Nested virtualization in Azure for replication

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Nested virtualization in Azure for replication

Faye Marie Brucal 121

We target to have DR to Azure using Hyper v replication or 3rd party replication tool. Is nested virtualization applicable? I've read Microsoft KBs about scenarios where you can use nested virtualization but replication is not on the list. Isn't it compatible? And what are the disadvantages or limitations?

SadiqhAhmed-MSFT 49,326 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-09-25T17:16:03.84+00:00

@Faye Marie Brucal Looks like your question has been answered by @TP. Could you please confirm that by accepting the post as answer?

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SadiqhAhmed-MSFT 49,326 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-09-25T17:16:03.84+00:00

@Faye Marie Brucal Looks like your question has been answered by @TP. Could you please confirm that by accepting the post as answer?

Answer 1

TP 124.7K Volunteer Moderator

Hi Faye,

You would replicate your on premises VMs to non-nested Azure VMs. One method for this would be to use Azure Site Recovery. Please see article below for details:

Set up disaster recovery of on-premises Hyper-V VMs to Azure

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/hyper-v-azure-tutorial

Thanks.

-TP

Faye Marie Brucal 121 Reputation points

2023-09-20T01:21:47.2833333+00:00

Hello @TP, thanks for the response. I am aware of the ASR, but also thinking other possible solutions. Can you confirm that the one I mentioned is possible or not so we can get it out or keep on our list? Thank you
TP 124.7K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2023-09-20T01:37:11.4833333+00:00

I wasn't able to find official statement of support either way, however, I don't recommend nested virtualization except for testing/small use cases.

From architecual standpoint, the equivalent of on-premises hyper-v with VMs is Azure with non-nested VMs. Azure physical hosts run a version of Hyper-V themselves.

With nested virtualization you are going to have performance penalty since there would be another layer not present in your on-prem environment. The child VMs/disks/network interfaces/etc. would all be inside of the parent VM and thus not have usual capabilities/ability to be managed via normal Azure platform APIs.
Faye Marie Brucal 121 Reputation points

2023-09-22T13:33:32.3666667+00:00

I see. Thank you so much for the insights! :)
TP 124.7K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2023-09-26T09:12:57.17+00:00

@Faye Marie Brucal You are welcome. Please click Accept Answer to close up this thread.

Thank you.

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Nested virtualization in Azure for replication

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