To create and configure a new replication group, do the following:
- Navigate to the Replication Group or Clusters portlet.
- Click Configuration
The Configuration window displays.
For detailed information refer to the Assure MIMIX for AIX online help.
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Click New Replication Group to start the Replication Group Configuration wizard.
This starts the Replication Group Configuration wizard and the New Replication Group Servers panel displays.
The New Replication Group Servers panel contains the following fields:
Field Description Servers—Section for specifying the host name or IP address for the servers in this replication group.
Production Select from the list of portal connections that are associated with the instance. Recovery 1 Select the portal connection, host name, or IP address for the server in the first recovery server role. Possible values are any portal connection that is in the instance domain and has not been selected for the production server. Recovery 2 (optional) Select the portal connection, host name, or IP address, for the second recovery server. Possible values are any portal connection that is in the instance domain and has not been selected for the production or recovery server. Failover Options are: - Yes
- Do not failover
- Click Next.
The New Replication Group Names panel displays.
The New Replication Group Names panel contains the following fields:
Field Description Replication group name Specify the name of the replication group. Replication group names: - Can be 256 characters in length and can contain any alphanumeric character.
- Must be unique across the servers specified for the replication group. This is the same as for context IDs.
- Must start with an alphanumeric character. Hyphens ( - ) and underscores ( _ ) are allowed. Spaces or other special characters are not allowed
Primary context ID Defaults to the next available context ID on the specified servers. Context IDs must be unique across the servers specified for the replication group.Valid values are 1 to 999. Failover context ID Defaults to the primary context ID number plus 16. If a value greater than 983 is specified for the Primary context ID, no default is provided. Valid values are 1 to 999. Note: Only displays when the Failover server field on the Servers panel has a value other than Do Not Failover. - Click Next.
The New Replication Group Default Volume Groups panel displays.
The New Replication Group Default Volume Groups panel contains the following fields:
Field Description Default volume group Select the default volume group for each server from the list. Volume group type Displays the volume group type of the volume group selected for Default volume group. If no volume group is selected, this value is a dash. - Click Next.
The New Replication Group Logical Volumes panel displays.
Initially, a message indicating that Assure MIMIX for AIX is retrieving logical volume information from the production server is displayed.- The Add Logical Volumes dialog will not contain any logical volumes that are in use by other replication groups on the node.
- AIX standard logical volume types (such as, raw, jfs, jfs2, jfslog, and jfs21og) are allowed.
- AIX system internal logical volume types (such as, aio_cache, boot, copy, paging, sysdump) are not allowed. Any other non-standard logical volume types are allowed as “raw” logical volumes. If a logical volume is presented without an associated filesystem path it will be treated as a raw logical volume.
- Click Add.The Add Logical Volumes dialog displays.
- Select one or more logical volumes to protect on the production server.
- Select the volume group on the recovery servers where the replicated data will be located.
The Add Logical Volumes dialog contains the following columns:
Coulmn Description Server Displays the name of the server in the recovery role or the servers in the recovery 1 and recovery 2 roles. Default Volume Group The default volume group specified for each server. Volume group for replicated data Specifies where the selected logical volumes will be located on the recovery servers when they are replicated. Volume group type The type of the default volume group specified for each server. Production server volume group Filters the list of logical volumes on the production server. Logical Volume Displays the logical volumes on the production server. Logical volumes used internally by the product or have already been added to the list of protected logical volumes do not appear in this list Volume Group Displays the name and type of the volume group on the production server for the logical volume. Size (GB) Displays the size in gigabytes (GB) of the logical volume. Type Displays the type of logical volume. For example, raw, jfs, jfs2, and jfs2log. File System Displays the file system or mount point for the logical volume. Typically, around 20 characters but can be as long as 2048. If the length exceeds 76, the text is truncated with an ellipsis in the middle. Flyover text shows the entire path name. FS Log Displays the FS log for the logical volume. If length exceeds 76, the text is truncated with an ellipsis in the middle Recovery 2 Displays the server information for a 3 node configuration. Only displayed if more than one recovery server is configured. The volume group for replicated data cannot be changed in a three node configuration - Click OK. The following checks occur to ensure there are no errors.
- Unprotected file systems do not use the same JFS or JFS2 outline logs of protected file systems.
- Outline log logical volumes are not selected without the corresponding file system logical volume.
- File system logical volumes with outline logs have the corresponding outline log logical volume selected as well.
Refer to Setting up JFS log isolationon for detailed information.
The New Replication Group Logical Volumes panel displays with the selected logical volumes you want protected.
- Click Next.The New Replication Group Replication IP Addresses panel displays. Use this panel to specify IP labels or addresses that will be used specifically for replication. By default, replication uses the IP addresses of the servers. There are two options:
- If you select, Use server IP addresses for replication, the New
Replication Group Replication IP Addresses panel displays in the
following format.
- If you select, Use specified IP addresses for replication, the Replication Group Replication IP Addresses panel displays in the following format.
The Replication Group Replication IP Addresses panel contains the following fields:
Field Description Replication IP Addresses Indicates if the user wants to use the server IP address for replication or specify alternates. Possible values: - Use server IP addresses for replication
- Use specified IP addresses for replication
Production Server—Section heading for the production server. Production Server - Host name Identifies the name of the server in the production role. Production Server - IP address Identifies the resolved IP address from the host name. Possible values are any valid IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Recovery Server—Section heading for the recovery server. Recovery Server - Host name Identifies the name of the server in the recovery role. Recovery Server - IP address Identifies the resolved IP address from the host name. Possible values are any valid IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. - If you select, Use server IP addresses for replication, the New
Replication Group Replication IP Addresses panel displays in the
following format.
- Click Next.
The New Replication Group Containers panel displays. Use this panel to configure how data is moved between servers. Containers are used by internal processes and replication to move the changed data between servers. A larger total container size provides a larger rollback window. Smaller sized containers may replicate more frequently. Specify the quantity and size of the containers, the default volume group where the containers are located, and the number of logical volumes to use to balance IO and improve replication performance.
The Replication Group Containers panel contains the following fields:
Field Description Server Identifies the name of the server in the production and recovery roles. Number of containers Specify the number of containers to use on each server. Default values are 64 for the production server, and 128 for the recovery servers. Size of each container Specify the size of each container in MB. Since the size must match on all configured servers, the recovery and replicated values are display only. Possible values are 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and 512. Default is 16 Total size Displays the total space required for the containers on each server. Default volume group The default volume group specified for each server. Logical volumes Specify the number of logical volumes to create when creating containers. By default, the logical volumes are created on the default volume group. However if you choose, Use alternate volume groups or physical volumes for replication containers, then the logical volumes are created on the alternate volume groups or physical volumes. Default values are 2 for the production server and 3 for the recovery servers. Use alternate volume groups or physical volumes for replication containers Indicates if the you want to specify volume groups and physical volumes that will be used for the containers used for replication. If checked, the Replication Containers panel is displayed. If not checked, the Replication Containers panel is skipped. This box, is unchecked, by default. - Click Next. There are two possible actions:
- If you leave the Use alternate volume groups or physical volumes for replication containers checkbox unchecked on the Containers panel, the New Replication Group Container Options panel displays.
- If you check the Use alternate volume groups or physical volumes for
replication containers checkbox, the New Replication Group
Replication Containers panel displays. If the checkbox is not checked, this
panel is skipped.
Use the New Replication Group Replication Containers panel to select the volume groups and physical volumes where you want to locate the containers used specifically for replication.
The New Replication Group Replication Containers panel contains the following fields:
Field Description Production Server—Section heading for each server (production and recovery) Server Displays the name of the server. Total container size Displays the total space (in MB) required for the containers on the server. Volume Group Displays the list of volume groups on the specified server. Add Use this button to adds the volume group to the list and defaults the physical volume to Any. Volume Group Displays the name of a selected volume group. Physical Volume Displays a list of physical volumes (disks) on the specified volume group. Remove Removes the volume group from the list. This action is available after you add a volume group.
- Click Next.The New Replication Group Container Options panel displays. Use this panel to specify if you want to:
- Use compression during replication.
- Use encryption during replication. Send partially filled containers
after a specified amount of time. Otherwise, containers are sent when
they become full.
The New Replication Group Container Options panel contains the following fields:
Field Description Use compression during replication By default, the “Use compression during replication” checkbox is checked. To disable this option, remove the checkmark from the checkbox. In the Configuration Summary window, possible values are “Yes” (enabled) or “No” (disabled). The Send partially filled containers automatically option enables you to control the frequency of shipping containers (LFCs) to the recovery server during low I/O periods.
The container is examined when the frequency to check value is reached. If at that time the minimum percent filled value has not been reached, the container will not be sent. When the container reaches the minimum percent filled value, containers will not be immediately sent. There is a 5 second delay before the containers are sent. The 5 second delay is provided to account for the possibility that the container could become completely full. When the container is sent, the frequency to check value is reset and the entire process starts again.
Note you can also use the command line to Send partial containers automatically. Refer to Send partially filled containers automatically
Frequency to check Indicates how often to check for partially filled containers in seconds. Keep in mind the following:- Only enabled if the “Send partially filled containers automatically” checkbox is checked.
- Default value is 300 seconds.
- Valid range is 1 to 86,400, only numeric values are accepted. You must specify a value.
Minimum percent filled Indicates how full the container must be before it can be sent. Keep in mind the following:- Only enabled if the “Send partially filled containers automatically” checkbox is checked.
- Default value is 50%.
- Valid range is 0 to 99, only numeric values are accepted. You must specify a value.
Additional Options Field Description Mirrors—Section heading for mirror options. - Replication containers—Specifies the number of copies to make of the replication container logical volumes on the production server and the recovery server.
- Replica—Specifies the number of copies to make of the replica logical volumes on the recovery server.
- Snapshot—Specifies the number of copies to make of the snapshot container logical volumes on the production server and recovery server.
- Internal—Specifies the number of copies to
make of the internal container logical volumes on
the production server and recovery
server
Usage notes for mirroring
- If the number of available physical volumes is less than the number of copies requested, use the "-s n" (non-strict) flag to create the LV copies to avoid a configuration failure.
- If the number of available physical volumes is more than or equal to the number of copies requested, use the "-s" flag to create the LV copies.
- If you change a configuration and reduce the number of logical volume copies, the Configuration wizard does not remove all of the logical volume copies. You can use the "rmlvcopy" AIX command to manually remove the logical volume copies.
- When the configuration is deleted, Assure MIMIX DR for AIX deletes all replication, snapshot, and internal logical volume copies (except the replica).
- Click Next.
The New Replication Group Snapshot Buffer panel displays. When a snapshot is created, the snapshot buffer is used to hold the changes between the location in the rollback window where the snapshot was created and the current time. As changes are replicated, the snapshot buffer fills up.
The New Replication Group Snapshot Buffer panel contains the following fields:
Field Description Snapshot Buffers - Size Indicates how much space to reserve for the snapshot buffer. The value is a percent of the size of the logical volumes that have been selected to protect. Valid values are integers from 1 to 100. Default is 10. Warning threshold Indicates how full the snapshot buffer must be before you are warned that it is filling up.Valid values are integers from 1 to 100. Default is 75. Location Indicates that the snapshot buffers are located on default volume group of the production, on the production server and recovery server. Production Production server information. Only displayed if a failover server is configured. - Click Next.
The New Replication Group Ports panel displays. Port numbers are used for communication by the agents on each server. You must change the port number if it is not unique or it is already assigned to a different service.
The Configuration Wizard reads the /etc/services file to find ports numbers that are unassigned and populates the Port fields with the unassigned values. You can use the values discovered by the Configuration Wizard or change them. When the new replication group is deployed, the /etc/services file will be updated to include the port numbers for the replication group.
Keep in mind the following when assigning port numbers:- If you enter a port number value that is already in use, the service name that is using the port will be displayed in an error message.
- When a replication group is deleted through the portal application, the
entries that were previously added to the /etc/services file will be
changed by inserting a " # " at the beginning of each entry associated
with the replication group. Note: You can edit the /etc/services file and manually assign port assignments. However, this is not recommended. Refer to Assure MIMIX for AIX default ports.
The New Replication Group Ports panel contains the following fields:
Field Description Control Port Agent control ports column. Data Port Agent data ports column. Archive (AA) Specify the control and data ports used by the Archive Agent. - 1024-65535
- The default control port is 5747, the default data port is 5752
Apply (ABA) Specify the control and data ports used by the Apply Agent. Possible values: - 1024-65535
- The default control port is 5753, the default data port is 5750.
Send (LCA) Specify the control and data ports used by the Send Agent. Possible values: - 1024-65535
- The default control port is 5754, the default data port is 5751.
Restore client (CA/RA) Specify the control and data ports used by the Restore client/agent. Possible values:- 1024-65535
- The default control port is 5749, the default data port is 5748.
- Click Next.
The New Replication Group Tivoli Storage Manager panel displays. The Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) can archive containers which allows you to rollback or take snapshots farther back in time. Full backups of the server where the TSM client is running can also be performed.
The New Replication Group Tivoli Storage Manager panel contains the following fields:
Field
Description
Enable Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM)
Indicates if Tivoli Storage Manager is enabled for this replication group. Checkbox is unchecked by default.
TSM client - Server
Displays the name of the server where the TSM client is running. This is always the recovery server. Enabled only when Enable Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) is checked.
TSM client - User ID
Specify the user ID for TSM to use to log into the server where the TSM client is running. Enabled only when Enable Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) is checked.
TSM client - Password
Specify the password for TSM to use to log into the server where the TSM client is running. Enabled only when Enable Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) is checked.
TSM client - Options file
Specify the location of the TSM options file on the TSM client server. The default location is /usr/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin/dsm.opt. You can specify any valid path and file name. Enabled only when Enable Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) is checked.
TSM client - Domain
Specify the domain for TSM to use. Enabled only when Enable Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) is checked.
TSM server
Specify the host name or IP address of the server where the TSM server software is running. Valid values are any valid IPv4 and IPv6 addresses or host name. Enabled only when Enable Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) is checked.
- Click Next.
The New Replication Group Summary panel is a summary of this replication group's configuration. To save and initialize this configuration on the specified servers, click Finish. To cancel, click Cancel.
The content of this panel is the same as the Configuration Summary section in the Configuration window. Refer to the Assure MIMIX for AIX online help for additional information for the Configuration Window for replication groups. Refer to Configuration window for Replication Groups.
Note: When you initially configure a replication group the Finish button will be enabled, so that you can save the configuration to the servers and initialize the configuration. - Click Finish to configure the replication group. Note: Assure MIMIX for AIX prevents configurations from being created or changed if there is not enough space available. Once you have allocated additional space, you can click “Check Required Space” to verify that you have sufficient space.