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Setting up replication using individual tasks

To configure and set up replication without completely following through the Create Replicated Data Set wizard, perform the following discrete tasks:

  Creating a Replicated Data Set

  Synchronizing the Secondary and starting replication

If you want to add a bunker Secondary to the RDS, you can do so after adding the Secondary. See Adding a bunker Secondary to the RDS.

Creating a Replicated Data Set

To create a Replicated Data Set (RDS) using VVR VEA, perform the following tasks in the order listed below:


Creating a Primary RVG of the RDS

Prerequisites for creating a Primary RVG:

  Data volumes of the same names and size must exist on all the hosts that are to be a part of the RDS.

  SRLs of the same name must exist on all the hosts that are to be a part of the RDS.

 To create a Primary RVG of an RDS

  1. Perform step 1 to step 9 in Setting up replication using the create RDS wizard.
  2. Click Finish to create the Primary RVG of the RDS and quit the Create Replicated Data Set wizard.

Adding a Secondary to the RDS

 To add a Secondary to the RDS

  1. From the tree view, select the name of the RDS for which you want to create the Secondary. For example, hr_rvg.
  2. Choose Replication > Add Secondary. To use the pop-up menu, right-click the name of the RDS, for example, seattle. The Add Secondary Wizard is displayed.
  3. Click Next.
  4. Perform step 11 to step 14 in Setting up replication using the create RDS wizard.
  5. Click Finish to add the Secondary to the RDS.
Synchronizing the Secondary and starting replication

Before starting replication, the Secondary data volumes must be synchronized with the Primary data volumes. The Start Replication task enables you to synchronize the Secondary and start replication between the Primary and a specific Secondary of an RDS. For a bunker Secondary, the bunker SRL must be synchronized with the Primary SRL.

The Start Replication task can be launched from any host in an RDS. The name of the RVG on the local host represents the RDS.


To synchronize the Secondary and start replication:

  1. Select the name of the Secondary that is to be synchronized and to which you want to start replication. For example, london.
  2. Choose Replication > Start Replication. The Start replication dialog box is displayed.
Start replication dialog box

For a Secondary, the Start Replication task provides the following options to start replication:

For a bunker Secondary, the Start Replication task synchronizes the bunker SRL with the Primary SRL, starting from the Secondary that is most behind in the RDS. Note that the Start Replication task synchronizes the bunker Secondary using automatic synchronization. The Synchronization not needed and Checkpoint options are not applicable for a bunker Secondary.

Notes:

  • Depending on the selected option, the Start Replication task synchronizes the Secondary data volumes with the Primary data volumes, and then starts replication. For more information on the methods to synchronize the Secondary and how to choose the appropriate method to synchronize the Secondary, see Methods to synchronize the Secondary.
  • The Synchronize Secondary wizard synchronizes the Primary and Secondary data volumes only.

Starting replication using automatic synchronization

The instructions in this section assume that the RDS has been created using the procedure described in the section Creating a Replicated Data Set.

 To synchronize the Secondary and start replication using automatic synchronization

  1. Select the name of the Secondary that is to be synchronized and to which you want to start replication. For example, london.
  2. Choose Replication > Start Replication. To use the pop-up menu, right-click the name of the Secondary, for example, london. The Start Replication dialog box is displayed.
  3. From the Start Replication dialog box, select Automatic Synchronization and click OK. The Start Replication dialog box displays the result of your request to start replication.

    Notes:

    • While automatic synchronization is in progress, the Replicated Data Set View for the RDS displays the Data Status as inconsistent, and the Replication Status as resync in progress (autosync).
    • After the automatic synchronization completes, the Data Status changes to consistent; up-to-date and the Replication Status changes to replicating (connected) in the Replicated Data Set View for the RDS.

Setting up replication using checkpoint

The instructions in this section assume that the RDS has been created using the procedure described in the section Creating a Replicated Data Set. You can synchronize the Secondary using block-level backup and checkpoint when the application is active or inactive.

  1. Start a checkpoint using the command-line interface. For instructions, see Creating checkpoints.
  2. Perform a block-level backup of the data volumes in the Primary RVG.
  3. End the checkpoint using the command-line interface.
  4. Restore the backup to the Secondary data volumes.
  5. Check whether the checkpoint you created is still valid by selecting the Checkpoints tab in the Primary RVG view and then clicking Get Checkpoints. If the checkpoint has overflowed, repeat step 1 to step 6.
  6. Choose Replication > Start Replication to start replication. The Start Replication dialog box is displayed.
  7. From the Start Replication dialog box, select Checkpoint to synchronize the Secondary and start replication using checkpoint.
  8. From the drop-down box, select the name of the checkpoint.
  9. Click OK. The Start Replication dialog box displays the result of your request to start replication.
  10. Click OK to close the Results dialog box. The RDS View for hr_rvg on seattle is automatically refreshed to display the replication status at a particular point in time, for the replication that has just been started. If the Secondary is consistent, the synchronization was successful.

    If the checkpoint overflows before the Secondary becomes consistent, the synchronization fails. Increase the size of the SRL, and then repeat step 1 to step 11. For instructions on resizing the SRL, see Resizing the SRL.

  11. In the RDS view, check Data Status to find out whether the Secondary is up to date.

    Notes:

    • The same backup and the corresponding checkpoint can be used to set up additional Secondary hosts while the checkpoint is still valid.
    • If a checkpoint has overflowed, its corresponding backup cannot be used to resynchronize the Secondary using that checkpoint. Eventually, any checkpoint becomes STALE and unusable.
    • While synchronization using checkpoint is in progress, the Replicated Data Set View for the RDS displays the Data Status as inconsistent, and the Replication Status as replicating (connected).
    • After the synchronization using checkpoint completes, the Data Status changes to consistent and the Replication Status changes to replicating (connected) in the Replicated Data Set View for the RDS.