HP P6000 Replication Solutions Manager Administrator Guide (T3680-96069, June 2012)

Follow these guidelines for using containers:
• The array must have an HP P6000 Business Copy license installed.
• When used for mirrorclones and preallocated snapclones, the container may be in a different
disk group than the source virtual disk. When used for preallocated snapshots, the container
must be in the same disk group as the source virtual disk.
• A container must be the same size as the source of the preallocated snapclone or snapshot.
• The redundancy (Vraid) level of the container determines the redundancy (Vraid) level of a
preallocated snapclone.
• For a preallocated snapshot, the redundancy (Vraid) level of the container must be the same
or lower than the source. If the source has other snapshots, the redundancy (Vraid) level of
the container must be the same as the other snapshots. For descriptions of redundancy (Vraid)
levels, see “Vraid hierarchy and redundancy” (page 17).
• Containers cannot be presented to hosts or used for storage.
Containers cannot be created from a virtual disk that:
• Is a snapshot
• Has a snapshot or mirrorclone
• Is a member of a DR group
• Is presented to a host
• Is in the process of normalizing (snapshot in progress) or being deleted
Remote replication concepts
Remote replication copies are called DR groups. Remote replication requires an HP P6000
Continuous Access license installed on each array involved in the remote replication relationship.
DR groups
A DR group is a logical group of virtual disks in a remote replication relationship with a
corresponding group on another array, resulting in a DR group pair. Hosts write data to the virtual
disks in the source DR group (for example, DR group A), and the array copies the data to the virtual
disks in the destination DR group (for example, DR group B). The virtual disks in a DR group fail
over together, share a log, and preserve write order within the group. A pair of source and
destination virtual disks is called a copy set.
Follow these guidelines for using DR groups:
• Source and destination arrays must have HP P6000 Continuous Access licenses installed.
• The maximum number of virtual disks in a DR group and the maximum number of DR groups
per array vary based on the controller software versions. For specifics, see the HP P6000
Enterprise Virtual Array Compatibility Reference.
• All virtual disks that contain the data for a common application must be in a common DR
group. HP recommends one application per DR group.
• DR groups may contain members from multiple disk groups.
• DR group members can exist in any supported redundancy (Vraid) level.
• All members of a DR group will have a common preferred controller. HP recommends that all
members have the same presentation status (required if members belong to one application).
• Failover is permitted only from the destination array.
• When failsafe mode is enabled, a DR group cannot be suspended.
16 Replication manager overview