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Hyper-V Replica Feature

Overview

With Hyper-V Replica, administrators can replicate their Hyper-V virtual machines from one Hyper-V host

at a primary site to another Hyper-V host at the Replica site. This feature lowers the total cost-of-

ownership for an organization by providing a storage-agnostic and workload-agnostic solution that

replicates efficiently, periodically, and asynchronously over IP-based networks across different storage

subsystems and across sites. This scenario does not rely on shared storage, storage arrays, or other

software replication technologies. The following figure demonstrates how Hyper-V Replica lets

administrators easily replicate virtual machines to a remote site over a WAN link.

Additionally, administrators can use Hyper-V Replica to test the Replica virtual machine without disrupting

the ongoing replication. If a failure occurs at the primary site, administrators can quickly restore their

business operations by bringing up the replicated virtual machine at the Replica site.

1. Hyper-V Replica Benefits

Hyper-V Replica can provide the following benefits to your organization:

Hyper-V Replica allows you, in the event of a failure at a primary site (for example, fire,

power outage, or server failure), to fail over your production workloads to Replica servers

at a secondary location with minimal downtime.

Configurations for the Hyper-V Replica server and storage hardware at each site do not

have to be identical. Domain membership is also not required.

Hyper-V Replica provides the option to restore virtualized workloads to a point in time,

depending on the recovery history selections for the virtual machine.

Hyper-V Replica provides the necessary management APIs that enable IT management

vendors to build an enterprise disaster recovery solution for their customers.

Hyper-V Replica enables Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) for hosting providers that host

dedicated virtual servers for their customers.

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2. Replica Server Requirements

You can use Hyper-V Replica on hardware certified for Windows Server 2012. To take advantage

of Hyper-V Replica, which is included as part of the Hyper-V server role, the following

prerequisites must be met:

Hardware that supports the Hyper-V role on Windows Server 2012. Keep in mind that

hardware-assisted virtualization is available in processors that include a virtualization

option—specifically processors with Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) or AMD

Virtualization (AMD-V) technology. In addition, hardware-enforced Data Execution

Prevention (DEP) must be available and enabled.

Sufficient storage on both the primary server and Replica server to host the files used by

virtualized workloads.

Network connectivity between the locations hosting the primary and Replica servers.

Properly configured firewall rules to permit replication between the primary and Replica

sites.

You need to use certificate-based authentication if you want transmitted data to be

encrypted. Use an X.509 v3 certificate to support mutual authentication with certificates.

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3. Hyper-V Replica Terms

This article refers to the following terms

when describing Hyper-V Replica

technology. Term

Definition

replication The ongoing process of sending data

changes that have occurred on a primary

virtual machine to the equivalent Replica

virtual machine.

primary server The server running Hyper-V that hosts your

virtualized production workloads.

primary virtual machine A virtual machine running on the primary

server that is participating in Hyper-V

replication.

Replica server The server that hosts virtual machines that is

maintained in reserve in the event that the

primary server (and its primary virtual

machines) must go offline.

The Replica virtual machines are kept up to

date with any changes that occur on the

primary virtual machines by the process of

replication.

You can configure and manage Replica

servers using Hyper-V Manager or Windows

PowerShell.

Replica virtual machine A virtual machine running on the Replica

server that receives changes that are

detected on the corresponding primary

virtual machine.

planned failover A controlled event where you move a virtual

machine from the primary site to the Replica

site.

unplanned failover An unplanned event that occurs when the

primary site experiences a problem and the

Replica virtual machines are brought online

at the Replica site.

application-consistent replication Replication that allows recovery to a point in

time that is consistent from the perspective

of applications. To accomplish this, the

Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is used.

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LAB Setup:

Server 1

OS = Windows 2012

Name = Hyp1 IP = 172.16.1.1

VM = Domain: Contoso.com IP = 172.16.1.100 OS = windows2012

1) Server 2

OS = Windows 2012

Name = Hyp2 IP = 172.16.1.2

VM = Domain: Client IP = 172.16.1.100 OS = windows 8 64 Bit Professional

HYP1 HYP2

ClientDomain

2 U

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Log in to Hyper-v – right click Hyper-v Server select hyper-v Settings

Select : check enable incoming and outgoing live migrations

Select : Use Kerberos ( AD authentication)

Select : Use any available network for live migrations – OK-

Select the virtual machine which you want to create replica ….

(in case of both Hyper-V servers are having non similar processor) then go for this step..

Turn off the VM right click the VM- Settings- Expand Processor – Select Compatibility- checkbox

migrate to a physical computer with a different processor version. – OK

Enable Replication

Here we are enabling the replication on win8 client machine…which named as WIN8.

Right click win8 VM – select enable – Replication -

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Replication will ask the replica server where you want to replicate the VM. In our case we are

replicating VM win8 from Hyp2 to Hyp1 servers

So select the HYP1 – configure server -

The error indicating that the specified replica server is not configured to receive

replication from this server.

Select next – the hyper-v replication settings windows appears -

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Select the check box “Enable this computer as a replica server”

Select the checkbox “ Use Kerberos (HTTP)”

check radio button “Allow replication from any authenticated server”

The Replication configuration is ready … now we start the replication..

Go to Hyper-v server Hyp2- select the VM (win8) – right click – Enable –Replication-

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Browse and Select the Target server -

Browse and Select the Target server – specify connection parameters -

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Choose the replication VHDs

Configure Recovery History – Only the latest recovery point is the latest snap shot...

Either you can select additional recovery points (which need more space for shadow copies which

depends up on the size of the replication)– and replication settings of VM’s every 1 hour – 2 hors -1 days

– depends up on the requirements.

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In our case selected only the latest recovery point

Chose the initial replication method send initial copy over the network

Schedule for initial replication immediately

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The summery

Finish –

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If the error appears about the communication network – select the virtual switch which is connected to

the network - apply

The replication started –

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The replication completed -

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Replication Completed – after the complete replication we can find the machine on HYP1 where we did

the replication … (status off)

In HYP1 machine select the Replication tab – to check the status of replication.

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Right click the VM (win8) select the replication – select the view replication health

The following displays the replication health status - make sure successful Replication cycles 100%

Before Replication

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For planned failover – select the source Hyper-v server- select the source VM – right click – Replication –

planned failover

Planned failover window – select the check box start the replica virtual machine after failover -click

Failover

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After replication the source will become off state and the destination becomes on state-

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Thanks

ArabITpro Team