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:

1. Verify that a storage network tagged for replication is configured on both PowerStore clusters. Both systems can be either in the same network or in different networks with bi-directional routing. In a routed environment over a WAN connection, consider the latency requirements for the planned use case.

2. For management traffic, ensure that network connectivity exists between the participating PowerStore clusters on the management interface. The management connection is critical for orchestrating replication across participating systems initiated by PowerStore. Similar to the data connection, it can be within the same network or over a routed connection.
3. For file replication, configure an additional file mobility network. The file mobility network consists of three additional IP addresses per PowerStore cluster that leverage the existing management network VLAN, gateway, and mask. These interfaces are mapped to the 1 GbE management ports, sharing the physical port with the existing management interfaces. Each PowerStore cluster intended to support file replication must have the file mobility network configured. In PowerStoreOS 3.0, no changes to the file mobility network are supported while a file replication session is in place. PowerStoreOS 3.2 and later allows deleting and re-creating the file mobility network while having file replication in place.

The following sections outline the different functions and requirement details, and how these components interact with each other. Use PowerStore Manager to configure and manage these components.

Port configuration for replication

Ports 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 on a PowerStore T model, and port vFEPort1 in group PG_Storage_TGT1 on a PowerStore X model appliance. 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 in the 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.

Table 2 lists the PowerStore ports that can be used for replication. When a 25 GbE optical 4-port card or I/O module is used, both 10 Gb and 25 Gb SFPs can be leveraged for replication.

Table 2.      Supported ports for replication

The figures in the next section, Replication connection, show examples of minimal cabling for replication between PowerStore T models (Figure 3), and between PowerStore T models and PowerStore X models (Figure 4). 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. Tagging only replication interfaces on ports of the same type and speed is recommended. 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 the default configuration, consider that the ports might also be used for other traffic such as I/O for block storage host access, migration, file (PowerStore T models only), or vMotion/VM traffic (PowerStore X models only). If these features are used, planning replication using dedicated interfaces is recommended. Extra ports use dynamic storage IP configuration from the range that was given in ICW (PowerStore X Model only) or added afterwards in the networking section of PowerStore Manager.

Replication connection

Figure 3 shows a sample configuration of a replication connection between two physical systems. In both Figure 3 and Figure 4, the source of the replication session is the Production System and the destination is the DR System. For each of these systems, the default port configuration is used as replication ports. Figure 3 shows cabling for a pair of PowerStore T model appliances using system bond0.

Figure 3.   Native replication using two PowerStore T model systems

Figure 4 shows cabling between PowerStore X model and PowerStore T model appliances. With PowerStore X model arrays, ports are used for replication management and replication data traffic.

Figure 4.   Native replication using a PowerStore T and a PowerStore X model system

Remote systems

When the ports for replication traffic are tagged 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 reestablish 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.

• Asynchronous block replication
• Metro Volume
• Asynchronous vVol replication
• Asynchronous File