CPT is initially run at the protected site. In this case, CPT does not require JetStream DR software to be installed. Site specific parameters are first collected by CPT for analysis. Handled details include:

  • List of VMs to be protected.
  • Protection rules and conditions (described below).
  • vCenter access information, and more.


NOTE: CPT parameters can be specified interactively and resulting plans executed using the GUI (preferred method), or parameters can be written to a parameter input text file (cpt_input.yml or cpt_input_lite.yml) and then processed from the command line script cpt.py.


In addition to input provided by the user, CPT also uses statistics gathered from vCenter. To capture meaningful statistics, the vSphere statistics collection level should be temporarily increased, and vSphere should be run using a typical workload for a representative amount of time. CPT is run after a history of statistics has been collected and it queries these statistics directly from vCenter. CPT can be run in two modes, one where it collects information from the standard recorded history of vCenter statistics and another mode where it runs for a fixed duration of time (e.g., 24 hours) and periodically (e.g., hourly) collects statistics from vCenter. CPT uses the statistics to generate:

  • Resource capacity and related performance recommendations (replication network bandwidth, replication log size and performance requirements, and more).
  • Protected domains (number and content).
  • Resource consumption statistics of the VMs (CPU, memory, and storage).
  • A “Protection Plan” template.
  • A “Continuous Failover Plan” template.


CPT recommendations for network bandwidth should be congruent with results determined by the Object Store and Bandwidth Performance Test Tool, another utility available from JetStream Software. The tool provides uplink network and object store bandwidth, latency, and other useful statistics (such as optimal number of concurrently get/put objects).

After a protection plan is generated to obtain recommendations from CPT, the user validates availability of resources and then installs and configures JetStream DR software. After that, the protection plan script can be executed – creating DRVA(s) and protected domains, and then starting VM protection.

If needed, the continuous failover plan can be executed asynchronously at the recovery site. In this case, the required infrastructure (including DRVAs) is created automatically at the recovery site. Current information about the associated protected domains/VMs/VDISKs is obtained directly from the object store.