the Host Passwords Required By More Than One VRA, on page 148.
Changing a Recovery VRA For Virtual Machines, on page 149.
Uninstalling VRAs, on page 150.
Handling a Ghost VRA, on page 151.
Managing Protection During VMware Host Maintenance, on page 152.
Managing Protection When Moving a Host to a Different Cluster, on page 152.

Monitoring VRAs is described in Monitoring Virtual Replication Appliances, on page 101.

Installing a VRA
It is recommended to install a VRA on every ESX/ESXi host in every site so that if protected virtual machines are moved
from one host in the cluster to another host in the cluster there is always a VRA to protect the moved virtual machines.
If a new host is added to a site, or a VRA is for any reason removed and a new VRA needs to be installed. If you are
protecting a vApp, you must install a VRA on every ESX/ESXi host in the cluster on both the protected and recovery sites
and ensure that DRS is enabled for these clusters.
You can display a list of hosts with VRAs installed along with the hosts still requiring a VRA to be installed by toggling
Show hosts without a VRA installed at the bottom left of the tab to On.
A VRA can manage a maximum of 500 volumes, whether these are volumes being protected or recovered.

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VRA Installation Requirements

To install a VRA you require the following:

12.5GB datastore space

At least 1GB of reserved memory.
ESX/ESXi host version 4.0U1 and higher.
Ports 22 and 443 are enabled on the host during the installation.

For the duration of the installation of the VRA, the Zerto Virtual Manager enables SSH in the vCenter Server.
You must also know the following information to install a VRA:

The datastore the VRA will use and the local network used by the host.
The network settings to access the peer site; either the default gateway or the IP address, subnet mask and gateway.
If a static IP is used, which is the Zerto recommendation1, instead of DHCP, the IP address, subnet mask and default
gateway to be used by the VRA.

To install Zerto Virtual Replication Appliances (VRAs) on ESX/ESXi hosts:

1.

In the Zerto User Interface, click the Setup tab and then the VRAs tab.

2.

If the peer site VRAs are not on the same network as the peer site Zerto Virtual Manager, check the Paired Site
Routing checkbox and click the link.
The Configure Paired Site Routing dialog is displayed.

Specify the following and then click Save:

1. In a non-production environment it is often convenient to use DHCP to allocate an IP to the VRA. In a production environment this is not recommended.
For example, if the DHCP server changes the IP allocation on a reboot, the VRA does not handle the change.

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Address The IP address of the next hop at the local site, the router or gateway address, that is used to access the peer
site network.
Subnet Mask The subnet mask for the peer site network.
Gateway The gateway for the peer site network.
These access details are used to access the VRAs on the peer site.
Note: The settings in the Configure Paired Site Routing dialog apply to all VRAs installed after the
information is saved. Any existing VRA is not affected and access to these VRAs continues via the default gateway. If
the default gateway stops being used, you must reinstall the VRAs that were installed before setting up paired site
routing.
3.

Select a host which require a VRA and click Actions and then click Install.
The Configure and Install VRA dialog is displayed.

Note: If you selected a cluster or multiple hosts, only the first host in the displayed list is installed.
Specify the following Target Host Details:
Host The target ESX/ESXi host for the VRA. The drop-down displays the hosts managed by the vCenter Server
which do not have a VRA installed, with the selected host displayed by default.
Host Root Password The password used to access the host for the root user. This field is required for ESXi 4.x and
5.x hosts. This field is disabled for ESX 4.x hosts. When the checkbox at the side is checked the password is displayed
as asterisks. The password is used by the Zerto Virtual Manager when deploying and upgrading the VRA on this host.
Also, root access is required in case the Zerto host component is down and needs an automatic restart. The Zerto
Virtual Manager checks the password is valid once a day. If the password was changed, an alert is triggered,
requesting the user enter the new password.
Datastore The datastore that the VRA will use for mirror virtual machines and for its journal. You can install more
than one VRA on the same datastore.
Network The network used to access the VRA.
Amount of VRA RAM The amount of memory to allocate to the VRA. The amount determines the maximum buffer
size for buffering IOs written by the protected virtual machines by the protecting VRA, before they are sent over the
network to the recovery VRA. The recovery VRA also buffers the incoming IOs until they are written to the journal. If a
buffer becomes full, a Bitmap Sync is performed after space is freed up in the buffer.
Amount of VRA RAM VRA Buffer Pool Size
1GB

461MB

2GB

1485MB

3GB

2509MB

The protecting VRA can use 90% of the buffer for IOs to send over the network and the recovery VRA can use 75% of
the buffer. That is, for example, a protecting VRA defined with 2GB of RAM can buffer approximately 1337MB before
the buffer is full and a Bitmap Sync is required.

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VRA Group Specify the VRA Group as free text to identify the group or select from a previously specified group.
You group VRAs together when VRAs use different networks so they can be grouped by network, for example when
the protected and recovery sites use the same vCenter Server and you want to replicate to different storage in the
vCenter Server. Within a group the priority assigned to a VPG dictates the bandwidth used. Thus, a VPG with a high
priority is allocated bandwidth before VPGs with lower priorities. VPGs which are on VRAs with different VRA groups,
for example, VPG 1 is on VRA 1 in group 1 and VPG 2 in on VRA 2 in group 2, do not affect each other, as the priority is
relevant only within each group.
4. Specify the following VRA Network Details:
Configuration Either have the IP address allocated via a static IP address or a DHCP server. If you select the Static
option, which is the recommended option, enter the following:
Address The IP address for the VRA.
Subnet Mask The subnet mask for the network. The default value is 255.255.255.0.
Default Gateway The default mask for the network.
5.

Click Install.
The installation starts and the status is displayed in the VRA Status field in the VRAs tab.

This process includes a number of tasks, which you can see in the recent tasks list in the Zerto User Interface.
The VRA name is Z-VRA-hostIP. If a virtual machine with this name exists, for example when a previous VRA was
not deleted, the VRA name has a number appended to it.

Upgrading VRAs
When upgrading Zerto Virtual Replication, the VRAs that were installed in the previous version are not upgraded
automatically and can be upgraded via the VRAs tab. Zerto Virtual Replication enables VRAs installed with the previous
version of Zerto Virtual Replication to work with VRAs installed with the current version of Zerto Virtual Replication in any
combination of VRAs (all from one version or a mix of VRA versions) as long as the VRAs are only one update higher or
lower than the version of Zerto Virtual Replication installed on this site. It is recommended to upgrade the VRAs to be
consistent with the latest version and this can be done in the VRAs tab.
After upgrading Zerto Virtual Replication, the VRAs might also require an upgrade. You can see if an upgrade is available in
the VRAs tab, in the VRA Version column.

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Note: An alert is also issued both on the site with the old VRA installed and on any paired site with this site.

Move the mouse over the Outdated value to display the VRA version as a tooltip.
Considerations when upgrading VRAs:

VRAs managing protected virtual machines: Either vMotion the protected virtual machines and datastores managed
by the VRA to another host with a VRA, or upgrade the VRA without vMotioning the virtual machines and a Delta
Sync will be performed following the upgrade.
Upgrading a VRA that manages the recovery of virtual machines results in a Bitmap Sync being performed after the
upgrade. Note that the time to upgrade a VRA is short so the Bitmap Sync should also be quick.

To upgrade VRAs:
1.

For a VRA protecting virtual machines and vMotioning the protected virtual machines: Remove affinity rules for
protected virtual machines on the host with the VRA to be upgraded and vMotion these protected machines from the
host to another host with a VRA.

2.

In the Zerto User Interface, either select the VRAs to upgrade in the VRAs tab or for a single VRA display the VRA
details by clicking the VRA Name link in the VRAs tab, and click Actions and then click Upgrade.

The Upgrade VRAs dialog is displayed, listing the selected VRAs and whether an upgrade is available.

3.

Review the list and deselect any VRAs that you decide not to upgrade.

4. Click Upgrade Selected VRAs.

The upgrade progress is displayed in the VRAs tab.
A Delta Sync, for VRAs protecting virtual machines, or a Bitmap Sync, for VRAs managing recovery, is performed
following the upgrade.
Note: The VRA name does not change, even if the naming convention in the latest version is different.

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Editing VRA Settings

If you need to change the host password, VRA Group or network settings for a VRA, for example when the gateway to the
VRA is changed, you can do this by editing the VRA.
To edit the VRA:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, either select the VRA to edit in the VRAs tab or display the VRA details by clicking the VRA
Name link in the VRAs tab, and click Actions and then click Edit.
The Edit VRA dialog is displayed.

2.

Edit the host root password if required.

Host Root Password If the password for the host has changed, specify the new password.

3.

Edit the group if required.

VRA Group You can change the free text to change the group that a VRA belongs. If you create a group and then
change the name when editing the VRA so that there is no VRA in the site that belongs to the originally specified
group, the group is automatically deleted from the system.

4. Edit the VRA network settings as follows:

Configuration Either have the IP address allocated via a static IP address or a DHCP server. If the VRA was originally
installed with a static IP, you cannot change this to DHCP. If the VRA was originally installed to use a DHCP server, you
can change this to use a static IP. It is recommended to always use a static IP.
Address The static IP address for the VRA to communicate with the Zerto Virtual Manager.
Subnet Mask The subnet mask for the network. The default value is 255.255.255.0.
Default Gateway The default mask for the network.
5.

Click Save.

Resetting the Host Passwords Required By More Than One VRA

VRAs installed on ESXi 4.x and 5.x hosts require a password to access the host. This password is supplied as part of the
installation of each VRA. The password is required for situations such as rebooting or upgrading the host. If the password
for a host is changed you can change the password stored by the VRA by editing the VRA, either for a specific VRA, or
when multiple hosts have their passwords changed, each with the same password, you can update the password
information for the affected VRAs.
The Zerto Virtual Manager checks the password is valid once a day. If the password was changed, an alert is triggered,
requesting the user enter the new password.

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To reset the host password required by one or more VRAs:

1.

In the Zerto User Interface, either select the VRAs in the VRAs tab or for a single VRA display the VRA details by
clicking the VRA Name link in the VRAs tab, and click Actions and then click Change Host password.
The Change Host Password dialog is displayed.

2.

Edit the host root password:

3.

Click Save.

New Password If the password for the host has changed, specify the new password.

Changing a Recovery VRA For Virtual Machines

Note: The datastores used by the original VRA and the changed VRA must be accessible by both the original target host
and by the changed target host.
To change a host VRA:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, either select the VRA to change in the VRAs tab or display the VRA details by clicking the
VRA Name link in the VRAs tab, and click Actions and then click Change VM Recovery VRA.

The Change Recovery Host dialog is displayed, listing all the virtual machines that require a change to the
recovery host.

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2.

Review the list and select the virtual machines to change the target host to another specified target host.

3.

Select the target host for these virtual machines in the Select the replacement host drop-down list. You can
move some virtual machines to one replacement target host and by repeating the operation, move other virtual
machines to a different target host.
Validation is performed to make sure the selected target host can be used, for example the datastores used by both
the VRAs are accessible from both hosts.
Any implications of the change, such as whether synchronization might be required after the change is also displayed.

4. Click OK.
The VPG target host definitions are changed and the affected target data, including the journals, storage vMotioned to
the VRA under the replacement host. During this procedure you cannot edit the affected VPGs nor attempt a failover,
move, failover test or clone operation. At the end of the procedure a Delta Sync might be required to resynchronize
the protected machines with the recovery VRAs.
In order not to affect the recoverability of other VPGs replicating to the VRA, a new virtual machine is created to
handle moving the disks. This virtual machine is named Z-VRAH-ESXihostname-xx, where hostname is the name of
the ESXi host where the original VRA is installed and xx is a unique index used for the virtual machine, with a format of
yy-xxxx or xxxx.
5.

Repeat this procedure from step 2 for all the virtual machines.

Note: .When a volume is moved using Storage vMotion, the datastore folder under which the volume is saved is the last
datastore folder accessed by VMware.

Uninstalling VRAs
VRAs are uninstalled via the Zerto User Interface and not via the vCenter Server GUI. You cannot uninstall a VRA which is
used to protect or recover virtual machines.
For a VRA protecting virtual machines Before uninstallng the VRA, remove affinity rules for protected virtual machines
on the host and vMotion these protected virtual machines to another host in the cluster with a VRA installed.
For a VRA recovering virtual machines Before uninstallng the VRA, change the host for all virtual machines in VPGs
recovering to this VRA to another host as described in Changing a Recovery VRA For Virtual Machines, on page 149. A
Bitmap Sync occurs to synchronize the VPGs with the new host.
Note: If the VRA has crashed, or was accidentally deleted, it must be forcibly uninstalled, as described in Handling a Ghost
VRA, on page 151.
For a VRA in a cluster, you can remove it and then install a new VRA. However, to ensure that virtual machines in the
cluster are not moved to the host without a VRA from the time the VRA is removed to the time a new VRA is installed, it is
recommended to perform the following procedure.

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To remove a VRA with virtual machines being recovered to it:

1.

When the VRA to be removed is in a cluster, set VMware DRS to manual for the duration of the procedure, so that
virtual machines in the cluster are not moved to the host without a VRA from the time the VRA is removed to the time
a new VRA is installed.

2.

Remove affinity rules for protected virtual machines on the host and vMotion any protected virtual machines to
another host with a VRA installed.

3.

Change the host for all virtual machines in VPGs recovering to this VRA to another host as described in Changing a
Recovery VRA For Virtual Machines, on page 149.

4. Wait for any synchronization to complete.

5.

Either select the VRAs to uninstall in the VRAs tab or for a single VRA display the VRA details by clicking the VRA
Name link in the VRAs tab, and click Actions and then click Uninstall.

6.

Once the VRAs are completely removed, install a new VRA on the host.

Note: If a VRA cannot be removed, when the VRA was installed on an ESXi version 4.x or 5.x host and the password to the
host was changed, contact Zerto support.
After the VRA is uninstalled, connectivity from that VRA to any Zerto Cloud Connector is lost. After a VRA is reinstalled on
the host, the ports that were used for the connection to the Zerto Cloud Connector are not reused and new ports must be
opened in the firewall for the cloud site. For details about Zerto Cloud Connectors, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager
Administration Guide.

Handling a Ghost VRA

When an event occurs, for example the host machine crashes or the VRA or a shadow VRA is accidentally deleted, if the
VRA has shared storage disks that are accessible by other hosts in the site, you can copy these disks to another VRA in the
site.
The VRA is represented in the VRAs tab as a ghost VRA.

To recover VRA disks from a ghost VRA:

1.

Remove the VPGs, keeping the recovery disks when removing to use as preseeded disks.

2.

Recreate the VPGs using the preseeded disks.

3.

Uninstall the VRA.

4. Reinstall the VRA, as described in Installing a VRA, on page 143.

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Managing Protection During VMware Host Maintenance

When a host machine requires VMware maintenance, at least for the duration of the maintenance, to ensure continuous
protection:
For a host machine on the protected site Remove affinity rules for protected virtual machines on the host that requires
maintenance and vMotion these machines to any other host with a VRA installed. Shut down the VRA before starting the
host maintenance. After the host maintenance power on the VRA.
For a host machine on the recovery site VRA data and recovery volumes maintained by the VRA on the host should be
moved to another machine, by changing the destination host for all the virtual machines being recovered to that host, as
described in Changing a Recovery VRA For Virtual Machines, on page 149. Shut down the VRA before starting the host
maintenance. After the host maintenance power on the VRA.
Note: Changing the VPG default host does not change the hosts for virtual machines already included in the VPG. These
virtual machine hosts must be changed directly by configuring the individual virtual machines in the VPG definition.
To enable VMware host maintenance for a VRA both protecting and recovering virtual machines:
1.

Remove affinity rules for protected virtual machines on the host that requires maintenance and vMotion these
machines to any other host with a VRA installed.

2.

Change the host for all virtual machines in VPGs recovering to this VRA to another host as described in Changing a
Recovery VRA For Virtual Machines, on page 149.

3.

Wait for any synchronization to complete.

4. Shutdown the VRA on the host manually in order to enable the host to enter VMware Maintenance.
5.

Enter VMware Maintenance for the host.

Note: Do not migrate powered-off virtual machines, if prompted to.

6.

Remove the host from the cluster: Place it under the datacenter entity rather than the cluster entity.

7.

Perform required maintenance, for example, upgrading the host.

8.

Exit VMware maintenance mode.

9.

Power on the VRA.

10. Wait for the Zerto Virtual Manager to connect to the local VRAs. You can monitor the alerts to determine when the
connections have been established.
11. Add the host back in to the cluster.

Managing Protection When Moving a Host to a Different Cluster

When a host machine has to moved to another cluster:
For a host machine on the protected site Remove affinity rules for protected virtual machines on the host that is going to
be moved and vMotion these machines to any other host in the cluster with a VRA installed. Shut down the VRA before
moving the host.
For a host machine on the recovery site Shut down the VRA and place the host in VMware maintenance mode. After
shutting down the VRA VPGs with virtual machines being recovered to the VRA will enter an error state. Move the host to
the new cluster, exit maintenance mode and power on the VRA. The VPGs in an error state will enter a Bitmap Sync and
then resume a Meeting SLA status.
Note: Any VPGs that were defined with a recovery resource pool in the original cluster must be edited to change the
default and virtual machine specific target host settings for the new cluster, even when the new cluster has a resource pool
that is displayed in the VPG definitions.

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Chapter 12: Managing a Zerto Virtual Manager

The Zerto Virtual Manager runs as a Windows service and connects to both Zerto Virtual Replication components, such as
VRAs as well as VMware components such as the vCenter Server and the vSphere Client console.
A Zerto Virtual Manager can manage up to 5000 virtual machines, either being protected by, or recovered to, the Zerto
Virtual Manager.
The following topics are described in this chapter:

Check Connectivity Between Zerto Virtual Replication Components, below

Reconfiguring the Zerto Virtual Manager Setup, on page 154.
Reconfiguring the Microsoft SQL Server Database Used by the Zerto Virtual Manager, on page 156
Replacing the SSL Certificate, on page 157.
Pair to Another Site, on page 158.

Check Connectivity Between Zerto Virtual Replication

Components
If you think that there are connectivity problems to or from a Zerto Virtual Manager, you can use the Zerto diagnostics
utility to check the connectivity.
To check connectivity between Zerto Virtual Manager components:
1.

Click Start > Programs > Zerto Virtual Replication > Zerto Diagnostics.
The Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics menu dialog is displayed.

2.

Select the Test Connectivity to Zerto Virtual Replication components option and click Next.
The IP Connectivity dialog is displayed.

You can use this dialog to check the following:

TCP communication between the Zerto Virtual Managers (ZVMs) on the protected and recovery sites. The
default port, specified during installation is 9081.
Communication between VRAs on the local site and paired site, via the control port and the data port.

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3.

Select the connectivity you want to test and in the case of the Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM), specify the TCP
communication port specified during the installation if the default port, 9081, was changed.

4. Specify the type of test to perform:

Server Test for incoming communication.
Client Test for outgoing communication. Specify the IP address of the receiving Zerto Virtual Manager.
5.

Click Next to test the specified connectivity.

The Server option listens for communication from a paired VRA. Stop listening by clicking Stop.

The Client options tests the client on completion a result dialog is displayed.

6.

Click Stop (server test) or OK (client test) to return to the Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics dialog.

Reconfiguring the Zerto Virtual Manager Setup

When installing Zerto Virtual Replication, you provide the IP addresses of the vCenter Server to connect the Zerto Virtual
Manager with and the IP address of the machine where the Zerto Virtual Manager runs to enable running the Zerto User
Interface.
You can change these IP addresses if necessary, using the Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics utility.
To reconfigure the Zerto Virtual Manager:
1.

Click Start > Programs > Zerto Virtual Replication > Zerto Diagnostics.
The Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics menu dialog is displayed.

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2.

Select the Reconfigure Zerto Virtual Manager option and click Next.
The installation settings for the connection to the vCenter Server are displayed. Change the IP and username and
password if necessary.

IP / Host Name The IP address or host name of the machine where the vCenter Server runs.
User Name The user name for an administrator to the vCenter Server. The name can be entered using either of the
following formats:
username
domain\username
Password A valid password for the given user name.
3.

Click Next.
The dialog for Zerto Virtual Manager setup is displayed:

IP for use by vSphere Client The IP to access the Zerto Virtual Manager from the Zerto User Interface. If the machine
has more than one NIC, select the appropriate IP from the list, otherwise the IP that is displayed is the only option.
HTTP Port (ZVMApi) The port used for inbound communication between the Zerto Virtual Manager and Zerto
internal APIs, external Zerto PowerShell Cmdlets and a VSS Agent.
HTTPS Port (vSphere client<->ZVM) The port used for inbound communication between the Zerto User Interface
and the Zerto Virtual Manager.
TCP Port (ZVM<->ZVM) The port used for communication between Zerto Virtual Managers. If you change the
value, when pairing sites, use the TCP port value specified here.

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HTTP Certificate Check Replace SSL Certificate and browse for a certificate, if you change the certificate
you have been using.
4. Click Next.
The connectivity is checked.

Note: If one of the tasks fails, click the link for information about why it failed. Usually it is a mistake when entering an
IP address.
5.

Click Next.
The Zerto Virtual Manager is reconfigured.

6.

Click Finish.

If you changed the IP address of the Zerto Virtual Manager or the TCP port it uses to communicate with paired Zerto
Virtual Managers on other sites, you have to unpair these sites, both from this site and from the remote sites and then pair
the sites again.

Reconfiguring the Microsoft SQL Server Database Used by the

Zerto Virtual Manager
When installing Zerto Virtual Replication, you can specify a Microsoft SQL Server database to use by the Zerto Virtual
Manager. If the access to this database changes, you can change the access in the Zerto Virtual Manager.
To reconfigure the access to the Zerto Virtual Manager database:
1.

Click Start > Programs > Zerto Virtual Replication > Zerto Diagnostics.
The Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics menu dialog is displayed.

2.

Select the Change SQL Server Credentials option and click Next.
The installation settings for the SQL Server are displayed. Change the IP and username and password if necessary.

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Server Name The domain name and server instance to connect to, with the format domain\instance.
Specify either of the following authentication options:
Windows Authentication Use Windows authentication. This option is only enabled if a specific service user account
was specified in the previous Service User dialog, in which case the service account name and password are used.
SQL Server Authentication Use SQL Server authentication.
User Name The user name for SQL Server database.
Password A valid password for the given user name.
3.

Click Finish.

The Zerto Virtual Manager service is restarted using the new credentials.

Replacing the SSL Certificate

The communication between the Zerto Virtual Manager and the user interface uses HTTPS. On the first login to user
interface, via the Zerto DR Management UI, vSphere Client console, or vSphere Web Client, you have to install a security
certificate in order to be able to continue working without each login requiring acceptance of the security.
If you want to replace the SSL certificate, perform the procedure described in To reconfigure the Zerto Virtual Manager:,
on page 154 and select a new SSL certificate when the dialog for Zerto Virtual Manager setup is displayed:

HTTP Certificate Check Replace SSL Certificate and browse for a replacement certificate.

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Pair to Another Site

You can pair to any site where Zerto Virtual Replication is installed.
To pair to a site:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, click the configuration (cog) button.

The Site Settings dialog is displayed.

2.

Click Manage Pairing.

The Manage Sites dialog is displayed.1

3.

Click the Add New Site button.

The Add Site dialog is displayed.

4. Specify the following:

Remote Site ZVM IP Address IP address or host name of the remote site to pair to. The remote site is the site where
the remote Zerto Virtual Manager is installed.
Port The TCP port used for communication between the sites. Enter the port that was specified during installation.
The default port during installation is 9081.
5.

Click the Pair button.

The sites are paired, the process being reflected in the Status column. Once paired the status changes to Paired
meaning that the Zerto Virtual Manager for the local vCenter Server is connected to the Zerto Virtual Manager on the
remote server.

6.

Click the Close button.

1. The Manage Sites dialog enables pairing to multiple sites. The number of sites you can pair with is determined by the license agreement.

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Chapter 13: Overview of Disaster Recovery Operations

Zerto Virtual Replication provides a number of operations to recover virtual machines at the remote site. This chapter
describes these operations. The following topics are described in this chapter:

The Failover Test Operation, on page 159.

The Move Operation, below.
The Failover Operation, on page 160.
The Clone Operation, on page 161.

In addition, when extended recovery is defined, an offsite backup can be restored as described in Restoring Protected
Virtual Machines From an Offsite Backup Repository, on page 192.

The Failover Test Operation

Use the Failover Test operation to test that during recovery the virtual machines are correctly replicated at the recovery
site.
The Failover Test operation creates test virtual machines in a sandbox, using the test network specified in the VPG
definition as opposed to a production network, to a specified point-in-time, using the virtual disks managed by the VRA. All
testing is written to scratch volumes. The longer the test period the more scratch volumes are used, until the maximum
size is reached, at which point no more testing can be done. The maximum size of all the scratch volumes is determined by
the journal size hard limit and cannot be changed. The scratch volumes reside on the same datastore defined for the
journal. Using scratch volumes makes cleaning up the test failover more efficient. For details, see Testing Recovery, on
page 162.
During the test, any changes to the protected virtual machines at the protected site are sent to the recovery site and new
checkpoints continue to be generated, since replication of the protected machines continues throughout the test. You can
also add your own checkpoints during the test period.
The following diagram shows the positioning of the virtual machines before and during a Failover test operation.

The Move Operation

Use the Move operation to transfer protected virtual machines from the protected site to the recovery (target) site in a
planned migration.
When you perform a planned migration of the virtual machines to the recovery site, Zerto Virtual Replication assumes that
both sites are healthy and that you planned to relocate the virtual machines in an orderly fashion. For details, see
Migrating a Protection Group to the Recovery Site, on page 172.

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Overview of Disaster Recovery Operations

The following diagram shows the positioning of the virtual machines before and after the completion of a Move operation.

Note: The Move operation without reverse protection does not remove the VPG definition but leaves it in a Needs
Configuration state.

The Failover Operation

Use the Failover operation following a disaster to recover protected virtual machines to the recovery site. A failover
assumes that connectivity between the sites might be down, and thus the protected virtual machines and disks are not
removed, as they are in a planned Move operation.
When you set up a failover you always specify a checkpoint to which you want to recover the virtual machines. When you
select a checkpoint either the last auto-generated checkpoint, an earlier checkpoint, or a user-defined checkpoint Zerto
Virtual Replication makes sure that virtual machines at the remote site are recovered to this specified point-in-time. For
details, see Managing Failover, on page 178.
Note: To identify the checkpoint to use, you can perform a number of test failovers, each to a different checkpoint.

Failback after the Original Site is Operational

After completing a failover, when the original site is back up and running you can move the recovered virtual machines
back again using the Move operation. The VPG that is now protecting the virtual machines on the recovery site has to be
configured and then a Delta Sync is performed with the disks in the original protected site. Once the VPG is in a protecting
state the virtual machines can be moved back to the original site. For details, see Migrating a Protection Group to the
Recovery Site, on page 172.

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Overview of Disaster Recovery Operations

The following diagram shows the positioning of the virtual machines before and after the completion of a Failover
operation.

Note: The Failover operation without reverse protection does not remove the VPG definition but leaves it in a Needs
Configuration state.

The Clone Operation

Use the Clone operation to create a copy of the VPG virtual machines on the recovery site in the production network. The
virtual machines on the protected site remain protected and live.
You might want to create a clone if you need to have a copy of the virtual machines saved to a specific point-in-time, for
example, when the VPG enters a Replication Paused state, or when testing the VPG in a live DR test. For details, see
Cloning a Protection Group to the Recovery Site, on page 188.
The cloned machines are named the after the protected virtual machine name along with the timestamp of the checkpoint
used for the clone. The cloned virtual machines are not powered on.
The following diagram shows the positioning of the virtual machines before and after the completion of a Clone operation.

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Chapter 14: Testing Recovery

In order to verify that the disaster recovery that you have planned is the one being implemented, it is recommended to
regularly test the recovery of the VPGs defined in the protected site, to the recovery site. This chapter describes how to
test VPG recovery.
The following topics are described in this chapter:

The Test Failover Process, below.

Starting and Stopping Failover Tests, on page 163.
Viewing Test Results, on page 167.
Live Disaster Recovery Testing, on page 167.

Note: You cannot perform a failover test while a backup job is running.

The Test Failover Process

Use the Failover Test operation to test that during recovery the virtual machines are correctly replicated at the recovery
site.
The Failover Test operation creates test virtual machines in a sandbox, using the test network specified in the VPG
definition as opposed to a production network, to a specified point-in-time, using the virtual disks managed by the VRA. All
testing is written to scratch volumes. The longer the test period the more scratch volumes are used, until the maximum
size is reached, at which point no more testing can be done. The maximum size of all the scratch volumes is determined by
the journal size hard limit and cannot be changed. The scratch volumes reside on the same datastore defined for the
journal.
During the test, any changes to the protected virtual machines at the protected site are sent to the recovery site and new
checkpoints continue to be generated, since replication of the protected machines continues throughout the test. You can
also add your own checkpoints during the test period. You can initiate a failover during a test, as described in Initiating a
Failover During a Test, on page 187.
The Failover Test operation has the following basic steps:
1.

Start the test.

a) Create the test virtual machines at the remote site using the network specified for testing in the VPG settings and
configured to the checkpoint specified for the recovery.
b) Power on the virtual machines making them available to the user. If applicable, use the boot order defined in the
VPG to power on the machines.
Note: The test virtual machines are created without CD-ROM drives, even if the protected virtual machines had CDROM drives.

2.

Stop the test.

a) Power off the test virtual machines and remove them from the inventory.
b) Add the following tag to the checkpoint specified for the test:
Tested at startDateAndTimeOfTest(OriginalCheckpoint_DateAndTime).
Note: The updated checkpoint can be used to identify the point-in-time to restore the virtual machines in the VPG
during a failover.

Testing that recovery is accomplished successfully should be done periodically so that you can verify that a failover will
work if required. It is also recommended to test all the VPGs being recovered to the same cluster to be tested together. For
example, in a cluster if the HA configuration includes admission control to prevent virtual machines being started if they
violate availability constraints, testing the failover of every VPG configured for recovery to this cluster, at the same time,
will show whether the constraints are violated or not.
When configuring a VPG, you specify the period between tests for that VPG, in the Test Period field.

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Starting and Stopping Failover Tests

You can test a single VPG or multiple VPGs to make sure that if an actual is failover is needed, the failover will perform as
expected.
By default the virtual machines are started with the same IPs as the protected machines in the protected site. This can
create clashes, so it is recommended to ensure a different IP is assigned to the virtual machines when they start, when
configuring each virtual machine NIC properties in the VPG, during the definition of the VPG. For details, refer to To create
a virtual protection group (VPG):, on page 52. If you ensure that the virtual machines are started with different IPs, then
after the recovered virtual machines are started, they are rebooted with the new IP.
To test failover:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface set the operation to Test and click Failover.
The Test Failover wizard is displayed.

2.

Select the VPGs to test from the list. You can filter the list of VPGs to show only those VPGs defined on the local site,
or just on the remote site or all the VPGs, from both sites.
Note: You can initiate the Test failover operation from either the protected site or recovery site UI. The Dir arrow
shows the direction.

3.

Click Next

4. Select the point to which you want to test the recovery. The default is the last point, either assigned by the Zerto
Virtual Manager or a user defined checkpoint. To change this default, click the checkpoint link.
The Select Recovery Point dialog is displayed.

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5.

Select the point to recover to:

Last The recovery is to the last recovery point. This ensures that the data is crash consistent for the recovery. When
selecting the last checkpoint to recover to, the checkpoint used is the last at this point. If a checkpoint is added
between this point and starting the test, this later checkpoint is not used.
Latest VSS When VSS is used, the recovery is to the latest VSS snapshot, ensuring both that the data is crash
consistent and application consistency to this point. However, depending on how often VSS snapshots were taken as
to how much data is not recovered.
Checkpoint The recovery is to a manually provided checkpoint. Checkpoints added to the virtual machine journals in
the VPG by the Zerto Virtual Manager ensure that the data is crash consistent to this point. When checkpoints are
added via the ZertoVssAgent, the data is both crash consistent and application consistency for the virtual machine in
the VPG for which the VSS checkpoint was written. For details about VSS checkpoints, refer to Ensuring Transaction
Consistency in Microsoft Windows Server Environments, on page 124.
Check the Show VSS Only box to filter the manually defined checkpoints to display only checkpoints defined using
the ZertoVssAgent.
Time Enables moving a slider to an automatically generated checkpoint nearest to a specific time wanted for
recovery. The slider shows a maximum of 180 checkpoints spread over the most recent twenty four hours stored in
the journal. The older the checkpoints over this period the fewer checkpoints are shown, with at least two shown per
hour. The majority of the checkpoints cover the most recent hour in the journal. To be even more specific use the
Manual Select option.
Manual Select Click Open Selection Window to display a bigger selection of checkpoints, particularly the most recent
checkpoints. The further back you go, the more spaced out are the checkpoints to enable a greater range from which
to select the checkpoint.

6.

Click OK.

7.

Click Next.

8.

Click the Failover arrow to start the test.

The test starts for the selected VPGs.

The virtual machines in the virtual protection group are created at the recovery site with the suffix testing recovery.
All testing is written to scratch volumes. The longer the test period the more scratch volumes are used, until the maximum
size is reached, at which point no more testing can be done. The maximum size of all the scratch volumes is determined by
the journal size hard limit and cannot be changed. The scratch volumes reside on the same datastore defined for the
journal. Using these test scratch volumes makes cleaning up the test failover more efficient.
Note: You cannot take a snapshot of a test machine for later use, since the virtual machine volumes are managed by the
VRA and not directly by the virtual machine. Using a snapshot of a test machine will result in a corrupted virtual machine
being created.

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The VPG continues to be protected and you can add checkpoints to it and if necessary failover the VPG, as described in
Initiating a Failover During a Test, on page 187. However, during the test you cannot move the VPG.

Note: When the VPG is both being cloned and tested for failover at the same time, both status are displayed and you click
the tab at the left of the status area to display the clone or test information.
You can monitor the status of the test in the VPGs tab and then drill-down to look at the specific test details for each VPG.
In the protected site the detailed view of the VPG shows that the VPG is being tested and the VPGs tab shows the
Operation as Failover Test in the last column, which is displayed when a recovery operation is being performed.

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To stop a failover test:

1.

Click the Stop test icon ( ) for the VPG to stop testing, in the VPGs tab, or in the VPG details tab in the testing area in
the top right of the dialog or in the task bar.

The Stop Failover Test dialog is displayed.

2.

In the Result field specify whether the test passed or failed.

3.

Optionally, click in the Notes field and add notes to describe the test. For example, specify where any external files
that describe the tests performed is saved. Notes are limited to 255 characters.

4. Select the VPGs to stop testing and click Stop Selected.

5.

Click Close. Any running tests continue.

After stopping a test, the virtual machines in the recovery site are powered off and then removed and the checkpoint that
was used for the test has the following tag added to identify the test:
Tested at startDateAndTimeOfTest(OriginalCheckpoint_DateAndTime). This checkpoint can be
used to identify the point-in-time to restore the virtual machines in the VPG during a failover.

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Viewing Test Results

After stopping a test, you can see the test results as part of Zerto Virtual Replication reports. Refer to Recovery Reports,
on page 198,
The date and time of the last test is displayed in the Zerto User Interface for a virtual machine in a VPG that has been
tested, in the summary section. It is also displayed in a column in the VPGs and VMs tabs.

Live Disaster Recovery Testing

This section describes how to use the basic Zerto Virtual Replication recovery operations described above to perform live
disaster recovery tests, in different situations.
When performing a live DR test you need to consider the following:

The purpose of the live DR test. Whether you wish to merely verify the VMs can recover properly, or to conduct a full
DR test that will include running user traffic against the recovered VMs.
The length of time you want to test the recovery, a few hours or several days.
Whether the changes to the recovered machine need to be retained after the test or can they be discarded.
Whether you willing to accept temporary downtime of the application.
Whether you want to simulate an actual disaster at the protected site, for example by simulating a network outage or
bringing down the protected site.

The following flowchart shows the testing decision flow:

During any live test, it is recommended that you do not maintain two working versions of the same virtual machines. Thus,
the first step in any test, except for a Failover Test or Clone, is to make sure that the protected virtual machines are shut
down before starting to test recovered machines. During a Zerto Virtual Replication Move operation the first step Zerto

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Testing Recovery

Virtual Replication performs is to shut down the protected machines, to ensure data integrity. However, a Zerto Virtual
Replication Failover operation assumes that the protected virtual machines are no longer accessible (the total site disaster
scenario) and does not attempt to shut them down at the beginning of the operation. In a live test using a failover operation
you have to manually shut down the virtual machines to be tested at the beginning of the test in order to prevent potential
split-brain situations where two instances of the same applications are live at the same time.
If you want to perform a live DR test that includes a simulated disaster you can simulate the disaster by, for example,
disconnecting the network between the two sites. In this type of test, once the disaster is simulated a Move operation
cannot be used, since it requires both sites to be healthy, while a Failover operation can be used.

Basic Verification User Traffic Is Not Run against the Recovered VMs
Basic testing that the virtual machines can recover is done using either a Failover Test operation or an uncommitted Move
operation, using the Rollback setting.

Using a Failover Test Operation

You use a Failover Test operation if recovering the virtual machines in a sandbox, using the test network specified in the
VPG definition for network isolation, is sufficient for the test.
Procedure
The Failover Test operation is described in Starting and Stopping Failover Tests, on page 163.
Failover Test Considerations

You dont have to shut down the protected virtual machines and changes from the test phase are not kept or applied
to the protected applications.
You can recover to a specific point-in-time.
You can use an isolated network to enable testing in a sandbox environment and not a live DR environment. This is the
recommended practice.
During the testing period, every change is recorded in a scratch volume. Thus, since both the scratch volume and
virtual machines being tested are on the same site, performance can be impacted by the increased IOs during the
failover test. Also, the longer the test period the more scratch volumes are used, until the maximum size is reached, at
which point no more testing can be done. The maximum size of all the scratch volumes is determined by the journal
size hard limit and cannot be changed. The scratch volumes reside on the same datastore defined for the journal.

You can also use a Failover Test operation if you want to simulate an actual disaster for around an hour or less and do not
want to save any changes on the recovery site.
Procedure
1.

Change the VPG Failover Test Network to the production network used at the recovery site.

2.

Manually shutdown the virtual machines in the VPG.

3.

Insert a new checkpoint. This avoids potential data-loss since the virtual machines are shut down and the new
checkpoint is added after all I/Os have been written to disk.

4. Optionally simulate a disaster, for example by disconnecting the connectivity between the two sites.
5.

Perform a test failover on the VPG, choosing the checkpoint you added in the second step.

6.

Verify that the test machines are recovered as expected.

7.

Run user traffic against the virtual machines.

8.

Stop the failover test.

9.

Reconnect the sites.

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Failover Test Considerations

You can recover to a specific point-in-time.

At the end of the test, you can power on the virtual machines in the protected site and continue to work without the
need to save or replicate back any data changed during the test.

Using an Uncommitted Move Operation

You use a Move operation with the commit/rollback policy set to rollback after the test period, if recovering the virtual
machines needs testing in the recovery site production environment.
Note: Committing the Move operation will necessitate failing the migrated virtual machines back to the production site
after a Delta Sync has been performed on the committed machines in the recovery site.
Procedure
The Move operation is described in Moving Protected Virtual Machines to the Remote Site, on page 173. The following
procedure highlights specific steps to enable using the Move functionality for a DR test.
1.

In the Move Wizard Configure dialog, uncheck the commit policy checkbox.

2.

Either power off the relevant virtual machines or check the Force Shutdown checkbox to make sure that the virtual
machines are shut down, if they cannot be powered off using VMware Tools.

3.

After testing the machines in the recovery site you can roll back the Move operation, which will return the virtual
machines to their pre-test state.

Move Considerations

Changes from the precommit phase are not kept or applied to the protected applications.
The virtual machines are allocated disks and connected to the network for a full test of the environment.
The protected machines are turned off until the end of the test, ensuring that there are no conflicts between the
protected site and recovery site.
During the testing period, every change is recorded in a scratch volume to enable rolling back. Thus, since both the
scratch volume and virtual machines being moved are on the same site, performance can be impacted by the
increased IOs during the testing period. Also, the longer the test period the more scratch volumes are used, until the
maximum size is reached, at which point no more testing can be done. The maximum size of all the scratch volumes is
determined by the journal size hard limit and cannot be changed. The scratch volumes reside on the same datastore
defined for the journal.
You can only recover to the last checkpoint written to the journal, at the start of the Move operation.

Run User Traffic Against the Recovered VMs

To test actual user traffic against the recovered virtual machines can be done using a Clone, Move or Failover operation, as
follows:
Move operation When you can shut down the protected virtual machines but you dont want or need to simulate an
actual disaster.
Failover operation When you want to simulate an actual disaster.
Clone operation When the protected application has to continue throughout the test.

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Using a Move Operation

You use a Move operation when you can shut down the protected virtual machines but you dont want to simulate an
actual disaster. After the virtual machines have been recovered in the target site they are used as the protected machines
for as long as the test lasts.
Procedure
The Move operation is described in The Move Operation, on page 159 and in Moving Protected Virtual Machines to the
Remote Site, on page 173. To enable using the Move functionality for a DR test, in the Move Wizard Configure
dialog uncheck the commit policy checkbox.
Ending the Test
Move the VPG back to the original protected site. A Delta Sync is performed to copy the new transactions performed on
the virtual machines in the recovery site back to the original protected site.
Move Considerations

You can test the moved machines before they are committed.
You can test for as long as you want.
The virtual machines are allocated disks and connected to the network for a full test of the environment.
The originally protected disks are maintained for a faster failback when reverse replication is specified.
The protected machines are turned off until they are committed and then removed from the protected site. This
ensures that there are no conflicts between the protected site and recovery site.
You cannot test to any checkpoint you want but only to the last checkpoint, taken after the protected virtual machines
are shutdown.
An actual disaster is not simulated.
During the testing period, if reverse replication is not specified, there is no protection for the recovered machines.

Using a Failover Operation

You use a Failover operation when you can shut down the protected virtual machines and you want to simulate an actual
disaster. After the virtual machines have been recovered in the target site they are used as the protected machines for as
long as the test lasts.
Using a Failover operation to test DR requires specific steps to ensure that the virtual machines are gracefully migrated to
the target site, similar to a Move operation and that, like a Move operation, they can be verified prior to committing the
failover.
Procedure
The Failover operation is described in Initiating a Failover, on page 179. The following procedure highlights specific steps
for a DR test.
1.

Manually shutdown the virtual machines.

2.

Insert a new checkpoint. This avoids potential data-loss since the virtual machines are shut down and the new
checkpoint is added after all I/Os have been written to disk.

3.

Optionally simulate a disaster, for example by disconnecting the connectivity between the two sites.

4. Perform a live failover on the VPG, specifying the commit policy and choosing the checkpoint you added in the second
step. Via the commit policy you can check that the failed over virtual machines have been successfully recovered to
the correct point-in-time and if not, rollback the failover.
5.

Continue to use the recovered virtual machines.

6.

The VPG is in a Needs Configuration state, because there is no access to the protected site.

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After testing the recovered virtual machine you can finalize the live DR test and fail the virtual machines back to the
original protected site:
1.

Reconnect the sites.

2.

Enable protection for the virtual machines by editing the VPG and clicking Save.

3.

Zerto Virtual Replication uses the original disks to preseed the volumes and expedite the synchronization between the
two sites, using a Delta Sync. The time it will take for the Delta Sync to complete is based on total size of the disks and
storage performance at both sites. After the synchronization completes the VPG enters the Meeting SLA state.

4. Perform a Move operation to failback the virtual machines to the original protected site.
5.

In the Move Wizard Configure dialog, uncheck the commit policy checkbox, or set the commit policy to enable
basic testing before the move is committed.

The VMs are recovered at the original protected site, and the VPG enters a Delta Sync phase before it enters a Meeting SLA
state.
Failover Considerations

The originally protected disks are maintained for a faster failback.

Non-intuitive use of the failover procedure.
Includes manual procedures, such as shutting down the protected virtual machines.
During the testing period, there is no protection for the recovered machines.

Using a Clone Operation

You use the Clone operation when the protected application has to continue throughout the test. You can create a clone of
the virtual machines in a VPG on the remote site to a specific point-in-time. The clone is a copy of the protected virtual
machines on the recovery site, while the virtual machines on the protected site remain protected and live.
Procedure
The Clone operation is described in Cloning a Protection Group to the Recovery Site, on page 188.
The cloned virtual machines are independent of Zerto Virtual Replication. At the end of the test you can remove these
machines or leave them.
Clone Considerations

You can clone to a specific point-in-time.

There is no protection for the cloned machines.
After use of the clone ends, no changes made to the cloned virtual machines are applied to the protected virtual
machines.
The original virtual machines on the protected site are live and online throughout the test.

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Chapter 15: Migrating a Protection Group to the Recovery

Site

Zerto Virtual Replication enables both recovering the virtual machines in a VPG both after an unforeseen disaster, as
described in Managing Failover, on page 178, and in advance of an event that requires the migration of the virtual
machines in the VPG to the remote site. This chapter describes a planned migration of a VPG to the remote site.
The following topics are described in this chapter:

The Move Process, below.

Moving Protected Virtual Machines to the Remote Site, on page 173.
Reverse Protection For a Moved VPG, on page 177.

Note: You cannot perform a move while a backup job is running.

The Move Process

Use the Move operation to migrate protected virtual machines from the protected site to the recovery site in a planned
migration.
When you perform a planned migration of the virtual machines to the recovery site, Zerto Virtual Replication assumes that
both sites are healthy and that you planned to relocate the virtual machines in an orderly fashion without loss of data.
Note: To recover virtual machines on the recovery site during disaster recovery, see Managing Failover, on page 178.
The Move operation has the following basic steps:
1.

Gracefully shutdown the protected virtual machines. This ensures data integrity.
If the machines cannot be gracefully shut down, for example, when VMware Tools is not available, you can manually
shut down the machines before starting the Move operation or you specify as part of the operation to forcibly power
off the virtual machines. If the machines cannot be gracefully shut down automatically and are not manually shut
down and the Move operation is not set to forcibly power them off, the Move operation stops and Zerto Virtual
Replication rolls back the virtual machines to their original status.

2.

Insert a clean checkpoint. This avoids potential data-loss since the virtual machines are not on and the new checkpoint
is after all I/Os have been written to disk.

3.

Transfer all the latest changes to the recovery site that are still being queued to pass to the recovery site, including the
new checkpoint.

4. Create the virtual machines at the remote site and attach each virtual machine to its relevant vdisks, based on the
checkpoint inserted in step 2.
Note: The virtual machines are created without CD-ROM drives, even if the protected virtual machines had CD-ROM
drives.
5.

Set HA to prevent DRS. This prevents automatic vMotioning of the affected virtual machines during the move
operation.

6.

Power on the virtual machines making them available to the user. If applicable, use the boot order defined in the VPG
settings to power on the machines in a specified order.
Note: If the virtual machines do not power on, the process continues and the virtual machines must be manually
powered on. The virtual machines cannot be powered on automatically in a number of situations, such as when there
is not enough resources in the resource pool or the required MAC address is part of a reserved range or there is a
MAC address conflict or IP conflict, for example, if a clone was previously created with the MAC or IP address.

7.

The default is to automatically commit the move operation without testing. However, you can also run basic tests on
the machines to ensure their validity to the clean checkpoint. Dependent of the commit/rollback policy that you

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specified for the operation after testing either the operation is committed, finalizing the move or rolled back, aborting
the operation.
8.

The protected virtual machines are removed from the inventory.

9.

The data from the journal is promoted to the machines. The machines can be used during the promotion and Zerto
Virtual Replication ensures that the user sees the latest image, even if this is partially data from the journal.
Note: The virtual machines cannot be vMotioned to another host during promotion. If the host is rebooted during
promotion, make sure that the VRA on the host is running and communicating with the Zerto Virtual Manager before
starting up the recovered virtual machines.

10. If reverse replication was specified, the vdisks used by the virtual machines in the protected site are used for the
reverse protection. A Delta Sync is performed to make sure that the two copies, the new recovery site disks and
the original protected site disks, are consistent.
If reverse replication was not specified, the VPG definition is saved but the state is Needs Configuration and the vdisks
used by the virtual machines in the protected site are deleted. Thus, if reverse protection is now set the original vdisks
are not available and a full synchronization is required.

Moving Protected Virtual Machines to the Remote Site

You can move the virtual machines in a virtual protection group to the remote site, whereby the virtual machines are
replicated. As part of the process you can also set up reverse replication, whereby you create a virtual protection group on
the remote site for the virtual machines being moved, pointing back to the original site. This is commonly used, for
example, when the protected site has planned downtime.
Note: A move differs from a failover in that with a move you cannot select a checkpoint to restore the virtual machine to.
Also, to ensure complete data integrity, the protected virtual machines are powered off completely and a final checkpoint
created so that there is no data loss before the move is implemented.
To initiate a move:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface click Move.

The Move wizard is displayed.

2.

Select the VPGs to move from the list. You can filter the list of VPGs to show only those VPGs defined on the local site,
or just on the remote site or all the VPGs, from both sites.

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Note: You can initiate the Move operation from either the protected site or recovery site UI. The Dir arrow shows the
direction.
3.

Click Next.

4. Specify the commit policy. The default policy displayed is the policy set in the Advanced Settings dialog,
described in Defining the Failover and Move Operation Default Commit Policy, on page 31.
To enable committing or rolling back the move operation without manual user interaction:
a) Check the commit policy checkbox. If you do not check this box, the move must be manually committed or rolled
back by the user.
b) Specify the action you want, either Commit or Rollback, which will happen automatically after the specified
time, if there is no user interaction beforehand.
c) Specify the amount of time, in minutes, before the commit or rollback action is performed, if there is no user
interaction beforehand. During this time period you can check that the VPG virtual machines have moved as
required and then commit the move, or alternatively decide to rollback the operation, cancelling the move. The
maximum amount you can delay the commit or rollback operation is 1440 minutes, which is 24 hours. Note that
the longer the time specified before committing the more space is used in the journal to enable rollback, possible
causing the journal to become full.
To enable committing the move operation only after manual user interaction, uncheck the Commit Policy
checkbox.
Note: When deciding to commit the move, you can decide to configure reverse protection, regardless of the reverse
protection setting when the move was started.
5.

If you want to set up reverse protection, whereby the virtual machines in the VPG that is moved are protected in the
remote site, check the Reverse Protection checkbox for the VPG and then click the Configure link. The Manage
VPG dialog is displayed. The VPG SLA, Settings and Default Values sections of the dialog can vary
dependent on whether the license being used is a cloud license or an enterprise license, whether Zerto Cloud Manager
is used or not, whether a vApp is being protected and whether the target site is vCD.

You can edit the configuration, as described in To create a virtual protection group (VPG):, on page 52, with the
following differences:
You cannot add or remove virtual machines to the reverse protection VPG.
By default, reverse protection is to the original hosts and protected disks. If you click Configure Selected Volume
from the Configure VM dialog, the Configure Volume dialog is displayed. You can specify a different
datastore to be used for the reverse replication and whether the volume is thin-provisioned or not as well as
whether it is treated as a swap disk or not. For details about these options in the Configure Volume dialog,
refer to the procedure To create a virtual protection group (VPG):, on page 52.

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By default, when running vSphere version 4.1 and higher, for each virtual machine in the VPG, the IP address of the
originally protected virtual machine is used in the Configure VNIC dialog. Thus, during failback the original IP
address of the virtual machine on the site where the machine was originally protected is reused when recovering
the virtual machines back to the original site, unless the machine does not have VMware Tools installed, in which
case DHCP is used. For details about the Configure VNIC dialog, refer to step 11 in To create a virtual
protection group (VPG):, on page 52.

6.

Specify if you want the virtual machines in the VPG to be forcibly shut down by checking the Force Shutdown
checkbox. If the virtual machines cannot be gracefully shut down, for example when VMware Tools is not installed on
one of the virtual machines in the VPG and you do not check this box, the move operation stops and rolls back to the
situation before the move started. If the protected virtual machines have VMware Tools available, the procedure waits
five minutes for the virtual machines to be gracefully shut down before forcibly powering them off.

7.

Click Next.

8.

Click the Move arrow to start the migration.

9.

If a commit policy was set with a timeout greater than zero, as described in step 4, you can check the moved virtual
machines on the remote site before removing the machines from the original site to complete the move operation.

Note: If a virtual machine exists on the recovery site with the same name as a virtual machine being migrated, the
machine is moved and named in the remote site with a number added as a suffix to the name, starting with the number
1.
The indicator icon changes to orange, to warn the user that the procedure is waiting for either a commit or rollback for
the operation.
All testing done during this period, before committing or rolling back the Move operation, is written to thinprovisioned vdisks, one per virtual machine in the VPG. These vdisks are automatically defined when the machines are
created on the recovery site for testing. The longer the test period the more scratch volumes are used, until the
maximum size is reached, at which point no more testing can be done. The maximum size of all the scratch volumes is

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determined by the journal size hard limit and cannot be changed. The scratch volumes reside on the same datastore
defined for the journal. Using these scratch volumes makes committing the Move operation more efficient.
Note: You cannot take a snapshot of a virtual machine before the Move operation is committed and the data from the
journal promoted to the moved virtual machine disks, since the virtual machine volumes are still managed by the VRA
and not directly by the virtual machine. Using a snapshot of a moved machine before the Move operation has
completed will result in a corrupted virtual machine being created.
10. After checking the virtual machines on the recovery site:
Wait for the specified Commit Policy time to elapse, and the specified operation, either Commit or
Rollback, will be performed automatically.
Or,

Click Rollback to roll back the operation, removing the virtual machines that were created on the recovery site and
rebooting the machines on the protected site. You can click Rollback in the Move area in the VPG Details or in the
task pane.

Or,

Click Commit. You can click Commit in the Move area in the VPG Details or in the task pane.
The Commit Move dialog is displayed.

You can reconfigure reverse protection by checking the Reverse protection checkbox for the VPG and then
click the Configure link.Configuring reverse protection here overwrites any of settings defined in step 5.
Click Commit to continue the move operation.
After the virtual machines are up and running and committed in the recovery site, the powered off virtual machines in the
protected site are removed from the protected site. Finally, data is promoted from the journal to the moved virtual
machines.
Note: If the virtual machines do not power on, the process continues and the virtual machines must be manually powered
on. The virtual machines cannot be powered on automatically in a number of situations, such as when there is not enough
resources in the resource pool or the required MAC address is part of a reserved range or there is a MAC address conflict
or IP conflict, for example, if a clone was previously created with the MAC or IP address.
During promotion of data, you cannot perform a vMotion on the moved virtual machines. If the host is rebooted during
promotion, make sure that the VRA on the host is running and communicating with the Zerto Virtual Manager before
starting up the recovered virtual machines.

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Reverse Protection For a Moved VPG

When moving the virtual machines in a VPG you specify whether you want reverse protection from the remote site back to
the original protected site.

Reverse Protection Specified

When you specify reverse protection, the virtual machines are moved to the recovery site and then protected using the
values specified during the move. Data is promoted from the journal to the moved virtual machines and then
synchronization with the original site is performed so that the VPG is fully protected. The synchronization performed uses
the original protected disks and is either a Delta Sync or, if there is only one volume to synchronize, a Volume Delta Sync.

Reverse Protection Not Specified

If you do not specify reverse protection, the protected disks are removed along with the protected virtual machines at the
end of the procedure. In this case, if you want to move the virtual machines back again to the original site, you will not be
able to use the original disks and an initial synchronization will have to be performed. The VPG definition is kept with the
status Needs Configuration and the reverse settings in the VPG definition are set to No Settings.

Clicking Edit VPG displays the Manage VPG dialog with the settings filled in, using the original settings for the virtual
machines in the VPG from the original protected site, except for the volumes, since the last step of the move operation is to
delete the virtual machines from the original protected site inventory, including the disks. To start replicating the virtual
machines in the VPG, specify the disks to use for replication and optionally, make any other changes to the original settings
and click Save. An initial synchronization is performed.
Note: You can edit the VPG definition from either of the sites, the site where the VPG virtual machines were initially
protected or the site they were moved to.

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Chapter 16: Managing Failover

Zerto Virtual Replication enables both recovering the virtual machines in a VPG both after an unforeseen disaster and in
advance of an event that requires the migration of the virtual machines in the VPG to the remote site, as described in
Migrating a Protection Group to the Recovery Site, on page 172. This chapter describes how to perform a failover to the
recovery site.
The following topics are described in this chapter:

The Failover Process, below.

Initiating a Failover, on page 179.
Reverse Protection For a Failed Over VPG, on page 184.
Initiating a Failover During a Test, on page 187.

Note: If you need to perform a failover while a backup job is running, the backup job is aborted to enable the failover to run.

The Failover Process

Use the Failover operation following a disaster to recover protected virtual machines to the recovery site.
Note: You can also move virtual machines from the protected site to the recovery site in a planned migration. For details,
see Migrating a Protection Group to the Recovery Site, on page 172.
When you set up a failover you always specify a checkpoint to which you want to recover the virtual machines. When you
select a checkpoint either the last auto-generated checkpoint, an earlier checkpoint, or a user-defined checkpoint Zerto
Virtual Replication makes sure that virtual machines at the remote site are recovered to this specified point-in-time.
Note: To identify the checkpoint to use, you can perform a number of consecutive test failovers, each to a different
checkpoint, as described in Testing Recovery, on page 162. At the end of each test the checkpoint used for the test has
the following added to identify the test:
Tested at startDateAndTimeOfTest(OriginalCheckpoint_DateAndTime). This checkpoint can be
used to pinpoint an exact time to restore the virtual machines in the VPG during a failover. You can also test the failover
before committing it, to make sure it is as you require.
The Failover operation has the following basic steps:
1.

If the protected site or Zerto Virtual Manager is down, continue with step 2.
If the protected site or Zerto Virtual Manager is still running, determine the failover requirements:
If the default is requested, doing nothing to the protected virtual machines, the failover operation continues with
step 2.
If shutting down the protected virtual machines is requested and the protected virtual machines do not have
VMware Tools available, the failover operation fails.
If forcibly shutting down the protected virtual machines is requested, the protected virtual machines are shut
down and the failover operation continues with step 2.

2.

Create the virtual machines at the remote site in the production network and attach each virtual machine to its
relevant vdisks, configured to the checkpoint specified for the recovery. The virtual machines are created without CDROM drives, even if the protected virtual machines had CD-ROM drives.
Note: The original protected virtual machines are not touched since the assumption is that the original protected site
is down.

3.

Set HA to prevent DRS. This prevents automatic vMotioning of the affected virtual machines during the failover
operation.

4. Power on the virtual machines making them available to the user. If applicable, the boot order defined in the VPG
settings to power on the machines in a specified order is used.

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Note: If the virtual machines do not power on, the process continues and the virtual machines must be manually
powered on. The virtual machines cannot be powered on automatically in a number of situations, such as when there
is not enough resources in the resource pool or the required MAC address is part of a reserved range or there is a
MAC address conflict or IP conflict, for example, if a clone was previously created with the MAC or IP address.
5.

The default is to automatically commit the failover operation without testing. However, you can also run basic tests on
the machines to ensure their validity to the specified checkpoint. Dependent of the commit/rollback policy that you
specified for the operation after testing either the operation is committed, finalizing the failover or rolled back,
aborting the operation.

6.

If the protected site is still available, for example, after a partial disaster, and reverse protection is possible and
specified for the failover operation, the protected virtual machines are powered off and removed from the inventory.
The vdisks used by the virtual machines in the protected site are used for the reverse protection. A Delta Sync is
performed to make sure that the two copies, the new target site disks and the original site disks, are consistent.
Note: If reverse protection is not possible, the original protected site virtual machines are not powered off and
removed.

7.

The data from the journal is promoted to the machines. The machines can be used during the promotion and Zerto
Virtual Replication ensures that the user sees the latest image, even if this is partially data from the journal.
Note: The virtual machines cannot be vMotioned to another host during promotion. If the host is rebooted during
promotion, make sure that the VRA on the host is running and communicating with the Zerto Virtual Manager before
starting up the recovered virtual machines.

Failback After the Original Site is Operational

To perform a failback to the original protected site, the VPG that is now protecting the virtual machines on the recovery
site has to be configured and then a Delta Sync is performed with the disks in the original protected site. Once the VPG
is in a protecting state the virtual machines can be moved back to the original protected site, as described in Migrating a
Protection Group to the Recovery Site, on page 172.

Initiating a Failover
You can initiate a failover, whereby the virtual machines in the virtual protection group are replicated to a set checkpoint in
the recovery site. As part of the process you can also set up reverse replication, whereby you create a virtual protection
group on the recovery machine for the virtual machines being replicated, pointing back to the protected site.
You can initiate a failover to the last checkpoint recorded in the journal, even if the protected site is no longer up. You can
initiate a failover during a test, as described in Initiating a Failover During a Test, on page 187.
If you have time to initiate the failover from the protected site you can. However, if the protected site is down, you initiate
the failover from the recovery site.
Note: Any VPGs that are in the process of being synchronized, cannot be recovered, unless the synchronization is a bitmap
synchronization.
To initiate a failover:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface set the operation to Live and click Failover.
The Live Failover wizard is displayed.

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2.

Select the VPGs to failover from the list. You can filter the list of VPGs to show only those VPGs defined on the local
site, or just on the remote site or all the VPGs, from both sites.
Note: You can initiate the Failover operation from either the protected site or recovery site UI. The Dir arrow shows
the direction.

3.

Click Next.

4. Specify the commit policy. The default policy displayed is the policy set in the Advanced Settings dialog,
described in Defining the Failover and Move Operation Default Commit Policy, on page 31.
To enable committing or rolling back the failover operation without manual user interaction:
a) Check the commit policy checkbox. If you do not check this box, the failover must be manually committed or
rolled back by the user.
b) Specify the action you want, either Commit or Rollback, which will happen automatically after the specified
time, if there is no user interaction beforehand.
c) Specify the amount of time, in minutes, before the commit or rollback action is performed, if there is no user
interaction beforehand. During this time period you can check that the VPG virtual machines have failed over as
required and then commit the failover, or alternatively decide to rollback the operation, canceling the failover. The
maximum amount you can delay the commit or rollback operation is 1440 minutes, which is 24 hours. Note that
the longer the time specified before committing the more space is used in the journal to enable rollback, possible
causing the journal to become full.
To enable committing the failover operation only after manual user interaction, uncheck the Commit Policy
checkbox.
Note: When deciding to commit the failover, you can decide to configure reverse protection, regardless of the reverse
protection setting when the failover was started.
5.

Select what you want to do with the protected virtual machines before starting the failover, in the Shutdown
Protected VMs field:
No (default) The protected virtual machines are not touched before starting the failover. This assumes that you do
not know the state of the protected machines, or know that they are not serviceable.
Yes If the protected virtual machines have VMware Tools available, the virtual machines are gracefully shut down,
otherwise the failover operation fails. This is similar to performing a Move operation to a specified checkpoint.
Force The protected virtual machines are forcibly shut down before starting the failover. This is similar to performing
a Move operation to a specified checkpoint. If the protected virtual machines have VMware Tools available, the
procedure waits five minutes for the virtual machines to be gracefully shut down before forcibly powering them off.

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6.

Select the point to which you want to recover. The default is the last point, either assigned by the Zerto Virtual
Manager or a user defined checkpoint. To change this default, click the Checkpoint link.
The Select Recovery Point dialog is displayed.

7.

Select the point to recover to:

Last The recovery is to the last recovery point. This ensures that the data is crash consistent for the recovery. When
selecting the last checkpoint to recover to, the checkpoint used is the last at this point. If a checkpoint is added
between this point and starting the test, this later checkpoint is not used.
Latest VSS When VSS is used, the recovery is to the latest VSS snapshot, ensuring both that the data is crash
consistent and application consistency to this point. However, depending on how often VSS snapshots were taken as
to how much data is not recovered.
Checkpoint The recovery is to a manually provided checkpoint. Checkpoints added to the virtual machine journals in
the VPG by the Zerto Virtual Manager ensure that the data is crash consistent to this point. When checkpoints are
added via the ZertoVssAgent, the data is both crash consistent and application consistency for the virtual machine in
the VPG for which the VSS checkpoint was written. For details about VSS checkpoints, refer to Ensuring Transaction
Consistency in Microsoft Windows Server Environments, on page 124.
Check the Show VSS Only box to filter the manually defined checkpoints to display only checkpoints defined using
the ZertoVssAgent.
Time Enables moving a slider to an automatically generated checkpoint nearest to a specific time wanted for
recovery. The slider shows a maximum of 180 checkpoints spread over the most recent twenty four hours stored in
the journal. The older the checkpoints over this period the fewer checkpoints are shown, with at least two shown per
hour. The majority of the checkpoints cover the most recent hour in the journal. To be even more specific use the
Manual Select option.
Manual Select Click Open Selection Window to display a bigger selection of checkpoints, particularly the most recent
checkpoints. The further back you go, the more spaced out are the checkpoints to enable a greater range from which
to select the checkpoint.

8.

Click OK.

9.

If you can set up reverse protection, when the protected site is still up, the virtual machines in the VPG that is
recovered are protected in the remote site, check the Reverse Protection checkbox for the VPG and then click
the Configure link.
Note: If you cannot set up reverse protection, for example when the protected site is down, the VPG definition is still
defined on the recovery site, so that you can determine the disks, etc. originally used for the protected virtual
machines. The VPG SLA, Settings and Default Values sections of the dialog can vary dependent on whether
the license being used is a cloud license or an enterprise license, whether Zerto Cloud Manager is used or not, whether
a vApp is being protected and whether the target site is vCD.

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You can edit the configuration, as described in To create a virtual protection group (VPG):, on page 52, with the
following differences:
You cannot add or remove virtual machines to the reverse protection VPG.
By default, reverse replication is to the original protected disks. If you click Configure Selected Volume from the
Configure VM dialog, the Configure Volume dialog is displayed. You can specify a different datastore to
be used for the reverse replication and whether the volume is thin-provisioned or not as well as whether it is
treated as a swap disk or not. For details about these options in the Configure Volume dialog, refer to the
procedure To create a virtual protection group (VPG):, on page 52.

By default, when running vSphere version 4.1 and higher, for each virtual machine in the VPG, the IP address of the
originally protected virtual machine is used in the Configure VNIC dialog. Thus, during failback the original IP
address of the virtual machine on the site where the machine was originally protected is reused when recovering
the virtual machines back to the original site, unless the machine does not have VMware Tools installed, in which
case DHCP is used. For details about the Configure VNIC dialog, refer to step 11 in To create a virtual
protection group (VPG):, on page 52.

10. Click Next.

11. Click the Failover arrow to start the failover.
12. If a commit policy was set with a timeout greater than zero, you can check the failed over virtual machines on the peer
site before completing the failover operation.

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The failover starts, by creating the virtual machines in the recovery site to the point-in-time specified: either the last
data transferred from the protected site or to one of the checkpoints written in the journal.
Note: If a virtual machine exists on the recovery site with the same name as a virtual machine being failed over, the
machine is created and named in the peer site with a number added as a suffix to the name, starting with the number 1.
If the original protected site is still up and reverse replication configured to use the protected virtual machines vdisks,
these virtual machines are powered off.
The indicator icon changes to orange, to warn the user that the procedure is waiting for either a commit or rollback for
the operation.
All testing done during this period, before committing or rolling back the Failover operation, is written to thinprovisioned scratch vdisks. These vdisks are automatically defined when the machines are created on the recovery
site for testing. The longer the test period the more scratch volumes are used, until the maximum size is reached, at
which point no more testing can be done. The maximum size of all the scratch volumes is determined by the journal
size hard limit and cannot be changed. The scratch volumes reside on the same datastore defined for the journal.
Using these scratch volumes makes committing the Failover operation more efficient.
Note: You cannot take a snapshot of a virtual machine before the Failover operation is committed and the data from
the journal promoted to the moved virtual machine disks, since the virtual machine volumes are still managed by the
VRA and not directly by the virtual machine. Using a snapshot of a recovered machine before the Failover operation
has completed will result in a corrupted virtual machine being created.
After checking the virtual machines on the recovery site, either:
Wait for the specified Commit Policy time to elapse, and the specified operation, either Commit or
Rollback, will be performed automatically.
Or,

Click Rollback to roll back the operation, removing the virtual machines that were created on the recovery site and
rebooting the machines on the protected site. You can click Rollback in the Failover area in the VPG Details or in
the task pane.

Or,

Click Commit. You can click Commit in the Failover area in the VPG Details or in the task pane.
The Commit Failover dialog is displayed.

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If the protected site is still up and you can set up reverse protection, you can reconfigure reverse protection by
checking the Reverse protection checkbox for the VPG and then click the Configure link.Configuring reverse
protection here overwrites any of settings defined when initially configuring the failover.
Click Commit to continue the failover operation.
If the original protected site is still up and reverse replication configured to use the protected virtual machines vdisks, these
virtual machines are removed from this site, unless the original protected site does not have enough storage available to
failback the failed over virtual machines. Finally, data is promoted from the journal to the recovered virtual machines.
During promotion of data, you cannot perform a vMotion on the recovered virtual machines. If the host is rebooted during
promotion, make sure that the VRA on the host is running and communicating with the Zerto Virtual Manager before
starting up the recovered virtual machines.
By default the virtual machines are started with the same IPs that were assigned to the protected machines in the
protected site. If you do not specify reverse protection, the original machines still exist in the protected site and this can
create clashes, In this case, it is recommended to ensure a different IP is assigned to the virtual machines when they start,
when configuring each virtual machine NIC properties in the VPG, during the definition of the VPG. For details, refer to To
create a virtual protection group (VPG):, on page 52. If you ensure that the virtual machines are started with different IPs,
then after the recovered virtual machines are started, they are rebooted with the new IP.
Note: If the virtual machines do not power on, the process continues and the virtual machines must be manually powered
on. The virtual machines cannot be powered on automatically in a number of situations, such as when there is not enough
resources in the resource pool or the required MAC address is part of a reserved range or there is a MAC address conflict
or IP conflict, for example, if a clone was previously created with the MAC or IP address.

Reverse Protection For a Failed Over VPG

When you specify reverse protection, the virtual machines are recovered on the recovery site and then protected using the
values specified during the failover. The original virtual machines are removed from the original protected site and then on
the target site the data is promoted from the journal to the recovered virtual machines and then synchronization with the
original site is performed so that the VPG is fully protected. The synchronization used is either a Delta Sync or if there
is only one volume to synchronize, a Volume Delta Sync is performed.

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Note: For the failover operation to complete successfully, when reverse protection is specified, the original protected site
must have enough storage available to failback the failed over virtual machines.
If you do not specify reverse protection, the VPG definition is kept with the status Needs Configuration and the reverse
settings in the VPG definition are set to No Settings.

The Summary dialog also shows that the VPG is defined but is not being replicated. Clicking Edit VPG displays the Manage
VPG dialog with the settings filled in, using the original settings for the virtual machines in the VPG from the original
protected site. You can change the settings or keep these settings. To start replicating the virtual machines in the VPG,
optionally, make any changes and click Save. If you click Cancel, the VPG is not updated with the original settings.

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What Happens When the Protected Site is Down

If the protected site is down, you can initiate the failover from the recovery site, as described above in To initiate a
failover:, on page 179.
When the protected site Zerto Virtual Manager is down, the protected site right area shows up in the Summary tab, grayed
from the recovery site.

You can identify the site that is down via the Topology tab.

The VPG Details tab for a VPG shows that recovery is possible.
If the Zerto Virtual Manager service is down the actual machines that are being protected can still be up, but they are only
recoverable to the last checkpoint written before the Zerto Virtual Manager service went down. If the vCenter Server is
down, some of the protected virtual machines might not be protected.

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When there is no connection with the protected site, the status indicator for recovered VPGs is red with an Error status
and green while recovery is being performed. If the protected site restarts so that reverse replication is possible, the status
indicator changes to orange.

Initiating a Failover During a Test

Replication continues during a test. If you need to initiate a failover during a test, you initiate the failover. The test stops to
enable the failover and then a normal failover is performed, as described in Initiating a Failover, on page 179. Any
changes made to test the failover are not replicated, as only changes to the protected machines in the VPG are replicated.
Note: You cannot initiate a failover while a test is being initialized or closed.

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Chapter 17: Cloning a Protection Group to the Recovery

Site

You can create a clone of each virtual machine in a VPG on the recovery site in the production network. The clone is a copy
of the protected virtual machines on the recovery site, while the virtual machines on the protected site remain protected
and live.
The following topics are described in this chapter:

The Clone Process, below.

Cloning Protected Virtual Machines to the Remote Site, on page 188.

Note: You cannot clone virtual machines in a VPG test while a backup job is running.

The Clone Process

Use the Clone operation to create a copy of the VPG virtual machines on the recovery site. The virtual machines on the
protected site remain protected and live.
The Clone operation has the following basic steps:
1.

Create the cloned disks with the data from the journal to the specified checkpoint.

2.

Create the virtual machines at the remote site in the production network and attach each virtual machine to its
relevant cloned disks, configured to the checkpoint specified for the clone.
Note: The virtual machines are created without CD-ROM drives, even if the protected virtual machines had CD-ROM
drives.

The cloned machines are named with the name of the protected machine with the timestamp of the checkpoint used for
the clone. The cloned virtual machines are not powered on and are not protected by Zerto Virtual Replication.

Cloning Protected Virtual Machines to the Remote Site

You might want to create a clone if you need to have a copy of the virtual machines saved to a specific point-in-time, for
example, when the VPG enters a Replication Paused state, or when testing the VPG in a live DR test.
To clone a VPG:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface, access the VPGs or VMs tabs and select the VPG to display the VPG details.

2.

Click Actions and then click Offsite Clone.

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Note: If the VPG was previously viewed, and the tab for this VPG is still displayed, you can access the details by
selecting the tab.
The Offsite Clone dialog is displayed.

3.

Click Configure Checkpoint to select the checkpoint to which to make the copy.
The Select Recovery Point dialog is displayed.

4. Select the point to recover to:

Last The recovery is to the last recovery point. This ensures that the data is crash consistent for the recovery. When
selecting the last checkpoint to recover to, the checkpoint used is the last at this point. If a checkpoint is added
between this point and starting the test, this later checkpoint is not used.

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Latest VSS When VSS is used, the recovery is to the latest VSS snapshot, ensuring both that the data is crash
consistent and application consistency to this point. However, depending on how often VSS snapshots were taken as
to how much data is not recovered.
Checkpoint The recovery is to a manually provided checkpoint. Checkpoints added to the virtual machine journals in
the VPG by the Zerto Virtual Manager ensure that the data is crash consistent to this point. When checkpoints are
added via the ZertoVssAgent, the data is both crash consistent and application consistency for the virtual machine in
the VPG for which the VSS checkpoint was written. For details about VSS checkpoints, refer to Ensuring Transaction
Consistency in Microsoft Windows Server Environments, on page 124.
Check the Show VSS Only box to filter the manually defined checkpoints to display only checkpoints defined using
the ZertoVssAgent.
Time Enables moving a slider to an automatically generated checkpoint nearest to a specific time wanted for
recovery. The slider shows a maximum of 180 checkpoints spread over the most recent twenty four hours stored in
the journal. The older the checkpoints over this period the fewer checkpoints are shown, with at least two shown per
hour. The majority of the checkpoints cover the most recent hour in the journal. To be even more specific use the
Manual Select option.
Manual Select Click Open Selection Window to display a bigger selection of checkpoints, particularly the most recent
checkpoints. The further back you go, the more spaced out are the checkpoints to enable a greater range from which
to select the checkpoint.
5.

Click OK.

6.

Select the target datastore to use for the cloned virtual machines.

7.

Click Clone to clone the VPG.

The cloning starts and the status is displayed in the VPG details tab.

The cloned machines are named with name of the protected machine with the timestamp of the checkpoint used for the
clone. The cloned virtual machines are not powered on. The VMDKs are renamed (1).vmdk, (2).vmdk, etc. The cloned
virtual machines are created in the ZertoRecoveryFolder folder, and not the recovery folder defined in the VPG.
The cloned machines are created in vCenter Server, even if the target site is a vCD. If the target site is a vCD, you have to
manually import the clones in to vCD.
Note: If the protected virtual machine has RDMs attached, these disks are always cloned as thin-provisioned VMDKs to
the datastore specified in the VM Recovery Datastore field in the Configure VM dialog.

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When the VPG is both being cloned and tested for failover at the same time, both status are displayed and you click the tab
at the left of the status area to display the clone or test information.

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Chapter 18: Restoring an Offsite Backup

Zerto Virtual Replication enables recovering the virtual machines in a VPG from an offsite backup, up to one year back, to
the recovery site.
The following topics are described in this chapter:

The Restore Process, below.

Restoring Protected Virtual Machines From an Offsite Backup Repository, on page 192.

The Restore Process

Use the Restore operation to recover the VPG virtual machines on the recovery site from a backup job. The virtual
machines on the protected site remain protected and live.
The Restore operation has the following basic steps:
1.

The VBA accesses a specified backup, either by identifying the specific VPG that was backed up or by scanning a
specified repository for offsite backups.

2.

The VBA passes the offsite backup to the VRA.

Note: If, after the backup was created in the repository, one or more of the backed up volumes was deleted, as long as
there are still volumes to restore, the backup can still continue, restoring the remaining volumes.

3.

The VRA creates the virtual machines under the designated host and datastore on the recovery site. The host and
datastore can be the same as the recovery host and datastore specified in the VPG or any other host and associated
datastore in the site.

4. If requested, the restored virtual machines are powered on.

Restoring Protected Virtual Machines From an Offsite Backup

Repository
You can restore an offsite backup to the recovery site, either by specifying the VPG which has offsite backups or the
repository where the backup was saved.
Note: When the recovery site where the offsite backups are stored is managed by a cloud service provider using vCloud
Director, only the cloud service provider can initiate the restore.
To restore a VPG:
1.

In the Zerto User Interface click Restore.

The Restore VPG wizard is displayed.

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2.

Select the VPG to restore from the backup list or the repository where the offsite backup was saved. If the VPG
backups were saved to more than one repository, selecting the VPG collects all the offsite backups for the VPG from
all the available repositories.
When restoring via the VPG option, the VPG must still be available. If the VPG was deleted the restore must be
performed from a repository.

3.

Click Next.
Select Backup is displayed.

All the available offsite backups are displayed.

Point in Time The date and time the offsite backup was performed.
Restore Site The recovery site for the VPG.
Backup Status Whether the offsite backup of the virtual machines was fully completed or only partially completed, in
which case only some of the virtual machine were fully backed up.
VMs The number of backed up virtual machines out of the total number of virtual machines.
Volumes The number of backed up volumes out of the total number of volumes for the virtual machines.
Repository The name of the repository where the offsite backup is stored.
Compression A value in this field denotes that the backups stored in the repository are compressed.
ZORG The Zerto organization for which the offsite backup was created. For details, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager
Administration Guide.
4. Selecting an offsite backup displays the list of virtual machines in the backup, including the following information:
VM Name The name of the virtual machine in the package.
VM Backup Status Whether the offsite backup of the virtual machine was fully completed or only partially
completed, in which case only some of the volumes for the virtual machine were backed up.

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Backed Up Volumes The number of backed up volumes out of the total number of volumes for the virtual machine.
Note: The list of offsite backups is dependent of the whether a daily or weekly backup was specified in the VPG and
the retention period. The exact number of offsite backups over time is described in Offsite Backups, on page 50.
5.

Select the offsite backup to restore.

6.

If the restore site has the option to restore to vCD, select where to attach the restored VMs, either to VC or vCD.

7.

Click Next.
The list of virtual machines that can be restored from the selected offsite backup are displayed. For each machine
specify the host and datastore to use to restore the virtual machine.

Note: If, after the backup was created in the repository, one or more of the backed up volumes was deleted, as long as
there are still volumes to restore, the backup can still continue, restoring the remaining volumes.
You can specify the following default values, which are then applied to all the virtual machines to be restored:
Host Name The IP address of the host where you want the virtual machine restored.
Datastore The datastore to use for the restored virtual machine files.
8.

Alternatively, you can use the recovery host and datastore specified for each virtual machine in the VPG definition by
clicking the Populate button. Using the Populate button overrides the default values.
Note: The VPG must still be available to use the Populate button.
The Configure Restored VM dialog is displayed.

If you do not specify the complete restore information by clicking the Populate button prior to accessing the
Configure Restored VM dialog, you have to also complete the restore details.
VM Name The name of the virtual machine.
Host Name The IP address of the host where you want the virtual machine restored.
Datastore The datastore to use for the restored virtual machine files.

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Folder The default folder where the virtual machines are restored. Select a folder from the list or the
[Default]ZertoRecoveryFolder folder.
Volumes:Datastore/Raw Disk The datastore or RDM disk where the virtual machine files will be restored.
Nics:Network The network to use for the restored virtual machine.
Nics:New MAC The Media Access Control address (MAC address) to use. The default is to use the same MAC
address for the restored virtual machine that was used in the protected site. Check the box to create a new MAC
address on the restore site.
Nics:IP Mode The network to use for the restored virtual machine. The IP for the restored virtual machine. This
can be the same as the original protected virtual machine, allocated vi a DHCCP server or specified as a static
address. If you select to use a static IP connection, you set the IP address, subnet mask and default gateway to
use. Optionally, change the preferred and alternate DNS server IPs and the DNS suffix, by clicking the Edit icon to
display the Configure Restored VM DNS dialog.
9.

Click Save.

10. Check Power On if you want the restored virtual machine to be powered on.
If you dont specify the folder, the root folder is used.
11. Click Next.
The Summary dialog is displayed. Check the details of the restore.
12. If this is the offsite backup you want to restore click Restore.
The virtual machines are created from the repository at the recovery site.

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Chapter 19: Zerto Virtual Replication Reports

Zerto Virtual Replication includes reporting for the following:

Outbound Protection Over Time, below.

Protection Over Time by ZORG, on page 197.
Recovery Reports, on page 198.
Resource Report, on page 199.
Usage, on page 202.
VPG Performance, on page 203.
Backup Report, on page 204.

Outbound Protection Over Time

Information about how much data is actually being protected against the amount configured for any of the sites can be
displayed in the Outbound Protection Over Time tab under the Reports item.
Note: The data displayed can be up to 30 minutes old, since the Zerto Virtual Manager collects the relevant data every 30
minutes.

You can filter the information by the following:

From and To The dates for which you want information.
Recovery Site Select the site for which you want information displayed or for all the sites. If all the sites are selected, All
Sites is displayed for the field. The list displays all sites paired with the local site.
Click Apply to apply the filtering selected via any of the above fields.
Click Reset to reset the display to the defaults values.

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Protection Over Time by ZORG

Information about the virtual machines and amount of data on the recovery site can be displayed in the Protection Over
Time by Organization tab under the Reports item.
Note: The data displayed can be up to 30 minutes old, since the Zerto Virtual Manager collects the relevant data every 30
minutes.

You can filter the information by the following:

From and To The dates for which you want the information.
Protected Site Select the sites for which you want information displayed. If more than one site is selected, Multiple
Selection is displayed for the field. The list displays all sites paired with the local site.
Resolution Select the resolution for the report: daily, weekly, monthly or All.
Click Apply to apply the filtering selected via any of the above fields.
Click Reset to reset the display to the defaults values.

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Recovery Reports
Information about recovery operations, failover tests, moves and failovers, can be displayed in the Recovery Reports tab
under the Reports item. The information includes the protected and recovery sites involved, when the recovery operation
was started, the time taken to bring up the machines in the recovery site, the RTO, and whether the operation succeeded
or not and any notes added during a failover test.

You can filter the tests by the following:

From and To The dates for which you want test information. Only tests performed, between these dates are displayed.
VPG Select the VPGs for which you want test information displayed. If more than one VPG is selected, Multiple
Selection is displayed for the field. The list displays all VPGs that have been tested.
Type Select the recovery operations for which you want information displayed: Failover, Move, Failover Test. If
more than one operation is selected, Multiple Selection is displayed for the field.
Status Select the Statuses for which you want test information displayed: Success, Failed. If more than one status is
selected, Multiple Selection is displayed for the field.
Click Apply to apply the filtering selected via any of the above fields.
Click Reset to reset the display to the defaults values.
To generate a full report, select the VPGs you want a report generated and click Generate to generate a full report for each
selected VPG. You can have each report written to a single PDF file or to separate PDF files which are then zipped together.
The PDF report includes detailed information including the start and end time of the operation, the recovery host,
datastore, network, and folder, any boot order information, and details of the steps taken during the operation, such as
creating the test machine and scratch volumes for testing.
Determining Which Columns to Display and the Order They Are Displayed
Right-clicking in the list enables selecting the Edit Columns dialog, where you can specify what columns to display in
the list.
You can also drag-and-drop column headers to rearrange the order the columns are displayed. A thick vertical bar shows
where a column can be dragged and dropped.
You can also reset the display to the default display by right-clicking in the list and selecting the Reset Columns item.

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Branding the Recovery Report

A branded logo can be placed in the report in the left top corner by adding the logo as a png file to
<ZertoInstallFldr>\Zerto\Zerto Virtual Replication\gui\ folder with the name
provider_logo.png.
Where ZertoInstallFldr is the root folder where the recovery site Zerto Virtual Replication is installed. For example,
C:\Program Files (x86).

Resource Report
Resource information about the virtual machines being protected to a recovery site. The information is collected at fixed
times as defined in the Resource Reports section of the Advanced Settings dialog. For details, see the Defining
Resource Report Sampling Period, on page 32. Information for the report is saved for 90 days when the sampling period is
hourly and for one year when the sampling period is daily.
The report collects the resource information for the virtual machines being recovered to the site where the report is run.
For resource information about these virtual machines being recovered, the sampling period must be specified in the
Advanced Settings dialog on the recovery site.
Note: If no virtual machines are recovered to the site where the report is run, the report is empty.

You can filter the information by the following:

From and To The dates for which you want information.
Click Generate to XLSX file to generate the report.
The generated report includes the names and IDs of the virtual machines being protected and for each virtual machine the
timestamp for the information, where it is protected, the CPU used, the memory used by the host and the guest, the
storage used, etc.
Note: If there are no samples to use to generate a report, the From and To data fields and Generate to XLSX file button and
not displayed.

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Interpreting the Resource Report

The report provides a breakdown of every protected virtual machine, identified by its internal identifier and name in
vCenter server. The report also includes the VPG used to protect the virtual machine and protected and recovery
information such as the protected and recovery sites, the protected and recovery vCD Org, cluster, etc.
The Timestamp column is when the last sample was taken.
The VPG Type column is one of:
VC2VC vCenter to vCenter replication
VC2VCD vCenter to vCloud Director replication
VCD2VCD vCloud Director to vCloud Director replication
VCD2VC vCloud Director to vCenter replication
The Zorg column relates to an organization set up in the Zerto Cloud Manager that uses a cloud service provider for
recovery.
The Bandwidth (Bps) and Throughput (Bps) columns displays the average between two consecutive samples.
Thus, with daily samples, these figures represent the average daily bandwidth and throughput and with hourly samples the
timestamp represents an average between the sample at the timestamp and the previous sample. A value of -1 means that
the system failed to calculate the value, which can happen due to several reasons, for example:

Sites were disconnected when the sample was collected. Although the protected site measures the throughput and
bandwidth, the recovery site logs the results.
The bandwidth or throughput values at the time of the sample was lower than the bandwidth or throughput value in
the previous sample. This can happen, for example, if the protected site VRA is rebooted since the sample values are
not stored persistently by the VRA.
If valueInLastSample does not exist, since currentValue is the first sample for the virtual machine, the data is
not calculated.

Bandwidth is calculated as: (currentValue valueInLastSample)/elapsedTtime

For example:
Time

Action/Description

2:29:59.999

A virtual machine is placed in a VPG

2:30

A sample is generated. The total transmitted bytes is zero since the virtual machine was just
placed in the VPG

2:30-2:59.999

The VM is writing data at 1MB/minute

3:00

The virtual machine lowers its write rate to 0.5MB/minute

3:30

A new sample is calculated. Current value of total data transmitted is 45MB:(1MB/minute)*(30 minutes) + (0.5MB/minute)*(30 minutes)
Last value of total data transmitted is 0, from the 2:30 sample.
Bandwidth = (45MB-0)/(60 minutes) = 0.75MB/minute = 13107Bps

Resource Report Output

The following describes every field in the report.
Parameter

Description

Active Guest Memory (MB)

The active memory of the virtual machine.

Bandwidth (Bps)

The average bandwidth used between two consecutive samples. in bytes per
second.

Consumed Host Memory (MB)

The amount of host memory consumed by the virtual machine.

CPU Limit (Mhz)

The maximum Mhz available for the CPUs in the virtual machine.

CPU Reserved (Mhz)

The Mhz reserved for use by the CPUs in the virtual machine.

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Parameter

Description

CPU Used (Mhz)

The Mhz used by the CPUs in the virtual machine.

CrmId

The CRM identifier specified in Zerto Cloud Manager for an organization that
uses a cloud service provider for recovery.

Memory (MB)

The virtual machine defined memory.

Memory Limit (MB)

The upper limit for this virtual machines memory allocation.

Memory Reserved (MB)

The guaranteed memory allocation for this virtual machine.

Number Of vCPUs

The number of CPUs for the virtual machine.

Number Of Volumes

The number of volumes attached to the virtual machine.

Recovery Journal Provisioned Storage

(GB)

The amount of provisioned journal storage for the virtual machine.

Recovery Journal Used Storage (GB)

The amount of used journal storage for the virtual machine.

Recovery Volumes Provisioned Storage

(GB)

The amount of provisioned storage for the virtual machine in the target site. This
value is the sum of volumes provisioned size.

Recovery Volumes Used Storage (GB)

The amount of used storage for the virtual machine in the target site.

Service Profile

The service profile used by the VPG.

Source Cluster

The source cluster name hosting the virtual machine.

Source Host

The source ESX/ESXi name hosting the virtual machine.

Source Organization VDC

The name of the source vDC Org.

Source Resource Pool

The source resource pool name hosting the virtual machine.

Source Site

The source protected site name, defined in the Zerto User Interface.

Source vCD Organization

The name of the source vCD Org.

Source Volumes Provisioned Storage (GB) The amount of provisioned storage for the virtual machine in the source site. This
value is the sum of volumes provisioned size.
Source Volumes Used Storage (GB)

The amount of used storage for the virtual machine in the source site. This value
is the sum of the volumes used size.

Source Vra Name

The name of the source VRA used to send data to the recovery site.

Target Storage Profile

The target vCD storage profile used.

Target Cluster

The target cluster name hosting the virtual machine.

Target Datastores

The target datastore used for the virtual machine if it is recovered.

Target Host

The target ESX/ESXi name hosting the virtual machine when it is recovered.

Target Organization VDC

The name of the target vDC Org

Target Resource Pool

The target resource pool name where the virtual machine will be recovered.

Target Site

The target site name, defined in the Zerto User Interface.

Target vCD Organization

The name of the target vCD Org.

Target Vra Name

The name of the recovery VRA managing the recovery.

Throughput (Bps)

The average throughput used between two consecutive samples in bytes per
second.

Timestamp

The date and time the resource information was collected. The value can be
converted to an understandable date using code similar to the following:
var date = new Date(jsonDate);
or code similar to the Perl code example, jsonDateToString($), described in Zerto
Virtual Replication REST API Reference Guide.

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Parameter

Description

VM Hardware Version

The VMware hardware version.

VM Id

The internal virtual machine identifier.

VM Name

The name of the virtual machine.

VPG Name

The name of the VPG.

VPG Type

The VPG Type. It is one of one of the following:

VC2VC vCenter to vCenter replication.
VC2VCD vCenter to vCloud Director replication.
VCD2VCD vCloud Director to vCloud Director replication.
VCD2VC vCloud Director to vCenter replication.

ZORG

An organization set up in the Zerto Cloud Manager using a cloud service provider
for recovery. For details, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.

Using a REST API to Generate a Report

Zerto Virtual Replication exposes a REST API1 in order to produce resource data. The report is generated by passing a URL.
For details of the ResourcesReport API, refer to the Zerto Virtual Replication REST API Reference Guide.

Usage
Information about usage can be displayed in the Usage tab under the Reports item. The information is organized by
organization and within each organization by site and then VPG and then the virtual machines in each VPG.

This report is mostly used by cloud service providers.

You can filter the information by the following:
Year The year of interest.
1. Zerto Virtual Replication provides a number of REST APIs, described in the Zerto Virtual Replication REST API Reference Guide.

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Month Select the month to review. You can also see, under the month, the virtual machine count for each day in the
month.
The usage report displays for each month the number of virtual machines protected during the month and the average
number per day in the month. For example, if fifteen virtual machines are protected in a few VPGs starting on the 28th of
the month in a thirty day month, the total days will be 30 (two days multiplied by fifteen machines) and the VM Count will
be 1 (Total days divided by the number of days in the month).
Click Export to CSV to save the report as a CSV file.
Click Export to PDF to save the report as a PDF file.
Click Export to Zip to save the report as zipped CSV and PDF files in a zip file.

VPG Performance
The performance graphs, for all VPGs or for individual VPGs, can be seen with better resolution than the corresponding
graphs in the Summary tab in the Zerto User Interface or in the VPG Performance tab under the Reports tab.
You can specify which VPGs you want to monitor as well as the time period to display in the graphs, between one and
thirty minutes. When graphs for multiple VPGs are displayed, you can display the information for each VPG separately or
together as an average.

All of the graphs have a scale. You can change this scale, as described in Customizing the Performance Graphs, below, to
suit the results being displayed, except for the VRA usage graph in the Summary dialog, which is determined by Zerto
Virtual Replication.

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Position the cursor on the graph line to see exact information about that point.

Customizing the Performance Graphs

You can change the scale used for the graphs in the Advanced Settings tab, described in Defining the Scaling Used
for Performance Graphs, on page 30.

Backup Report
Information about offsite backups can be sent as a report every day or weekly on a specified date.
Check Backup reports and then click Configure Backup Reporting to configure the backup reporting parameters.

To configure email notifications:

1.

Click Email consolidated backup reports.

2.

Specify whether you want a backup report sent daily or weekly.

Daily To send a daily backup report
Weekly To send a weekly backup report. Select the day of the week from the dropdown list.

3.

Specify the time of day to send the backup report.

The backup report is sent as HTML with the following information:

A summary listing every VPG for which an offsite backup job has run. The summary information includes the
following:
An entry for each backup job that was run.
The result of the job: successful, partial successful or failed.

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A partially successful job means that some of the virtual machines were successfully backed up, but not all of
them.
The time the job started.
The time the job completed.
The duration of the job.
The size of the backup that was stored in the repository.
The type of the job: automatic, meaning a scheduled run, or manually initiated.
Summary details of the run.

Specific details about the job, including:

The name of the ZORG of the VPG.
The protected site.
The backup site where offsite backup can be restored.
The number of virtual machines backed up from the totally number in the VPG.
The number of virtual machines only partially backed up.
The start and end times of the run and the run duration.
The backup size.
Whether the backup was scheduled or initiated manually.
the repository name.
The next time a backup of the VPG is scheduled.
The previous run time.

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Features

This chapter describes the interaction between Zerto Virtual Replication and commonly used VMware features such as
vMotion, DRS and HA.
The following topics are described in this chapter:

Using the VMware Web Client or Client Console, below.

Stopping a vCenter Server, on page 206.
Protecting Virtual Machines in a vApp, on page 206.
Protecting Virtual Machines that Use Thin-Provisioning, on page 207.
Zerto Virtual Replication and VMware Clusters, on page 207.
Zerto Virtual Replication and Fault Tolerance, on page 208.
Zerto Virtual Replication and Host Affinity Rules and CPU Pinning, on page 208.
Ensuring VPG Integrity When Using vMotion, on page 209.
Zerto Virtual Replication and Storage vMotion, on page 209.
VMware Host Maintenance Mode, on page 209.
VMware Roles and Permissions, on page 209.

Using the VMware Web Client or Client Console

You manage your vCenter site, including the protection and replication of virtual machines between the protected and
recovery sites, using one of the following ways:

The Zerto DR Management User Interface.

The vSphere Client console.
The vSphere Web Client.

For further details of the access via VMware clients, refer to Different Ways to Access the Zerto User Interface, on page
18.

Stopping a vCenter Server

If the vCenter Server service is stopped, a Zerto Virtual Replication Delta Sync is performed on all protected virtual
machines when the vCenter Server is restarted.

Protecting Virtual Machines in a vApp

A VMware vApp is a resource container for multiple virtual machines that work together as part of a multi-tier application.
An example of a multi-tier application is a typical Web-based application where you might have three tiers: Web,
application and database; which are often run on three separate servers. For example, you may have Microsoft IIS running
on one server (tier 1), IBM WebSphere running on another server (tier 2) and IBM DB2 database running on a third server
(tier 3). The three applications on each server all work together and are mostly dependent on each other for the application
to function properly. If one part of the tier became unavailable, the application will typically quit working as it relies on all
the tiers for the application to work.

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vApps provide a method for setting power-on options, IP address allocation and resource allocation, and provide
application-level customization for all the virtual machines in the vApp. When you configure a vApp in vSphere you specify
properties for it, including CPU and memory resources, IP allocation, application information, and start order.
Because the VMware treats the vApp as a single logical entity comprising one or more virtual machines, Zerto Virtual
Replication also enables protecting a vApp as a single entity in a VPG for any vApp defined under an ESXi host. For full
details, see Protecting a vApp (Via the VMware Web Client or Client Console), on page 65.

Protecting Virtual Machines that Use Thin-Provisioning

VMware vStorage thin-provisioning is a component of vStorage that enables over-allocation of storage capacity for
increased storage utilization, enhanced application uptime and simplified storage capacity management.
When migrating or recovering the virtual machines in a VPG, the virtual machines are migrated or recovered with the same
configuration as the protected machines. Thus, if a virtual machine in a VPG is configured with thin provisioning, then
during migration or recovery the machine is also defined in the recovery site as thin provisioned.

Zerto Virtual Replication and VMware Clusters

A VMware cluster is a group of tightly coupled ESX/ESXi hosts that work closely together so that in many respects they
can be viewed as though they are a single computer. VMware clusters are used for high availability and load balancing.
With a VMware Cluster, you define two or more physical machines that will provide resources for the hosts that are
assigned to that cluster. By using clusters, you can achieve high availability and load balancing of virtual machines. Load
balancing is referred to as DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) by VMware.
Thus, you use VMware ESX Clusters for the following:

If one of the physical hosts goes down, the other physical host starts up the VMs that the original host was running
(high availability).
If one physical host is over utilized by a VM, that VM is moved to the other physical host (DRS).

Both of these features use vMotion to move these virtual guests from one system to another.
You cannot apply high availability nor DRS to a Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA).
When protecting virtual machines in a cluster, if you are protecting a vApp, you must install a VRA on every ESX/ESXi host
in the cluster on both the protected and recovery sites and ensure that DRS is enabled for these clusters. For other virtual
machines, it is recommended to install a VRA on every ESX/ESXi host in the cluster, or to disable DRS on the machine with
the virtual machines to be protected.
Note: When protecting virtual machines in vCloud Director and recovering to a vCenter Server, the virtual machines are
recovered as a vApp and thus DRS must be enabled in the recovery site. When protecting virtual machines in vCenter
Server and recovering to vCloud Director, after a recovery with reverse protection, from the vCD to the vCenter, the virtual
machines are not replicated back to the original site as a vApp.
Also, see DRS, below.

VMware High Availability (VMHA)

VMware high availability decreases downtime and improves reliability with business continuity by enabling another ESX/
ESXi host to start up virtual machines that were running on another ESX/ESXi host that went down.

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High availability is automatically disabled by Zerto Virtual Replication while updating recovered virtual machines in the
recovery site from the VRA journal. After the promotion of the data from the journal to the virtual machine completes, high
availability is automatically re-enabled.
The HA configuration can include admission control to prevent virtual machines being started if they violate availability
constraints. If this is the case, then a failover, test failover or migration of the virtual machines in a VPG to the cluster with
this configuration will fail, if the availability constraints are violated when the virtual machines are recovered. It is
recommended to test the failover, as described in Testing Recovery, on page 162, to ensure recovery will succeed, even
when HA is configured with admission control.

DRS
VMware DRS enables balancing computing workloads with available resources in a cluster.
DRS is automatically disabled by Zerto Virtual Replication while updating recovered virtual machines in the recovery site
from the journal for these recovered virtual machines. After the promotion of the data from the journal to the recovered
virtual machine completes, DRS is automatically re-enabled.
If DRS is disabled for the site, VMware removes all resource pools in the site. If the recovery was defined to a resource
pool, recovery will be to any one of the hosts in the recovery site with a VRA installed on it.
Note: If the site is defined in Zerto Cloud Manager, only a resource pool can be specified and the resource pool must also
have been defined in Zerto Cloud Manager. For details about Zerto Cloud Manager, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager
Administration Guide.

Zerto Virtual Replication and Storage Profiles and Storage

Clusters
Profile-Driven Storage provides visibility into your storage pool, letting you optimize and automate storage provisioning.
Zerto Virtual Replication supports the use of storage profiles and storage clusters defined within a profile.

Zerto Virtual Replication and Fault Tolerance

VMware fault tolerance provides uninterrupted availability by eliminating the need to restart a virtual machine by copying
a functional virtual machine to a second ESX/ESXi host while making sure that both virtual machines are synchronized, so
that if the ESX/ESXi that is hosting the primary virtual machine goes down, the secondary virtual machine takes over.
Zerto Virtual Replication does not support fault tolerance for machines in a VPG, nor for a Virtual Replication Appliance
(VRA).

Zerto Virtual Replication and Host Affinity Rules and CPU

Pinning
VMware host affinity rules enable specifying which ESX/ESXi hosts a virtual machine can or cannot run under. CPU
pinning ties a specific workload to a specific processor within an ESX/ESXi host. Thus, when DRS is enabled, the rules for
which ESX/ESXi hosts a virtual machine can be enforced regardless of the load.

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Zerto Virtual Replication works whether host affinity and CPU pinning is used or not.
Note: Host affinity rules can be applied to Virtual Replication Appliances (VRAs).

Ensuring VPG Integrity When Using vMotion

If you use vMotion to migrate a virtual machine, which is part of a VPG, from one ESX/ESXi host to another ESX/ESXi host,
make sure of the following before moving the virtual machine:

The ESX/ESXi host where you are moving the virtual machine to has a Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA) installed
on it, as described in the Zerto Virtual Replication Installation Guide.
The virtual machine is not a test virtual machine running on the recovery site during the performance of a failover test,
as described in Testing Recovery, on page 162.

You cannot move a Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA) from one ESX/ESXi host to another. Also a virtual machine that is
being updated from the VRA journal, after recovery has been initiated, cannot be moved until the promotion of data to the
virtual machine completes.

Zerto Virtual Replication and Storage vMotion

VMware Storage vMotion enables you to perform live migration of virtual machine disk files across heterogeneous storage
arrays with complete transaction integrity and no interruption in service for critical applications enabling you to perform
proactive storage migrations, simplify array refreshes/retirements, improve virtual machine storage performance, and free
up valuable storage capacity in your data center.
Zerto Virtual Replication supports Storage vMotion for protected and recovered virtual machine volumes and for journal
volumes in the recovery site, but not for a machine volume in a VPG being promoted.
Note: When a volume is moved using Storage vMotion, the datastore folder under which the volume is saved is the last
datastore folder accessed by VMware.

VMware Host Maintenance Mode

You place a host in maintenance mode when you need to service it, for example, to install more memory. A host enters or
leaves maintenance mode only as the result of a user request.
Virtual machines that are running on a host entering maintenance mode need to be migrated to another host (either
manually or automatically by DRS) or shut down.
Zerto Virtual Replication enables moving recovery disks managed by a VRA on a host that needs maintaining to be moved
to another host for the duration of the maintenance, as described Managing Protection During VMware Host
Maintenance, on page 152.

VMware Roles and Permissions

VMware roles and permissions are the core of VMware infrastructure security. Permissions are a combination of a user/
group and a security role that is applied to some level of the VMware Infrastructure. Zerto Virtual Replication supplies

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permissions that are assigned to the Administrator role when Zerto Virtual Replication is installed that enable the
administrator to perform specific actions. For details, see Setting Permissions, on page 22.

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Chapter 21: Troubleshooting

You can handle problems related to the WAN connecting the protecting or recovery sites, or other problems using a
variety of diagnostic and troubleshooting tools.
The following topics are described in this chapter:

Ensuring the Zerto Virtual Manager is Running, below.

Troubleshooting Needs Configuration Problems, on page 212.
Troubleshooting GUI Problems, on page 213.
Troubleshooting VRA Problems, on page 213.
Handling Lack of Storage Space for Recovered Virtual Machines, on page 213.
Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics Utility, on page 214.
Collecting Zerto Virtual Replication Logs, on page 214.

For details about Zerto Virtual Manager alarms, alerts and events, refer to Zerto Virtual Replication Guide to Alarms, Alerts
and Events.

Ensuring the Zerto Virtual Manager is Running

If you have problems with accessing the Zerto tabs, check under Windows Services, on the machine where Zerto Virtual
Replication is installed, that the Zerto Virtual Manager Windows service is started.

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Troubleshooting Needs Configuration Problems

There are a number of scenarios where the VPG status changes to Needs Configuration.

Each scenario must be handled to resolve the issue. Clicking Edit VPG displays the Manage VPG dialog with the settings
filled in, using the original settings for the virtual machines in the VPG. To resolve the status issue, change the VPG
definition as appropriate.
The following scenarios result in the VPG status changing to Needs Configuration:

A protected disk resize operation fails, for example when there is not enough disk space.
When a virtual machine is added to a protected vApp and the added virtual machine has no matching datastore or not
enough room on the recovery datastore or the VPG settings are not updated because of a site disconnection or
vCenter Server error.
When a volume is added to a protected virtual machine and the added volume has no matching datastore or not
enough room on the recovery datastore or the VPG settings are not updated because of a site disconnection or
vCenter Server error.
When performing a Failover or Move operation, if you do not specify reverse protection.
An Org vDC network is removed from the recovery site that has a VPG replicating to it.

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Troubleshooting GUI Problems

Message Displayed That Adobe Flash Player Version is Wrong
If a message is displayed that the Adobe Flash Player version is wrong, but it is correct, in Internet Explorer select
Internet Options under Tools and in the Security tab add the GUI location as a trusted site.

Zerto User Interface Not Displayed

If the Zerto User Interface is not displayed after installing Zerto Virtual Replication, close and reopen the console.

Host is Not Displayed in List of Hosts in the Manage VPG Dialog

If the installation of a VRA completes successfully, but the allocation of the IP takes too long, when attempting to specify
the host to recover a VPG, the host where the VRA is installed does not appear in the list, you have to uninstall and then reinstall the VRA.

Troubleshooting VRA Problems

VPG Syncing Takes a Long Time Network Problems
Check the network. If the firewall configuration is modified, the VRA TCP connections have to be reset. After a VRA
disconnect and reconnect the system can wait for up to fifteen minutes before syncing the sites after the reconnection.

Host is Not Displayed in List of Hosts in the Manage VPG Dialog

If the installation of a VRA completes successfully, but the allocation of the IP takes too long, when attempting to specify
the host to recover a VPG, the host where the VRA is installed does not appear in the list, you have to uninstall and then reinstall the VRA.

VRA Crashes During Promotion

If a VRA is promoting data to a recovery virtual machine and the VRA fails, the VRA starts up automatically but you might
have to restart the virtual machine manually and then the promotion will continue.

Cannot Install a VRA After Uninstalling a VRA on the Host

Uninstalling a VRA sometimes leaves a zagentid folder and you cannot install a new VRA, because of an old, unused,
zagentid folder. Delete the zagentid folder manually.
Note: This only happens if a file was manually added to the zagentid folder.

Handling Lack of Storage Space for Recovered Virtual Machines

If a recovery virtual machine does not have enough space on the recovery site, the promotion of data to the recovered
virtual machine hangs. If this occurs you should add more space to the machine and then start the machine. The promotion
will then continue.

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Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics Utility

Zerto Virtual Replication includes a diagnostics utility to help resolve actual and potential problems. Using the diagnostics
tool, you can do the following:

Collect logs to help Zerto support resolve problems. The Zerto Virtual Manager must be running on each site for
which you want logs. See To collect logs for Zerto support to use when troubleshooting:, below.
Collect local Zerto Virtual Manager logs. Use this option if the Zerto Virtual Manager is not running. See Collecting
Log Information for the ZertoVssAgent, on page 219.
Check the connectivity between Zerto Virtual Replication components. See Check Connectivity Between Zerto
Virtual Replication Components, on page 153.
Reconfigure the Zerto Virtual Manager, including the IP addresses of the vCenter Server and of the machine running
the Zerto Virtual Manager, and the SSL certificate used when accessing the Zerto User Interface. See Reconfiguring
the Zerto Virtual Manager Setup, on page 154.
Export VPG settings to an external file and import these settings. This option is used when upgrading Zerto Virtual
Replication, described in the Zerto Virtual Replication Installation Guide.
Reconfigure access to the Microsoft SQL Server that is used by the Zerto Virtual Manager. This database was
specified during the installation of Zerto Virtual Replication. See Reconfiguring the Microsoft SQL Server Database
Used by the Zerto Virtual Manager, on page 156.

Note: A separate installation kit is available for download from the Zerto Support Portal downloads page that installs the
Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics utility as a standalone utility on any Windows machine that has Microsoft .NET
Framework 4 installed1.

Collecting Zerto Virtual Replication Logs

You can collect logs using the diagnostics tool to help Zerto support resolve problems either when the Zerto Virtual
Manager is running on each site for which you want logs or when the Zerto Virtual Manager is not running.

When the Zerto Virtual Manager is running on each site. See To collect logs for Zerto support to use when
troubleshooting:, below. This option enables you to specify the logs that you want to collect, both generated by Zerto
Virtual Replication, for example VRA logs, as well as logs generated by VMware, for example, vCenter Server logs or
host logs. The Zerto Virtual Replication generated logs can be filtered by any alerts issued and by the VPGs that
require analysis to identify problems.
When the Zerto Virtual Manager is not running. See Collecting Log Information for the ZertoVssAgent, on page 219.

To collect logs for Zerto support to use when troubleshooting:

1.

Click Start > Programs > Zerto Virtual Replication > Zerto Diagnostics.
The Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics menu dialog is displayed.

2.

Select the Collect the Zerto Virtual Replication logs for use by Zerto support option.

3.

Click Next.
The Initialize dialog is displayed.

1. The installation executable is included as part of the standalone utility installation kit and it requires an additional 1.8GB of free disk space.

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4. Specify the following and click Next.

IP / Host Name The IP of the Zerto Virtual Manager where the log collection runs from. Logs are collected from this
site and from the paired site.
Port The port used for inbound communication with the Zerto Virtual Manager.
Your Company Name A name to identify the log collection for the customer. This information is used by Zerto
support. An account name must be entered. After this information is added it is displayed in subsequent uses of the
diagnostics utility.
Email An email address for use by Zerto support when analyzing the logs. An email address must be entered. After
this information is added it is displayed in subsequent uses of the diagnostics utility.
Timeframe The amount of time you want to collect logs for. The more time, the bigger the collection package.
Description An optional free text description of the reason for collecting the logs.
After clicking Next the utility connects to the Zerto Virtual Replication and if any alerts have been issued, they are
displayed in the Select Alerts dialog.
If there are no alerts, this dialog is skipped.

5.

Select any alerts that need analyzing from the list and click Next.
The Select VPGs dialog is displayed.

6.

Select the VPGs that you want analyzed using the plus and minus buttons and click Next.

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The Customize dialogs are displayed. These dialogs can generally be left with their default values.
The following Customize dialogs are displayed:
The Select Sites dialog.
The Select VRA Hosts dialog.
The Select vSphere Logs dialog.
The Select vCloud Director Logs dialog.
The Select Sites dialog is displayed, with the list local site and all the sites paired to it listed.

Those sites that are either protecting or used for recovery for any of the selected VPGs from the previous dialog are
automatically selected.
Note: Zerto Virtual Manager logs from both sites are collected when both sites are trusted sites otherwise only logs
from the local site are collected.
7.

Verify that the sites that need analyzing are selected and click Next.
The Select VRA Hosts dialog is displayed.

Those hosts with VRAs that are used to protect or recover any of the selected VPGs are automatically selected.
You can change the collection criteria using the plus and minus buttons. The expected size of the collection package is
updated dependent on the selected VRAs.
8.

Verify that the host with VRAs that need analyzing are selected and click Next.
The Select vSCenter Server Logs dialog is displayed.

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Specify the vSphere data to collect.

Collect vCenter Server Diagnostics Collects vCenter Server diagnostics.
Collect Host Logs Collects logs generated for hosts. If you check the Collect host logs checkbox, you can
select the host logs to be included in the collection by using the plus and minus buttons.
The vSphere data that can be collected enlarges the size of the log collection package significantly and is not collected
by default.
9.

Click Next.
The Select vCloud Director Logs dialog is displayed.

10. Click Next.

The Save Log Destinations dialog is displayed.

11. Specify destination for the details that you want collected.
Destination The name and location where the log collection will be saved.
Automatically upload files to Zerto FTP Server When this option is checked, the log collection is automatically
uploaded to a specified FTP site.
Note: If you choose to upload the log collection to a site that you specify, make sure that the site is up.
12. Specify the FTP site to send the collection and the protocol to use, either FTP or HTTP.
13. Click Next.
The Review dialog is displayed.

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Check that you have specified everything you want to collect and if you want to make changes, click Back to change
the selection.
14. Click Start.
The data is collected and stored in the destination file which, by default, is timestamped. If specified, the collection is
also sent to an FTP site.
Note: The log collection is performed on the server. Cancelling the collection in the GUI does not stop the collection
from continuing on the server and a new log collection cannot be run until the running collection finishes.
When the log collection has completed the result is displayed. For example:

15. Click Done to return to the Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics menu dialog.
16. Send the log to Zerto support, unless the Automatically upload files to Zerto FTP Server option
was specified, in which case it is automatically sent to Zerto.
To collect local Zerto Virtual Manager logs (when the Zerto Virtual Manager is not running):
1.

Click Start > Programs > Zerto Virtual Replication > Zerto Diagnostics.
The Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics menu dialog is displayed.

2.

Select the Local Zerto Virtual Manager diagnostics option and click Next.
You are prompted to use the first option to collect more comprehensive diagnostics. If you continue, the
Initialize dialog is displayed.

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3.

Specify the details that you want collected.

IP / Host Name The IP of the Zerto Virtual Manager where the log collection runs from. Logs are collected from this
site and from the paired site.
Port The port used for inbound communication with the Zerto Virtual Manager.
Your Company Name A name to identify the log collection for the customer account. This information is used by
Zerto support. An account name must be entered.
Email An email address for use by Zerto support when analyzing the logs. An email address must be entered.
Timeframe The amount of time you want to collect logs for. The more time, the bigger the collection package.
Description An optional free text description of the reason for collecting the logs.

4. Click Next.
The Save Log Destinations dialog is displayed.
5.

Specify the details that you want collected and click Next.
Destination The name and location where the log collection will be saved.
Automatically upload files to Zerto FTP Server When this option is checked, the log collection is automatically
uploaded to a specified FTP site.
Note: If you choose to upload the log collection to a site that you specify, make sure that the site is up before clicking
Finish.
The data is collected and stored in the destination file which, by default, is timestamped. If specified, the collection is
also sent to an FTP site.
Note: The collection progress is displayed.
When the log collection has completed the result is displayed.

6.

Click Done to return to the Zerto Virtual Replication Diagnostics menu dialog.

7.

Send the log to Zerto support, unless the Automatically upload files to Zerto FTP Server option
was specified, in which case it is automatically sent to Zerto.

Collecting Log Information for the ZertoVssAgent

When ZertoVssAgent is installed, adding checkpoints to the journal can be synchronized with Microsoft Volume Shadow
Copy Service (VSS) snapshots, as described in Ensuring Transaction Consistency in Microsoft Windows Server
Environments, on page 124.
Logs generated by the ZertoVssAgent are saved separately and not collected using the Zerto Virtual Replication diagnostics
tool, described in Collecting Zerto Virtual Replication Logs, on page 214. These logs are small and can be zipped and sent to
Zerto support separately.
The logs are saved to a Zerto folder under the program data folder. For example, depending on the Windows operating
system, the logs are accessed via C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Zerto or
C:\ProgramData\Zerto.

Understanding the Logs

If problems arise with Zerto Virtual Manager, you can view the Zerto Virtual Manager logs to see what is happening.
The current log is called logfile.csv and resides in the <Zerto_Install_Dir>\Zerto Virtual
Replication\logs folder, where Zerto_Install_Dir is the folder specified during the installation.
When the log reaches 10MB its name is changed to log.nnnn.csv, where nnnn is a number incremented by one each
time logfile.csv reaches 10MB. Up to 100 log files are kept.
The log file has the following format:
FFFF, yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss, ####, LVL, Component, API, Message

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where:
FFFF A HEX code. For internal use.
yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss Timestamp for the message.
#### Number for internal use.
LVL Severity level of the message. The more messages written to the log the bigger the impact on performance. The
number of messages written to the log decreases from Debug to Error. The level can be one of the following:
Debug All messages are written to the log. This level should only be specified during testing.
Info Information messages.
Warn Warning messages such as a reconnect ion occurred.
Error Error messages that need handling to find the problem.
Component The specific part in the Zerto Virtual Manager that issued the message.
API The specific API that issued the message.
Message The message written in the log.
The following is a sample from a log:
07f4c878,2010-12-01 19:54:41.4237,Debug,5,
Zerto.Zvm.RemoteZvmConnector.ResyncingRemoteZvmConnector,
TestConnectivity,TestConnectivity returning true,
07f4c878,2010-12-01 19:54:41.7362,Info,11,
Zerto.Zvm.ZvmServices.Protection.PromotionMonitor,
PromotionMonitoringThreadFunc,Promoting protection groups: ,
07f4c878,2010-12-01 19:54:42.7987,Info,9,
Zerto.Infra.ZvmReaderWriterLock,LogLock,Synchronizer: Enter Writer,
07f4c878,2010-12-01 19:54:42.7987,Info,9,
Zerto.Zvm.ZvmServices.ReconnectingConnectorProxy,
GetConnector,"Connecting IP=106.16.223.86, PORT=4005, attempt (1/3)",
07f4c878,2010-12-01 19:54:42.7987,Debug,9,
Zerto.Zvm.VraConnector.VraNetworkConnector,
Connect,try to connect 106.16.223.86:4005 ...,
07f4c878,2010-12-01 19:54:43.0643,Debug,17,
Zerto.Zvm.ZvmServices.CrossSiteService,Ping,Ping,
07f4c878,2010-12-01 19:54:43.0643,Debug,17,
Zerto.Zvm.ZvmServices.PingService,Ping,Ping called,
07f4c878,2010-12-01 19:54:43.8612,Error,9,
Zerto.Zvm.VraConnector.VraNetworkConnector,
ClearAndThrow,connection is closed: No connection could be made because the
target machine actively refused it 106.16.223.86:4005,
07f4c878,2010-12-01 19:54:43.8612,Warn,9,
Zerto.Zvm.ZvmServices.ReconnectingConnectorProxy,GetConnector,failed,

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Configuration and management of the disaster recovery for a site is performed in the Zerto User Interface.
The following dialogs and tabs are described in this chapter:

Add Checkpoint Dialog, below.

Add Group Dialog, on page 223.
Add Site Dialog, on page 223.
Add Static Route Dialog, on page 223.
Advanced Settings Dialog, on page 224.
Alerts Tab, on page 226.
Backup Settings Dialog, on page 227.
Backup Window Dialog, on page 228.
Boot Order Dialog, on page 228.
Browse for VMDK File Dialog, on page 229.
Change Host Password Dialog, on page 229.
Change Recovery Host Dialog, on page 230.
Compatibility Matrix Dialog, on page 230.
Configure & Install VRA Dialog, on page 231.
Configure Network Mapping Dialog, on page 232.
Configure Notifications Dialog, on page 232.
Configure Paired Site Routing Dialog, on page 233.
Configure Provider vDCs Dialog, on page 233.
Configure Restored VM Dialog, on page 234.
Configure Restored VM DNS Dialog, on page 235.
Configure vCD Dialog, on page 235.
Configure VM Dialog, on page 236.
Configure VM Dialog (vCD), on page 238.
Configure VNIC Dialog, on page 239.
Configure VNIC Dialog (vCD), on page 240.
Configure Volume Dialog, on page 241.
Configure Volume Dialog (vCD), on page 242.
Delete VPG Dialog, on page 242.
Edit Backup Repository Dialog, on page 243.
Edit VRA Dialog, on page 244.
Events Tab, on page 245.
Manage Journal Dialog, on page 245.
Manage Sites Dialog, on page 247.
Manage Static Routes Dialog, on page 247.
Manage VPG Dialog Protecting a vApp, on page 248.
Manage VPG Dialog Protecting to a vCenter Server, on page 251.
Manage VPG Dialog Protecting to vCD, on page 253.
Manage VPG Dialog Protecting vCD to vCD, on page 255.
New Repository Dialog, on page 257.
New VPG Dialog, on page 257.
Offsite Clone Dialog, on page 259.
Open Support Ticket Dialog, on page 259.
Outbound Protection Over Time Report, on page 260.
Pause Dialog, on page 260.
Protection Over Time by Organization Report, on page 261.
Recent Activities Dialog, on page 262.
Recovery Reports, on page 262.
Resource Report, on page 263.
Restore VPG Dialog, on page 264.
Resume Dialog, on page 266.

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Select Recovery Point Dialog, on page 267.

Select VMs Dialog, on page 268.
Site Information Dialog, on page 268.
Sites Tab, on page 269.
Stop Failover Test Dialog, on page 270.
Summary Tab, on page 271.
Time-based Bandwidth Throttling Dialog, on page 272.
Topology Tab, on page 272.
Usage Report, on page 273.
VMs Tab, on page 274.
VPG Performance Report, on page 276.
VPGs Tab, on page 277.
VRAs Tab, on page 279.
Zerto Virtual Replication License Dialog, on page 280.

Add Checkpoint Dialog

Checkpoints are recorded automatically every few seconds in the journal. These checkpoints ensure crash-consistency
and are written to the virtual machine journals by the Zerto Virtual Manager and each checkpoint has the same timestamp
set by the Zerto Virtual Manager. In addition to the automatically generated checkpoints, you can manually add
checkpoints to identify events that might influence the recovery, such as a planned switch over to a secondary generator.
The list of VPGs is displayed. You can select more VPGs to add the same checkpoint.
Enter a name for the checkpoint The name to assign the checkpoint.
Dir The direction of the protection.
VPG Name The name of the VPG.
Protected Site Name The name of the VPG source site, where virtual machines are protected.
Recovery Site Name The name of the VPG recovery site, where protected virtual machines are recovered.
Click the appropriate radio button below to display VPGs for local, remote or all VPG sites.
Local Site Display VPGs for the local site only.
Remote Site Display VPGs for the remote site only.
Show All Display VPGs for both the local and remote sites.

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Add Group Dialog

Defines a group to contain a static route to the subnet used by the Zerto Virtual Manager and can be applied to more than
one Zerto Cloud Connector.
Group The name of the group.
Also see: Add Static Route Dialog, on page 223.

Add Site Dialog

Used to pair sites.

Remote Site ZVM IP Address IP address or host name of the remote site to pair to. The remote site is the site where the
remote Zerto Virtual Manager is installed.
Port The TCP port communication between the sites. Enter the port that was specified during the installation. The default
port during the installation was 9081.

Add Static Route Dialog

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Add a static route for a specified group, defined in Add Group Dialog, on page 223, when the Zerto Cloud Connector and
cloud site Zerto Virtual Manager are on different networks.
Group Name The name of the group which will contain the static route.
Address The IP address for the static route in the Zerto Virtual Manager network.
Subnet Mask The subnet mask for the network.
Gateway The gateway address for the network on the local network of the Zerto Cloud Connector cloud network
interface.
Note: If you change the Zerto Virtual Manager and VRAs cloud network, changing the static route settings for a group to
the new network, only changes the access for new Zerto Cloud Connectors with the specified group. Existing Zerto Cloud
Connectors must be redeployed to use the changed static route.

Advanced Settings Dialog

Contains site settings such as the maximum bandwidth that Zerto Virtual Replication will use between the protected and
recovery sites.
Bandwidth Throttling The maximum bandwidth that Zerto Virtual Replication uses from this site to recovery sites. The
default value is for Zerto Virtual Replication to automatically assign the bandwidth used per VPG, based on using the
maximum available and then prioritizing the usage according to priority set for the VPGs sending data over the WAN. The
minimum supported bandwidth is 5 Mb/sec.
Slider Set the Mb/sec. The valid range is from Auto to 99 Mb/sec. With Auto, Zerto Virtual Replication automatically
assigns the bandwidth used per VPG, based on using the maximum available and then prioritizing the usage according to
priority set for the VPGs sending data over the WAN.
Text box The Mb/sec. when the value required is 100 Mb/sec. or more.
Time-based Bandwidth Throttling To throttle the bandwidth for specific times. Enables the Configure button.
Configure button To throttle the bandwidth for specific times. Opens the Time-based Bandwidth Throttling Dialog dialog.
Default Script Execution Timeout The time out in seconds for a script to run before or after a failover, move or test
failover.

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Graphical Scaling: IOPS The scaling used in performance graphs for the IO between the applications running on the
virtual machines in the VPG and the VRA.
Graphical Scaling: Throughput The scaling used in performance graphs for the MBs for the applications running on the
virtual machines being protected.
Graphical Scaling: WAN Traffic The scaling used in performance graphs for the traffic between the sites.
Graphical Scaling: RPO The scaling used in performance graphs for the time since the last checkpoint was written to the
journal.
Graphical Scaling: CPU The scaling used in performance graphs for the VRA CPU usage.
Graphical Scaling: VRA Local Memory The scaling used in performance graphs for the VRA local memory usage.
Graphical Scaling: VRA Remote Memory The scaling used in performance graphs for the VRA remote memory usage.
Enable replication to self To enable a vCenter Server to be used as both the protected and recovery site.
vCD Settings: Configure vCD button Set up access to vCD for the Zerto Virtual Manager. Opens the Configure vCD Dialog
dialog.
vCD Settings: Configure Provider vDCs button Set up access to provider vDCs and their datastore configuration. Opens
the Configure Provider vDCs Dialog dialog.
Replication Pause Time The time to pause when synchronizing a VPG if continuing the synchronization will cause all the
checkpoints in the journal to be removed.
Failover/Move Commit Policy The commit policy to use during a failover or move operation. The value set here applies
as the default for all failover or move operations from this point on but can be changed when defining a failover or move
operation. The following options are available:
None The failover or move operation must be manually committed or rolled back by the user.
Commit After the time specified in the Default Timeout field the failover or move operation is committed.
During the specified time you can check the recovered VPG virtual machines.
Rollback After the time specified in the Default Timeout field the failover or move operation is rolled back,
unless manually committed or rolled back by the user before the time out value is reached.
Default Timeout The time out in minutes after which a Commit or Rollback commit policy is performed. A value of
zero indicates automatically performing the commit policy, without waiting for any user interaction.
Email Notifications: Configure Notifications button Enables configuring Zerto Virtual Replication alerts to be sent to an
email address. Opens the Configure Notifications Dialog dialog.
Resource Report: Sampling Rate When to take resource samples to identify resource usage, either daily at a specific
hour and minute or hourly at a specific minute within each hour. Note that collecting a sample hourly provides a higher
resolution picture of replication traffic than if collected every daily.
Resource Report: Sampling Time The time that the sample is taken.

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Manage Static Routes button Enables defining and managing static routes for Zerto Cloud Connectors. Opens the
Manage Static Routes Dialog dialog.
Compatibility Matrix button Displays the list of ESX/ESXi hosts supported by Zerto Virtual Replication. Opens the
Compatibility Matrix dialog.

Alerts Tab

Each Zerto Virtual Replication alert is associated with an event in the vCenter Server. These events can trigger vCenter
Server alarms. Thus, when a Zerto Virtual Replication alert is fired, a corresponding event is also fired. This event can
trigger a vCenter Server alarm.
Acknowledge button Dismiss selected alerts.
Reset button Undismiss selected alerts that were previously dismissed.
Export button To save the report as a Microsoft Excel worksheet.
The following information is displayed for each alert:
Alert status indicator The color indicates the status of the alert:
Orange A warning alert.
Red An error alert.
Dismissed Whether the alert has been dismissed or not.
Alert ID The alert identifier, which can be clicked to provide mere details.
Entity The type of alert.
Site Name The site where the alert occurred.
VPGs The name of any VPGs affected by the alert.
ZORG The organizations affected by the alert.
Timestamp The date and time of the alert.
Description A description of the alert.

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Backup Settings Dialog

Specifies the scheduling for backing up the VPG.
Initially, virtual machines in the VPG are displayed together under the default group. If you want specific machines to start
before other virtual machines, define new groups with one or more virtual machines in each group.

Repository Tab

Repository Name The name of the repository.

Repository Type The type of the repository, either a local drive or a network shared drive using the SMB protocol.
Path The path to the repository folder.

Scheduler Tab

Retention Period The amount of time the backup is retained.

Job Start Time The time of day to do the backup.
Daily The backup is done daily.
Weekly Every The backup is done weekly on the day of the week selected.
Automatic Retry The number of time to retry is the initial backup did not succeed.

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Retry Attempts for failed Backups The number of times the system will attempt to carry out a backup if the initial
attempt does not succeed.
Wait Time Between Retries The amount of time to wait between retry attempts.
Backup Window The specific times of a day when backups are allowed / not allowed to be performed.

Backup Window Dialog

To specify the scheduling required for backing up the VPG.

Initially, virtual machines in the VPG are displayed together under the default group. If you want specific machines to start
before other virtual machines, define new groups with one or more virtual machines in each group.

Boot Order Dialog

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To specify the boot order of virtual machines in a VPG. When machines are started up on recovery, for example after a
move operation, the virtual machines in the VPG are not started up in a particular order. If you want specific virtual
machines to startup before other machines, you can specify a boot order. The virtual machines are defined in groups and
the boot order applies to the groups and not between individual virtual machines in the groups. You can specify a delay
between groups during startup.
Initially, virtual machines in the VPG are displayed together under the default group. If you want specific machines to start
before other virtual machines, define new groups with one or more virtual machines in each group.
There is no boot order for virtual machines in a group, only between groups.
Add button To add a group.
Remove button To remove a group. You cannot remove the Default group nor a group which contains a virtual
machine.
Group Name The name of the group. To change the name of a group select the group and change the value in this field to
the required name.
Arrow buttons To move virtual machines from one group to another and to change the startup order by moving the
groups up or down the list.
Startup Action Specify a time delay between starting up the virtual machines in the group and starting up the virtual
machines in the next group. For example, assume three groups, Default, Server and Client defined in this order. The Start-up
delay defined for the Default group is 10, for the Server group is 100 and for the Client group 0. The virtual machines in the
Default group are started together and after 10 seconds the virtual machines in the Server group are started. After 100
seconds the virtual machines in the Client group are started up.

Browse for VMDK File Dialog

To select the folder with the preseeded disk to use. Drill-down to select the disk.

Change Host Password Dialog

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To change the recovery host for virtual machines to move all the VRA information and recovery volumes maintained by the
VRA to another host, maintaining full protection while the original host is out of service.
New Password The new password required by the VRA to access the host.

Change Recovery Host Dialog

To change the recovery host required by the VRA to access the host.
Alert status indicator The color indicates the status of the alert:
Green The virtual machine can be moved to the replacement host.
Red The virtual machine cannot be moved to the replacement host.
Direction The direction of the replication, from this site to the remote site or from the remote site to this site.
VM Name The name of the virtual machine.
VPG Name The name of the VPG.
VM Size GB The virtual machine size in gigabytes.
# of Volumes The number of volumes used by the virtual machine.
Replacement Host The name of the host to move the recovery virtual machines information.
ZORG (not shown by default) The Zerto name given to the organization, the ZORG, by a cloud service provider. For
details, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.

Compatibility Matrix Dialog

List of supported host versions.

ESX Version The ESX or ESXi version.
Supported Update The supported version for the ESX or ESXi host.

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Configure & Install VRA Dialog

Host The recovery ESX/ESXi host for the VRA. The drop-down displays the hosts managed by the vCenter Server which
do not have a VRA installed.
Host Root Password The password used to access the host for the root user. This field is required for ESXi 4.x and 5.x
hosts. This field is disabled for ESX 4.x hosts. When the checkbox at the side is checked the password is displayed as
asterisks. The is used by the Zerto Virtual Manager when deploying and upgrading the VRA on this host. Also, root access
is required in case the Zerto host component is down and needs an automatic restart. The Zerto Virtual Manager checks
the password is valid once a day. If the password was changed, an alert is triggered, requesting the user enter the new
password.
Datastore The datastore that the VRA will use for mirror virtual machines and for its journal. You can install more than
one VRA on the same datastore.
Network The network used to access the VRA.
Amount of VRA RAM The amount of memory to allocate to the VRA. The amount determines the maximum buffer size
for buffering IOs written by the protected virtual machines by the protecting VRA, before they are sent over the network to
the recovery VRA. The recovery VRA also buffers the incoming IOs until they are written to the journal.
Amount of VRA RAM VRA Buffer Pool Size
1GB

461MB

2GB

1485MB

3GB

2509MB

The protecting VRA can use 90% of the buffer for IOs to send over the network and the recovery VRA can use 75% of the
buffer. That is, for example, a protecting VRA defined with 2GB of RAM can buffer approximately 1337MB before the
buffer is full and a Bitmap Sync is required.
VRA Group Specify the VRA Group as free text to identify the group or select from a previously specified group. You
group VRAs together when VRAs use different networks so they can be grouped by network, for example when the same
vCenter Server supports two datacenters with separate networks and you are replicating from one datacenter to the
second datacenter. The group name is free text you use to identify the group.
Configuration Either have the IP address allocated via a static IP address or a DHCP server. The Static option is the
recommended option.
Address The IP address for the VRA.
Subnet Mask The subnet mask for the network. The default value is 255.255.255.0.
Default Gateway The default mask for the network.

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Configure Network Mapping Dialog

Note: Available when both sites have vCloud Director installed and you are defining a VPG to protect a vCD vApp to
vCloud Director.
The Org Networks to use for failover and move operations, for failover test operations, and for test failover operations after
a failover or move when reverse protection is configured. The list of current Org Networks is displayed.
Source Network The source network being used by the Org vDC.
Failover/Move Target Network The network to use during a failover or move in which the recovered virtual machines
will run.
Failover Test Target Network The network to use during a test failover in which the testing recovered virtual machines
will run.
Reverse Configuration Failover Test Network The network to use when failing back a failed over or moved VPG.
<Isolated> means that the network is an internal only vApp network.

Configure Notifications Dialog

Configure an email address to email Zerto Virtual Replication alerts and backup reports.
Use Email Notifications Check to enable sending Zerto Virtual Replication alerts to an email address
SMTP Server Address The SMTP server address. The Zerto Virtual Manager must be able to reach this address.
SMTP Server Port The SMTP server port, if it was changed from the default, 25.
Sender Account A valid email address for the email sender name.

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To A valid email address where you want to send the email.

Send Test Email button To test that the email notification is set up correctly. An email with the subject ZVR Test
Email is sent to the email address specified in the To field.
Zerto Virtual Replication alerts Check to be notified by email about any Zerto Virtual Replication alerts issued. An email
is sent when the alert is issued and after it has been successfully handled and the alert is no longer valid.
Configure Backup Reporting button Configure when backup reports will be emailed.

Configure Paired Site Routing Dialog

The IP address, subnet mask and gateway to access the peer site VRAs when the access to the peer site VRAs is not via
the same network as the peer site Zerto Virtual Manager.
Address The IP address of the next hop at the local site, the router or gateway address, that is used to access the peer site
network.
Subnet Mask The subnet mask for the peer site network.
Gateway The gateway for the peer site network.
These access details are used to access the VRAs on the peer site.
Note: The settings in the Configure Paired Site Routing dialog apply to all VRAs installed after the information
is saved. Any existing VRA is not affected and access to these VRAs continues via the default gateway. If the default
gateway stops being used, you must reinstall the VRAs that were installed before setting up paired site routing.

Configure Provider vDCs Dialog

Used in vCD environments only.

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Set up access to provider vDCs and their datastore configuration.

Provider vDCs: Add button Add the provider vDCs that you want to enable to use Zerto Virtual Replication. Only these
provider vDCs are visible to the user in Zerto Virtual Replication.
Provider vDCs: Remove button Remove a selected provider vDC.
Provider datastore: Unlisted datastores are not used by Zerto Virtual Replication Unlisted datastores cannot be used.
Provider datastore: Unlisted datastores are used only for recovery volumes Unlisted datastores of all provider vDCs,
even those provider vDCs that have not been added to the list of Provider vDCs can be used as recovery datastores.
Provider datastore: Add button Add datastores.
Provider datastore: Remove button Remove a selected datastore.
Datastore The name of the added datastore.
Recovery volume Check if the datastore can be used as a recovery datastore.
Journal Check if the datastore can be used for the journal. If no datastores are configured as journals, all datastores in the
provider vDC can serve as journals. If at least one datastore, on any provider vDC, is configured as a journal but the
recovery provider vDC does not see any journal datastore, all datastores eligible to be recovery datastores on that provider
vDC, can also serve as journal datastores. If at least one datastore is configured as a journal and the recovery provider vDC
sees at least one journal datastore, only datastores configured as journal, that are visible to that provider vDC can serve as
journal datastores.
Preseed Check if the datastore can be used for preseeded disks. Only datastores marked as preseeded can be used,
preventing different organizations being exposed to datastores of other customers using the preseed option. For a Zerto
Organization, ZORG, the location of the preseeded disk must be defined in the Zerto Cloud Manager. For details, refer to
Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
Default Storage Profile The default storage profile to use from the list of defined profiles, or leave blank if the vCD does
not have any storage profiles defined. Profile-Driven Storage allows you to intelligently provision applications, mapping
virtual machines to storage levels according to predefined service levels, storage availability, performance requirements or
cost. This mechanism lets users define and label storage tiers to be used by Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler and
Storage vMotion. Virtual machines that run applications that require the highest level of performance are mapped to tier
one storage, while less critical applications are mapped to the lower tiers. You set the storage profile for every virtual
machine in a VPG where the recovery site is vCD 5.1 and higher.

Configure Restored VM Dialog

The complete restore information for the virtual machine.

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VM Name The name of the virtual machine.

Host Name The IP address of the host where you want the virtual machine restored.
Datastore The datastore to use for the restored virtual machine files.
Folder The default folder where the virtual machines are restored. Select a folder from the list or the
[Default]ZertoRecoveryFolder folder.
Volumes:Datastore/Raw Disk The datastore or RDM disk where the virtual machine files will be restored.
Nics:Network The network to use for the restored virtual machine.
Nics:New MAC The Media Access Control address (MAC address) to use. The default is to use the same MAC address
for the restored virtual machine that was used in the protected site. Check the box to create a new MAC address on the
restore site.
Nics:IP Mode The network to use for the restored virtual machine. The IP for the restored virtual machine. This can be the
same as the original protected virtual machine, allocated vi a DHCCP server or specified as a static address. If you select to
use a static IP connection, you set the IP address, subnet mask and default gateway to use. Optionally, clicking the Edit icon
displays the Configure Restored VM DNS Dialog dialog.

Configure Restored VM DNS Dialog

The complete restore information for the virtual machine.

Preferred DNS Server The IP address of the primary DNS server to handle Internet protocol mapping.
Alternate DNS Server The IP address of the alternate DNS server.
DNS Suffix The DNS name excluding the host.

Configure vCD Dialog

Used in vCD environments only.

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Set up access to vCD for the Zerto Virtual Manager.

Note: Before setting up Zerto Virtual Replication to work with vCD, you must have an AMQP server installed and
configured for Zerto Virtual Replication. Zerto provides an AMQP installation and configuration program, available as a
download from the Zerto Support Portal, from the downloads page. Run ZertoAMQPInstallWizard.exe from the kit and
when prompted enter the IP or host name of the vCD and the administrator user and password to access this vCD. The
Zerto Virtual Manager connects to the vCD and checks whether an AMQP server is installed. If an AMQP server is not
installed, Zerto recommends using RabbitMQ, which in turn requires Erlang/OTP as a prerequisite. Links to the sites to
install both Erlang/OTP and RabbitMQ are provided as part of the Zerto AMQP installation. Use these links to install
Erlang/OTP and then RabbitMQ before being able to continue with the Zerto AMQP configuration. If an AMQP server was
already installed, change the connection details displayed to those defined in vCD. If you installed the AMQP server as part
of the Zerto AMQP installation and configuration, the default settings for these installations are displayed. At the end of
the Zerto AMQP installation and configuration, vCD is updated with these settings, in AMQP Broker Settings under
Administration > Blocking Tasks > Settings.
Address The IP address or host name of the machine where vCD runs. When connecting to vCD with multiple cells, enter
the virtual IP for the network load balancing used by the cells.
Username The user name for an administrator to vCD.
Password A valid password for the given user name.
AMQP-Username The user name for the AMQP server.
AMQP-Password A valid password for the given AMQP user name.

Configure VM Dialog

Enables configuring how the protected virtual machine will be recovered, including details about the VMware file for the
virtual machine, and the volumes and NICs used by the virtual machine. If default values were specified in the VPG default
properties, they are used for the virtual machine configuration.
Volumes:Configure Selected Volume button To configure the recovery volume for the virtual machine. See Configure
Volume Dialog, on page 241.
Volumes:Protected The protected source volumes used by the protected virtual machine.
Volumes:Target The recovery volumes used for replication.

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Volumes:Swap Whether the source volumes is a swap disk or not.

Volumes group box:Provisioned The provisioned storage allocated to the protected virtual machine.
NICs:Configure Selected NIC button To configure the vNIC for the virtual machine. See Configure VNIC Dialog, on page
239.
NICs:NIC Name The name of the VNIC.
NICs:Source Network The name of the VNIC.
NICs:Failover Network The recovery site network to use for the failovered over or moved virtual machine.
NICs:Test Network The recovery site network to use for the virtual machine being tested for failover. This network can
be a fenced-out network so as not to impact the production network.
VM Advanced Settings If a vApp is not being protected:
Recovery Host The cluster, resource pool or ESX/ESXi that will host the recovered virtual machine. If the site is
defined in Zerto Cloud Manager, only a resource pool can be specified and the resource pool must also have been
defined in Zerto Cloud Manager.
When a resource pool is specified, Zerto Virtual Replication checks that the resource pool capacity is enough for any
virtual machines specified in the VPG. If a resource pool is specified and DRS is disabled for the site later on, all the
resource pools are removed by VMware and recovery will be to any one of the hosts in the recovery site with a VRA
installed on it.
Note: All resource pool checks are made at the level of the VPG and does not take into account multiple VPGs using
the same resource pool. If the resource pool CPU resources are specified as unlimited in the Edit Setting dialog for the
resource pool, the actual limit is inherited from the parent but if this inherited value is too small, failover move and
failover test operations can fail, even without a warning alert being issued by Zerto Virtual Manager.
VM Recovery Datastore The datastore where the VMware metadata files for the virtual machine is stored, such as
the vmx file. If a cluster or resource pool is selected for the host, only datastores that are accessible by every ESX/ESXi
host in the cluster or resource pool are displayed. This is also the datastore where RDM backing files for recovery
volumes are located. When specifying the recovery storage for a virtual machine with a storage cluster, you have to
specify a datastore in the cluster.
Recovery Folder The folder where the virtual machine is recovered to.
If default values were specified in the Manage VPG dialog, they are used for the virtual machine configuration and are
displayed in the Recovery Host, VM Recovery Datastore and Recovery Folder fields. You can change these values for
the specific virtual machine by selecting new values from the drop-down lists.
VM Advanced Settings If a vApp is being protected:
vApp Recovery Cluster/Host The host that was specified in the Manage VPG dialog to host the recovered virtual
machines in the vApp.
VM Recovery Datastore The datastore where the VMware metadata file for the virtual machine is stored, such as
the vmx files. If the host is a cluster or resource pool, only datastores that are accessible by every ESX/ESXi host in the
cluster or resource pool are displayed. This is also the datastore where RDM backing files for recovery volumes are
located.
If a default value was specified in the Manage VPG dialog for the datastore, it is used for the virtual machine
configuration and is displayed in the VM Recovery Datastore field. You can change the value for the specific
virtual machine by selecting a different datastore from the drop-down list.
Recovery Folder The folder where the virtual machine is recovered to, that was specified in the Manage VPG dialog.
VM Advanced Settings:Journal Size Hard Limit The maximum size that the journal can grow. When the value is
Unlimited the size for the journal is unlimited and it can grow to the size of the recovery datastore. When the value is
Custom, you can specify a maximum journal size, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed
maximum size.
VM Advanced Settings:Journal Size Warning Threshold The size of the journal that triggers a warning that the journal is
almost full. When the value is Unlimited, a warning is only issued when the journal is close to being full. When the value
is Custom, you can specify a threshold, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed size. In

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addition to the warning threshold, Zerto Virtual Replication will issue a message when the journal is close to being as full as
it can be.
VM Journal DS The datastore used by the journal for the virtual machine.

Configure VM Dialog (vCD)

Used in vCD environments only.

Enables configuring how the protected virtual machine will be recovered, including details about the volumes and NICs
used by the virtual machine. If default values were specified in the VPG default properties, they are used for the virtual
machine configuration.
Volumes:Configure Selected Volume button To configure the recovery volume for the virtual machine. See Configure
Volume Dialog (vCD), on page 242.
Volumes:Protected The source volumes used by the protected virtual machine.
Volumes:Recovery The recovery volumes used for replication.
Volumes:Swap Whether the source volumes is a swap disk or not.
Volumes group box:Provisioned The provisioned storage allocated to the protected virtual machine.
NICs: Connected? Whether the VM is connected to the Org vDC network.
NICs: Primary? Whether the network is the primary network. One, and only one, NIC must be specified as the primary
NIC.
NICs:Configure Selected NIC button To configure the vNIC for the virtual machine. See Configure VNIC Dialog (vCD), on
page 240.
The following fields can be set for the NICs used for failover and move operations, in a production environment, and for
test failovers, via the Failover/Move tab and the Failover Test tab, respectively. By default, the NIC configuration for the
failover or move production environment is copied automatically to the configuration for the test environment.
NICs: IP Mode The way the IP is allocated, either via a DHCP server or a static IP, assigned either from a pool of IPs or by
manually assigning the IP address.
NICs: IP Address The IP address when a static IP is manually allocated.

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NICs: Mac Address The MAC address. By default this is the address used on the protected site, so that both the
protected machine and recovered machine use the same MAC address. Either accept the default Mac address or select
Reset, to reset the MAC address on recovery of the machine.
VM Advanced Settings:Journal Size Hard Limit The maximum size that the journal can grow. When the value is
Unlimited the size for the journal is unlimited and it can grow to the size of the recovery datastore. When the value is
Custom, you can specify a maximum journal size, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed
maximum size.
VM Advanced Settings:Journal Size Warning Threshold The size of the journal that triggers a warning that the journal is
almost full. When the value is Unlimited, a warning is only issued when the journal is close to being full. When the value
is Custom, you can specify a threshold, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed size. In
addition to the warning threshold, Zerto Virtual Replication will issue a message when the journal is close to being as full as
it can be.
VM Advanced Settings When the recovery vCD is vCD 5.1 and higher: Storage Profile Storage profiles enable mapping
virtual machines to storage levels according to predefined service levels, storage availability, performance requirements or
cost. You can define and label storage tiers and then specify the tier to use as a storage profile, for each virtual machine in
the VPG. The default storage profile is the default for the Recovery Org vDC.

Configure VNIC Dialog

To configure the NIC used for the replicated VM disks. You can configure a maximum of four NICs.
Note: You can only change the VNIC IP for virtual machines with VMware Tools running for the following operating
systems: Windows 2003 and higher, Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 5-6, SUSE Linux Enterprise versions 10-11 and
CentOS versions 5-6.x.
Specify the network details to use for the recovered virtual machines after a live recovery or migration, in the Failover/Move
tab, and for the recovered virtual machines when testing the replication, in the Failover Test tab.
NIC Name The name used to identify the NIC.
Source Network The network used by the virtual machine being protected.
Failover/Move tab: Failover Network The recovery site network to use for the failovered over or moved virtual machine.
Failover Test tab: Test Network The recovery site network to use for the virtual machine being tested for failover. This
network can be a fenced-out network so as not to impact the production network.

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MAC Address Whether the Media Access Control address (MAC address) used on the protected site should be
replicated on the recovery site or a new MAC address created on the recovery site. The default is to use the same MAC
address on both sites.
Failover/Move tab: Change Failover VNIC IP Configuration Either have the IP address allocated via a static IP address or
a DHCP server.
Failover Test tab: Change Test VNIC IP Configuration Either have the IP address allocated via a static IP address or a
DHCP server.
IP address The IP address to access the network.
Subnet mask The subnet mask for the network.
Default gateway The default mask for the network. If the virtual machine has multiple NICs but is configured to only have
a single default gateway, enter 0.0.0.0 for the Default gateway field for each NIC with no default gateway.
Preferred DNS server The DNS preferred IP address for the network.
Alternate DNS server The DNS alternative IP address for the network.
DNS Suffix The DNS suffix for the network.
Copy to test button Copy the failover/move network settings to be the same for the test network.
Copy to failover button Copy the test network settings to be the same for the failover/move network.

Configure VNIC Dialog (vCD)

Used in vCD environments only.

To configure the VNIC used for the replicated VM disks.

Note: You can only change the VNIC IP for virtual machines with VMware Tools running for the following operating
systems: Windows 2003 and higher, Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 5-6, SUSE Linux Enterprise versions 10-11 and
CentOS versions 5-6.x.
Network The network used by the virtual machine or none if disconnected.
IP Mode The way the IP is allocated, either via a DHCP server or a static IP, assigned either from a pool of IPs or by
manually assigning the IP address.
IP Address The IP address when a static IP is manually allocated.
Mac Address The MAC address. By default this is the address used on the protected site, so that both the protected
machine and recovered machine use the same MAC address. Either accept the default Mac address or select Reset, to
reset the MAC address on recovery of the machine.

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Configure Volume Dialog

To configure the datastore for recovery. If a cluster or resource pool is selected for the host, only datastores that are
accessible by every ESX/ESXi host in the cluster or resource pool are displayed.
Swap Disk If the virtual machine to be replicated includes a swap disk as part of its configuration, you can specify a mirror
disk for replication that is marked as a swap disk. In this case, data is not replicated to the swap disk after initial
synchronization.
Recovery Datastore The datastore to use to create disks for the replicated data. Also specify whether the recovery site is
thin provisioned. If the source disk is thin provisioned, the default for the recovery volume is that it is also thin provisioned.
Raw Disk (RDM) The VMware RDM (Raw Device Mapping) to use for the replication: By default, RDM is recovered to
vmdk and not to RDM. You cannot define an RDM disk if the virtual machine uses a BusLogic SCSI controller, nor when
protecting or recovering virtual machines in an environment running vCenter Server 5.x with ESX/ESXi version 4.1 hosts.
Only a raw disk with the same size as the protected disk can be selected from the list of available raw disks. Other raw
disks with different sizes are not available for selection. The RDM is always stored in the recovery datastore used for the
virtual machine. The following limitations apply to protecting RDM disks:
RDM disks with an even number of blocks can replicate to RDM disks of the same size with an even number of
blocks and to VMDKs.
RDM disks with an odd number of blocks can only replicate to RDM disks of the same size with an odd number of
blocks and not to VMDKs.
Preseed A virtual disk (the vmdk flat file and header file) in the recovery site that has been prepared with a copy of the
protected data, so that the initial synchronization is much faster since a Delta Sync is used to synchronize any changes
written to the recovery site after the creation of the preseeded disk. When using a preseeded VMDK, you select the
datastore and exact location, folder and name, of the preseeded disk. Zerto Virtual Replication takes ownership of the
preseeded disk, moving it from its source folder to the folder used by the VRA. Only disks with the same size as the
protected disk can be selected when browsing for a preseeded disk. The datastore where the preseeded disk is placed is
also used as the recovery datastore for the replicated data. If the preseeded disk is greater than 1TB on NFS storage, the
VPG creation might fail. This is a known VMware problem when the NFS client does not wait for sufficient time for the NFS
storage array to initialize the virtual disk after the RPC parameter of the NFS client times out. The timeout default value is
10 seconds. Refer to the VMware documentation, http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/
search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1027919, which describes the configuration option to tune the
RPC timeout parameter using the esxcfg-advcfg -s <Timeout> /NFS/SetAttrRPCTimeout command.
If the VPG is being defined for a Zerto Organization, ZORG, the location of the preseeded disk must be defined in the Zerto
Cloud Manager. For details, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
Note: Zerto Virtual Replication supports the SCSI protocol. Only disks that support this protocol can be specified.

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Configure Volume Dialog (vCD)

Used in vCD environments only.

To configure the datastore for recovery. If a cluster or resource pool is selected for the host, only datastores that are
accessible by every ESX/ESXi host in the cluster or resource pool are displayed.
Swap Disk If the virtual machine to be replicated includes a swap disk as part of its configuration, you can specify a mirror
disk for replication that is marked as a swap disk. In this case, data is not replicated to the swap disk after initial
synchronization.
Use vCD Managed storage profile The datastore is allocated based on the available free space. You can specify whether
the recovery volume is thin provisioned or not. If the Org vDC only supports thin-provisioned volumes, you cannot change
the setting.
Preseed A virtual disk (the vmdk flat file and header file) in the recovery site that has been prepared with a copy of the
protected data, so that the initial synchronization is much faster since a Delta Sync is used to synchronize any changes
written to the recovery site after the creation of the preseeded disk. When using a preseeded VMDK, you specify the exact
location, the preseed folder configured for the customer and the disk name, of the preseeded disk. A provider datastore
must have been specified for preseeded disks in the Configure Provider vDCs Dialog, on page 233 dialog. Zerto Virtual
Replication takes ownership of the preseeded disk, moving it from its source folder to the folder used by the VRA. Note
that if the virtual machine has more than one preseeded disk, these disks must reside on the same datastore. If the
preseeded disk is greater than 1TB on NFS storage, the VPG creation might fail. This is a known VMware problem when the
NFS client does not wait for sufficient time for the NFS storage array to initialize the virtual disk after the RPC parameter of
the NFS client times out. The timeout default value is 10 seconds. Refer to the VMware documentation, http://
kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1027919, which
describes the configuration option to tune the RPC timeout parameter using the esxcfg-advcfg -s <Timeout> /
NFS/SetAttrRPCTimeout command.
If the VPG is being defined for a Zerto Organization, ZORG, the location of the preseeded disk must be defined in the Zerto
Cloud Manager. For details, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
Note: Zerto Virtual Replication supports the SCSI protocol. Only disks that support this protocol can be specified.

Delete VPG Dialog

To delete a VPG configuration. The VRA on the recovery site that handles the replication for the VPG is updated.
Keep the recovery disks at the peer site The recovery replica disks for the virtual machines are kept so that you can
resynchronize to these disks faster if you reprotect virtual machines in the VPG.

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If, for whatever reason, the VPG cannot be deleted the VPG status changes to Deleting and the sub status is VPG
waiting to be removed. Attempting to delete the VPG a second time displays the following options:
Retry Retry deleting the VPG.
Force Delete Forcibly delete the VPG. This option leaves the recovery disks, regardless of whether they were wanted
or not.
Cancel Cancel the delete operation.

Edit Backup Repository Dialog

To edit the backup repository.

Repository Name The name of the repository.
Repository Type The type of the repository. The options are Local or Network Share (SMB). The network share drive must
be an SMB drive and if specified the username and password to access the drive must be provided.
Path The path to the repository.
Capacity The overall capacity of the repository.
Free Space The amount of free space currently available for the repository.
Username Username to access the Network Share drive. The name can be entered using either of the following formats:

username
domain\username

This field is not displayed when the type is Local.

Password Password to access the Network Share drive. This field is not displayed when the type is Local.
Validate Click to validate the path. The path must be valid in order to save the information.
Set as Default Repository Check this option to make the repository the default repository.
Enable Compression Check this option to compress backups stored in the repository. Compression is done using zip
compression, set to level six. If you want better compression, which requires more CPU, or less compression to reduce the
CPU overhead, contact Zerto support.

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Edit VRA Dialog

To change the network settings for a VRA, for example when the gateway to the VRA is changed.
Recovery Host The IP of the host on which the VRA is installed.
Host Root Password The password required by the VRA to access the host.
VRA Group The free text to identify the group to which a VRA belongs. If you create a group and then change the name
when editing the VRA so that there is no VRA in the site that belongs to the originally specified group, the group is
automatically deleted from the system.
Configuration Either have the IP address allocated via a static IP address or a DHCP server. If the VRA was originally
installed with a static IP, you cannot change this to DHCP. If the VRA was originally installed to use a DHCP server, you can
change this to use a static IP.
Address The static IP address for the VRA to communicate with the Zerto Virtual Manager.
Subnet Mask The subnet mask for the network. The default value is 255.255.255.0.
Default Gateway The default mask for the network.

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Events Tab

Displays a log of tasks performed within Zerto Virtual Replication.

You can specify how you want to filter the events displayed for the following:
Type To select what should be displayed: Alert events, non-alert events or both.
From and To The dates for which you want event information. Only activities performed, between these dates are
displayed.
Apply button To apply the filtering selected via any of the above fields.
Reset button To reset the display to the defaults values.
Export button To save the report as a Microsoft Excel worksheet.
The following information is displayed for each event:
ID The event identifier, which can be clicked to provide mere details.
Type The type of event.
Site The site where the event occurred.
User The users who initiated the event and the location of the user.
VPG The name of any VPGs involved with the event.
Timestamp The time and date of the event.
Description A description of the event.

Manage Journal Dialog

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Manage the journal used for recovery.

Journal Datastore The datastore used for the journal data for each virtual machine in the VPG. The default is the
datastore volume used for recovery of each virtual machine. Thus for example, if protected virtual machines in a VPG are
configured with different recovery volumes, the journal data is by default stored for each virtual machine on that virtual
machine recovery volume. To change the default, you must first specify a default host and then select one of the
datastores accessible by this host to be used as the journal datastore. When you select a specific journal datastore, the
journals for each virtual machine in the VPG are stored in this datastore, regardless of where the recovery datastores are
for each virtual machine. In this case, all the protected virtual machines must be recovered to ESX/ESXi hosts that can
access the specified journal datastore.
The journal is always thin-provisioned. Zerto Virtual Replication assigns a provisioned journal size which is used to
determine when volumes are added or removed. The provisioned journal size is always based on the current physical
journal size.
If the journal grows to approximately 80% of the provisioned journal size, a new volume is added to increase the journal
size. Once added, the provisioned journal size is recalculated, based on the current size. The journal size can increase up
until the specified hard limit.
When the amount of the journal used is approximately 50% of the provisioned journal size, the biggest unused journal
volume is marked for removal. This volume is then removed after the time equivalent to three times the amount specified
for the journal history, or twenty-four hours, whichever is more. Once removed, the provisioned journal size is recalculated,
based on the current size.
With VMFS datastore and when the VRA is on a host ESX/ESXi that is version 5.1 or higher, the journal can also reclaim
unused space on a volume. This does not change the provisioned journal size.
Note: The journal cannot reclaim unused space with NFS datastores.
When a virtual machine journal becomes close to the specified hard limit, Zerto Virtual Replication starts to move data and
checkpoints to the recovery disks. Once this begins, the maintained history begins to decrease. If the journal history falls
below 75% of the value specified for the Default Journal History parameter, a warning alert is issued in the GUI. If the
history falls below one hour, an error is issued. However, if the amount of history defined is only one hour, an error is issued
if it is less than 45 minutes.
When a virtual machine journal becomes full, Zerto Virtual Replication starts to move data and checkpoints to the
recovery disks. Once this begins, the maintained history begins to decrease. If the journal history falls below 75% of the
value specified for the Default Journal History parameter, a warning alert is issued in the GUI. If the history falls
below one hour, an error is issued. However, if the amount of history defined is only one hour, an error is issued if it is less
than 45 minutes.
If the datastore where the journal resides drops below 30GB or 15% of the total datastore size, whichever is the smaller of
these two values, the datastore itself is considered full and an error alert is issued and all writes to journal volumes on that
datastore are blocked. Replication is halted, but history is not lost. As such, the RPO begins to steadily increase until space
is made available on the datastore.
Journal Size Hard Limit The maximum size that the journal can grow. When the value is Unlimited the size for the
journal is unlimited and it can grow to the size of the recovery datastore. When the value is Custom, you can specify a
maximum journal size, either as a percentage of the virtual machine volume size or as a fixed maximum size.
Journal Size Warning Threshold The size of the journal that triggers a warning that the journal is almost full. You can
specify the value as unlimited or change the value to Custom in order to specify a threshold, either as a percentage of the
virtual machine volume size or as a fixed size. In addition to the warning threshold, Zerto Virtual Replication will issue a
message when the journal is close to being as full as it can be.

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Manage Sites Dialog

To pair sites so as to enable replication between the sites, where each site is managed by a vCenter Server.
Peer Name The site name of a paired site. The site name is defined in the Site Information Dialog dialog.
Site Location The site location of the paired site. The site location is defined in the Site Information Dialog dialog.
Peer Connection Details The IP address of the peer site and the port used to access the Zerto Virtual Manager on this
site.
Status The status of the pairing.
Add New Site button Define a paired site. Opens the Add Site Dialog dialog.
Unpair Selected button Remove a selected pairing.

Manage Static Routes Dialog

When providing DR as a Service, the cloud service provider needs to ensure complete separation between the organization
network and the cloud service provider network. The cloud service provider needs to be able to route traffic between an
organization network and the cloud replication network, in a secure manner without going through complex network and
routing setups.

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The cloud service provider can define a Zerto Cloud Connector per organization site that has two Ethernet interfaces, one
to the organizations network and one to the cloud service provider's network. If the cloud service provider wants to
institute additional security, considering both cloud connector interfaces as part of the organization network, he can define
a static route that will hop to a different cloud network, specifically for use by the Zerto Virtual Manager and VRAs in the
cloud site.
Group: Add button Define a group to contain a static route to the subnet used by the Zerto Virtual Manager. Opens the
Add Group Dialog dialog.
Group: Remove button Remove a selected group.
Route: Add button Define a static route for a selected group. Opens the Add Static Route Dialog dialog. You can defined
more than one static route for a group. The static routes are displayed under each group.
Route: Remove button Remove a selected static route.

Manage VPG Dialog Protecting a vApp

Protect virtual machines. You can protect a vApp as a single entity in a VPG for any vApp defined under an ESXi host. All
the virtual machines defined in the vApp VPG are protected and you can migrate or recover the whole vApp as a single
entity to the recovery site. For details about migrating a VPG and the virtual machines in it, see Migrating a Protection
Group to the Recovery Site, on page 172. For details about recovering a VPG and the virtual machines in it, see Managing
Failover, on page 178.
In addition to being able to protect the vApp, you can protect individual virtual machines in the vApp, in the same way as
you protect any other virtual machine. However, if you protect a virtual machine in the vApp, you cannot then protect the
vApp as a single entity.
Note: Nested vApps are not protected. Also, if you drag a protected vApp under another vApp to nest it, the protection is
removed. You cannot protect vApps which include virtual machines with VirtualEthernetCardLegacyNetworkBackingInfo
NICs or with IDE devices.
The dialog is divided in to the following sections:
General Settings A name to identify the VPG and the priority to assign to the VPG.
Virtual machines to be protected The list of virtual machines being protected with details about the machine as well
as the boot order to apply to groups of the virtual machines during recovery.

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Replication Settings VPG replication settings, such as the recovery site, host and storage and the VPG SLA. SLA
information includes the default journal history settings and how often tests should be performed on the VPG. The
defaults are applied to every virtual machine in the VPG but can be overridden per virtual machine, as required.
Note: Cloud service providers can group the VPG SLA properties together in a service profile. When a service profile is
used, the VPG SLA settings cannot be modified unless a Custom service profile is available.
Storage Settings By default the storage used for the virtual machine definition is also used for the virtual machine
data. This storage can be overridden per virtual machine, as required.
Recovery Settings Recovery details include the networks to use for recovered virtual machines and scripts that
should be run either at the start or end of a recovery operation.
NIC Settings Specify the network details to use for the recovered virtual machines after a live or test failover or
migration.
Backup Settings Specify the backup properties that govern the VPG backup, including the repository where the
backups are saved.
VPG Name The name for the VPG, which by default is the name of the vApp.
Service Profile The name of the service profile to use which determines the VPG SLA settings for the group, which apply
to every virtual machine in the group. To change the VPG SLA settings, select the Custom Service Profile.
Priority (QOS) Used to determine the priority for transferring data from the protected site to the recovery site when
there is limited bandwidth and more than one VPG is defined on the protected site. When there are updates to virtual
machines protected in VPGs with different priorities, first the updates from the VPG with the highest priority are passed
over the WAN. Medium priority VPGs will only be able to use whatever bandwidth is left after the high priority VPGs have
used it. This is also true between medium and low priorities. Note that updates to the protected virtual machines are
always sent across the WAN before synchronization data, such as during a Bitmap Sync or Delta Sync. During a
synchronization, only after updates to the virtual machines are sent over the WAN, based on the VPG priority, is
synchronization data from the VPG sent, and the synchronization data from the VPG with the highest priority is passed
over the WAN before data from medium and low priority VPGs.
Target RPO Alert The maximum desired time between each automatic checkpoint being written to the journal before an
alert is issued. In reality checkpoints are written more frequently.
Default Journal History The time for which all write commands are saved in the journal. When specifying a checkpoint to
recover to, the checkpoint must still be in the journal. For example, if the value specified here is 24 hours then recovery can
be specified to any checkpoint up to 24 hours. After the time specified, the mirror virtual disk volumes maintained by the
VRA are updated. The more time saved the more space is required for each journal in the VPG to store the information
saved. When protecting to a site using an enterprise license, the default size for the journal is unlimited, up until the size of
the datastore where it resides. When protecting to a cloud site and the cloud service provider uses Zerto Cloud Manager,
the default size for the journal is 10% of the datastore size. The journal size can be configured by clicking the configuration
button to display the Manage Journal dialog.
Test Frequency Reminder The time recommended between testing the integrity of the VPG. A warning is issued if a test
is not done within this time frame.
WAN Compression (displayed when the Zerto Virtual Replication license is an enterprise license) Whether the data is
compressed before being transferred to the recovery site or not. Compressing the data is more efficient but results in a
small performance degradation. Enable WAN compression if network considerations are more critical than CPU usage
considerations. Even if WAN compression is selected, Zerto Virtual Replication decreases the level of compression if it
takes too many resources. The VRA automatically adjusts the compression level according to CPU usage, including totally
disabling it if needed. Zerto Virtual Replication can also work with third-party WAN optimization and acceleration
technologies, such as those supplied by Riverbed Technologies, Silver Peak, and others. When third-party WAN
optimization is implemented, it is recommended to disable the VPG WAN compression.
ZORG (displayed when Zerto Cloud Manager is used) The Zerto organization.
Recovery Site The site to which you want to recover the virtual machines. The recovery site selected in the New VPG
dialog is displayed and cannot be changed here.
vApp Recovery Cluster/Host The cluster, resource pool or ESX/ESXi host in the recovery site which handles the
replicated data. This value cannot be overridden for each virtual machine configuration, unless it is to another host in the

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same cluster. If the site is defined in Zerto Cloud Manager, only a resource pool can be specified and the resource pool
must also have been defined in Zerto Cloud Manager. When a resource pool is specified, Zerto Virtual Replication checks
that the resource pool capacity is enough for any virtual machines specified in the VPG. If a resource pool is specified and
DRS is disabled for the site later on, all the resource pools are removed by VMware and recovery will be to any one of the
hosts in the recovery site with a VRA installed on it. All resource pool checks are made at the level of the VPG and does not
take into account multiple VPGs using the same resource pool. If the resource pool CPU resources are specified as
unlimited in the Edit Setting dialog for the resource pool, the actual limit is inherited from the parent but if this inherited
value is too small, failover move and failover test operations can fail, even without a warning alert being issued by Zerto
Virtual Manager.
vApp Folder The default folder where the vApp is recovered. Select a folder from the list or the
[Default]ZertoRecoveryFolder folder.
Datastore The default datastore volume to use for all the recovered virtual machine files as well as for their volumes.
Every datastore for the selected default recovery host is included in the drop-down options. The displayed datastores are
accessible by the default host. If a cluster or resource pool is selected for the host, only datastores that are accessible by
every ESX/ESXi host in the cluster or resource pool are displayed. Zerto Virtual Replication uses the SCSI protocol. Only
disks that support this protocol can be specified.
Failover/Move Network The default network to use during a failover or move in which the recovered virtual machines
will run.
Failover Test Network The default network to use during a test failover in which the testing recovered virtual machines
will run. This network can be a fenced-out network so as not to impact the production network.
Configure button To configure a virtual machine recovery volumes and VNICs. Opens the Configure VM Dialog dialog.
Boot button Displays a message that you define the boot order for vCenter Server vApps in the vSphere Client console,
via Edit Settings for the vApp.
Recovery scripts expansion To specify the settings for scripts to run on the recovery site before or after executing a
failover, move or test failover.
Pre-recovery Script The script to run before starting the recovery.
Post-recovery Script The script to run after the recovery.
Command to run The name of the script to run, including the full path. The script must be located on the same
machine as the Zerto Virtual Manager for the recovery site.
Params The values of any parameters to pass to the script. Separate parameters with a space.
Timeout (sec) The time out in seconds for the script to run. If the script runs before executing a failover, move or test
failover and the script fails or a timeout value is reached, an alert is generated and the failover, move or test failover is
not performed. If the script runs after executing a failover, move or test failover and the timeout value is reached, an
alert is generated.

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Manage VPG Dialog Protecting to a vCenter Server

Protect virtual machines.

The dialog is divided in to the following sections:
General Settings A name to identify the VPG and the priority to assign to the VPG.
Virtual machines to be protected The list of virtual machines being protected with details about the machine as well
as the boot order to apply to groups of the virtual machines during recovery.
Replication Settings VPG replication settings, such as the recovery site, host and storage and the VPG SLA. SLA
information includes the default journal history settings and how often tests should be performed on the VPG. The
defaults are applied to every virtual machine in the VPG but can be overridden per virtual machine, as required.
Note: Cloud service providers can group the VPG SLA properties together in a service profile. When a service profile is
used, the VPG SLA settings cannot be modified unless a Custom service profile is available.
Storage Settings By default the storage used for the virtual machine definition is also used for the virtual machine
data. This storage can be overridden per virtual machine, as required.
Recovery Settings Recovery details include the networks to use for recovered virtual machines and scripts that
should be run either at the start or end of a recovery operation.
NIC Settings Specify the network details to use for the recovered virtual machines after a live or test failover or
migration.
Backup Settings Specify the backup properties that govern the VPG backup, including the repository where the
backups are saved.
VPG Name The name for the VPG, which by default is the name of the vApp.
Service Profile (when Zerto Cloud Manageris used) The name of the service profile to use which determines the VPG
SLA settings for the group, which apply to every virtual machine in the group. To change the VPG SLA settings, select the
Custom Service Profile.
Priority (QOS) Used to determine the priority for transferring data from the protected site to the recovery site when
there is limited bandwidth and more than one VPG is defined on the protected site. When there are updates to virtual
machines protected in VPGs with different priorities, first the updates from the VPG with the highest priority are passed
over the WAN. Medium priority VPGs will only be able to use whatever bandwidth is left after the high priority VPGs have
used it. This is also true between medium and low priorities. Note that updates to the protected virtual machines are
always sent across the WAN before synchronization data, such as during a Bitmap Sync or Delta Sync. During a
synchronization, only after updates to the virtual machines are sent over the WAN, based on the VPG priority, is

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synchronization data from the VPG sent, and the synchronization data from the VPG with the highest priority is passed
over the WAN before data from medium and low priority VPGs.
Target RPO Alert The maximum desired time between each automatic checkpoint being written to the journal before an
alert is issued. In reality checkpoints are written more frequently.
Default Journal History The time for which all write commands are saved in the journal. Each protected virtual machine
has a dedicated journal volume on the recovery site associated with the replicated virtual machine. This enables journal
data to be maintained, even when changing the recovery host for the recovery. When specifying a checkpoint to recover to,
the checkpoint must still be in the journal. For example, if the value specified here is 24 hours then recovery can be
specified to any checkpoint up to 24 hours. After the time specified, the mirror virtual disk volumes maintained by the VRA
are updated.
The more time saved the more space is required for each journal in the VPG to store the information saved. The journal
size can be configured by clicking the configuration button to display the Manage Journal dialog.
Test Frequency Reminder The time recommended between testing the integrity of the VPG. A warning is issued if a test
is not done within this time frame.
WAN Compression (displayed when the Zerto Virtual Replication license is an enterprise license) Whether the data is
compressed before being transferred to the recovery site or not. Compressing the data is more efficient but results in a
small performance degradation. Enable WAN compression if network considerations are more critical than CPU usage
considerations. Even if WAN compression is selected, Zerto Virtual Replication decreases the level of compression if it
takes too many resources. The VRA automatically adjusts the compression level according to CPU usage, including totally
disabling it if needed. Zerto Virtual Replication can also work with third-party WAN optimization and acceleration
technologies, such as those supplied by Riverbed Technologies, Silver Peak, and others. When third-party WAN
optimization is implemented, it is recommended to disable the VPG WAN compression.
ZORG (displayed when Zerto Cloud Manager is used) The Zerto organization.
Recovery Site The site to which you want to recover the virtual machines. The recovery site selected in the New VPG
dialog is displayed and cannot be changed here.
Host The default cluster, resource pool or ESX/ESXi host, in the recovery site which handles the replicated data. If the
site is defined in Zerto Cloud Manager, only a resource pool can be specified and the resource pool must also have been
defined in Zerto Cloud Manager. When a resource pool is specified, Zerto Virtual Replication checks that the resource pool
capacity is enough for any virtual machines specified in the VPG. If a resource pool is specified and DRS is disabled for the
site later on, all the resource pools are removed by VMware and recovery will be to any one of the hosts in the recovery
site with a VRA installed on it. All resource pool checks are made at the level of the VPG and does not take into account
multiple VPGs using the same resource pool. If the resource pool CPU resources are specified as unlimited in the Edit
Setting dialog for the resource pool, the actual limit is inherited from the parent but if this inherited value is too small,
failover move and failover test operations can fail, even without a warning alert being issued by Zerto Virtual Manager.
Datastore The default datastore volume to use for all the recovered virtual machine files as well as for their volumes.
Every datastore for the selected default recovery host is included in the drop-down options. The displayed datastores are
accessible by the default host. If a cluster or resource pool is selected for the host, only datastores that are accessible by
every ESX/ESXi host in the cluster or resource pool are displayed. Zerto Virtual Replication uses the SCSI protocol. Only
disks that support this protocol can be specified.
Failover/Move Network The default network to use during a failover or move in which the recovered virtual machines
will run.
Failover Test Network The default network to use during a test failover in which the testing recovered virtual machines
will run. This network can be a fenced-out network so as not to impact the production network.
Add button To add a virtual machine to the VPG. Opens the Select VMs Dialog dialog.
Remove button To define a specific recovery configuration for a virtual machine in the VPG.
Configure button To configure a virtual machine recovery volumes and VNICs. Opens the Configure VM Dialog dialog.
Boot button To specify the boot order of virtual machines in a VPG. See Boot Order Dialog, on page 228.

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Recovery scripts expansion To specify the settings for scripts to run on the recovery site before or after executing a
failover, move or test failover.
Pre-recovery Script The script to run before starting the recovery.
Post-recovery Script The script to run after the recovery.
Command to run The name of the script to run, including the full path. The script must be located on the same
machine as the Zerto Virtual Manager for the recovery site.
Params The values of any parameters to pass to the script. Separate parameters with a space.
Timeout (sec) The time out in seconds for the script to run. If the script runs before executing a failover, move or test
failover and the script fails or a timeout value is reached, an alert is generated and the failover, move or test failover is
not performed. If the script runs after executing a failover, move or test failover and the timeout value is reached, an
alert is generated.

Manage VPG Dialog Protecting to vCD

Used in vCD environments only.

Protect virtual machines.

The dialog is divided in to the following sections:
General Settings A name to identify the VPG and the priority to assign to the VPG.
Virtual machines to be protected The list of virtual machines being protected with details about the machine as well
as the boot order to apply to groups of the virtual machines during recovery.
Replication Settings VPG replication settings, such as the recovery site, host and storage and the VPG SLA. SLA
information includes the default journal history settings and how often tests should be performed on the VPG. The
defaults are applied to every virtual machine in the VPG but can be overridden per virtual machine, as required.
Note: Cloud service providers can group the VPG SLA properties together in a service profile. When a service profile is
used, the VPG SLA settings cannot be modified unless a Custom service profile is available.
Storage Settings By default the storage used for the virtual machine definition is also used for the virtual machine
data. This storage can be overridden per virtual machine, as required.
Recovery Settings Recovery details include the networks to use for recovered virtual machines and scripts that
should be run either at the start or end of a recovery operation.

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NIC Settings Specify the network details to use for the recovered virtual machines after a live or test failover or
migration.
Backup Settings Specify the backup properties that govern the VPG backup, including the repository where the
backups are saved.
VPG Name The name for the VPG, which by default is the name of the vApp.
Service Profile The name of the service profile to use which determines the VPG SLA settings for the group, which apply
to every virtual machine in the group. To change the VPG SLA settings, select the Custom Service Profile.
Priority (QOS) Used to determine the priority for transferring data from the protected site to the recovery site when
there is limited bandwidth and more than one VPG is defined on the protected site. When there are updates to virtual
machines protected in VPGs with different priorities, first the updates from the VPG with the highest priority are passed
over the WAN. Medium priority VPGs will only be able to use whatever bandwidth is left after the high priority VPGs have
used it. This is also true between medium and low priorities. Note that updates to the protected virtual machines are
always sent across the WAN before synchronization data, such as during a Bitmap Sync or Delta Sync. During a
synchronization, only after updates to the virtual machines are sent over the WAN, based on the VPG priority, is
synchronization data from the VPG sent, and the synchronization data from the VPG with the highest priority is passed
over the WAN before data from medium and low priority VPGs.
Target RPO Alert The maximum desired time between each automatic checkpoint being written to the journal before an
alert is issued. In reality checkpoints are written more frequently.
Default Journal History The time for which all write commands are saved in the journal. Each protected virtual machine
has a dedicated journal volume on the recovery site associated with the replicated virtual machine. This enables journal
data to be maintained, even when changing the recovery host for the recovery. When specifying a checkpoint to recover to,
the checkpoint must still be in the journal. For example, if the value specified here is 24 hours then recovery can be
specified to any checkpoint up to 24 hours. After the time specified, the mirror virtual disk volumes maintained by the VRA
are updated.
The more time saved the more space is required for each journal in the VPG to store the information saved. The journal
size can be configured by clicking the configuration button to display the Manage Journal dialog.
Test Frequency Reminder The time recommended between testing the integrity of the VPG. A warning is issued if a test
is not done within this time frame.
ZORG (displayed when Zerto Cloud Manager is used) The Zerto organization.
Recovery Site The site to which you want to recover the virtual machines. The recovery site selected in the New VPG
dialog is displayed and cannot be changed here.
Target Org vDC Select the organization datacenter, as defined in vCloud Director, from the available list.
vCD Guest Customization When checked, VMware Guest OS Customization is enabled for the virtual machine in vCloud
Director. Enabling guest customization means that the computer name and network settings configured for this virtual
machine are applied to its Guest OS when the virtual machine is powered on.
Failover/Move Network The default Org Network to use during a failover or move in which the recovered virtual
machines will run.
Failover Test Network The default Org Network to use during a test failover in which the testing recovered virtual
machines will run.
Add button To add a virtual machine to the VPG. Opens the Select VMs Dialog dialog.
Remove button To define a specific recovery configuration for a virtual machine in the VPG.
Configure button To configure a virtual machine recovery volumes and VNICs. Opens the Configure VM Dialog (vCD)
dialog.
Boot button Displays a message that you define the boot order for vCloud Director vApps in the vCloud Director console.
Recovery scripts expansion To specify the settings for scripts to run on the recovery site before or after executing a
failover, move or test failover.

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Pre-recovery Script The script to run before starting the recovery.

Post-recovery Script The script to run after the recovery.
Command to run The name of the script to run, including the full path. The script must be located on the same
machine as the Zerto Virtual Manager for the recovery site.
Params The values of any parameters to pass to the script. Separate parameters with a space.
Timeout (sec) The time out in seconds for the script to run. If the script runs before executing a failover, move or test
failover and the script fails or a timeout value is reached, an alert is generated and the failover, move or test failover is
not performed. If the script runs after executing a failover, move or test failover and the timeout value is reached, an
alert is generated.

Manage VPG Dialog Protecting vCD to vCD

Used in vCD environments only.

Protect virtual machines.

The dialog is divided in to the following sections:
General Settings A name to identify the VPG and the priority to assign to the VPG.
Virtual machines to be protected The list of virtual machines being protected with details about the machine as well
as the boot order to apply to groups of the virtual machines during recovery.
Replication Settings VPG replication settings, such as the recovery site, host and storage and the VPG SLA. SLA
information includes the default journal history settings and how often tests should be performed on the VPG. The
defaults are applied to every virtual machine in the VPG but can be overridden per virtual machine, as required.
Note: Cloud service providers can group the VPG SLA properties together in a service profile. When a service profile is
used, the VPG SLA settings cannot be modified unless a Custom service profile is available.
Storage Settings By default the storage used for the virtual machine definition is also used for the virtual machine
data. This storage can be overridden per virtual machine, as required.
Recovery Settings Recovery details include the networks to use for recovered virtual machines and scripts that
should be run either at the start or end of a recovery operation.
NIC Settings Specify the network details to use for the recovered virtual machines after a live or test failover or
migration.

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Backup Settings Specify the backup properties that govern the VPG backup, including the repository where the
backups are saved.
VPG Name The name for the VPG, which by default is the name of the vApp.
Service Profile The name of the service profile to use which determines the VPG SLA settings for the group, which apply
to every virtual machine in the group. To change the VPG SLA settings, select the Custom Service Profile.
Priority (QOS) Used to determine the priority for transferring data from the protected site to the recovery site when
there is limited bandwidth and more than one VPG is defined on the protected site. When there are updates to virtual
machines protected in VPGs with different priorities, first the updates from the VPG with the highest priority are passed
over the WAN. Medium priority VPGs will only be able to use whatever bandwidth is left after the high priority VPGs have
used it. This is also true between medium and low priorities. Note that updates to the protected virtual machines are
always sent across the WAN before synchronization data, such as during a Bitmap Sync or Delta Sync. During a
synchronization, only after updates to the virtual machines are sent over the WAN, based on the VPG priority, is
synchronization data from the VPG sent, and the synchronization data from the VPG with the highest priority is passed
over the WAN before data from medium and low priority VPGs.
Target RPO Alert The maximum desired time between each automatic checkpoint being written to the journal before an
alert is issued. In reality checkpoints are written more frequently.
Default Journal History The time for which all write commands are saved in the journal. Each protected virtual machine
has a dedicated journal volume on the recovery site associated with the replicated virtual machine. This enables journal
data to be maintained, even when changing the recovery host for the recovery. When specifying a checkpoint to recover to,
the checkpoint must still be in the journal. For example, if the value specified here is 24 hours then recovery can be
specified to any checkpoint up to 24 hours. After the time specified, the mirror virtual disk volumes maintained by the VRA
are updated.
The more time saved the more space is required for each journal in the VPG to store the information saved. The journal
size can be configured by clicking the configuration button to display the Manage Journal dialog.
Test Frequency Reminder The time recommended between testing the integrity of the VPG. A warning is issued if a test
is not done within this time frame.
ZORG (displayed when Zerto Cloud Manager is used) The Zerto organization.
Target Site The site to which you want to recover the virtual machines. The recovery site selected in the New VPG dialog
is displayed and cannot be changed here.
Target Org vDC Select the organization datacenter, as defined in vCloud Director, from the available list. The displayed
list is that list that is specified during the vCD configuration.
vCD Guest Customization When checked, VMware Guest OS Customization is enabled for the virtual machine in vCloud
Director. Enabling guest customization means that the computer name and network settings configured for this virtual
machine are applied to its Guest OS when the virtual machine is powered on.
Network mapping: Configure button After selecting a recovery Org vDC, the Configure button is enabled. Opens the
Configure Network Mapping Dialog dialog.
Configure button To configure a virtual machine recovery volumes and VNICs. Opens the Configure VM Dialog (vCD)
dialog.
Boot button Displays a message that you define the boot order for vCloud Director vApps in the vCloud Director console.
Recovery scripts expansion To specify the settings for scripts to run on the recovery site before or after executing a
failover, move or test failover.
Pre-recovery Script The script to run before starting the recovery.
Post-recovery Script The script to run after the recovery.
Command to run The name of the script to run, including the full path. The script must be located on the same
machine as the Zerto Virtual Manager for the recovery site.
Params The values of any parameters to pass to the script. Separate parameters with a space.

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Timeout (sec) The time out in seconds for the script to run. If the script runs before executing a failover, move or test
failover and the script fails or a timeout value is reached, an alert is generated and the failover, move or test failover is
not performed. If the script runs after executing a failover, move or test failover and the timeout value is reached, an
alert is generated.

New Repository Dialog

To create a new repository for backups.

Repository Name The name of the repository.
Repository Type The type of the repository. The options are Local or Network Share (SMB). The network share drive must
be an SMB drive and if specified the username and password to access the drive must be provided.
Path The path to the repository.
Capacity The overall capacity of the repository.
Free Space The amount of free space currently available for the repository.
Username Username to access the Network Share drive. The name can be entered using either of the following formats:

username
domain\username

This field is not displayed when the type is Local.

Password Password to access the Network Share drive. This field is not displayed when the type is Local.
Validate Click to validate the path. The path must be valid in order to save the information.
Set as Default Repository Check this option to make the repository the default repository.
Enable Compression Check this option to compress backups stored in the repository. Compression is done using zip
compression, set to level six. If you want better compression, which requires more CPU, or less compression to reduce the
CPU overhead, contact Zerto support.

New VPG Dialog

The New VPG dialog is displayed, unless there is only one possible recovery site, in which case the Manage VPG dialog is
displayed.
When protection is to an enterprise, the enterprise version of the New VPG dialog is displayed.

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When protection is to a cloud service provider using Zerto Cloud Manager, the cloud version of the New VPG dialog is
displayed.

Note: If the recovery site has vCD defined, the Recovery site is vCD checkbox is automatically selected. To recover
to the underlying vCenter Server, uncheck the box.
When VMware vCloud Director is installed at the protected site and there are vCD vApps defined at the protection site,
clicking New VPG results in the following New VPG dialog being displayed:

ZORG A Zerto organization defined in Zerto Cloud Manager.

Underlying vCenter Server The virtual machines to be protected will be selected from the underlying vCenter Server.
vCD vApp A vCD vApp from the list should be protected.
Recovery Site The site to which to recover the VPG.
Recovery site is vCD The selected recovery site has vCloud Director installed.

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Offsite Clone Dialog

To create a clone of each virtual machine in a VPG on the recovery site in the production network. The clone is a copy of
the protected virtual machines on the recovery site, while the virtual machines on the protected site remain protected and
live.
Configure Checkpoint button Opens the Select Recovery Point Dialog dialog to select the checkpoint to which to make the
clone.
Recovery Datastore Select the datastore to use for the recovery virtual machines.

Open Support Ticket Dialog

To open a support ticket directly from the user interface.

Note: The clocks on the machines where Zerto Virtual Replication is installed must be synchronized with UTC and with
each other (the timezones can be different). Zerto recommends that the clocks are synchronized using NTP. If the clocks
are not synchronized with UTC, submitting a support ticket can fail.
Subject The subject of the support ticket.
Type The type of ticket being opened.
Description A description of the ticket in addition to the information supplied in the subject.
SSP Email Address A valid email address registered with Zerto, with permission to open tickets.
On submitting a ticker, the progress displayed. If the email address is not valid the ticket is rejected. Once the ticket
submission starts, it cannot be canceled.

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Outbound Protection Over Time Report

Information about how much data is actually being protected against the amount configured for any of the sites.
Note: The data displayed can be up to 30 minutes old, since the Zerto Virtual Manager collects the relevant data every 30
minutes.
You can filter the information by the following:
From and To The dates for which you want information.
Recovery Site Select the site for which you want information displayed or for all the sites. If all the sites are selected, All
Sites is displayed for the field. The list displays all sites paired with the local site.
Apply button To apply the filtering selected via any of the above fields.
Reset button To reset the display to the defaults values.

Pause Dialog

During periods when the WAN bandwidth is utilized to its maximum, you can pause the protection of a VPG, to free-up
some of this bandwidth. After pausing the protection, the VPG can still be recovered, to the last checkpoint written to the
journal before the pause operation.
Dir The direction of the protection, assuming the local site is to the left of the arrow.
Vpg Name The name of a VPG that is a candidate to pause.

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Status The VPG status.

Local Site Display VPGs that are protected on the local site.
Remote Site Display VPGs that are protected on the remote sites.
Show All Display all VGS protected on both the local site and all remote sites.

Protection Over Time by Organization Report

Information about the virtual machines and amount of data on the recovery site.
Note: The data displayed can be up to 30 minutes old, since the Zerto Virtual Manager collects the relevant data every 30
minutes.
You can filter the information by the following:
From and To The dates for which you want the information.
Source Site Select the sites for which you want information displayed. If more than one site is selected, Multiple
Selection is displayed for the field. The list displays all sites paired with the local site.
Resolution Select the resolution for the report: daily, weekly, monthly or All.
Apply button To apply the filtering selected via any of the above fields.
Reset button To reset the display to the defaults values.

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Recent Activities Dialog

An audit of recent actions for a specific VPG from within the VPG details.
Note: The Recent Activities dialog is useful when you need to identify the location recovery disks, for example
when keeping the target disks after deleting a virtual machine from a VPG or after deleting the VPG.
Time and Date The date and time of the action.
Type The name of the event.
User The users who initiated the event and the location of the user.
Description A description of the event. Clicking More displays the full description and can be used when the displayed
description is truncated.

Recovery Reports

Information about recovery operations, failover tests, moves and failovers. The information includes the protected and
recovery sites involved, when the recovery operation was started, the time taken to bring up the machines in the recovery
site, the RTO, and whether the operation succeeded or not and any notes added during a failover test.
You can filter the tests by the following:
From and To The dates for which you want test information. Only tests performed, between these dates are displayed.

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VPG Select the VPGs for which you want test information displayed. If more than one VPG is selected, Multiple
Selection is displayed for the field. The list displays all VPGs that have been tested.
Type Select the recovery operations for which you want information displayed: Failover, Move, Failover Test. If
more than one operation is selected, Multiple Selection is displayed for the field.
Status Select the Statuses for which you want test information displayed: Success, Failed. If more than one status is
selected, Multiple Selection is displayed for the field.
Apply button To apply the filtering selected via any of the above fields.
Reset button To reset the display to the defaults values.
To generate a full report, select the VPGs you want a report generated and click Generate to generate a full report for each
selected VPG. You can have each report written to a single PDF file or to separate PDF files which are then zipped together.
The PDF report includes detailed information including the start and end time of the operation, the recovery host,
datastore, network, and folder, any boot order information, and details of the steps taken during the operation, such as
creating the test machine and scratch volumes for testing.
The list from which to select VPGS includes the following information:
VPG The name of the VPG.
Type The recovery operation performed on the VPG.
Protected Site The site protecting the virtual machines in the VPG.
Recovery Site The site where the virtual machines in the VPG are recovered.
Start Time The time the operation started.
RTO The maximum time taken to recovery the virtual machines.
Status The status of the operation.
Notes Free text added for a failover test.

Resource Report

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Resource information about the virtual machines being protected to a recovery site. The information is collected at fixed
times as defined in the Resource Reports section of the Advanced Settings dialog. Information for the report is saved
for 90 days when the sampling period is hourly and for one year when the sampling period is daily.
The report collects the resource information for the virtual machines being recovered to the site where the report is run.
For resource information about these virtual machines being recovered, the sampling period must be specified in the
Advanced Settings dialog on the recovery site.
Note: If no virtual machines are recovered to the site where the report is run, the report is empty.
You can filter the information by the following:
From and To The dates for which you want information.
Generate to XLSX file button To generate the report.
The generated report includes the names and IDs of the virtual machines being protected and for each virtual machine the
timestamp for the information, where it is protected, the CPU used, the memory used by the host and the guest, the
storage used, etc.
Note: If there are no samples to use to generate a report, the From and To data fields and Generate to XLSX file button and
not displayed.

Restore VPG Dialog

To restore the virtual machines in a VPG from the backup list or the repository where the offsite backup was saved. If the
VPG backups were saved to more than one repository, selecting the VPG collects all the offsite backups for the VPG from
all the available repositories.
When restoring via the VPG option, the VPG must still be available. If the VPG was deleted the restore must be performed
from a repository.
After clicking Next. All the available offsite backups are displayed.

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Point in Time The date and time the offsite backup was performed.
Restore Site The recovery site for the VPG.
Backup Status Whether the offsite backup of the virtual machines was fully completed or only partially completed, in
which case only some of the virtual machine were fully backed up.
VMs The number of backed up virtual machines out of the total number of virtual machines.
Volumes The number of backed up volumes out of the total number of volumes for the virtual machines.
Repository The name of the repository where the offsite backup is stored.
Compression A value in this field denotes that the backups stored in the repository are compressed.
ZORG The Zerto organization for which the offsite backup was created. For details, refer to Zerto Cloud Manager
Administration Guide.
Selecting an offsite backup displays the list of virtual machines in the backup, including the following information:
VM Name The name of the virtual machine in the package.
VM Backup Status Whether the offsite backup of the virtual machine was fully completed or only partially completed, in
which case only some of the volumes for the virtual machine were backed up.
Backed Up Volumes The number of backed up volumes out of the total number of volumes for the virtual machine.
Note: The list of offsite backups is dependent of the whether a daily or weekly backup was specified in the VPG and the
retention period. The exact number of offsite backups over time is described in Offsite Backups, on page 50.
After clicking Next the list of virtual machines that can be restored from the selected offsite backup are displayed.

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For each machine you specify the host and datastore to use to restore the virtual machine. The following values are applied
to all the virtual machines to be restored:
Host Name The IP address of the host where you want the virtual machine restored.
Datastore The datastore to use for the restored virtual machine files.
Alternatively, using the Populate button overrides the default values by using the recovery host and datastore specified for
each virtual machine in the VPG definition. The VPG must still be available to use the Populate button.
Config Clicking the Edit icon to display the Configure Restored VM Dialog.
VM Name The name of the virtual machine.
Host The IP address of the host where you want the virtual machine restored.
Datastore The datastore to use for the restored virtual machine files.
Folder The default folder where the virtual machines are restored. Select a folder from the list or the
[Default]ZertoRecoveryFolder folder.
Backup Status Whether the offsite backup of the virtual machine was fully completed or only partially completed, in
which case only some of the volumes for the virtual machine were backed up.
Volumes The number of backed up volumes out of the total number of volumes for the virtual machine.
Power On Whether to power on the virtual machine after it is restored or not.

Resume Dialog

Resuming the protection of paused VPGs, described in Pause Dialog, on page 260.
Dir The direction of the protection, assuming the local site is to the left of the arrow.
Vpg Name The name of a VPG that is a candidate to resume protection.
Status The VPG status.
Local Site Display VPGs that are protected on the local site.
Remote Site Display VPGs that are protected on the remote sites.
Show All Display all VGS protected on both the local site and all remote sites.

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Select Recovery Point Dialog

The point to recover to.

Last The recovery is to the last recovery point. This ensures that the data is crash consistent for the recovery. When
selecting the last checkpoint to recover to, the checkpoint used is the last at this point. If a checkpoint is added between
this point and starting the test, this later checkpoint is not used.
Latest VSS When VSS is used the recovery will be to the latest VSS snapshot, ensuring both that the data is crash
consistent and application consistency. However, depending on how often VSS snapshots were taken as to how much data
is not recovered.
Checkpoint To a manually provided checkpoint. Checkpoints are added for the VPG from within Zerto Virtual
Replication, ensuring that the data is crash consistent to this point or via the ZertoVssAgent ensuring both the data is crash
consistent and application consistency for the virtual machine in the VPG for which the VSS checkpoint was written.
Show VSS Only To filter the manually defined checkpoints to display only checkpoints defined using the ZertoVssAgent.
Time Enables moving a slider to an automatically generated checkpoint nearest to a specific time wanted for recovery.
The slider shows only a selection of the possible checkpoints. The further back you go, the more spaced out are the
checkpoints to enable a greater range. To be even more specific use the Manual Select option.
Manual Select Enables the Open Selection Window button.
Open Selection Window button Displays a bigger selection of checkpoints, particularly the most recent checkpoints. The
further back you go, the more spaced out are the checkpoints to enable a greater range.

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Select VMs Dialog

To add one or more virtual machines to a VPG.

The search field filters the displayed list.

Site Information Dialog

During installation information about the site is entered to make it easier to identify the site in the user interface and to
identify the contact person at the site. After installation you can update the information from this dialog.
Site Name The name used to identify the site.
Site Location Information such as the address of the site or a significant name to identify it.
Contact Name The name of the person to contact if a need arises.
Contact Email An email address to use if a need arises.
Contact Phone A phone number to use if a need arises.
User Name The administrator name used to access the vCenter Server. If the user name to access the vCenter Server
from the Zerto Virtual Manager changes, specify the new name. The name can be entered using either of the following
formats:
username
domain\username

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Password The password used to access the vCenter Server for the given user name. If the password to access the
vCenter Server from the Zerto Virtual Manager changes, specify the new password. To ensure security, after saving the
settings, the password field is cleared.

Sites Tab

Details of all the paired sites to the local site.

Right-clicking in the list enables selecting the Edit Columns dialog, where you can specify what columns to display in
the list. You can also drag-and-drop column headers to rearrange the order the columns are displayed. A thick vertical bar
shows where a column can be dragged and dropped. You can also reset the display to the default display by clicking the
Reset Columns link.
You can filter the list so that you can easily identify the VPGs and virtual machines you want to monitor. You can filter
columns by clicking the filter icon and then either by typing part of the value only, for example with the Source Site
field, or you can filter using actual values, for example with the Priority field. The filter changes color from gray to blue
when a filter is applied. A link in the filter area enables clearing the filter.
Site Name The name specified for the paired site during installation or in the Site Configuration dialog.
ZORG A name given to the organization by a cloud provider. For details refer to Zerto Cloud Manager Administration Guide.
# VPGs The total number of VPGs being protected by the site and replicated to the site.
# Used VMs The total number of virtual machines being protected by the site and replicated to the site.
Location The location specified for the paired site during installation or in the Site Configuration dialog.
Provisioned Storage The maximum storage that can be protected.
Used Storage The total storage being protected by both sites.
Network The amount of WAN traffic.
IO The IO per second between all the applications running on the virtual machine in the VPG and the VRA that sends a
copy to the remote site for replication.
Incoming Throughput The MBs for all the applications running on the virtual machine being protected. There can be a
high IO rate with lots of small writes resulting in a small throughput as well as a small IO with a large throughput. Thus,
both the IO and Incoming Throughput values together provide a more accurate indication of performance.

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Stop Failover Test Dialog

Displays details of VPGs being tested and enables stopping the testing of selected VPGs.
VPG Name The name of a VPG.
Result Whether the test passed or failed.
Elapsed Time The time since the test began.
Notes Notes to describe the test. For example, specify where any external files that describe the tests performed is
saved. Notes are limited to 255 characters.
Current Status The current status of the test.
Checkpoint The timestamp of the checkpoint used as the recovery point for the test.
Stop Selected button Stops the testing of selected VPGs. After stopping a test, the virtual machines in the recovery site
are powered off and then removed and the checkpoint that was used for the test has the following tag added to identify the
test: Tested at startDateAndTimeOfTest(OriginalCheckpoint_DateAndTime).

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Summary Tab

View summary details of both the protected and recovery sites.

The information includes the number of virtual machines being protected and the number of VPGs defined. The arrows
between the sites indicates the direction of the protection. For example, in the above diagram there are three VPGs defined
on the production site that are protected to recovery sites and there are two VPGs defined on recovery sites that are
protected to the production site.
The following information is displayed in the left area:

The site name and IP address of the Zerto Virtual Manager for this site.
The number of virtual machines meeting the target RPO, the SLA, out of the total number of virtual machines included
in VPGs.
The number of VPGs meeting the target RPO, the SLA, out of the total number of VPGs defined on the site.
The amount of storage being protected of the total possible for all the virtual machines in all the VPGs defined on this
site.
The current site performance, which includes the following information:
IOPS (IO per second) The IO between all the applications running on the virtual machines being protected and
the VRA that sends a copy to the remote site for replication.
VRA CPU Usage The percentage of the CPU being used by the VRA.
Throughput The MBs for all the applications running on the virtual machines being protected. There can be a
high IO rate with lots of small writes resulting in a small throughput as well as a small IO with a large throughput.
Thus, both the IOPS and Throughput values together provide a more accurate indication of performance.
WAN Traffic The traffic between the sites.
When applicable, the date of the last test performed and the name of the VPG tested.
The amount of storage being replicated to this site from remote sites.

The following information is displayed in the right area:

If the pairing is to one site only, the site name and IP address of the Zerto Virtual Manager for the paired site,
otherwise, the title Multiple Peers.
The number of virtual machines meeting the target RPO, the SLA, out of the total number of virtual machines included
in VPGs protected on the remote sites.
The number of VPGs meeting the target RPO, the SLA, out of the total number of VPGs protected on the remote sites.

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The amount of storage being replicated out of the total possible for all the virtual machines in all the VPGs protected
on the remote sites.
The amount of recovery storage being replicated to the remote sites, which includes both the journal and recovery disk
sizes.

Time-based Bandwidth Throttling Dialog

To throttle the bandwidth for specific times. For example, during the daily peak transaction period you can change the
specific throttling of the bandwidth, to override the general throttling, described in Advanced Settings Dialog, on page
224.
Max Bandwidth
Slider Set the Mb/sec. The valid range is from Auto to 99 Mb/sec. With Auto, Zerto Virtual Replication
automatically assigns the bandwidth used per VPG, based on using the maximum available and then prioritizing the
usage according to priority set for the VPGs sending data over the WAN.
Text box The Mb/sec. when the value required is 100 Mb/sec. or more.
From The start time for the throttling, the hour, using a 24-hour clock, and the minute.
To The end time for the throttling, the hour, using a 24-hour clock, and the minute.

Topology Tab

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Graphically displays the sites and details about the sites, including the number of VPGs and virtual machines being
protected. Hovering the mouse over a site displays the IP address for that site.
You can refresh the display and make the display larger or smaller using the slider.
Clicking on a site selects that site and details of the selected site are displayed in the Selected Site Details pane.
The alert status indicator shows the alert status of the site:
Green The site VPGs are being replicated, including syncing the VPGs between the sites.
Orange The VPG is being replicated but there are problems, such as an RPO value larger than the Target RPO Alert
value specified for the VPG.
Red The site VPGs are not being replicated, for example because communication with the remote site is down.

Usage Report

Information about usage. The information is organized by organization and within each organization by site and then VPG
and then the virtual machines in each VPG.
You can filter the information by the following:
Year The year of interest.
Month Select the month to review. You can also see, under the month, the virtual machine count for each day in the
month.
The usage report displays for each month the number of virtual machines protected during the month and the average
number per day in the month. For example, if fifteen virtual machines are protected in a few VPGs starting on the 28th of
the month in a thirty day month, the total days will be 30 (two days multiplied by fifteen machines) and the VM Count will
be 1 (Total days divided by the number of days in the month).
Export to CSV button To save the report as a CSV file.
Export to PDF button To save the report as a PDF file.
Export to Zip button To save the report as zipped CSV and PDF files in a zip file.

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VMs Tab

Details of the protected VMs.

Right-clicking in the list enables selecting the Edit Columns dialog, where you can specify what columns to display in
the list. You can also drag-and-drop column headers to rearrange the order the columns are displayed. A thick vertical bar
shows where a column can be dragged and dropped. You can also reset the display to the default display by clicking the
Reset Columns link.
You can filter the list so that you can easily identify the VPGs and virtual machines you want to monitor. You can filter
columns by clicking the filter icon and then either by typing part of the value only, for example with the Source Site
field, or you can filter using actual values, for example with the Priority field. The filter changes color from gray to blue
when a filter is applied. A link in the filter area enables clearing the filter.
Alert status indicator The color indicates the alert status of the protected virtual machine:
Green The VPG is being replicated, including syncing the VPG between the sites.
Orange The virtual machine is being replicated but there are problems, such as an RPO value larger than the
Target RPO Alert value specified for the VPG.
Red The VPG is not being replicated, for example because communication with the remote site is down.
Func Icons you click to perform further actions, such as editing or deleting the VPG.
VM Name The name of the virtual machine. The name is a link: Click on the VM name to drill-down to more specific
details about the VPG for that VM, displayed in a dynamic tab.
VPG Name The name of the VPG. The name is a link: Click on the name to drill-down to more specific details about the
VPG, displayed in a dynamic tab.
IO The IO per second between all the applications running on the virtual machines in the VPG and the VRA that sends a
copy to the remote site for replication.
Throughput The MBs for all the applications running on the virtual machines being protected. There can be a high IO rate
with lots of small writes resulting in a small throughput as well as a small IO with a large throughput. Thus, both the IOPS
and Throughput values together provide a more accurate indication of performance.
Network The amount of WAN traffic.
Provisioned Storage The provisioned storage for all the virtual machines in the VPG. This value is the sum of the values
that are used in the vCenter Server and displayed in the vSphere Client console per virtual machine in the Virtual Machines

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tab for the root vCenter Server node. Each value is the sum of both the hard disk and memory. Thus, a virtual machine with
1GB hard disk and 4GB memory will show 5GB provisioned storage.
Used Storage The storage used by all of the virtual machines in the VPG. This value is the sum of the values that are used
in the vCenter Server and displayed in the vSphere Client console per virtual machine in the Virtual Machines tab for the
root vCenter Server node.
Actual RPO The time since the last checkpoint was written to the journal. This should be less than the Target RPO
Alert value specified for the VPG.
Status The current status of the VPG, such as Meeting SLA. Where appropriate, the percentage of the operation
completed, such as syncing, is displayed.
Last Test The date and time of the last failover test performed on this VPG.
Direction (not shown by default) The direction of the replication, from this site to the remote site or from the remote site
to this site.
Type (not shown by default) Icons describing the source and recovery sites:
vCenter Server to vCenter Server.
vCenter Server to vCloud Director.
vCloud Director to vCenter Server.
vCloud Director to vCloud Director.
Source Site (not shown by default) The name of the site where the VPG is protected.
Recovery Site (not shown by default) The name recovery site for the VPG.
ZORG (not shown by default) The ZORG name given to the organization by a cloud service provider.
Priority (not shown by default) The priority specified for the VPG in its definition.
Actions: Pause Opens the Pause Dialog dialog.
Actions: Resume Opens the Resume Dialog dialog.

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VPG Performance Report

The performance graphs, for all VPGs or for individual VPGs.

You can specify which VPGs you want to monitor as well as the time period to display in the graphs, between one and eight
minutes. When graphs for multiple VPGs are displayed, you can display the information for each VPG separately or
together as an average.
Position the cursor on the graph line to see exact information about that point.

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VPGs Tab

Details of the VPGs from both the local and remote sites.
Right-clicking in the list enables selecting the Edit Columns dialog, where you can specify what columns to display in
the list. You can also drag-and-drop column headers to rearrange the order the columns are displayed. A thick vertical bar
shows where a column can be dragged and dropped. You can also reset the display to the default display by clicking the
Reset Columns link.
You can filter the list so that you can easily identify the VPGs and virtual machines you want to monitor. You can filter
columns by clicking the filter icon and then either by typing part of the value only, for example with the Source Site
field, or you can filter using actual values, for example with the Priority field. The filter changes color from gray to blue
when a filter is applied. A link in the filter area enables clearing the filter.
Alert status indicator The color indicates the alert status of the VPG:
Green The VPG is being replicated, including syncing the VPG between the sites.
Orange The VPG is being replicated but there are problems, such as an RPO value larger than the Target RPO
Alert value specified for the VPG.
Red The VPG is not being replicated, for example because communication with the remote site is down.
Direction The direction of the replication, from this site to the remote site or from the remote site to this site.
Name The name of the VPG. The name is a link: Click on the VPG name to drill-down to more specific details about the
VPG displayed in a dynamic tab.
Func Icons you click to perform further actions, such as editing or deleting the VPG.
Priority The priority specified for the VPG in its definition.
# VMs The number of VMs being protected in the VPG.
Source Site The name of the site where the VPG is protected.
Recovery Site The name recovery site for the VPG.
Actual RPO The time since the last checkpoint was written to the journal. This should be less than the Target RPO
Alert value specified for the VPG.

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Status The current status of the VPG, such as Meeting SLA. Where appropriate, the percentage of the operation
completed, such as syncing, is displayed.
Last Test The date and time of the last failover test performed on this VPG.
Type (not shown by default) Icons describing the source and recovery sites:
vCenter Server to vCenter Server.
vCenter Server to vCloud Director.
vCloud Director to vCenter Server.
vCloud Director to vCloud Director.
ZORG (not shown by default) The ZORG name given to the organization by a cloud service provider in Zerto Cloud
Manager.
Provisioned Storage (not shown by default) The provisioned storage for all the virtual machines in the VPG. This value is
the sum of the values that are used in the vCenter Server and displayed in the vSphere Client console per virtual machine in
the Virtual Machines tab for the root vCenter Server node. Each value is the sum of both the hard disk and memory. Thus, a
virtual machine with 1GB hard disk and 4GB memory will show 5GB provisioned storage.
Used Storage (not shown by default) The storage used by all of the virtual machines in the VPG. This value is the sum of
the values that are used in the vCenter Server and displayed in the vSphere Client console per virtual machine in the Virtual
Machines tab for the root vCenter Server node.
IO (not shown by default) The IO per second between all the applications running on the virtual machines in the VPG and
the VRA that sends a copy to the remote site for replication.
Throughput (not shown by default) The MBs for all the applications running on the virtual machines being protected.
There can be a high IO rate with lots of small writes resulting in a small throughput as well as a small IO with a large
throughput. Thus, both the IOPS and Throughput values together provide a more accurate indication of performance.
Network (not shown by default) The amount of WAN traffic.
Actions: Export CSV Saves details of every displayed VPG to a CSV file, which can be opened using programs such as
Microsoft Excel.
Actions: Pause Opens the Pause Dialog dialog.
Actions: Resume Opens the Resume Dialog dialog.

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VRAs Tab

All the hosts in the local vCenter and details of VRAs for each host, when installed.
Host Address The ESX/ESXi host IP address for the VRA. If the host is part of a cluster, the cluster name is displayed
with the hosts under the cluster.
Host Version The ESX/ESXi version.
Alert status indicator The color indicates the alert status of the VRA:
Green The VRA is functioning as required.
Orange The VRA is functioning, but as well as is require.
Red There is a problem with the VRA, for example communication with the Zerto Virtual Manager is down.
VRA Name The name of the VRA virtual machine.
VRA Status The VRA status. For example, Installed, Ghost VRA.
VRA Address The IP address of the VRA virtual machine.
VRA Version Either Latest if the version installed is the most current version or Outdated if it can be upgraded. A
tooltip displays the actual version.
VRA Group The group of VRAs to which this VRA belongs. VRAs can be grouped together when they use different
networks so they can be grouped by network, for example when the same vCenter Server supports two datacenters with
separate networks and you are replicating from one datacenter to the second datacenter.
# VPGs The number of VPGs with a virtual machine for which the VRA either manages the protection or the recovery of
its data.
# VMs The number of virtual machines for which the VRA either manages the protection or the recovery of its data.
You can limit the display to hosts with VRAs installed via the Show hosts without a VRA installed toggle. When this toggle is
set to On all hosts are displayed, and when set to Off only hosts with a VRA installed are displayed.
Click Export to save the VRA list as a Microsoft Excel worksheet.

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Zerto Virtual Replication License Dialog

The cloud and enterprise license include the following details:

License The license key itself.
License ID An identifier for the license.
License Type What is licensed: whether the license restricts the number of virtual machines that can be protected or the
number of sockets used.
Expiry Date The license expiry date.
Quantity The maximum amount licensed, either virtual machines or sockets, based on the license type. If blank, the
quantity is unlimited.
Max Sites The maximum number of sites allowed.
An enterprise license also includes the following:
Usage Expandable table that lists the sites using the license and number of protected virtual machines in each site.

A warning is generated when either the license expires or the more than the licensed number of virtual machines are being
protected. Protection continues but the license should be updated. After getting a new license key you can update Zerto
Virtual Replication with this key.
Note: The number of virtual machine is independent of whether they are in vApps or not.

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Asynch Replication See Replication, Asynchronous.

Backup

See Extended Recovery.

Bitmap Synca

A change tracking mechanism of the protected machines during a disconnected state when Zerto
Virtual Replication starts to maintain a smart bitmap in memory to track and record changed
storage areas. Since the bitmap is kept in memory, Zerto Virtual Replication does not require any
LUN or volume per VPG at the source side.
The bitmap is small and scales dynamically, containing references to the areas of the source disk
that have changed but not the actual I/O. The bitmap is stored locally on the VRA within the
available resources. For example, when a VRA goes down and is then rebooted.
When required, Zerto Virtual Replication starts to maintain a smart bitmap in memory, to track
and record storage areas that change. When the issue that caused the bitmap sync is resolved,
the bitmap is used to check updates to the source disks and send any updates to the recovery site.
A bitmap sync occurs during the following conditions:

Synchronization after WAN failure or when the load over the WAN is too great for the WAN
to handle, in which case the VPGs with the lower priorities will be the first to enter a Bitmap
Sync.
When there is storage congestion at the recovery site, for example when the VRA at the
recovery site cannot handle all the writes received from the protected site in a timely fashion.
When the VRA at the recovery site goes down and is then rebooted.

During the synchronization, new checkpoints are not added to the journal but recovery operations
are still possible. If a disaster occurs requiring a failover during a bitmap synchronization, you can
recover to the last checkpoint written to the journal.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on. The
VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized across the
sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access the source
data to replicate to the target recovery disks.
Business
Continuity &
Disaster Recovery
(BC/DR)

An organizations ability to recover from a disaster and/or unexpected event and resume or
continue operations. A disaster recovery, DR, plan is a subset of a Business Continuity plan.
Organizations should have a business continuity, BC, plan in place that outlines the logistics and
business operations. The key metrics to be measured in a disaster recovery environment are the
Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO).

Business
Holistic management process that identifies potential threats to an organization and the impacts
Continuity
to business operations that those threats, if realized, might cause, and which provides a
Management (BCM) framework for building organizational resilience with the capability for an effective response that
safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value-creating activities.
(ISO 22313, formerly BS 25999-1).
Business
Continuity Plan

Contains the instructions, procedures and guidelines that are developed and maintained in
readiness for use during and after any potentially disruptive event in order to enable the
organization to continue to deliver its critical activities at an acceptable, predefined level.

Business Impact
Analysis (BIA)

The process of analyzing business functions and processes and the effects that a business
disruption might have upon them.

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Checkpoint

Zerto Virtual Replication ensures crash consistency by writing checkpoints to the journal every
few seconds. These checkpoints ensure write order fidelity and crash-consistency to each
checkpoint. During recovery you pick one of these crash-consistent checkpoints and recover to
this point. Additionally, checkpoints can be manually added by the administrator, with a
description of the checkpoint. For example, when an event is going to take place that might result
in the need to perform a recovery, you can pinpoint when this event occurs as a checkpoint in
each journal.

Crisis Management Provides the overall coordination of the organizations response to a crisis (which is a critical
Plan
event that needs to be handled appropriately to prevent a damaging impact to the organizations
profitability, reputation or ability to operate).
Data Deduplication A specialized data compression technique for eliminating duplicate copies of repeating data.
Delta Synca

The Delta Sync uses a checksum comparison to minimize the use of network resources. A Delta
Sync is used when the protected virtual machine disks and the recovery disks should already be
synchronized, except for a possible few changes to the protected disks, for example, when the
target recovery disk is defined as a preseeded disk or after a VRA upgrade, or for reverse
protection after a move or failover.
During the synchronization, new checkpoints are not added to the journal. Also, recovery
operations are not possible during a Delta Sync.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on. The
VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized across the
sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access the source
data to replicate to the target recovery disks.

Disaster

The occurrence of one or more events which, either separately or cumulatively, activate disaster
recovery.

Disaster Recovery

The ability to restart operations after an interruption to the business according to a plan that
ensures an orderly and timely restoration.

Disaster Recovery
Plan

The disaster recovery, DR, plan is a component of the Business Continuity plan that details the
process and procedures to recover the organizations resources to continue business operations.
The Technology DR plan focuses on the IT disaster recovery. Also see Business Continuity Plan.

Disaster Recovery
As A Service
(DRaaS)

A disaster recovery solution that incorporates a service provider to replace or augment the
organizations data protection implementation. In a DRaaS scenario, the customer may manage
and have complete control over the production data. The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) may
provide a partial or completely managed service. In either case, the CSP must ensure the
availability of the data and adapt as the customers infrastructure changes. An advantage of this
model is the CSP has dedicated resources skilled in DR operations.

DRS

Enables balancing computing workloads with available resources in a VMware vCenter cluster.

Emergency
Management

Covers the immediate response to a situation or set of circumstances that present a clear and
present threat to the safety of personnel or other assets of the organization.

Estimated
Recovery Time
(ERT)

This is the estimated timings based on full resource provision available during a live invocation.
This time typically sits between the Net Recovery Time and the Recovery Time Achieved (RTA)
time.

ESX/ESXi
(vSphere)

Bare-metal hypervisors from VMware, meaning they install directly on top of the physical server
and partitions it into multiple virtual machines that can run simultaneously, sharing the physical
resources of the underlying server. ESXi is the most recent version.

Extended Recovery Extended DR includes the ability to configure both disaster recovery and offsite backups for the
protected virtual machines in the VPG, according to a user-defined data retention policy.

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High Availability
(VMHA)

VMware high availability decreases downtime and improves reliability with business continuity
by enabling another ESX/ESXi host to start up virtual machines that were running on another
ESX/ESXi host that went down. High availability is automatically disabled by Zerto Virtual
Replication while updating recovered virtual machines in the recovery site from the VRA journal.
After the promotion of the data from the journal to the virtual machine completes, high
availability is automatically re-enabled. The HA configuration can include admission control to
prevent virtual machines being started if they violate availability constraints. If this is the case,
then a failover, test failover or migration of the virtual machines in a VPG to the cluster with this
configuration will fail, if the availability constraints are violated when the virtual machines are
recovered.

Hypervisor

The host for multiple VMs in a virtualized environment. vSphere, ESX/ESXi, is the VMware brand
hypervisor. The hypervisor is the virtualization architecture layer that allows multiple operating
systems, termed guests, to run concurrently on a host computer.

I/O (Input/Output) Describes any operation, program, or device that transfers data to or from a computer. Typical I/
O devices are printers, hard disks, keyboards, and mouses. In fact, some devices are basically
input-only devices (keyboards and mouses); others are primarily output-only devices (printers);
and others provide both input and output of data (hard disks, diskettes, writable CD-ROMs). In
computer architecture, the combination of the CPU and main memory (i.e. memory that the CPU
can read and write to directly, with individual instructions) is considered the brain of a computer,
and from that point of view any transfer of information from or to that combination, for example
to or from a disk drive, is considered I/O.
In-Cloud DR (ICDR) A disaster recovery solution that incorporates a service provider to replace or augment the
organizations data protection implementation. When customers leverage an ICDR service, the
CSP hosts the production and DR sites. The virtual machines (VMs) are typically replicated from
one CSP data center to another CSP data center as a managed service or as managed co-located
datacenters. The customers have the ability to interact with their applications as if they were
locally hosted.
Initial Synca

Synchronization performed after creating the VPG to ensure that the protected disks and
recovery disks are the same. Recovery operations cannot occur until after the initial
synchronization has completed.
Adding a virtual machine to a VPG is equivalent to creating a new VPG and an initial
synchronization is performed. In this case, any checkpoints in the journal become unusable and
only new checkpoints added after the initial synchronization completes can be used in a recovery.
The data in the journal however remains and is promoted to the recovered virtual machine as part
of a recovery procedure.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on. The
VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized across the
sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access the source
data to replicate to the target recovery disks.

iSCSI

An Internet Protocol (IP)-based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities. By
carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets
and to manage storage over long distances.

Journal

Every write to a protected virtual machine is intercepted by Zerto Virtual Replication and a copy
of the write is sent, asynchronously, to the recovery site, while the write continues to be
processed on the protected site. On the recovery site the write is written to a journal managed by
the Virtual Replication Appliance. Each protected virtual machine has its own journal.
Each journal can expand to a size specified in the VPG definition and automatically shrinks when
the expanded size is not needed.

283

Zerto Glossary of Terms

LUN

Disk drives are the foundation of data storage, but operating systems cannot use physical disk
storage directly. The platters, heads, tracks and sectors of a physical disk drive must be translated
into a logical space, which an OS sees as a linear address space comprised of fixed-size blocks.
This translation creates a logical entity that allows OSes to read/write files. Storage networks
must also partition their physical disks into logical entities so that host servers can access storage
area network (SAN) storage. Each logical portion is called a logical unit number (LUN). A LUN is
a logical entity that converts raw physical disk space into logical storage space, which a host
server's OS can access and use. Any computer user recognizes the logical drive letter that has
been carved out of their disk drive. For example, a computer may boot from the C: drive and
access file data from a different D: drive. LUNs do the same basic job.

Level of Business
Continuity

The reduced level of service that has been agreed if there is an interruption to business
operations.

Maximum
The maximum tolerable data loss an organization can endure without compromising its business
Tolerable Data Loss objectives.
Maximum
Tolerable Outage
(MTO)

The maximum time after which an outage will compromise the ability of the organization to
achieve its business objectives.

Maximum
The duration after which an organization's viability will be irrevocably threatened if product and
Tolerable Period of service delivery cannot be resumed.
Disruption
NAS

A network-attached storage (NAS) device is a server that is dedicated to nothing more than file
sharing. NAS does not provide any of the activities that a server in a server-centric system
typically provides, such as e-mail, authentication or file management. NAS allows more hard disk
storage space to be added to a network that already utilizes servers without shutting them down
for maintenance and upgrades. With a NAS device, storage is not an integral part of the server.
Instead, in this storage-centric design, the server still handles all of the processing of data but a
NAS device delivers the data to the user. A NAS device does not need to be located within the
server but can exist anywhere in a LAN and can be made up of multiple networked NAS devices.

Net Recovery Time The net time achieved in recovering one or more VPGs after a disaster.
Offsite Backup

See Extended Recovery.

Operational Level
Agreement (OLA)

The agreement between the service management and the Service Provision Partners. It defines
the responsibilities for support and delivery of the services provided.

Pair

Zerto Virtual Replication can be installed at one or more sites and each of these sites can connect
to any of the other sites enabling enterprises to protect virtual machines across multiple vCenters
or within the same vCenter. Two sites connected to each other are considered paired. Also see
Replication to Self.

Preseed

A virtual disk (the VMDK flat file and descriptor) in the recovery site that has been prepared with
a copy of the protected data. Using this option is recommended particularly for large disks so that
the initial synchronization is much faster. When not using a preseeded disk the initial
synchronization phase has to copy the whole disk over the WAN. Zerto Virtual Replication takes
ownership of the preseeded disk, moving it from its source folder to the folder used by the VRA.

Quiesce

Pausing or altering the state of running processes on a computer, particularly those that might
modify information stored on disk during a backup, in order to guarantee a consistent and usable
backup. Critical applications, such as databases have quiescent mechanisms that Zerto Virtual
Replication can use to get application consistent checkpoints.

284

Zerto Glossary of Terms

RDM

RDM is a mapping file in a separate VMFS volume that acts as a proxy for a raw physical storage
device. The RDM allows a virtual machine to directly access and use the storage device. The RDM
contains metadata for managing and redirecting disk access to the physical device.
The file gives you some of the advantages of direct access to a physical device while keeping
some advantages of a virtual disk in VMFS. As a result, it merges VMFS manageability with raw
device access.
Zerto Virtual Replication supports both physical and virtual mode RDMs.

Recovery Point
Objective (RPO)

The maximum amount of data that may be lost when the activity or service is restored after an
interruption. Expressed as a length of time before the interruption.

Recovery Time
Achieved (RTA)

The actual times achieved during a DR test.

Recovery Time
Objective (RTO)

The maximum time allowed for recovery of an activity such as a business process or IT service,
following an interruption. The service level to be provided may be less than normal service level
targets.

Replication,
Asynchronous

Technique for replicating data between databases or file systems where the system being
replicated does not wait for the data to have been recorded on the duplicate system before
proceeding. Asynchronous Replication has the advantage of speed, at the increased risk of data
loss during due to communication or duplicate system failure.

Replication to Self

When a single vCenter is used, for example with remote branch offices, when replicating from
one datacenter to another datacenter, both managed by the same vCenter Server, you have to
enable replication to the same vCenter Server and pairing is not required.

Resource

The elements (such as staff, site, data, IT systems) that are required to deliver an activity or
service.

Resource Recovery Contains the instructions, procedures and guidelines to recover one or more resources and return
Plan
conditions to a level of operation that is acceptable to the organization. Recovery Plans include
detailed recovery procedures for IT equipment and infrastructure.
Rolling Back

Rolling back to an initial status, for example, after canceling a cloning operation on the VPG.

RPO

Refers to the amount of data at risk, measured by the amount of time between data protection
events. The metric is an indication of the amount of data at risk of being lost.

RTO

Related to downtime. The metric refers to the amount of time it takes to recover from a data loss
event and how long it takes to return to service. The metric is an indication of the amount of time
the system's data is unavailable or inaccessible, thus preventing normal service.

SAN

A storage area network (SAN) is any high-performance network whose primary purpose is to
enable storage devices to communicate with computer systems and with each other. A storage
device is a machine that contains nothing but a disk or disks for storing data. A SAN's architecture
works in a way that makes all storage devices available to all servers on a LAN or WAN. As more
storage devices are added to a SAN, they too will be accessible from any server in the larger
network. In this case, the server merely acts as a pathway between the end user and the stored
data. Because stored data does not reside directly on any of a network's servers, server power is
utilized for business applications, and network capacity is released to the end user.

SCSI

Acronym for Small Computer System Interface. SCSI is a parallel interface standard used by many
servers for attaching peripheral devices to computers. SCSI interfaces provide for faster data
transmission rates (up to 80 megabytes per second) than standard serial and parallel ports. In
addition, you can attach many devices to a single SCSI port, so that SCSI is really an I/O bus
rather than simply an interface.

Service Continuity The continuity plan that acts as an umbrella document for a service, referencing other plans as
Plan
required and providing service-specific emergency management and recovery plans.
Service Level
Agreement (SLA)

The agreement between the customer and service provider which defines the service that is to be
delivered to the customer.

285

Zerto Glossary of Terms

Service Profile

A predefined set of default properties to use when VPGs are defined or edited. Zerto provides a
default service profile and the option for the organization to specify their own requirements. The
cloud service provider can define service profiles to manage specific service level agreements
(SLAs) with its customers.

Service Test Plan

Detailed plan defining the activities required to test the recovery of an individual IT service to
meet business requirements documented in the RTO and RPO.

Shadow VRA

During normal operation, a VRA might require more disks than a single virtual machine can
support. If this situation arises, the VRA creates new shadow VRA virtual machines, used by the
VRA to maintain additional disks. These virtual machines must not be removed. A VRA can
manage a maximum of 500 volumes, whether these are volumes being protected or recovered.

Site

The location of a Zerto Virtual Manager.

Snapshots

A snapshot is a block device which presents an exact copy of a logical volume, frozen at some
point in time. Typically this would be used when some batch processing, a backup for instance,
needs to be performed on the logical volume, but you don't want to halt a live system that is
changing the data. Zerto does NOT use a snapshot mechanism, but is constantly replicating data
writes.

Virtual Machine
(VM)

A virtual machine (VM) is an environment, usually a program or operating system, which does
not physically exist but is created within another environment. In this context, a VM is called a
guest while the environment it runs within is called a host.

Virtual Protection
Group

See VPG.

Virtual Replication See VRA.

Appliance
VMDK, Virtual
Machine Disk

Virtual Machines created with VMware products typically use virtual disks. The virtual disks,
stored as files on the host computer or remote storage device, appear to the guest operating
systems as standard disk drives.

Volume Delta Synca Synchronization when only delta changes for a volume needs synchronizing, for example, when a
virtual machine is added to a VPG using a preseeded disk.
During the synchronization, new checkpoints are not added to the journal. Also, recovery
operations are not possible during a Volume Delta Sync.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on. The
VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized across the
sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access the source
data to replicate to the target recovery disks.
Volume Full Synca

Synchronization when a full synchronization is required on a single volume.

During the synchronization, new checkpoints are not added to the journal. Also, recovery
operations are not possible during a Volume Full Sync.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on. The
VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized across the
sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access the source
data to replicate to the target recovery disks.

286

Zerto Glossary of Terms

Volume Initial
Synca

Synchronization when a full synchronization is required on a single volume, for example, when
changing the target datastore or adding a virtual machine to the VPG without using a preseeded
disk.
During the synchronization, new checkpoints are not added to the journal. Also, recovery
operations are not possible during a Volume Initial Sync.
Note: For the synchronization to work, the protected virtual machines must be powered on. The
VRA requires an active IO stack to access the virtual machine data to be synchronized across the
sites. If the virtual machine is not powered on, there is no IO stack to use to access the source
data to replicate to the target recovery disks.

VPG

Virtual machines are protected in virtual protection groups. A virtual protection groups (VPG) is a
group of virtual machines that you want to group together for replication purposes. For example,
the virtual machines that comprise an application like Microsoft Exchange, where one virtual
machine is used for the software, one for the database and a third for the Web Server, require that
all three virtual machines are replicated to maintain data integrity.

VRA

A virtual machine that manages the replication of protected virtual machine writes across sites. A
VRA must be installed on every ESX/ESXi which hosts virtual machines that require protecting in
the protected site and on every ESX/ESXi that will host the replicated virtual machines in the
recovery site.

Zerto Cloud
Connector (ZCC)

A virtual machine installed on the cloud side, one for each customer organization replication
network. The Zerto Cloud Connector requires both cloud-facing and customer-facing static IP
addresses. The ZCC routes traffic between the customer network and the cloud replication
network, in a secure manner ensuring complete separation between the customer network and
the cloud service provider network. The ZCC has two Ethernet interfaces, one to the customers
network and one to the cloud service provider's network. Within the cloud connector a
bidirectional connection is created between the customer and cloud service provider networks.
Thus, all network traffic passes through the ZCC, where the incoming traffic on the customer
network is automatically configured to IP addresses of the cloud service provider network.

Zerto Cloud
Manager (ZCM)

A Windows service, which enables managing all the cloud sites offering disaster recovery using a
single interface. The ZCM manages the DR either as a service (DRaaS) or completely within the
cloud environment, protecting on one cloud site and recovering to a second site (ICDR).

Zerto User
Interface

Recovery using Zerto Virtual Replication is managed via a user interface, Zerto DR Management
UI, vSphere Client console or vSphere Web Client.

Zerto Self-service
Portal (ZSSP)

An out-of-the-box DR portal solution with a fully functioning browser-based service portal to

enable cloud service providers to quickly introduce disaster recovery as part of their portal
offering.

Zerto Virtual
Backup Appliance
(VBA)

A Zerto Virtual Replication service that manages the offsite backup.

Zerto Virtual
Manager (ZVM)

A Windows service, which manages everything required for the replication between the
protection and recovery sites, except for the actual replication of data. The ZVM interacts with
the vCenter Server to get the inventory of VMs, disks, networks, hosts, etc. The ZVM also
monitors changes in the VMware environment and responds accordingly. For example, a vMotion
operation of a protected VM from one host to another is intercepted by the ZVM so the Zerto
User Interface is updated accordingly.

ZORG, Zerto
Organization

Cloud customers are defined to Zerto Cloud Manager as Zerto organizations, ZORGs. A ZORG is
defined with the cloud resources it can use, the permissions that it has to perform operations,
such as testing a failover or defining a VPG.

a. Synchronization after a recovery starts after the promotion of data from the journal to the virtual machine disks ends. Thus, synchronization of virtual
machines can start at different times, dependent on when the promotion for the virtual machine ends. All synchronizations are done in parallel, whether
a delta sync or full sync, etc.

287

Index
A
advanced settings ........................................................... 29, 224
commit policy ..................................................................... 31
configure notifications ...................................................... 31
enable replication to self ..........................................30, 62
RPO ....................................................................................... 30
script execution timeout ................................................. 30
Throughput ......................................................................... 30
VRA Local Memory .......................................................... 30
VRA Remote Memory ..................................................... 30
WAN Traffic ....................................................................... 30
alerts
email notifications ............................................................. 31
AMQP
Erlang OTP ........................................................................ 236
installation ........................................................................ 236
RabbitMQ ......................................................................... 236
architecture ................................................................................. 13
B
bandwidth ......................................................................... 29, 224
advanced settings ................................................... 29, 224
bitmap
synchronization .................................................................. 16
WAN resilience .................................................................. 16
bitmap sync ......................................................................137, 281
C
change rate
estimating ....................................................................58, 70
checkpoint .................................................................................... 14
add ....................................................................................... 123
NTP clock synchronization ................................... 36, 259
clone
what is .................................................................................188
commit policy
advanced settings .............................................................. 31
failover and move .............................................................. 31
configuration
virtual protection group ...........................................46, 52
configure notifications
advanced settings .............................................................. 31
connecting sites
see pairing
crash consistency
VSS ......................................................................................124
create
virtual protection group ...........................................46, 52
D
datastore maintenance .......................................................... 140
ddb.geometry.biosSectors ...................................................... 47
ddb.geometry.sectors .............................................................. 47
diagnostics utility .....................................................................214

disaster recovery ...................................................................... 178

during a test ...................................................................... 187
initiating ............................................................................. 179
disk geometry .............................................................................47
disk size
estimating ....................................................................58, 70
disk space .................................................................................. 213
promotion hangs .............................................................. 213
diskbox
see shadow VRA ..............................................................143
E
edit VRA host passwords ......................................................148
edit VRA network settings ....................................................148
email advanced settings ...........................................................31
enable replication to self
advanced settings ......................................................30, 62
environment variable ..............................................................130
ZertoForce .........................................................................130
ZertoOperation ................................................................130
ZertoVCenterIP ................................................................130
ZertoVCenterPort ............................................................130
ZertoVPGName ...............................................................130
export to CSV
virtual protection group ...................................................92
F
failback
move ...................................................................................174
failover ...............................................................................178, 183
commit policy ......................................................................31
during a test ...................................................................... 187
initiating ............................................................................. 179
process ............................................................................... 178
report ..................................................................................198
scratch volume ................................................................. 183
stop testing ........................................................................166
testing ................................................................................. 162
failover test ................................................................................164
report ..................................................................................198
scratch volume .................................................................164
force delete ....................................................................... 122, 136
G
geometry ...............................................................47, 59, 71, 114
Ghost VRA .................................................................................. 151
H
Host not displayed in Manage VPG dialog ....................... 213
host not displayed in Manage VPG dialog ........................ 213
I
IDE device ....................................................................................47
information for a site .................................................................33

288

J
journal ...............................14, 54, 67, 76, 82, 252, 254, 256
add checkpoint ................................................................. 123
sizing .................................................................................... 48
journal size hard limit
change ..................................................................................111
L
license ...........................................................................................35
logs ...............................................................................................219
collecting logs ...................................................................214
when adding VSS checkpoint .......................................219
M
maintenance
datastore ........................................................................... 140
host ......................................................................................152
migration
see move
modify volumes .........................................................................116
RDM .....................................................................................116
monitor ........................................................................................ 88
site details ........................................................................... 89
site topology ....................................................................... 99
sites ...................................................................................... 99
topology ............................................................................ 100
virtual machines ................................................................ 97
virtual protection group .................................................. 92
virtual protection groups ................................................90
VPGs tab .............................................................................90
VRA
monitoring .................................................................103
move ............................................................................................176
commit policy ..................................................................... 31
failback ...............................................................................174
initiating .............................................................................. 173
report ..................................................................................198
reverse replication ...........................................................174
scratch volume .................................................................176
what is ................................................................................. 172
N
Needs Configuration ....................................................... 116, 117
needs configuration .................................................................139
troubleshooting ................................................................212
network mapping
vCD ....................................................................................... 84
new virtual protection group ...........................................46, 52
NTP checkpoint consistency ........................................ 36, 259
O
offsite backup ............................................................ 39, 50, 192
recovery policy ............................................54, 67, 76, 82
repository .................................................................... 42, 44
restore ......................................................................... 39, 192
retention period .......................................................... 40, 51
VBA ...................................................................................... 39

offsite backups
stored .............................................................................40, 51
offsite clone
what is ................................................................................188
P
pairing ......................................................................................... 158
Permissions ...................................................................... 22, 209
point-in-time
add checkpoint ................................................................. 123
preseed ..................................................................47, 59, 71, 114
recovery volume ................................. 59, 71, 79, 85, 114
process
clone .................................................................................... 192
failover ................................................................................ 178
move
offsite clone .......................................................................188
test failover ........................................................................ 162
promotion hangs ...................................................................... 213
protect
see virtual protection group
protected site
pairing ................................................................................. 158
protection over time by ZORG
report .................................................................................. 197
provisioned storage .......................................... 50, 91, 97, 274
R
RabbitMQ
Erlang OTP ....................................................................... 236
installation ........................................................................ 236
raw device mapping (RDM)
recovery volume .................................................59, 71, 114
raw disk
recovery volume .................................................59, 71, 114
Raw Disk (RDM) .........................................................59, 71, 114
RDM (raw device mapping) .....................................59, 71, 114
modifying ............................................................................116
recovery volume .................................................59, 71, 114
recent activities ......................................................................... 96
recovery ...................................................................................... 178
during a test ...................................................................... 187
initiating ............................................................................. 179
report ..................................................................................198
recovery data size ......................................................................93
recovery flows ............................................................................38
recovery policy
disaster recovery ........................................54, 67, 76, 82
extended recovery ......................................54, 67, 76, 82
offsite backup ..............................................54, 67, 76, 82
recovery site
pairing ................................................................................. 158
recovery storage ......................................................89, 90, 272
recovery volume
preseed .................................................. 59, 71, 79, 85, 114
raw device mapping (RDM) ............................59, 71, 114
swap ....................................................... 59, 71, 79, 85, 114

289

registration ...................................................................................35
remove Virtual Replication Appliances ..............................150
Replication Pause Time ..........................................................120
replication to self ................................................................30, 62
report
failover tests ......................................................................198
failovers ..............................................................................198
moves ..................................................................................198
protection over time by ZORG .....................................197
recovery ..............................................................................198
resources report ...............................................................199
usage ..................................................................................202
VPG performance ...........................................................203
repository
offsite backup ............................................................ 42, 44
resize volumes ...........................................................................116
RDM .....................................................................................116
resources report .......................................................................199
restore .........................................................................................192
offsite backup .................................................................... 39
what is .................................................................................192
retention period
offsite backup ............................................................. 40, 51
reverse replication
move ....................................................................................174
RPO
advanced settings ............................................................. 30
S
same site replication ................................................................ 62
scratch volume ...................................................... 164, 176, 183
scripts
execution timeout
advanced settings ..................................................... 30
ZertoForce environment variable ................................130
ZertoOperation environment variable .......................130
ZertoVCenterIP environment variable .......................130
ZertoVCenterPort environment variable ...................130
ZertoVPGName environment variable ......................130
self replication .....................................................................30, 62
shadow VRA
Virtual Replication Appliance .............................143, 286
signature matching
WAN optimization ............................................................ 16
site details
monitoring .......................................................................... 89
site information ..........................................................................33
site topology ............................................................................... 99
sites tab ....................................................................................... 99
sizing
volumes ........................................................................58, 70
WAN .....................................................................................23
status
VPG .....................................................................................136
stop
testing .................................................................................166
storage
provisioned .................................................50, 91, 97, 274

Storage vMotion ........................................................... 150, 209

stored offsite backups .......................................................40, 51
summary tab .............................................................................. 89
swap ...................................................................................... 79, 85
swap disk
recovery volume ................................. 59, 71, 79, 85, 114
synchronization
bitmap .................................................................................. 16
synchronization triggers
virtual protection group ................................................. 136
VPG .....................................................................................140
T
test
failover ................................................................................ 162
initiating failover .............................................................. 187
stopping .............................................................................166
virtual protection group ................................................. 162
test failover ................................................................................ 162
process ............................................................................... 162
test scratch volume .................................................................164
thin provisioning ...................................................................... 207
throttling
advanced settings ................................................... 29, 224
Throughput
advanced settings ............................................................. 30
time-based bandwidth throttling
advanced settings ..............................................................29
topology tab ......................................................................99, 100
transaction consistency
VSS ......................................................................................124
triggers
synchronization ................................................................ 136
VPG synchronization ......................................................140
troubleshooting
disk space .......................................................................... 213
Host not displayed in Manage VPG dialog ............... 213
host not displayed in Manage VPG dialog ................ 213
VRA crashes during promotion ................................... 213
Zerto Virtual Manager service ......................................211
U
uninstall Virtual Replication Appliances ............................150
upgrade
Virtual Replication Appliance .......................................146
upgrading ...................................................................................146
usage
report ................................................................................. 202
V
vApp ................................................................................... 65, 206
VBA
offsite backup .....................................................................39
vCD
network mapping .............................................................. 84
Virtual Backup Appliance
see VBA

290

virtual machine
modify RDM .......................................................................116
modify volumes .................................................................116
monitoring .......................................................................... 97
protect ................................................................................. 63
virtual protection group
add machine ........................................................................111
via virtual machine node ......................................... 64
via VPG definition .....................................................112
creating .........................................................................46, 52
delete ..........................................................................121, 122
for a single virtual machine ............................................ 63
modify ................................................................................ 109
monitoring .......................................................................... 92
saving details to file .......................................................... 92
synchronization triggers ................................................136
synchronize .......................................................................120
testing .................................................................................162
virtual protection groups
monitoring .......................................................................... 90
Virtual Replication Appliance
crash during promotion .................................................. 213
edit host password ......................................................... 148
edit network settings ..................................................... 148
see VRA
shadow VRA ...........................................................143, 286
uninstall ..............................................................................150
upgrade .............................................................................. 146
VirtualEthernetCardLegacyNetworkBackingInfo ............. 47
vMotion .....................................................................................209
VMware host maintenance ...................................................152
volume
estimating size ............................................................58, 70
preseed .................................................. 59, 71, 79, 85, 114
raw device mapping (RDM) ............................ 59, 71, 114
swap ...................................................................... 59, 71, 114
Volume Shadow Copy Service .....................................123, 124
logs ......................................................................................219
VPG
see virtual protection group
Synchronization triggers ............................................... 140
VPG performance
report .................................................................................203
VPG status
VPG waiting to be removed .................................122, 136
VPG statuses .............................................................................136
VPG waiting to be removed
force delete ...............................................................122, 136

VPGs tab
monitoring .......................................................................... 90
VRA .............................................................................................146
edit network settings ......................................................148
monitoring .........................................................................103
VRA Local Memory
advanced settings ............................................................. 30
VRA Remote Memory
advanced settings ............................................................. 30
VSS .....................................................................................123, 124
crash consistency ............................................................124
logs ...................................................................................... 219
transaction consistency .................................................124
vStorage
thin provisioning .............................................................207
W
WAN
bitmap sync ......................................................................... 16
signature matching ........................................................... 16
sizing .....................................................................................23
WAN Traffic
advanced settings ............................................................. 30
Windows service
Zerto Virtual Manager .................................................... 211
Z
Zerto standalone UI ........................................................ 18, 206
Zerto Virtual Manager ...............................................................13
Windows service .............................................................. 211
Zerto Virtual Replication
architecture ..........................................................................13
benefits ................................................................................. 14
how it works .........................................................................13
logs ...................................................................................... 219
monitoring .......................................................................... 88
what is ...................................................................................12
ZertoForce
script ...................................................................................130
ZertoOperation
script ...................................................................................130
ZertoVCenterIP
script ...................................................................................130
ZertoVCenterPort
script ...................................................................................130
ZertoVPGName
script ...................................................................................130
ZVM
see Zerto Virtual Manager

For further assistance using Zerto Virtual Replication,

contact Zerto support at [email protected].

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