XDR Architecture

Overview

XDR operates as a control plane layer over the underlying compute and storage infrastructure, orchestrating continuous replication and coordinated recovery across geographically separated sites. Understanding the component architecture helps administrators size deployments, plan network requirements, and diagnose failures effectively.

Prerequisites

Administrator credentials on both primary and DR sites
Familiarity with RPO/RTO concepts and distributed storage replication terminology

Component Topology

Core Components

Component	Role
XDR Controller	Central orchestration service — manages protection plans, tracks recovery state, and triggers failover
XDR Agent (Primary)	Runs on primary site nodes; captures change streams from storage and forwards to DR agent
XDR Agent (DR)	Receives replicated data, applies it to DR-site replicas, and executes the recovery runbook during failover
Replication Network	Dedicated link carrying encrypted, optionally compressed replication traffic between sites
XIMP Integration	Provides health visibility for replication lag, RPO adherence, and site availability

Replication Pipeline

Data flows through a multi-stage pipeline from the primary site to the DR site:

Change capture

The XDR agent on the primary site intercepts write operations at the storage layer, capturing changed data blocks as a continuous stream. For application-consistent replication, the agent coordinates with in-guest agents to quiesce writes at consistent intervals.

Compression and encryption

The change stream is optionally compressed (recommended for WAN links) and encrypted using TLS 1.3 before transmission. Compression reduces bandwidth consumption by 30–60% for typical mixed workloads.

Transfer

The compressed, encrypted stream is transmitted over the replication link to the DR-site XDR agent. Bandwidth throttling applies during peak hours if configured.

Apply to replicas

The DR-site agent writes the received changes to the standby storage replicas. Compute replicas remain stopped — the data is current but the instances are not running.

Recovery point snapshot

At configurable intervals, the XDR agent creates a recovery point — a consistent snapshot of the replicated state. Recovery points define the available restore targets during failover.

Deployment Models

Active-Passive (Standard)
Active-Active (Bidirectional)
Multi-Site Fan-Out

The most common deployment model. One site runs production workloads; the other site holds warm replicas that activate only during failover.

Characteristic	Value
Sites	2 (primary + DR)
Production traffic	Primary site only
DR site resource consumption	Storage cost + agent overhead (no compute billing for stopped replicas)
Failover time	Minutes (RTO depends on workload complexity)
RPO	Seconds to minutes (asynchronous) or zero (synchronous)

The DR site requires approximately the same storage capacity as the primary site. Compute resources are only consumed during an actual failover or DR test.

Both sites run production workloads. XDR replicates in both directions, protecting each site from failure of the other.

Characteristic	Value
Sites	2 (both active)
Production traffic	Both sites simultaneously
Complexity	Higher — requires split-brain prevention and write conflict resolution
Failover time	Near-instant (surviving site already running)
Use case	Geographically distributed active users; maximum availability requirement

Active-active deployments require careful application design to avoid write conflicts. Not all workloads are suitable for bidirectional replication. Contact Xloud support before deploying active-active XDR.

One primary site replicates to two or more DR sites simultaneously — typically used for geographic redundancy or regulatory data residency requirements.

Characteristic	Value
Sites	3 or more (1 primary + N DR)
Bandwidth	Multiplied by the number of DR sites
Use case	Regulatory requirements for multiple geographic copies

Multi-site fan-out doubles or triples replication bandwidth requirements. Ensure the primary site uplink can sustain concurrent streams to all DR sites.

Control Plane Placement

The XDR controller can be co-located with the primary site or deployed on a separate management network:

Placement	Consideration
Primary site	Simpler deployment; controller unavailable if primary site fails
DR site	Controller survives primary site failure; manages failover independently
Dedicated management host	Highest availability; additional infrastructure required
XDeploy cluster	Recommended — integrated with XDeploy’s high-availability deployment

Deploy the XDR controller in the XDeploy management cluster. XDeploy runs with redundancy across nodes, so the controller remains available even during a primary site failure event.

Network Requirements

Traffic Type	Direction	Port	Protocol
Replication data	Primary → DR	TCP 7000	TLS
Replication control	Bidirectional	TCP 7001	TLS
Agent API	Controller → Agents	TCP 7002	HTTPS
Health checks	Controller → Primary	Configurable	HTTP/TCP

All ports must be open in both directions between primary and DR site networks. Use a dedicated VLAN or MPLS circuit for replication traffic to avoid impacting production workloads during initial sync or peak change rate periods.

Core Services

Other Services

XDR Architecture

Overview

Component Topology

Core Components

Replication Pipeline

Change capture

Compression and encryption

Transfer

Apply to replicas

Recovery point snapshot

Deployment Models

Control Plane Placement

Network Requirements

Next Steps

Replication Configuration

Recovery Plans

Monitoring

DR Automation

Core Services

Other Services

​Overview

​Component Topology

​Core Components

​Replication Pipeline

Change capture

Compression and encryption

Transfer

Apply to replicas

Recovery point snapshot

​Deployment Models

​Control Plane Placement

​Network Requirements

​Next Steps

Replication Configuration

Recovery Plans

Monitoring

DR Automation

Overview

Component Topology

Core Components

Replication Pipeline

Deployment Models

Control Plane Placement

Network Requirements

Next Steps