Switching a production environment to the backup system involves much more than just replication. A Certified MIMIX Consultant can help you identify and incorporate those things into your switching environment. Although MIMIX has configuration-dependent variations in how switching activities are performed and controlled, switching the direction of data replication fundamentally occurs at the data group level.
Planned and unplanned switching is not supported in environments licensed for Assure MIMIX DR.
When you configure a data group definition, you specify which of the two systems in the data group is the source for replicated data. In normal operation, data flows between two systems in the direction defined within the data group. When you need to switch the direction of replication, for example, when a production system is removed from the network for planned downtime, default values in the data group definition allow the same data group to be used for replication from either direction.
In a planned switch, you are purposely changing the direction of replication for any of a variety of reasons. You may need to take the system offline to perform maintenance on its hardware or software, or you may be testing your disaster recovery plan. In a planned switch, the production system (the source of replication) is available. When you perform a planned switch, data group processing is ended on both the source and target systems. The next time you start the data group, it will be set to replicate in the opposite direction.
In an unplanned switch, you are changing the direction of replication as a response to a problem. Most likely the production system is no longer available. When you perform an unplanned switch, you must initiate the switch from the target system. Data group processing is ended on the target system. The next time you start the data group, it will be set to replicate in the opposite direction.
MIMIX also supports virtual switching, which provides the ability to test production applications from a target node while MIMIX and your production environment are active. A virtual switch does not change the direction of replication. Instead, it tracks changes made on the target node while testing and automatically removes those changes when recovering from the virtual switch activity. Virtual switching considerations, behavior, and instructions are included in the Assure MIMIX Operations book.