Hyper-V Replication across a BOVPN

Brian Speck 0 Reputation points
2024-02-15T17:11:23.16+00:00

We have a situation where two (2) Hyper-V servers need to communicate across an established BOVPN Tunnel. Some background:

  • the BOVPN Tunnel was setup several years ago for replication between sites, initially for VMware vSphere replication
  • the decision was made to change from VMware to Hyper-V
  • the BOVPN Tunnel is managed by a Watchguard T-Series firewall at each end. They have been replaced/upgraded every three years.
  • the VMware servers synced via IP address and had no issues connecting and replicating
  • the Hyper-V server replication wizard is requiring a lookup via NETBIOS names and the servers cannot "see" each other
  • the Network Engineer who designed this plan has terminated his involvement with this project, and this is, of course, the last step in the deployment of the two new Hyper-V servers. The plan only summarized the task, and did not give detailed steps.

Some networking background:

Site A:

  • 10.10.1.1/24 (Firewall gateway address)
  • Windows Server domain, let's call it SiteA.local
  • main office, all users work on-site or remote in via VPN
  • Hyper-V server is NOT on the domain, has a 10.10.x.x address, on default workgroup
  • Virtual servers are on the local domain, 10.10.x.x addresses

Site B:

  • 172.16.1.1/24 (Firewall gateway address)
  • primary purpose is for replication / DR Plan recovery
  • no local domain, 1-2 virtual servers with 172.16.x.x addresses on SiteA.local domain
  • only the IT Staff use this network, physically and virtually
  • a separate network exists on the firewall, 192.168.x.x for the business owner's use
  • Hyper-V server is NOT on the domain, has a 172.16.1.x address, on default workgroup

Watchguard T-Series Fireboxes (qty: 2):

  • up to date with latest firmware
  • recent modifications to allow NETBIOS names across the BOVPN
  • can use RDC to connect across the tunnel, previously could only connect one way (Site A to Site B)

Security Considerations:

  • the physical Hyper-V servers should NOT be on the domain
  • the physical Hyper-V servers should NOT have DNS entries within the domain
  • a separate subnet was considered for the Hyper-V servers, but deemed unnecessary by the original Network Engineer
  • modifying the HOSTS file on each Hyper-V server has been considered, but looking for better options

Hyper-V Replication Wizard:

  • when attempting to connect the two servers for replication, they fail to find each other by name, IP address is NOT an option

Any guidance in this scenario is greatly appreciated!

Hyper-V
Hyper-V
A Windows technology providing a hypervisor-based virtualization solution enabling customers to consolidate workloads onto a single server.
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  1. Ian Xue (Shanghai Wicresoft Co., Ltd.) 29,891 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2024-02-19T06:31:16.5233333+00:00

    Hi Brian,

    Thanks for your post. You can refer the following article to perform a Hyper-V replication health check and do troubleshooting.

    Best Regards,

    Ian Xue

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  2. Net Runner 505 Reputation points
    2024-03-08T15:06:07.2333333+00:00

    The built-in Windows Server Hyper-V Replica is not a very reliable option, is far less superior than its VMware analog, and requires lots of manual efforts after failover occurs to bring things back to their original state. Running it in a workgroup environment makes things even more complicated. Still, you have some options here as well:

    1. You can use local hosts files on both Hyper-V servers to let them identify each other over names and make it possible for the Hyper-V Replication Wizard to get through all the configuration steps.
    2. You can check the following Powershell script https://www.starwindsoftware.com/blog/hyper-vpowershell-wizard-script-configure-hyper-v-replica-different-scenarios-domain-workgroups-mixed-optionto complete Hyper-V Replica configuration in a non-domain environment using just the IP addresses.
    3. However, I strongly suggest you use your backup software for replication purposes. If you are using some major vendor like Veeam or Commvault for backups, you should have that feature out of the box. 3rd party backup and replication software does not care about workgroup/domain stuff, DNS resolving, and makes failover and fallback automatically, which is something Hyper-V Replica is not capable of.
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