Dell PowerVault MD3260i - Manual (Page 85)

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Using The Remote Replication Premium Feature
The following types of Remote Replication premium features are supported on the MD storage array:
Remote
Replication Standard asynchronous replication using point-in-time images to batch the resynchronization
between the local and remote site. This type of replication is supported on either Fibre Channel
or iSCSI storage arrays (both local and remote arrays must have the same data protocol).
Remote
Replication
(Legacy) Synchronous (or full-write) replication that synchronizes local and remote site data in real-
time. This type of replication is supported on Fibre Channel storage arrays only.
NOTE: This chapter describes the standard Remote Replication premium feature supported in both iSCSI and Fibre
Channel storage arrays only. To understand the Remote Replication (legacy) premium feature, see
Using The
Remote Replication (Legacy) Premium Feature .
The Remote Replication premium feature provides for online, real-time replication of data between storage arrays over a
remote distance. In the event of a disaster or a catastrophic failure on one storage array, you can promote the second
storage array to take over responsibility for computing services. Remote Replication is designed for extended storage
environments in which the storage arrays that are used for Remote Replication are maintained at separate sites.
You can use Remote Replication for these functions:
Disaster recovery Remote Replication lets you replicate data from one site to another site, which provides an
exact duplicate at the remote (secondary) site. If the primary site fails, you can use replicated
data at the remote site for failover and recovery. You can then shift storage operations to the
remote site for continued operation of all of the services that are usually provided by the
primary site.
Data vaulting and
data availability Remote Replication lets you send data off site where it can be protected. You can then use the
off-site copy for testing or to act as a source for a full backup to avoid interrupting operations
at the primary site.
Two-way data
protection Remote Replication provides the ability to have two storage arrays back up each other by
duplicating critical virtual disks on each storage array to virtual disks on the other storage
array. This action lets each storage array recover data from the other storage array in the
event of any service interruptions.
How Remote Replication Works
Standard Remote Replication (asynchronous) is a premium feature that provides RAID controller-based data replication
between a local and remote storage array on a per-virtual disk basis. By identifying primary (local) and secondary
(remote) virtual disk pairs, called replicated pairs, write operations to the primary virtual disk of the pair are tracked by
the RAID controller firmware and captured in a point-in-time image and transferred to the secondary virtual disk in the
pair.
Remote Replication groups allow you to manage synchronization of both virtual disks to create a consistent data set
across local and remote storage arrays. Point-in-time images on the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtual disk
can be resynchronized in a batch approach that increases replication throughput. When data synchronization
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