Evaluation Guide Tenth Edition (February 2008) Part Number: T2558-96075
© Copyright 2008 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Hewlett-Packard Company makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.
Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ...........................................................................................................1-1 Evaluation guide overview ....................................................................................................... 1-2 Storage Mirroring operations ................................................................................................. 1-2 Mirroring ....................................................................................
Chapter 7: Evaluating Disaster Recovery or High Availability for Specific Data ..............7-1 Checking your configuration ................................................................................................... 7-1 Establishing a connection ........................................................................................................ 7-1 Monitoring the activity and completion of the initial mirror .............................................. 7-3 Changing data to cause replication .
1 X Introduction Introduction HP StorageWorks Storage Mirroring is a real-time data replication and failover software product. Storage Mirroring augments your existing data protection strategy by reducing downtime and data loss, and it provides these services with minimal impact on existing network and communication resources.
Evaluation guide overview In this guide, you will find the following sections. 1. Introduction—A brief overview of Storage Mirroring 2. Resources—Resources available during your evaluation 3. Installation—System requirements and basic instructions for installing Storage Mirroring 4. Getting Started—A description of the different Storage Mirroring connections that can be evaluated 5. Evaluation—There are separate evaluation sections for the different types of Storage Mirroring connections 6.
Replication Replication is the real-time transmission of file changes. Unlike other related technologies, which are based on a disk driver or a specific application, the Storage Mirroring replication process operates at the file system level and is able to track file changes independently from the file’s related application. In terms of network resources and time, replicating changes is a more efficient method of maintaining a real-time copy of data than copying an entire file that has changed.
Failure monitoring and failover Failover is the process in which a target stands in for a failed source. As a result, user and application requests that are directed to the failed source are routed to the target. Storage Mirroring monitors the source status by tracking network requests and responses exchanged between the source and target. When a monitored source misses a user-defined number of requests, Storage Mirroring assumes that the server has failed.
Restoration Restoration provides an easy method for copying replicated data from the target back to its original location on the source. The process only requires you to select the source, target, and the appropriate replication set. There is no need to select files or to remember where the data came from on the source since that information is maintained by Storage Mirroring.
Storage Mirroring add-ons and features Special Storage Mirroring add-ons and features build on the core Storage Mirroring techology. For example, the Server Recovery Option add-on provides disaster recovery protection for an entire server. The Storage Mirroring Reporting Center feature provides reporting and analysis tools for your entire Storage Mirroring environment. The difference between add-ons and features is mainly licensing. You will need a separate activation code for Storage Mirroring add-ons.
Full-Server Failover The Storage Mirroring Full-Server Failover feature provides high availability for an entire server, including the system state, which is the server’s configured operating system and applications. Using Full-Server Failover Manager, you identify your source, which is the server you want to protect, and your target, which is the server that will stand-in for the source in the event the source fails.
Storage Mirroring Reporting Center The Storage Mirroring Reporting Center feature is a centralized reporting and analysis solution that offers detailed, custom analysis and reports of your entire Storage Mirroring environment. It has a server component that provides data collection and a monitoring engine, and there is a client component that provides the configuration, graphical reporting, and monitoring capabilities.
2 X Resources Resources You have many resources available to you when using Storage Mirroring. Operating System and application documentation—Make sure that you have complete documentation for your operating system and your applications. Storage Mirroring documentation—The complete set of Storage Mirroring documentation includes the manuals listed below.
3 X Storage Mirroring Setup Storage Mirroring Setup Your Storage Mirroring setup consists of two tasks: determining that your source and target meet the system requirements of this evaluation and performing the Storage Mirroring installation. NOTE: When evaluating Storage Mirroring, you should install and evaluate it in a test environment. Do not use your actual production servers because you will be forcing a failure during the evaluation.
8. After the files have completed copying, click Finish to exit the installation program. NOTE: Depending on your version of Windows and the components installed, you may see an additional button on the last screen of the installation program allowing you to download the Microsoft .NET Framework. If you will be using Server Recovery Option or Full-Server Failover, you must download and install the Microsoft .NET Framework. If you do not see this button, your server already has .NET 2.0 or later.
4 X Getting Started Getting Started Storage Mirroring flexibility allows you to create different types of connections. For this evaluation, you can protect your entire server, or you can protect specific data on your server. Providing disaster recovery for an entire server—If you are using the Storage Mirroring Server Recovery Option add-on, you can protect the entire server, including your data and the server’s system state, which is the server’s configured operating system and applications.
5 X Evaluating Disaster Recovery for an Entire Server Evaluating Disaster Recovery for an Entire Server If you are using the Storage Mirroring Server Recovery Option (SRO) add-on, you can protect the entire server, including your data and the server’s system state, which is the server’s configured operating system and applications. Using the Connection Wizard, Storage Mirroring automatically creates the replication set for you, selecting all of the data and system state data on the source.
6. By default, all volumes are automatically selected for protection. You can deselect those volumes that you do not want to protect by clearing the checkbox, although if those volumes contain application data, the integrity of your installed applications will not be maintained. You cannot clear the checkbox for the boot volume because that is where the system state information is stored. A replication set will automatically be created using the volumes you select. Click Next to continue. 7.
activity, meaning your initial mirror has completed. View the status of your mirroring process To view specific mirroring statistics that may be of interest, use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the right pane of the Management Console window to view the various columns. Sent (Bytes)—The total number of mirror and replication bytes that have been sent during this connection. Sent Mirror (Bytes)—The total number of mirror bytes only that have been sent during this connection.
Changing data to cause replication In order to test replication, you need to change the data on your source. This includes modifying existing files, creating new files, deleting files, and changing permissions and attributes. 1. On the source, browse through the directories and files contained in your replication set. 2. Select four files from your source and record the file information specified in the following table. File Name 3.
Verifying the data changes on the target Now that you have modified some of the files, you want to be sure that the file modifications were applied correctly. NOTE: Because of the way the Windows Cache Manager handles memory, machines that are doing minimal or light processing, as you are in this evaluation, may have file operations that remain in the cache until additional operations flush them out. This may make Storage Mirroring files on the target appear as if they are not synchronized.
5. Wait until your Mirror Status has returned to Idle and then open the file DTVerify.log located in the Storage Mirroring installation directory on your source. You will see that all of the files are reported as the same. Completion Time: 2/7/06 17:04:38:271766 Elapsed Time: 121.
Simulating a failure To fully evaluate the process, you need to simulate a failure. To do this, power off the source server. Recovering the source After the source has failed, you can recover it to another server. You will need another similar server, but it does not need to have Storage Mirroring installed on it. NOTE: If you do not have another server to recover to, you can simulate another server by renaming the original source and changing the source IP address(es).
7. Before starting the recovery, you must validate the configuration of the recovery server to make sure it is suitable for the image of the original source. Click Validate Configuration. The validation results will be displayed in the Validation tab at the bottom of the window. Errors are designated by a white X inside a red circle. Warnings are designated by a black exclamation point (!) inside a yellow triangle. A successful validation is designated by a white checkmark inside a green circle.
5-9
6 X Evaluating High Availability for an Entire Server Evaluating High Availability for an Entire Server With the Storage Mirroring Full-Server Failover feature, you can protect the entire server, including your data and the server’s system state, which is the server’s configured operating system and applications. Using the Full-Server Failover Manager, Full-Server Failover automatically creates a replication set for you, selecting all of the data and system state data on the source.
Compatibility Requirement Level Error Warning Configuration Volume There are no limits to the number of logical volumes, although you are bound by operating system limits. The target must have the same number of logical volumes as the source. The target must have the same drive letters as the source. For example, if the source has drives C: and D:, the target cannot have drives D: and E:. In this case, the target must also have drives C: and D:.
4. You must validate that your target is compatible with your source and can stand-in if the source fails. Click Validate configuration. You can also select Actions, Validate. The Validation tab at the bottom of Full-Server Failover Manager updates to display the validation check. Errors are designated by a white X inside a red circle. Warnings are designated by a black exclamation point (!) inside a yellow triangle. A successful validation is designated by a white checkmark inside a green circle.
Monitoring high availability After you have enabled protection, you can monitor the protection from Full-Server Failover Manager. The Protection Status is displayed in the right center of Full-Server Failover Manager. You can tell the status of your protection from this field. Disabled—Protection for the source has not been started. The target must be validated as compatible before you can enable protection. Initializing—Full-Server Failover is initializing protection.
________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________
Simulating a failure To fully evaluate the process, you need to simulate a failure. To do this, power off the source server. Starting failover When a failover condition is met, you will want to start failover. Additionally, you can start it without a failover condition, as long as protection is enabled. For example, you may want to force failover when upgrading to a better source server. To start failover, click Failover. You can also select Actions, Failover.
7 X Evaluating Disaster Recovery or High Availability for Specific Data Evaluating Disaster Recovery or High Availability for Specific Data To protect specific data, you identify the data on the source to be included in the replication set. The connection sends that data to the target. In the event the source fails, the replication set data will be available on the target. By itself, this connection type provides disaster recovery.
5. If you highlighted a target in the Management Console, the target will already be selected. If it is not, select the Storage Mirroring target. This is your backup server that will receive the data from the source. Click Next to continue. NOTE: 6. Storage Mirroring will automatically attempt to log on to the selected target using the identification of the user logged on to the local machine. If the logon is not successful, the Logon dialog box will appear prompting for your security identification.
Monitoring the activity and completion of the initial mirror View your new connection in the Management Console by highlighting the source on the left pane. The connection will appear on the right pane. Use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the right pane to view the various status columns. Pay attention to the Mirror Status column which shows the status of the mirroring operation. During the mirroring process, you will see a percentage of the mirror that has been completed.
Changing data to cause replication In order to test replication, you need to change the data on your source. This includes modifying existing files, creating new files, deleting files, and changing permissions and attributes. 1. On the source, browse through the directories and files contained in your replication set. 2. Select four files from your source and record the file information specified in the following table. File Name 3.
Verifying the data changes on the target Now that you have modified some of the files, you want to be sure that the file modifications were applied correctly. NOTE: Because of the way the Windows Cache Manager handles memory, machines that are doing minimal or light processing, as you are in this evaluation, may have file operations that remain in the cache until additional operations flush them out. This may make Storage Mirroring files on the target appear as if they are not synchronized.
5. Wait until your Mirror Status has returned to Idle and then open the file DTVerify.log located in the Storage Mirroring installation directory on your source. You will see that all of the files are reported as the same. Completion Time: 2/7/06 17:04:38:271766 Elapsed Time: 121.
Testing your target data At this point in your evaluation, you have completed a disaster recovery scenario. You may want to test your target data. The type of testing you will need to perform will depend on the type of data you are protecting. User data—If you are protecting user files, you can use the associated application to open the files on the target. Open one or more of the files to test the integrity of the data.
e. Revert the snapshot that you created in step 2 by using the snapshot revert command.
Configuring failover If you are interested in continuing your evaluation to test high availability, use the remaining instructions in this chapter to configure failover, simulate a failure, and perform failback and a restoration. 1. The Failover Control Center can be started from within the Management Console or from the Windows desktop. From the Management Console, select Tools, Failover Control Center. From the Windows desktop, select Start, Programs, Storage Mirroring, Failover Control Center. 2.
7 - 10
Since it can be essential to quickly know the status of failover, Storage Mirroring offers various methods for monitoring the state of failover.
Performing failback Failover occurred because the target was monitoring the source for a failure, and when a failure occurred, the target stood in for the source. User and application requests that were directed to the failed source are routed to the target. Failback is the process where the target releases the source identity it assumed during failover. As a result, user and application requests are no longer routed to the target, but back to the source.
Restoring your data The Management Console provides an easy method for restoring replicated data from the target back to the original source or to a new source server. You are only required to input the original source, the target, and the name of the replication set you want to restore. Storage Mirroring handles the rest, including selecting the files in the replication set and restoring them to the correct location. 1. From the Management Console. select Tools, Restoration Manager. 4.
7 - 14
8 X Conclusion Conclusion After you have evaluated the benefits of powerful data protection software from HP, you can explore other ways to enhance and optimize your enterprise solution. Engage HP Sales and Training to help you realize your full potential. HP delivers a comprehensive portfolio of services that help you assess, design, plan, and implement effective data availability and disaster recovery solutions. These solutions help you avoid costly data loss and downtime.
Index A I add-ons 1-6 Application Manager 1-6 installation installing 3-1 system requirements 3-1 C M centralized backup 1-1 connection choosing connection type 4-1 Connection Wizard entire server 5-1 specific data 7-1 disaster recovery entire server 5-1 specific data 7-1 Full-Server Failover 6-2 high availability entire server 6-1 specific data 7-1 Server Recovery Option 5-1 types 4-1 Connection Wizard entire server 5-1 specific data 7-1 mirroring monitoring 5-3, 7-3 overview 1-2 monitoring Full-Ser
