Replicate Virtual Machines Using Replication Seeds

You can make the initial replication of VDMK files more efficient by physically moving files onto a storage device. vSphere Replication uses the physically moved files as replication seeds.

You might need to use replication seeds if it is not practical to copy the files over the network because the amount of data is too large, the bandwidth available is too small, or some combination of the two.

When replicating virtual machines, ensure that virtual machines are replicated to subdirectories in datastores. Copied disks work if the transfer method preserves the identity information stored in the VMDK file.

Prerequisites

To replicate a virtual machine using vSphere Replication, you must establish the vSphere Replication infrastructure at both sites. The SRM Server instances at each site must be paired, and thevSphere Replication appliances must be paired. If a virtual machine is powered off, replication begins when the virtual machine is powered on.

Procedure

1	Use the vSphere Client to connect to a vCenter Server that can manage the virtual machines to  be physically moved.
2	Click Datastores.
3	In the left pane, browse to the datastore that contains the files for the virtual machine, select the datastore, and in the right pane, click Browse this datastore.
4	Select the folders for all virtual machines to be physically moved, right-click the selection,  and click Download.
5	Select a destination to which to copy the files and click OK.
6	Click Yes.
7	After the download finishes, transfer the files to a location on the paired site to upload them.
8	On the vSphere Client Home page at the paired site, click Datastores.
9	In the left pane, browse to the datastore to contain the files for the virtual machine,  select the datastore, and in the right pane, click Browse this datastore.
10	Select the folder to contain the copies of the virtual machines, right-click the selection,  and click Upload Folder.
11	Select the folder containing the virtual machines, and click OK. Fuente: VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.1 Documentation Center Jorge D.