Hyper-V Replica Capacity Planner has been Released!

Rob Waggoner

As you know, I think Hyper-V Replica is one of the KILLER features in Windows Server 2012.  As I talk about it and demonstrate it, I always get the question: How can I understand the impact Hyper-V Replica will have on my infrastructure?  Now you can!  We recently released the Hyper-V Replica Capacity Planner, so now we can help you understand the impact Hyper-V Replica will have on your infrastructure.  The download is here and it includes a docx file with instructions, and the actual executable.  The intention is that you can run the capacity planner tool against your current infrastructure and intended VMs.  This tool collects data from running Hyper-V hosts and running VMs.  It reports critical planning information like, the CPU, Memory and IOP load created by your VM when Hyper-V Replica is enabled.

This tool lets you define your servers, or Replication Brokers for Clusters, as well as the bandwidth available.  The last option lets you provide the duration time for the test.  It’s best to run this test during production so you can see the real world impact.

Here is where you need to pick an existing (non-replicating) VM.  It even lets you test Replication if you are using Certificate based authentication.

This tool will not predict the load a non-existent VM will create, it is intended to provide the capacity details of an existing VM in an existing infrastructure.

This tool will configure a temporary Hyper-V Replica of the VM you want to test, that’s how it truly measures capacity.  The down side to this method is that you cannot calculate capacity on a VM that already has Hyper-V Replication enabled. 

This tool assumes that the initial replica of your VM will be replicated across your network real time.  Hyper-V Replica provides other options that can prevent the initial replica from replicating over the network, but this tool does not address those options.  If you run this tool for a day (or even week), it will give you a clear understanding of load this Hyper-V Replica will create on your infrastructure.

Again, the tool and documentation can be downloaded here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39057

To see more detail around Hyper-V Replica, I’ve created a blog and video here:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/uspartner_ts2team/archive/2012/06/15/windows-server-2012-virtualization-hyper-v-replica.aspx

If you haven’t heard, Hyper-V Replica saved numerous business after Hurricane Sandy.  Here’s my blog entry about one of those:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/uspartner_ts2team/archive/2012/10/31/hurricane-sandy-and-hyper-v-replica.aspx

Here is a case study talking about the positive impact Hyper-V Replica had on their business: 

http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Windows-Server-2012-Datacenter/Law-Offices-of-Aaron-I.-Katsman-P.C/New-York-Law-Firm-Avoids-Disaster-During-Hurricane-by-Using-Failover-System/710000001728

Until next time,

Rob