[Quick Guide] VMware Backup and Replication Software

Scenario: Any suggestion for VM replication backup software?

In VMware, if you want to replicate a VM to another site, you can utilize vSphere Replication provided by VMware. VMware vSphere Replication is designed to replicate virtual machines within the same site or remote sites for fast disaster recovery. It allows you to configure Recovery Point Objects (RPOs) for replication intervals between 5 minutes and 24 hours.

However, as a professional enterprise failover solution, vSphere Replication can be quite expensive. So if your requirements for business continuity are not as high, or you want a more long-term secure data protection solution, then you may also want to consider using VMware backup tool instead of VMware replication software.

What's the difference between replication and backup

Both replication and backup are efficient ways for VM data protection, but different in some aspects. For example, Replication is to achieve disaster recovery, it transfers changed data to another host almost simultaneously. While backup is more secure for long-term storage, you can also schedule backup tasks to offer regular backup and recovery points to achieve replication.

💡 See this table below for the specific differences between replication and backup:

Aspect	Replication	Backup
Purpose	Enhance data availability by creating real-time	Protect against data loss, corruption, or disasters
Timing	Real-time or near real-time	Scheduled at regular intervals
Frequency	Continuous or periodic	Scheduled, often daily, weekly, or periodically
Storage	Duplicate copies stored in different locations	Copies stored separately from original data
Retention	Depends on replication strategy	Retained for specified retention period
Integrity	Ensures data consistency across replicas	Often includes integrity checks and versioning
Recovery	Facilitates uninterrupted access to data	Designed for data recovery in case of loss
Granularity	Provides high availability but may not offer granular recovery options	Can offer granular recovery options, allowing selective restoration

Efficient and affordable VMware backup software for better data protection

Most organizations want to keep data on file for long periods for timely data recovery in the event of an accident, and the cost of data protection is also one of the key considerations for an organization. Considering the usage scenarios listed above, an organization should have an effective and reliable backup strategy in place. A complete backup is the right choice for total data protection and availability.

AOMEI Cyber Backup is a professional data security software which helps to replicate ESXi virtual machines. It can quickly back up unlimited VMware virtual machines and restore VMs to another host without any complex settings and interruption. So, this part will introduce the detailed steps to use this VMware backup and replication software.

Automatic VMware backup: Auto backup virtual machines on regular basis to protect VMware workloads continuously, and auto delete unwanted obsolete backups to save space.
Instant Disaster Recovery: Once the VMware crashes, quickly restore VMware to normal state and reduce business-critical downtime.
Easy to use: You can backup and manage multiple VMware VMs though central console without installing agent on each VM.
Save storage: Create full backup for entire VM or incremental/differential backup for only changed data, and specify retention policy as needed.
Backup Archive: To archive VMware VM backups to a Cloud storage space such as Amazon S3 for executing 3-2-1 backup strategy.
Economical cost: Reduce O&M costs and additional hardware cost for replication.

Download the VMware backup software to provide reliable data backup and disaster recovery features for your mission-critical VMs from the button below:

*This software supports both paid and free versions of VMware ESXi.

How to easily copy VM to another host using AOMEI Cyber Backup

1. Click Backup Task >> Create New Task to start VM backup tasks.

☞ Enter task name, then select VMware ESXi Backup and the VMs. You can batch backup large numbers of VMs managed by vCenter Server, or multiple VMs on a standalone ESXi host simultaneously.

☞ Target: select a destination to store backups, such as a local path or network.

☞ Schedule: create full/incremental/differential backup and select time to back up VM automatically (daily/weekly/monthly).

☞ Backup Cleanup: specify retention policies for each backup and automatically delete useless backups.

☞ Click Start Backup. You can monitor the process of backup in the Backup Task page.

2. After creating a backup task for VMs, click Restore to perform recovery from backup.

☞ Select backup content and click Restore to new location. Then choose the destination host and configure the storage, RAM and Virtual Processor for the new VM. It is able to restore VM from any backup point directly if something happens to the original virtual machine.

AOMEI Cyber Backup provides a reliable solution for backing up virtual machines efficiently. Its intuitive design simplifies the backup process, allowing users to schedule regular backups and ensure the protection of critical data without complexity. With AOMEI Cyber Backup, you can back up your virtual machine data with confidence, minimizing the risk of data loss and ensuring business continuity. Whether for small businesses or large enterprises, AOMEI Cyber Backup proves to be an invaluable asset in ensuring the safety and integrity of VMware data.

Specialist VMware replicate software - vSphere Replication

Before you start replication, you should download vSphere Replication and perform a series of complicated configuration first which requires you to be extremely carefulness.

How to replicate VM to another host using vSphere Replication

1. Navigate to vCenter, click a VM >> All Site Recovery actions >> Configure Replication.

2. On Target site page, select a destination where this VM will be replicated to, then select Auto-assign vSphere Replication server.

3. On VM validation page, verify this VM can be replicated to another host.

4. On Target datastore page, select a datastore and VM storage policy.

5. On Replication settings page, configure the recovery point objective from 5 minutes to 24 hours and select Enable point in time instances.

6. On Ready to complete page, review all the settings, and click Finish.

This process is complicated and error-prone, so you can try an efficient and simple method. Meanwhile, VM replication requires more storage which may cause wasting of resource.

In order to avoid these problems and protect VM data comprehensively, a professional software seems necessary for your virtual machine replication.

Tips for VMware Data Replication Best Practices

Implementing effective VMware data replication practices is critical to ensuring data protection, disaster recovery readiness and maintaining business continuity in virtualized environments. By adhering to best practices, organizations can minimize the risk of data loss, optimize replication performance and facilitate efficient recovery processes. Here are some key VMware data replication best practices:

🔰 Select the appropriate replication technology:

Consider factors such as replication speed, granularity, and integration with existing infrastructure to select a replication technology that meets your business needs.

🔰 Determine clear RPO and RTO goals:

Establish Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) to determine acceptable levels of data loss and downtime to guide replication strategy and configuration.

🔰 Ensure robust network connectivity:

Maintain reliable and high-speed network connectivity to support replication traffic, minimize latency, and ensure timely data synchronization between source and target environments.

🔰 Regularly test failover and failback procedures:

Regularly test failover and failback procedures to validate the effectiveness of replication configurations and ensure seamless recovery in the event of a disaster.

🔰 Maintain comprehensive documentation:

Fully document replication configurations, processes and procedures for troubleshooting, auditing and knowledge transfer for IT staff.

Summary

Using vSphere Replication aims to consistently prevent your virtual machines from disaster. Whether you want a third-party software or the built-in feature, you can achieve the goal of protecting your virtual machine.

Try this professional VMware replication software. It aims to consistently protect virtual machine data is outstanding in data security, cost-saving and easy operation.

Not only for VMware replication, AOMEI Cyber Backup can achieve Hyper-V replica using regular backup and recovery as well. It always keeps your business continuity and safety by performing immediate disaster recovery.