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Hyper V Replication removal/merge question

david turman 1 Reputation point
2021-12-08T22:21:37.22+00:00

I have a replicated VM running on a 2016 Hyper V cluster. The VM had issues with replication and since I did not notice this the replication has been broken for several months which has caused the HRL files to become very large. Plus there are 2 HRL files per disk and they have different dates on them. I tried to Resume replication but it does nothing and does not even give me an error. Normally I would just Remove rep0lication and reestablish a new replication. But I am concerned that with the HRL files being so large the merge process may not finish properly and I may corrupt the VM. I have never had a merge fail after Removing replication but I have seen other people mention it in some of the forums. My thought was to power down the VMs and make a copy of the VHD files just in case the merge process hangs.

Any opinions or suggestions?

Windows Server Clustering
Windows Server Clustering
Windows Server: A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.Clustering: The grouping of multiple servers in a way that allows them to appear to be a single unit to client computers on a network. Clustering is a means of increasing network capacity, providing live backup in case one of the servers fails, and improving data security.
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  1. Limitless Technology 39,516 Reputation points
    2021-12-10T09:27:44.223+00:00

    Hi,

    The Hyper-V Replica Log (HRL) file is a log file that be created once the initial replication of a VM is completed.
    Hyper-V Replica will start monitoring the changes of each selected virtual hard disk, all the changes will be logged in the HRL file.

    The HRL files are kept in the same directory where the Virtual Machine VHD/VHDX reside. Each VHD file, which has been selected for the replication has an associated HRL file.

    The changes are tracked at the virtual machine level for example. any changes (write operations) to the virtual machine are tracked and stored in the HRL log files.

    Once the replicas/HRL files are ready, "Replication Manager" notifies "Replication Tracker (RT) to send the copies to the Replica Server.

    --If the reply is helpful, please Upvote and Accept as answer--

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  2. david turman 1 Reputation point
    2021-12-10T13:59:17.483+00:00

    So is it safe for men to power down the VM, remove the .HRL files, then power up the VM and Remove replication? NormallyI would just Remove replication powered up but I dont want it to freeze during the merge process since the HRL files are 4 times larger than the original VHD file

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