Protecting VMware Workloads with PowerStore Metro Volumes
Mon, 09 Oct 2023 18:14:42 -0000
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PowerStore’s metro volume replication allows storage administrators to create a high availability shared SAN environment across PowerStore clusters. Metro Volume provides symmetric active/active data access to VMware environments for use cases such as: planned migrations, disaster avoidance, and proactive resource rebalancing.
PowerStore supports two different configurations with Metro volume access: non-uniform and uniform. In this blog, our configuration is non-uniform.
Here is our sample non-uniform configuration, where hosts only have access to its local PowerStore system:
Creating the Metro Volume
- Creating the metro volume session is a relatively simple process and involves a few clicks. Log into PowerStore Manager, select Storage, then select the volume (here, VMFS_Test-Demo), then select Configure Metro Volume.
2. On the Configure Metro Volume page, select the remote PowerStore to create the duplicate volume.
3. Now we see the volume switching to metro synchronous.
Creating the Metro Witness
Starting with PowerStore version 3.6, Metro Volume supports a witness server. The witness server is a third party that is installed on a stand-alone host. The witness observes the status of the local and remote PowerStore systems. When a failure occurs, the witness server determines which system remains accessible to hosts and continues to service I/Os. When configuring Metro Witness on a PowerStore appliance, you must generate a unique token.
Note: You must configure the witness on each PowerStore cluster.
1. The following is an example of using the generate_token.sh script to create the token JeBTPIFf:
2. After gathering the token, select Protection > Metro Witness to enter the Metro witness configuration details.
3. Enter the witness details, including the DNS or IP address and security token.
4. Confirm the witness settings.
5. Witness is connected to the metro sessions.
6. The metro session is synced, and the witness is now engaged.
Metro Volume is designed to give VMware environments the ability to operate synchronously without disruption. Metro Volume integrates seamlessly with vSphere Metro Storage Cluster, for our PowerStore customers who must avoid disaster/data unavailability.
For more information, see the following resources.
Resources
- White paper: Dell PowerStore: Metro Volume
- White paper: Dell PowerStore: Replication Technologies
Author: Jason Gates