Building Disaster Recovery Serviceguard Solutions Using Metrocluster with EMC SRDF

1 Introduction

The EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (EMC SRDF) disk arrays allow you to configure physical

data replication solutions to provide disaster recovery for Serviceguard clusters over long distances.

Overview of EMC SRDF

EMC SRDF is a Symmetrix-based business continuance and disaster recovery solution. SRDF is a

configuration of Symmetrix systems, the purpose of which is to maintain multiple, real-time copies

of data in more than one location. The Symmetrix systems can be in the same room, in different

buildings within the same campus, or hundreds of kilometers apart.

By maintaining real-time copies of data in different physical locations, SRDF enables the following

operations with minimal impact on normal business operations:

• Disaster Recovery

• Recovery from planned outages

• Remote backup

• Data center migration

• Data Replication and Mobility

Terms and concepts

R1 volumes

The SRDF volumes at the source side of replication are referred as R1 or Primary volumes.

R2 volumes

The SRDF volumes at the destination side of replication are referred as R2 or Secondary volumes.

Business Continuance Volumes

Business Continuance Volumes (BCV) is a type of Symmetrix volume that has a mirror copy of

another standard volume on the same Symmetrix array.

Figure 1 EMC R1 and R2 Definitions

SRDF Link may be directional

for different disk devices

There may be multiple R1/R2 devices

Symmetrix Array Symmetrix Array

Data Center A Data Center B

Optional

BCVs

R2a

Optional

BCVs

R2a

8 Introduction