Zerto Virtual Replication Release Notes Version 3.0U5 ZVR-RN-3.0U5-01-30-10-13
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Zerto Virtual Replication Release Notes 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. This document describes the Zerto Virtual Replication new features and known problems for version 3.0: Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U5 New Features. Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U4 New Features. Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U3 New Features. Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U2 New Features. Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U1 GA Version New Features. Known Issues. Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U5 New Features Zerto Virtual Replication version 3.0U5 includes support for ESXi 5.0U3. Bug Fixes You can upgrade a site to this version while a peer site remains with Zerto Virtual Replicationversion 2.0U5. You can upgrade the ESXi host to version 5.5 without having to reinstall the VRA. 3
Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U4 New Features Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U4 New Features Zerto Virtual Replication version 3.0U4 includes support for virtual machine Hardware version 10 in addition to ongoing bug fixes to improve the quality. Support for Virtual Machines with Hardware Version 10 Support for virtual machines with the new hardware version 10 has been introduced. In Zerto Virtual Replication version 3.0U3 support for vsphere version 5.5 was introduced but support for the new virtual machine hardware version 10 was not supported. Note: Upgrading from an earlier vsphere release works because the virtual machines are not Hardware 10. Running vsphere Web Client on Linux The vcenter Server Linux Virtual Appliance (vcsa) is a preconfigured Linux-based virtual machine that, among other functions, enables running the vsphere Web Client on a Linux platform. To configure the vsphere Web Client for Zerto Virtual Replication: 1. In the directory /var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client, open the webclient.properties file in a text editor. 2. Add the following to the file: scriptplugin.enabled = true 3. Restart the VMware vsphere Web Client service. Note: After the service has restarted you might have to wait a few minutes before you can open the vsphere Web Client in your browser. Bug Fixes Zerto Cloud Connectors can now be deployed to vsphere 5.5. When upgrading from a previous version, VPGs with target disks defined as RDM are now upgraded correctly. Zerto Virtual Replication Release Notes 4
Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U3 New Features Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U3 New Features Zerto Virtual Replication version 3.0U3 includes support for vsphere version 5.5 (vcenter Server 5.5, ESXi 5.5, vcloud Director 5.5, vsphere Client 5.5 and vsphere Web Client 5.5). The release also includes bug fixes, specifically: When upgrading from a previous version the existing VPGs no longer start a Delta Sync immediately after upgrading the Zerto Virtual Manager. In certain cases recovery operations on a VPG with virtual machines defined with re-ip failed when datastore browsing was enabled. These VPGs can now be recovered with the re-ip of the virtual machines. Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U2 New Features Zerto Virtual Replication version 3.0U2 includes bug fixes, specifically improving problems encountered when upgrading Zerto Virtual Replication version 2.0U5. Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U1 GA Version New Features Zerto Virtual Replication version 3.0U1 is a GA version. The following features have been introduced in this version: Improvements to the User Interface. Upgrading VRAs in Bulk. DR Management Tool for CSPs: Zerto Cloud Manager. Service Profiles VPG Templates. Zerto Self-Service Portal. Standalone Browser-based User Interface. Pausing the Replication Applies to the Site Only. New Location for Specific Features. Cmdlets to Change the Target Host of Virtual Machines in a VPG Zerto Virtual Replication Release Notes 5
Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U1 GA Version New Features Improvements to the User Interface The GUI has been revamped to make it easier to use. Specifically: The static tabs are now easier to identify to enable accessing different features, such as the list of VPGs or site topology. VPG detail screens are presented as additional dynamic tabs to the right of the Reports tab. Upgrading VRAs in Bulk The user can now upgrade multiple VRAs in a single task. The VRAs are upgraded sequentially dependent of each other. The failure of one upgrade will not fail other VRAs upgrade. DR Management Tool for CSPs: Zerto Cloud Manager Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) regularly host the same customer in multiple global locations. The Zerto Virtual Replication unique architecture can easily support replication between sites around the world. Zerto has created the Zerto Cloud Manger (ZCM) to deliver centralized management for DR in the cloud. The ZCM consolidates and streamlines resource information into a single interface to make multi-site, multi-tenant, dynamic DR environments easier to manage. The automated consolidation and reporting on cloud usage increases the confidence of customers that they are billed accurately on their infrastructure usage. Service Profiles VPG Templates Service profiles, which are effectively service configuration templates, ensure consistency in terms of the SLAs offered and help streamline the onboarding process. Service profiles reduce the administrative effort of the CSP and provide the customers with the capability to quickly protect virtual machines. Service profiles enable a CSP to define structured service offerings with specific SLA parameters, including RPO, Journal maximum size, history and service level expectations. Service profiles can be added to a pool of service profiles that the CSP has predefined. These profiles make self-service much simpler, so cloud customers do not need to be educated on all these settings; they just select a profile from a drop-down list. Customers will be able to choose or update the service profile selection at the VPG creation stage if they have the proper permissions. Zerto Virtual Replication Release Notes 6
Zerto Virtual Replication 3.0U1 GA Version New Features Zerto Self-Service Portal The Zerto Self-Service Portal incorporates all of the features that were commonly requested by cloud service providers in production. These features enable the CSP to rapidly roll out a more automated client experience. The Zerto Self-Service Portal provides CSPs with the capability to offer a single point portal for their customers to view the status of their SLAs and manage the DR or migration status of their virtual machines regardless of the actual location of the virtual machines. Standalone Browser-based User Interface The Zerto Virtual Replication GUI is now available directly in a browser so the user does not require the vsphere Client console. Pausing the Replication Applies to the Site Only The ability pause replication when synchronizing a VPG to enable an administrator to resolve the issue when continuing the synchronization will cause all the checkpoints in the journal to be removed, is set for the whole site and can no longer be overridden in a VPG. All existing VPGs will also use the value in the Advanced Settings dialog and any change to the value in the Advanced Settings dialog affects all existing VPGs as well as any new VPGs. New Location for Specific Features Cloud specific features, such as managing cloud connectors and masking have been removed from the Zerto Virtual Replication GUI. These features are now available as part of the Zerto Cloud Manager. Cmdlets to Change the Target Host of Virtual Machines in a VPG You can change the host used to recover protected virtual machines when the host cannot continue to be used, for example when it requires maintenance, using the Set-ChangeRecoveryHost cmdlet. If you don t know which virtual machines are being recovered to a specific host, you can retrieve this information using the Get-GetVmsReplicatingToHost cmdlet: Zerto Virtual Replication Release Notes 7
Known Issues Known Issues The following are known issues when using Zerto Virtual Replication. Installation/Uninstallation In some cases, for example when protected virtual machines were replicated to SAN folders, when uninstalling Zerto Virtual Replication, the VRA folder is not removed. Workaround: This does not impact reinstalling and using Zerto Virtual Replication. You can remove the old folders (Z-VRA-nnnnn) manually. Due to a Windows problem, sometimes when you try to reinstall Zerto Virtual Replication, the Zerto Virtual Manager service is disabled. Workaround: In the CMD window, run sc delete "zerto service" and then rerun the install procedure, or restart the machine running the Zerto Virtual Manager. If you use Chrome to download the VSS agent installation, you are warned that the software is malicious. You can ignore this warning. Upgrade During the upgrade installation the Zerto Virtual Manager service is set to the local system account, even if had previously been set to another account, such as the domain administrator account. Workaround: After the upgrade completes, change the login account for the Zerto Virtual Manager service to the required a count. Pairing Unpairing sites sometimes generates exceptions. These can be ignored. Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA) You have to wait a few minutes after moving a protected virtual machine to another host before you can forcibly uninstall the VRA ghost on the original host. When an ESX/ESXi host is disconnected from the vcenter Server but the network connection is still available, the status of any VPG recovering to this host and the status of the VRA on the host are displayed as OK in the Zerto user interface. However, all recovery operations will fail. Zerto Virtual Replication Release Notes 8
Known Issues Virtual Protection Group (VPG) and Recovery Attempting to create a VPG when the target datastore is unavailable fails. Workaround: Try again after the datastore is up. When creating a VPG, the tasks list relates to the protected site and recovery site, without specifying the name of the site. When specifying a boot order for virtual machines in a VPG, currently only the Start-up delay to next group value is used between groups, even if the VMware Tools are ready checkbox is checked. The boot order defined for a vapp is not reproduced for a cloned vapp. You cannot use preseeded disks for a VPG protecting a vcd vapp created from the catalog. Increasing the size of an RDM disk is not reflected in the VPG, nor by the recovery VMDK. Workaround: Follow the VMware KB: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/ search.do?language=en_us&cmd=displaykc&externalid=1007021. Modifying the Definition of a Virtual Protection Group (VPG) Adding a new volume to a VPG while it is being tested causes the VPG to become corrupted. You cannot stop the test nor perform a failover or move on the VPG. Workaround: Remove the VPG using the ForecRemove-ProtectionGroup cmdlet. Increasing the journal history value causes an alert for the additional time added. You can ignore this alert. Deleting a VPG can cause the alert status to change temporarily to error and for a ghost VRA to be displayed. This clears up after a few minutes and can be ignored. When masking in the Peer Site Configuration dialog, you do not have to specify a folder for masking. If a value is not specified, the folder value in existing VPGs is blanked out. Workaround: Always specify a folder when masking. Failover, Move and Test Failovers After stopping a failover test, the checkpoint that was used for the test has the following tag added to identify the test: Tested at startdateandtimeoftest(originalcheckpoint_dateandtime). The Tested at startdateandtimeoftest value is taken from the Zerto Virtual Manager and not from the UI. When the locale of the protected site and recovery site are different, the reverse replication settings are incorrect causing problems when attempting failback. Workaround: Do not specify reverse protection or edit the VPG to set failback after the move or failover operation has completed. Zerto Virtual Replication Release Notes 9
Known Issues vcloud Director A protected VM replicated from vcd to a vcenter Server, that is connected to the None network, is recovered with a disconnected NIC, even if configured to connect to a network. When creating a VPG replicating to a specific Org vdc, then all Org vdc networks in the owning Organization are available for selection, even those belonging to different Org vdcs inside the same Organization. Adding a new NIC to a protected virtual machine does not update the VPG settings by configuring a network for the NIC, causing an error when setting reverse protection for a Move or Failover operation. Workaround: Manually configure the VPG and add settings for the new NIC. Attempting to failover, test failover or move a VPG with recovery to a vcd, where the target organization or datastore is disabled, fails. After updating a VPG, for example by adding a new virtual machine to it, and then immediately moving it or failing it over to vcd, causes the vcd reflection to be out of date and recovery virtual machines are not powered on, resulting in the promotion hanging. Workaround: Wait a few minutes between changing the VPG and performing the move or failover operation. If you do not wait, manually power on all recovery virtual machines that are not powered on automatically. Deleting a VPG and keeping the target disks when the VPG is recovered to a vcd v5.1 with storage profiles defined, does not move the disks to a datastore that is contained in the recovery storage profile. This means that if the disks are saved to a datastore in the storage profile, these disks cannot be used fro preseeding later. When exporting settings from Zerto Virtual Replication version 2.0U5 (Beryl) and importing to version 3.0 (Corkite) to a site with vcd, a volume initial sync is performed instead of the expected delta sync. Zerto Cloud Manager When creating a VPG, all the virtual machines that can be protected in the vcenter are displayed to add to the VPG and not just those belonging to the configured resources of the Zerto organization (ZORG). Zerto Self Service Portal When updating a VPG, the VPG does not appear in the list of VPGs in the Zerto Self Service Portal for a few minutes. Zerto Virtual Replication Release Notes 10
Known Issues General Running the Zerto Virtual Manager on a 32-bit Windows operating system limits the memory to 2GB. This limits the number of VPGs that can be defined, dependent on the number of virtual machines in each VPG. When synchronizing a VPG, if continuing the synchronization will cause all the checkpoints in the journal to be removed, the VPG enters a Replication Paused state, to enable resolving the issue. During this time, a failover test running on the VPG cannot be stopped. Workaround: Resolve the Replication Paused state and then click Resume to resume the replication and enable stopping the test. If you remove and then re-add an ESX/ESXi host in a vcenter Server causes all protection of VPGs that include virtual machines under the host to stop. Workaround: Use VMotion to move all protected virtual machines to another host before removing the host. Moving a host to another datacenter causes the datastore identifier to change, but the old identifier is still defined in the VPG definition for all affected virtual machines in the VPG. Workaround: You must remove any VPGs from an ESX/ESXi host before moving the host. You cannot disable VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) for a vapp. Disabling DRS for a vapp that is protected causes VMware to move the virtual machines outside of the vapp and then to delete the vapp. This results in the VPG defined for the vapp being deleted. A change to the datastore identifier, for example, when a RAID controller is upgraded, is not supported. Workaround: Keep the disks for preseeding and reinstall Zerto Virtual Replication at the sites. The backslash character (\) is displayed as %5c in the GUI, for example when used in a virtual machine name. VMware vsphere version 5 supports storage clusters which are currently not directly supported by Zerto Virtual Replication. When specifying the recovery storage for a virtual machine with a storage cluster, you have to specify each datastore in the cluster separately. Due to a VMware problem, configuring IPs for the recovery machines is lost when cloning virtual machines with VMXNET3 NIC on Windows 2008 R2 machines. For details and solutions, see http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/ search.do?language=en_us&cmd=displaykc&externalid=1020078. VMware does not identify the IP origin for Linux virtual machines and therefore Zerto Virtual Replication cannot know whether it is static or DHCP. After hibernating a laptop running vsphere Client console, you have to restart the console to reload the Zerto Virtual Replication GUI. Zerto Virtual Replication is not localized. VMware issues alarms where the local is not English with XXX. Workaround: Start up the vsphere Client console adding the following argument: -locale en_us, to display all Zerto Virtual Replication alerts in English. Zerto Virtual Replication Release Notes 11
Known Issues When masking networks which have the same name but different identifiers, for example with a simple network and a dvswitch network, only the name is displayed, so you cannot see which element you want to mask. You cannot select a ESX/ESXi host as a substitute host when performing VRA maintenance if the hosts are defined in different datacenters, even if they share the same datastores. If a host is removed from a site, a ghost VRA is created which you can remove. After the host is added back to the site, a ghost virtual machine is displayed in the vcenter hierarchy. Workaround: Remove the ghost virtual machine from the inventory. If the local site Zerto Virtual Replication service is down, you can still recover and clone VPGs. When cloning a VPG, the clone progress bar in the VPG Details screen is not updated. In a multi-site environment and when masking is not implemented, adding a virtual machine to a VPG by editing the VPG from the recovery site, displays all virtual machines on the protected site, 3even those protected to a different recovery site. Invoking the Zerto VSS Agent can cause errors to be written to the Windows application log. These errors can be ignored. Zerto Virtual Replication Release Notes 12