Upgraded to vRanger v5.3 virtual appliance is not compatible (4047390)

After upgrade from vRanger 5.2.x to 5.3 Replication with use of VA fails with "Virtual appliance vzva-1.1.3 has an incompatible version." error message.

Previous versions of the virtual appliance are not compatible with vRanger 5.3. Please download and deploy the latest version from the vRanger VA web page.

The second disk (scratch disk) on your virtual appliance(s) contains a hash file for each replicated virtual machine. vRanger uses this file to identify changed data blocks during replication. When upgrading the virtual appliance, consider migrating the scratch disk from your legacy VA to the upgraded version. This will ensure that your hash files are maintained. Step 4 of the scratch disk configuration procedure describes how to attach an existing scratch disk to a new virtual appliance.

Note: If you do not migrate the scratch disk to your updated virtual appliances, vRanger will need to recreate each hash file which requires a full scan of the replicated virtual machine. While only the changed data will be sent, the re-scan of the VM may take up to 1 minute per GB of hard disk space.

Step 1. Deploy new VA (Leave old VA intact) (Page 77 in vRanger 5.3 Installation Guide)

NOTE:The vRanger virtual appliance is available via the Quest website: http://www.quest.com/landing/?id=5414

Also available on this landing page are:

• A demonstration video describing the VA configuration process
• A short form of the VA Installation Instructions
• Virtual Appliances for older versions of vRanger

Step 2. Configure new VA (Page 78 in vRanger 5.3 Installation Guide)

• a. Change the Default Password
• b. Intall vMware Tools
• c. Change the Hostname

Step 3. Add "Scratch" disk (Existing disk from old VA)

• a From the VI Client, right-click on the virtual appliance, and select Edit Settings.
• b On the Hardware tab, click Add.
• c Select Hard Disk. Click Next.

Step 4. Do one of the following:

A.) If you are upgrading a previous virtual appliance:

• Select Use an existing virtual disk.
• Browse to the location of your existing scratch disk. Select the VMDK for the scratch disk and click OK.

NOTE:Once you have attached the disk to the new virtual appliance, it is safe to remove the old VA.

B.) If you are configuring a new virtual appliance, select Create a new virtual disk.

• Configure the size for the disk and select your provisioning method. If storage space is a concern, consider selecting the Thin Provision option. This ensures that only the amount of space required is allocated.

Click Next. Proceed to Step 5.

Step 5. Leave the Virtual Device Node setting as SCSI. Click Next.
Step 6. Click Finish.
Step 7. Reboot the virtual appliance.

Scratch Disk Location:
When creating the second disk, make sure you place the disk on a datastore with block sizes large enough to support the expected VMDK. The list below shows the maximum file size available for each block size:

• 1 MB block size – 256 GB maximum file size
• 2 MB block size – 512 GB maximum file size
• 4 MB block size – 1024 GB maximum file size
• 8 MB block size – 2048 GB maximum file size

Note This limitation does not apply to VMFS 5.

Page 75 of vRanger 5.3 Installation Guide (Sizing the Scratch Disk)

The scratch disk should be about 30% of the sum of disks from largest VA's that could be replicating at one time. If you are replicating more frequent, the scratch disk could be smaller. Please refer to vRanger 5.3 Installation Guide.