Dell POWERVAULT MD3600I - Manual (Page 195)

(online) virtual disk and a secondary (offline) virtual disk, both of identical capacity. During operation, primary and
secondary roles can be interchanged to test the replicated data sets without breaking the relationship. Independent
copies may be created by deleting the relationship, in which case both virtual disks are available online to their
configured hosts.
Before creating a virtual disk pair, verify the following:
• The Remote Replication premium feature has been installed, enabled and activated on the primary and
secondary storage arrays.
• The storage arrays containing the two virtual disks you want to replicate are connected through a Fibre Channel
fabric interface.
• The secondary storage array contains a virtual disk that is equal (or larger) in capacity than the primary virtual
disk in the replicated pair.
• Both virtual disks are visible to the MD Storage Manager.
• All I/O into the secondary virtual disk is stopped and all file systems are unmounted.
CAUTION: Creating a replicated virtual disk pair starts a synchronous process between the primary and
secondary virtual disks. This process overwrites all existing data on the secondary virtual disk and sets the
disk to read-only access. If you have existing data on your secondary virtual disk, back up the data before
creating the replicated virtual disk pair.
Using Remote Replication (Legacy) With Other Features
Remote replication can be used with other disk utility features such as:
• Storage Partitioning
• Snapshot Virtual Disk Premium Feature
• Virtual Disk Copy Premium Feature
• Virtual Disk Expansion (VDE)
Snapshot Virtual Disk and Virtual Disk Copy are premium features that must be enabled and activated on the primary
storage array.
Storage Partitioning With Remote Replication (Legacy)
Storage partitioning allows hosts to share access to virtual disks in a storage array. A storage partition is created when
a collection of hosts (host group) or a single host is defined, then a virtual disk-to-logical unit number (LUN) mapping is
defined. This mapping allows you to define which host or host group has access to a particular virtual disk in the storage
array.
Storage partition definitions for the local storage array and remote storage array are independent. Establishing similar
definitions on the disk serving in a secondary role reduces administrative effort required during site recovery.
Snapshot Virtual Disk With Remote Replication (Legacy)
A snapshot virtual disk is a point-in-time image of a virtual disk. In a remote replication, do not mount a snapshot virtual
disk on the same server as the primary virtual disk.
Virtual Disk Copy With Remote Replication (Legacy)
The virtual disk copy premium feature copies data from a source virtual disk to a target virtual disk within the same
storage array.
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