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PowerFlex system root CA certificates must be exchanged between replicating clusters. This step is performed using the PowerFlex command line interface. On each system, a certificate is created and sent to the other PowerFlex cluster to form a trusted pair.
Steps:
# scli --login --username admin --password 'password' --management_system_ip 192.168.150.150
Successfully generated login certificate at /root/.scli/cli_cert.p12
Logged in. User role is SuperUser. System ID is bac98e8e2311710f
# scli --query_all_sdr
Query-all-SDR returned 4 SDR nodes.
Protection Domain ID: 22e67e4a00000000
SDR ID: 183d892c00000000 Name: Sdr-storagenode4 State: Connected, Joined IP address: 192.168.151.34,192.168.152.34,192.168.153.34,192.168.154.34 Port: 11088 Version: 4.0.2000
SDR ID: 183d892d00000001 Name: Sdr-storagenode3 State: Connected, Joined IP address: 192.168.151.33,192.168.152.33,192.168.153.33,192.168.154.33 Port: 11088 Version: 4.0.2000
SDR ID: 183d892e00000002 Name: Sdr-storagenode1 State: Connected, Joined IP address: 192.168.151.39,192.168.152.39,192.168.153.31,192.168.154.31 Port: 11088 Version: 4.0.2000
SDR ID: 183d892f00000003 Name: Sdr-storagenode2 State: Connected, Joined IP address: 192.168.151.38,192.168.152.38,192.168.153.32,192.168.154.32 Port: 11088 Version: 4.0.2000
# scli --extract_root_ca --certificate_file /tmp/primary
Similarly, login to Site-B and extract its certificate and copy to local cluster Site-A:
# scli --login --username admin --password 'password' --management_system_ip 192.168.150.135
# scli --extract_root_ca --certificate_file /tmp/secondary
## On Site-A primary MDM:
# scli --add_trusted_ca --certificate_file /tmp/secondary --comment Site-A
## On Site-B primary MDM:
# scli --add_trusted_ca --certificate_file /tmp//primary --comment Site-B
# scli --add_replication_peer_system --peer_system_ip 192.168.150.161,192.168.150.162 --peer_system_id 14e463a1e709330f --peer_system_name Rep_secondary
Similarly add replication peer system on Site-B:
# scli --add_replication_peer_system --peer_system_ip 192.168.151.140,192.168.152.140 --peer_system_id bac98e8e2311710f --peer_system_name Rep_primary
# scli --query_all_replication_peer_system
Query-all-Replication Peer System returned 1 Replication Peer System nodes.
Replication Peer System ID: 14e463a1e709330f Replication Peer System internal ID: 21b3923f00000000 Name: Rep_secondary State: Joined, SUCCESS IP: 192.168.150.161,192.168.150.162 Port: 7611 Version: 4.0.2000
SDR-SDR connectivity status: All connected
The systems are peered in both directions, and ready to start pairing replicated volumes. Log in to PowerFlex GUI > Protection > Peer systems tab to verify.
RCGs are created during dynamic provisioning of PV using replication storage class. When an application is deployed with request for PV creation with a replication storage class, it dynamically creates one, or it can be manually created by specifying the correct inputs in PV.yaml file. A replicated persistent volume is automatically created on the target with its own RCG. These two volumes show up as pairs in RCG of both the source and target sites.