Administrator Guide

NOTE: Removing the physical disk letter of one or more associated virtual disks in Windows or unmounting the virtual
physical disk in Linux helps to guarantee a stable copy of the physical disk for the virtual disk copy.
Before creating a new virtual disk copy for an existing copy pair, both the host server and the associated virtual disk you are recopying
have to be in the proper state. Perform the following steps to prepare your host server and virtual disk:
1. Stop all I/O activity to the source and target virtual disk.
2. Using your Windows system, flush the cache to both the source and the target virtual disk—if mounted. At the host prompt, type:
SMrepassist -f <filename-identifier> and press <Enter>.
For more information, see SMrepassist Utility.
3. Click the Summary tab, then click Storage & Copy Services to ensure that the virtual disk is in Optimal or Disabled status.
4. Remove one or more physical disk letters of the source and (if mounted) virtual disk in Windows or unmount one or more virtual
physical disks in Linux to help guarantee a stable copy of the physical disk for the virtual disk. If this is not done, the copy operation
reports that it has completed successfully, but the copied data is not updated properly.
5. Follow any additional instructions for your operating system. Failure to follow these additional instructions can create unusable virtual
disk copies.
NOTE: If your operating system requires more instructions, you can find those instructions in your operating system
documentation.
Recopying the virtual disk
You can use the Copy Manager to create a new virtual disk copy for a selected source virtual disk and a target virtual disk. Use this option
when you have stopped a virtual disk copy and want to start it again or when a virtual disk copy has failed or completed. The virtual disk
copy starts over from the beginning.
Keep these guidelines in mind when re-copying a virtual disk:
• If hosts are mapped to the source virtual disk, the data that is copied to the target virtual disk when you perform the re-copy
operation might have changed since the previous virtual disk copy was created.
• Select only one virtual disk copy in the Copy Manager dialog.
CAUTION: Possible loss of data—The re-copying operation overwrites existing data on the target virtual disk.
CAUTION: Possible loss of data access—While a virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress or Pending, source virtual
disks are available for read I/O activity only. Write requests are allowed after the virtual disk copy has completed.
To recopy the virtual disk:
1. Stop all I/O to the source virtual disk and the target virtual disk.
2. Unmount any file systems on the source virtual disk and the target virtual disk.
3. In the AMW, select Copy Services > Virtual Disk Copy > Manage Copies.
The Copy Manager window is displayed.
4. Select the copy pair in the table.
5. Select Copy > Re-Copy.
The Re-Copy window is displayed.
6. Set the copy priority.
There are five copy priority rates available: lowest, low, medium, high, and highest. If the copy priority is set at the lowest rate, I/O
activity is prioritized, and the virtual disk copy takes longer. If the copy priority is set to the highest priority rate, the virtual disk copy is
prioritized, but I/O activity for the storage array might be affected.
Removing copy pairs
You can remove one or more virtual disk copies by using the Remove Copy Pairs option. Any virtual disk copy-related information for the
source virtual disk and the target virtual disk is removed from the Virtual Disk Properties dialog and the Storage Array Profile dialogs.
When you remove a virtual disk copy from the storage array, the Read-Only attribute for the target virtual disk is also removed. After the
virtual disk copy is removed from the Copy Manager, you can either select the target virtual disk as a source virtual disk or the target
virtual disk for a new virtual disk copy. If you remove a virtual disk copy, the source virtual disk and the target virtual disk no longer appear
in the Copy Manager.
Keep these guidelines in mind when you remove copy pairs:
• Removing copy pairs does not delete the data on the source virtual disk or target virtual disk.
Premium feature—virtual disk copy
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