Overview

VMware vSphere Replication is a hypervisor-based, asynchronous replication solution designed to protect VMware virtual machine (VM) infrastructures. It enables the replication of VMs to another location, either within the same data center or across different sites, ensuring data availability and business continuity. This solution is compatible with various storage technologies, including VMware vSAN, traditional storage area networks (SANs), network-attached storage (NAS), and direct-attached storage (DAS). vSphere Replication offers flexible recovery point objectives (RPOs) ranging from 5 minutes to 24 hours, allowing organizations to tailor their data protection strategies to meet specific business requirements. The solution integrates seamlessly with VMware vCenter Server, providing a unified management interface for configuring and monitoring replication tasks. Additionally, vSphere Replication can be used as a standalone product or in conjunction with VMware Site Recovery Manager for automated disaster recovery orchestration.

Features and Capabilities

• Hypervisor-Based Replication: Operates at the hypervisor level, eliminating the need for additional agents within VMs and reducing management complexity.
• Flexible Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs): Supports RPOs ranging from 5 minutes to 24 hours, allowing organizations to define their desired data protection levels.
• Storage Agnostic: Compatible with various storage solutions, including VMware vSAN, traditional SANs, NAS, and DAS, providing flexibility in storage choices.
• Application Consistency: Ensures application-consistent replication by leveraging VMware Tools and VMware vSphere APIs for Data Protection (VADP), maintaining data integrity for applications like databases and email servers.
• Seamless Integration with VMware vCenter Server: Offers a unified management interface through vCenter Server, simplifying the configuration and monitoring of replication tasks.
• Non-Disruptive Testing: Allows for non-disruptive testing of recovery plans, enabling organizations to validate their disaster recovery strategies without impacting production environments.
• Automated Orchestration with VMware Site Recovery Manager: When combined with VMware Site Recovery Manager, provides automated orchestration of recovery plans, reducing manual intervention and recovery time objectives (RTOs).
• Efficient Data Transfer: Utilizes advanced delta mechanisms and integrated compression to efficiently transfer only changed data, optimizing bandwidth usage and reducing replication windows.
• Scalability: Designed to scale from small to large environments, accommodating the replication needs of organizations of all sizes.
• Centralized Management: Enables centralized management of replication tasks, simplifying administrative overhead and ensuring consistent data protection policies across the organization.