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.

Introduction to Zerto test environment

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

Abiquo’s test environment was created with Zerto 9.7 U2.

You will find full instructions in the Zerto Knowledge Portal - Introduction to the Zerto Solution, which was linked at the time of page update.

We configured a test environment similar to the one shown at Zerto Knowledge Portal - Zerto Solution Architecture in The Zerto Solution Architecture section of the Installation guide.

The following configuration is for a test environment only, and we recommend that you also configure your firewall 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.

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

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) 443

For more details, see Zerto Knowledge Portal - Ports

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

In the GUI:

1. Add the License key

2. Pair the locations as described below

3. Deploy the VRA to each ESXi host

Pair two Zerto environments

To link the two Zerto environments:

1. Log in to the Zerto environment that does not have the license

2. Go to Sites → Generate pairing token and obtain the Token

3. Log in to the Zerto environment that has the license

4. Go to Sites → Pair

5. 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 1 GB 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.

Related links:

• Configure disaster recovery as a service with Zerto

• Abiquo DRaaS