Parameter | Array-Based Replication | vSphere Replication |
RPO min/max | 0 up to max supported by vendor | 15 mins to 24 hours |
Scale | Scales up to 5,000 VMs protected/2,000 simultaneously | Scales up to 2,000 VMs (protected & recoverable) per |
recoverable per vCenter/SRM pair | vCenter/SRM pair | |
Write order fidelity | Supports write order fidelity within and across multiple VMs | Supports write order fidelity on the disks/VMDKs that make up |
in the same consistency group | a VM, consistency cannot be guaranteed across multiple VMs | |
Replication level | Replicates at the LUN/VMFS or NFS volume level | Replicates at the VM level |
Replication configuration | Replication is configured and | Replication is configured and |
managed on the storage array | managed in the vSphere Web Client | |
Array/ vendor types | Requires same storage replication | Can support any storage solution at |
solution at both sites (eg. EMC RecoverPoint, NetApp vFiler, IBM SVC, etc) | either end including local storage as long as it is covered by the vSphere | |
HCL | ||
Storage supported | Replication supported on FC, iSCSI | Supports replicating VMs on local, |
or NFS storage only | attached, VSAN, FC, iSCSI or NFS storage | |
Cost | Replication and snapshot licensing | vSphere Replication is included in |
is required | vSphere Essentials Plus 5.1 and higher | |
Deployment | Deployment is fairly involved and | Deployment requirements are |
must include storage administration and possibly networking | minimal. OVF at each site and start configuring replications |