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Chapter 2
Before You Install
version of vRanger can be licensed on a machine at any one time. For example, you cannot license
vRanger SE and vReplicator on the same machine.
2.2.0
vRanger Installation Options
A complete vRanger installation includes four components: the vRanger server; the vRanger
database; the vRanger virtual appliances; and at least one repository. The sections below provide
information on the options available for each component.
Installing The vRanger Database
Installing the vRanger Virtual Appliance
Creating a vRanger Repository
2.3.0
Installing the vRanger Server
Configuring vCenter Permissions
Installing the vRanger Server
vRanger can be installed either on a physical server or in a virtual machine. As long as the vRanger
machine meets the specifications detailed in System Requirements And Compatibility, application
performance should be similar regardless of which option is chosen.
Virtual Machine - When installing vRanger in a virtual machine, you eliminate the need for
dedicated hardware while maintaining high performance. Due to the lower cost and increased
flexibility, this is the recommended approach. For information on installing in a virtual machine,
see Installing vRanger in a Virtual Machine.
Physical Server - The primary benefit of installing vRanger on a physical server is that the
resource consumption of backup activity is off-loaded from the virtual environment to the
physical proxy. Of course, this configuration requires a dedicated server, and LAN-free backups
require a more complex configuration. For more information on installing on a physical server,
see Installing vRanger on a Physical Server.
Regardless of which approach you chose, vRanger can leverage the vRanger virtual appliances to
perform backup, restore, and replication tasks. This provides greater scalability while distributing the
resource consumption of data protection activities across multiple hosts. See Installing the vRanger
Virtual Appliance for more information.
2.3.1
Installing vRanger in a Virtual Machine
When vRanger is installed in a virtual machine, you can perform backups and restores either over
the network or in a LAN-Free mode which uses the SCSI HotAdd functionality on VMware ESX (i).
The sections below provide a summary of each method. Note that replication and physical backup
tasks are always performed over the network.
Note: The backup transport method describes only how data is read from the source server, not how
the data is sent to the repository.
2.3.1.a
Network Backups
Network backups and restores are the most basic option in vRanger, as they are