VMware HCX Enterprise Install and User Guide For On-Premise Environments
Contents ABOUT THIS GUIDE 3 INTENDED AUDIENCE 3 SUPPORT RESOURCES 3 ABOUT HCX 4 OVERVIEW 4 COMPONENTS 5 HCX INSTALLATION PREREQUISITE 8 HCX PRE-INSTALL WORKFLOW 8 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 9 PREPARING FOR INSTALL OF HCX 9 PRODUCT INTEROPERABILITY MATRIX 19 HCX ENTERPRISE APPLIANCE INSTALLATION 20 HCX ENTERPRISE APPLIANCE INSTALL & SETUP WORKFLOW 20 DOWNLOAD HCX ENTERPRISE OVA 21 INSTALL PROCESS 22 ESTABLISHING SITE PAIRING 34 HCX SITE PAIRING WORKFLOW 34 SITE PAIRING PROCESS 35 EXTENDING THE NETWORK 48 HCX NETWORK EXTENSION WORKFLOW 48 PREREQUISITE - CLOUD EDGE ROUTER 48 NETWORK EXTENSION PROCESS 62 MIGRATING VIRTUAL MACHINES 70 BULK MIGRATION 70 CROSS-CLOUD VMOTION 71 MIGRATION PRE-REQUISITES 71 EXAMPLE WORKFLOW TO MIGRATE LIVE VIRTUAL MACHINES 72 PROTECTING VIRTUAL MACHINES USING VMWARE HCX 77 EXAMPLE WORKFLOW TO ENABLE DR PROTECTION FOR A VM 78 EXAMPLE WORKFLOW TO RECOVER DR PROTECTED VM 82 DR PROTECT OPERATIONS FOR VMS 87
About This Guide VMware HCX Install, Setup and User Guide describes how to install, design, configure HCX, establish site pairing with remote cloud site(s), extending network(s) to the site(s) and use Migration and DR workflows. The install process has been extremely simplified by having to download and install only the HCX Enterprise appliance. The Service appliances are deployed on-demand and managed via HCX Enterprise. Intended Audience This document is intended for operators of the HCX service. Its assumed that the operators are aware how the HCX service works, Business Objectives that are enabled and a good overview of HCX. More information can be found under https://cloud.vmware.com/vmware-hcx Support Resources Please reach out to your Service Provider for assistance during HCX installation. - In the pages that follow, this icon is used to denote actionable tasks for the HCX operator.
VCD About HCX VMware HCX abstracts on-premises vs cloud notions and presents capabilities to Virtual Machines as a continuous hybrid cloud. This document ranges from introduction to HCX to implementation & administration. Because the intended audience changes throughout the document, it will be mentioned in the beginning of each section. Intended Audience: Enterprise Business Leaders, Migration Architects & Systems Administrators Overview Ultimate VM Portability & Compatibility VCAN Cloud Partner Hybrid Services Exchange Managed Hosting vsphere 6.0 & 6.5 Legacy On-prem vsphere 5.5 & 5.1 CONFIDENTIAL 4 VMware HCX enables, I. The modernization of Mission-Critical Application Infrastructure with minimal operational overhead without requiring a retrofit of legacy infrastructure.
II. III. New hybrid datacenter architectures, where on-premise/private cloud network topologies are efficiently replicated, accelerating app migration, mobility and business continuity, and at scale. Seamless migration of hundreds of VMs, bi-directionally, in parallel, on a secure highperformance overlay, over the existing WAN, VPN or Private lines. Components HCX is able to establish this state of hybridity by leveraging multiple components - I. HCX interconnect Service a. The interconnect service provides resilient access over the internet and private lines to the target site while providing strong encryption, traffic engineering and extending the datacenter. This service simplifies secure pairing of site and management of HCX components.
II. WAN Optimization a. Improves performance characteristics of the private lines or internet paths by leveraging WAN optimization techniques like data de-duplication and line conditioning. This makes performance closer to a LAN environment. b. Accelerates on-boarding to the cloud using Internet/VPN- without waiting for Direct Connect/MPLS circuits.
III. Network Extension Service a. Layer 2 extension capability - keep same IP addresses during a Virtual Machine migration or in a Disaster Recovery configuration. b. Supports clusters configured with a vsphere Distributed Switch or Cisco s Nexus 1000v. c. Supports high performance configurations. Between 1 Gbps 5 Gbps throughput.
HCX Installation Prerequisite The HCX Installation Prerequisites section provides information, and requirements for planning the HCX installation. Intended Audience: Project Managers, System Administrators, Architects HCX Pre-Install Workflow The workflow below depicts the recommended HCX deployment flow. Assuming Test Plan and Success Criteria have been established, Start the install. Ensure Target HCX Cloud Infrastructure (Compute, Storage, Network) is up and running Complete Pre-Install Checklist Ready to Install
System Requirements The table below depicts the cluster resources required for the various appliances that get deployed during the install of HCX. Remember: The appliances listed in green are automatically deployed and managed by HCX, simplifying operational effort required to manage HCX. Virtual Machine vcpus RAM Disk 1 Disk 2 Comment HCX Manager 4 12 GB 60 GB N/A The manager is required for activation, internal system control & ongoing management of HCX Service Interconnect 8 3 GB 1.5 GB N/A Key Component of HCX Service. Service Network Extension 8 2 GB 1 GB 512MB Key Component of HCX Service. Service WAN Optimizer 8 14 GB 30 GB 70 GB Key Component of HCX Service. Preparing for Install of HCX Understand Business Objectives with HCX Document agreed upon Success Criteria and plan for use cases to be tested/enabled. During the initial configuration, individual HCX services enabled or excluded. Enable HCX services to meet the business objectives. The following services are deployed as virtual appliances (please note the system resource requirements) Hybrid Interconnect Service, WAN Optimization Service
Network Extension Service The other services are deployed as an integrated service on the Hybrid Interconnect Service. Re-verification of Target HCX Cloud Infrastructure Verify target cloud site infrastructure is able to meet desired business objectives. Specifically, verify to ensure the right amount of Compute, Networking and Storage resources are available. HCX-Enabled Cloud Management Information The information below is based on the HCX-enabled target site; it should be collected prior to the premises HCX Service Installation. Cloud Endpoint Configuration The below information needs to be collected from the Cloud Service Provider. Cloud HCX Services Public IP Address HCX Interconnect Service HCX Network Extension Service Additional HCX Network Extension Service Recommendation Get a range of IP s to be used for all Cloud side services. Used to ensure open communication paths between Enterprise and cloud HCX services. Each HCX Network Extension Service requires an IP address Site URL FQDN/IP Address Recommendations Public URL provided by Cloud provider to access HCX Cloud
HCX Cloud UI Credentials Activation Key Recommendations A service account in the Cloud vcenter with the administrator role assigned to it. This should be provided by the Cloud provider. HCX URL This should be provided by the cloud provider. URL to be used during the activation process. Pre-Install Checklist In the below 3 sections, we will verify and record various infrastructure information, that we will reference when we go through the Install process. Its assumed that all information requested below is for the on-premise environment, unless stated otherwise. On-Premise Software Versions and Information In this section, we will record the various versions of the on-premise infrastructure and vcenter specific information. Version (build #) Minimum Version vcenter 5.5 U2+ ESXi 5.1+ NSX (If present) 6.2.2+ Note: If using ESXi 6.5 on-premise, HCX needs VDS to be at 6.0 level. vcenter FQDN Information Recommendations
If External PSC is present, provide SDK URL Test VM Eg: https://<vcname>:7444/lookupservice/sdk At least 1 VM on stretched network ready to migrate. Note: 7444 is the default configured port. If this has been altered to a different port, that would have to be used instead of the default port. For & During HCX Enterprise Install & Setup Note: The HCX Management Port group (or any vsphere Management Portgroup) and network associated with this port group needs to satisfy the following conditions 1. Should not be extended. 2. Needs to be able to access the on premise ESXi hosts, VC and HCX cloud. Fields Customer Information Cluster/Host Datastore Network Recommendations Enter a vsphere management cluster/host that can host the HCX Enterprise Services. Enter a vsphere datastore that meets the system requirements of the HCX Enterprise Services. Enter a port group with a VLAN that can reach the ESXi hosts, vcenter and HCX Cloud.
On-Premise Proxy On-Premise Proxy Port Traffic flow - Subnets and hostname Outbound Traffic flow Internal Traffic flow HCX Manager Appliance name HCX Manager IP HCX Manager IP Prefix HCX Manager Gateway HCX Manager DNS Server list HCX Manager Domain Search List HCX Manager NTP Server list HCX Activation Key If one exists, enter the Proxy IP/hostname here. Capture the Proxy port. List of Subnets and hostnames that should be bypassed for traffic to flow. Ensure unrestricted HCX to Cloud outbound traffic Ensure unrestricted traffic between HCX Enterpirse Services, vcenter and ESX hosts. Name used for the HCX Enterprise Appliance (optional). Select an IP from the above port group for HCX Manager. Enter the HCX Manager IP prefix length. Enter the default gateway for HCX Manager. DNS Server list for the HCX Manger. Domain Search list for the HCX Manager. The NTP Server that the HCX Manager should be using. Capture the Activation Key here.
HCX CLI admin user password HCX root user password VC Username VC Password External PSC/SSO Username External PSC/SSO Password The admin username is used to gain access to the CLI and appliance management web console of the HCX Manager. The root username is used to gain privileged access to the CLI. VC Username with administrator permissions on the VC. Password for the above account. If using an External PSC, provide the username with administrator permissions. Password for the above account. For & During Site Pairing Fields Information Site URL Username/password Network Recommendations Take this information from the Cloud Endpoint Configuration section above. Take this information from the Cloud Endpoint Configuration section above. Port group where all the HCX management interfaces will live in. Needs to be able to reach the other HCX
Components, ESXi hosts, VC and HCX cloud. Cluster/Host Datastore Hostname IP address/pl Gateway DNS VMotion Portgroup VMotion IP Distributed Switch Network Extension Service Cluster Enter a cluster that has enough capacity based on system requirements above. Enter a datastore that has enough capacity based on system requirements above. Provide a name (optional). Provide an IP address from the management network for the Interconnect Service / specific the prefix length. E.g. 192.16.32.100/24 Provide the default Gateway that the interconnect service would use. Enter the DNS server information that is accessible to the Interconnect service. Identify a VMotion enabled port group. (Optional if VMotion is required) Enter a free IP address in the VMotion network selected above. Choose the Distributed switch to tie the Network Extension service to. Enter a cluster that has enough capacity based on system requirements above.
Network Extension Service Datastore Network Extension Service Management Network Select Port group VM Name IP address/pl Uplink MTU Gateway Admin & Root Password Enter a datastore that has enough capacity based on system requirements above. Enter the HCX Management port group. Choose the port group that you would like to extend to the cloud side. Be mindful to choose a VM network and not the management network where HCX appliances have been installed into. Provide a name for the Network Extension appliance (Optional). Provide an IP address and prefix length for the Network Extension appliance. Provide the Uplink MTU Provide the default gateway for the IP address chosen. Create an Admin and Root password. This will provide access to the CLI.
For & During Cloud Edge Creation Cloud Edge is an Edge Router available on the Cloud Site. This is required to ensure network extension service is available for use. NSX Edge Appliance Name NSX Edge Interface Name Distributed Portgroup IP address NSX Edge Interface for Management NSX Edge Router Gateway Recommendations Provide a name for the NSX Edge Router Appliance. Provide a name for the NSX Edge Router Interface within the NSX Edge Router Appliance. A public Portgroup that the NSX Edge Router Interface can connect to. IP Address for the NSX Edge Interface. Above process to add another interface to the management portgroup Enter the Gateway IP for the Edge Router. Ports used by HCX The below flow diagram shows the communication path between - 1. HCX Components within the WAN Boundary. a. On-premise HCX install aka HCX Enterprise. 2. HCX Communication paths across the WAN boundary a. On-premise to cloud HCX aka HCX Enterprise to HCX Cloud.
Along with the ports required, use the below table to confirm if the ports required for the specific communication paths are open. Confirm port is open Communication Path Ports UDP 500, 4500 from the Interconnect Service IP address to the Cloud Provider IP address block Ports UDP 500, 4500 from the Network Extension service IP address to the Cloud Provider IP address block TCP 443 from the Network extension service to Cloud public IP TCP 8000 from Interconnect service to ESXi Hosts
Product Interoperability Matrix HCX Supports vsphere 5.0+. Additionally, HCX follows the vsphere Product Interoperability Matrix, meaning, it will support all interoperable versions of VC and ESX. The above is a reflection of the current state of vsphere Interoperability Matrix. The Product Interoperability Matrix can be found here.
HCX Enterprise Appliance Installation The HCX Installation section provides information, and requirements for planning the HCX installation. Intended Audience: Project Managers, System Administrators, Architects HCX Enterprise Appliance Install & Setup Workflow Below workflow depicts the process of installing HCX within the On-premise network. Start Download OVA Install OVA Complete SDDC Registration HCX Plugin in VC Stop
Download HCX Enterprise OVA Once the 3.5.1 HCX Cloud environment up and running, login to the HCX Cloud system Browse to the Administration tab Within the System Updates tab, there would be 2 additional buttons for downloading the HCX Enterprise OVA The OVA can be directly downloaded by clicking the 'HCX Enterprise Client' button Or, optionally copy the download link, by using the 'Copy Link' button, to download via a different system / client See highlighted section of the screenshot below
Install Process The information gathered in For & During HCX Enterprise Install & Setup is to be used for this section. 1. Deploy OVA on thick/web client. a. Go to Home -> Hosts and Cluster. b. Click on Cluster. c. Got to Actions-> Deploy OVF Template
d. Verify the OVF Template details (similar to above) e. Accept the EULA
f. Specify Name and Folder where the deployed template will exist. g. Choose the Management Storage where the HCX Enterprise Appliance will sit in. You should have this recorded in the earlier For & During HCX Enterprise Install & Setup section. h. Choose the mgmt network (portgroup) where the HCX Enterprise Appliance will be using. This should be recorded in the earlier For & During HCX Enterprise Install & Setup section.
Create the admin user password. Create the root user password.
Provide a name for the HCX Enterprise Appliance. Provide the IP Address, prefix length and Gateway. This should be recorded in the earlier For & During HCX Enterprise Install & Setup section.
Provide the DNS server list. Provide the Domain Search list. This should be recorded in the earlier For & During HCX Enterprise Install & Setup section.
Finally enter the NTP Server list. This is mandatory as being out of sync, can cause disruptions to Site pairing. Once the above step is complete, the service is now bound to to the vcenter extension. Now the installation is ready to complete.
We will now configure the HCX Manager Appliance. Open up a browser and add the url for the appliance. Remember to add the port :9443 to the end. URL is the hostname/ip address of the appliance that was just installed. The 1 st page will be the Activation page. The HCX Server will be automatically populated. Enter the Activation Key
Provide the City closest to where the HCX system is located. The HCX Enterprise Appliance has been activated. It is recommended, you click on Yes, Continue.
The connection to vcenter is now established. This should be recorded in the earlier For & During HCX Enterprise Install & Setup section. i. Next we will add the SSO details in i. Enter the SSO details. j. This step completes the SDDC configuration aspects.
Once restarted, the Dashboard opens up, where the on-premise cluster under Hybrid Management is seen. As a final step, we will now assign roles to vcenter user groups.
On restarting the vsphere web client, the HCX plugin now shows up. The HCX Enterprise installation is now complete.
Establishing Site Pairing HCX Site Pairing Workflow Start new Site Pairing Choose Target Site Install Interconnect & Network Extension Service Completed
Site Pairing Process 1. Return to the HCX Dashboard. To do so, from the Navigator menu on the left, select Hybrid Cloud Services (HCX). 2. Stay on Dashboard view. Note that at this stage you will see all "0's" in the Cloud Overview columns. 3. Under Site Pairings, click on New Site Pairing. You may need to scroll down a bit to see it.
Register new Connection Before any migrations can be done you will need to register the Public Cloud instance with the Hybrid Cloud Manager. 1. Click on Register new Connection.
Register new Remote Site Connection Next, enter the URL and credentials for Remote Site Connection. The required information should be recorded in the earlier For & During Site Pairing section. 1. Enter Site URL. Note: Be sure to put in the URL with leading "https://" else the registration would not work. 2. Enter User Name/Password: 3. Click on Register
Verify Remote Site Pairing 1. Clicking through Dashboard -> New Site pairing would show the Remote Site Connection
Choose the HCX Components 1. Confirm the new site pairing information. If you don't see the Remote Site registered, please go back to the previous steps and try to register again. 2. Check the checkbox for HCX Interconnect Service. 3. Check the checkbox for WAN Optimization Service. 4. Check the checkbox for Network Extension Service. 5. Click on Next
Enter the HCX Interconnect Parameters The required information should be recorded in the earlier For & During Site Pairing section. The following information need to be filled in. 1. Network: 2. Cluster/Host: 3. Datastore: 4. IP Address/PL: 5. Default Gateway: 6. DNS: 7. VMotion Network: 8. IP Address /PL: 1. This is the vmotion network. And its non-routable. 9. Password: 10. Click on Next
Enter Network Extension Service Parameters The required information should be recorded in the earlier For & During Site Pairing section. The following information need to be filled in. 1. Compute: 2. Datastore: 3. Management Network: 4. Ip Address /PL:, Uplink MTU: 5. Default Gateway: 6. Passwords: 7. Click on Next
Ready to complete
Ready to complete - Drag down for the rest of the screen 1. Verify the Green checks 2. Click on Finish
Verify Site Pairing 1. You should be back at the Hybrid Cloud Services Dashboard. 2. If Site Pairing was successful, you will see a new entry under Site Pairings with the pairing status as Up.
Monitor Tasks 1. Click on Tasks from the Navigator menu on the left. 2. Look for the HCX Services Initialization task in the Task Console. It should start to deploy the HCX Services. Continue to the next step in the manual.
Status of Services 1. Select the Hybrid Cloud Services (HCX) from the Navigator menu on the left. 2. Select the Interconnect tab and 3. Select the HCX Components sub-tab. 4. You will see Network Extension Service and VM Migration Services (WAN Optimization and Core Cloud Gateway). As we can see here, the deployment is still in process. It is normal for the deployment to take a few minutes.
Verify Components Deployed and Tunnel is Up 1. Click on Hybrid Cloud Services from the Navigator menu on the left. 2. Select Interconnect tab. 3. Select the HCX Components sub-tab. 4. Here we see the different HCX Fleets services deployed. If you click the drop-down arrow next to any of the services more information will be shown. This includes options to Redeploy the appliance. 5. Notice all of the status should be Active and Tunnel is Up. Congratulations! You have deployed the HCX Components and established a SD-WAN tunnel. In the next exercise, we will stretch the On-Premise Network to the Cloud.
Extending the Network HCX Network Extension Workflow Start by creating a new edge router on the HCX Cloud site Begin the Network Extension Process Choose Network to Extend & Extend Completed Prerequisite - Cloud Edge Router An edge router would have to be created on the service provider/target/cloud site before a network is extended. Please follow the process below for the creation of the edge router. Note: If there is an existing edge router, then that can be re-used.
Edge Router Creation Process 1. Deployment of the EDGE a. Go to Networking & Security b. Go to NSX Edge
c. Click on + d. Give it a Name and click on Next
e. Provide the username and password
f. Choose Appliance size of large
g. Click on the + to add an NSX Edge Appliance. Provide Resource pool and Datastore information. Then Click Next.
h. Configure the interface for this NSX Edge
i. Add NSX Edge Interface i. Give it a Name ii. Click on Select. To connect the NSX edge to a portgroup that s public.
j. Click on Distributed PortGroup and Choose the external distributed port group. k. On Pressing OK, it takes you back to the previous screen. i. Click on + to provide an IP Address ii. Click on Ok
l. We add another interface that connects to the management portgroup.
m. The configured interfaces would resemble the below.
n. Provide Gateway information
o. Configure Firewall and HA. In the below case, it was left as default. Click Next.
p. Summary of configuration options for new NSX Edge. After review, click on Finish.
Network Extension Process Extend Network (Optional Way) There are 2 ways to extend the Network. (a) From vds view (b) From the HCS plugin view We will extend network from the Hybrid Cloud Services (HCX) view. Just for illustration purposes here is the alternate way to extend network in the cloud from the vds view. 1. On Site-A vcenter, click on Home 2. Click on Networking.
Extend Network (Method 1 - via Virtual Networks) 1. Expand the Datacenter 2. Right Click on vds that you would like to extend. 3. Select Hybridity Actions 4. Click on Extend Networks to the Cloud It will bring you to the same screen as "Extend Network to the Cloud" section further in the module.
Access Hybrid Cloud Services (HCX) Plugin On Site-A vcenter, if you are not already in the Hybrid Cloud Services (HCX) window, you can either: 1. Click Hybrid Cloud Services (HCX) from the Navigator menu on the left 2. OR Click Hybrid Cloud Services (HCX) from the Home menu on the right.
Extend Network (Method 2 Via HCX) In the Hybrid Cloud Services (HCX) section, we will: 1. Select the Interconnect tab. 2. Click on the Extended Networks tab. 3. Click on the Extend network option.
Extend Network to the Cloud The required information should be recorded in the earlier For & During Network Extension section. The following information need to be filled in. In the popup screen, we will configure the extend/stretch network to the cloud: 1. Select the appropriate network, 2. Enter the Network information of the Gateway /Prefix length 3. Click the Stretch button to complete the operation to stretch the network to the cloud.
Verify L2 Tunnel Status 1. Click on 'Refresh' until Status changes to Extension complete.
Task Completed 1. Select Tasks under the Navigator menu on the left to monitor the Network Stretch status. 2. Wait until the Task is Completed.
Login to HCX Portal to verify Stretch Network 1. Click on Services from the top menu. 2. Click NETWORKING from the Navigator menu on the left 3. Verify Stretch Network is Success.
Migrating Virtual Machines HCX enables bidirectional migrations: from the Enterprise side to the remote cloud side and back. This capability for both live (Powered-on) and cold (Powered-off) virtual machines. For Live VMs HCX offers two Migrations options. 1. Bulk Migration 2. Cross-Cloud vmotion In the coming sections, we will discuss all these options in detail. Bulk Migration Bulk migration uses host-based replication to move a live virtual machine from Site A to Site B virtual data center. To reduce downtime, the source VM remains online during the replication and is bootstrapped on the destination ESX host after replication completes. A Bulk Migration request triggers the following actions: 1. Replication begins a full synchronization transfer to the remote site. The time it takes to replicate is a function of the size of the VM and available bandwidth. 2. Replication bandwidth consumption varies depending on how the workload changes blocks on the disk. 3. When full synchronization finishes, a delta synchronization occurs. 4. When the delta synchronization finishes, a switchover is triggered. You can start immediately or delay the switchover until a specific time using the scheduled migration option. By using the scheduled migration option, the switchover can occur during a maintenance window. 5. Following the switchover, the source VM is powered-off, and the migrated replica is powered-on. If for some reason the VM cannot power on, the new VM is powered off (or remains powered off) and the original is powered on. You must have sufficient resources to power on the VM. 6. HCX Manager renames the powered off original VM to avoid a naming conflict with the migrated VM. HCX Manager appends a binary timestamp to the original VM name. If you have not enabled Retain MAC, the migrated VM obtains a new MAC address. The migration is done. Hybrid Cloud Manager copies the original VM to the Migrated VMs folder in the vsphere Templates view. You can recover a saved VM. Note: There are 2 uses for these copies. 1. The copy would act as seed, in the event the VM on Site B needed to be protected on Site A. 2. Protect against VM corruption (due to external factors) during migration. We consider Bulk Migration to be a Warm Migration, as the downtime required is very minimal.
Cross-Cloud vmotion Cross-cloud vmotion transfers a live virtual machine from a vsphere vcenter to a remote site. Cross-cloud vmotion requires 100 Mbps or above throughput capability. The vmotion transfer captures the virtual machine's active memory, its execution state, its IP address, and its MAC address. vmotion transfer times are dependent on the type of connectivity between the 2 sites. Note: The virtual machine hardware version must be at least version 9 or higher. Cold Migration Cold migration uses the same data plane as cross-cloud vmotion to transfer a powered-off virtual machine. Its IP address and MAC address are preserved. The virtual machine requirements and restrictions are the same as for vmotion. Migration Pre-Requisites Ensure HCX Interconnect Services Tunnel s are up. The virtual machine must be powered on unless you are doing a cold migration. The underlying architecture, regardless of OS, must be x86. If you are using vmotion, the hardware version must be greater than 9. VMs with Raw Disk Mapping in compatibility mode can be migrated. Unsupported Virtual machines with the following attributes are not supported for migration. Exceed 2 TB. Share VMDK files. Have virtual media or ISOs attached. Hardware version less than 9.
Example Workflow to Migrate Live Virtual Machines This workflow applies to both types of Live VM Migrations Bulk and vmotion based. Using the vsphere Web Client, you can access the migration wizard from the Hybrid Cloud Services plug-in. This wizard handles all migration details, including the direction and selection of multiple virtual machines. 1. Login to the local vsphere web client and go to the HCX services plug-in. 2. Start the migration wizard by clicking on Migrate VM under the Migration tab.
3. On Clicking the Migrate VM, a. You will see paired remote site at the top left side and the local site at the bottom left. b. Configure the default migration options: i. Force Power Off to force the shutdown at switchover time (for Bulk Migration) ii. Remove Snapshots: Snapshots are not migrated. It can be deleted with this option. iii. Force unmount ISO Images iv. Retain MAC (only for Bulk Migration) v. Destination Container - Can be a cluster, ESX host or folder. vi. Storage - Datastores that are available on the Remote Site. vii. Provisioning Type - 3 Options. Same format as source, Thick Provision or Thin Provision. viii. Migration Type vmotion, vsphere Replication
4. If you would want to migrate a VM from remote site back to the local site, select Reverse Migration and inventory on the left side will update to show the remote site VM inventory.
5. From a resource pool, select a VM for migration and select the remote network to place this VM into. Review the migration options and if you need to override the defaults you can do this from this page. The green icon shows that the VM is powered-on (except on cold migrations). 6. Next, the migration wizard will validate whether the migration can be completed making sure the destination site can run the VM compute, storage, hardware version support, etc.
7. Based on the VM size and transfer speed, the migration may take a while. You can monitor the progress. a. Click Refresh to see updated progress. b. The green arrow shows the direction of the migration - Source to Destination site. c. The 'vmo' next to the green arrow shows the type of migration vmotion. 8. You can monitor migrations in HCX Dashboard. 9. Wait for migration to be completed. Congratulations! You just migrated your first running VM into Site B.
Protecting Virtual Machines using VMware HCX HCX Disaster Recovery is a service intended to protect virtual workloads managed by VMware vsphere that are either deployed in a private or a public cloud. It is simple to set-up, manage, and costs less than the traditional disaster recovery solutions. HCX Disaster Recovery can accommodate the most demanding business critical applications and allows you to scale your protection capacity to meet variable demands. This user guide addresses configuration, setup, and management aspects of HCX Disaster Recovery. HCX Disaster Recovery provides the following benefits: Simple and easy to use management platform that allows secure (enterprise to cloud and cloud to cloud) asynchronous replication and recovery of virtual machines. Introduces major efficiency gains over traditional business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) practices. Allows for improved recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) policy compliance while reducing total cost of ownership (TCO). o Note: RPO is the interval of time that might pass during a disruption before the quantity of data lost during that period exceeds your BC/DR maximum allowable threshold. Whereas, RTO is the duration of time and a service level within which data must be restored after a disaster in order to avoid unacceptable consequences associated with a break in continuity. Reverse failover of workflows to your source site. Self-service RPO settings from 5 minutes to 24 hours per virtual machine. o Note: RPO policy compliance is dependent on available bandwidth from the source site to the destination site. Multiple point in time recovery snapshots that allows you to recover back up to 24 previous replication point in time. Optimized replication throughput by usage of Wan Optimizer. Routing replication traffic through customer preferred direct connect network On-premises monitoring and management with the fully integrated vsphere Web Client. Additional benefits of proximity routing and stretched networks. See Service Architecture for information. Access to VMware's production-level support.
Pre-requisites Required compute on secondary site vsphere 5.5+ Enable Interconnect services through HCX Connectivity and Firewall Considerations HCX Disaster Recovery uses the IPsec tunnel established between sites as the data path for replications. For proper communication ensure that the KB Article 2087769 is adhered to. Example Workflow to enable DR Protection for a VM Below is an example workflow to enable DR Protection for a VM. Screenshots are for illustrative purposes only. 1. Login to the local vsphere web client and go to the HCX services plug-in. 2. Go to the Disaster Recovery Tab and click on Protect VMs.
3. The protection configuration screen is presented. This screen is similar to the migration configuration screen. From the top - 1. Replication Destination Site When checked, this loads the VM Inventory for Site B. When unchecked (default) Site B s VM inventory is loaded. 2. Remote Site The 2 Sites that are paired and the current direction of Protection. 3. Source Inventory 4. Default Replication options Global Setting Policy for all VMs within the DC or Cluster, Resource Pool or Host. 5. VM replication 1. Enable Compression Helps during the seeding process of the VM. Assists in the event of low throughput LAN/WAN connectivity. 2. Enable Quiescence Pauses the VM to ensure the most consistent copy of the VM is protected on Site B. 3. Seed Virtual Machine Used when a previous action created a copy of the VM, for e.g., a Bulk Migration of a VM. 4. Specify Destination Container Datacenter, Cluster or Resource Pool where the protected copy of the VM is going to live. 5. Storage Datastore on which the protected copy of the VM would live. 6. RPO Recovery Point Objective for the VM. With HCX, it can go from 5 mins 24 hours. The interval between synchs of the Source VM and the Protected VM. 7. Snapshots Interval Interval between Snapshots. In the event that a corrupted change was synched over to the protect site, this will provide an option to recover from an earlier point in time. This provides a Multiple Point in Time Recovery plan for the protected VM.
8. No. of Snaphots Total no. of snapshots within the established snapshot interval. 9. Network Portgroup Corresponding portgroup that the protected VM will be using. In the illustration used, the portgroup that the source vm is using has been stretched to Site B, thus its automatically populated. 4. Hitting Next does a validation of the configuration for protection. 5. Hit Finish. 6. This action causes the DR Dashboard to be brought up. Here progress can be monitored on the protection of the VM.
7. The dashboard now shows the VM being protected. Expanding on the dashboard - 1. Local VMs Reflect the total # of VMs on Site B that are protected. In the above illustration, it shows that 1 local VMs is being protected. 2. Remote VMs Reflects the total # of VMs on Site B that are being protected from other Sites. 3. Activity To monitor any ongoing Disaster Recovery related operations. 4. Green Shield DR protection is active. 5. Yellow triangle Protection has not been tested. 6. In/Out Direction of protection between local site and remote site. 8. Log on to Site B 9. Go to Services -> Disaster Recovery 10. The Protected VM is now shown here. As can be seen, the DR screen is similar to Site A. In the above illustration, it shows there is 1 VM being protected locally. This is how a VM on Site A is protected on Site B using HCX.
Example Workflow to Recover DR Protected VM Below is an example workflow to Recover DR Protection for a VM. Screenshots are for illustrative purposes only. There are 2 Recovery Operations available to a Protected VM. 1. Test Recovery Operations 2. Recover Operations Test Recovery Operations Below is workflow for testing the recovery of the VM on Site B. The action of testing can be raised on either from Site A or Site B. In the illustrations below, we will test the recovery from Site A. Login to the vsphere Web Client and access the HCX plugin. Go to the Disaster Recovery Tab. Select the VM and either expand on : or under Actions, click on Test Recovery.
If the Protected VM is on a stretched network, an error similar to the illustration will show up. The option to use none is available for test recovery. Go forward by clicking on test. Testing will go progress forward. Once the testing completes, the yellow triangle changes to a certificate to show a test been completed. The solid yellow triangle shows that a test cleanup is needed.
To Clean up, Click on Actions after selecting the VM and click on Test Cleanup. Hit cleanup on the next screen. The test has now been completely cleaned up. Notice the solid yellow triangle has disappeared. This is how a Protected VM is tested using HCX. Recover Operations Below is workflow for testing the recovery of the VM on Site B. In the illustrations below, we will recover a protected VM on Site B. 1. Protected VM on Site A is unavailable due to a disaster. 2. Log onto HCX on Site B.
3. Under Services Disaster Recovery, the status for the protected VM is now a red lightning bolt. 4. Expand on the : and click on Recover. 5. A similar screen to test is up. In the illustration above, the source VM s was on a stretched portgroup, so to ensure the VM comes up and is able to communicate to other VMs that could be on the same network path, following the recommendation in blue is best.
6. This now kicks off the recovery process. 7. As the process completes, the VM is brought up on Site B. This is how a Protected VM is tested using HCX.
DR Protect Operations for VMs HCX provides various operations that provide more control and granularity in replication policies. Available Operations are 1. Reverse Once a disaster has occurred. Reverse helps make Site B the source site and Site A where the protected VM now lives. 2. Pause Pause the current replication policy associated with the VM selected. 3. Resume - Pause the current replication policy associated with the VM selected. 4. Remove - Remove the current replication policy associated with the VM selected. 5. Sync Now Out of bound sync of source VM to the protected VM.