As VMware grows in popularity, so do replication processes and applications. Like a RAID server that relies on redundancy, replicating the data on your virtual machine is one form of on-site back-up. The ease with which you can replicate data from one virtual machine to another, creating an easy-to-access back-up, makes virtual machines more secure and less susceptible to the need for emergency data recovery. 

However, to get the most out of your virtual server, you’ll want to follow virtual machine replication best practices.

1- Make sure a dedicated network connects your production and disaster recovery site so that you can access your data in the event of virtual machine failure and data recovery emergency. 

2 – Make sure replication is completed frequently, so you’ll always have up to date back-ups available in the event of an emergency. VmWare vSphere’s new vStorage APIs for Data Protection offer nearly continuous data protection (CDP).

3 – Make sure you have the right apps to access and transfer replicated data to a host machine following a virtual machine failure. 

4 – Make sure to quiesce the data at the application level to avoid data loss. This process pauses the operating system and applications and forces the data in memory to be written to disk. When this is done at the application level, the chances of having incomplete data transfer or corrupt files is reduced.

5- Make sure you have off-site back-ups of your mission critical data. If you replicate your data to another VMware machine, housed in the same place as your virtual server, you risk losing your data to fire, floods or theft. Remote replication at a secure DR site reduces the chances that you’ll need emergency data recovery services should a disaster occur at your server location.