IBM FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R Business Continuity Solutions

IBM FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R Business Continuity Solutions

by Bert Dufrasne, Francesco Anderloni, Roger Eriksson, Lisa Martinez
Released May 2021
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: 9780738457437

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Book description

This edition applies to FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R, Model 415 and 425, with system software Version 12.3

IBM® FlashSystem A9000 and IBM FlashSystem® A9000R provide copy functions suited for various data protection scenarios that enable you to enhance your business continuance, disaster recovery, data migration, and backup solutions. These functions allow point-in-time copies, known as snapshots, and also include remote copy capabilities in either synchronous or asynchronous mode.

Furthermore, support for IBM Hyper-Scale Mobility enables a seamless migration of IBM FlashSystem A9000 or A9000R volumes to another with no interference to the host.

Starting with software level V12.1, the IBM HyperSwap® feature delivers always-on, high availability (HA) storage service for storage volumes in a production environment. Starting with version 12.2, asynchronous replication between the IBM XIV® Gen3 and FlashSystem A9000 or A9000R is supported. Starting with Version 12.2.1, Hyper-Scale Mobility is enabled between XIV Gen3 and FlashSystem A9000 or A9000R.

Version 12.3 offers Multi-site replication solution that entails both High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR)function by combining HyperSwap and Asynchronous replication to a third site.

This IBM Redpaper™ publication is intended for anyone who needs a detailed and practical understanding of the IBM FlashSystem A9000 and IBM FlashSystem A9000R replication and business continuity functions.

Table of contents

  1. Front cover
  2. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  3. Preface
    1. Authors
    2. Now you can become a published author, too
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  4. Chapter 1. Business Continuity functions
    1. 1.1 Mirroring
      1. 1.1.1 Synchronous Mirror
      2. 1.1.2 Asynchronous Mirror
    2. 1.2 Hyperswap
    3. 1.3 Multi-site HA/DR
    4. 1.4 Migration
    5. 1.5 Hyper-Scale Mobility
  5. Chapter 2. Snapshots
    1. 2.1 Snapshots handling
      1. 2.1.1 Creating a Snapshot of a volume
      2. 2.1.2 Snapshot deletion priority
      3. 2.1.3 Restoring a volume from a Snapshot
      4. 2.1.4 Managing Snapshots with the GUI
      5. 2.1.5 Managing Snapshots with the CLI
      6. 2.1.6 Snapshot Scheduler
    2. 2.2 Consistency Group Snapshot
      1. 2.2.1 Creating Consistency Groups
      2. 2.2.2 Adding volumes to a Consistency Group
      3. 2.2.3 Managing Consistency Groups with the GUI
      4. 2.2.4 Managing Consistency Groups with the CLI
      5. 2.2.5 Snapshot Groups
  6. Chapter 3. Remote connectivity
    1. 3.1 IBM FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R remote mirror scenarios
      1. 3.1.1 Defining remote mirror roles
      2. 3.1.2 Connecting mirroring ports
    2. 3.2 Planning and prerequisites
      1. 3.2.1 Cross-Gen mirroring with XIV Gen3 considerations
      2. 3.2.2 Gross-Gen Mirroring with XIV Gen3 best practices
    3. 3.3 Remote mirroring configuration using GUI or CLI
      1. 3.3.1 Initial setup
      2. 3.3.2 Remote mirror target configuration through Hyper-Scale Manager
      3. 3.3.3 CLI examples
  7. Chapter 4. Remote mirroring
    1. 4.1 Mirroring overview
      1. 4.1.1 Remote mirroring modes
    2. 4.2 Boundaries
    3. 4.3 Mirroring schemes
      1. 4.3.1 Peer designations and roles
      2. 4.3.2 Operational procedures
      3. 4.3.3 Mirroring status
      4. 4.3.4 Link failure and last consistent snapshot
    4. 4.4 Remote mirroring configurations
      1. 4.4.1 Using snapshots
    5. 4.5 Using remote mirroring
      1. 4.5.1 Defining volume and consistency group mirroring
      2. 4.5.2 Cross-Generational Mirroring with XIV Gen3
      3. 4.5.3 Using offline initialization
      4. 4.5.4 Defining consistency group mirroring
      5. 4.5.5 Adding a mirrored volume to a mirrored consistency group
    6. 4.6 Migrating data by using remote mirroring
    7. 4.7 Recovering from a site failure
      1. 4.7.1 System failure at the local site
      2. 4.7.2 Changing role of target volume or CG
    8. 4.8 Deleting mirror coupling definitions
    9. 4.9 Recovery from a temporary site outage
      1. 4.9.1 Enabling production on the remote site
      2. 4.9.2 Recovering the local site
      3. 4.9.3 Restoring the original DR configuration
    10. 4.10 Temporary deactivation of mirroring
      1. 4.10.1 Consistency group and volume state after link failure
      2. 4.10.2 Consistency group and volume state after the link is restored
      3. 4.10.3 Deactivating mirror coupling: Change recording
      4. 4.10.4 Mirror reactivation and resynchronization: Normal direction
  8. Chapter 5. HyperSwap
    1. 5.1 HyperSwap feature overview
      1. 5.1.1 Basic configuration
      2. 5.1.2 HyperSwap as a critical feature for high availability
    2. 5.2 Architecture, design, and components
      1. 5.2.1 Host paths
      2. 5.2.2 Failure domains
      3. 5.2.3 Connection with host stretch-cluster configurations
    3. 5.3 Independent Quorum Witness
  9. Chapter 6. Multi-site HA/DR
    1. 6.1 Multi-site HA/DR feature overview
    2. 6.2 Architecture, design, and components
      1. 6.2.1 Roles in a multi-site relationship
      2. 6.2.2 Standby asynchronous mirror
    3. 6.3 Multi-site HA/DR advantages
      1. 6.3.1 Flexibility
      2. 6.3.2 Non-disruptiveness
      3. 6.3.3 Ease of use
  10. Chapter 7. Hyper-Scale Mobility
    1. 7.1 Introduction to Hyper-Scale Mobility
    2. 7.2 Hyper-Scale Mobility design considerations
    3. 7.3 Hyper-Scale Mobility requirements
    4. 7.4 Hyper-Scale Mobility process description
      1. 7.4.1 Stage 1: Setup
      2. 7.4.2 Stage 2: Migration in progress
      3. 7.4.3 Stage 3: Proxying
      4. 7.4.4 Stage 4: Cleanup
    5. 7.5 Usage prerequisites and considerations
      1. 7.5.1 Volume and storage pool considerations
      2. 7.5.2 Management workstation connectivity
      3. 7.5.3 Connectivity between the source and destination systems
      4. 7.5.4 Host system connectivity
    6. 7.6 Management software support for Hyper-Scale Mobility
      1. 7.6.1 Hyper-Scale Manager features
      2. 7.6.2 XCLI functions that support Hyper-Scale Mobility
    7. 7.7 Using Hyper-Scale Mobility
      1. 7.7.1 Using Hyper-Scale Mobility with Hyper-Scale Manager GUI
      2. 7.7.2 Using the command-line interface with Hyper-Scale Mobility
      3. 7.7.3 Migrating volumes from XIV to FlashSystem A9000 or A9000R using Hyper-Scale Manager
  11. Chapter 8. Data migration
    1. 8.1 Migration overview
    2. 8.2 Source storage connectivity
      1. 8.2.1 Multipathing with data migrations
    3. 8.3 Detailed migration steps for an iSCSI connection
      1. 8.3.1 Initial connection and preparation
      2. 8.3.2 Define and test data migration volumes
      3. 8.3.3 Activating data migration on the migrated volumes
      4. 8.3.4 Define the host in IBM FlashSystem A9000 and bring the host online
      5. 8.3.5 Complete the data migration on IBM FlashSystem A9000
      6. 8.3.6 Removing migration connectivity
    4. 8.4 Detailed migration steps for a Fibre Channel connection
      1. 8.4.1 Initial connection and preparation
      2. 8.4.2 Perform pre-migration tasks for each host that is migrated
      3. 8.4.3 Define and test data migration volumes
      4. 8.4.4 Activating data migration on the migrated volumes
      5. 8.4.5 Define the host in IBM FlashSystem A9000 and bring the host online
      6. 8.4.6 Complete the data migration on IBM FlashSystem A9000
      7. 8.4.7 Removing Migration Connectivity
  12. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. Other publications and Online resources
    3. Help from IBM
  13. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: IBM FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R Business Continuity Solutions
  • Author(s): Bert Dufrasne, Francesco Anderloni, Roger Eriksson, Lisa Martinez
  • Release date: May 2021
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: 9780738457437