Abiquo and Zerto test environment

Abiquo offers Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) with Zerto so your users can obtain DR protection on a self-service basis with the click of a button.

Zerto test environment

This is a quick general guide to to Zerto installation that is recommended for a test environment only and you should always consult the Zerto Documentation.

Abiquo integrates with the Zerto API, which does not filter datastore folders by cluster

Introduction to Zerto test environment

This page describes a basic environment that is suitable for testing Zerto with Abiquo.

Zerto will not protect certain VM configurations, so please check the Zerto Documentation (and in particular, http://s3.amazonaws.com/zertodownload_docs/Latest/Zerto%20Virtual%20Replication%20Zerto%20Virtual%20Manager%20(ZVM)%20-%20vSphere%20Online%20Help/content/adminvc/unprotected_vms_learn_why.htm, which was linked at the time of writing).

The VM configurations that Zerto will not protect include VMs that have DVDs or IDE devices.

You will find full instructions in this Zerto Documentation, which was linked at the time of writing.

We configured a test environment similar to the one shown in the Architecture diagram from the Installation guide.

The following configuration is for a test environment only and we recommend that you also configure your firewall and ports and communications according to the Zerto documentation.

In our test environment we configured two VMs with Windows Server 2019 and attached them to the Zerto Replication Network and the Management network.

Install Zerto Virtual Manager

To install the Zerto Virtual Manage (ZVM) you need to create a VM with Windows Server. For a test environment, you could use Windows Server 2019, without firewalls and with RDP installed and enabled.

Get the ZVM from the Zerto support/download page. At the time of writing, it was as follows.

ZertoVirtualReplicationSoftwareInstaller.zip

From this archive file, use the appropriate executable file. At the time of writing it was a follows:

Zerto Virtual Replication VMware Installer.exe

Run the installer on the Windows Server 2019, and follow the steps.

You will need to approve or change the default parameters:

IP Used by the Zerto User Interface (Windows VM IP)
HTTP Port (ZVM) 9080
HTTPS Port (clients↔ZVM) 9669
HTTPS Port (ZVM ↔ ZVM) 9071
TCP Port (ZVM → VBA) 9180

After you deploy Zerto, access the Zerto GUI to complete the deployment.

In the GUI:

Add the License key
Pair the locations as described below
Deploy the VRA to each ESXi host

Pair two Zerto environments

To link the two Zerto environments:

Log in to the Zerto environment that does not have the license
Go to Sites → Generate pairing token and obtain the Token
Log in to the Zerto environment that has the license
Go to Sites → Pair
Enter the Host name / IP of the other Zerto and the Token

Deploy Zerto Virtual Replication Appliances

You need to deploy a Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA) as a VM on every vCenter host that will use Zerto.

The VM requires at least 1GB RAM and 1 x vCPU, and you must attach it to the Zerto Replication Network in the vCenter.

You also need to assign an IP, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and the datastore.

After this, you can create Virtual Protection Groups (VPGs).

Zerto journal configuration

In your test environment, you should consider that replicating VMs may require a large amount of datastore space. Abiquo sets a default journal history of 24 hours, which you can adjust directly in Zerto. Another setting that may be useful in a test environment is the journal size hard limit that you can also set in Zerto.

For more details, see https://www.zerto.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ZVR-Journal-Overview.pdf.

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