6.5 HP StoreAll OS User Guide

Also note the following:
• Multiple hard links on retained files on the replication source are not replicated. Only the first
hard link encountered by remote replication is replicated, and any additional hard links are
not replicated. (The retainability attributes on the file on the target prevent the creation of any
additional hard links). For this reason, HP strongly recommends that you do not create hard
links on files that will be retained if you wish to replicate them.
• For continuous remote replication, if a file is replicated as retained, but later its retainability
is removed on the source file system (using the ibrix_reten_adm -c command or the File
Administration panel on the Management Console), the new file’s attributes and any additional
changes to that file will fail to replicate. This is because of the retainability attributes that the
file already has on the target, which cause the file system on the target to prevent remote
replication from changing it. If necessary, use data retention management commands on the
corresponding file on the target to make the same changes.
• When a retained file is removed using the ibrix_reten_adm –d command , the deletion
is not replicated to the target. You will need to delete the file in the target file system using the
ibrix_reten_adm –d command to make sure source and target file systems are consistent.
Configuring remote failover/failback
When remote replication is configured from a local cluster to a remote cluster, you can fail over
the local cluster to the remote cluster:
1. Stop write traffic to the local site.
2. Wait for all remote replication queues to drain.
3. Stop remote replication on the local site.
4. Reconfigure shares as necessary on the remote site. The cluster name and IP addresses (or
VIFs) are different on the remote site, and changes are needed to allow clients to continue to
access shares.
5. Redirect write traffic to the remote site.
When the local cluster is healthy again, take the following steps to perform a failback from the
remote site:
1. Stop write traffic to the remote site.
2. Set up Run-Once remote replication, with the remote site acting as the source and the local
site acting as the destination.
3. When the Run-Once replication is complete, restore shares to their original configuration on
the local site, and verify that clients can access the shares.
4. Redirect write traffic to the local site.
Enabling and disabling custom metadata replication
Beginning with StoreAll OS 6.5, you can replicate the custom metadata associated with the files
and directories from the Express Query database on the source file system to the Express Query
database on the target file system. Replication of the actual files and directories remains the same
and is independent of custom metadata replication. Replication of the files and directories may
occur before the replication of the corresponding custom metadata.
NOTE: The system metadata associated with the files and directories and audit-related data is
not replicated. Instead, system metadata is recreated on the target file system, as this is dependent
on the I/O or file system activities on the target cluster.
260 Using continuous remote replication