Test failover a replication

Performing a test failover for an already created replication validates that the workload from the source site replicates correctly in the destination site.
Before testing failover:
  • Verify that in the destination datastore, at least double the allocated storage of the virtual machine is available for a successful test failover. For information about the storage requirements, see Storage Space Consumption in the Destination.
  • Verify that in
    VMware Cloud Director
    , the
    VM discovery
    option is not activated. For information about deactivating virtual machine discovery, see Discovering and Adopting vApps in the
    VMware Cloud Director
    documentation
    .
  • Verify that the workload is already protected in the destination site. For more information, see Create a protection.
  • Verify that
    VMware Cloud Director Availability
    4.5 or later is deployed for selecting VDC compute policies when testing failover to and from cloud sites backed by
    VMware Cloud Director
    .
Perform a test failover for an existing replication, then cleanup the test data.
Test Failover Workflow: Protected>Test>Failover Test Ready>Cleanup
  1. In the left pane, choose a replication direction by clicking
    Incoming Replications
    or
    Outgoing Replications
    .
  2. Select an exiting replication to test the failover, then click
    All actions
    Test
    .
  3. Complete the
    Test
    wizard and depending on the source and destination sites configure the different test failover settings for the selected workloads.
    • Start from step
      e
      when migrating to or from cloud sites backed by
      VMware Cloud Director
      , skipping steps
      a
      ,
      b
      ,
      c
      , and
      d
      .
    • Start from step
      a
      for
      vSphere
      DR and migration between
      vCenter Server
      sites.
    1. The
      Default Settings
      page shows when the selected replication is already configured with recovery settings and to use them and skip to step
      e
      , select
      Use preset Recovery Settings
      .
      For information about configuring the recovery settings for
      vSphere
      DR and migration between
      vCenter Server
      sites, see Configure recovery settings for vSphere DR and migration.
    2. On the
      VM Folder
      page, select a destination location for storing the test failover virtual machines, then click
      Next
      .
    3. On the
      Compute Resource
      page, select a destination compute resource for the test failover virtual machines, then click
      Next
      .
    4. On the
      Network Mappings
      page, select a network mapping for each adapter connected to each virtual machine, then click
      Next
      .
    5. On the
      Recovery Settings
      page, select the configuration for the recovered test workload depending on the destination site, then click
      Next
      .
      Option
      Description
      Instances handling after recovery
      • Default
        : selecting this option provides the lowest Recovery Time Objective (RTO). To optimize performance, perform instances consolidation after the recover task completes.
      • Expose PITs
        : only available for test failing over already protected virtual machines to an on-premises site as a destination, selecting this option allows instances older than the selected instance to be exported as snapshots to the recovered virtual machine.
      Power settings
      Powers on the recovered workload in the destination site after the test task completes.
      Network Settings
      For migrations to and from cloud sites backed by
      VMware Cloud Director
      :
      • Select
        Apply preconfigured network settings on failover
        , to assign the network configured during the virtual machine replication.
      • Select
        Connect all VMs to network
        and from the drop-down menu select a network to connect the replicated virtual machines to.
      VDC policy settings
      • VDC VM placement policy
      • VDC VM sizing policy
      For a test to or from a cloud site backed by
      VMware Cloud Director
      , optionally from the drop-down menus, select the organization VDC compute policies to apply on the recovered workloads. For more information, see VDC compute policies.
      If you do not select a sizing policy for the replication, then
      VMware Cloud Director
      automatically applies the system default sizing policy on the destination virtual machine.
    6. On the
      Recovery Instance
      page, if instances are preserved configure the recovery point in time, then click
      Next
      .
      Option
      Description
      Synchronize all VMs to their current state
      Creates an instance of the powered on workload with its latest changes and uses that instance for the test failover.
      Manually select existing instance
      Select an instance without synchronizing the data for the recovered workload.
    7. On the
      Ready To Complete
      page, verify that the test settings are correct, then click
      Finish
      .
    The Last changed column shows the test progress in percentages. When the test of the workload completes, the Recovery state column of this replication shows a green
    Test image ready
    state.
  4. In the bottom pane, to monitor the progress of the task, click the
    Tasks
    tab.
  5. To delete the test failover results, select the replication to clean.
    Performing test failover without cleaning the previous test results, executes an automatic clean up first.
    1. Click
      All actions
      Test Cleanup
      .
    2. In the
      Test Cleanup
      window, click
      Cleanup
      .
    The cleanup deletes all recovered vApps and virtual machines.
  • You can fail over the workload to the destination site. For more information, see Failover of a replication.
  • You can perform a failover or edit the replication settings. To no longer protect the workload, you can permanently stop the traffic of this replication, remove the replication and remove all retained replication instances and cleanup any test data, by clicking
    All actions
    Delete replication
    .