Requirements and specifications
You need to understand the system and interoperability requirements to successfully use Hitachi Universal Replicator.
System requirements
The following table lists the system requirements for UR operations.
Item |
Requirement |
Supported storage systems (VSP 5100 and VSP 5500) |
VSP 5100 and VSP 5500 can be paired with the following:
|
Supported storage systems (VSP 5200 and VSP 5600) | VSP 5200 and VSP 5600
can be paired with the following:
|
Supported storage systems (VSP E590 or VSP E790) | VSP E590, VSP E790 can be connected to:
In addition, VSP E590 and VSP E790 with microcode version 93-05-03-xx/xx or later can be connected to:
|
Supported storage systems (VSP E990) | VSP E990 can be connected to:
In addition, VSP E990 with microcode version 93-05-03-xx/xx or later can be connected to:
|
Supported storage systems (VSP E1090) | VSP E1090 can be connected to:
|
Number of storage systems (VSP 5000 series) |
A maximum of 64 units can be connected to one unit storage system. For example, you can make a configuration of one unit storage system for the primary site and 64 units storage system for the secondary site. When you create a 3DC cascade configuration with TC, at least one unit of the storage system is required for each of the primary site, intermediate site, or secondary site. When you create a 3DC multi-target delta resync configuration with TC, at least one unit of the storage system is required for each site. When you create a 3DC cascade multi-target delta resync configuration with three UR sites, at least one unit of the storage system is required for each site. For information about VSP 5000 series URxUR support, contact customer support |
Number of storage systems (VSP E series) |
The maximum number of storage systems that can be connected to one unit storage system depends on the models. A maximum of 64 units can be connected to one unit storage system. For example, you can make a configuration of one unit storage system for the primary site and 64 units storage system for the secondary site. When you create a 3DC cascade configuration with TC, at least one unit of the storage system is required for each of the primary site, intermediate site, or secondary site. When you create a 3DC multi-target delta resync configuration with TC, at least one unit of the storage system is required for each site. When you create a 3DC cascade multi-target delta resync configuration with three UR sites, at least one unit of the storage system is required for each site. |
Universal Replicator |
|
Other licenses required |
|
Interfaces |
|
Supported host platforms (when Fibre Channel or iSCSI is used for connection between the host and storage system) |
For the supported version, refer to the Hitachi Vantara interoperability matrix at https://compatibility.hitachivantara.com. |
Supported host platforms (when NVMe-oF is used for connection between the host and storage system) |
A UR pair that uses a volume connected to a host using NVMe-oF is supported by the following storage systems:
For details about the supported host platforms, contact customer support. |
Data path |
The following interfaces with direct, switch, or channel extenders are available:
For details, see Supported data path configurations . Note that a data path of the NVMe-oF interface is not supported. Up to eight paths can be registered in one path group. You can use multiple path groups by registering path groups with multiple path group IDs in the same storage system, but note that only one path group can be specified for a mirror. |
Path group |
Groups of remote paths, which allows you to configure or change the configuration of multiple paths at the same time.
|
Pair volumes |
|
Journals and journal volumes (VSP 5000 series) |
For details, see Planning journal volumes . |
LU number, namespace ID | LU number: 0 to 4095.
For details about an LU number, see Restrictions when creating an LU whose LU number is 2048 or greater. For details about a namespace ID and LU number, see the Provisioning Guide for Open Systems. |
Journals and journal volumes (VSP E series) |
|
Supported volume types |
Virtual LUN:
Cache Residency Manager:
|
Maximum number of pairs |
|
Number of consistency groups |
Requirement:
|
Supported RAID groups |
|
Cache and nonvolatile storage (NVS) |
Must be operable for primary and secondary storage systems to ensure pair creation success. The secondary storage system cache must be configured to adequately support UR remote-copy workloads, as well as local workload activity. To determine the appropriate cache capacity to be increased, perform the following calculations A and B and use the smaller result: A. 1 GB × number of journals B. 25% of the necessary cache to support the storage capacity Note: When pair status is COPY, neither cache nor shared memory can be added to or removed from the system. When either of these tasks is to be performed, first split any pairs in COPY status, and then resynchronize when the cache or shared memory operation is completed. |
Host failover software |
Required for disaster recovery. |
CCI consistency groups with multiple primary and secondary storage systems |
|
Interoperability requirements
This topic provides the interoperability requirements for Universal Replicator.
Universal Replicator can be used extensively with TrueCopy and ShadowImage to provide additional data redundancy and enhanced disaster recovery solutions. For information about these configurations, see the following appendixes:
Volume types that can be shared with Universal Replicator
You can use volumes used by other software products as UR P-VOLs, S-VOLs, and journal volumes. The following table shows whether a particular software product volume can be used as a UR P-VOL, S-VOL, or journal volume.
Volumes types and functions |
Used as UR P-VOL? |
Used as UR S-VOL? |
Used as UR journal volume? |
Cache Residency Manager (VSP 5000 series) | |||
Volume set for CRM |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Cross-OS File Exchange (VSP 5000 series) | |||
Volume usable by both mainframe and open systems |
No |
No |
No |
Data Retention Utility | |||
Volume with Read/Write attribute |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Volume with Protect attribute |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Volume with Read Only attribute |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Volume that is disabled for use as an S-VOL |
Yes |
Only when resyncing a UR pair. |
No |
Dynamic Provisioning 6 | |||
Virtual volume |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Virtual volume with Data Direct Mapping attribute |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Pool volume with Data Direct Mapping attribute |
No |
No |
No |
Pool-VOL |
No |
No |
No |
V-VOL with capacity saving enabled |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Deduplication system data volume |
No |
No |
No |
Dynamic Tiering / Active flash | |||
Virtual volume |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Pool-VOL |
No |
No |
No |
Global-active device13 | |||
P-VOL |
Yes19 |
No |
No |
S-VOL |
Yes9, 19 |
No |
No |
Quorum disk |
No |
No |
No |
Volume with reserve attribute for S-VOL |
No |
No |
No |
Global storage virtualization | |||
Volumes in a virtual storage machine |
Yes5, 19 |
Yes5 |
No |
LUN Manager | |||
Volume to which an LU path is defined |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Volume defined as a namespace for NVMe |
Yes20 |
Yes20 |
No |
Volume that is protected by namespace security for NVMe-oF |
Yes20 |
Yes20 |
No |
Volume to which no LU path is defined or a volume that is not defined as a namespace for NVMe |
No |
No |
Yes |
Volume to which LUN security is applied |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Resource Partition Manager | |||
Resource Partition Manager volume |
Yes17 |
Yes17 |
Yes18 |
ShadowImage7 | |||
P-VOL in PSUS status |
Yes |
Yes 12, 16 |
No |
P-VOL in PSUE status |
Yes |
Yes 12, 16 |
No |
P-VOL in COPY(RS-R)/RCPY status |
No |
No |
No |
P-VOL that is also used as a TC P-VOL or S-VOL |
Yes |
Yes 12, 16 |
No |
P-VOL (None of the above) |
Yes |
Yes 6, 12, 16 |
No |
S-VOL in PSUS status |
Yes |
No |
No |
S-VOL in PSUE status |
Yes |
No |
No |
S-VOL (None of the above) |
No |
No |
No |
Thin Image10, 14 | |||
P-VOL in all statuses except RCPY |
Yes1 |
Yes2, 10, 11 |
No |
P-VOL in RCPY status |
No |
No |
No |
V-VOL |
No |
No |
No |
pool-VOL |
No |
No |
No |
Thin Image Advanced(VSP 5000 series)10, 14 | |||
P-VOL in all statuses except RCPY |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
P-VOL in RCPY status |
No |
No |
No |
S-VOL |
No |
No |
No |
TrueCopy 8, 15 | |||
P-VOL in COPY status |
No |
No |
No |
P-VOL in PAIR status |
Yes19 |
No |
No |
P-VOL in PSUS status |
Yes19 |
No3 |
No |
P-VOL in PSUE status |
Yes19 |
No3 |
No |
S-VOL in COPY status |
No |
No |
No |
S-VOL in PAIR status |
Yes19 |
No |
No |
S-VOL in PSUS status |
Yes19 |
No |
No |
S-VOL in SSWS status |
Yes19 |
No3 |
No |
S-VOL in PSUE status |
Yes19 |
No |
No |
Universal Volume Manager | |||
Universal Volume Manager volume |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Virtual LUN | |||
Virtual LUN volume |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Volume Migration15 | |||
Source volume (when volume migration is in progress) |
Yes4 |
Yes4 |
No |
Source volume (after volume migration is finished) |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Notes:
|
Using DP-VOLs that are also used by ShadowImage pairs or Volume Migration
You can use DP-VOLs that are also used by a ShadowImage pair or that is used in a Volume Migration migration plan, but the UR pair must be created first.
If the ShadowImage pair or the Volume Migration setting is enabled before you create the UR pair, you must delete or disable them before creating the UR pair.
Procedure
Delete the ShadowImage pair or disable the Volume Migration setting.
Create the UR pair.
Re-create the ShadowImage pair or the Volume Migration migration plan.
Cache Residency Manager
CRM volumes can be used as Universal Replicator P-VOLs and S-VOLs.
- You can perform CRM operations on a Universal Replicator pair’s P-VOL and S-VOL.
- CRM volumes cannot be used as journal volumes.
Data Retention Utility
You can create a Universal Replicator pair using volumes that have been assigned the access attribute by the Data Retention Utility. However, you cannot specify a volume with the "S-VOL Disable" attribute as a Universal Replicator S-VOL.
The following table shows whether the access attribute can be changed or referenced.
UR volume | UR pair status | DRU access attribute changed? | DRU access attribute referenced? |
P-VOL | Unpaired | Yes | Yes |
COPY | See next table. | Yes | |
PAIR | See next table. | Yes | |
PSUS | Yes | Yes | |
PSUE | Yes | Yes | |
S-VOL | Unpaired | Yes | Yes |
COPY | No | Yes | |
PAIR | No | Yes | |
PSUS | No | Yes | |
PSUE | No | Yes |
The following table shows when changes can be made to the access attribute when the Universal Replicator P-VOL status is PAIR or COPY.
Change access attribute from | Change access attribute to | |||
Read/Write | Read Only | Protect | S-VOL Disable | |
Read/Write | - | No | No | Yes |
Read Only | Yes | - | Yes | Yes |
Protect | Yes | Yes | - | Yes |
S-VOL Disable. | Yes | No | No | - |
Dynamic Provisioning
You can create a Universal Replicator pair by specifying a DP-VOL (Dynamic Provisioning virtual volume).
- DP-VOLs can be used for either the
UR P-VOL or S-VOL, or both P-VOL and S-VOL.
A DP-VOL with the capacity saving enabled can be used as a P-VOL or S-VOL of a UR pair. The deduplication system data volume cannot be used as a P-VOL or S-VOL of a UR pair, or as a journal volume.
When the UR pair using a DP-VOL with capacity saving disabled is in COPY status, the P-VOL capacity saving can be enabled. Capacity savings of a UR pair P-VOL does not begin until after the pair status changes to something other than COPY.
- DP-VOLs cannot be used as journal volumes.
- When a
DP-VOL
is used for a UR P-VOL or
S-VOL, the UR of the
allocated pages for the
DP-VOL
is included in the UR licensed
capacity. If the actual licensed capacity exceeds the available licensed
capacity, the pair creation cannot be performed, regardless of whether a normal
volume or a DP-VOL is used. In addition, 30 days after the licensed capacity is
exceeded, UR pairs may
only be split or released, regardless of whether a normal volume or a DP-VOL is
used.
The UR licensed capacity for a volume with capacity saving enabled is the capacity before savings.
- When you specify a
DP-VOL
that has allocated pages to a
UR S-VOL, the used pool capacity will become temporarily larger than the actual capacity, because pages must be reallocated in the
DP-VOL. Therefore, before creating the pair:
- Make sure that DP-VOL pool capacity is sufficient.
- Make sure that the pool-VOLs, which are added to a pool, are not blocked. If the pool-VOLs are blocked, restore the volume status and then create the pair.
- If you want to use
DP-VOLs that are also used by a
ShadowImage pair or that are in
a
Volume Migration migration plan, proceed as follows:
- Delete the ShadowImage pair or disable the Volume Migration setting.
- Create the UR pair.
- Re-create the ShadowImage pair or the Volume Migration migration plan.
- When a
DP-VOL
is used as the
UR S-VOL, you might not be able to update the
UR S-VOL because the capacity of the pool-VOL is full. In this instance:
- The pair is suspended.
- With CCI, the UR pair status changes to PFUS.
- In Device Manager - Storage Navigator, the UR pair status changes to PSUS.
- When both of the following conditions exist, pages that do not exist in the P-VOL might be assigned to the S-VOL when splitting and then resynchronizing the pair:
- The copy pace is Faster.
- The pair is created and the pair status is COPY.
To delete S-VOL pages that do not exist in the P-VOL, use the Reclaim Zero Pages function for the DP-VOL.
- (Virtual Storage Platform 5000 series) Data compressed or deduplicated by the capacity saving function is copied to a volume after compression and deduplication are released. The capacity saving function is not performed immediately for copied data. Before creating or resynchronizing a UR pair, make sure that the available capacity in the copy destination volume is greater than the used capacity in the copy origination volume before capacity saving. For details, see the Provisioning Guide.
- If you create a UR pair using a volume for which the capacity saving function is used, compressed or deduplicated data is copied. Copy or I/O performance might be degraded because of this.
-
When installing Universal Replicator, if you enable the capacity saving function of the S-VOL to create a UR pair, specify Slower or Medium for Copy Pace in HDvM - SN, or execute the raidcom modify journal command of CCI by specifying a value between 1 to 3 for the -copy_size option. If you specify Faster, and perform an initial copy, the processing for the capacity saving function conflicts with restoration. As a result, the copy pace becomes slower than Faster.
If you want to specify Faster, disable the capacity saving function first, and then enable it again after the copy processing completes.
- When the capacity saving function is used, management information is stored in a pool. As a result, there might be differences between a P-VOL and an S-VOL in the number of used pages or licensed capacity.
- You can expand the capacity of DP-VOLs
used as UR pair volumes if the microcode version for both the primary
and secondary storage systems is the following version:
- VSP 5000 series: 90-04-04-00/00 or later
- VSP G/F350, G/F370, G/F700, G/F900: 88-06-02-x0/00 or later
- VSP E series: 93-02-03-x0/00 or later
For more information about the procedure for expanding the DP-VOL capacity, see Expansion of DP-VOL capacity while keeping pair status.
Preparing a virtual volume for use as an S-VOL
You need to prepare a virtual volume for use as the S-VOL of a UR pair if that virtual volume has capacity saving enabled and has assigned pages.
Procedure
Perform LDEV formatting on the volume you want to use as the S-VOL.
If you create a pair without performing LDEV formatting, the initialization is performed during the copy operation, which might increase the required time for copying or might raise the processor operating rate.Set the capacity saving mode that you want to use on the S-VOL to the mode that satisfies your user requirements.
- Set the post-process mode if the user requirement is to suppress the impact on the I/O performance.
Using this mode, the S-VOL requires the pool capacity to be as large as the P-VOL because capacity saving is performed after the pair is created.
- Set the inline mode if the user requirement is to suppress the required pool capacity.
The required time for copying might be longer or the processor operating rate might be greater than that in the post-process mode. Consider applying the post-process mode to suppress the required time or processor operating rate.
If you use any of the following DKCMAIN firmware versions and create a pair without performing LDEV formatting, the post-process mode is applied even if you set the inline mode. Therefore, ensure that the pool capacity is as large as the P-VOL.
- VSP 5000 series: Earlier than 90-05-04-xx/xx
- VSP 5000 series: 90-06-01-xx.xx or later, earlier than 90-06-21-xx/xx
- VSP E series: Earlier than 93-04-02-xx/xx
- Set the post-process mode if the user requirement is to suppress the impact on the I/O performance.
Global-active device
In a GAD system, the server accesses the primary site and GAD secondary site simultaneously and shares the same data between the two sites (at campus distance). If a failure occurs at one of the sites, you can continue operations at the other site. However, if a failure occurs at both sites, for example due to a large-scale disaster, you will not be able to continue operations with the data redundancy provided only by GAD.
To manage this situation, you can implement a three-data-center (3DC) configuration by combining GAD and Universal Replicator. This configuration is called a GAD+UR configuration. If there is a failure at both the primary site and the GAD secondary site, the GAD+UR configuration enables you to continue operations using the UR secondary site (at metro distance).
The following figure shows a GAD+UR configuration. Always use this configuration for GAD+UR operations.

In a GAD+UR configuration:
- The P-VOL of the GAD pair functions as the P-VOL of the UR pair.
- The S-VOL of the GAD pair functions as the P-VOL of the UR delta resync pair.
- The UR delta resync pair consists of the GAD S-VOL at the GAD secondary site and the UR S-VOL at the UR secondary site. This UR delta resync pair allows you to synchronize the UR pair S-VOL by using the journal data at the GAD secondary site in the event of a failure at the primary site.
A special case for using the GAD+UR configuration is to migrate the UR environment between the current primary and secondary sites to different primary and secondary sites while keeping the UR pairs. You can also migrate the GAD+UR environment to different sites using GAD. For details about the GAD+UR configuration and about migrating the UR environment or the GAD+UR using GAD, see the Global-Active Device User Guide.
Global storage virtualization
Pairs can be created using volumes in a virtual storage machine. Note the following:
- Though Device Manager - Storage Navigator displays the virtual LDEV ID of a volume belonging to a virtual storage machine, make sure when running pair operations in Device Manager - Storage Navigator that you specify the physical LDEV ID.
- A volume’s virtual ID used with Universal Replicator cannot be deleted.
LUN Manager
- LUN Manager operations do
not affect Universal Replicator operations. The following volumes
can also be assigned to UR
pairs:
- Volumes that are under secure ports assigned to host groups or iSCSI targets
- Volumes that are protected by namespace security of NVMe-oF
UR pair volumes can be protected by LUN Manager or namespace security.
- Universal Replicator S-VOLs cannot be accessed by any UNIX® or PC server host except when the pair is split.
Resource Partition Manager
You can specify Resource Partition Manager volumes as UR P-VOL and S-VOL as long as they belong to the same resource group. For journal volumes, use a Resource Partition Manager OPEN-V virtual volume.
For details, see the Provisioning Guide for your storage system.
Thin Image
Universal Replicator pair volumes can be shared with Thin Image (TI) P-VOLs, with limitations on how they can be used together.
- A UR P-VOL or S-VOL can be used as a TI P-VOL.
- A UR P-VOL or S-VOL that is part of a delta resync configuration with TrueCopy can also be used as a TI P-VOL.
- A TI P-VOL cannot be specified as an S-VOL when creating a UR pair. However, you can specify a TI P-VOL as an S-VOL when creating a UR delta resync pair in a 3DC multi-target or 3DC cascade configuration with three UR sites.
UR basic configuration with TI

- The UR pair must be created before the secondary site TI pair.
3DC cascade configuration with TI

- The TC pair must be created before the intermediate TI pair.
- The UR pair must be created before the secondary site TI pair.
3DC multi-target configuration with TI

- You can create either the TC pair or the primary site TI pair first.
- The TC pair must be created before the secondary site TI pair (campus distance).
- The UR pair must be created before the secondary site TI pair (metro distance).
Delta Resync configuration with TI

- The TC, UR, and UR delta resync pairs must be created before the secondary site TI pairs.
- You can create a primary site TI pair before or after the delta resync pairs.
- For the 3DC multi-target delta resync configuration and the 3DC cascade delta resync configuration with three UR sites, first you need to create the 3DC multi-target configuration or the 3DC cascade configuration. You need to create the UR pairs before the TI pair in a "URxUR" 3DC delta configuration. You do not need to create the UR delta resync pair before the TI pairs at the secondary site.
Universal Volume Manager
You can create UR pairs using Universal Volume Manager-configured volumes.
For details, see the Hitachi Universal Volume Manager User Guide.
Virtual LUN
Universal Replicator supports the Virtual LUN feature, which allows you to configure custom-size LU that are smaller than standard-size LUs. When custom-size LUs are assigned to a Universal Replicator pair, the S-VOL must have the same capacity as the P-VOL.
To perform Virtual LUN operations on a pair’s P-VOL and S-VOL, the pair must be deleted and the volumes’ status returned to SMPL.
Volume Migration
You can specify the Universal Replicator P-VOL or S-VOL as Volume Migration source volumes. However, when UR pair status is COPY or PAIR, do not perform the volume migration operation; otherwise, the operation is stopped.
UR pair volumes and journal volumes cannot be used as Volume Migration target volumes.