Appliance storage can be used to store backups, for instant recovery of VMs and Windows image-level backups, and for Windows replicas. To use the instant recovery and Windows replica features, you must allocate a portion of the appliance storage to Instant Recovery in the Edit Storage dialog (as described in To edit storage allocation). For more on these features, see Virtual machine instant recovery, Instant recovery of Windows image-level backups, and Windows replicas.
Once storage is allocated to instant recovery, it can be used only for Windows replicas and instant recovery. The storage is reserved and cannot be used for other purposes, such as backups or deduplication (but you can modify your storage allocation at any time).
Because the appliance is designed to retain as many local backups as possible, it is best to reserve instant recovery space soon after initial deployment. If necessary, you can allocate instant recovery space later, but doing so may require the appliance to purge local backups to make room for the newly allocated instant recovery space.
Instant recovery storage requirements
Before allocating storage, determine the percentage to use for backups and the percentage to reserve for Windows replicas and instant recovery. Instant recovery storage requirements are given here:
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VM instant recovery – Because the disks for a recovered VM reside on the appliance until storage migration completes, you must allocate at least 20 percent of the space used on the VM’s original disks. Once disks have been migrated to the recovered VM, appliance instant recovery storage is no longer needed. |
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Windows image-level instant recovery – Requirements vary by recovery target: |
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Virtual host target – If recovering to an ESXi or Hyper-V server, the disks for the recovered VM reside on the appliance until storage migration completes. You must allocate at least 20 percent of the space used on the Windows asset’s original disks. Once disks have been migrated to the recovered VM, appliance instant recovery storage is no longer needed. |
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Recovery Series or Recovery MAX appliance target – If recovering to the Unitrends appliance, the disks for the recovered asset reside on the appliance. Ensure that instant recovery storage space equal to the amount of space used on the Windows asset’s original disks is available on the appliance. |
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Windows replicas – Requirements vary by recovery target: |
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Virtual host target – If recovering to an ESXi or Hyper-V server, no appliance instant recovery storage is needed. |
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Recovery Series or Recovery MAX appliance target – If recovering to the Unitrends appliance, the disks for the recovered asset reside on the appliance. Ensure that instant recovery storage space equal to the amount of space used on the Windows asset’s original disks is available on the appliance. |