VMware Live Site Recovery review
A focused choice for orchestrating recovery across paired VMware sites.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
VMware Live Site Recovery orchestrates disaster recovery for virtualized applications across paired VMware sites. It is designed for IT administrators responsible for infrastructure resiliency and recovery, with support for on-premises and hyperscaler VMware deployments. The product focuses on virtual-machine workloads and is delivered through VMware Cloud Foundation or VMware vSphere Foundation entitlements. Its core workflow centers on centralized recovery plans, automated failover, planned migration, non-disruptive test failover, reprotection, and automated failback.
The published commercial model is contact sales, with VMware directing prospects to an account representative. The product is provided through VMware Live Recovery or related foundation add-ons rather than as the former standalone Site Recovery Manager offer. This makes entitlement structure an important part of evaluating the product, especially for organizations already planning around VMware Cloud Foundation or VMware vSphere Foundation. Buyers should clarify how the required recovery capabilities fit their existing VMware licensing and deployment model.
Ecosystem fit is the main strength. VMware Live Site Recovery integrates with VMware vSphere, vCenter Server, vSphere Replication, VMware Virtual Volumes, VMware vSAN, Storage Replication Adapters, and array-based replication. That gives administrators a choice between vSphere Replication and supported storage-replication technologies while keeping recovery operations centralized. The scope is deliberately focused: organizations seeking VMware site recovery orchestration should find the feature set aligned with that need, while teams protecting workloads beyond virtual machines should consider a broader disaster recovery product. VMware Site Recovery Manager was renamed VMware Live Site Recovery in version 9.0.
VMware Live Site Recovery pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Centralizes recovery plans for failover, migration, testing, and failback.
- Supports vSphere Replication and array-based replication through SRAs.
- Covers on-premises and hyperscaler VMware virtual-machine deployments.
- Where it doesn't
- Focused on virtual-machine workloads rather than broader workload types.
- Pricing requires contact with a VMware account representative.
- Requires a paired VMware-site and replication integration strategy.
VMware Live Site Recovery fact sheet, pricing and score →
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