HP StoreVirtual 4000 User Manual
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HP StoreVirtual 4000 User Manual

HP StoreVirtual 4000 User Manual

Lefthand storage remote copy user guide
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Download this manual See also: Configuration Manual, User Manual
HP LeftHand Storage Remote Copy User
Guide
Abstract
This guide provides information about configuring and using asynchronous replication of storage volumes and snapshots across
geographic distances.
For the latest version of this guide, see the HP website http://www.hp.com/support/LeftHandManuals.
HP Part Number: AX696-96197
Published: November 2012
Edition: 6

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  • Page 1 HP LeftHand Storage Remote Copy User Guide Abstract This guide provides information about configuring and using asynchronous replication of storage volumes and snapshots across geographic distances. For the latest version of this guide, see the HP website http://www.hp.com/support/LeftHandManuals. HP Part Number: AX696-96197 Published: November 2012 Edition: 6...
  • Page 2 © Copyright 2009, 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Confidential computer software. Valid license from HP required for possession, use or copying. Consistent with FAR 12.21 1 and 12.212, Commercial Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical Data for Commercial Items are licensed to the U.S. Government under vendor's standard commercial license.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Contents 1 Understanding and planning Remote Copy............6 How Remote Copy works......................6 Graphical representations of Remote Copy................6 Copying the primary snapshot to the remote snapshot............7 Graphical legend for Remote Copy icons................7 Remote Copy and volume replication..................7 Uses for Remote Copy......................7 Benefits of Remote Copy.......................8 Planning for Remote Copy......................8 Planning the remote snapshot....................9 Prerequisites for creating a remote snapshot................9...
  • Page 4 Deleting the remote snapshot schedule..................26 Failover and failback using Remote Copy..................26 Planning failover........................26 Using the Volume Failover/Failback Wizard................27 Converting a primary volume to a remote volume..............27 Using failover to remote volume...................28 Resuming production after failover....................28 Synchronizing data after failover..................28 Example scenario......................29 Returning operations to original primary site................29 Synchronizing the data between the acting primary volume and the original primary volume........................29...
  • Page 5 4 Support and other resources..............48 Contacting HP........................48 Subscription service......................48 Rack stability..........................48 Customer self repair........................48 HP Insight Remote Support Software..................48 Related information.........................49 HP websites........................49 5 Documentation feedback................50 Glossary....................51 Index......................57 Contents...

  • Page 6: Understanding And Planning Remote Copy

    1 Understanding and planning Remote Copy Remote Copy provides a powerful and flexible method for reproducing data and keeping that replicated data available for disaster recovery, business continuance, backup and recovery, data migration, and data mining. How Remote Copy works Remote Copy uses the existing volume and snapshot features with replication across geographic distances to create remote snapshots.

  • Page 7: Copying The Primary Snapshot To The Remote Snapshot

    Copying the primary snapshot to the remote snapshot When the primary snapshot is copying to the remote snapshot, the CMC depicts the process with a moving graphic of pages from the primary to the remote snapshot. The pages move in the direction of the data flow from primary to remote snapshot.

  • Page 8: Benefits Of Remote Copy

    Table 1 Uses for Remote Copy Use Remote Copy for How it works Business continuance and disaster recovery Remote Copy stores remote snapshots on a machine in a geographically separate location. The remote snapshots remain available in the event of a site or system failure at the primary site.

  • Page 9: Planning The Remote Snapshot

    Table 2 Remote Copy, SAN/iQ, and storage systems Storage system level Remote Copy configuration Management groups Create remote snapshots in the same management group or in a different management group than the primary volume. If using different management groups, the remote bandwidth setting of the management group containing the remote volume determines the maximum rate of data transfer to the remote snapshot.

  • Page 10: Using Schedules For Remote Copy

    Using schedules for Remote Copy Scheduled remote snapshots provide fault tolerance for business continuance and disaster recovery, and a consistent, predictable update of data for remote backup and recovery. Planning the Remote Copy schedule Planning is critical. The following issues impact the amount of storage available in the system: Recurrence Capacity Retention...

  • Page 11: Best Practices

    completed snapshots. Take the following characteristics of scheduled remote snapshots into account when planning retention policies. The SAN/iQ software never deletes the last fully synchronized remote snapshot. Under some circumstances, such as unpredictable network speeds or varying snapshot size, a scheduled remote snapshot may create primary snapshots so frequently that the remote copy process cannot keep up with them.
  • Page 12 Table 4 Scheduled Remote Copy planning checklist Configuration category Characteristic Scheduled snapshot Start time Start date (mm/dd/yyyy) for the schedule to begin Start time (mm:hh:ss) for the schedule to begin Recurrence Recurrence is a yes or no choice. Do you want to take a remote snapshot one time in the future and not have it recur, or do you want a remote snapshot to be taken on a regular schedule?

  • Page 13: Using Remote Copy

    2 Using Remote Copy For information about how Remote Copy works and how to plan capacity for Remote Copy, see “Understanding and planning remote copy” (page Working with remote snapshots Remote snapshots are a core component of Remote Copy. Remote Copy uses the existing volume and snapshot capabilities to copy data across geographic distances.

  • Page 14: Creating The Primary Snapshot

    Creating the primary snapshot In the Primary Snapshot Setup box, click New Snapshot. If you selected a snapshot to start the process, you do not need to create a new snapshot. (Optional) If you are using the Application Aware Snapshot Manager and want to quiesce the application before creating the snapshot, select Application-Managed Snapshot.

  • Page 15: Creating Primary Snapshots For Volume Sets

    Creating primary snapshots for volume sets When you create an application-managed snapshot of a volume in a volume set, the software recognizes that the volume is part of a volume set, and prompts you to create a snapshot for each volume in the volume set.

  • Page 16: Creating A Remote Volume

    IMPORTANT: All remote snapshots must be set up to use the same remote management group. Click Update Pending Table Below to add this remote snapshot setup to the list at the bottom of the window. Continue until each snapshot at the top of the window is set up. A green check mark shows the snapshot is set up.

  • Page 17: What The System Does

    What the system does The system creates the remote snapshot in the cluster that contains the remote volume, and then copies the primary snapshot onto the remote snapshot. The process of copying the data may take some time. The remote snapshot appears below the remote volume in the navigation window when the copy completes.

  • Page 18: Viewing A List Of Remote Snapshots

    Delete the temporary PrimeSync management group. Set up the desired Remote Copy relationship, such as configuring a schedule to create remote snapshots of the volume from the primary Site A to remote Site B management group. PrimeSync ensures that the proper relationship is established between the original primary volume and the remote site.

  • Page 19: Canceling A Remote Snapshot

    Table 5 Guide to remote bandwidth priority settings (continued) Network type Link speed Throughput in MB OC- 1 2 622.0 Mb/sec 77.75 Gigabit-Ethernet, 1000BaseT 1.0 Gb/sec 128.0 Custom setting— The custom setting for remote bandwidth defaults to 32,768 KB, or about 4 MB.

  • Page 20: Deleting A Remote Snapshot

    Deleting a remote snapshot CAUTION: Do not delete individual snapshots that are part of a snapshot set. To see associated snapshots, select a snapshot, click the Details tab, and then view the Snapshot Set field. For information about snapshot sets, see the HP LeftHand Storage User Guide. HP recommends that you keep or delete all snapshots for a volume set.

  • Page 21: Viewing The Status In The Remote Snapshot Details Window

    Viewing the status in the Remote Snapshot Details window The Remote Snapshot Details window displays additional details about a remote snapshot. In the tab window, select the Remote Snapshots tab. Select a remote snapshot from the list of snapshots on the Remote Snapshots tab. Click Remote Snapshot Tasks, and then select View Remote Snapshot Details.
  • Page 22 Table 6 Fields for Remote Snapshot Details window (continued) Statistic Fields State The current state of the copy process. Valid values are Started, Copying, Stalled, and Complete. Time Start Time Time Zone date and time copy started. The field format is MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS [AM/PM] Elapsed Time The number of days, hours, minutes, and seconds since...

  • Page 23: Scheduling Remote Snapshots

    Scheduling remote snapshots In addition to taking remote snapshots of a volume manually, you can set up a schedule to take snapshots and save them remotely. Scheduled remote snapshots provide business continuance and disaster recovery, as well as a consistent, predictable update of data for remote backup and recovery.

  • Page 24: Creating The Schedule For Volume Sets

    1 1. Set the retention interval for the remote snapshot. You can retain up to 50 snapshots for a volume. Click OK to close the scheduling window and return to the navigation and tab windows. The timetable you just created is now listed in the Schedules tab view. Creating the schedule for volume sets When you create a schedule to remote snapshot a volume that has associated volumes, the system automatically creates remote snapshots for each associated volume.

  • Page 25: What The System Does

    Click Update Pending Table Below to add this remote volume setup to the list at the bottom of the window. The system selects the next volume in the Primary Volume list at the top of the window. Select the remote Volume Name for the selected volume. Click Update Pending Table Below to add this remote volume setup to the list at the bottom of the window.

  • Page 26: Editing The Schedule To Remote Snapshot A Volume

    Click Schedule Tasks on the Details tab, and then select Resume Schedule. In the Confirm window, click OK. In the Next Occurrence column of the tab window, this snapshot schedule shows the date and time the next snapshot will be created. Editing the schedule to remote snapshot a volume When editing the timetable for a schedule to remote snapshot a volume, you can change the following items:...

  • Page 27: Using The Volume Failover/Failback Wizard

    Configuration of application servers and backup application servers Task flow for failback (resuming production after failover) If a volume is part of a volume set, typically you want to fail over each volume using its corresponding snapshot. To see associated snapshots, select a snapshot, click the Details tab, and review the Snapshot Set field.

  • Page 28: Using Failover To Remote Volume

    NOTE: You cannot make a remote volume into a primary volume while a remote snapshot is in progress. Either wait until the remote snapshot copy completes before making the remote volume into a primary volume, or cancel the in-progress remote copy. Click Finish.

  • Page 29: Example Scenario

    Example scenario The following example illustrates one process for synchronizing data. Remember that synchronization is optional. Table 7 Timeline of failover Time Event What happens 1:00 p.m. Regular hourly scheduled remote RemoteSS_1 creates in remote snapshot starts. management group. 1:10 p.m. Remote copy finishes.

  • Page 30: Creating A New Primary Volume At The Original Production Site

    Synchronize the snapshots OrigPrimarySS_1 and ActPrimarySS_1 that were created in steps 2 and 3 of “Creating snapshots of data to synchronize” (page 29). In the simplest case, to synchronize the snapshots, remote copy the remote snapshot back to the original primary volume. Creating a new primary volume at the original production site If the original primary volume is not available, designate a new primary volume, synchronize the data from the acting primary volume, and then configure the timetable for the scheduled remote...

  • Page 31: Rolling Back A Remote Volume

    Snapshot Set field. For more information about volume sets and snapshot sets, see the HP LeftHand Storage User Guide or online help. Prerequisite Stop applications from accessing the volume. CAUTION: Any remote snapshot that has not completed copying is canceled. Log in to the management group that contains the primary volume that you want to roll back.

  • Page 32: Disassociating Remote Management Groups

    Disassociating remote management groups Management groups become associated when linked by either remote snapshots or scheduled remote snapshots. Disassociating management groups destroys all the shared knowledge between those groups. Best practice for disassociating management groups NOTE: Do this only if a group no longer exists, or if instructed by HP Support. Log in to both management groups that you want to disassociate.

  • Page 33: Sample Remote Copy Configurations

    3 Sample Remote Copy configurations Because of its flexibility, Remote Copy is useful in a variety of configurations. The sample configurations described in this chapter show only a few ways to use Remote Copy for business continuance, backup and recovery, data migration, and data mining. Using Remote Copy for business continuance Business continuance is composed of disaster recovery and high availability of data.

  • Page 34: How This Configuration Works For High Availability

    Figure 8 High availability example configuration How this configuration works for high availability If the production application server or volumes become unavailable, application processing fails over to the backup application server. The remote volume and remote snapshots become acting primary, and the backup application server becomes the acting production application server, accessing data from the acting primary volume.
  • Page 35 Failover to the backup application server To maintain availability of the applications and the remaining data, the following process occurs: A script or other application monitoring the production application server discovers that the primary volume is not available. A script executes to fail over to the backup application server. The backup application server executes a script to convert the remote volume into a primary volume so that the volume can be accessed by the backup application server.

  • Page 36: Best Practices

    Best practices Remote snapshots with volume replication Use remote snapshots in conjunction with local, synchronous volume replication, known as Network RAID. Using remote snapshots alone, any data written to the primary volume since the most recent remote snapshot was created will be unavailable if the primary volume is unavailable. However, you can lessen the impact of primary volume failure by using Network RAID.

  • Page 37: Achieving Affordable Disaster Recovery

    Figure 1 1 High availability during failover-Example configuration Achieving affordable disaster recovery Even if you do not have clustered application servers or network bandwidth required for configuring hot backup sites, you can still use Remote Copy to protect your data during an emergency. Using remote snapshots, you can maintain copies of your volumes in remote sites.

  • Page 38: How This Works For Affordable Disaster Recovery

    Figure 12 Affordable disaster recovery example configuration How this works for affordable disaster recovery If the storage systems in your primary location fail or volumes become unavailable, the off-site location contains the most recent remote snapshots. Use the remote snapshots to resume operations as shown in Figure 13 (page 39).
  • Page 39 Configure application servers to access the primary volume, or if network connections are not fast enough to facilitate reading and writing to the off-site location, copy this volume to a location where application servers can access it more efficiently. Figure 13 Restoring from a remote volume Figure 13 (page 39) note the volume labeled Primary Snapshot in the Production Site.

  • Page 40: Best Practices

    Best practices Select an optimum recurrence schedule. Select a recurrence schedule for remote snapshots that minimizes the potential for data loss. Any data written to the primary volume since the most recent remote snapshot was created will be unavailable if the primary volume is unavailable. Consider how much data you are willing to lose in the event of an emergency and set the recurrence for creating remote snapshots accordingly.

  • Page 41: Configuration For Off-Site Backup And Recovery

    Configuration for off-site backup and recovery To use remote snapshots for off-site tape backup, create remote snapshots for access by your tape backup application: Create remote volumes in your backup location. Configure your backup application to access the remote snapshots. Configure schedules to create remote snapshots in the designated off-site locations.

  • Page 42: Example Configuration

    NOTE: Retention of snapshots affects the amount of space that is used in the cluster of storage systems. Balance the number of snapshots to retain with the amount of space you are willing to use. You can still access remote snapshots or tape backups if you want to roll back to a snapshot that you did not retain.

  • Page 43: How This Configuration Works For Nondestructive Rollback

    Figure 16 nondestructive rollback example How this configuration works for nondestructive rollback You can choose to roll back either the primary snapshot or the remote snapshot. Rolling back one of the snapshots requires that you delete more recent snapshots of that volume. The other volume retains the full set of snapshots.
  • Page 44 Figure 17 Nondestructive rollback from the primary snapshot To roll back the remote snapshot, you must first make the remote volume into a primary volume. This stops scheduled creation of remote snapshots, which may jeopardize your high availability, disaster recovery, or routine backup strategies. Figure 18 (page 45) shows rollback of the remote snapshot.

  • Page 45: Best Practices

    Figure 18 Nondestructive rollback from the remote snapshot Best practices Roll back the primary snapshot and keep the remote snapshots as a backup. To ensure that Remote Copy continues to operate, roll back the primary volume as follows: Preserve the current state of the primary volume that you want to roll back by creating a one-time (manual) remote snapshot of it.

  • Page 46: Configuration For Data Migration

    Configuration for data migration To make a copy of a volume in a remote location, configure a cluster of storage systems in the remote location with enough space to accommodate the volume. See Figure 19 (page 46) for an example configuration. Figure 19 Data migration example configuration How this configuration works for data migration Suppose you want to create a complete copy of a volume for an application to use in a different...
  • Page 47 Figure 20 Configuration after data migration Using Remote Copy for data migration or cloning...

  • Page 48: Support And Other Resources

    4 Support and other resources Contacting HP For worldwide technical support information, see the HP support website: http://www.hp.com/support Before contacting HP, collect the following information: Product model names and numbers Technical support registration number (if applicable) Product serial numbers Error messages Operating system type and revision level Detailed questions Subscription service...

  • Page 49: Related Information

    initiate a fast and accurate resolution, based on your product’s service level. Notifications may be sent to your authorized HP Channel Partner for on-site service, if configured and available in your country. The software is available in two variants: HP Insight Remote Support Standard: This software supports server and storage devices and is optimized for environments with 1-50 servers.

  • Page 50: Documentation Feedback

    5 Documentation feedback HP is committed to providing documentation that meets your needs. To help us improve the documentation, send any errors, suggestions, or comments to Documentation Feedback (docsfeedback@hp.com). Include the document title and part number, version number, or the URL when submitting your feedback.

  • Page 51: Glossary

    Glossary The following glossary provides definitions of terms used in the SAN/iQ software and the HP P4000 SAN Solution. acting primary The remote volume, when it assumes the role of the primary volume in a failover scenario. volume Active-Passive A type of network bonding which, in the event of a NIC failure, causes the logical interface to use another NIC in the bond until the preferred NIC resumes operation.
  • Page 52 Device Specific Module. DSM for MPIO The HP P4000 DSM for MPIO vendor-specific DSM that interfaces with the Microsoft MPIO framework. failback After failover, the process by which you restore the primary volume and turn the acting primary back into a remote volume. failover The process by which the user transfers operation of the application server over to the remote volume.
  • Page 53 Multi-Site cluster A cluster of storage that spans multiple sites (up to three). A Multi-Site cluster must meet at least one of the following conditions: Contain storage systems that reside in two or more sites Contain storage systems that span subnets Contain multiple VIPs.
  • Page 54 RAID status Condition of RAID on the storage system: Normal - RAID is synchronized and running. No action is required. Rebuild - A new disk has been inserted in a drive bay and RAID is currently rebuilding. No action is required. Degraded - RAID is not functioning properly.
  • Page 55 shared snapshot Shared snapshots occur when a clone point is created from a newer snapshot that has older snapshots below it in the tree. All the volumes created from the clone point will display these older snapshots that they share, as well as the clone point. site A user-designated location in which storage systems are installed.
  • Page 56 volume set Two or more volumes used by an application. For example, you may set up Exchange to use two volumes to support a StorageGroup: one for mailbox data and one for logs. Those two volumes make a volume set. volume size The size of the virtual device communicated to the operating system and the applications.

  • Page 57: Index

    Index availability during failover, merging for failback, adding synchronizing after failover, a remote snapshot schedule, transfer rate (bandwidth setting), a remote volume, data migration remote snapshots, and volume cloning, affordable disaster recovery configuration diagram, best practices, configuration for, configuration, using Remote Copy for, application-managed snapshots with remote snapshots, creating, 14, 23,...
  • Page 58 production resuming after failover, help obtaining, high availability rack stability and failover, warning, and Remote Copy, recurring snapshots, best practices, related documentation, configuration diagram, remote bandwidth configuration for, setting, configuration of Remote Copy, Remote Copy and volume replication, technical support, business continuance, creating, creating the first copy,...
  • Page 59 scheduled snapshots, pausing or resuming, schedules, planning Remote Copy, scheduling remote snapshots, scripting for failover, setting remote bandwidth, snapshots creating application-managed, 14, 23, creating application-managed for volume sets, 15, deleting schedules, pausing or resuming, scheduling, split mirrors, creating, Subscriber's Choice, HP, support software, remote, synchronizing data after failover,...

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