4.3.4.2 vSphere Replication Server Appliance
The vSphere Replication Server Appliance is responsible for the replication job, which includes gathering the data from the source ESXi host and transferring the data to the target infrastructure. The default installation of a vSphere Replication Server Appliance contains a vSphere Replication Server, which can effectively support 200 replications.
Note If the design only requires replication of less than 200 VMs, the simplest architecture to use is the embedded vSphere replication service within the Manager Appliance.
The following figure provides an example vSphere replication management architecture between an end customer data center and a VMware Cloud Provider Program data center. The architecture highlights a separate vSphere Replication Manager Appliance and vSphere Replication Server Appliance for larger scale.
Figure 6. vSphere Replication Management Topology
The following points are shown in this example:
• The vSphere Replication Manager Appliance is registered with the vCenter Server at each site. The manager can support up to 200 replications.
• Each additional vSphere Replication Server Appliance is registered with the vCenter Server and Manager Appliance.
• The vSphere Replication Server Appliances share the replication load of the virtual machines—200 replications per appliance, with maximum of 10 for 2,000 VM replications per vCenter Server.
Note Take into account other factors, such as network bandwidth and latency, when calculating the maximum number of replications and the impact on the potential RPO. You can leverage the
vSphere Replication Calculator here. 