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Another data protection feature available on the Dell Unity platform is data replication. Data replication enables the user’s data center to avoid disruptions in business operations by duplicating storage data to a remote or local system resource. It provides an enhanced level of redundancy in case the main storage system fails, and minimizes the downtime-associated costs of a system failure. The Replication page, as shown in Figure 25, displays all configured replication sessions available on the system where users can run replication tasks like failover, failback, pause, resume, and delete, as needed. Synchronous block and file replication to other physical Dell Unity systems is also supported for physical deployments of Dell Unity. Under the Protection & Mobility category on the Interfaces page, users can configure replication interfaces for replication data paths. After the replication interfaces are configured, users can go to the Connections tab on the Replication page to configure a system-to-system replication connection, which is required to configure replication sessions for storage resources.
Dell Unity OE versions 5.1 and later provide Source, Destination, and All filtering buttons on the replication sessions page and various storage resource pages. They help the user easily identify replication source and destination resources/sessions without adding columns to the view. When All is selected, all resources/sessions on the current page are displayed. When Source is selected on a resource page, all resources that are the source of a replication session are displayed. Resources that are not replicated are also shown when Source is selected. When Source is selected on the replication sessions page, only replication session originating on the system are shown. When Destination is selected on a resource page, only resources that are the destination images of a replication session are shown. While on the sessions page, Destination will only show the sessions replicating to the current system. Also, sessions that are part of local replication are displayed regardless of which view is selected. Figure 25 shows the Source, Destination, and All filtering buttons.
In Dell Unity OE 5.1 and later versions, asynchronous replication traffic can be throttled to reduce the rate at which data is replicated to a destination system. Asynchronous replication throttling is configured at the replication connection level, which allows each remote system connection to be controlled independently of each other. Also, only outbound replication traffic to a remote system is throttled. This not only allows different throttles to and from a remote system over the replication connections but also allows replication traffic to be throttled from a system running OE 5.1 or later to a system running an earlier release. The Schedule Time Zone option can also be set to correct asynchronous replication bandwidth throttling timing issues due to seasonal time changes in certain regions of the world.
For non-native replication technologies (that is, replication services from stand-alone devices), RecoverPoint is supported on Dell Unity systems for block resources. For more information about available replication technologies and replication operations, see the Dell Unity: Replication Technologies white paper on the Dell Technologies Info Hub.
With the Dell Unity OE 4.4 and later versions, the Dell Unity NAS Servers and their file resources can be synchronously replicated between two physical Dell Unity systems, as shown in the properties page for a NAS Server in Figure 26. Synchronously replicated file resources can also be asynchronously replicated to a 3rd-site for backup purposes. For more details for native Synchronous file replication, also known as MetroSync, see the Dell Unity: MetroSync white paper.