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PowerStore embedded replication has several physical and software components. Each of these components is described in the following sections for the supported types of replication. To prepare a remote system configuration, perform the following steps:
The following sections outline the different functions, including requirement details, and how these components interact with each other. Use PowerStore Manager to configure and manage these components.
In PowerStoreOS 1.x-3.x tagged ports for replication are used to transport data to a destination system for remote replication. By default, the system tags the bond0 port group on the 4-port card (port 0 + port 1) for replication traffic. In this configuration, the system uses the same storage network for host access to storage resources and replication data traffic. Tagged ports for remote replication can be modified in PowerStore Manager and are the same for both nodes of a PowerStore appliance. Tagging replication ports in PowerStore Manager is not related to VLAN tagging on network infrastructure. The replication is performed over Ethernet ports available on the system.
Starting with PowerStoreOS 4.0, the replication network configuration is enhanced to increase flexibility, scalability, and resiliency. Different port and network pairs can be used to declare one or multiple network groups for a remote system pair leveraged. Each remote system pair has its own replication network group configuration for the replication data traffic. Details of the configuration are covered in the section Replication data network configuration (PowerStoreOS 4.0 and later)Replication data network configuration (PowerStoreOS 4.0 and later).
For replication, all supported Ethernet ports that can be used for a storage network can be used for replication. This includes the following:
The figures in the section Replication connectionReplication connection show examples of minimal cabling for replication between PowerStore appliances (Figure 3). The link-aggregated ports (4-Port card Port 0 and Port 1) provide high availability, maximum throughput, and load balancing of replication traffic across physical ports in the aggregation. For a successful replication connection, all replication ports on a source system must be able to communicate with all replication ports on the destination system, and conversely. The communication could be either on a local network or in a routed network.
When planning for replication using a configuration with system bond0, consider that the ports might also be used for other traffic such as I/O for block storage host access, migration, or file. If these features are used, planning replication using dedicated interfaces is recommended. Extra ports use dynamic storage IP configuration from the range added after cluster initialization in the networking section of PowerStore Manager.
Figure 3 shows a sample configuration of a replication connection between two physical systems. It shows cabling for a pair of PowerStore appliances using system bond0. The source of the replication session is the Production System, and the destination is the DR System. For each of these systems, the system bond0 is used as replication ports and all management ports are connected to the same L2/L3 network.
When the ports for replication traffic are configured and connected to the network, you can make a remote system connection between the arrays. After successful initialization, the remote system connection is automatically created on the peer system and can be used in both directions. The verify and update operation is used to update the replication connection information about the system on which it is issued. This operation is performed on the replication connection itself, as opposed to an individual replication session. Verify and update can be used to test a replication connection to a remote system or update the replication information if changes to the system have been made. Verify and update should be issued to check and reestablish (when required) the replication connection to a remote system after an outage. Running verify and update is a common use case when the storage network IP address pool has been changed by a network administrator.
All PowerStore native replication features rely on the same remote systems configuration.