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Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Symmetrix Business Continuity:


SRDF Solutions

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Welcome to Symmetrix Business Continuity: SRDF Solutions.


Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
These materials may not be copied without EMC's written consent.
EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The
information is subject to change without notice.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED AS IS. EMC CORPORATION
MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE
INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an
applicable software license.
EMC and SRDF are registered trademarks of EMC Corporation.
All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

SRDF Introduction

-1

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Revision History
Rev Number

Course Date

Revisions

1.0a

March 2005

Complete

1.2a

July 2005

Complete

3.0a

September 2005

Complete

3.1

August 2006

Complete

3.2

November 2006

3.2a

December 2006

Updated SE 6.3

3.3

June 2007

Updated for SE 6.4/72

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Introduction - 2

SRDF Introduction

-2

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Program Administration
 Attendance roster
 Restrooms
 Telephones / Etiquette
 Attendance Rules
 Fire / Evacuation Procedures
 Cafeteria
 Labs
 Local Sites of Interest
 Class Evaluations
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Introduction - 3

SRDF Introduction

-3

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Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
 Describe the relevancy of SRDF solutions with different (RPO) Recovery
Point Objective needs
 Identify SRDF concepts, terminology and functionality
 Discus EMCs Symmetrix Management Console (SMC)
 Describe SRDF host considerations and configurations within Sun Solaris,
HP-UX, IBM AIX, and Windows LVM environments
 Describe SRDF/A theory of operation, and execute SRDF/A operations
 Identify the architectural components of SRDF/A
 Describe and execute SRDF/AR operations
 Describe EMC Consistency Technology

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Introduction - 4

The objectives for this program are shown here. Please take a moment and review them.

SRDF Introduction

-4

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SRDF Introduction
Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:
 Discuss the Concept of Business Continuity
 Identify SRDF (Symmetrix Remote Data Facility)
solutions
 Identify SRDF solutions to satisfy different RPO
(Recovery Point Objective) needs
 Describe EMCs Symmetrix Management Console (SMC)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Introduction - 5

The objectives for this module are shown here. Please take a moment and review them.

SRDF Introduction

-5

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Documentation
Student Resource Guide

Module 1: BCR - Business Continuance Remote Introduction


Module 2: SRDF/S (Synchronous)
Module 3: SRDF Operations
Module 4: SRDF/A (Asynchronous)
Module 5: SRDF/AR (Automated Replication)

Labs Guide
SRDF - BCR Labs 1-7

Appendix
BCR (Business Continuance Remote) Command Lookup Guide

All Material is for Training Purposes Only


2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Introduction - 6

The following modules will be presented over the next three days. All training materials presented in
this program are for training purposes only.

SRDF Introduction

-6

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Training Schedule: Day 1 & 2

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SRDF Introduction - 7

Training Schedule for SRDF Solutions, day one and day two.

SRDF Introduction

-7

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Training Schedule: Day 3

Open Lab - Activity

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SRDF Introduction - 8

Training Schedule for SRDF Solutions, day three.

SRDF Introduction

-8

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Software Environment
The following Software Environment has been
established for each student:
Sun Solaris 5.8 OS
 OS Recommended Patches
 J2SE Cluster Patch
 Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM Ver 4.0)

HPux 11.00 with 2004 patch bundle


 HP-LVM

AIX 5.2 / ML03 (Maintenance Level)


 AIX-LVM

W2K
EMC Solutions Enabler 6.4
Enginuity Code 5672
Custom Shell Scripts

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Introduction - 9

The above software environment supports the BCL (Business Continuance Remote) program.
Appendix I is a Command Quick Reference Guide, created to support this training program.
All students attending this program should have a good understanding of the following:
 Unix file systems.
 The Unix Vi editor
 A general understanding of a Unix Volume Manager
 EMC Solutions Enabler
 Symm 5 / Symm 6 overview

SRDF Introduction

-9

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What is Business Continuity?


 Business Continuity is the preparation for, response to,
and recovery from an application outage that adversely
affects business operations
 Business Continuity Solutions addresses systems
unavailability, degraded application performance, or
unacceptable recovery strategies

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Introduction - 10

Business Continuity remains at the top of every executives priority list. Yet executives find
themselves in a financial tug-of-war between business continuity solutions and other projects
competing for the limited resources. Fundamental to business continuity is the need to understand an
organizations practices relative to the protection, availability, and usability of data.

SRDF Introduction

- 10

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Why Business Continuity?


Loss Revenue

Loss Revenue

Number of employees
impacted X hours out X
burdened hourly rate

Direct loss
Compensatory payments
Lost future revenue
Billing losses
Investment losses

Damaged Reputation

Financial Performance

Customers
Suppliers
Financial markets
Banks
Business partners

Revenue recognition
Cash flow
Lost discounts (A/P)
Payment guarantees
Credit rating
Stock price

Know the downtime costs per


hour, day, two days...

Other Expenses
Temporary employees, equipment rental, overtime costs, extra shipping
costs, travel expenses...
SRDF Introduction - 11

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Failures happen - hardware, software, natural disasters etc. Downtime has a significant impact, the cost
is more than just financial loss. What can we do to avoid downtime or minimize the length of time we
are down? EMC offers Business Continuity Solutions that help address common failures or outages.
Host to Storage failures and Performance bottleneck of a Host Bus Adapter: PowerPath
Local Storage Protection with local mirroring: TimeFinder Family of Products
Remote Storage Protection and Site Protection: SRDF Family of Products

SRDF Introduction

- 11

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SRDF Recovery Point Objectives (RPO)


Business Needs Drive the Technology Choice
Wk
s

Day
s

Hrs

Min
s

Sec
s

Recovery Point

Tape
Backup

Sec
s

Min
s

Hrs

Day
s

Wk
s

Recovery Time

Periodic
Replication
Asynchronous
Replication
Synchronous
Replication

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Introduction - 12

12

Recovery Point Objective (RPO): Maximum amount of data loss an application can tolerate as measured in time. In other
words, the amount of data loss that can be tolerated (cost of transaction versus risk).
Individual customer business needs drive the technology chosen to meet specific recovery point objectives. This is also
known at RPO (Recovery Point Objective).
Data Characteristics that Influence Data Storage Decisions:
Several factors affect the value of data including: Legislation, which can mandate how long the data must be accessible,
and by whom; Business processes that are tied to points in time (book closing, quarterly reports, tax deadlines, billing
cycles, etc.)
Business processes that are tied to customer satisfaction service levels associated with the data as its purpose changes. For
example, data can start out as transactional, then migrate to billing, then reporting and customer service, then to scoring
data for a marketing system, and finally to archival.
The usefulness of data to the business will vary over time, and hence the necessity to have immediate access to the data
changes. The decisions about where data is placed in the storage infrastructure and the methods used to protect that data
are fundamentally driven by three factors: The time required to access the data relative to the cost of the access (that is,
usefulness to the business versus cost).
Recovery Time Objective (RTO): This refers to the maximum time a company budgets to bring an application back online
in the event of a disaster. In other words, the time it takes to recover the data once a disaster or other recovery event is
declared (risk versus cost). Each change in data placement and protection criteria represents a stage in the life cycle of the
data and is directly related to the usefulness or importance of the data to keep the business functioning.

SRDF Introduction

- 12

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What are SRDF Solution Sets?


 Symmetrix Logical Volumes
are mirrored between
geographically dispersed
locations

Report
Generation
Decision
Support

BCV

 Maintain real-time physically


separate mirrors of data with
SRDF
 Maintains near real-time
physically separate mirrors of
selected volumes with SRDF/A
(Asynchronous) or SRDF/AR
(Automated Replication)
 Continue running through events
such as individual drive/link
failures

TimeFinder

SRDF/S
ERP

ERP

SRDF/A
E-mail
E-mail

SRDF/AR

Tape Backup

EMC
Snap

 Mirror copy can be split and used


for disaster recovery or business
continuance applications
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Introduction - 13

The SRDF family of software is the most powerful suite of remote storage replication solutions
available for disaster recovery and business continuity. It leverages high-end Symmetrix storage
architecture to offer unmatched deployment flexibility and massive scalability so you can meet mixed
service level requirements with minimal operational impact. The SRDF family is the most widely
deployed set of high-end remote replication solutions, and is installed in tens of thousands of
demanding environments worldwide. The SRDF family is the only product that provides cross volume
and storage system consistency, tight integration with industry-leading applications, and automated
management for simplified usage.

SRDF Introduction

- 13

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SRDF Solutions
SRDF/S

No data exposure

Some performance impact

Limited distance

SRDF/A

Seconds of data exposure

No performance impact

Extended distance

SRDF/AR

Hours of data exposure

No performance impact

Unlimited distance

Requires BCVs

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Source

Target
Limited Distance

Target

Source
ExtendedDistance

Source

Prod

Target
Unlimited Distance

SRDF Introduction - 14

EMC has several remote replication offerings for various service level requirements. For zero data
exposure, EMC offers the industry leader for synchronous mirroring: SRDF. However, as with any
synchronous solution, there are characteristics that must be understood. Distance is limited by
application time-outs and bandwidth must be sized for peak workload at all times.
SRDF/Asynchronous is a solution for service level requirements that need Recovery Point Objectives
(RPO) in the seconds-to-minutes area. SRDF/AR delivers solutions that combine SRDF with
TimeFinder to create single-hop and multi-hop environments for specialized needs.
These solutions offer different RPOs and have different requirements for bandwidth, supported
distances, etc. No matter what your requirements are, EMC can help deliver the right Remote
Replication Solution.

SRDF Introduction

- 14

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SRDF/Star (5671)
Synchronous Target Site
Target

Bunker
Site (Local)

Workload Site

Asynchronous Site

Source

Primary
Site

Target

Long
Distance
Site

 SRDF/STAR (Symmetrix Triangular Automated Replication)


Start with the scenario of a Primary site with multi-site protection
 An SRDF/S link to a nearby bunker site (zero time lag RPO)
 An SRDF/A link to a long distance site (Seconds - Minutes time lag RPO)

"Disaster" strikes and the primary site is lost


 Bunker site and long distance site are incrementally synchronized to most recent
data
 Third SRDF/A link between the 2 remaining sites maintains continuous protection
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Introduction - 15

SRDF/Star is a three-site1 disaster recovery solution that uses concurrent RDF technology to replicate
data from a primary production site (referred to as the workload site) to a nearby remote site and a
distant remote site. Data is transferred in SRDF/Synchronous (SRDF/S) mode to the nearby remote site
(referred to as the synchronous target site) and in SRDF/Asynchronous (SRDF/A) mode to the distant
remote site (referred to as the asynchronous target site).
SRDF/Star provides consistent data protection and incremental data recovery between target sites in
the event of a workload site failure

SRDF Introduction

- 15

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SRDF Management Tools


 Solutions Enabler
 EMC Control Center
Easy, point-and-click access
Excellent for ad hoc TimeFinder operations

 SMC: Symmetrix Management Console


Web-based application for managing the Symmetrix
Works the same as the CLI/API the same rules apply
Makes it easier to perform complex CLI tasks

 EMC Replication Manager


Discovers replication environments
Automates replication process
Integrates replication technologies at the application level
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SRDF Introduction - 16

In addition to SYMCLI (Solutions Enabler), SRDF can be managed by a variety of management tools
such as EMC Control Center and Symmetrix Management Console. Through its graphical user
interface, EMC ControlCenter and SMC software will organize related devices into device groups.
SRDF operations may be performed on all devices in this device group by using a single command.
The group information is maintained in the SYMAPI database. Another management tool is EMC
Replication Manager. It is an application that automates, simplifies, and manages disk-based
replications by using SRDF operations.

SRDF Introduction

- 16

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Symmetrix Management Console (SMC)


 Independent, light-weight, web-based
application

Supports all configuration capabilities of


Solutions Enabler/CLI

 Supports multiple generations of


Symmetrix
Enginuity version 5x68 and newer

Services

 Enables access, configuration, and basic


operation of Symmetrix arrays

Storage Management

Simple and easy to use browser interface


Hosted on small Windows/Linux server
Enables remote access and management
from nearly any client

SRM Planning
and Provisioning
SRM Monitoring
and Reporting

Device Management

 Provides day-one support of new


Symmetrix features when released
 Adding full-feature ControlCenter does
not require management data to be
migrated
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SRDF Introduction - 17

EMC offers a Graphical User Interface (GUI) product called Symmetrix Management Console, or
SMC. SMC enables the user to deploy web-based device management within a Symmetrix
environment. The user can now choose the right management product or products to meet a set of
specific requirements.
Almost anything you can do using the Solutions Enabler command line (CLI) can now be done using
the SMC GUI. SMC manages all Symmetrix systems running Enginuity version 5568 and up, and
supports new hardware and software features and functionality at the time of product release.
Addressing customer demands for enhanced platform interoperability, SMC is an independent
application which runs using its own lightweight Windows/Linux server. The client runs in a browser
window, supporting nearly any client with remote access to the server.
The SMC GUI features closely match Solutions Enabler CLI features to include all basic monitoring,
configuration, and control of Symmetrix arrays. SMC has no Symmetrix-related database other than
the Solutions Enabler database, so all data automatically transfers to the full-feature ControlCenter
when discovered by the Symmetrix agent. Due to the combination of being light-weight yet feature
rich, early response to SMC shows it to be a product leader in this space.

SRDF Introduction

- 17

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SMC Functionality
 Access Management
Manage users, permissions/roles
Symmetrix Access Controls

 Configuration Management
Create devices, map and mask devices,
create device groups, set Symmetrix attributes

 Replication Management
TF/Clone, TF/Mirror, TF/Snap, SRDF/S, SRDF/A,
SRDF/DM, Open Replicator, Optimizer

 Alerts and Monitoring


Monitor Device status, device attributes,
operations status
Monitor array alerts
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SRDF Introduction - 18

Primary SMC features include providing the facility to manage SMC access and permission levels,
discover, and configure, Symmetrix arrays. Also SMC enables monitoring of replication operations
within Symmetrix arrays.
Configuration activities include Create devices, map and mask devices, create device groups, set
Symmetrix attributes; create Symmetrix Logical Volumes from un-configured storage, create meta
volume devices, both concatenated and striped. Additionally, the ability to modify existing configured
storage after un-mapping it from the hosts; map and un-map one or more logical volumes to a port or
ports; delete devices to convert configured storage into un-configured space; manage virtual and save
devices, and manage dynamic spares.
SMC enables you to monitor device status, device attributes, and operations status, perform and
monitor TimeFinder/Mirror, TimeFinder/Clone, and TimeFinder/Snap operations, SRDF operations,
Open Replicator sessions, Optimizer and Quality of Service features, as well as monitor and report
alerts.

SRDF Introduction

- 18

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Components of the SMC Interface


Menu
Menu Bar
Bar
View
View Bar
Bar

(Properties)
(Properties) View
View (Details)
(Details)

Navigation Tree

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SRDF Introduction - 19

The major components of the SMC Interface are highlighted above. To monitor and control
operations, you can select a single object or a single folder of multiple objects in the SMC Navigation
Tree above.
The View Bar is used to switch between five different views: 1. Properties, 2. Configuration Session,
3. Alerts, 4. Command History and 5. Replication Monitor.
The current View selected will display details in the view area. The View button and
corresponding view display are color coded to match.
Note the Alert counter in the top right, which also selects the Alert View. Tree Selection, View
Selection, and Object Selection within the View area determine the current display. The View may be
split horizontally into two or three areas depending on the detail associated with the selection.

SRDF Introduction

- 19

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Replication Operations Supported by SMC


 SRDF

Synchronous
Asynchronous
Adaptive Copy
SRDF Configuration

 TimeFinder

Mirror
Clone
Snap
SAVE Device Pool management

 Open Replicator
 Quality of Service
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Introduction - 20

Almost all replication technologies available on the Symmetrix Arrays can be monitored and managed
via the Symmetrix Management Console (SMC) application.
Note:
At the present time SRDF/Star cannot be managed via SMC.

SRDF Introduction

- 20

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Creating Device Groups (Replication / SRDF Control)


 Device Group Management  Create Device Group

SRDF
SRDFAction
Action
- -Control
Control
- -Settings
Settings
- -Configuration
Configuration

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SRDF Introduction - 21

SMC Device Group creation is a multi-step process, similar to creating SYMCLI device groups using
symdg, symld, and symbcv. The wizard is launched by right clicking the Device Group Folder and
choosing the Device Group Management, and then the Create Device Group option.
Once a Device Group has been created selecting Replication / SRDF Controls, Settings, or Config
enables SMC / RDF control functionality on the selected Device Group.
The above SMC01 Device Group has two R1 devices (02EF, and 02F0) paired with two RDF / R2
devices (02EF, and 02F0). The above device group is currently in synchronized, with no Alerts to
report.

SRDF Introduction

- 21

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SRDF Settings: Setting SRDF Mode


 Replication  SRDF Settings

Drop Down to select Mode Setting

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SRDF Introduction - 22

SRDF Mode operations are shown in this slide. Right Click an RDF device group and choose
Replication  SRDF Settings.
The dialog box shows the current mode and pair states. The mode can be changed by using the Set
Mode pull down. When the Set Mode is pulled down, the user seea Synchronous, Asynchronous, Semi
Synchronous, to mention just a few.
In this example, the mode can be changed from Synchronous to Asynchronous.

SRDF Introduction

- 22

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Module Summary
Key points covered in this module:
 Business Continuity concepts
 SRDF (Symmetrix Remote Data Facility) solutions
 SRDF solutions used to satisfy different RPO (Recovery
Point Objective) needs
 EMCs Symmetrix Management Console (SMC)

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SRDF Introduction - 23

These are the key points covered in this module. Please take a moment to review them

SRDF Introduction

- 23

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SRDF Overview
Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:
 Describe EMC SRDF functionality and its uses
 Describe SRDF Link configurations
 Describe the concept of SRDF Group
 Describe SRDF swap
 List the characteristics of:
Concurrent SRDF
Dynamic SRDF

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 1

The objectives for this module are shown here. Please take a moment to read them.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 1

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Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF)


 Facility for maintaining realtime or near-real-time
physically separate mirrors of
selected volumes

Open Systems / Mainframe

 Uses no host CPU resources


Mirroring done at the storage
level

 Operating system
independent

R1

R2

SRDF

Open Systems
Mainframe

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 2

Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) is a Symmetrix system based business continuance, disaster
recovery, restart, and data mobility solution. In the simplest terms, SRDF is a configuration of multiple
Symmetrix units that maintains real time copies of logical volume data in more than one location. The
Symmetrix units can be in the same room, in different buildings within the same campus, or hundreds
and even thousands of miles apart.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 2

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SRDF Source and Target Volumes


 Symmetrix Logical Volume types:
SRDF Source or R1 Volumes: Primary Volume with R/W access to local host
SRDF Target or R2 Volumes: Backup Volume used for DS or DR Applications

 The attached host is unaware of SRDF protection

RW

Source
M1

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M2

M3

WD

Target
M4

M1

M2

M3

M4

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 3

This slide displays the representation of the mirror positions when both the Source and the Target
SRDF Logical Volumes have local protection (RAID-1).
In this diagram, the Target-R2 volume is also represented with 4 mirror positions and has local
protection implemented. Three of the mirror positions are used. The first two mirror positions represent
local mirrors and the third mirror is occupied by SRDF. If a BCV is established with the R2 volume,
then it will occupy the next available mirror position.
Under normal circumstances, the R1 volume presents a Read-Write (RW) status to the host which
access it, and the R2 presents Write-Disabled (WD) to its host.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 3

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Remote Link Director (RLD)

Remote
Link
Director

Remote
Link
Director

Source
Remote
Link
Director

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Target
Remote
Link
Director

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 4

A Remote Link Director is a hardware that provides communication and data paths between local and
remote Symmetrix units. The Symmetrix can be configured with the following RLDs:
Fibre Channel directors (RF)
ESCON directors (RA)
Multiprotocol Channel Directors (MPCD) available with these channel connections:
FICON
iSCSI for host
GigE (RE) for SRDF

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 4

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SRDF Groups

RDF Group 1

R1
R1 R1
R1

R1 R1
R1
RDF Group 2

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RDF Group 1

Remote
Link
Director
Remote
Link
Director

RDF Group 1,2,3.

Remote
Link
Director

R2
R2 R2
R2

RDF Group 1,2,3.

Remote
Link
Director

R2 R2
R2
RDF Group 2

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 5

An SRDF group, also known as RDF group or RA group, logically defines relationships between
Symmetrix systems. An SRDF group is a set of SRDF director port connections configured to
communicate with a another set of SRDF director ports in another Symmetrix system. Logical volumes
(devices) are assigned to SRDF groups.
Many SRDF groups can share a physical link between the Remote Link Directors. There are two ways
to create an RDF group - static and dynamic. Both share the same features and functionality, the
difference between the two types is how they are created. Static RDF groups are created during the
Symmetrix configuration, and almost always by EMC personnel. Dynamic RDF groups are created and
deleted by users through a set of Symmetrix command line interface (SYMCLI) commands.

Prior to SE 6.3, the Symmetrix DMX supported up to 64 total RDF groups. With SE 6.4 and 5772, 1
to 250 RDF groups are supported.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 5

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SRDF Link Configuration


Uni-Directional

Symmetrix A

RA
Group

Source

Bi-Directional

Symmetrix A
Source

Dual
Configuration

RA
Group

RA
Group

RA
Group

Target

Symmetrix B
Target

Symmetrix B
Source

Target

Symmetrix B

Symmetrix A
Source

Source

RA
Group 1

Target

Target

RA
Group 2

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

RA
Group 1

Target

Target

RA
Group 2

Source

Source

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 6

SRDF offers three types of link configurations between source (local) and target (remote) Symmetrix
systems: Uni-Directional, Bidirectional and Dual Configuration.
SRDF Unidirectional Link Configuration
If all primary (source or R1) volumes reside in one Symmetrix system and all secondary (target or R2)
volumes reside in another Symmetrix
system, write operations move in one direction, from primary to secondary. Data moves in the same
direction over every link in the SRDF group.
SRDF Bidirectional Link Configuration
If an SRDF group contains both primary and secondary volumes, write operations move data in both
directions over the SRDF links for that group.
SRDF Dual-Directional Link Configuration
With a dual-directional configuration, multiple SRDF groups are used; some groups send data in one
direction, while other groups send data in the opposite direction.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 6

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SRDF Modes of Operations


 Primary and Secondary Modes
Two Primary SRDF Modes
Synchronous
Semi-synchronous

Secondary SRDF Mode


Adaptive Copy
Write Pending
Disk Mode

Operational Modes are set on Symmetrix Logical Volume level Using


GUI or CLI and can be changed dynamically
 SRDF/A Asynchronous
 Domino Mode (or attribute)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 7

Listed are the operational modes for SRDF operations: Synchronous mode, Semi-Synchronous mode,
Adaptive Copy-Write Pending mode, Adaptive Copy-Disk Copy mode, and Asynchronous mode.
These operational modes are selectable based on many requirements such as RPO, bandwidth, and
performance. One of the two primary SRDF modes of operations is set at the source (R1) volume
during Symmetrix configuration. All source (R1) volumes are configured for either the Synchronous or
Semi-Synchronous mode. These two modes are considered to be pre-determined SRDF modes, which
may be altered using SymCli. Adaptive copy is the secondary mode that facilitates data sharing and
migration. Asynchronous mode continually collects and sends data to the remote Symmetrix.
Asynchronous mode must be set for the entire RA group. Users can set SRDF to function in a
secondary or Asynchronous mode. SRDF will revert to the pre-determined primary mode if it cannot
maintain the criteria to remain in the secondary mode.
Domino Mode could be classified as an SRDF attribute. Not necessarily a Mode. This attribute is
set or used in conjunction with other SRDF modes except SRDF/A. It effectively stops all write
operations to both source and target volumes if the target volume become unavailable, or if all SRDF
links become unavailable.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 7

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Synchronous Mode

SRDF links

Source

Target

Write I/O received from host/server at the source


I/O is transmitted to the target
An acknowledgment is provided by target back to the
source
I/O is serviced to the host

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 8

SRDF Synchronous Mode is used primarily in SRDF campus environments. In this mode of operation,
Symmetrix maintains a real-time mirror image of the data of the remotely mirrored volumes.
Data on the source (R1) volumes and target (R2) volumes are always fully synchronized at the
completion of an I/O sequence.
The sequence of operations is:
 A write is received from the host/server at the source.
 The write is transmitted to the target.
 An acknowledgment is provided by the target back to the source.
 The write is acknowledged to the Host.
If step 3 never happens, the source SRDF services the I/O after a pre-determined timeout to keep the
production machine running.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 8

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Semi-Synchronous Mode

SRDF links

Source

Target

Write I/O received from host/server at the source


I/O is serviced to the host
I/O is transmitted to target
An acknowledgment provided by target back to
source
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SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 9

SRDF Semi-Synchronous Mode is used primarily in extended distance environments. Semisynchronous mode allows the primary and secondary volumes to be out of synchronization by one
write I/O operation. Data must be successfully stored in the Symmetrix system containing the primary
volume before an acknowledgement is sent to the local host.
Semi-synchronous mode will not allow the next write operation to a primary device until a positive
acknowledgement is received from the target Symmetrix system that the first write operation was
received in the target Symmetrix global memory. However, any number of read operations can be
performed to the primary device while awaiting acknowledgement of the first write operation. Semisynchronous mode writes data to the primary device in the source Symmetrix system, completes the
I/O, and then synchronizes
The data with the secondary device in the target Symmetrix.
The sequence of operations is:
 An I/O write is received from the host/server at the source.
 The I/O is serviced to the host/server.
 The I/O is transmitted to the cache of the target.
 An acknowledgment is provided by the target back to the source.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 9

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Adaptive Copy Mode

SRDF links

Source

Target

Write I/O received from host/server at the source


I/O accumulates in/on:
- Symmetrix cache  Write Pending Mode
- R1 volumes
 Disk Mode
I/O is serviced to the host
I/O is transmitted to the target
An acknowledgment is provided by target back to the source
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 10

SRDF Adaptive Copy Mode is used primarily for data migrations and data center moves. This operational mode is not
recommended for use when mirroring for disaster recovery/restart purposes unless used with TimeFinder. This mode is
very useful for initial synchronization, especially over long distances. (Used within a SRDF/Star configuration).
SRDF Adaptive Copy Mode allows the source (R1) volumes and target (R2) volumes to be a out of synchronization by a
number of I/Os that users can define, a skew value. There are two types of adaptive copy: Write Pending Mode and Disk
Mode. Adaptive Copy data movement is handled at the track level. The target data is only usable after a full
synchronization.
The sequence of operations is:
 An I/O write is received from the host/server at the source.
 I/O is accumulating.
 I/O is serviced.
 The I/O is transmitted to the target.
 An acknowledgment is provided by the target back to the source.
In Write Pending Mode, the unit of transfer across the SRDF link is the updated blocks rather than an entire track, resulting
in more efficient use of SRDF link bandwidth. Data is read from global memory than from disk, thus improving overall
system performance. However, the global memory is temporarily consumed by the data until it is transferred across the
link.
In Disk Mode, while less global memory is consumed it is typically slower to read data from disk than from global memory,
additionally, more bandwidth is used because the unit of transfer is the entire track. Additionally, because it is slower to
read data from disk than global memory, device resynchronization time increases.
Adaptive copy disk mode should not be used if the primary volumes are not RAID protected.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 10

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Asynchronous Mode

SRDF links

Source

Target

Write I/O received from host/server at the source


I/O accumulates in Source Symmetrix cache
I/O is serviced to the host
I/O is continually transmitted to the target
I/O accumulates in Target Symmetrix cache

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SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 11

SRDF/A provides a long-distance replication solution with minimal impact on performance. This
protection level is intended for customers requiring minimal host application impact, who need to
maintain a restartable copy of data at the target site at all time.
SRDF/A continually process Write I/Os in batches. The interval between batches is referred to as a
cycle.
The sequence of operations is:
 An I/O write is received from the host/server into the cache of the source.
 I/O is accumulating.
 I/O is serviced.
 The I/O is transmitted to the target.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 11

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Domino Mode (attribute) with SRDF/Synchronous

SRDF links

Source

Target

Write I/O received from host/server at the source


I/O fails to transmit to the target
Both Source and Target become unavailable

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SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 12

Domino Mode is used in conjunction with other SRDF modes except SRDF/A. It effectively stops all
write operations to both source and target volumes if target volume become unavailable, or if all SRDF
links become unavailable. User will need to manually re-enable the source volumes. While such a
shutdown temporarily halts production processing, domino modes can prevent data integrity exposure
that causes the inconsistent image on the target volume.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 12

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SRDF Level of Synchronization


 Synchronous Mode
 Source = Target

 Semi Synchronous Mode


Source Target
 At most, Source is 1 I/O ahead of Target, per volume

 Adaptive Copy
Source Target
 Source may be up to 65535 tracks per volume ahead of Target
 Skew value set per logical volume

 Asynchronous
 SRDF/A - Source is minutes ahead of Target
 SRDF/AR - Source is hours ahead of Target
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 13

SRDF offers considerable flexibility for various levels of synchronization. To determine the level of
synchronization, one must understand the required Recovery Point Objective. This is the amount of
data that can be lost in the event of a site outage. There are other factors like distance, bandwidth, and
response time latency that must be considered before determining a synchronization level.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 13

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SRDF Serialization
 Writes to Target volumes must happen in the same order
as they are written to the Source in order to have an
instance in time, consistent and recoverable copy
 In Synchronous, Semi-synchronous and Asynchronous
modes, writes are sent to the remote Symmetrix in the
order received
If the remote Symmetrix is not accessible, writes are accumulated as
invalid tracks
When the remote Symmetrix becomes available, invalid tracks are
sent without regard to serialization

 Serialization is not maintained in Adaptive Copy mode


Typically used for data migrations
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SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 14

Serialization maintains the order in which writes are received at the remote (target) Symmetrix. SRDF
serialization must be maintained in order to have a recoverable/restartable copy of data at a target site.
Through serialization, write fidelity is guaranteed. In normal operations, SRDF maintains order writes
with Synchronous, Semi-synchronous, and Asynchronous modes. But when the link becomes
unavailable for any reason, writes accumulate as invalid tracks which the application continues to
function on the host. When the link is restored, the Adaptive Copy mode is used to propagate changes
across the link. This introduces risk, since serialization is not maintained with Adaptive Copy.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 14

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Adaptive Copy: Disk Mode

Target R2

Source R1
Tracks

T1 T2 T3 T4
32k

32k

32k

T1
32k

32k

SRDF / DM

T5 T6 T7 T8
32k

32k

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

32k

32k

T3 T4
32k

32k

32k

T5 T6 T7
32k

32k

32k

32k

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 15

The slide shows Adaptive Copy Disk Mode during in operation. SRDF does not guarantee
serialization of the tracks being transferred in this mode. In this example, track 2 and track 8 may not
be present on the target volume at the time of disaster rendering the target volume useless. Therefore,
the target volume will not serve as a disaster protection mechanism. The consistency of the target
volume is not maintained during the replication process in Adaptive Copy Write Pending or Disk
Mode. The target is consistent only after the replication has completed.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 15

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Dynamic SRDF
 Enables user to dynamically define relationships
between R1 and R2 volumes
 Provides flexibility for user to tailor SRDF configuration to
their changing application requirements
001

054

STD
001

STD

Create pair

054

R1
001

R2

Establish

R1
001

Connectrix(s)

054
R2

Delete pair

STD
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

054
STD
SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 16

Prior to Dynamic SRDF, the R1 and R2 pairings were static and defined in the configuration file (BIN
File) on the Symmetrix. Any changes to SRDF device pairing required a new BIN file to be defined
and loaded into the Source and Target Symmetrix.
Dynamic SRDF available with 5x68 Enginuity code will provide the capability to change device
pairings on the fly without requiring a BIN file configuration change to be performed by an EMC
Customer Engineers.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 16

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

R1/R2 Swap

001

054

R1

R2

001

054

R2

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Connectrix(s)

R1

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 17

An R1/R2 personality swap (or R1/R2 swap) refers to when the RDF personality of the RDF device designations of a
specified device group are swapped so that source R1 device(s) become target R2 device(s) and target R2 device(s) become
source R1 device(s). Dynamic RDF swaps are available with Enginuity version 5567 or later. To perform an R1/R2
swap, you must have an SRDF license with Symmetrix 5567 microcode or higher and Dynamic RDF must be enabled in
your Symmetrix configuration.
Sample scenarios for R1/R2 Swap
- Symmetrix Load Balancing
In todays rapidly changing computing environments, it is often necessary to deploy applications and storage on a different
Symmetrix without having to give up disaster protection. R1/R2 swap can enable this redeployment with minimal
disruption, while offering the benefit of load balancing across two Symmetrix storage arrays.
- Primary Data Center Relocation
Sometimes a primary data center needs to be relocated to accommodate business practices. For example, several financial
institutions in New York City routinely relocate their primary data center across the Hudson River to New Jersey as part of
their disaster drills. R1/R2 swaps allow these customers to run their primary applications in their New Jersey data centers.
The Manhattan data centers now act as the disaster protection site.
- Post-Failover Temporary Protection Measure
If the hosts on the source side are down for maintenance, R1/R2 swap permits the relocation of production computing to the
target site without giving up the security of remote data protection. When all problems have been solved on the local
Symmetrix, you have to failover again and swap the personality of the devices to go back to the original configuration.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 17

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Concurrent SRDF
 One R1 can be paired with two R2 devices, concurrently
 Remote BCVs can be associated with only one of the R2 mirrors

M1

Source
M1

M2

M3

M2

M3

M4

Target A
M4

Target B

Connectrix(s)

M1

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

M2

M3

M4

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 18

Concurrent SRDF allows two remote SRDF mirrors of a single R1 device, e.g. use one remote copy
for disaster recovery, and another for decision support or backup.
Each Remote Link Director is assigned to an RA Group. With ESCON, only one RA group per RLD is
allowed, but Fibre Channel SRDF RA Groups can be defined to the same RLD.
Any mixture of SRDF modes is allowed, except for Sync and Semi-sync configuration and Async and
Async configuration.
A write IO from the host at the primary device side cannot be returned as completed until both remote
Symmetrix signal the local Symmetrix that the SRDF IO is in cache at the remote side.
1 Sync and 1 Adaptive Copy remote mirror:
The SRDF IO from the secondary device operating in Synchronous mode must present ending status to
the sending Symmetrix before a second host IO can be accepted. The host I/O does not wait for the
secondary device operating in Adaptive Copy mode.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 18

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Concurrent SRDF
 One R1 can be paired with two R2 devices, one in each
Symmetrix, concurrently
 All combinations of Primary/Secondary modes for the R1R2 pairs are allowed - except one pair in Sync and the
other in semi-sync, both cannot be Async
 Cannot restore from both R2 mirrors to the R1
simultaneously
 SRDF swap is not allowed. For example if the R1 is
changed to an R2 one will be left with R2->R1, R2>R2@#!
 Remote BCVs can be associated with only one of the R2
mirrors
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 19

A BCV can only be established with one of the Target volumes, not both. In case the source is locally
protected, the BCV device cannot be established with its source, because all four(4) mirror positions
will be occupied
2 Synchronous remote mirrors :
 A write IO from the host at the primary device side cannot be returned as completed until both
remote Symmetrix signal the local Symmetrix that the SRDF IO is in cache at the remote side.
1 Sync and 1 Adaptive Copy remote mirror:
 The SRDF IO from the secondary device operating in Synchronous mode must present ending
status to the sending Symmetrix before a second host IO can be accepted. The host I/O does not
wait for the secondary device operating in Adaptive Copy mode.
The same general principle applies when both remote mirrors are operating in Semi-Sync mode.

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 19

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Module Summary
Key points covered in this module:
 Overview of SRDF solutions
 SRDF functionality and its uses
 SRDF Link configurations
 SRDF Groups
 SRDF swap functionality
 Characteristics of Concurrent and Dynamic SRDF

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SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 20

These are the key points covered in this module. Please take a moment to review them

SRDF/S (Synchronous) - 20

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF Operations
Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:
 Identify RDF volumes with SYMCLI
 Configure and display properties SRDF Device Groups
 Display and monitor the status of a Device Group
 Perform the following operations using SYMCLI:
SRDF Disaster Recovery
SRDF Link Control
SRDF Decision Support

 Create and delete Dynamic RDF pairs using SYMCLI


 Describe Consistency Technology and its applications
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SRDF Operations - 1

The objectives for this module are shown here. Please take a moment to read them.

SRDF Operations - 1

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Identify Accessible SRDF Volumes


 symrdf list pd displays summary information about all SRDF volumes accessible to the
host
 symrdf list dev displays summary information about all SRDF volumes in the Symmetrix
# symrdf list pd
Symmetrix ID: 000187940398
Local Device View
------------------------------------------------------------------------STATUS
MODES
RDF S T A T E S
Sym
RDF
--------- ----- R1 Inv
R2 Inv ---------------------Dev RDev Typ:G SA RA LNK MDA
Tracks
Tracks Dev RDev Pair
---- ---- ------ --------- ----- ------- ------- --- ---- ------------0190 0190
R1:11 RW RW RW
S..
0
0 RW WD
Synchronized
0191 0191
R1:11 RW RW RW
S..
0
0 RW WD
Synchronized
0192 0192
R1:11 RW RW RW
S..
0
0 RW WD
Synchronized...
Total
-------- -------Track(s)
0
2
MB(s)
0.0
0.1
Legend for MODES:
M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync, C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)
: X = Enabled, . = Disabled
A(daptive Copy)
: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 2

SRDF Operations - 2

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Configuring SYMCLI SRDF Device Groups


Related devices are grouped into device groups
 All devices in a disk group must be in the same Symmetrix ICDA
 All devices must be the same type (RDF1, RDF2, Regular)
 A device can only belong to a single Device Group per SYMAPI
database
# symdg create -type RDF1 srcdg

Create Device group

# symld -g srcdg add pd /dev/rdsk/c8t0d0


# symld -g srcdg add pd /dev/rdsk/c8t0d1
# symld -g srcdg add pd /dev/rdsk/c8t0d2

Add Physical Devices to


device group

# symld -g srcdg add pd /dev/rdsk/c8t0d3

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 3

A device group is a logical grouping of Symmetrix volumes. There are three types of device groups:
regular, rdf1, and rdf2. A device group with type regular cannot contain RDF volumes. Therefore,
users must create a device group with rdf1 or rdf2 for SRDF operations. The device group definition is
stored in the SYMAPI database on the host where the symdg create command was executed.

SRDF Operations - 3

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Displaying SYMCLI Device Groups: Part 1


 symdg show displays detailed information about a device group
# symdg show srcdg
Group Name: srcdg
Group Type
:
Device Group in GNS
:
Valid
:
Symmetrix ID
:
Group Creation Time
:
Vendor ID
:
Application ID
:
Number of STD Devices in Group
:
Number of Associated GK's
:
Number of Locally-associated BCV's
:
Number of Locally-associated VDEV's
:
Number of Remotely-associated BCV's (STD RDF):
Number of Remotely-associated BCV's (BCV RDF):
Number of Remotely-assoc'd RBCV's (RBCV RDF) :

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

RDF1
(RDFA)
No
Yes
000187940398
Tue Mar 29 16:42:10 2005
EMC Corp
SYMCLI
1
0
0
0
0
0
0

SRDF Operations - 4

SRDF Operations - 4

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Displaying SYMCLI Device Groups: Part 2


 symdg show displays detailed information about a device group
Standard (STD) Devices (1):
-------------------------------------------------------------------Sym
Cap
LdevName
PdevName
Dev Att. Sts
(MB)
-------------------------------------------------------------------DEV001
/dev/rdsk/emcpower182c 01EC
RW
449
Device Group RDF Information
RDF Type
: R1
RDF (RA) Group Number
: 3
(02)
Remote Symmetrix ID
: 000187940371
R2 Device Is Larger Than The R1 Device : False
RDF Mode
: Synchronous
RDF Adaptive Copy
: Disabled
RDF Adaptive Copy Write Pending State : N/A
RDF Adaptive Copy Skew (Tracks)
: 65535
RDF Device Domino
: Disabled
RDF Link Configuration
: Fibre
RDF Link Domino
: Disabled
Prevent Automatic RDF Link Recovery
: Enabled
Prevent RAs Online Upon Power ON
: Enabled
(RW)
Device RDF Status
: Ready
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 5

SRDF Operations - 5

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Displaying SYMCLI Device Groups: Part 3


 symdg show displays detailed information about a device group
Device Suspend State
: N/A
Device Consistency State
:
RDF R2 Not Ready If Invalid
:
Device RDF State
:
Remote Device RDF State
:
RDF Pair State ( R1 <===> R2 )
:
Number of R1 Invalid Tracks
:
Number of R2 Invalid Tracks
:
RDFA Information:
Session Number
:
Cycle Number
:
Number of Devices in the Session
:
Session Status
:
Session Consistency State
:
Minimum Cycle Time
:
Average Cycle Time
:
Duration of Last cycle
:
Session Priority
:
Tracks not Committed to the R2 Side:
Time that R2 is behind R1
:
R1 Side Percent Cache In Use
:
R2 Side Percent Cache In Use
:
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Disabled
Disabled
Ready
Not Ready
Synchronized
0
0

(RW)
(NR)

2
0
1
Inactive
N/A
00:00:30
00:00:00
00:00:00
33
0
00:00:00
0
0
SRDF Operations - 6

SRDF Operations - 6

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF SYMCLI Commands

Syntax :
symrdf -g <group> <action> [options]

Where action can be one of the following:

Establish
Restore
Split
Failover
Failback
Update
Suspend
Resume

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SRDF Operations - 7

Users can perform a number of Symmetrix SRDF operations using host-based SYMCLI commands.
Major SRDF operations include: ping, control, or modify operations on a device group; composite
group, device file, or on a device within a device or composite group; performs Dynamic RDF group
controls to add, modify, and remove a dynamic RDF group.

Please refer to EMC Solutions Enabler Symmetrix CLI Version 6.3 COMMAND REFERENCE P/N
300-000-877 REV A08 for the complete list of capability of the symrdf command.

SRDF Operations - 7

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Verifying SRDF Link Status


# export SYMCLI_DG=srcdg
# symrdf ping

symrdf ping
symcfg -RA all list

# symrdf ping
Successfully pinged (Remotely) Symmetrix ID: 000187940371
Successfully pinged (Remotely) Symmetrix ID: 000187940399
# symcfg -RA all list
Symmetrix ID: 000187940398 (Local)
S Y M M E T R I X
R D F
D I R E C T O R S
Remote
Local
Ident Symb
Num Slot Type
Attr SymmID
RA Grp
RF-1D
01D
49
1 RDF-BI-DIR
000187940399 11 (0A)
RF-2D
02D
50
2 RDF-BI-DIR
000187940371 52 (33)
000187940371 62 (3D)
000187940371 3 (02)
000187940371 12 (0B)
RF-15D 15D
63
15 RDF-BI-DIR
RF-16D 16D
64
16 RDF-BI-DIR
-

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Remote
RA Grp
11 (0A)
52 (33)
62 (3D)
4 (03)
12 (0B)
-

Status
Online
Online

Online
Online

SRDF Operations - 8

The symrdf ping command checks if RDF link communication is operational. The symcfg command
lists configuration information of all remote directors.

SRDF Operations - 8

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Suspend SRDF Link


Logically suspends mirror relationship between source and target volumes
# export SYMCLI_DG=srcdg
# symrdf suspend DEV001
# symrdf suspend DEV001 -nop
An RDF 'Suspend' operation execution is in progress for device
'DEV001' in group 'srcdg'. Please wait...
Suspend RDF link(s).......................................Done.
The RDF 'Suspend' operation successfully executed for device
'DEV001' in group 'srcdg'.
# symrdf query
Device Group (DG) Name
: srcdg
DG's Type
: RDF1
DG's Symmetrix ID
: 000187940398
Source (R1) View
Target (R2) View
MODES
------------------------------------------------------- ----- -----------ST
LI
ST
Standard
A
N
A
Logical
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv K
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv
RDF Pair
Device Dev
E Tracks
Tracks S Dev
E Tracks
Tracks MDA
STATE
-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- -----------DEV001 01EC RW
0
0 NR 032C WD
0
0 E..
Suspended
Total
-------- --------------- -------MB(s)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 9

The symrdf suspend command stops data transfer between specified pairs. New writes to source
volume accumulate as invalid tracks.

SRDF Operations - 9

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Resume SRDF Link


 Logically resumes mirror relationship between source and target volumes
# export SYMCLI_DG=srcdg
# symrdf suspend DEV001
# symrdf resume DEV001 -nop
An RDF 'Resume' operation execution is in progress for device
'DEV001' in group 'srcdg'. Please wait...
Resume RDF link(s)........................................Started.
Resume RDF link(s)........................................Done.
The RDF 'Resume' operation successfully executed for device
'DEV001' in group 'srcdg'.
# symrdf query DEV001
Device Group (DG) Name
: srcdg
DG's Type
: RDF1
DG's Symmetrix ID
: 000187940398
Source (R1) View
Target (R2) View
MODES
------------------------------------------------------- ----- -----------ST
LI
ST
Standard
A
N
A
Logical
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv K
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv
RDF Pair
Device Dev
E Tracks
Tracks S Dev
E Tracks
Tracks MDA
STATE
-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- -----------DEV001 01EC RW
0
0 RW 032C WD
0
0 S..
Synchronized
Total
-------- --------------- -------MB(s)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 10

The symrdf resume command resumes data transfer between pair. The Invalid tracks will start to
synchronize. However, remember that the serialization is not maintained during the synchronization.
Note: The #export SYMCLI_DG=srcdg command at the top of the slide. This command is setting the
SYMCLI_DG variable, to equal a specific device group name. Setting this enables the user to perform
Symrdf commands on a default device group.
Example:
Performing a query on the device group srcdg without the SYMCLI_DG variable set.
# symrdf g srcdg query

Performing a query on the device group srcdg with the SYMCLI_DG variable set.
# symrdf query

Because the SYMCLI_DG variable has been set the command symrdf query DEV001 is
performing a query on device DEV001 within the device group srcdg.
Note For this module, from this point on, the SYMCLI_DG variable has been set.

SRDF Operations - 10

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Changing SRDF Operational Mode


# export SYMCLI_DG=srcdg
# symrdf set mode semi

symrdf set mode

# symrdf set mode semi nop


An RDF Set 'Semi-synchronous Mode' operation execution is in
progress for device group 'srcdg'. Please wait...
The RDF Set 'Semi-synchronous Mode' operation successfully executed
for device group 'srcdg'.
# symrdf query
Device Group (DG) Name
: srcdg
DG's Type
: RDF1
DG's Symmetrix ID
: 000187940398
Source (R1) View
Target (R2) View
------------------------------------------------------ST
LI
ST
Standard
A
N
A
Logical
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv K
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv
Device Dev
E Tracks
Tracks S Dev
E Tracks
Tracks
-------------------------------- -- -----------------------DEV001 01EC RW
0
0 RW 032C WD
0
0
Total
-------- --------------- -------MB(s)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

MODES
----- ------------

RDF Pair
MDA
STATE
----- -----------E..
Synchronized

SRDF Operations - 11

The symrdf set mode command changes SRDF operation mode. The noprompt (-nop) is used to
bypass a confirmation question from the command line. This switch is applicable to most operations
with the symrdf command.

SRDF Operations - 11

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF Volume Operational Status


# export SYMCLI_DG=srcdg
# symrdf query

symrdf query

# symrdf query
Device Group (DG) Name
: srcdg
DG's Type
: RDF1
DG's Symmetrix ID
: 000187940398
Source (R1) View
Target (R2) View
MODES
------------------------------------------------------- ----- -----------ST
LI
ST
Standard
A
N
A
Logical
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv K
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv
RDF Pair
Device Dev
E Tracks
Tracks S Dev
E Tracks
Tracks MDA
STATE
-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- -----------DEV001 01EC RW
0
0 RW 032C WD
0
0 S..
Synchronized
Total
-------- --------------- -------MB(s)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Legend for MODES:
M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync, C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)
: X = Enabled, . = Disabled
A(daptive Copy)
: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 12

The name of the device group can be exported as a SYMCLI environment variable so that you have to
type it in each time.
The query shows the SRDF status of the device group.

SRDF Operations - 12

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF Disaster Recovery Operations


Failover:

symrdf failover

Make copy of data on target Symmetrix volumes (R2) available to


attached hosts
Disaster: host channel, Symmetrix or site failure
Maintenance operation: provide data availability during host,
Symmetrix, or site maintenance

Update:

symrdf update

Begins synchronization prior to resuming operations on source


volumes

Failback:

symrdf failback

Resumes operation using primary host and copy of data on source


volumes (R1): Saves all changes made during failover
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 13

The disaster recovery operations for SRDF devices are:


Failover from the source side to the target side, switching data processing to the target side.
Failback from the target side to the source side by switching data processing to the source side.
Update the source side after a failover while the target side may still be operational to its local host.

SRDF Operations - 13

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF Failover
symrdf failover

# export SYMCLI_DG=srcdg
# symrdf failover
# symrdf failover -nop

An RDF 'Failover' operation execution is


in progress for device group 'srcdg'. Please wait...
Write Disable device(s) on SA at source (R1)..............Done.
Suspend RDF link(s).......................................Done.
Read/Write Enable device(s) on RA at target (R2)..........Done.
The RDF 'Failover' operation successfully executed for
device group 'srcdg'.
# symrdf query
Device Group (DG) Name
DG's Type
DG's Symmetrix ID

: srcdg
: RDF1
: 000187940398

Source (R1) View


Target (R2) View
MODES
------------------------------------------------------- ----ST
LI
ST
Standard
A
N
A
Logical
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv K
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv
Device Dev
E Tracks
Tracks S Dev
E Tracks
Tracks MDA
-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----DEV001

01EC WD

Total
MB(s)

-------- -------0.0
0.0

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

NR 032C RW

S..

-----------RDF Pair
STATE
-----------Failed Over

-------- -------0.0
0.0
SRDF Operations - 14

In a period of scheduled downtime for maintenance, or after a serious system problem which has
rendered either the host or Symmetrix unit containing the source (R1) devices unreachable, no
read/write operations can occur on the source (R1) device. In this situation, the failover operation
should be initiated to make the target (R2) devices read/write enabled to their local host(s).

SRDF Operations - 14

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Updating Source Volumes

symrdf update

# symrdf update -until 1000


# export SYMCLI_DG=srcdg
Execute an RDF 'Update R1' operation for devic
# symrdf update until 1000
group 'srcdg' (y/[n]) ?
An RDF 'Update R1' operation execution is
in progress for device group 'srcdg'. Please wait...
Suspend RDF link(s).......................................Done.
Merge device track tables between source and target.......Started.
Device: 01EC ............................................ Merged.
Merge device track tables between source and target.......Done.
Resume RDF link(s)........................................Started.
Resume RDF link(s)........................................Done.
The RDF 'Update R1' operation successfully initiated for
device group 'srcdg'.
# symrdf query
Device Group (DG) Name
: srcdg
DG's Type
: RDF1
DG's Symmetrix ID
: 000187940398
Source (R1) View
Target (R2) View
------------------------------------------------------ST
LI
ST
Standard
A
N
A
Logical
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv K
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv
Device Dev
E Tracks
Tracks S Dev
E Tracks
Tracks
-------------------------------- -- -----------------------DEV001 01EC WD
0
0 RW 032C RW
0
0
Total
-------- --------------- -------MB(s)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

MODES
----- -----------RDF Pair
MDA
STATE
----- -----------S..
R1 Updated

SRDF Operations - 15

While the target (R2) device is still operational (Write Enabled to its local host(s)), an incremental data
copy from the target (R2) device to the source (R1) device can be initiated in order to update the R1
mirror with changed tracks from the target (R2) device.

SRDF Operations - 15

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF Failback

symrdf failback

# symrdf failback -nop


An RDF 'Failback' operation execution is
in progress for device group 'srcdg'. Please wait...
Write Disable device(s) on RA at target (R2)..............Done.
Suspend RDF link(s).......................................Done.
Merge device track tables between source and target.......Started.
Device: 01EC ............................................ Merged.
Merge device track tables between source and target.......Done.
Resume RDF link(s)........................................Started.
Resume RDF link(s)........................................Done.
Read/Write Enable device(s) on SA at source (R1)..........Done.
The RDF 'Failback' operation successfully executed for
device group 'srcdg'.
# symrdf query
Device Group (DG) Name
: srcdg
DG's Type
: RDF1
DG's Symmetrix ID
: 000187940398
Source (R1) View
Target (R2) View
------------------------------------------------------ST
LI
ST
Standard
A
N
A
Logical
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv K
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv
Device Dev
E Tracks
Tracks S Dev
E Tracks
Tracks
-------------------------------- -- -----------------------DEV001 01EC RW
0
0 RW 032C WD
0
0
Total
-------- --------------- -------MB(s)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

MODES
----- ----------RDF Pair
MDA
STATE
----- ----------S..
Synchronized

SRDF Operations - 16

A failback, or source (R1) device takeover, is performed when you are ready to resume normal SRDF
operations by initiating read/write operations on the source (R1) devices, and stopping read/write
operations on the target (R2) devices. The target (R2) devices become read-only to their local host(s)
while the source (R1) devices are read/write enabled to their local host(s).
Host activity should be stopped prior to execution:
 Stop Application
 Unmount file systems and deactivate volume groups
May be executed on either source or target Symmetrix.
Will abort if data integrity cannot be guaranteed.

SRDF Operations - 16

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF Decision Support/Concurrent Operations


 Split: symrdf split
Places the Symmetrix units in a state for concurrent access
 Suspends link between source (R1) and target (R2) volumes
 Enables read and write operations on both source and target volumes

 To re-integrate SRDF Volumes:


Save source data: symrdf establish
 Resume Normal SRDF operations
 Preserves data on the source (R1) volumes, discarding changes to the
target (R2) volumes

Save target data: symrdf restore


 Resume SRDF operations
 Preserves data on the target (R2) volumes, discarding changes to the
source (R1) volumes

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 17

The decision support operations for SRDF devices are:


Establish an SRDF pair by initiating a data copy from the source side to target side. The operation can
be full or incremental.
Restore remote mirroring. Initiates a data copy from the target side to the source side. The operation
can be full or incremental.
Split an SRDF pair which stops mirroring for the SRDF pairs in a device group.

SRDF Operations - 17

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Concurrent Operations

symrdf split

# export SYMCLI_DG=srcdg
# symrdf split -nop
# symrdf split
An RDF 'Split' operation execution is
in progress for device group 'srcdg'. Please wait...
Suspend RDF link(s).......................................Done.
Read/Write Enable device(s) on RA at target (R2)..........Done.
The RDF 'Split' operation successfully executed for
device group 'srcdg'.
# symrdf query
Device Group (DG) Name
: srcdg
DG's Type
: RDF1
DG's Symmetrix ID
: 000187940398
Source (R1) View
Target (R2) View
------------------------------------------------------ST
LI
ST
Standard
A
N
A
Logical
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv K
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv
Device Dev
E Tracks
Tracks S Dev
E Tracks
Tracks
-------------------------------- -- -----------------------DEV001 01EC RW
0
0 NR 032C RW
0
0
Total
-------- --------------- -------MB(s)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

MODES
----- ------------

RDF Pair
MDA
STATE
----- -----------S..
Split

SRDF Operations - 18

The command suspends the link between source (R1) and Target (R2) volumes. It also enables read
and write operations on both source and target volumes. Changes to source are kept track of as R2
invalids. Changes to target are kept track of as R1 invalids.

SRDF Operations - 18

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Concurrent Operations: Saving Source Data


# symrdf establish -nop
symrdf establish
An RDF 'Incremental Establish' operation execution is
in progress for device group 'srcdg'. Please wait...
Write Disable device(s) on RA at target (R2)..............Done.
Suspend RDF link(s).......................................Done.
Resume RDF link(s)........................................Started.
Merge device track tables between source and target.......Started.
Device: 01EC ............................................ Merged.
Merge device track tables between source and target.......Done.
Resume RDF link(s)........................................Done.
The RDF 'Incremental Establish' operation successfully initiated for
device group 'srcdg'.
# symrdf query
Device Group (DG) Name
: srcdg
DG's Type
: RDF1
DG's Symmetrix ID
: 000187940398
Source (R1) View
Target (R2) View
MODES
------------------------------------------------------- ----- -----------ST
LI
ST
Standard
A
N
A
Logical
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv K
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv
RDF Pair
Device Dev
E Tracks
Tracks S Dev
E Tracks
Tracks MDA
STATE
-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- -----------DEV001 01EC RW
0
0 RW 032C WD
0
0 S..
Synchronized
Total
-------- --------------- -------MB(s)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 19

Resume SRDF operation retaining data from source and overwriting data on target.

SRDF Operations - 19

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Concurrent Operations: Saving Target Data


# symrdf restore nop

symrdf restore

An RDF 'Incremental Restore' operation execution is


in progress for device group 'srcdg'. Please wait...
Write Disable device(s) on SA at source (R1)..............Done.
Write Disable device(s) on RA at target (R2)..............Done.
Suspend RDF link(s).......................................Done.
Merge device track tables between source and target.......Started.
Device: 01EC ............................................ Merged.
Merge device track tables between source and target.......Done.
Resume RDF link(s)........................................Started.
Resume RDF link(s)........................................Done.
Read/Write Enable device(s) on SA at source (R1)..........Done.
The RDF 'Incremental Restore' operation successfully initiated for
device group 'srcdg'.
# symrdf query -i 5 -c 5
Device Group (DG) Name
: srcdg
DG's Type
: RDF1
DG's Symmetrix ID
: 000187940398
Source (R1) View
Target (R2) View
------------------------------------------------------ST
LI
ST
Standard
A
N
A
Logical
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv K
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv
Device Dev
E Tracks
Tracks S Dev
E Tracks
Tracks
-------------------------------- -- -----------------------DEV001 01EC RW
0
0 RW 032C WD
0
0
Total
-------- --------------- -------MB(s)
0.0
0.0
0.
2007
EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. 0.0

MODES
----- -----------RDF Pair
MDA
STATE
----- -----------S..
Synchronized
SRDF Operations - 20

Resumes SRDF operation retaining data on target and overwriting data on source.

SRDF Operations - 20

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Continuous Monitoring
symrdf query

-i 5 -c 5

# export SYMCLI_DG=srcdg
# symrdf query -i 5 -c 5
Device Group (DG) Name
: srcdg
DG's Type
: RDF1
DG's Symmetrix ID
: 000187940398
Source (R1) View
Target (R2) View
------------------------------------------------------ST
LI
ST
Standard
A
N
A
Logical
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv K
T R1 Inv
R2 Inv
Device Dev
E Tracks
Tracks S Dev
E Tracks
Tracks
-------------------------------- -- -----------------------DEV001 01EC RW
0
0 RW 032C WD
0
0
Total
-------- --------------- -------MB(s)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

MODES
----- ------------

RDF Pair
MDA
STATE
----- -----------S..
Synchronized

SRDF Operations - 21

Status of RDF Volume is a specific device group:


[-i] interval
[-c] count
Provides summary of synchronization rate and estimated completion time.

SRDF Operations - 21

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Add / Remove Dynamic RDF Groups


# symrdf -v addgrp -label grp58 -rdfg 58 -sid 187400011 -dir 4D \
-remote_rdfg 58 -remote_sid 000187400093 -remote_dir 3C -noprompt
# symcfg list -ra 4D -sid 11
Symmetrix ID: 000187400011
S Y M M E T R I X R D F D I R E C T O R S
Remote
Ident Symb Num Slot Type
RF-4D 04D

52

Attr SymmID

RDF-R1 -

Local

Remote

RA Grp RA Grp

Status

000187400093 27 (1A) 23 (16) Online

000187400093 28 (1B) 24 (17)

000187400093 29 (1C) 25 (18)

000187400093 30 (1D) 26 (19)

000187400093 31 (1E) 27 (1A)

000187400093 58 (39) 58 (39)

# symrdf -v removegrp -label grp58 -noprompt


2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 22

The symrdf addgrp command creates an empty dynamic RDF group that represents another RDF link
between Symmetrix 000187400011 and Symmetrix 000187400093. It adds dynamic RDF group 58 on
the local Symmetrix, and RDF group 58 on the remote Symmetrix. You must specify a group label
(grp58 in this case) that can be used when modifying or deleting the group. Creation of the dynamic
RDF group includes director 4D from the local Symmetrix and 3C from the remote Symmetrix as the
director end points of this connection. The symrdf removegrp command deletes the dynamic group.
The group must be empty to be deleted.
It is important to be aware of your network topology when creating dynamic RDF groups between two
Symmetrix arrays. To create a dynamic RDF link (a connection) between RA directors, the director
end points must be able to see each other through the Fibre Channel fabric. For example, a dynamic
RDF link can be created between local and remote directors only if the Fibre Channel zoning is set up
so that the two directors can see each other through the fabric.

SRDF Operations - 22

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Dynamic RDF Pair Requirement


 Make sure both Symmetrix arrays have the dynamic
setting enabled
# symconfigure sid 296 list -v
Symmetrix ID
Configuration Server Version
Configuration Server Protocol
Configuration Server Date
(TRUNCATED)
Dynamic RDF Configuration
RAID-S support
(TRUNCATED)

:
:
:
:

000187900296
5671.32.36
0x509
03.29.2005

: Enabled
: Enabled

## symcfg
symcfg sid
sid 296
296 list
list -v
-v
Switched RDF Configuration State

: Enabled

Concurrent RDF Configuration State

: Enabled

Dynamic RDF Configuration State

: Enabled

Concurrent Dynamic RDF Configuration : Enabled


RDF Data Mobility Configuration State: Disabled

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 23

Since Enginuity 5568, devices can be configured to be Dynamic RDF-capable devices. Dynamic RDF
functionality enables you to create, delete, and swap SRDF pairs while the Symmetrix array is in
operation. Using Dynamic RDF technology, you can establish SRDF device pairs from non-configured
SRDF devices, then synchronize and manage them in the same way as configured SRDF pairs.
Note:
Running the symcfg list command to check for concurrent RDF configuration.

SRDF Operations - 23

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Pairing Dynamic Devices


 Determine source and target dynamic devices for pairing
symdev list dynamic both
 Create a device file and list source and target pairs
09C
09D
09E

054
055
056

 Issue symrdf createpair against this file


 Upon execution of this command, pairing information
will be added to the SYMAPI database file on the host

SRDF Operations - 24

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Using Dynamic RDF technology, you can establish SRDF device pairs from non-SRDF devices using
the symrdf createpair command. Once established, the new SRDF pairs can be synchronized and
managed in the same way as configured SRDF pairs.
Prior to Enginuity version 5568, SRDF device pairing was limited to the static SRDF pairs set at
Symmetrix configuration time. Dynamic RDF enables the creation and deletion of SRDF pairs while
the Symmetrix array is in operation.
The symrdf deletepair command is used to cancel the Dynamic SRDF pairing.

SRDF Operations - 24

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Dynamic SRDF Options


 Establish option:
Invalidates R2s, merges track tables, brings up RDF links, starts copy process from
R1 to R2

symrdf createpair file file sid 01 type rdf1 -rdfg 2


establish
 Restore option:
Invalidates R1s, merges track tables, brings up RDF links, starts copy process from
R2 to R1

symrdf createpair file file sid 01 type rdf1 -rdfg 2


restore
 Invalidate option:
Allows creation of dynamic SRDF pairs, but does not bring up the RDF links and
initiate data copy
 To perform an establish, use -invalidate r2
 To perform a restore, use -invalidate r1

symrdf createpair file file sid 01 type rdf1 -rdfg 2


invalidate r2

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 25

SRDF Operations - 25

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Deleting Device Pairings


 Removes the pairing information from the Symmetrix
 Must suspend RDF links using before issuing symrdf deletepair
command (link state must be NR and pair state is Suspended, Split,
or FailedOver):
symrdf -f <devicefile> suspend -sid 01 -rdfg 2
symrdf deletepair -f <devicefile> -sid 01 -rdfg 2
 Dynamic SRDF pairs can also be cancelled within the context of a
device group
symrdf deletepair g sargrp
 Canceling dynamic SRDF pairings changes the type of the device
group from RDFx to Regular
 Devices in the device group are changed from DRx devices to RDFcapable standard devices and the SYMAPI database is updated

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 26

SRDF Operations - 26

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

What is Consistency Technology?


 Consistent Split Ensures
consistency of
applications in the same
Symmetrix

Composite Group
BCV

SRDF
BCV

 Composite Groups
Ensures consistency of
multiple databases and
platforms across
Symmetrix over
distances

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

UDB

UDB

UDB
UDB

Oracle

BCV

Oracle

SRDF

SRDF Operations - 27

Consistent split allows you to avoid inconsistencies and restart problems that can occur if you split a
database-related BCV without first quiescing the database. TimeFinder provides the capabilities to
split off a consistent, restartable copy of a database with negligible impact on the production
environment.
A Composite Group is a user-defined group of SRDF devices that act in unison to maintain the
integrity of a database distributed across multiple Symmetrix units or multiple RDF groups within a
single Symmetrix. If a source R1 device in the Composite Group cannot propagate data to the target
R2 device, data propagation from all R1 devices in the Composite Group is halted. This suspension is
called tripping the Composite Group.

SRDF Operations - 27

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

What Are Composite Groups?


 A Composite Group is a user-defined group of devices
that act in unison to maintain the integrity of a database
distributed across multiple Symmetrix units or multiple
RDF groups within a single Symmetrix
 It allows you to remotely mirror your largest databases
and automatically split off a consistent, DBMS restartable
copy of the database in seconds, with no interruption to
online service
 Disaster restart solutions using Composite Groups
provide remote restart with a short restart time and zero
data loss
 A composite group with remote consistency
protection enabled is known a Consistency Group
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 28

Composite group is another logical grouping of Symmetrix devices. There are three types of composite
groups: REGULAR, RDF1, RDF2. Remote consistency protection is applicable only to the RDF type
composite group. Consistency groups protect the consistency of one or more database management
system (DBMS) that span RDF groups during a disaster. A Consistency Group provides synchronous
disaster restart with zero data loss, even when databases span multiple hosts and Symmetrix.

SRDF Operations - 28

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Tripping the Consistency Group


 If a source R1 device in the Consistency Group cannot
propagate data to its corresponding target R2 device, the
data propagation from all R1 devices in the Composite
Group is suspended
Automatic Tripping: Occurs when one or more R1 source devices in
an enabled Composite Group cannot propagate data to their
corresponding R2 target devices. For example:
 All RDF links between the R1 and R2 might go down
 R2 device might fail
 RDF directors on the R1 side or R2 side might fail

Manual Tripping: Occurs when you invoke the symrdf cg


suspend or split command

SRDF Operations - 29

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Suspending or splitting the Consistency Group creates an on-demand, DBMS restartable copy of the
database on the R2 target side.
symrdf cg suspend
The R2 devices are in the write-disabled state at the end of the trip and cannot be accessed by targetside hosts. (This maintains the consistency of the R2 database copy with the production copy on the
R1 side.)
symrdf cg split
The R2 devices are enabled for both reads and writes by the target-side hosts.

SRDF Operations - 29

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Problem: Rolling Disasters

Data
ahead
of Log

HOST
R1(D)

Data write

Data write

R1(C)

R2(D)

3
R2(C)

DBMS

R2(B)

Log write

1
R2(A)
R1(B)

2
R1(A)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

1.
2.
3.
4.

Rolling disaster begins


Log write
Dependent data write
Inconsistent data
SRDF Operations - 30

The diagram shows that the log write cannot reach the remote Symmetrix because of a problem with
the SRDF link. Meanwhile, the data write has reached the remote Symmetrix via another SRDF link.
This is known as data ahead of log condition. Almost all database management systems restart from
this condition, without an error or any correction. The integrity of the data in the DBMS is
compromised and the data is inconsistent.

SRDF Operations - 30

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Solution: Enterprise SRDF Consistency Groups


Suspend
5 R1/R2
Relationship
DBMS 7
Restartable
Copy

HOST
R1(D)

ConGroup Started
Task
with Host Component

Data write

R1(C)
R2(D)

ConGroup definition

DBMS
ECA

R2(C)
1

R2(B)

Log write

R2(A)
R1(B)

PowerPath

3
R1(A)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Consistency protection enabled


Rolling disaster begins
Log write
Consistency trip
Suspend R1/R2
Data write
Restartable copy
SRDF Operations - 31

Now that the composite group is defined and consistency protection enabled, our rolling disaster
begins with the loss of the SRDF links from bottom source Symmetrix to the bottom target Symmetrix.
A sense code is sent back stating that the data from volume A could not be propagated to its target
side. The composite group started task on the mainframe or the SYMCLI/SYMAPI detects the sense
code and works with ECA or PowerPath to hold the I/O.
While the I/O is held, two I/Os are sent per Symmetrix. The first request sets the volumes in the
Composite Group in a suspend pending state for all volumes in the composite group, and the second
request suspends the relationship between the source and target volumes (R1 and R2s). The I/O is
released within milliseconds.
I/O continues to occur on the source host until the complete disaster happens. The DBMS or
application are not aware that we held the I/O and created a Dependent Write Consistent copy or
DBMS restartable copy of the data on the target side. We have simulated a local power failure at the
target side at the point of the beginning of the rolling disaster. After complete failure on the source
side, the target side can be restarted and the DBMS can be restarted, which provides transactional
consistency.

SRDF Operations - 31

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

What Happens to the Host-Based Groups


 Moved into the inactive list
 To display the inactive SYMAPI database groups on the
host:
symdg list inactive
symcg list -inactive
 To import specific inactive groups into GNS:
symdg activate MyDG
symcg activate MyCG
 To import all inactive groups:
symdg activateall
symcg activateall
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 32

SRDF Operations - 32

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF Control RDF Split Action


 Replication  SRDF Control

Split
Splitoption
optionFlags
Flags
Select
Selectthe
theDevices
Devicesto
toSplit
Split

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 33

SRDF Control operations are performed by right clicking the RDF Device Group and choosing
Replication  SRDF Control.
The user selected a Split operation in the above slide. The same dialog box can be used for the other
actions like Failback, Failover, Establish etc.
The SRDF Control window has 2 pages. On page 1 the action (Split for example) and the device
pairs are chosen.
Page 2 allows the user to choose options that relate to a specific action and to execute the action via the
Finish button.

SRDF Operations - 33

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SMC SRDF RDF Split Action (Cont.)

Devices
DevicesGroup
GroupSMC01
SMC01InInaaSplit
SplitState
State

Devices
DevicesGroups
Groups

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 34

The above slide shows the RDF Device Group SMC01 in a split state. Selecting the SMC01 device
group within the SMC Navigation Tree automatically presents the current status in the View Area
window.
Remember, the SMC GUI closely match Solutions Enabler CLI command, to include all basic
monitoring, configuration, and control for any attached Symmetrix arrays.

SRDF Operations - 34

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Module Summary
Key points covered in this module:
 RDF volumes with SYMCLI
 SRDF Device Groups configuration and display
properties
 Displayed and monitor the status of a Device Group
 SRDF Disaster Recovery operations using SYMCLI
 SRDF Link Control operations using SYMCLI
 SRDF Decision Support operations using SYMCLI
 Created and deleted Dynamic RDF pairs using SYMCLI
 Described Consistency Technology and its applications
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Operations - 35

These are the key points covered in this module. Please take a moment to review them

SRDF Operations - 35

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous)
Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:
 List the technical requirements of a successful SRDF/A implementation
 Identify all supported SRDF/A hardware platforms
 Describe factors that affects RPO (Recovery Point Objective) in an
SRDF/A implementation
 Discus Transmit Idle and DSE (Delta Set Extension)
 List and describe Cycles within SRDF/A operations
 Describe SRDF/A Consistent Deactivation
 Describe Multi Session Consistency
 Describe configuration parameters that affect SRDF/A behavior

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 1

The objectives for this module are shown here. Please take a moment to read them.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 1

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

What is SRDF/A?
 Asynchronous remote mirroring
Minimal impact to production
applications
Extended distance
Always consistent image on R2

 Efficient bandwidth usage


 Supports Mainframe and Open
Systems
 Complements existing SRDF
solutions
Meet a wide range of RPO and RTO
service level requirements

 Mixed SRDF and SRDF/A


Share links and directors

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 2

SRRD/As unique architecture delivers a remote mirroring solution that has no impact on production
applications over extended distance because I/O requests from the host are acknowledged locally.
Changes made to the same data blocks are periodically sent only once to the remote Symmetrix. This
enables significant operational savings through reduced bandwidth requirements. Moreover, SRDF/A
provides an alternative Disaster Recovery solution in addition to SRDF/S by maintaining a consistent
image of RDBMS on the R2 at all timess.
SRDF/A is a single solution supporting both Mainframe and Open Systems attaches. It also
compliments SRDF solutions to meet mixed service level requirements. In fact, it can also share the
same communication links as SRDF.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 2

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A Supported Environments


 All existing SRDF topologies
ESCON with Farpoint
Fibre Channel
IP

 Any host
Mainframe
Open System

 All emulation types supported by Symmetrix, including:


FBA (Fixed Block Architecture)
CKD (Count Key Data)

 Key operating systems, including:


UNIX (Sun, HP, IBM)
Windows (NT, 2000, 2003)
IBM Mainframe (OS/390, z/OS)

Note:
Support begins with Symm 5670 microcode and carries forward to future
generations of Symmetrix
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 3

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 3

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Industrys Traditional Write Ordering


Source Location

Target Location
3 ALL WRITES

ALL WRITES

1
1. Host I/O
Written To
Cache

Write #1:

Write #4
#7

Write #2

Write #6
#3

Write #3

Write #7
#5

Write #4
Write #5
Write #6
Write #7

Cache

Files

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

2
2. EVERY
WRITE
must be
timestamped /
ordered and
sent to the
Target side

3. Writes
Must Be
Re-ordered
Before
Destaging

Write #5
#2
Write #3
#6
#4
Write #2
Write #1

Cache

4
Target

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 4

Traditional approaches to asynchronous mirroring have their architectural shortfalls.


 Uses a combination of cache and files to perform mirroring.
 Timestamps or sequence numbers are applied to each and every incoming write.
 Each write must have a timestamp applied to it before sending it to the remote side.
That means every single write MUST be sent to the remote side, and because they do not necessarily
arrive in order, they must be re-sequenced before being applied to disk. If you have writes number
100-200 pending at the remote side, all waiting for write number 99 to arrive, the system must resequence and wait for number 99 to arrive before committing writes 100-200.
This creates a significant amount of overhead and data management activity in both the source and
target systems as they scramble to time-stamp, send, re-order, wait for a dependant time-stamp, and
then eventually commit the writes to disk at the target side.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 4

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A Architecture and Ordered Cycles

Source Sym
Source
(R1)
Device

Source Host
Side A

SRDF/A Delta Set Begins

SRDF/A Delta Set

Cycle
N

Cycle
N-1

Capture New Write


Cycle -(N)

Transmit to R2
Cycle -(N-1)

Cycle
N-2

Cycle
N-1

Target Sym
Target
(R2)
Device

Write Applied to R2 Receive Writes on R2


Cycle -(N-1)
Cycle -(N-2)

Target Host
Side B
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A Delta Set

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 5

When the SRDF/A cycle (N) is active on the source Symmetrix, it collects any new writes in the R1
Symmetrix cache, overwriting any duplicate tracks intended for data transfer over the link. The cycle is
active for a pre-determined amount of time that can be configured on the Symmetrix at the time of the
initial configuration of the SRDF/A environment; the default time is 30 seconds. After the set time has
been reached, the delta set data inherits the next cycle position (N-1) and begins transferring the delta
set over the link to the R2. Then, a new cycle N begins collecting new writes again for the next delta
set transfer.
In cycle (N-1), the delta set is temporarily collected on the R2 side for destaging. When the (N-1) cycle
has finished transferring data into the R2 and the minimum cycle time has elapsed, the delta set
inherits the next cycle position (N-2) and begins destaging the data to the R2 storage devices. The delta
set data is considered committed to the R2 in cycle (N-2).
Thus, it takes two(2) cycles for the changes from R1 to get to the R2 which make the shortest RPO of
an SRDF/A environment to be twice the cycle. That is, if the cycle time is 30 seconds, the RPO is at
least 60 seconds.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 5

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Dependent Write Consistency


 Dependent write logic:
If A is a predecessor and B is a dependent write
Any I/O B that arrives after I/O A has been acknowledged to the
host, must be dependent on A
Implemented by the application, such as RDBMSs

 SRDF/A ensures that:


A and B are in the same Delta Set or
B is in later Delta Set

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 6

All commonly used database management systems are inherently dependent write consistent. For
instance, a DBMS will not perform a log write, indicating that a transaction is complete, until it has
received an acknowledgement from the storage subsystem that the log data pertaining to the
transaction itself was completely written to disk. Symmetrix honors this logic in SRDF/A by treating
any successor I/O , which arrives after a predecessor I/O as a dependent I/O.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 6

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Verifying the Environment


 List the configuration of the Symmetrix to verify that
relevant System Attributes have been set
symcfg list -v sid xxx

 List the Remote Adapters configured on the Symmetrix


and verify their status
symcfg list ra all

 List the RDF Groups that have been created on the


Symmetrix
symcfg list rdfg all
symrdf list rdfg RDF_Group_Number

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 7

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 7

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

System Attributes
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symcfg list -v -sid 35|more
Symmetrix ID: 000187910035
-Output TruncatedCache Size

# of Available Cache Slots

475943

16384 (MB)

Max # of System Write Pending Slots

110000

Max # of DA Write Pending Slots

55000

Max # of Device Write Pending Slots

10340

-Output TruncatedSDDF Configuration State

: Enabled

Configuration Change State

: Enabled

-Output TruncatedSwitched RDF Configuration State

: Enabled

Concurrent RDF Configuration State

: Enabled

Dynamic RDF Configuration State

: Enabled

Concurrent Dynamic RDF Configuration : Enabled


-Output TruncatedSRDF/A Maximum Host Throttle (Secs)

: 0

SRDF/A Maximum Cache Usage (Percent) : 94

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 8

As noted earlier, SRDF/A is supported under all topologies. However, if the attributes indicated in bold
are also set, then the end user can create Dynamic RDF Groups, create dynamic pairs of SRDF
devices, and perform Concurrent RDF operations. The switched RDF Configuration State must be
enabled from the service processor. The other attributes can be set using Symmetrix Configuration
Manager command symconfigure. The use of Host Throttle, and Maximum Cache Usage attributes
are explained later in this module.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 8

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Configured Remote Adapters


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symcfg list -ra all|more
Symmetrix ID: 000187910035 (Local)
S Y M M E T R I X

Type

R D F

Attr

D I R E C T O R S
Remote

Local

Remote

SymmID

RA Grp

RA Grp

Ident

Symb

Num

Slot

RF-1D

01D

49

RDF-R1

000187910156

1 (00)

1 (00) Online

Status

RF-2D

02D

50

RDF-R1

000187910156

1 (00)

1 (00) Online

RF-15D

15D

63

15

RDF-R1

000187910156

1 (00)

1 (00) Online

RF-16D

16D

64

16

RDF-R1

000187910156

1 (00)

1 (00) Online

Symmetrix ID: 000187910156 (Remote)


S Y M M E T R I X

Attr

D I R E C T O R S
Remote

Local

Remote

SymmID

RA Grp

RA Grp

Ident

Symb

Num

Slot

RF-1D

01D

49

RDF-R2

000187910035

1 (00)

1 (00) Online

RF-2D

02D

50

RDF-R2

000187910035

1 (00)

1 (00) Online

RF-15D

15D

63

15

RDF-R2

000187910035

1 (00)

1 (00) Online

RF-16D

16D

64

16

RDF-R2

000187910035

1 (00)

1 (00) Online

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Type

R D F

Status

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 9

The output has been truncated and formatted to show just the relevant information. As displayed, the
pair of Symmetrix units have four Remote Adapters each 1D, 2D, 15D, 16D. Currently all four are
Online (Status).

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 9

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

List of All RDF Groups


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symcfg list -rdfg all
Symmetrix ID : 000187910035
S Y M M E T R I X
Local

R D F

G R O U P S

Remote

-------------

--------------------

Group
-----------------------

LL
RA-Grp

(sec)

------------1 ( 0)

10

RA-Grp

SymmID

-------------------1 ( 0) 000187910156

RDFA Info

Name

Dir

Flags

LPD

Cfg

CSR

----------------------S RDFDVGR00

-----------------

Flags

.X.

F-S

-----

Cycle
time

Pri

-----

---

-IS

30

33

2 ( 1)

10

2 ( 1) 000187910156

S RDFDVGR01

.X.

F-S

-IS

30

33

3 ( 2)

10

3 ( 2) 000187910156

D vsrdfag3

XX.

F-S

-IS

30

33

4 ( 3)

10

4 ( 3) 000187910156

D vsrdfag4

XX.

F-S

XAS

30

33

-Remote Symmetrix Output Truncated-

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 10

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

The output shows the pairings between the local and remote RA Groups (RDF Groups). These pairings provide the logical
connection between the two Symmetrix. For example, SRDF devices in RA Group 1 in sid 35 have their remote mirrors in
RA Group 1 in sid 56. RA Groups 1 and 2 are of the Type Static. These were created by the CE from the service processor.
RA Groups 3 and 4 are of the Type Dynamic. These were created by the user from the command line (SYMCLI). The
Directors have been configured in Fibre Channel Switched mode (F-S). RA Group 4 is in SRDF/A Active state (XAS), and
consistency has been enabled for this group.
Legend:
Group (T)ype

Group Flags

S = Static, D = Dynamic

Prevent Auto (L)ink Recovery

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

Prevent RAs Online Upon (P)ower On: X = Enabled, . = Disabled


Link (D)omino

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

Director (C)onfig :

F-S = Fibre-Switched, F-H = Fibre-Hub


G = GIGE, E = ESCON, T = T3, - = N/A

RDFA Flags

(C)onsistency : X = Enabled, . = Disabled,

- = N/A

(S)tatus

: A = Active, I = Inactive,

- = N/A

(R)DFA Mode

: S = Single-session, M = MSC, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 10

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

List of an Individual RDF Group


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf list -rdfg 3
Symmetrix ID: 000187910035
Local Device View
------------------------------------------------------------------------STATUS
Sym
Dev

RDev

---- ----

MODES

RDF

--------- -----

Typ:G

SA RA LNK

MDA

RDF
R1 Inv
Tracks

------ --------- ----- -------

S T A T E S

R2 Inv ---------------------Tracks Dev RDev Pair


------- --- ---- -------------

000B 000B

R1:3

RW RW RW

S..

0 RW

WD

Synchronized

000C 000C

R1:3

RW RW RW

S..

0 RW

WD

Synchronized

Total

-------- --------

Track(s)
MB(s)

0.0

0.0

Legend for MODES:


M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync, C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 11

The list of devices in RDF Group 3 are displayed here. The two devices 00B and 00C are members of
the RDF Group. They are in Synchronous mode of SRDF operations.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 11

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Transition to SRDF/A
 From Synchronous
If the devices are in Synchronized state, then by definition the R2
devices have a consistent image. Enabling SRDF/A immediately
provides consistent data on the R2

 From Adaptive Copy Disk


Any invalid tracks owed to the R2 are synchronized. Two cycle
switches after Synchronization, SRDF/A provides consistent data on
the R2

 From Adaptive Copy Write Pending


Write pending slots are merged into the Active SRDF/A cycles.
When there are no more write pending slots, it takes an additional
two cycle switches before R2 data is consistent

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 12

SRDF/A can be enabled when the device pairs are operating in any of the listed modes. In the case of
Adaptive Copy to SRDF/A transitions, it takes two additional cycle switches after resynchronization of
data for the R2 devices to be consistent.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 12

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Example: Synchronous to SRDF/A


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 query
Device Group (DG) Name

: vsrdfadg3

DG's Type

: RDF1

DG's Symmetrix ID

: 000187910035

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

--------------------------------

Standard
Logical
Device

Dev

MODES

------------------------ ----- ------------

ST

LI

ST

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDA

STATE

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- ------------

DEV001

000B RW

0 RW 000B WD

0 S..

Synchronized

DEV002

000C RW

0 RW 000C WD

0 S..

Synchronized

Total

-------- --------

Track(s)
MB(s)

-------- --------

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 13

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

The device pairs are operating in SRDF Synchronous mode (S..) and the pair states are Synchronized,
prior to enabling SRDF/A.

Legend for MODES:


M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync, C =
Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 13

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Enabling SRDF/A
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 set mode async
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf g vsrdfadg3 enable
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 query -rdfa
RDFA Session Number

: 2

RDFA Cycle Number

: 2

RDFA Session Status

: Active

Tracks not Committed to the R2 Side: 64


Time that R2 is behind R1

: 00:00:34

RDFA R1 Side Percent Cache In Use

RDFA R2 Side Percent Cache In Use

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

--------------------------------

Standard
Logical
Device

Dev

MODES

------------------------ ----- ------------

ST

LI

ST

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDAC

STATE

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- -----------DEV001

000B RW

0 RW 000B WD

0 A..X

Consistent

DEV002

000C RW

0 RW 000C WD

0 A..X

Consistent
SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 14

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Transition to SRDF/A is immediate (A..X) and the pair state is immediately Consistent.
Legend for MODES:
M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync,
C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

C(onsistency State): X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 14

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Example: ACP_Disk to SRDF/A


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 query
Device Group (DG) Name

: vsrdfadg3

DG's Type

: RDF1

DG's Symmetrix ID

: 000187910035

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

-------------------------------ST

MODES

------------------------ ----- -----------LI

ST

Standard

Logical

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDA

STATE

Device

Dev

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- -----------DEV001

000B RW

DEV002

000C RW

Total

151 RW 000B WD

103 RW 000C WD

-------- --------

Track(s)
MB(s)

0 C.D

SyncInProg

0 C.D

SyncInProg

-------- --------

254

0.0

7.9

0.0

0.0

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 15

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

In this example, the device pairs are operating in SRDF Adaptive Copy Disk Mode (C.D). There are a
number of invalid tracks owed to the R2 devices. This is governed by the skew value that has been set.

Legend for MODES:


M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync,
C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 15

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Enabling SRDF/A
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 set mode async
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 enable
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 query -rdfa
RDFA Session Number

: 2

RDFA Cycle Number

: 1

RDFA Session Status

: Active

Tracks not Committed to the R2 Side: 344


Time that R2 is behind R1

: 00:00:08

RDFA R1 Side Percent Cache In Use

RDFA R2 Side Percent Cache In Use

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

--------------------------------

MODES

------------------------ ----- ------------

ST

LI

ST

Standard

Logical

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDAC

STATE

Device

Dev

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- ------------

DEV001

000B RW

0 RW 000B WD

0 A..X

SyncInProg

DEV002

000C RW

0 RW 000C WD

0 A..X

SyncInProg
SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 16

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Note that the transition into SRDF/A is immediate (A..X), and the group has been enabled for
consistency. However, the pair state is SyncInProg. R2 device does not have consistent data until the
invalid tracks owed have been resynchronized, and a further two cycle switches have occurred.
Legend for MODES:
M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync, C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

C(onsistency State): X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 16

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Consistent R2 Data
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 query -rdfa
RDFA Session Number

: 2

RDFA Cycle Number

: 3

RDFA Session Status

: Active

Tracks not Committed to the R2 Side: 694


Time that R2 is behind R1

: 00:00:35

RDFA R1 Side Percent Cache In Use

RDFA R2 Side Percent Cache In Use

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

-------------------------------LI

ST

Logical
Device

------------------------ ----- ------------

ST
Standard

Dev

MODES

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDAC

STATE

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- -----------DEV001

000B RW

0 RW 000B WD

0 A..X

Consistent

DEV002

000C RW

0 RW 000C WD

0 A..X

Consistent

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 17

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

In this example, all invalid tracks were synchronized within the first cycle. Consequently, by the third
cycle the RDF Pair STATE has become Consistent. Tracks not Committed to the R2 Side is a measure
of data in Capture, Transmit, and Receive cycles at the time of the query.
Legend for MODES:
M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync, C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

C(onsistency State): X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 17

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Display Devices with SRDF/A Enabled


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symdev show 0b|more
RDF Information:
RDF Mode
RDF Pair State (

: Asynchronous
R1 <===> R2 )

: Consistent

RDFA Information:
Session Number

: 2

Cycle Number

: 8

Number of Devices in the Session

: 2

Session Status

: Active

Session Consistency State

: Enabled

Minimum Cycle Time

: 00:00:30

Average Cycle Time

: 00:00:29

Duration of Last cycle

: 00:00:29

Session Priority

: 33

Tracks not Committed to the R2 Side: 46


Time that R2 is behind R1

: 00:00:44

R1 Side Percent Cache In Use

R2 Side Percent Cache In Use

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 18

When devices are in SRDF/A enabled state, the display includes their RDFA information. Session
Number represents the RDF group number.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 18

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A Consistent Deactivation from Async to Sync


5671 Environment
Host
Transition request

C Capture
T Transmit
R Receive
A - Apply

C
R1
R1

Asyn

Host

T
C
R1
R1

Host

Phase 1

Switch

C
R1
R1

R2
R2

Syn

R2
R2

Phase 2

Switch

R
R2
R2

Phase 3

A
Cache
Cache

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 19

The Consistent Deactivation process works in three phases. In the first phase, SRDF/A operates
normally. When the request to transition from SRDF/A to synchronous is received, at the next cycle
switch, which guarantees an empty active cycle at the R1 side, a transition to the second phase occurs
In the second phase, new writes at the R1 side are sent directly in synchronous mode to the R2 side,
with one key exception. As these write arrive at the R2, they are kept in the inactive (receive) cycle at
the R2 side. And, the inactive (transmit) cycle at the R1 side continues to send data to the inactive
(receive) cycle at the R2. At the next cycle switch (two switches into the process), a transition to the
third phase occurs
From phase 2, when the next cycle switch is received (two cycle switches into the process), the
inactive cycle at the R2 side becomes the active cycle, and the SRDF/A restore process begins and
ends. At the end of the restore, when all tracks are marked write pending to the R2 devices, the
Consistent Deactivation is complete.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 19

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A Consistent Deactivation: Limitations


1. The transition is not immediate

It takes two cycle switches from request to completion

2. There will be some performance loss during the transition

To host writes done during the transition


Similar to host writes done during re-sync copy

3. Cache requirements

During transition, all new writes are written to an existing inactive (receive)
SRDF/A cycle at the R2 side

For consistency, the data must be committed (restored) to the R2 all at


once
This may require an inactive (receive) cycle at the R2 which is ~2x the size
as normal

4. Both Symmetrix systems must be running Enginuity 5x71


2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 20

The limitations to this function are described above. Please note the additional cache which may be
required at the R2 side.
Because Enginuity changes are required at both R1 and R2 side Symmetrix systems, this is a 5x71 only
feature. This function fails if attempted on a 5x71 to 5670 SRDF connected Symmetrix pair.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 20

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A: Loss of Link


 Temporary Loss of Link
If all links are lost for a period less than 10 seconds, SRDF/A
remains in an Active state. Data continues to accumulate in cache
and consequently, the cycle time is elongated. However, R2 stays
consistent, and the relationship between R1-R2 is not suspended.

 Permanent Loss of Link


In this event, all data in the Capture and Transmit cycles on the R1
side are changed from write-pending for the remote mirror to invalid
on the remote mirror. Any new data on the R1s is also be marked as
invalid on the remote mirror. Likewise, all data in the Receive cycle
on the R2 side are changed to invalid on the remote mirror. The
Apply cycle on the R2 side completes the commit to the local
devices. The devices themselves are set to Not Ready on the link.

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 21

Data on the R2 devices is always consistent in SRDF/A, even with the loss of link. However, during
resynchronization, data is temporarily inconsistent on the R2 until all the invalid tracks have been sent
over to R2. For this reason, it is preferable to have a point-in-time copy on a BCV, for example, prior
to starting the resynchronization process. Resynchronization can be initiated by issuing symrdf
establish command.
The logical connection between R1 and R2 can be lost under several conditions. Some of them are
listed below:
Network problems leading to loss of physical connection between source and target
Symmetrix dropping the links due to link saturation
User issued commands such as symrdf suspend/split

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 21

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A Reserve Capacity Transmit Idle


 5772 and later versions of 5x71 support Transmit Idle
 After links fail
Data transmission from source to target will stop
SRDF/A will remain active and the capture cycle will grow in cache
Session will be suspended if cache fills up

 After links are revived, cycle switching will continue


 Not supported with ESCON RAs
 Should be enabled on both Source and Target side
 Should be used if using Delta Set Extension (DSE - 5772)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 22

SRDF/A Transmit Idle is a Reserve Capacity enhancement to EMCs SRDF/A feature that provides
SRDF/A with the capability of dynamically and transparently extending the Capture, Transmit, and
Receive phases of the SRDF/A cycle while masking the effects of an all SRDF links lost event.
Without the SRDF/A Transmit Idle enhancement, an all SRDF links lost event would normally
result in the abnormal termination of SRDF/A with either a CACA.20 or CACA.40 error. The SRDF/A
Transmit Idle enhancement has been specifically designed to prevent this event from occurring.
The versions of 5x71 which support Transmit Idle are

5771 Minimum release level of 92.99 with Epack# 1016 and

5671 Minimum release level 59.64 with Epack# 1017.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 22

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A Reserve Capacity - Delta Set Extension


 Allows offloading of SRDF/A delta sets from cache to
specially configured device pools Delta Set Extension
Pools
 Intended to make SRDF/A resilient to temporary
increases in write workloads or link loss
Should be used in conjunction with Transmit Idle

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 23

SRDF/A Delta Set Extension (DSE) provides a mechanism for augmenting the cache-based Delta Set
buffering mechanism of SRDF/A with a disk-based buffering ability. This extended Delta Set
buffering ability may allow SRDF/A to ride through larger and/or longer SRDF/A throughput
imbalances than would be possible with cache-based Delta Set buffering alone.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 23

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

DSE Pools
 Save Pools are designated as DSE pools at creation
Contains SAVE devices of a single emulation
 CKD3390, CKD3380, FBA or AS400

 Pools can be associated (shared) with multiple SRDF/A


RDF groups
 Each SRDF/A session can be associated with zero or
one DSE pool of each type (e.g. FBA, 3390)
Must have at least one DSE pool configured with a type that
matches one of the device types in the SRDF/A group in order to
activate DSE

 Pools can optionally start automatically when SRDF/A is


enabled
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 24

 SRDF/A DSE Pools and Save devices are managed in the same way as TimeFinder/Snap pools
 A RDF group can have at most one pool of each emulation
 A single rdfa_dse pool can be associated with more than one RDF group, similar to snap pools
shared by multiple snap sessions
 SRDF/A DSE Threshold sets the percentage of cache used for SRDF/A that will start offloading
cache to disk
 DSE must be enabled on both the source and target arrays. Extension on only one side of a link
would lead to failure of the SRDF/A recovery with SRDF/A dropping because the R2 side would
fail to have enough cache to hold the large and extended Transmit cycle

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 24

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

How DSE Fits Into SRDF/A Data Flow


 Traditional SRDF/A data flows
continue to interact directly with
the cache buffer
Cache Buffer

 Separate DSE Task monitors Delta


Set cache utilization and transfers
Delta Set data between cache and
disk
 Must be configured on R1 and R2
sides to be of value

DSE Task

Disk
Buffer

and in all sessions tied together by MSC


2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 25

SRDF/A has always buffered Delta Set data in cache. However a buffer full condition causes SRDF/A
to drop. With SRDF/A DSE delta set data is offloaded to disk buffers (DSE Pools) by the DSE task.
We will look at this in more details in the next few slides.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 25

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

When can DSE help you?


 DSE is not designed to solve any permanent and
persistent problems:
Mis-configurations:
 Unbalanced
 cache or backend on target side is smaller/weaker than source side

 Not enough cache


 Not enough bandwidth

Host writes consistently exceeding RDF link bandwidth


Prolonged link outages

 SRDF/A DSE solves abnormal and temporary problems


Unexpected host load
Link bandwidth issues
Temporary link loss (use with Transmit Idle)

 Increase resilience of SRDF/A


2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 26

SRDF/A DSE should be used with the Transmit Idle feature. Thus SRDF/A can ride through a temporary
link loss, once the DSE threshold is reached, data will be paged out to the DSE Pools.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 26

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Recovering after Loss of Links


 It is recommended to split a BCV copy of the R2 prior to
starting resynchronization
 In the event of an extended loss of link, a large number of
R2 invalid tracks can build up on the R1 side
 It is advisable to enable SRDF/A after the two sides are
synchronized
 Resynchronization prior to enabling SRDF/A can be
performed by:
Setting SRDF mode to Adaptive Copy Write Pending
Setting SRDF mode to Synchronous

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 27

As noted earlier, during resynchronization R2 does not have consistent data. A BCV copy of the
consistent R2 data prior to resynchronization can safeguard against unexpected failures during the
resynchronization process. When the link is resumed, if there are a large number of invalid tracks owed
by the R1 to its R2, it is recommended that SRDF/A not be enabled right away. Enabling SRDF/A
right after link resumption causes a surge of traffic on the link due to (a) shipping of accumulated
invalid tracks, and (b) the new data added to the SRDF/A cycles. This would lead to SRDF/A
consuming more cache and reaching the System Write Pending limit. If this happens, SRDF/A would
drop again. Like with SRDF/A, resynchronization should be performed during periods of relatively
low production activity.
Resynchronization in Adaptive Copy Write Pending mode minimizes the impact on the production
host. New writes are buffered and these, along with the R2 invalids, are sent across the link. The time
it takes to resynchronize is elongated.
Resynchronization in Synchronous mode impacts the production host. New writes have to be sent
preferentially across the link while the R2 invalids are also shipped. Switching to Synchronous is
possible only if the distances and other factors permit. For instance, if the norm is to run in SRDF/S
and toggle into SRDF/A for batch processing (due to higher bandwidth requirement). In this case, if a
loss of links occurs during the batch processing, it might be possible to resynchronize in SRDF/S.
In either case, R2 data is inconsistent until all the invalid tracks are sent over. Therefore, it is advisable
to enable SRDF/A after the two sides are completely synchronized.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 27

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Recovery Example
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 query -rdfa
RDFA Session Number

: 2

RDFA Cycle Number

: 0

RDFA Session Status

: Inactive

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

--------------------------------

Standard
Logical
Device

Dev

MODES

------------------------ ----- ------------

ST

LI

ST

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDAC

STATE

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- ------------

DEV001

000B RW

407 NR 000B NA

NA

NA A..X

Partitioned

DEV002

000C RW

406 NR 000C NA

NA

NA A..X

Partitioned

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 28

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

In this example there is a workload on the devices in SRDF/A enabled state. A permanent loss of link
place the devices in a Partitioned state. Production work continues on the R1 devices and the new
writes arriving for the R1 devices are marked as invalid or owed to the R2.
Legend for MODES:
M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync, C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

C(onsistency State): X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 28

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Recovery Example (Cont.)


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 query -rdfa
RDFA Session Number

: 2

RDFA Cycle Number

: 0

RDFA Session Status

: Inactive

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

-------------------------------ST

MODES

------------------------ ----- -----------LI

ST

Standard

Logical

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDAC

STATE

Device

Dev

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- ------------

DEV001

000B RW

2431 NR 000B WD

285

0 A..X

Suspended

DEV002

000C RW

2431 NR 000C WD

288

0 A..X

Suspended

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 29

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

When the links are active again, note that the pair state has moved to Suspended. Also note there are
R2 Invalid Tracks on the R1 side AND R1 Invalid Tracks on the R2 side. In Synchronous SRDF, one
would have this condition only if changes are made to both the R1s and the R2s. However, in SRDF/A
data in Receive cycle during loss of link are marked as R1 invalids. The data in the Capture and
Transmit cycles, and new writes after link loss, are marked as R2 invalid on the R1 side. This is one of
the behavioral differences between SRDF/S and SRDF/A.
Legend for MODES:
M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync, C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

C(onsistency State): X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 29

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Recovery Example (Cont.)


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 query -rdfa
RDFA Session Number

: 2

RDFA Cycle Number

: 0

RDFA Session Status

: Inactive

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

-------------------------------ST

LI

ST

Standard
Logical
Device

Dev

MODES

------------------------ ----- ------------

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDAC

STATE

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- ------------

DEV001

000B RW

3767 RW 000B WD

285 C.W.

DEV002

000C RW

0 RW 000C WD

0 C.W.

SyncInProg
Synchronized

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 30

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

As per recommendation, we place the devices in SRDF Adaptive Copy Write Pending mode (C.W.)
and wait for the pair states to become Synchronized. Prior to changing the mode to ACP_WP, we
have to disable consistency protection via symrdf g vsrdfadg3 disable. When consistency is enabled,
one cannot switch out of SRDF/A without first disabling it. Once the synchronization is complete we
can then enable SRDF/A and enable consistency.
Legend for MODES:
M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync, C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

C(onsistency State): X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 30

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF Session Recovery Tool symrecover


 EMC SRDF session recovery utility is initiated by the
symrecover command
 Runs in the background and monitors the state of SRDF/A or
SRDF/S sessions
 If failure is detected, automatic recovery and restart is attempted
based on symrecover options file (pre-configured)
 The symrecover command can be run from either the R1 or the
R2 side
As long as all the devices making up the group being monitored are fully
viewable from the host
When concurrent RDF is used, this command must be run from the R1
side

Solutions Enabler 6.4 or higher must be installed

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 31

The symrecover command was available through EMC Services prior to SE 6.4.
symrecover offers the ability to detect and automate restarting SRDF links in a safe and secure manner.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 31

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Failover/Failback with SRDF/A


 If the primary site fails, data on R2 is consistent up to the
last Apply cycle (N-2)
Partial data in the Receive cycle is discarded

 SRDF failover procedure can then be executed and the


workload can be started on the R2 devices
Consistency protection should be disabled prior to issuing symrdf
failover without the force option

 Failback procedure after the primary site has been


restored is identical to Synchronous SRDF
After symrdf failback command completion, workload can be
restarted on the R1 devices. SRDF/A can be enabled

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 32

Again, it is advisable to split off a BCV copy of the R2 prior to executing a failback operation. When
workload is resumed on the R1 devices immediately after a failback, accumulated invalid tracks have
to be synchronized from the R2 to the R1, and new writes must be shipped from the R1 to R2. If there
is an interruption now, data on the R2 is not consistent. Even though SRDF/A can be enabled right
after a failback, for reasons stated earlier, it should be enabled after the SRDF pairs entered the
Synchronized state.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 32

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Example: Multiple Independent SRDF/A Groups


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symcfg list -ra all -sid 35|more

Symmetrix ID: 000187910035

S Y M M E T R I X

Ident

Symb

Num

Slot

RF-1D

01D

49

RF-2D

RF-15D

RF-16D

02D

15D

16D

50

63

64

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

15

16

Type

RDF-R1

RDF-R1

RDF-R1

RDF-R1

R D F

Attr

D I R E C T O R S

Remote

Local

Remote

SymmID

RA Grp

RA Grp

Status

000187910156

1 (00)

1 (00) Online

000187910156

3 (02)

3 (02)

000187910156

1 (00)

1 (00) Online

000187910156

3 (02)

3 (02)

000187910156

1 (00)

1 (00) Online

000187910156

3 (02)

3 (02)

000187910156

4 (03)

4 (03)

000187910156

1 (00)

1 (00) Online

000187910156

3 (02)

3 (02)

000187910156

4 (03)

4 (03)
SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 33

RA Group 3 uses all four RDF Directors 1D, 2D, 15D, and 16D. RA Group 4 uses two of the RDF
Directors 15D, and 16D

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 33

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Example: Multiple Independent SRDF/A Groups


(Cont.)
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symcfg list -rdfg all

Symmetrix ID : 000187910035

S Y M M E T R I X

Local

R D F

G R O U P S

Remote

-------------

--------------------

Group
-----------------------

LL
RA-Grp

(sec)

-------------

RA-Grp

SymmID

--------------------

Name

Flags

Dir

LPD

Cfg

-----------------------

1 ( 0)

10

1 ( 0) 000187910156

S RDFDVGR00

2 ( 1)

10

2 ( 1) 000187910156

3 ( 2)

10

3 ( 2) 000187910156

4 ( 3)

10

4 ( 3) 000187910156

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

RDFA Info
----------------Flags
CSR
-----IS

Cycle
time

Pri

-----

---

.X.

F-S

30

33

S RDFDVGR01

.X.

F-S

-IS

30

33

D vsrdfag3

XX.

F-S

XAS

30

33

D vsrdfag4

XX.

F-S

XAS

30

33

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 34

Both the RA Groups 3 and 4 are in SRDF/A mode (XAS), as shown in the output above.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 34

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Example: Multiple Independent SRDF/A Groups


(Cont.)
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 query -rdfa
RDFA Cycle Number

: 2972

RDFA Session Status

: Active

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

--------------------------------

Standard
Logical
Device

Dev

MODES

------------------------ ----- ------------

ST

LI

ST

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDAC

STATE

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- ------------

DEV001

000B RW

0 RW 000B WD

0 A..X

Consistent

DEV002

000C RW

0 RW 000C WD

0 A..X

Consistent

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 35

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

The devices in RA Group 3 are consistent, independently of the devices in RA Group 4 (shown in the
next slide).

Legend for MODES:


M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync,
C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

C(onsistency State): X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 35

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Example: Multiple Independent SRDF/A Groups


(Cont.)
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg4 query -rdfa
RDFA Cycle Number

: 62

RDFA Session Status

: Active

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

--------------------------------

Standard
Logical
Device

Dev

MODES

------------------------ ----- ------------

ST

LI

ST

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDAC

STATE

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- ------------

DEV001

000D RW

0 RW 000D WD

0 A..X

Consistent

DEV002

000E RW

0 RW 000E WD

0 A..X

Consistent

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 36

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Devices in RA Group 4 are in SRDF/A Active state and are consistent. Note that RA Group 4 has a
different Cycle Number (62), than RA Group 3 (2972).

Legend for MODES:


M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync,
C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

C(onsistency State): X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 36

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Example: Multiple Independent SRDF/A Groups


(Cont.)

DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg4 query -rdfa


RDFA Cycle Number

: 0

RDFA Session Status

: Inactive

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

--------------------------------

Standard
Logical
Device

Dev

MODES

------------------------ ----- ------------

ST

LI

ST

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDAC

STATE

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- ------------

DEV001

000D RW

107 NR 000D NA

NA

NA A..X

Partitioned

DEV002

000E RW

80 NR 000E NA

NA

NA A..X

Partitioned

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 37

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Loss of links on directors 15D, and 16D causes SRDF/A to drop for RA Group 4.

Legend for MODES:


M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync,
C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

C(onsistency State): X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 37

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Example: Multiple Independent SRDF/A Groups


(Cont.)

DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg3 query -rdfa


RDFA Cycle Number

: 3283

RDFA Session Status

: Active

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

-------------------------------ST

MODES

------------------------ ----- -----------LI

ST

Standard

Logical

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDAC

STATE

Device

Dev

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- ------------

DEV001

000B RW

0 RW 000B WD

0 A..X

Consistent

DEV002

000C RW

0 RW 000C WD

0 A..X

Consistent

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 38

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

However, RA Group 3 still has 2 links available (1D, and 2D), and continues to be in SRDF/A Active
state and the device pairs are Consistent.

Legend for MODES:


M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync,
C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

C(onsistency State): X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 38

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

What is SRDF/A Multi Session Consistency?


 Manage multiple SRDF/A
sessions logically as if they
were a single session
RDF Daemon for Open System
support
Sessions can be within or across
Symmetrix arrays
Ensures a complete, restartable
point-in-time copy on the remote side

Delta
Set

Delta
Set

Delta
Set

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 39

Since Enginuity 5671, consistency protection for SRDF/Asynchronous devices is provided using Multi
Session Consistency (MSC). If one or more source (R1) devices in an SRDF/A MSC enabled RDF
consistency group cannot propagate data to their corresponding target (R2) devices. The MSC process
suspends data propagation from all R1 devices in the consistency group, halting all data flow to the R2
targets SRDF/A with MSC supported by an RDF process daemon that performs cycle-switching and
cache recovery operations across all SRDF/A sessions in the group. This ensures that a consistent R2
data copy of the database exists at the point-in-time any interruption occurs.
A composite group must be created using the RDF consistency protection option (-rdf_consistency)
and must be enabled using the symcg enable command before the RDF daemon begins monitoring and
managing the MSC consistency group.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 39

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

What is SRDF/A Multi Session Consistency? (Cont.)


 RDF Daemon coordinates cycle
switching of the SRDF/A MSC
group sessions as a single
entity
Responsible for detecting failure
conditions that would cause data on
the R2 side to become inconsistent
When a failure condition is detected,
the cycle switching for all SRDF/A
sessions in the group are stopped in
a manner that leaves the R2 side
with a consistent data image

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Delta
Set

Delta
Set

Delta
Set

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 40

The RDF process daemon maintains consistency for enabled composite groups across multiple
Symmetrix arrays for SRDF/A with MSC. For the MSC option (-rdf_consistency) to work in an RDF
consistency-enabled environment, each locally-attached host performing management operations must
run an instance of the RDF daemon (storrdfd). Each host running storrdfd must also run an
instance of the base daemon (storapid), which coordinates all Symmetrix locks and parallel
application syscalls. Optionally, if the Group Naming Services (GNS) daemon is also running, it
communicates the composite group definitions back to the RDF daemon. If the GNS daemon is not
running, the composite group must be defined on each host individually.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 40

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

How Does MSC Cycle Switch Work?


 In single session, SRDF/A cycle switch occurs when the
Transmit cycle on the R1 side AND the Apply cycle on
the R2 side are both empty. The switch is controlled by
Enginuity
 In MSC, the Transmit cycles on the R1 side of all
participating sessions must be empty, and also the
corresponding Apply cycles on the R2 side. The switch is
coordinated and controlled by the RDF Daemon
 All host writes are held for the duration of the cycle
switch. This ensures dependent write consistency

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 41

If one or more sessions in MSC complete their Transmit and Apply cycles ahead of other sessions,
they have to wait for all sessions to complete, prior to a cycle switch.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 41

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

MSC Cycle Switch


Symmetrix 1

Symmetrix 3

Session 1

Tag a

Tag a-1

MSC/CG

Session 1

C(1)

(N)

T(1)

(N-1)

Symmetrix 2

Tag a-1

Tag a-2

RDF Links

RDF Daemon
Host

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Tag a-1

(N-1)

A(1)

(N-2)

Symmetrix 4

Session 2
Tag a

R(1)

Session 2

C(2)

(M)

T(2)

(M-1)

Tag a-1

Tag a-2

R(2) (M-1)
A(2) (M-2)
SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 42

In this illustration we have two SRDF/A sessions, 1 and 2. Each have their own cycle numbers N and
M. When they are placed in MSC, the RDF Daemon assigns a Tag number to the capture cycle. This is
so the cycle numbers themselves do not have to be synchronized. The Tag number is incremented at
every cycle switch. It is this Tag number that is compared for recovery purposes.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 42

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A MSC Operations


 Set SYMAPI_USE_RDFD = ENABLE in options configuration file
 Create a Composite Group (CG) with the -rdf_consistency option
Group definition is passed to the RDF Daemon as a candidate group
If the Daemon is not already running, it is started automatically

 Add all of the devices in the multiple SRDF/A sessions to the CG


 Put all CG devices into Async mode
symrdf -cg <CGname> set mode async
 Enable CG devices for consistency protection
symcg -cg <CGname> enable
The RDF Daemon is notified that the group should now be monitored
Enable command must be done after the devices are put into Async mode

 When the devices become RW on the link, the RDF Daemon:


Starts performing cycle switching
Actively monitors the health of the group to maintain R2 data consistency
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 43

There are three ways the RDF daemon can be started. If the RDF daemon is enabled, the daemon is
started automatically by the Solutions Enabler libraries the first time they attempt to connect with it,
which can cause a slight delay in performance on that initial connection while the daemon starts and
builds its cache.
Note:
Prior to starting storrdfd, ensure that your default SYMAPI configuration database is up-to-date, since
storrdfd uses the information stored in it to establish contact with your Symmetrix arrays.
Alternatively, the daemon can be started manually via the stordaemon command line utility as follows:
- stordaemon start storrdfd [-wait Seconds] Note: The stordaemon command requires a path of
/usr/storapi/storbin.
By default, the stordaemon command waits 30 seconds to verify that the daemon is running. To
override this, use the -wait option. Additionally, the daemon can be set to start automatically every
time the local host is booted using the following command line: - stordaemon install storrdfd
autostart. Pre-starting the daemon, either manually or via the automatic option, is useful because the
daemon may take a while to initially construct its cache - depending on the number of groups and
Symmetrix arrays it has to load. If the daemon is stopped for some reason, it can optionally be restarted
automatically by an internal Solutions Enabler watchdog mechanism. A combination of the watchdog
mechanism and the auto-start option described above can be used to ensure that the daemon is always
running. To stop the RDF daemon, use the following command: - stordaemon shutdown
storrdfd|all [-wait Seconds] Applying the all option stops all of the daemons currently running,
such as storapid, storgnsd, and storrdfd.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 43

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

RDF Daemon for MSC

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 44

The RDF process daemon maintains consistency for enabled composite groups across multiple
Symmetrix arrays for SRDF/A with MSC.(Multi Session Control) For the MSC option (rdf_consistency) to work in an RDF consistency-enabled environment, each locally-attached host
performing management operations must run an instance of the RDF daemon (storrdfd). Each host
must also be running an instance of the base daemon (storapid), which coordinates all Symmetrix locks
and parallel application syscalls.
Additional data about the current state of a composite group is communicated to the RDF daemon via
files written to the Symmetrix file system. MSC requires that the RDF daemon exist and every attempt
is made to start or restart the daemon to perform cycle switching for SRDF/A. Failure to switch
SRDF/A cycles may cause all SRDF/A sessions to be dropped due to a full cache slot. If SRDF/A
sessions have been dropped, the SYMAPI and RDF daemon logic determines whether to commit or
discard the data accumulated in cache memory.
For redundant consistency protection of RDF composite groups, multiple instances of the RDF daemon
can be running at the same time on separate hosts. Each host must have a common view of the
composite group being monitored. All redundant daemons run simultaneously, monitoring and
switching independently of each other. If one of the redundant daemons fails, the other existing
daemon(s) completes the task.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 44

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Managing RDF Daemon


 Modify the SYMAPI options file
SYMAPI_USE_RDFD=ENABLE

 Start Daemon
stordaemon start storrdfd

 Stop Daemon
stordaemon shutdown storrdfd

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 45

Prior to starting storrdfd, ensure that your default SYMAPI configuration database is up-to-date, since
storrdfd uses the stored information to establish contact with your Symmetrix arrays.
There are three ways the RDF daemon can be started. First, if the RDF daemon is enabled, the daemon
is started automatically by the Solutions Enabler libraries the first time they attempt to connect with it,
which can cause a slight delay in performance on that initial connection while the daemon starts and
builds its cache.
Second, the daemon can be started manually via the stordaemon command line utility as follows:
stordaemon start storrdfd [-wait Seconds]
By default, the stordaemon command waits 30 seconds to verify the daemon is running. To override
this, use the -wait option.
Third, the daemon can be set to start automatically every time the local host is booted using the
following command line:
stordaemon install storrdfd -autostart
Pre-starting the daemon, either manually or via the automatic option, is useful because the daemon
may take a while to initially construct its cache - depending on the number of groups and Symmetrix
arrays it has to load.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 45

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

MSC: Example
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symcg show vsmscdg34|more
RDF Consistency Enabled

: Yes

Number of RDF (RA) Groups

Number of STD Devices

Number of Symmetrix Units (1):


Number of RDF (RA) Groups (2):
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

LdevName

PdevName

Sym

Device

Dev

Config

Flags
Sts

CSR

Cap
(MB)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------DEV001

/dev/rdsk/c14t1d3

000B RDF1+Mir

RW

XAM

449

DEV002

/dev/rdsk/c14t1d4

000C RDF1+Mir

RW

XAM

449

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

LdevName

PdevName

Sym

Device

Dev

Config

Flags
Sts

CSR

Cap
(MB)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------DEV003

/dev/rdsk/c14t1d5

000D RDF1+Mir

RW

XAM

449

DEV004

/dev/rdsk/c14t1d6

000E RDF1+Mir

RW

XAM

449

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 46

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

We wish to control RA Groups 3 and 4 as one entity. A composite group has been created and enabled
using the following commands:
symdg dg2cg vsrdfadg3 vsmscdg34 rdf_consistency
symdg dg2cg vsrdfadg4 vsmscdg34 rdf_consistency rename
symcg cg vsmscdg34 enable

Note the CSR flags, indicating that Multi-session Consistency has been enabled for these two RA
Groups.
Legend:
RDFA Flags:
C(onsistency)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

(RDFA) S(tatus) : A = Active, I = Inactive, - = N/A


R(DFA Mode)

: S = Single-session mode, M = MSC mode, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 46

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

MSC: Loss of Links for One RA Group


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symrdf -cg vsmscdg34 query -rdfa|more
MSC Session Status

: Inactive

Consistency State

: N/A

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

-------------------------------ST
Standard

------------------------- ----- -----------LI

Logical

Sym

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

Device

Dev

Tracks Tracks

MODES

ST

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDAC

STATE

-------------------------------- -- ----------------------- ----- -----------DEV001

000B RW

76 NR 000B WD

0 A..X

Suspended

DEV002

000C RW

61 NR 000C WD

0 A..X

Suspended

DEV003

000D RW

79 NR 000D NA

NA

NA A..X

Partitioned

DEV004

000E RW

63 NR 000E NA

NA

NA A..X

Partitioned

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 47

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Similar to the previous example (independent), we have a total loss of links for RA Group 4. The
devices in this group go to a Partitioned state as before. However, note that the devices in RA Group 3
have been placed in Suspended state. Loss of links for one RA Group trips the Multi-session
Consistency Group. This prevents the propagation of data for the other RA Groups in the MSC-CG,
thus preserving a consistent image of data on ALL R2s at the time of link loss. As stated earlier, the
storrdfd daemon is responsible for coordinating cycle switches between the RA groups, to trip the
MSC-CG and perform any recovery/cache cleanup that might be necessary when the links are
resumed. Recovering from this state can be accomplished as usual:
symrdf cg vsmscdg34 establish
Once the invalid tracks are marked, merged, and synchronized, MSC protection is automatically reinstated. i.e User does not have to issue symcg cg vsmscdg34 enable again.
Legend for MODES:
M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync, C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

C(onsistency State): X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 47

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

MSC Recovery and Cleanup


 There are three possible recovery scenarios in case of a
failure in MSC:
All Receive cycles are marked as complete. In this case, the Receive
cycles are committed i.e. promoted to Apply
Some Receive cycles are marked as complete and others are
marked as incomplete. In this case, ALL Receive cycles are
discarded
Some Receive cycles have been promoted to Apply, where as some
of them have not. In this case, the promoted Receive cycles and
those not yet promoted are committed

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 48

The first scenario is easy to understand. In this instance, the Receive cycles contain the most recent and
consistent data.
The second situation arises if there is a failure when some Receive cycles are complete while the
others are in transit. In this case, clearly it is only the Apply cycles of all sessions that contain the
consistent data. Therefore, ALL Receive cycles are discarded.
To understand the third scenario, keep in mind the following: For a cycle switch to be initiated, ALL
Transmits must be empty and all Applys must be empty. This means that the failure has occurred
DURING the cycle switch process in this case. Receive can only be promoted to Apply on a cycle
switch. In MSC, cycle switch is sent to all sessions at once. So each of them is in the process of
executing a cycle switch. For example, failure occurred prior to promoting some Receives to Apply.
Therefore, the Receives not yet promoted should be committed along with those that have already been
promoted.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 48

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

MSC Recovery and Cleanup


 Recovery is automatically performed by the RDF Daemon
on the R1 side, if the link to the R2 side is available
 If the link is unavailable (total site failure on the R1 side),
then invocation of any SRDF command, such as symrdf
failover or split, from the R2 side performs the automatic
cleanup and recovery

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 49

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 49

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A Configuration Parameters


 2 SRDF/A Symmetrix Array-wide parameters
Maximum SRDF/A Cache Usage
Maximum Host Throttle Time

 2 RDF Group (aka SRDF/A Session) level settings


Minimum Cycle Time
Session Priority

 Settable via the SYMCLI symconfigure command


Set Symmetrix Metrics for Symmetrix level attributes
 set symmetrix rdfa_cache_percent = 94;
 set symmetrix rdfa_host_throttle_time = 0;

Set RDF Group Metrics for Group level attributes


 set rdf group 3, session_priority = 33;
 set rdf group 3, minimum_cycle_time = 30;
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 50

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 50

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A System Configuration Parameters


 rdfa_cache_percent
Defaults to 94, with a range of valid values from 0 to 100 percent
It is the percentage of the Max# of System Write Pending Slots available to
SRDF/A. The purpose is to ensure that other applications can utilize some
of the WP limit
When SRDF/A hits its WP cache limit it will be forced to drop SRDF/A
sessions to free up cache
Setting it lower reserves WP limit for non-SRDF/A cache usage. Setting it
higher, allows SRDF/A to potentially use more of the cache WP limit,
potentially creating performance problems for other applications

 rdfa_host_throttle_time
Defaults to 0, with a range of valid values from 0 to 65535
If >0, this value overrides the rdfa_cache_percent and session_priority
settings
When the System WP Limit is reached, throttling will delay a write from the
host until a cache slot becomes free
The value is the number of seconds to throttle host writes before dropping
SRDF/A sessions. A value of 65535 means wait forever
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 51

 Each Symmetrix has an array-wide Max # of System Write Pending Slots limit (generally
calculated as 80% of available cache slots).
 The purpose of this limit is to ensure that cache is not filled with Write Pending (WP) tracks,
potentially preventing fast writes from hosts, because there is no place to put the I/O in cache.
 SRDF/A creates WP tracks as part of each cycle.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 51

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A Group/Session Configuration Parameters


 SRDF/A group minimum_cycle_time
Defaults to 30, with a potential range of 5 to 59 seconds

 SRDF/A group session_priority


Defaults to 33, with a range of valid values from 1 to 64.
The number ranks the SRDF/A session relative to other sessions to
determine the order for dropping sessions should the cache WP limit
be reached
When SRDF/A needs to drop sessions when the cache WP limit is
reached. The sessions are dropped, starting with priority values of
64. Those with a setting of 1 are last to be dropped

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 52

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 52

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Monitoring SRDF/A
 Using the symstat command options
symstat type cycle reptype rdfa rdfg all
symstat type cache reptype rdfa rdfg all
symstat type request reptype rdfa rdfg all

 Using the symevent command


symevent list -error

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 53

Examples are displayed in the next several slides.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 53

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Monitoring SRDF/A
DMX8HP1[ksh] # symstat -type cache -reptype rdfa -rdfg all -i 5
SRDF/A Session Cache Summary Information
Symmetrix Id

: 000187910035

Timestamp

: 15:17:23

System Write Pending Limit

: 110000

(3.36 GB)

Cache Slots available for all SRDF/A sessions : 103400

(3.16 GB)

Total Local Write Pending Count

: 30690

Total System Write Pending Count

: 57066
Session

RA

-----------------------------

Device Group Name

Grp

Type Number Priority Status

-----------------

---

---- ------ -------- --------

Cache Slots
In Use

%Available
Cache Used

-----------

----------

RaGrpNum_01

33 Inactive

0.0

RaGrpNum_02

33 Inactive

0.0

RaGrpNum_03

RDF1

33 Active

42

0.0

RaGrpNum_05

RDF1

33 Active

56921

55.0

RaGrpNum_04

RDF1

33 Active

Total
Slots
GB
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

44

0.0

-----------

----------

57007

55.1

1.74
SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 54

Note that the Cache Slots available for all SRDF/A sessions is 94% of the System Write Pending Limit
(3.16/3.6). In this example, RA Group 5 is utilizing 55% of the available cache. All SRDF/A sessions
have the default Priority value of 33.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 54

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Monitoring SRDF/A (Cont.)


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symstat -type cycle -reptype rdfa -rdfg all -i 5
SRDF/A Session Cycle Summary Information
Symmetrix Id

: 000187910035

Timestamp

: 15:18:57

Session

Cycle Time

-----------------RA

(sec)

Cycle Size

-------------------

Active

---------------

Last

Device Group Name Grp

Type Number Cycle#

Min Avg Last Switch

Active Inactive

----------------- ---

---- ------ ------

--- --- ---- ------

------ --------

RaGrpNum_01

RaGrpNum_02

RaGrpNum_03

RDF1

286

30

30

30

27

48

RaGrpNum_05

RDF1

34

30

29

29

6935

32589

RaGrpNum_04

RDF1

286

30

30

30

27

51

Legend for the Attribute of Cycle Size:


RDF1: Active = Capture

Inactive = Transmit

RDF2: Active = Receive

Inactive = Apply

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 55

This output was captured from the R1 side. As displayed, the Minimum cycle time for each of the
SRDF/A session is at the default of 30 seconds. The Active Cycle is the Capture and the Inactive is the
Transmit, as this output is from the R1 (source) perspective.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 55

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

When Max Cache is used up


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symstat -type cache -reptype rdfa -rdfg all -i 5
SRDF/A Session Cache Summary Information
Symmetrix Id

: 000187910035

Timestamp

: 15:49:28

System Write Pending Limit

: 110000

Cache Slots available for all SRDF/A sessions : 55000


Total Local Write Pending Count

(3.36 GB)
(1.68 GB)

: 37725

Total System Write Pending Count

: 55153
Session

RA

-----------------------------

Device Group Name

Grp

Type Number Priority Status

-----------------

---

---- ------ -------- --------

Cache Slots
In Use

%Available
Cache Used

-----------

----------

RaGrpNum_03

RDF1

33 Active

37

0.1

RaGrpNum_05

RDF1

33 Active

54978

100.0

RaGrpNum_04

RDF1

33 Active

38

0.1

33 Active

47

0.1

44308

80.6

50

0.1

-Next iteration of the symstat commandRaGrpNum_03

RDF1

RaGrpNum_05

RDF1

33 Inactive

RaGrpNum_04

RDF1

33 Active

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 56

For this example, the maximum available cache slots for SRDF/A has been reduced to 50%
(1.68/3.36). Now, cache utilization reaches a 100% of available cache, and RDFG 5 is dropped
(Inactive).

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 56

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

When the Session is dropped


DMX800SUN1[ksh] # symrdf -g vsrdfadg query -rdfa
RDFA Session Number

: 4

RDFA Cycle Number

: 0

RDFA Session Status

: Inactive

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

-------------------------------ST

MODES

------------------------ ----- -----------LI

ST

Standard

Logical

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDAC

STATE

Device

Dev

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- ------------

DEV001

0041 RW

0 NR 0041 WD

0 A...

Suspended

DEV002

0042 RW

14340 NR 0042 WD

14340

0 A...

Suspended

DEV003

0043 RW

14340 NR 0043 WD

14340

0 A...

Suspended

DEV004

0044 RW

14340 NR 0044 WD

14340

0 A...

Suspended

DEV005

0045 RW

14340 NR 0045 WD

14214

0 A...

Suspended

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 57

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

As seen earlier, the Capture and Transmit data on the R1 side are marked as R2 invalids. The Receive
data on the R2 side is marked as R1 invalid. The pair state is suspended.

Legend for MODES:


M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync,
C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

C(onsistency State): X = Enabled, . = Disabled, - = N/A

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 57

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Monitoring SRDF/A symevent


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symevent list -error

Symmetrix ID: 000187910035


Time Zone

: EDT

Detection time

Dir

Src

Category

Severity

Error Num

------------------------ ------ ---- ------------ ------------ ---------Fri Aug 19 11:55:24 2005 RF-16D Symm RDF

Error

0x004e

SRDF/A Session dropped, no RDF links operational.

Fri Aug 19 15:39:15 2005 RF-15D Symm RDF

Error

0x004e

SRDF/A Session dropped, no RDF links operational.

Fri Aug 26 16:29:48 2005 RF-2D

Symm RDF

Error

0x004a

SRDF/A Session dropped, write pending limit reached. Host throttling disabled.

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 58

The dropping of the SRDF/A session can also be displayed via the symevent command.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 58

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Giving Preference to Sessions via Priority Setting


DMX8HP1[ksh] # symstat -type cache -reptype rdfa -rdfg all -i 5
SRDF/A Session Cache Summary Information
Symmetrix Id

: 000187910035

System Write Pending Limit

: 110000

Cache Slots available for all SRDF/A sessions : 88000

(3.36 GB)
(2.69 GB)

Session
RA

-----------------------------

Device Group Name

Grp

Type Number Priority Status

-----------------

---

---- ------ -------- --------

Cache Slots
In Use

%Available
Cache Used

-----------

----------

RaGrpNum_03

RDF1

32 Active

6664

7.6

RaGrpNum_05

RDF1

31 Active

61362

69.7

RaGrpNum_04

RDF1

33 Active

22790

25.9

-----------

----------

90816

103.2

Total
Slots
-Next iteration of the symstat commandRaGrpNum_03

RDF1

32 Active

9058

10.3

RaGrpNum_05

RDF1

31 Active

48098

54.7

RaGrpNum_04

RDF1

33 Inactive

18010

20.5

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 59

In this instance, the Cache available for SRDF/A has been set to 80% (2.69/3.36). When 100% (103.2)
of this is used, we see that the session with the least priority is dropped first RA Group 4 with a
priority of 33.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 59

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Factors that Affect RPO

RPO

Workload

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF Bandwidth

Symmetrix Cache

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 60

There are three factors that affects RPO of an SRDF/A implementation: SRDF bandwidth, Symmetrix
Cache, and Workload. During a SRDF/A cycle, new changes are captured in the local Symmetrix
cache before being sent via the SRDF link to the remote Symmetrix. The Symmetrix should have
enough cache to accommodate these changes occurring before the cycle switch time has elapsed. At
the same time, there should also be a sufficient bandwidth for SRDF link to push these changes to the
remote site. If there is not enough cache or bandwidth, SRDF/A may not be able to maintain the RPO
at twice the cycle time. The process to determine these three factors should involve EMC personnel
and is essential to a successful SRDF/A implementation.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 60

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Industry Bandwidth Estimates


Type of Link

..

Price / Month

T1

600

T3

4,500

OC-3

10,000

OC-48

80,000

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Dollars

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 61

Industry Estimates of Bandwidth Pricing.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 61

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Example of Bandwidth, Cache, and Workload


 Interval Length is 15 minutes
 Peak Workload is for 6 intervals (or 90 minutes)
 Non-Peak Workload results in 30 second SRDF/A Cycles
BANDWIDTH USAGE

Peak Workload

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
23
:4
5
:0
0
7:
45
:0
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8:
45
:0
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9:
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:0
0

Mbyte per Second

Non-Peak Workload

TIME INTERVAL
COMPRESSED BANDWIDTH

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

BANDWIDTH LIMIT

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 62

In this example, there is 1 OC-3 Link (15.5 MB/s) with 2:1 Compression between the local and remote
site. The workload produces 6 peak writes above the bandwidth.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 62

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Cache Requirements for One OC-3 Link


 Cache Requirements are significant in order to cover the peak times
Base Cache covers SRDF/A during normal operations (below b/w)
Peak Cache is the significant contributing value

150.00
100.00
22:45:00

21:30:00

20:15:00

19:00:00

17:44:59

16:30:00

15:14:59

14:00:00

12:45:00

11:30:00

10:14:59

9:00:00

0.00

7:45:00

50.00
TIME

Cache (GB)

SRDF/A Cache Requirements

Time
PEAK CACHE (GB/interval)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

BASE CACHE (GB/30 sec cycle)

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 63

The single OC-3 bandwidth is not sufficient to push the data surge during peak writes. As a result, the
data is accumulating the cache on the local Symmetrix. This drives the cache requirement up to around
80GB.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 63

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

The RPO Impact with One OC-3 link


 Providing you can configure enough cache, SRDF/A works perfectly
fine with less than Synchronous bandwidth
 This, as depicted below, directly affects the RPO

22:45:00

21:30:00

20:15:00

19:00:00

17:44:59

16:30:00

15:14:59

14:00:00

12:45:00

11:30:00

10:14:59

9:00:00

7:45:00

1000.00
800.00
600.00
400.00
200.00
0.00

TIME

RPO (Seconds)

SRDF/A Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

Time of day
RPO TIME (SECS)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 64

If the additional cache was added, SRDF/A RPO would be almost 800 seconds with a single OC-3
link. Even though the SRDF/A cycle may have been set at 30 seconds, SRDF/A would not be able to
maintain it.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 64

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

The Effect of Adding an Extra OC-3 Link


 Increasing the bandwidth to 31MB/s reduces the cache requirements

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

23
:4
5:
0
7: 0
45
:0
8: 0
45
:0
9: 0
45
:
10 00
:4
5:
11 00
:4
5:
12 00
:4
5:
13 00
:4
5:
14 00
:4
5:
15 00
:4
5:
16 00
:4
5:
17 00
:4
4:
18 59
:4
5:
19 00
:4
5:
20 00
:4
5:
21 00
:4
5:
22 00
:4
5:
00

Mbyte per Second

BANDWIDTH USAGE

TIME INTERVAL
COMPRESSED BANDWIDTH

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

BANDWIDTH LIMIT

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 65

This example explores the option if the second OC-3 link was added to the configuration. The
bandwidth would be 31 MB/sec. The workload would not produce any peak writes that are above the
bandwidth.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 65

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Matching Cache Requirements for 2 ATM OC-3


 Cache Requirements are significant in order to cover the peak times
Base Cache adequately covers SRDF/A during normal operations
Peak Cache is no longer needed

:0
0
:4
5

:0
0
22

:3
0

:0
0
21

:1
5

20

:0
0

:0
0

:5
9
19

:4
4

:0
0
17

:3
0

:5
9
16

:1
4

15

:0
0

:0
0

:0
0
14

:4
5

:0
0
12

:3
0

:5
9
11

:1
4

:0
0

10

9:
00

7:
45

TI
M

:0
0

2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
E

Cache (GB)

SRDF/A Cache Requirements

Time
PEAK CACHE (GB/interval)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

BASE CACHE (GB/30 sec cycle)

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 66

This shows that the implementation does not need additional cache to accommodate peak writes. We
have eliminated the 80 GB peak cache with an extra OC-3 link.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 66

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

The RPO Impact with 2 OC-3 Links


 We have a reduced requirement for cache and no requirement for peak cache
 This, as depicted below, allows us to continuously maintain a 60 second RPO

70.00
60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
TI
M
7: E
45
:0
9: 0
00
:
10 00
:1
4:
11 59
:3
0
12 :00
:4
5
14 :00
:0
0
15 :00
:1
4
16 :59
:3
0
17 :00
:4
4:
19 59
:0
0
20 :00
:1
5
21 :00
:3
0
22 :00
:4
5:
00

RPO (Seconds)

SRDF/A Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

Time of day
RPO TIME (SECS)
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 67

Therefore, SRDF/A would be able to maintain the 30-second cycle resulting in the RPO of 60 seconds.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 67

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

The Bandwidth Change


 If our sample customer is flexible on the RPO, but is only willing to provide limited
bandwidth, say 5 T3 (4.5 MB/s each), then we can see the results
 We can still observe peak requirements. These directly affect the RPO and cache

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
23
:4
5:
00
7:
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:0
8: 0
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:0
9: 0
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:
10 00
:4
5:
11 00
:4
5:
12 00
:4
5:
13 00
:4
5:
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:4
5:
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:4
5:
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:4
5:
17 00
:4
4:
18 59
:4
5:
19 00
:4
5:
20 00
:4
5:
21 00
:4
5:
22 00
:4
5:
00

Mbyte per Second

BANDWIDTH USAGE

TIME INTERVAL
COMPRESSED BANDWIDTH

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

BANDWIDTH LIMIT

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 68

We have examined the implementation of SRDF/A with one and two OC-3 links. Now, lets look at an
alternative in terms of link bandwidth with 5 T3 links.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 68

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Cache Requirements for Five T3 Links


 Cache Requirements are still high in order to cover the peak times
Base Cache adequately covers SRDF/A during normal operations
Again, Peak Cache is the major factor

Cache (GB)

SRDF/A Cache Requirements


40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
:0
0
:4
5

22

:3
0

:0
0

:0
0
21

:1
5

20

:0
0

:0
0

:5
9
19

:4
4
17

:3
0

:0
0

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9
16

:1
4
15

:0
0

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0

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0
14

:4
5
12

:3
0

:0
0

:5
9
11

:1
4

:0
0

10

:0
0

9:
00

7:
45

TI
M

0.00

Time
PEAK CACHE (GB/interval)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

BASE CACHE (GB/30 sec cycle)

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 69

With five T-3 links, SRDF/A would need 30 GB of cache to accommodate the sample workload.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 69

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

RPO Impact with Five T-3 Links

22:45:00

21:30:00

20:15:00

19:00:00

17:44:59

16:30:00

15:14:59

14:00:00

12:45:00

11:30:00

10:14:59

9:00:00

7:45:00

350.00
300.00
250.00
200.00
150.00
100.00
50.00
0.00
TIME

RPO (Seconds)

SRDF/A Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

Time of day
RPO TIME (SECS)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 70

This implementation yields the RPO of 300 seconds. The balance of bandwidth and cache to achieve a
desirable RPO is specific to a workload pattern as shown by the three examples. A methodical and
thorough planning is crucial to a successful SRDF/A implementation.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 70

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Concurrent SRDF with SRDF/A


One source, two targets
 One target sync
short distance, zero data lag

 One target async


longer distance, variable data lag, no
performance impact

 SRDF: Remote Re-synch


SRDF/S
(sync)

Continued protection upon source failure

Host
SRDF/A
(async)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 71

In an SRDF configuration, a single source (R1) device can concurrently be remotely mirrored to two
target (R2) devices. This allows you to have two identical remote copies available at any point in time.
It is valuable for duplicate restarts or disaster recovery, or for increased flexibility in data mobility and
migrating applications. Concurrent RDF technology can use two different RA adapters (RAs, RAFs, or
RFs) in the interface link to achieve the connection between the R1 device and its two concurrent R2
mirrors. Each of the two concurrent mirrors must belong to a different RDF (RA) group
Enginuity 5671 supports Concurrent SRDF with SRDF/A. Only one of the SRDF mirrors is allowed
to be in Asynchronous mode, regardless if SRDF/A is active or not.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 71

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/A Restrictions
 Each SRDF/A group must be unidirectional
 Concurrent RDF with both RDF mirrors in SRDF/A mode
is not allowed
 A personality swap with SRDF/A running is not allowed
 Cannot activate empty SRDF/A group
 SRDF/A-capable devices that are enabled for
consistency group protection must be disabled before
attempting to change the mode from asynchronous
 Symmetrix RDF Automated Replication (SRDF/AR)
control operations are not supported for SRDF/A-capable
devices running in asynchronous mode
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 72

The list is not conclusive. Please refer to EMC Solutions Enabler Symmetrix SRDF Family CLI
Version 6.0 PRODUCT GUIDE P/N 300-000-877 for more information.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 72

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Module Summary
Key points covered in this module:
 Technical requirements of a successful SRDF/A implementation
 Supported SRDF/A hardware platforms
 Transmit Idle and DSE (Delta Set Extension)
 Factors that affects RPO (Recovery Point Objective) in an SRDF/A
implementation
 Cycles within SRDF/A operations
 SRDF/A Consistent Deactivation
 Multi Session Consistency
 Configuration parameters that affect SRDF/A behavior

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 73

These are the key points covered in this module. Please take a moment to review them

SRDF/A (Asynchronous) - 73

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication)


Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:
 Describe the benefits of integrating EMCs SRDF and
TimeFinder applications
 List business needs and requirements using an SRDF
single or multi-Hop Symmetrix configuration
 Describe a Clustered SRDF/AR environment
 List SRDF/AR configuration requirements
 Describe the purpose of the symreplicate options file
 List the replication cycle steps for a single and multi-hop
environment
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 1

The objectives for this module are shown here. Please take a moment to read them.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 1

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Symmetrix Remote Data Facility/Automated Replication

 Allows business restart


site to be any distance
away from source
 Collaboration of SRDF and
TimeFinder commands
 Minimizes network costs

R1
or
STD

R2

SRDF
R1/BCV Adaptive Copy

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

BCV

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 2

SRDF/AR allows users to automate the sequence of SRDF and TimeFinder mirror operations. The
automated sequence, cycle, is performed on a user-defined interval called cycle time.
The replication cycles automatically loop indefinitely or to the number of cycles specified by the users.
Users perform all SRDF/AR operations, setup, start, stop, restart, and query, through the
symreplicate command. Even though the SRDF link can be set to all SRDF operational mode,
except Asynchronous, it is usually set to operate in Adaptive Copy mode due to the long distance
between local and remote sites. This allows the users to save on network bandwidth thus minimizing
the network costs without compromising the integrity of the data.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 2

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/AR Requirements
 Software requirements
Solutions Enabler 4.3.1 (or later, if using PowerPath for consistent
split)
Solutions Enabler 5.1 (or later, if using ECA for consistent split)
Requires TimeFinder, SRDF, and SRDF/AR licenses

 TimeFinder Consistency Options


Enginuity 5x66 or later for use with PowerPath 2.1 or later
 Single server, single Symmetrix consistency

Enginuity 5567 for use with Enginuity Consistency Assist (ECA)


 Multiple server, single Symmetrix consistency
 Enginuity 5568, 5569
 Patch Q203 for 5x67

 Supported open systems hosts


Solaris, Windows NT/2000/2003, HP-UX, AIX
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 3

SRDF/Automated Replication (SRDF/AR) provides the ability to automate data copies across SRDF
links, providing a restartable image of the data at the remote site in the event of a disaster at the
production site. It combines both SRDF and TimeFinder to complete its operations. This slide lists the
requirements for both SRDF and TimeFinder in an SRDF/AR environment. Please refer to the EMC
Support Matrix for the latest information.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 3

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/AR Single-Hop Configuration


 Uses 2 Symmetrix arrays
 Uses STD, R1-BCV, R2 and BCV device types
 SRDF Mode of Operation
Adaptive copy

 Controlled data loss


Remote BCV can be used for disaster restart

Host

R1
or
STD

R2

R1
BCV

BCV

Local
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Remote
SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 4

The copy path for a single-hop configuration is from the local R1/BCV pair (1) to the SRDF pair (2) to
the remote BCV pair (3). The remotely associated BCV holds the DBMS restartable copy. The
amount of data loss is a function of the replication cycle time (period of time between the start of one
copy cycle and the start of another copy cycle). Copy cycle time is affected by distance, bandwidth,
I/O update rate, and locality of reference for the updates. Update rate and locality of reference tend to
equate to changed tracks. The maximum data loss would be one copy cycle, thus makes the RPO ~
One Cycle Time.
Single Hop benefits include:
The ability to perform incremental resynchronization between the intermediate SRDF target site and
the final SRDF target site, reducing required network bandwidth
Reduction in communication link cost and improved resynchronization time for long-distance SRDF
implementations

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 4

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Single Hop Set-up: Create a Device Group


1. Create a device group:
symdg create single type
regular
100

101

STD

R2

2. Add standard device to device group:


symld g single add dev 100
3. Associate R1/BCV device:

102

101
R1
BCV

Local

BCV

Remote

symbcv g single associate


dev 101
4. Associate remote BCV device:
symbcv g single associate
dev 102 rdf bcv

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 5

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 5

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Single Hop Set-up: Initialize Mirrors


1. Establish the STD and R1/BCV (Note1):
symmir -g single est full
This step also automatically suspends the SRDF
link
100

101

STD

R2

1 2 6

102

101
R1
BCV

Local

BCV

Remote

2. Split the STD and R1/BCV:


symmir g single split -consistent
3. Resume SRDF linkNote1:
symrdf g single resume -bcv
4. Establish the R2 and remote BCV (Note1):
symmir g single est full rdf bcv
5. Split the R2 and remote BCV:
symmir g single split full rdf
bcv
6. Establish the STD and R1/ BCV:
symmir -g single est

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 6

There are 6 steps to prepare the states of all mirrors involved in SRDF/AR Single Hop setup prior to
running symreplicate command. To begin a replication session in the single-hop configuration, the
mirrors must be in the following states:
Local BCV pair must be synchronized
SRDF pair must be suspended
Remote BCV pair must be split
Note 1:
Users must wait and check for the full synchronization after issuing the command before proceeding to
the next step.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 6

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/AR Multi-Hop Configuration


 Uses 3 Symmetrix arrays:
Local site, Hop1 bunker site, and Hop2 target site
Uses R1, R2, R1-BCV, and BCV (optional) device types
SRDF Mode of Operation
 Local to Hop 1 Bunker: Synchronous
 Hop 1 Bunker to Hop 2 Target: Adaptive Copy

Zero data loss at Bunker site


One cycle data loss at Target site

Host

R1

Local

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

R2

BCV

R1
BCV

R2

Bunker

Target

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 7

The copy path for a multi-hop configuration is from the local SRDF pair (1) to the remote BCV pair
(2) to the remote SRDF pair (3) to the Target BCV (4). If your configuration does not include Target
BCVs, the path stops at (3).
Automated replication with the BCVs at Target is applicable if you want a zero data loss solution but
cannot risk the loss of both the Local site and Bunker site at the same time. With this configuration,
there are two possible disaster restart possibilities:
If only the Local site is lost, the result is zero data loss at the Target restart site.
If both the Local and Bunker site are lost, the result is a DBMS restartable copy at the Target restart
site with controlled data loss. The amount of data loss is a function of the replicate copy cycle time
between the Bunker site and the Target restart site.
Multi-Hop benefits include:
The ability to perform incremental resynchronization between the intermediate SRDF target site and
the final SRDF target (Multi-Hop) site, reducing required network bandwidth
Reduction in communication link cost and improved resynchronization time for long-distance SRDF
implementations
The ability to use the SRDF Multi-Hop site to provide disaster recovery testing, point-in-time
backups, decision support operations, third-party software testing, and application
upgrade
testing or the testing of new applications

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 7

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Multi-Hop Set-up: Create a Device Group


1. Create a device group:
symdg create multi type
r1
100

100

102

R1

R2

BCV

2. Add the R1 device to the device


group:
symld g multi add dev 100

Local

101

101

R1
BCV

R2

Bunker

Target

3. Associate R1/BCV device:


symbcv g multi associate
dev 101 -rdf
4. Associate remote BCV device from
the Target:
symbcv g multi associate
dev 102 rrdf

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 8

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 8

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Multi-Hop Set-up: Initializing Mirrors


1.

Establish the R2 and R1/BCV on Bunker (Note1 &


Note 2):

symmir -g multi est -rdf

100

R1

SRDF/S

100

102

R2

BCV

1 2 3

101

R1
BCV
Local

Bunker

5
101

2.

Split the R2 and R1/BCV and establish SRDF link


between Bunker and TargetNote1:
symmir g multi split -remote consistent rdf

3.

Re-establish the R1/BCV and R2 on Bunker (Note 2):


symmir g multi est rdf

4.

Establish the R2 and remote BCV on Target (Note1):


symmir f <devfile> sid <Target> est

R2
Target

or

symmir g multi est rrbcv


5.

(Note 3)

Split the R2 and remote BCV on Target:

symmir f <defile> -sid <Target>


split
or

symmir g multi est rrbcv

(Note 3):

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 9

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

There are 5 steps to prepare the states of all mirrors involved in SRDF/AR Multi Hop setup prior to
running symreplicate command. To begin a replicate session in the multi-hop configuration, the
mirrors must be in the following states:
Local SRDF pair must be synchronized
BCV pair on Bunker must be synchronized
Remote SRDF link between Bunker and Target must be suspended
BCV pair on Target must be split
Note 1:
Users must wait and check for the full synchronization after issuing the command before proceeding to
the next step.
Note 2:
This automatically suspends the SRDF link between the R1/BCV on Bunker and R2 on the Target
sites.
Note 3:
The BCV must associated with the device group with the rrdf option.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 9

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

SRDF/AR
 The continuous movement of dependent write consistent
data to a remote site in an asynchronous mode
Standard to BCV/R1 => R2 to BCV Single Hop
R1 => R2 to BCV/R1 => R2 [to BCV] Multi-Hop

 Support for Composite Groups (CG)


CG can span multiple Symmetrix arrays
A device group is limited to a single Symmetrix array
Can use a CG and consistent split to create a DBMS-restartable
copy of a database that spans multiple hosts and multiple Symmetrix
arrays

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 10

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 10

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

The symreplicate Command


 SYMCLI binary that integrates symmir and symrdf commands
with the appropriate arguments and options depending on the
configuration
 Used to propagate automated data copies
Incremental (changed tracks only)
Behavior is based on pre-defined parameters (symreplicate options file)

 When used with TimeFinder consistent split, ensures a


remotely-associated BCV contains a DBMS restartable copy
of data
Requires PowerPath or ECA

 Used in both single-hop and multi-hop configurations


 Used to start, stop, restart, or query replication sessions
 Executed on local host
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 11

Symreplicate invokes a replicate session that generates automated, recurrent background copies of the
standard data across SRDF links and cascading BCVs. You can start, stop, and restart the replicate
session.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 11

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

The symreplicate Options File


 User created, named, and configurable text file that defines and
controls replication behavior
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_HOP_TYPE=<RepType>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE=<CycleTime>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE_OVERFLOW=<OvfMethod>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE_DELAY=<Delay>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_NUM_CYCLES=<NumCycles>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_USE_FINAL_BCV=<TRUE|FALSE>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_LOG_STEP=<TRUE|FALSE>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_GEN_TIME_LIMIT=<TimeLimit>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_GEN_SLEEP_TIME=<SleepTime>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_RDF_TIME_LIMIT=<TimeLimit>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_RDF_SLEEP_TIME=<SleepTime>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_BCV_TIME_LIMIT=<TimeLimit>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_BCV_SLEEP_TIME=<SleepTime>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_MAX_BCV_SLEEP_TIME_FACTOR=<Factor>
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_MAX_RDF_SLEEP_TIME_FACTOR=<Factor>
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 12

The option file is a text file that contains parameters such as SRDF/AR hop type and cycle time. This
file is required and is used in conjunction with the symreplicate command to start a replication session.
This slide lists the variables available to be placed in the SRDF/AR options file. There are a minimum
of two options that must exist for the symreplicate to be executed. The two required options are:
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_HOP_TYPE and one of SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE or
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE_DELAY.
As of Solutions Enable 6.2 additional SYMCLI REPLICATE variables have been added.. Ref the
SE product guide for a complete detailed explanation.
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CONS_SPLIT_RETRY,
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_R1_BCV_EST_TYPE,
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_R1_BCV_DELAY,
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_FINAL_BCV_EST_TYPE,
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_FINAL_BCV_DELAY, and
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_PERSISTENT_LOCKS

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 12

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

The symreplicate Options File (Cont.)


SYMCLI_REPLICATE_HOP_TYPE=[SINGLE|MULTI]
** Must be specified

SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE=[minutes|hh:mm]
Defines the period to wait between copy operations if more than 1
cycle
Can be specified in total minutes or hours and minutes
Defaults to 0; when one cycle ends another begins
**Either CycleTime or Delay is a required parameter

SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE_DELAY=[minutes]
Specifies the minimum time to wait between the end of one cycle
and the beginning of the next cycle
Defaults to 0
** Either CycleTime or Delay is a required variable
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 13

The two options that must exist for the symreplicate to be executed are:
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_HOP_TYPE and either SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE or
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE_DELAY.
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_HOP_TYPE is self explanatory and is directly dependent on the
configuration.
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE or SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE_DELAY requires a time
interval for its value.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 13

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The symreplicate Options File (Cont.)


 Time limit parameters
Control how long symreplicate retries operations
 Applies only when an error occurs continuously
or
 When no data has flowed for duration of the timer

Can set a time limit that is smaller than the actual time the operation
takes
Timer will not expire as long as data flows between device

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 14

EMC recommends using default settings initially. Time limit parameter changes should only be made
based on recommendations from EMC.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 14

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The symreplicate Options File (Cont.)


 Sleep time parameters
Specifies the minimum amount of that symreplicate sleeps:
Before checking again to see if devices have entered a specific state
or

To retry an operation when a recoverable error occurs

symreplicate must wait for prior operations to complete before


moving to subsequent operations
If the pair state is not reached, symreplicate sleeps for a period
of time and then checks device state again
When checking device state, symreplicate calculates how long to
sleep based on the number of invalid tracks and the rate data is
moving
Value must be greater than 0

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 15

EMC recommends using default settings initially. Sleet time parameter changes should only be made
based on recommendations from EMC.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 15

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Cycle, Delay and Overflow Parameters

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 16

The three parameters SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE, SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE_OVERFLOW,


and SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE_DELAY significantly contribute to how the next replication cycle
starts after the current cycle.
The next two slides show different combinations of cycle time, delay time, and overflow behavior to
achieve various results. Reference points on the cycle time lines are marked ACT (actual completion
time), NCS (next cycle start), and MDT (minimum delay time). Short cycle and delay times (in
minutes) were chosen for illustration purposes only.
Copy cycles #1 and #2 have the same cycle time (2) and no delay time. When copy cycle #1 runs
longer than two minutes, the overflow setting of Next results in a new copy cycle beginning at the
four-minute mark.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 16

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Cycle, Delay and Overflow Parameters (Cont.)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 17

Copy cycles #3 and #4 have the same cycle time (2) and the same delay time (3). When copy cycle #3
runs longer than two minutes, the system waits three minutes and then resumes copying at the next
scheduled copy cycle (the six-minute mark). When copy cycle #4 runs longer than two minutes, the
system waits three minutes and then resumes copying as soon as the wait period completes.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 17

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Cycle, Delay and Overflow Parameters (Cont.)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 18

Copy cycle #5 finishes before its scheduled cycle time of three minutes, waits two minutes, and begins
copying again at the next scheduled copy cycle (the six-minute mark). Copy cycle #6 performs
continuous copy cycles when its cycle time is set to zero. At the end of a cycle, the system waits three
minutes and then begins another copy cycle, regardless of the overflow setting.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 18

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

More Options
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_USE_FINAL_BCV=[TRUE|FALSE]
Specifies whether a BCV should be used in the Target site of a multihop replication
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_PROTECT_BCVS=[NONE|LOCAL|REMOTE|FIRST
_HOP|SECOND_HOP|BOTH]
Specifies if a protected BCV establish operation should be performed.
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_TF_CLONE_EMULATION=[TRUE|FALSE]
Specifies if TimeFinder Clone emulation mode should be used for
RAID-5 BCVs.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 19

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Protected BCV establish:


NONE: normal TimeFinder operations
LOCAL: protected establish of local BCVs in a single-hop replication
REMOTE: protected establish of remote BCVs in a single-hop replication
FIRST_HOP: protected establish of Hop-1 BCV pairs in a multi-hop replication
SECOND_HOP: protected establish of Hop-2 BCV pairs in a multi-hop replication
BOTH: protected establish of both Hop-1 and Hop-2 BCV pairs in a multi-hop replication, and both
local and remote BCV pairs in single-hop replication
Clone Emulation: Beginning with Solutions Enabler 6.0, if ALL BCVs are RAID-5 BCVs,
TimeFinder/Mirror commands automatically map to corresponding TimeFinder/Clone commands.
However, if there is a mixed environment, i.e. some RAID-5 BCVs and others are RAID1/unprotected, then this option must be explicitly set to TRUE. Default is FALSE.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 19

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Defining and Adjusting Parameters


 EMC recommends starting with loose time constraints for
cycle time parameters
 Adjust parameters once basic information is gathered or
determined from initial cycles
Data size
SRDF throughput
Operation timings

 Session progress can be monitored using the query


argument for the symreplicate command and settings
can be adjusted as required
 As of SE 6.1, the symreplicate stats command
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 20

It is recommended to be generous with time parameters for cycles, and adjust once more information is
collected for various cycles. The times configured in the options file should be configured for worst
case scenarios.
Beginning with Solutions Enabler 6.1, you can display statistical information for cycle time and
invalid tracks by using the symreplicate stats command. The command can be issued by device group
(-g) or composite group (-cg) for a specified Symmetrix (-sid) and information can optionally be
written to a specified log file (-log).
The -all option is the default and will display both the cycle time and invalid tracks statistics. The
following example will display both cycle time and invalid track for device group abcdg on Symmetrix
123,
symreplicate -g abcdg -sid 23 -all stats log abcdg.log

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 20

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Overview of Implementation
 Perform initial synchronization tasks
Devices must be in specific pair states for SRDF/AR cycle to execute

 Issue the symreplicate command to begin the


replication cycle
Specify the options file
Specify TimeFinder consistent split operations
Automatic replication continues until the session completes the
number of predefined cycles or until symreplicate command
issued to stop the session
Sessions can be started, stopped, restarted, or queried
Pre-action and post-action scripts can be applied to the data
replication process

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 21

Before using the symreplicate command, perform the initial synchronization tasks. All devices must be
in a specific paired state before executing the SRDF/AR cycle.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 21

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Automatic Initialization to Required Mirror States


Execute one cycle to prepare the mirror states
# symreplicate -g single setup -option /chai/test
Execute a symreplicate 'Start' operation
for device group 'single' (y/[n]) ? y

Prepare the mirror states and start the session


# symreplicate -g single start -option /chai/test setup -consistent
Execute a symreplicate 'Start' operation
for device group 'single' (y/[n]) ? y

Use ECA for TimeFinder


Consistent split. ppath
and vxfs could also be used
SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 22

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Beginning in SE 5.4, SRDF/AR supports automatic setup using:


 symreplicate setup
 symreplicate start -setup
The setup command:
 Sets-up required pair states
Options file indicates single or multi hop type setup
Same options file used for setup and subsequent start command
 Executes one cycle, which may take some time, and then exits
Setup command executes just one cycle, regardless of the number of cycles specified in the
options file
The start command with the -setup option:
 Sets-up the required pair states
 If successful, begins the symreplicate session
Options file defines the hop type and the copy cycle parameters that you have chosen for the
session

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 22

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Single Hop Replication Cycle


1. Split BCV pairs (wait for any ongoing establish to
complete...)
2. Establish RDF pairs
3. Suspend RDF pairs (wait for the establish operation to
complete...)
4. Establish BCV pairs
5. Establish BRBCV pairs
6. Split the BRBCV pairs (wait for the establish operation
to complete...)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 23

The symreplicate command automatically executes the above steps in each cycle during a replication
session. These steps are similar to those used to initializing the mirror states. It is important to
understand these inner working steps because users can choose to terminate a session after the current
step instead of at the end of the cycle. The SYMCLI_REPLICATE_LOG_STEP parameter in the
option file must be to TRUE for symreplicate to log the information after each step to the SYMAPI log
file. The location of the SYMAPI varies from one platform to another. The format of the file name,
symapi-YYYYMMDD.log, is identical across platforms.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 23

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Single Hop Example: Options File


DMX800ibm1 /var/symapi/config more rep_options.txt
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_HOP_TYPE=SINGLE
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE=10
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE_OVERFLOW=NEXT
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_NUM_CYCLES=6

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 24

A simple Options file specifying single-hop replication of 10 minute cycle times, to be repeated 6
times.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 24

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Single Hop Example: Setup


DMX800ibm1 / symreplicate -g single_hopdg setup -optimize -options
/var/symapi/config/rep_options.txt -foreground nop

Checking for valid group configuration...


Checking for valid initial group state...
Setting up local BCV pairs...
Optimizing Local BCV pairs...
Waiting for local BCV synchronization...
Splitting local BCV pairs...
Incrementally establishing RDF pairs...
Setting up remote BCV pairs...
Optimizing remote BCV pairs...
Incrementally establishing remote BCV pairs...
Waiting for RDF synchronization...
Waiting for remote device synchronization...
Splitting remote BCV pairs...
Incrementally establishing local BCV pairs...
Setup complete; exiting symreplicate...

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 25

The setup command runs one cycle and exits. The foreground option provides details of each of the
steps being executed.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 25

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Single Hop Example: Query and Start


DMX800ibm1 / symreplicate -g single_hopdg query
Device Group (DG) Name

: single_hopdg

DG's Symmetrix ID

: 000187910035

Remote Symmetrix ID

: 000187910156

Replicate
Hop Type

Status

Step

Cycle

Current

Max

Period

Cycle

Cycles

--------- --------- ----------------------------- -------- -------- -------SINGLE

Completed Setting up devices

10 m

DMX800ibm1 / symreplicate -g single_hopdg start -options


/var/symapi/config/rep_options.txt -consistent -nop

Checking for valid group configuration...


Checking for valid initial group state...
symreplicate process launched.

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 26

Query shows the setup has completed. We are now ready to start the single-hop replication cycles.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 26

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Single Hop Device States: R1/BCVs


DMX800ibm1 / symmir -g single_hopdg query
Device Group (DG) Name: single_hopdg
DG's Type

: REGULAR

DG's Symmetrix ID

: 000187910035

Standard Device

BCV Device

State

-------------------------- ------------------------------------- -----------Inv.


Logical

Sym

Inv.

Tracks Logical

Sym

Tracks STD <=> BCV

-------------------------- ------------------------------------- ------------

DEV001

001C

0 BCV001

0021 *

0 Synchronized

DEV002

001D

0 BCV002

0022 *

0 Synchronized

DEV003

001E

0 BCV003

0023 *

0 Synchronized

DEV004

001F

0 BCV004

0024 *

0 Synchronized

DEV005

0020

0 BCV005

0025 *

Total

-------

Track(s)
MB(s)

0 Synchronized
-------

0.0

0.0

Legend:
(*): The paired BCV device is associated with this group.
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 27

At the start of a cycle, the R1/BCVs are established and synchronized with the Standard devices.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 27

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Single Hop Device States: Target BCVs


DMX800ibm1 / symmir -g single_hopdg query -bcv -rdf
Device Group (DG) Name: single_hopdg
DG's Type

: REGULAR

DG's Symmetrix ID

: 000187910035

Remote Symmetrix ID

: 000187910156
R E M O T E

Standard Device

S Y M M E T R I X
BCV Device

State

-------------------------- ------------------------------------- -----------Inv.


Logical

Sym

Inv.

Tracks Logical

Sym

Tracks STD <=> BCV

-------------------------- ------------------------------------- -----------BCV001

0021

0 BRBCV001

002B *

0 Split

BCV002

0022

0 BRBCV002

002C *

0 Split

BCV003

0023

0 BRBCV003

002D *

0 Split

BCV004

0024

0 BRBCV004

002E *

0 Split

BCV005

0025

0 BRBCV005

002F *

Total

-------

Track(s)
MB(s)

0 Split
-------

0.0

0.0

Legend:
(*): The paired BCV device is associated with this group.
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 28

The BCVs on the Target site are split from their R2s.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 28

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Single Hop Device States: R1/BCV R2 (SRDF)


DMX800ibm1 / symrdf -g single_hopdg query -bcv
Device Group (DG) Name

: single_hopdg

DG's Type

: REGULAR

DG's Symmetrix ID

: 000187910035
R E M O T E

S Y M M E T R I X

Source (R1) View

Target (R2) View

-------------------------------ST

MODES

------------------------ ----- -----------LI

ST

BCV

Logical

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

R1 Inv

R2 Inv

RDF Pair

Tracks

Tracks

S Dev

Tracks

Tracks MDA

STATE

Device

Dev

-------------------------------- -- ------------------------ ----- -----------BCV001

0021 NR

0 NR 0021 WD

0 S..

Suspended

BCV002

0022 NR

0 NR 0022 WD

0 S..

Suspended

BCV003

0023 NR

0 NR 0023 WD

0 S..

Suspended

BCV004

0024 NR

0 NR 0024 WD

0 S..

Suspended

BCV005

0025 NR

0 NR 0025 WD

0 S..

Suspended

Total

-------- --------

Track(s)
MB(s)

-------- --------

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0
SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 29

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

The link between the R1/BCVs and their R2s on the Target site is Suspended.

Legend for MODES:


M(ode of Operation): A = Async, S = Sync, E = Semi-sync,
C = Adaptive Copy
D(omino)

: X = Enabled, . = Disabled

A(daptive Copy)

: D = Disk Mode, W = WP Mode, . = ACp off

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 29

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Single Hop: Stop a Session


DMX800ibm1 / symreplicate -g single_hopdg stop

Execute a symreplicate 'Stop' operation


for device group 'single_hopdg' (y/[n]) ? y

Stop operation underway.

DMX800ibm1 / symreplicate -g single_hopdg query

Device Group (DG) Name

: single_hopdg

DG's Symmetrix ID

: 000187910035

Remote Symmetrix ID

: 000187910156

Replicate
Hop Type

Status

Step

Cycle

Current

Max

Period

Cycle

Cycles

--------- --------- ----------------------------- -------- -------- -------SINGLE

Stopped

Waiting for next cycle

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

10 m

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 30

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 30

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Single Hop: Restart a Stopped Session


DMX800ibm1 / symreplicate -g single_hopdg restart -recover

Execute a symreplicate 'Restart' operation


for device group 'single_hopdg' (y/[n]) ? y

symreplicate process launched.

DMX800ibm1 / symreplicate -g single_hopdg query

Device Group (DG) Name

: single_hopdg

DG's Symmetrix ID

: 000187910035

Remote Symmetrix ID

: 000187910156

Replicate
Hop Type

Status

Step

Cycle

Current

Max

Period

Cycle

Cycles

--------- --------- ----------------------------- -------- -------- -------SINGLE

Active

Establishing RDF pairs

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

10 m

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 31

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 31

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Failure/Recovery: Single Hop


 When a failure occurs in the primary site, we can have
one of the three situations on the target site
All BCVs on the target are split from their corresponding R2 devices
All BCVs on the target are established with their corresponding R2
devices
Some of the BCVs on the target are split from their corresponding
R2 devices, while others are still established with their corresponding
R2 devices

 Recovery/Restart involves identifying devices with the


most current and consistent copy of data

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 32

Determination of the states of the devices and deducing the cycle step using the states can be
performed from a host on the target side, using appropriate device files. These operations can be
performed from a different host on the source side, if the failure only affected the primary host, and the
array and site are still available and accessible.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 32

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Failure/Recovery: Single Hop (Cont.)


 All BCVs at target site are split:
Are R1/BCVs established with the Standard devices?
Are R1/BCVs transmitting owed data to their R2 devices?
Are R1/BCVs R2 pairs in a partitioned state?

 All BCVs at target site are established:


R1/BCVs have completed transmission of data. The BCVs are in the
process of being synchronized with their R2s

 At the target site, some BCVs are split while others are
still established:
R1/BCVs have completed transmission of data. The BCVs are in the
process of being split from their R2s

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 33

All BCVs are split: If the host on the primary site has failed, but the array and links are available, the
R1/BCVs can either be established with the Standard devices or can be split from the Standard devices
and transmitting data to the R2. In the former case, both the R2 and BCV contain identical and
consistent data, and restart can be done from either set of devices. In the latter case, the most recent
data received by the R2 and BCV has consistent data up to the last cycle. In this case, one can wait for
transmission to complete and then restart from the R2. Prior to restart it would be advisable to reestablish the BCVs, synchronize, and split to maintain a gold copy. In the third case, R1/BCVs still
have tracks owed to the R2. So the consistent data resides on the BCV. One can restart using these or
preferably restore the BCV data to the R2s and restart from the R2.
All BCVs are established: It is clear that both R2 and BCVs have the most recent and consistent data
at the end of the BCV synchronization. One can then split the BCVs (to maintain a gold copy) and
restart from the R2s.
Some BCVs are split while others are still established: The R2s have the most recent and consistent
data. Re-establish all the BCVs with the R2s, synchronize, and split (to maintain a gold copy), prior to
restarting from the R2s.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 33

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Multi-Hop Replication Cycle


1. Split the first hop BCV pairs (wait for the ongoing
establish to complete)
2. Establish remote RDF pairs
3. Suspend remote RDF pairs
4. Establish the first hop BCV pairs (wait for the RDF
establish to complete...)
5. Establish the second hop BCV pairs
6. Split the second hop BCV pairs (wait for the establish
operation to complete...)

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 34

The symreplicate command automatically executes the above steps in each cycle during a replication
session. These steps are similar to those used to initialize the mirror states. It is important to understand
these inner working steps because users can choose to terminate a session after the current step instead
of at the end of the cycle. The SYMCLI_REPLICATE_LOG_STEP parameter in the option file must
be set to TRUE for symreplicate to log the information after each step to the SYMAPI log file. The
location of the SYMAPI varies from one platform to another. The format of the file name, symapiYYYYMMDD.log, is identical across platforms.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 34

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Clustered SRDF/AR

Host A

Host B

R1

R2

BCV

SFS

R1
BCV

R2

Bunker

Target

Local

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 35

Since Enginuity 5669, Symmetrix arrays support clustered SRDF/AR environments for multiple node
(host) capability. Clustered SRDF/AR provides the capability to start, stop, and restart replication
sessions from any host connected to any local Symmetrix array participating in the replication session.
The clustered SRDF/AR environment allows the replication log file to be written directly to the
Symmetrix File System (SFS) instead of the local host directory of the node that began the session. If
the primary node should fail, then any locally attached host to the Symmetrix array containing the log
file would then be able to restart the SRDF/AR session from where it left off. If you begin a session
and specify a user log file name (-log), you must specify the -log option for all other commands in the
session sequence.
To write the log file to the SFS, you must specify the ID of the Symmetrix array (-sid) where the log
file is to be stored at the start of the replication session, along with a group name (-g, -cg) and an
optional user log filename (-log).
For example:
symreplicate start -g session1 -log srdfar1.log -sid 201
Note:
Not specifying the Symmetrix ID (-sid) at the start of the session, causes the log file to be written to
local disk using the default SYMAPI log directory, which is not restartable from another node.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 35

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Failure/Recovery: Multi-hop
 In the event of a primary site failure, R2s on the bunker
site always contain the most recent and consistent data
(SRDF/S between R1 R2). The state of the R1/BCVs in
the bunker site dictates the restart/recovery procedures at
the target site:
Are R1/BCVs established with the R2 devices?
Are R1/BCVs transmitting owed data to their R2 devices at the target
site i.e. All R1/BCVs are split from their R2s?
Are some R1/BCVs split, while others are established?

 As in the case of single-hop failure, recovery/restart


involves identifying devices with the most current and
consistent copy of the data, but at the bunker site
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SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 36

Note that BCVs at the target site are optional in a multi-hop configuration
(SYMCLI_REPLICATE_USE_FINAL_BCV=<TRUE|FALSE>). In case BCVs are used at the
target site, we must consider their pair states if we wish to preserve copy of data from previous cycle.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 36

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Failure/Recovery: Multi-hop (Cont.)


 R1/BCVs are established with their R2s
Bunker R2s are synchronizing the most recent data with the
R1/BCVs. Target R2 and optional BCV contain consistent data up to
the last cycle

 R1/BCVs are split from their R2s


R1/BCVs are transmitting data and optional BCVs are split from the
target R2s
R1/BCVs have completed data transmission, and optional BCVs are
either split from or established with the target R2s

 Some R1/BCVs are split while others are established with


their respective R2s
Optional target BCVs are necessarily in a split state
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SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 37

R1/BCVs are established with their R2s: In this case we can wait for synchronization between
R1/BCVs and the bunker R2s. Then split the R1/BCVs and resume the link between R1/BCVs and
target R2s. The optional BCVs at the target site can be left in a split state to preserve consistent data
from the previous cycle.
R1/BCVs are split from their R2s: If the target BCVs are split, then one can re-establish the
R1/BCVs with the bunker R2s, wait for synchronization, split, and resume the link between R1/BCVs
and the target R2s. The BCVs at the target will again have consistent data up to the last cycle. If BCVs
at the target site are in an established state, one can wait for or verify synchronization, split the BCVs
(to preserve data from the previous cycle), then perform the re-establish, synchronization, split, and
resume of the R1/BCVs.
Some R1/BCVs are split while others are established with their respective R2s: In this instance,
one can re-establish ALL the R1/BCVs with the bunker R2s, synchronize, split, and resume links to get
the most recent and consistent data over to the target R2s.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 37

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

General Recovery Procedures


 Once the R2 devices on the target site are populated with
the most recent and consistent data, they must be RW
enabled for the host
 Application restart times must be factored in to the overall
Recovery Time Objective
 Availability of necessary device file definitions at the
target site can help in reducing the RTO. Device files
must be updated on any configuration changes adding
more Standard devices or R1s
 It is preferable to restart/recover from the R2 devices
Facilitates easier return home
BCVs can be used to preserve previous cycles data
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 38

RW enabling of R2s can be performed via the symrdf failover command with the appropriate device
file definitions.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 38

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Module Summary
Key points covered in this module:
 Benefits of integrating EMCs SRDF and TimeFinder
applications
 Business needs and requirements using an SRDF single
or multi-Hop Symmetrix configuration
 Clustered SRDF/AR environmens
 SRDF/AR configuration requirements
 The symreplicate options file
 Replication cycle steps for a single and multi-hop
environment
2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 39

These are the key points covered in this module. Please take a moment to review them.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 39

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Course Summary
Key points covered in this course:
 Relevancy of SRDF solutions with different (RPO) Recovery Point Objective needs
 SRDF concepts, terminology and functionality
 Use of the SYMCLI command set to perform SRDF operations
 SRDF host considerations and configurations within Sun Solaris, HP-UX, IBM AIX, and
Windows LVM environments
 SRDF/A operations
 SRDF/A theory of operations and application
 Architectural components of SRDF/A
 SRDF/AR operations
 Architectural components of SRDF/AR
 SRDF/AR theory of operations
 SRDF/Star environment
 EMC Consistency Technology

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 40

These are the key points covered in this training. Please take a moment to review them.
This concludes the training. In order to receive credit for this course, please proceed to the Course
Completion slide to update your transcript and access the Assessment.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 40

Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

Closing Slide

2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 41

This concludes, Module VI SRDF Consistency Technology for Symmetrix Business Continuity
SRDF Solutions.

SRDF/AR (Automated Replication) - 41

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