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Data protection

Data protection refers to replication of volumes. Storage Advisor provides local and remote replication options.

Data protection concepts

You can protect volumes with local replication or with remote replication.

  • Local replication:

    You can protect volumes locally on the same storage system and choose to protect a single volume, a group of volumes, or all volumes attached to a server.

    • The Clone Now method creates a copy of a volume in a point in time. This method creates a full copy of a primary volume and automatically suspends the copy operation. Any further read-write operations of the primary volume will not be updated to the secondary volumes.
    • The Snap method takes incremental snapshots of volumes based on a user-created schedule. The retention policy (maximum number of snapshots) is from 1 to 1024, based on user input. Once the retention policy is exceeded, the oldest snapshots are deleted when newer snapshots are created.
      NoteWhen a user removes a storage system and adds it again, all the protected volumes using Clone Now will remain untouched, but any snapshot schedules will be suspended. The user will need to resume scheduling after adding the storage system.
    • Snap on Snap is a snapshot that can support a cascaded configuration. They can be created inside or outside Storage Advisor. If they are created outside Storage Advisor, you cannot perform operations on the replication group, which is labeled "External".
      NoteThe cascaded configuration is not supported within Storage Advisor.
    • Snap Clone is a full copy of a snapshot (P-VOL) and creates a real volume.
      Note You cannot create Snap Clone pairs using Storage Advisor.
  • Remote replication: Use global-active device to help ensure reliability.

Selecting volumes to protect

You can select a server, create volumes and attach them to the server, and then (optionally) protect the volumes.

As an alternative, you can create volumes separately and attach them to servers at a later time. After attaching volumes to servers, you can select volumes to protect.

Procedure

  1. To select volumes to protect, do one of the following:

    • Select a server, create volumes for the server and attach the volumes to the server.
    • Select a server to view volumes already attached to the server. You can filter for unprotected volumes.
    • On the dashboard, click Storage Systems, then click a storage system tile and click Volumes to open the Volumes page.
    • Open the detail page for any volume that is attached to a server.
  2. Select volumes and then click Protect to open the Protect Volumes page with the list of selected volumes displayed.

  3. Choose a type of data replication, Clone Now or .

    NoteThe Clone Now method is available for volumes that are already existing and attached to a server. It is not available when the create-and-attach workflow is used to create, attach, and protect volumes in a single page.

    If you use the workflow provided to create, attach, and protect volumes, you can choose None as a data replication type to avoid protecting volumes.

Protecting volumes by cloning

After creating and attaching volumes, you can implement data protection by creating a clone

The Clone Now method can be useful if maintenance or testing of a volume is needed. You can clone the primary volume and perform testing when the clone is complete. If any data is lost, you can retrieve it from the secondary volume.

You can create up to three clones for a volume. Using Storage Advisor, you can do this performing the cloning operation on a set of volumes three times.

Note The Clone Now method is available for volumes that exist and are attached to a server. It is not available when the create-and-attach workflow is used to create, attach, and protect volumes in a single page.

Procedure

  1. In the Protect Volumes page, select the volumes you want to protect and click Clone Now.

  2. Choose whether to use Consistency.

    Using Consistency means that copy operations will run on all pairs in the group simultaneously. Consistency, schedule and retention policy are all filters for replication groups, so your choices may affect the availability of replication groups.
  3. Select a replication group from the options in the Replication Group Name list or enter a new name.

    Up to 26 alphanumeric characters, and also hyphens (-) and underscores (_), are allowed. Spaces are not allowed.
  4. Click Submit to clone the volumes.

Results

A job is created and a summary message displays.

Protecting volumes by creating snapshots

After creating and attaching volumes, you can implement data protection by creating incremental snapshots.

You can use the Snapshot method if you don't need continuous copying but want to schedule the copy depending on expected changes in the data.

NoteFor volumes on the following storage systems, you can create snapshots by accessing Storage Advisor Embedded: VSP F350, F370, F700, F900 and VSP G350, G370, G700, G900.

The snapshot creation process creates the secondary volume on a snap pool. If there is more than one snap pool, the least-utilized snap pool is used.

Note If you want to create snapshots outside of Storage Advisor for a volume that is in Storage Advisor, use a new snapshot group.

Procedure

  1. In the Protect Volumes page, select the volumes you want to protect and click Snapshot.

  2. Enter a number from 1 to 1024 in the Snapshot Retention Policy (Max 1024) field to specify the number of snapshots to be created.

    When the specified number of snapshots is reached, older snapshots will be deleted as new ones are added. The maximum number of snapshots that can be retained is 1024.
  3. You can enable Consistency to perform data protection on all pairs in the group simultaneously.

    Consistency acts a filter for replication groups, so your choice may affect the availability of replication groups.
  4. Set an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. A volume cannot have more than one schedule. The schedule is based on UTC time.

    • Hourly: Select a start time in minutes after the hour, and the number of hours between snapshots to start creating snapshots at the selected time and interval.
    • Daily: Select a start time, available in five minutes increments, to start a snapshot every day at the selected time.
    • Weekly: Select a start time and a day to create a snapshot every week at the selected date and time. You can select more than one day to create more than one weekly snapshot.
    • Monthly: Select a start time and the day of the month (from 1 to 31) to create a snapshot once a month at the selected day and time.
  5. In Volumes to be Protected, select a Replication Group for each volume or select Use New and enter a name for the new replication group in the Replication Group Name. Up to 26 alphanumeric characters, also hyphens (-) and underscores (_), are allowed. Spaces are not allowed.

  6. (Optional) Select the pool from the list of available pools. The default selection is Auto Selected, which means that Storage Advisor selects the best pool based on utilization and tier requirements.

    If you choose a Thin (HDP) pool or a Snap (HTI) pool, the replication technology used will be Snap on Snap, unless there is already a Snap volume created in an earlier version of Storage Advisor. In that case, the replication technology used will continue to be Snap.
  7. Click Submit.

Results

A summary message is displayed and snapshots are created according to the schedule. The replication group can be viewed on the Replication Groups page.

Viewing replication groups

Storage Advisor enables you to view all replication groups in a single page.

You can also access replication details for a volume to view and manage all replication group membership and volume pairs.

Storage Advisor detects and displays all volume pairs, whether or not they were created in Storage Advisor.

Replication groups apply the policies that control how volumes are replicated. Their parameters include:

  • Type of technology:
    • High Availability for remote replication.
    • For local replication:
      • Snap on Snap
      • Snap Clone
      • Snap
      • Clone
  • Whether consistency is used
  • Snapshot schedule
  • Snapshot retention

Replication groups are created when volumes are replicated.

Replication groups inventory

Access the inventory of replication groups from the detail page for a storage system.

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This page enables you to view all replication groups, sorted by technology:

  • Snap on Snap
  • Snap Clone
  • Snap
  • Clone

Replication groups created outside Storage Advisor are listed as External.

You can view all volume pairs, including those created outside of Storage Advisor.

NoteReplication group operations other than Restore are not available for External replication groups. If a copy group is renamed outside Storage Advisor, the replication group will become External. Copy groups cannot be renamed using Storage Advisor.

Use this page to:

  • View replication policies applicable to a volume and all S-VOL details.
  • View all replication policies and all volume pair details.
  • Suspend or resume a snapshot schedule.

    Data replication can be suspended and resumed. Data will be missing for the period of suspension.

  • Suspend or resume a clone.

    Data replication can be resumed to update cloned data and then suspended to keep a point-in-time full copy.

  • Remove a volume from a replication policy. Delete a replication group to remove the policy from all volumes in the group.
  • Restore a volume pair by restoring a secondary volume to a primary volume.

The following actions are available after selecting a replication group:

  • Edit the replication group by clicking Edit to open the Edit Replication Group page and edit the label or remove volumes from the replication group.
  • Suspend the replication group by clicking Suspend Replication Group. You cannot suspend a replication group that is in COPY status.
  • Resume the replication group by clicking Resume Replication Group.
  • Delete the replication group by clicking Delete.

To view volume pair details, expand one or more replication groups.

  • Access detail pages for each P-VOL and each S-VOL by clicking a P-VOL ID or an S-VOL ID in the expanded view of a replication group.
  • Before using the Restore function, stop all I/O activity to the volume. To restore a volume pair, select it and click Restore Volume Pair.
    WARNINGThe Restore function will overwrite the volume with backup data. The data on current volume will be destroyed.
Opening the Local Replication page in Storage Navigator

Click Open the Local Replication page in Storage Navigator to view the replication groups information for clones and snapshots.

For more information, refer to the Storage Navigator online help.

Note Any changes you make in Storage Navigator may not be reflected in Storage Advisor for a few minutes.

Editing replication groups

You can edit a replication group to adjust the schedule for snapshots or to remove volumes from the replication group.

NoteExternal replication groups cannot be edited. These include volume pairs that are created outside Storage Advisor.

Procedure

  1. Access the Edit Replication Group page from the Replication Groups page.

  2. You can edit the following:

    • Name
    • Comments
    • For snapshots, the schedule and number of snapshots. The schedule is based on UTC time.
    • (Optional) Select the pool from the list of available pools. The default selection is Auto Selected, which means that Storage Advisor selects the best pool based on utilization and tier requirements.
  3. To remove a primary volume from the replication group, select the corresponding row. You can choose whether or not to remove the corresponding secondary volume.

  4. Click Submit.

    A job is added to the Jobs page to apply the changes to the replication group.

Volume details

Access volume details in one of these ways:

  • From the dashboard by clicking Storage Systems, and then click a storage system tile. Click Volumes to open the Volumes page and then click a volume in the list or tile view.
  • On the detail page for a pool, click a volume in the list or tile view.
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The Volume details page exposes pool details including Pool ID, type and tier of the pool. The volumes that are attached to servers are listed under Attached Servers.

The Provisioning Status can be any of the following:

  • Attached: the volume is attached to a server.
  • Unattached: the volume is not attached to a server.
  • Unmanaged: the volume has only a LUN path associated. For example, a volume may be attached to a server that is not known to Storage Advisor.

Details for protected volumes also include details of all replication groups to which the volumes belong.

On a volume detail page, you can do the following:

  • Attach the volume to a server by clicking Attach Volumes.
  • Edit the volume configuration by clicking Update Volumes to open the Update Volume window.

    If a primary volume is unprotected, you can expand the capacity. When you click Submit, a notification informs you that a job has started to expand the volume. Secondary volumes cannot be expanded.

  • For a tiered volume, click Update Tiering Policy to access the Update Tiering Policy page.
  • Delete the volume.
    Note If deduplication or compression has been enabled on the volume and the volume has data, it cannot be deleted in Storage Advisor. Access Storage Navigator to delete the volume.
  • Protect the volume by clicking Protect Volumes to open the Protect Volumes page.
  • Unprotect a volume by clicking Unprotect Volumes.
  • Click Migrate Volumes to access the Migrate Volumes page.
  • Click Attach Like Volumes to create, attach, and protect volumes with local replication or with High Availability.
  • Expand any or all replication groups to which the volume belongs and view details of the volume pairs. In the table, you can click an S-Vol ID to open the detail page for the secondary volume.
  • Restore a secondary volume to a primary volume by selecting the pair and clicking Restore Volume Pair.
  • Perform the following operations on a replication group:
    • Edit the replication group by clicking Edit.
    • Suspend the replication group by clicking Suspend Replication Group.
    • Resume the replication group by clicking Resume Replication Group.
    • Delete the replication group by clicking Delete.
    NoteReplication group operations are not available for "External" replication groups. These are volume pairs that were created outside Storage Advisor.

Global-active device

Storage Advisor supports the display of high availability as a replication technology when the following conditions are met:

  • GAD has been configured on the storage system.
  • GAD pairs have been created on the storage system.

GAD pairs display in Virtual Storage Machines, Volumes inventory, and Volume detail pages as high availability (HA).

Global-active device enables you to create and maintain synchronous, remote copies of data volumes.

Virtual storage machines

View the virtual storage machines (VSMs) in the GAD configuration to check details and view any alerts.

Access the Virtual Storage Machines page from the Storage Advisor dashboard.

To view details for a virtual storage machine, click a tile on the Virtual Storage Machines page.

The Virtual Storage Machine detail page includes P-VOLs and S-VOLs in each pair, as well as the pair status and the storage systems for each pair.

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