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, the recovery time objective (RTO), and with minimal data loss, the recovery point objective (RPO). Zerto Virtual Replication enables recovery with low values for both the RTO and RPO. Zerto Virtual Replication is installed in every site with virtual machines to be protected and recovered. The installation includes the following:
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 service the Zerto GUI as a standalone browser-based UI or from within vSphere Client console or vSphere Web Client, for the user 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 so the Zerto GUI is updated accordingly.
OVF to enable installing Virtual Replication Appliances (VRAs) – A VRA is 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.
Zerto vSphere Client console plug-in – A plug-in in the vSphere Client console that enables managing recovery using Zerto Virtual Replication from the vSphere Client console.
Zerto GUI – Recovery using Zerto Virtual Replication is managed in a browser using the Zerto DR Management UI, or via the vSphere Client console or vSphere Web Client.
The following topics are described in this chapter:
■ “Zerto Virtual Replication Architecture”, below
■ “Zerto Virtual Replication Interoperability Matrix”, on page 8
■ “Requirements and Pre-installation”, on page 11
■ “Installation”, on page 14
■ “Troubleshooting the Installation”, on page 21
■ “Uninstalling Zerto Virtual Replication”, on page 21
■ “Installing Zerto Virtual Replication Cmdlets”, on page 22
■ “Installing Zerto Virtual Replication VSS Agent”, on page 23
Zerto Virtual Replication Architecture
Zerto Virtual Replication Architecture
The following diagram shows how the main Zerto Virtual Replication are deployed across sites to provide disaster recovery across these sites.1
1. For cloud-based architecture diagrams, see Zerto Virtual Replication Zerto Cloud Manager Installation.
Zerto Virtual Replication Architecture
The following diagram shows how the components deployed on one site and the ports and communication protocols used between the components.
Zerto Virtual Replication can be installed at multiple sites and each of these sites can be paired to any of the other sites enabling enterprises to protect multiple datacenters as well as remote branch offices.
Zerto Virtual Replication supports both the protected and recovery sites being managed by a single vCenter Server. For example, in the following scenario:
■ From one datacenter, a branch office, to another datacenter, the main office, both managed by the same vCenter Server.
■ From one host to a second host, both managed by the same vCenter Server.
■ To the same host but using a different datastore for recovery.
When a single vCenter Server is used, port 9081 shown in the above diagram is not used. Also, it is recommended to install Zerto Virtual Replication in the main office site where protected machines will be recovered.
Zerto Virtual Replication Architecture The following table provides information about the ports opened by Zerto Virtual Replication:
Note: For details of the architecture and ports used in a cloud-based architecture environment, see Zerto Virtual Replication Zerto Cloud Manager Installation.
Ref. # Port Purpose
1 9080a
a. The default port provided during the Zerto Virtual Replication installation which can be changed during the installation.
Communication between the ZVM and a Zerto VSS Agent.
2 443 Required between the Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM) and the vCenter Server.
3 9669a Communication between a machine running the vSphere Web Client and the ZVM for the relevant vCenter Server.
4 9669a Communication between a machine running the vSphere Client console and the ZVM for the relevant vCenter Server.
5 9669 Communication between a machine running the Zerto DR Management UI and the ZVM for the relevant vCenter Server.
6 443 Required between an ESXi 4.x host and the Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM) during installation of a Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA).
7 9081a Communication between the site ZVMsb.
b. When the same vCenter Server is used for both the protected and recovery sites, Zerto Virtual Replication is installed on one site only and this port can be ignored.
8 443 Required between an ESXi 5.x host and the Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM) during installation of a Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA).
9 22 Required between an ESXi host and the Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM) during installation of a Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA).
10 4005 Log collection between the ZVM and site VRAs.
11 4006 Communication between the ZVM and site VRAs.
12 4009 Communication between the ZVM and site VRAs to handle checkpoints.
13 9080a Internal communication between the ZVM and Zerto internal APIs.
14 9669a Communication between the ZVM and Zerto REST APIs.
15 9080a Communication between the ZVM and Zerto cmdlets.
16 4007 Control communication between protecting and recovering VRAs.
17 4008 Communication between VRAs to pass data from protected virtual machines to a VRA on a recovery site.
Zerto Virtual Replication Interoperability Matrix
Zerto Virtual Replication Interoperability Matrix
The following tables list the supported environments and VMware features as of the release date for this document. For an up-to-date list of supported ESX/ESXi hosts, see the Compatibility Matrix dialog, under the site configuration Advanced Settings dialog in the Zerto GUI.
Environments Supported by Zerto Virtual Replication
Environment Zerto Virtual Replication
version 3.1U4 (Granite) Zerto Virtual Manager Supported Servers
Windows Server 2003 and SP2 (32 and 64 Bit) Yes
Windows Server 2008 (32 Bit) Yes
Windows Server 2008 and SP2 (64 Bit), R2 and R2 SP1 (64Bit) Yes
Windows Server 2012 and SP1 and R2 Yes
Zerto VSS Agent
Windows Server 2003 No
Windows Server 2003 SP2 (32 and 64 Bit) Yes
Windows Server 2008 all versions (32Bit) No
Windows Server 2008 and SP2 (64Bit), R2 and R2 SP1 (64Bit) Yes
Windows Server 2012 and SP1 and R2 Yes
Operating Systems Supported for Re-IP: Windows
Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2012 all versions Yes
Operating Systems Supported for Re-IP: Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 5-6 Yes
SUSE Linux Enterprise versions 10-11 Yes
Zerto Virtual Replication Interoperability Matrix
Storage: SAN, NAS, FC, iSCSI, DAS Yes
Storage: IDE No
Volumes: All vdisks (including VMFS, Independent Persistent disks,
Virtual RDM and dedupe stores) and Physical RDM Yes
Volumes: Non-default disk geometry Use preseed
a. Known issues affect user experience:
If a protected VM disk is resized, the recovery disk is not automatically resized when it is RDM, the recovery vCenter is 4.0 or there is a disconnection between the sites when resizing: The VPG state changes to Needs Configuration.
Host affinity rules are not set on the VRA or test VMs.
Lack of support for some advanced queries, resulting in more queries against the vCenter Server, slowing response time.
The VRA needs manual intervention when installed on a shared datastore and one of the hosts sharing the datastore is pow-ered off.
b. Zerto Virtual Replication is tested with Rabbit MQ with Erlang/OTP.
Environment Zerto Virtual Replication
version 3.1U4 (Granite)
Zerto Virtual Replication Interoperability Matrix
VMware Features Supported by Zerto Virtual Replication
Feature Zerto Virtual Replication
High availability (HA) with/without admission control (recovery site)b Yes
Host Affinity Rules and CPU Pinning Yes
Linked Clones Yesc
Storage vMotion of protected VRAs Yese
vApp support Yes
vCenter Roles and permissions Yes
VMotion of protected VMs (with/without shared disks for VMs) Yes
VMware Host maintenance mode Yes
vCloud Director (vCD) 1.5, 5.1-5.5
AMQP Required
Extended vCloud Networking and Security (vCNS) Servicesf: Five-tuple firewall and IPSec VPN services
Requirements and Pre-installation
Requirements and Pre-installation
Zerto Virtual Manager is installed on each site managed by a vCenter Server on a machine running a Windows operating system with the following requirements:
■ Windows Server 2003 SP2 or higher, or Windows Server 2008, 2008R2, 2012 or 2012R2.
Reserve at least 2 CPUs and 4GB RAM for the machine.
The clocks on servers where Zerto Virtual Replication is installed must be synchronized with each other so that the UTC values match (the timezones can be different). Zerto recommends that the clocks are synchronized using NTP.
Note: Installing Zerto Virtual Replication on a 32-bit Windows operating system limits the memory to 2GB. This limits the number of virtual machines that can be protected.
■ At least 2GB of free disk space.
■ Microsoft .NET Framework 4 or 4.5. The 4.0 installation executable is included as part of the Zerto Virtual Replication installation kit and it needs an additional 1.8GB of free disk space.1 Storage Profiles with storage clusters as replicated targets Yes
Fast provisioning using linked clones Yesc
Metadata (Custom guest Properties) GUIg Yes
Org vDC Networksh Yes
Snapshots of protected VMsi Yes
Single Sign-Onj Yes
a. When specifying the recovery storage for a virtual machine with a storage cluster, you have to specify a datastore in the cluster.
b. Test failover, failover and move will fail if admission control does not enable starting recovered VMs.
c. Collapsed on reverse protection.
d. Not involved in replication.
e. Cannot perform any recovery operations to the VRA during the storage vMotion.
f. With vCD 1.5, settings not replicated with the virtual machines.
g. Metadata is replicated. Metadata on every vCD entity is supported as it does not interfere with replication.
h. Treat all Org vDC networks as if they were part of the entire Organization.
i. Only vCD VM and vApp metadata.
j. vCenter Server must be connected to Active Directory.
Feature Zerto Virtual Replication
version 3.1U4 (Granite)
Requirements and Pre-installation You must have VMware vCenter Server version 4.0U1 or higher with at least one ESX/ESXi host installed on each site where Zerto Virtual Manager is to be used. When recovery is managed by the same vCenter Server as the protection, Zerto Virtual Manager is required to be installed once only. When the protected and recovery sites are managed by different vCenter Servers Zerto Virtual Manager is installed once per vCenter Server.
Note: When the vCenter Server is installed on a Linux machine via the vCenter Server Linux Virtual Appliance (vCSA), the Zerto Virtual Manager must still be installed on a Windows machine.
It is recommended to install the Zerto Virtual Manager with the following profile:
■ On a dedicated virtual machine.
■ With a dedicated administrator account.
■ No other applications installed on this machine. If additional applications are installed, the Zerto Virtual Manager service must receive enough resources and HA remain enabled.
■ With VMware vSphere High Availability (HA) enabled.
■ With the VM Restart Policy set to High.
Note: If a proxy server is used at the site, specify the IP address of the Zerto Virtual Manager in the exception list in the Proxy Server settings.
Routable Networks
Zerto Virtual Manager supports the following network configurations:
■ Flat LAN networks
■ VLAN networks, including Private VLANs and stretched VLANs
■ WAN emulation
■ VPN IPsec
Zerto Virtual Manager does not support NAT (Network Address Translation) firewalls.
Minimum Bandwidth
The connectivity between sites must have the bandwidth capacity to handle the data to be replicated between the sites. The minimum bandwidth must be at least 5 Mb/sec.
1. You should ensure that you have the latest .NET and Windows updates, unless Zerto support warns against a specific update.
For example, installing update 2661254 and running vSphere client 4.x causes a problem to connect to the vCenter Server during the Zerto Virtual Replication installation. Also, from Microsoft MSDN: Ensure that your computer has the latest Windows service pack and critical updates. To find security updates, visit Windows Update. If you’re installing on XP 64 bit or Windows 2003 you might need the Windows Imaging Component. Download the 32 bit component from http://www.microsoft.com/down-loads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8E011506-6307-445B-B950-215DEF45DDD8 and the 64 bit component from http://www.micro-soft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=F64654AC-6E26-41D9-A90A-0E7783B864EE.
Requirements and Pre-installation
Zerto User Interface Requirements
On the machine running the Zerto user interface to manage the disaster recovery you need Adobe Flash Player 11.8 ActiveX or higher. If Adobe Flash Player is not installed, it is included with the Zerto Virtual Replication installation and you are prompted to install it when you first attempt to access the Zerto user interface.1 The minimum recommended screen resolution is 1024*768.
Zerto Virtual Manager Firewall Considerations
Zerto Virtual Manager requires the following ports to be open in the protected and recovery site firewalls:
1. The GUI is displayed within a Microsoft Internet Explorer browser window. Thus, access to the Zerto Virtual Manager must be enabled as a trusted site in Internet Explorer: In Internet Explorer, select Tools > Internet Options and in the Internet Options dialog that is displayed, select the Security tab. Select the Trusted Sites zone, click Sites and enter the IP address of the machine where the Zerto Virtual Manager will be installed.
Port Description
22a During Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA) installation on ESXi 4.x and 5.x hosts for communication between the Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM) and the ESXi hosts IPs and for ongoing communication between the ZVM and a Zerto Cloud Connector.
443 During VRA installation on ESX/ESXi hosts for communication between the ZVM and the ESX/ESXi hosts IPs and for ongoing communication between the ZVM and vCenter Server and vCloud Director.
4005 Log collection between the ZVM and VRAs on the same site.
4006 TCP communication between the ZVM and VRAs on the same site.
4007 TCP control communication between protecting and recovering VRAs and between a Zerto Cloud Connector and VRAs.
4008 TCP communication between VRAs to pass data from protected virtual machines to a VRA on a recovery site and between a Zerto Cloud Connector and VRAs.
4009 TCP communication between the ZVM and site VRAs to handle checkpoints.
5672 TCP communication between the ZVM and vCloud Director for access to AMQP messaging.
9080 HTTP communication between the ZVM and Zerto internal APIs, a Zerto Cloud Manager (ZCM), cmdlets, and a VSS Agent.
9081b TCP communication between the ZVMsc and between a ZVM and a Zerto Cloud Connector.
Installation
Installation
The Zerto Virtual Replication installation deploys the Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM) and sets up the plug-in to manage the replication from the vSphere Client console and also copies the installation for the Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA).
A complete installation includes installing Zerto Virtual Replication on the protected and peer, recovery, sites. When both these sites use a single vCenter Server, Zerto Virtual Replication is installed on only one site. In this case, it is recommended to install Zerto Virtual Replication in the main office site where protected machines will be recovered.
You can install Zerto Virtual Replication using the defaults provided by Zerto or perform a custom install, whereby you can determine the ports that will be used by Zerto Virtual Replication. In addition, when performing a custom install, site information and information to connect to vCloud Director can be provided, which, with an express install can only be provided, if required, after
9082 and up
A cloud service provider supplies disaster recovery services – Two TCP ports for each VRA (one for port 4007 and one for port 4008) accessed via the Zerto Cloud Connector installed by the cloud service provider. There is directionality to these ports. It is recommended to use a port range starting with port 9082.
For example, Customer A network has 3 VRAs and customer B network has 2 VRAs and the cloud service provider network has 4 VRAs, then the following ports must be open in the firewall for each cloud: The cloud service provider’s VRAs need to use 6 ports to reach customer A’s VRAs, while customer A’s VRAs need 8 ports to reach the cloud’s VRAs. The cloud service provider’s VRAs need to use 4 ports to reach customer B’s VRAs, while customer B’s VRAs need 8 ports to reach the cloud’s VRAs.
9669 HTTPS communication between the machine running the Zerto GUI, the Zerto DR Management UI, vSphere Web Client or vSphere Client console, and a ZVM, and for invoking Zerto REST APIs.
9779 HTTPS communication between the Zerto Self-Service Portal for in-cloud (ICDR) customers and a ZVM.
9989 HTTPS communication between a browser and the Zerto Cloud Manager.
a. If the ESX/ESXi hosts are given names, make sure that the Zerto Virtual Manager can resolve these names.
b. The default port set during the Zerto Virtual Replication installation. When pairing the ZVM to a Zerto Cloud Connector, this value must not be changed.
c. When the same vCenter Server is used for protection and recovery, Zerto Virtual Replication is installed on one site only and this port is ignored.
Port Description
Installation the installation in the Zerto GUI; the Zerto DR Management UI, vSphere Client console or Web Client.
To perform an express install of Zerto Virtual Replication:
1. Run Zerto Virtual Replication Installer.exe.
Note: If the Microsoft.NET Framework 4 or 4.5 is not installed, it is installed as part of the Zerto Virtual Replication installation. In this case, after it is installed, reboot the vCenter Server machine, and when it comes up rerun Zerto Virtual Replication
Installer.exe.
2. Follow the wizard through the installation until the dialog for the Installation Type and select the Express Installation option.
3. Click Next.
The vCenter Server Connectivity and Site Name dialog is displayed.
Specify the following:
IP / Host Name – The IP address or host name of the machine where the vCenter Server runs.
User Name – The user name for a user with administrator level privileges 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.
Site Name – The name used to identify the site.
4. Click Next.
The installation performs a series of checks to make sure that the installation can proceed successfully.
5. After the checks complete successfully, click Next and continue to the end of the installation.
6. Set any antivirus software running on the machine not to scan the folder where Zerto Virtual Replication is installed.
Installation
7. Repeat the procedure to install Zerto Virtual Replication on peer sites.
To perform a custom install of Zerto Virtual Replication:
1. Run Zerto Virtual Replication Installer.exe.
Note: If the Microsoft.NET Framework 4 or 4.5 is not installed, it is installed as part of the Zerto Virtual Replication installation. In this case, after it is installed, reboot the vCenter Server machine, and when it comes up rerun Zerto Virtual Replication
Installer.exe.
2. Follow the wizard through the installation until the dialog for the Installation Type and select the Custom Installation option.
3. Click Next.
The Zerto Virtual Manager Setup dialog is displayed.
IP for use by vSphere Client – The IP to access the Zerto Virtual Manager from the Zerto DR Management UI, vSphere Client console or Web Client. 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, Cmdlets and a VSS Agent.
HTTPS Port (vSphere client<->ZVM) – The port used for inbound communication between the Zerto DR Management UI, vSphere Client console or Web Client and the Zerto Virtual Manager.
TCP Port (ZVM<->ZVM) – The port used for communication between Zerto Virtual Managers.
Both the protected and recovery sites belong to the same enterprise – If you change the value,
Both the protected and recovery sites belong to the same enterprise – If you change the value,