SyncIQ uses a node’s front-end network ports to send replication data from the source to the target cluster. By default, SyncIQ policies use all nodes and interfaces to allow for maximum throughput of a given policy. However, an administrator may want to exclude certain nodes from a SyncIQ policy. Excluding nodes from a SyncIQ policy is beneficial for larger clusters where data replication jobs can be assigned to certain nodes. In other cases, a client workflow may require a higher priority on a performance node over participating in data replication. From the policy configuration window, an option is available to run the policy on all nodes, or specifying a subnet and pool, as displayed in the following figure.

Figure 21.    Restricting SyncIQ source nodes

By selecting a predefined IP address pool, administrators can restrict replication processing to specific nodes on the source cluster. This option is useful to ensure that replication jobs are not competing with other applications for specific node resources. Specifying the IP address pool allows administrators to define which networks are used for replication data transfer.

Note: By default, SyncIQ uses all interfaces in the nodes that belong to the IP address pool, disregarding any interface membership settings in the pool. To restrict SyncIQ to use only the interfaces in the IP address pool, use the following CLI command to modify the SyncIQ policy:

isi sync policies modify --policy <my_policy> --force_interface=on

The same option is also available as a global SyncIQ setting, under Data Protection > SyncIQ and selecting the Settings tab. Administrators may use a single IP address pool globally across all policies or select different IP address pools for use on a per-policy basis.

Note: As stated in SyncIQ policy requirement for System Access Zone, SyncIQ data replication is only supported through the System Access Zone because SyncIQ is not zone-aware. If a new SyncIQ policy is created or an existing policy is edited, an error is displayed if it is not configured for the System Access Zone. This zone requirement applies to both the source and target clusters.

To restrict sending replication traffic to specific nodes on the target cluster, an administrator can associate, globally or per policy, a SmartConnect zone name with the target cluster.

Note: Changing the default policy global settings only affects newly created policies; existing policies will not be modified.