Note: Full support for 'Disaster Recovery as a Service' (DRaaS) is also planned, whereby the process of moving the VM to the main site will be handled by VM Backup automatically.
Currently a manual process is required, so you will need to find some time where you can shut down the restored replica VM, export it via Hyper-V Manager and then import once it's on the main site.
Step-by-step instructions can be found below:
- Open Hyper-V Manager and locate the restored replica VM you want to take back to the main site.
- Shut it down and wait for it to get to an 'Off' state.
- Then simply right-click on it and choose [Export]
- Next click [Browse] to select a location where to place the exported VM files, which you'll be transporting/shipping back to the main site. Once you've chosen, simply click [Export]
- Wait for the export job to fully complete by monitoring the 'Status' in Hyper-V Manager.
- Once the export has completed and the disk has been transported to the main site, open up Hyper-V Manager, right-click on your host and click on [Import Virtual Machine...]
- Next an Import wizard will pop up, simply point to the folder you have exported, select the VM to import. Then as for 'Import Type', you'll need to choose from one of the following:
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Register the virtual machine in-place (use the existing unique ID) -- this will simply add the VM in Hyper-V Manager and leave it in-place on the exported disk
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Restore the virtual machine (use the existing unique ID) -- this will essentially move the VM from the exported disk to a location of your choosing. Keep the same VM GUID
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[Suggested] Copy the virtual machine (create a new unique ID) -- this will essentially move the VM from the exported disk to a location of your choosing. A new VM GUID will be created.
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Register the virtual machine in-place (use the existing unique ID) -- this will simply add the VM in Hyper-V Manager and leave it in-place on the exported disk
- Next choose, in the 'Choose Folders for Virtual Machine Files' option, it's important that these locations are configured on the same disk that you're planning to place the exported VM onto.
So in my case, I'm planning to move my exported VM to the E: drive, like below, so these must be configured to the E: drive as well:
- As for the 'Choose Folders to Store Virtual Hard Disks' option, I'm going to select the E: drive again, then simply click [Next]
- Then you'll simply get a Summary of your preferred configuration and to start the Import process, simply select [Finish]
- Finally, remember to set up replication again for this newly restored VM.
Once the Import job finishes off, you'll get your VM attached to Hyper-V successfully containing all of the changes the user's carried out on that VM while it was running on the DR site.