VMware Data Protection - Replication Target (VDP-RT)

By | August 24, 2015

In this article we discuss the VMware Data Protection - Replication Target (VDP-RT) introduced with the VDP 5.8 release. This is an appliance (not required license) to
serve as a replication target for backup data from a source VDP Advanced or another VDP-RT appliance. A VDP-RT appliance can perform restores (only, no backups) from replicated backup data.

There are VDP-RT key features:

  • Provides a secure (SSL) way to replicate backup data within a data center and across data centersVMware Data Protection - Replication Target 1
  • VDP-RT can be upgraded to a VDP Advanced appliance anytime with a valid license key. Just click "Switch to VDPA" via Web Client.
  • Backup data can be replicated to multiple VDP-RT appliances, i.e. one to many, thus providing multiple end points for protection of its backup clients. Replication from one VDP-RT to another VDP-RT is supported.VMware Data Protection - Replication Target Topology
  • Replication will still continue to work even if vCenter server at either source or destination goes offline.
  • VDP-RT appliance with a Data Domain system configured can act as a replication target for any VDP Advanced having a Data Domain system configured.VMware Data Protection - Replication Target with Data Domain
  • Support for Multi-tenancy. VDP-RT provides a logical separation of data from different users or tenants. Tenant accounts can be created on the replication target servers, which can be used to segregate the data.VMware Data Protection - Replication Target Multi-Tenance
  • VDP-RT replicated backups can have a longer retention policy as compared to the original backup data.
  • 8TB deduplicated data per appliance.

VMware Data Protection Replication Target (VDP-RT) is a good solution for every datacenter with already implemented VDP Advanced and needed to replicate backups to the second datacenter (passive or without needed backups). It enables to recover critical data in secondary datacenter incase the primary site goes down.

UPDATE: VDP Advanced is already included in Essential + or higher license. 🙂

Author: Mariusz

Architect (~ 15 years experience based on passion...) with strong background as a System Administrator and Engineer. Focused on Data Center Solutions: Virtualization/Cloud Computing and Storage/Backup Systems. Currently living in Poland.