Remote Copy - HP StoreVirtual 4000 White Paper

Technical white paper | HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage
Best practices
• Use a single IP subnet with Layer 2 switching
• Configure redundant network paths between sites to help minimize link failure in a two-site configuration. In multi-site
cluster with three sites, HP recommends a triangle network design, not a V-design to ensure high availability.
• For 1GbE installations allocate 50 MB/s per storage node in the sites between data centers; for environments with
10GbE storage connectivity, reserve 250 MB/s. For campus cluster deployments with Fibre Channel connectivity on HP
StoreVirtual, plan for 500 MB/s per storage node in the sites (only two sites supported).
• In the example (see Figure 7) above with 1GbE storage connectivity and two storage nodes in each site, designate
50 MB/s x 2 = 100 MB/s of bandwidth between the sites (at least one 1GbE link; two for redundancy).
• HP StoreVirtual Fail-over Manager is not in the data path and has to be connected using at least Fast Ethernet
(100 Mb/s) with a latency not exceeding 50 ms.

Remote Copy

Remote Copy is asynchronous data replication feature within HP StoreVirtual. This feature addresses requirements for
high levels of data protection in the context of disaster recovery, business continuity, and backup and recovery. Remote
Copy uses HP StoreVirtual volume snapshot and thin provisioning features. Using Remote Copy, you can replicate data
from and to StoreVirtual cluster. Distances can be local (within the same data center or on the same campus), Metro (in
the same city) or WAN (long distances). Remote Copy takes point-in-time snapshots of volumes and replicates the data
to the remote site. Snapshots provide a means to implement secure offsite tape backup at recovery sites. Use cases also
include replication between remote/branch offices and data centers.
Figure 8. Typical two management groups in a Remote Copy environment
HP StoreVirtual
One of the most important aspects of designing a successful disaster recovery solution using Remote Copy is properly
designing and sizing the network bandwidth and usage requirements between primary and recovery sites. The
sections to follow provide an overview of WAN connectivity options, bandwidth planning, and remote bandwidth
tuning recommendations for using Remote Copy in an IP network. Figure 8 shows a typical setup for Remote Copy. Two
individual HP StoreVirtual management groups can use an IP network (private lines or encrypted site-to-site VPNs over
the Internet) to replicated data. For more information on which ports should be opened on firewalls, please consult the
"HP StoreVirtual TCP and UDP port usage" document.
Data center
Application server
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Disaster recovery site
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