Replication Configuration Options - HP StorageWorks 12000 - Virtual Library System EVA Gateway Manual

For both HP VLS and D2D systems, the unit of replication is a virtual cartridge and the replication link
is TCP/IP (one GbE connection per node on the VLS system, and one to two GbE connections on the
D2D system). Figure 8 shows how you can configure the system to replicate all of the cartridges or
just a subset of cartridges from the source virtual library to the target virtual library.
Figure 8 Replication Configuration Options
.
• Active-Passive: The best deployment for a single site disaster recovery protection. The active source
device receives the local backup data and then replicates it to a passive target device at the disaster
recovery site dedicated to receiving replication data.
• Many-to-one: The best deployment for several smaller sites consolidating their replication to a
central disaster recovery site. Each source device in the smaller sites replicate to a central target
device which you configure to have multiple sources replicate to a common virtual library on the
central device (each source replicates to its own subset of the cartridges in the virtual library). Al-
ternatively, each source can have its own dedicated virtual library. Up to four remote VLS sites
can copy to a single HP VLS at the central site at launch, and this will be increased over time. Up
to 16 remote D2D sites can copy to a single D2D4000 at the central site, and up to 24 remote
D2D sites can copy to a D2D4100.
• Active-Active and N-Way: The best deployment for sharing your VLS or D2D system hardware for
both receiving backups and receiving replication data (so each device is both a source and a
target as shown in the above diagram). Active-active is one way to implement cross-replication
between sites, but you can use two active-passive deployments to achieve the same result.
Choosing between either active-active or 2x active-passive deployments for cross-replication depends
on which provides the lowest cost. Active-active is only recommended if the backup traffic on each
device is only using up to half of the device's maximum performance and capacity, because you
need additional performance and capacity for the replication target operations.
For example, if you have two VLS9000 sites that each requires 2-nodes/2-arrays for just their
backup performance/capacity and 2-nodes/2-arrays for their replication target performance/ca-
pacity, then you have the following choices for cross-replication deployment:
HP StorageWorks VLS and D2D Solutions Guide 27