Pillar Storage Array LUN Replication

Update : Gokul Sathiacama, Director - Product Management at Pillar Data Systems emailed me that there is no need to have Clone license to run replication with AxiomOne r4.2. Thx Gokul

The latest release of Pillar Data AxiomOne introduced an internal replication. Here is an exemple of how to use it. This feature is actually only available with CLI.

Prerequesties :
You need AxiomOne FC and/or ISCSI protocol license, AxiomeOne Clone license and AxiomeOne Replication License.

First, download and uncompress the CLI replication utility from the Data Protection page.

You may use a copy of the sample file \axmreputil\client\samplexml\replication_pair_example.xml to create your own definition file in which you will describe source storage, target storage, LUNs to copy, replication ports and paths to use. Note that replication ports may be ISCSI or FC here. You may define 16 paths max for one channel.

click to enlarge
I defined here LUNTEST to copy with 4 FC ports one to one.

Regarding the QOS you choose, it may be useful to add some more GB to the size of the target LUN. Next you must define a snapshot zone for the source and the target LUNs

I defined here 10% of the source volume size for the snapshot zone.

Start a session on the source storage :

C:\axmreputil>axmrepsan start_session [login] [passwd] PillarSource
Command succeeded.

Link Storages and Luns to create a replication pair :

C:\axmreputil>axmrepsan create_replication_pair LUNTEST.xml [login] [passwd] PillarTarget
Command succeeded.

Start the synchronisation :

C:\axmreputil>axmrepsan start_replication_pair Pair_LUNTEST PrimaryToSecondary
The replication pair is starting.

Monitor the process :

C:\axmreputil>axmrepsan get_replication_pair_status Pair_LUNTEST
ReplicationPairName : Pair_LUNTEST
ReplicationPairPuid : 0x4130303233343242-0xa816012aa94d7fd7
PrimaryAxiomSSN : A002XXXXX
Direction : PrimaryToSecondary
PrimaryReplicationPairStatus : Starting Replication
BaseCopyPercentComplete : 7
SecondaryReplicationPairStatus : Starting Replication
ReconcilePercentComplete : 100

Replication process create a snapshot @ the source

When the synchronisation is ok, BaseCopy & Reconcile must indicate 100 and "Replication Active"

C:\axmreputil>axmrepsan get_replication_pair_status Pair_LUNTEST
ReplicationPairName : Pair_LUNTEST
ReplicationPairPuid : 0x4130303233343242-0xa816012aa94d7fd7
PrimaryAxiomSSN : A002XXXXX
Direction : PrimaryToSecondary
PrimaryReplicationPairStatus : Replication Active
BaseCopyPercentComplete : 100
SecondaryReplicationPairStatus : Replication Active
ReconcilePercentComplete : 100

You may find some useful informations inside the logs :

Informational Event Login by [login] succeeded
Informational Event Logout by [login]
Informational Event Login by RMRLite succeeded
Informational Event Login by RMRLite succeeded
Informational Event Replication Path Up
Informational Event Replication Channel Up
Informational Event Replication Path Up
Informational Event Replication Path Up
Informational Event Replication Path Up
Informational Event Replication Path Up
Informational Event Replication Pair State Change
Informational Event Replication Pair State Change
Informational Event Replication Pair State Change
Informational Event Replication Pair State Change

What's next ?

You can't use the destination copy while it's lock by the replication process but you may mount a snapshot and access datas. Perhaps, you will probably have to download and install the snapshot agents for your OS from your customer portal @ pillardata.com.

Very simple to use, have fun !