Hyper-V Replica Troubleshooting and Failover Checklist

Check replication health first

Open the VM replication health view and identify whether the problem is initial replication, ongoing replication, authentication, network transfer or storage. Do not begin failover while replication health is unknown.

Validate the replica path

Confirm that the primary host can reach the replica server on the configured replication port and that the selected authentication method matches the deployment. Certificate-based authentication requires the required certificates to be trusted.

Check recovery points

Confirm that the replica is receiving changes and that the available recovery points match the recovery objective. A replica that is powered on is not proof that recent application data has been replicated.

Use test failover before a real event

A test failover creates an isolated test copy and allows you to validate boot, networking, application startup and recovery procedures without interrupting the primary VM. Document the expected result before the test.

Planned versus unplanned failover

A planned failover is used when the primary VM can be shut down cleanly and remaining changes can be replicated. An unplanned failover is used when the primary is unavailable and can result in data loss based on the last replicated state.

Post-failover validation

Validate DNS, application dependencies, IP configuration, monitoring, backup protection and user access. Record the final role of each host so reverse replication can be planned correctly.

Get-VMReplication -VMName <VMName>
Get-VMReplicationStatistics -VMName <VMName>
Test-NetConnection <ReplicaHost> -Port 80