EMC Community Network December 2012

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Frequently Asked Questions: EMC VNXe NAS
Replication
Contents

Question: What does the Replication feature in VNXe provide? .................................................. 2
Question: Is VNXe replication Synchronous or Asynchronous? ................................................... 2
Question: What is RPO setting in Replication for VNXe? .............................................................. 2
Question: Does VNXe support One to Many replication? .............................................................. 2
Question: What are the destination platforms supported by VNXe for replication? ................... 2
Question: Can I use Deduplication feature when I replicate? ....................................................... 3
Question: What happens when I turn off deduplication on the source? ...................................... 3
Question: If I setup a replication session, do shares get replicated over to the destination? ... 3
Question: What are the basic internal steps during a replication process? ................................ 3
Question: As part of the replication, will point in time copies (snapshots) of a file system be
replicated to the destination? ................................................................................................................... 5
Question: In the case of VMware NFS Datastore Replication, can I use the datastore on the
replicated side (destination) to boot VMs for testing purposes? ......................................................... 5
Question: Can I create a schedule to take snapshots on the destination application? ............. 5
Question: Do I have to provision protection space on the source to enable/start replication? 5
Question: Why do I not see any Windows (CIFS) shares in the destination VNXe after
replication? ............................................................................................................................................... 6
Question: How do I find out what are the replication sessions that are on my VNXe? ............. 6
Question: What are the steps involved in setting up a remote replication to a VNXe? ............. 6
Question: Is there a limit for the total number of replication session on a VNXe? ..................... 7
Question: Can I use a different Ethernet Port than the one used by a Shared Folder for
replication? ............................................................................................................................................... 7


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Question: What does the Replication feature in VNXe provide?
Answer: Replication in VNXe is a process in which storage data is duplicated either locally
or to a remote VNXe/VNX device. It produces a read-only, point-in-time copy of
source storage data and periodically updates the copy, keeping it consistent with
the source data. The replicated copy can be used in cases where the source data
becomes unavailable such as is a disaster recovery scenario.
Note: Replication is not an alternative to keeping point in time snapshots and
backups where you need to access/restore the data at a specific date/time.
Question: Is VNXe replication Synchronous or Asynchronous?
Answer: VNXe replication is Asynchronous. This means that whenever data is written to the
source, it is not instantaneously replicated to the destination. Data is replicated
manually or based on a certain time interval called Recovery Point Objective
(RPO).
Question: What is RPO setting in Replication for VNXe?
Answer: RPO setting in VNXe determines how frequently the destination is updated with
source changes. In other words, RPO is the amount of time between data being
written at the source and the same data being written at the destination. It is
important to understand that is a disaster at the source occurs during this time, any
data written during that timeframe could be lost if the source is unrecoverable. If
you anticipate a large rate of change of data on your source, it is recommended to
decrease your RPO setting value so that the data is synchronized more often and
in smaller chunks.
Question: Does VNXe support One to Many replication?
Answer: No, VNXe does not support One to Many replication. Replication can only be done
from a source to one destination.
Question: What are the destination platforms supported by VNXe for replication?
Answer: The following are supported:
VNXe to VNXe (Same SP and Different SP)
VNXe to VNX/Celerra (DART 6.0 or above)
VNX/Celerra (DART 6.0 or above) to VNXe

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Question: Can I use Deduplication feature when I replicate?
Answer: Yes, you may use Deduplication feature when you replicate. You have the option of
turning on deduplication on the source prior to replication or turn on dedup of a
source that is already replicating. When you turn on dedup on the source side, it
will automatically turn on deduplication on the destination object after the next
synch. You may also note that at this point the destination deduplication will be in
an Enabled Suspended state.
You will not be able to force a scan on the destination. However if you failover your
session your session, you will be able to run a forced deduplication scan in the
destination.
Question: What happens when I turn off deduplication on the source?
Answer: If you turn off deduplication on the source, it will wait until the next synch operation
to take place after which the destination deduplication automatically turns off.
Question: If I setup a replication session, do shares get replicated over to the
destination?
Answer: No, shares created on the source will not be replicated to the destination. You will
have to manually create the shares on the destination.
Question: What are the basic internal steps during a replication process?
Answer: VNXe Replication uses internal checkpoints to replicate data. These internal
checkpoints are not available for user management, meaning you cannot perform
operations on them such as delete or restore.
Replication process involves the following internal steps (These assume that there
is a connection setup and validated between source and destination devices):
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1. Network clients can read and write to the source without interruption
throughout the process. Destination is read-only throughout the process.
2. VNXe administrator creates a replication session between the source and
destination objects.
3. The source side establishes a connection to the destination object using the
interfaces specified.
4. Replication creates two checkpoints for the source object.
5. Replication creates two checkpoints for the destination object.
6. Replication verifies that there is no common base established between the
source and destination objects.
7. A full copy is performed to transfer the data on the source object to the
destination object. If the user specifies a manual synchronization option, the
data transfer will occur only when the user performs a manual sync
operation.
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8. At the destination, the first checkpoint ckpt1 is refreshed from the
destination object to establish the common base with the source checkpoint.
9. After the common base is established, the second checkpoint ckpt 2 at the
source is refreshed to establish the difference (delta) between the original
source checkpoint and the latest point-in-time copy. Only the delta between
the currently marked internal checkpoint and the previously replicated
internal checkpoint is transferred to the destination by block ID. The transfer
is called a differential copy.
10. After the data transfer is complete, replication uses the latest internal
checkpoint taken on the destination to establish a new common base ckpt
2. The latest internal checkpoint contains the same data as the internal
checkpoint on the source (ckpt 2) that was marked for replication.
11. Replication monitors the RPO value (if set) to determine how frequently the
destination is updated with source changes. Without an RPO setting, the
user can perform an on-demand sync.
Question: As part of the replication, will point in time copies (snapshots) of a file
system be replicated to the destination?
Answer: Manual or Scheduled snapshots of the source file system will not be replicated to
the destination as part of replication. You may take snapshots on the destination
manually.
Question: In the case of VMware NFS Datastore Replication, can I use the datastore on
the replicated side (destination) to boot VMs for testing purposes?
Answer: The destination datastore is read-only and this will prevent from booting any VMs.
However, in VNXe Operating Environment MR2 or later version, there is an option
for taking a snapshot of the destination datastore and promoting it. Promoting a
datastore will create a writeable checkpoint which can be used for booting the VMs
in that snapshot.
Promoting snaps on the destination application is supported only for VMware
applications in MR2. Future versions will provide this option for promoting
destination snaps for Shared Folders.
Question: Can I create a schedule to take snapshots on the destination application?
Answer: No, you cannot create scheduled snapshots on destination applications. Scheduled
snapshots involve the risk of running out of protection space on the destination
which will disable replication. However you can take manual snapshots.
Question: Do I have to provision protection space on the source to enable/start
replication?
Answer: Yes, provisioning protection space on source and destination is mandatory for
enabling replication. Replication makes use of internal snapshots which requires
protection space. When you create a destination application (Shared Folders or
VMware NFS), in the second step of the wizard, where it asks you to select a
source, it only lists the sources which have protection space provisioned.
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Question: Why do I not see any Windows (CIFS) shares in the destination VNXe after
replication?
Answer: VNXe only does the data replication from source to destination. Share and share
permissions are not replicated. Please take a look at Knowledge Base Article
emc276897 available from the search tool on emc.com/vnxesupport for more
details.
Question: How do I find out what are the replication sessions that are on my VNXe?
Answer: In the VNXe GUI, go to System>System Replications. All the replication sessions
will be listed in this screen.
You may also execute svc_storagecheck -replication -sessions to get a list of
active sessions.
Question: What are the steps involved in setting up a remote replication to a VNXe?
Answer: The following steps provide guidance in setting up replication between two VNXe
devices:
1. On the source VNXe, create a Replication Connection to the destination
VNXe.
In the VNXe GUI go to Hosts >Replication Connection. Provide the
information about the destination VNXe box. This step needs to be
executed only once for any number of replication sessions from the current
VNXe to the destination VNXe. Skip this step if you already have a
replication connection setup to the selected destination VNXe.
2. Create a source resource on the source VNXe (Shared Folder / VMware
NFS).
3. Create a destination resource on the destination VNXe. Use the Create a
Replication Destination button to create a destination application. If you
choose to create a resource using Create button, it will not be considered
as a destination object.
When creating a destination resource, you will be asked to provide the
source system and source resource to link the new destination resource.
4. Create a replication session between the source resource and destination
resource.
a. Go to the details view of the resource then navigate to Replication
Tab >Configure Replication to a Remote System.
b. Select the Destination System and the Destination storage resource.
c. You may select the source and destination interfaces that are to be
used for replication purposes.
d. You may select the synchronization method (Manual / Automatic).
5. After you have created the replication session, you may do any of the
replication actions like, Sync Now, Failover, Failback, Delete the session,
and so on.

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Question: Is there a limit for the total number of replication session on a VNXe?
Answer: Yes, here are the replication session limits for different platforms of VNXe:
VNXe 3100 Single SP: 16
VNXe 3100 Dual SP: 32
VNXe 3300: 64
Question: Can I use a different Ethernet Port than the one used by a Shared Folder for
replication?
Answer: Yes. You may use any of the interfaces available on the source or destination to
route the replication traffic. For example, you may use the interface used by an
iSCSI server or a second interface used by the shared folder server to configure
the replication session.