vCenter Site Recovery Manager is the market-leading disaster recovery product that ensures the simplest and most reliable disaster protection for all virtualized applications. Site Recovery Manager leverages cost-efficient vSphere Replication or storage-based replication to provide centralized management of recovery plans, enables non-disruptive testing, and automates site recovery and migration processes.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager operates independently of the applications running inside virtual machines, and can be used to protect any application running on VMware vSphere. vCenter Site Recovery Manager provides an RTO in the range of 30 minutes to a few hours, depending on the scope of the recovery. Any application with an RTO requirement that falls within that range or longer can be protected with Site Recovery Manger.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager integrates tightly with VMware vSphere and VMware vCenter Server.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager requires a supported version of VMware vCenter Server and of VMware vSphere. Please see the VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager documentation and the product compatibility matrix for full details on supported versions of VMware vCenter Server and VMware vSphere.
Site Recovery Manager 5 now includes built-in vSphere Replication for simple and cost-efficient replication. It also continues to support a broad range of storage-based replication products from VMware’s storage partners, enabling users to choose the best replication for their specific needs. Larger sites and business-critical applications can be protected using powerful storage-based replication, while smaller sites and Tier 2 applications benefit from the simplicity and cost-efficiency of vSphere Replication.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager is designed for use with iSCSI, FibreChannel, or NFS-based storage replication solutions. VMware has worked with leading storage vendors to enable them to provide integration modules (known as “storage replication adapters”) that allow VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager to work with their replication products. Partners currently working with VMware to provide support for their platforms include:
3PAR
Compellent
Dell
EMC
Falconstor
Fujitsu
Hitachi Data Systems
HP
IBM
LeftHand Networks
NetApp
Xiotech
For the list of currently-supported storage and replication platforms please see the VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Compatibility Matrix.
No. vSphere replication is only available bundled with vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager is a separate product that is not included with VMware vSphere.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager is licensed per protected virtual machine. If VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager is configured only to fail over virtual machines from the protected site to the recovery site, then VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager licenses are required only for the protected virtual machines at the protected site. If VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager is configured to fail over a set of virtual machines from a protected site to a recovery site at the same time as it is configured to fail over a different set of virtual machines from the recovery site to the protected site, VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager licenses need to be purchased for the protected virtual machines at both sites.
A VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager deployment will also require the necessary licenses of VMware vCenter Server and VMware vSphere. VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager requires a licensed VMware vCenter Server at both protected and recovery sites because both VMware vCenter Server instances are active instances. VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager also requires enough VMware vSphere licenses at the recovery site to meet the minimum resource requirements of the virtual machines that are configured to fail over to the recovery site at all times. The VMware vSphere licenses at the recovery site can be used to run other virtual machines even while being part of a VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager configuration.
Site Recovery Manager Enterprise provides enterprise level protection to all virtualized applications to ensure fast and predictable RPOs and RTOs. Site Recovery Manager Standard is designed for smaller environments and limited to 75 protected virtual machines per site and per Site Recovery Manager instance.
Customers with multiple remote sites can use SRM Standard edition if each physical site has a dedicated SRM instance and has a maximum of 75 protected virtual machines per site. Site Recovery Manager Enterprise must be purchased if a shared SRM instance manages more than 75 virtual machines, or for any single physical site with more than 75 virtual machines
Existing customers with active support and subscription are eligible for Site Recovery Manager Enterprise Edition.
Yes. Site Recovery Manager 5 is sold based on the new per VM pricing model.
Upgrades to Site Recovery Manager 5 are only available using the per VM licensing model for customers without an Enterprise License Agreement.
Site Recovery Manager 4 customers with a current Support and Subscription contract for Site Recovery Manager are entitled to licenses for Site Recovery Manager 5 Enterprise at no additional charge through their subscription entitlement. Customers with current Support and Subscription contracts for bundles that contain Site Recovery Manager are entitled to new versions and new licenses based on the subscription entitlement for the individual products in the bundle.
Customers without an Enterprise License Agreement who have existing processor licenses for Site Recovery Manager 4 are entitled to virtual machine licenses of Site Recovery Manager 5 Enterprise, converted at a ratio of 5 virtual machines to 1 processor. (E.g., a customer with 25 processor licenses would receive 125 virtual machine licenses). The licenses are automatically made available in the VMware License Management portal. In cases in which the standard conversion ratio is not sufficient to support a customer’s existing deployment, customers can contact VMware support (GSS) for more information.
Customers with Enterprise License Agreements who have existing processor licenses for Site Recovery Manager 4 can choose either to upgrade using the per–virtual machine licensing model by calling VMware GSS or remain with processor licenses by upgrading using the License Management portal.
