SRDF Best Questions

What are the different types of Device Groups?

Regular, RDF1, RDF2 and Composite group
Briefly explain baout Regular, RDF1 and RDF2 device groups?
Regular device groups are normally used for TimeFinder operations
RDF1 and RDF2 device groups are normally used for SRDF operatins
What is composit group?
A composite group is a user-defined group of device members that can span multip
le Symmetrix arrays and SRDF groups. The CG type may be defined as REGULAR,RDF1,
RDF2, or RDF21, and may contain various device lists for standard, BCV, virtual
(VDEV), RBCV, BRBCV, second hop standard, and second hop BCV.
What are the different types of Remote Link directors used for SRDF?
RF (Fibre Channel directors)
RA (ESCON directors)
MPCD (Multiprotocol Channel Directors) available with these channel connections
FICON
iSCSI for host
GigE (RE) for SRDF
How many dynamic RDF groups can be created in an array?
Symmetrix DMX supports up to 64 total RDF groups.
What are the different types of Link configurations for SRDF?
Unidirectional: If all primary (source or R1) volumes reside in one Array and al
l secondary (target or R2) volumes reside in another Array, write operations mov
e in one direction, from primary to secondary. Data moves in the same direction
over every link in the SRDF group.
Bidirectional: If an SRDF group contains both primary and secondary volumes, wri
te operations move data in both directions over the SRDF links for that group.
Dual-Directional: With a dual-directional configuration, multiple SRDF groups ar
e used; some groups send data in one direction, while other groups send data in
the opposite
How the SRDF synchronous mode of operation works?
Write I/O received from host/server at the source
The I/O is transmitted to the target
An acknowledgment is provided by target back to the source
The I/O is serviced to the host
How the SRDF semi synchronous mode of operation works?
An I/O write is received from the host/server at the source.
The I/O is serviced to the host/server.
The I/O is transmitted to the cache of the target.
An acknowledgment is provided by the target back to the source.
How the SRDF Adaptive copy mode of operations works?
Write I/O received from host/server at the source
The I/O is serviced to the host I/O accumulates in/onSymmetrix cache in Write Pe
nding Mode R1 volumes in Disk Mode.
I/O is transmitted to the target.
An acknowledgment is provided by target back to the source.
What is Writing Pending and Disk Mode of Adaptive Copy?
I/O is accumulates in Symmetrix cache in Write Pending Mode
I/O is accumulates in R1 volume in Disk Mode
What is the purpose of Adaptive copy mode?
Adaptive Copy Mode is used primarily for data migrations and data center moves.
How the SRDF Asynchronous mode of operation works?
Write I/O received from host/server at the source
The I/O accumulates in Source Symmetrix cache
The I/O is serviced to the host
The I/O is continually transmitted to the target
The I/O accumulates in Target Symmetrix cache
What is SRDF Domino mode?
Domino Mode is used in conjunction with other SRDF modes except SRDF/A. It effec
tively stop all write operations to both source and target volumes if target vol
ume become unavailable, or if all SRDF links become unavailable. User will need
to manually re-enable the source volumes. While such a shutdown temporarily halt
s production processing, domino modes can prevent data integrity exposure that c
auses the inconsistent image on the target volume.
How the SRDF domino mode works?
Write I/O received from host/server at the source
The I/O fails to transmit to the target
Both Source and Target become unavailable
How many R2 devices can be paired with one R1 device concurrently?
Two
What are the restrictions of SRDF device group?
All devices in a disk group must be in the same Symmetrix ICDA
All devices must be of the same type (RDF1, RDF2, Regular)
A device can only belong to a single Device Group per SYMAPI database
How do you check the connectivity status of SRDF link?
Symrdf sid "SymID" ping
Symrdf sid "SymID" -RA list all
What are the disaster recovery operations?
Failover: from the source side to the target side, switching data processing to
the target side.
Failback: from the target side to the source side by switching data processing t
o the source side.
Update: the source side after a failover while the target side may still be oper
ational to its local host.
How will failover operation works?
Write Disable device(s) on SA at source (R1)
Suspend RDF link(s)
Read/Write Enable device(s) on RA at target (R2)
How will update operation works?
Suspend RDF link(s)
Merge device track tables between source and target
Resume RDF link(s)
How will failback operation works?
Write Disable device(s) on RA at target (R2)
Suspend RDF link(s)
Merge device track tables between source and target
Resume RDF link(s)
Read/Write Enable device(s) on SA at source (R1)
What are the decision support SRDF operations?
Establish:
Resume Normal SRDF operations
Preserves data on the source (R1) volumes, discarding changes to the target (R2)
volumes
Split:
Suspends link between source (R1) and target (R2) volumes
Enables read and write operations on both source and target volumes
Restore
Resume SRDF operations
Preserves data on the target (R2) volumes, discarding changes to the source (R1)
volumes
How the split operation will works?
Suspend RDF link(s)
Read/Write Enable device(s) on RA at target (R2) also.
How will establish operation works?
Write Disable device(s) on RA at target (R2)
Suspend RDF link(s)
Resume RDF link(s)
Merge device track tables between source and target
Resume RDF link(s)
How will restore operation works?
Write Disable device(s) on SA at source (R1)
Write Disable device(s) on RA at target (R2)
Suspend RDF link(s)
Merge device track tables between source and target
Resume RDF link(s)
Read/Write Enable device(s) on SA at source (R1)
Can you briefly explain about SRDF/S?
SRDF/S is a configuration of multiple Symmetrix units that maintains real time c
opies of logical volume data in more than one location.
Facility for maintaining real-time or near-real-time physically separate mirrors
of selected volumes.
Uses no host CPU resources Mirroring done at the storage level
Operating system independent
There is a performance impact on arrays
Limited distance
Can you briefly explain about SRDF/Asynchronous?
The Symmetrix array provides a consistent point-in-time image on the target (R2)
device, which is a short period of time behind the source (R1) device. Managed
in sessions, SRDF/A transfers data in predefined timed cycles or delta sets to e
nsure that data at the remote (R2) site is dependent write consistent.
SRDF/A provides a long-distance replication solution with minimal impact onperfo
rmance that particularly preserves data consistency with the database.
Promotes efficient link utilization resulting in lower link bandwidth.
Maintains a dependent write consistent copy on the R2 devices at all times.
Supports all current SRDF topologies, including point-to-point and switched fabr
ic.
Requires no additional hardware, such as switches or routers.
Supports all hosts and data emulation types supported by the Symmetrix array
Minimizes the impact imposed on the back-end DA directors.
Provides a performance response time equivalent to writing to local non-SRDF dev
ices.
Allows restore, failover, and failback capability between the R1 and the R2 site
s.
What are the factors that effects the SRDF/A implementation?
SRDF link Bandwidth, Symmetrix Cache and Workload.
What is SRDF Automated Replication?
SRDF/AR allows users to automate the sequence of SRDF and TimeFinder mirror oper
ations. The automated sequence, cycle, is performed on a user-defined interval c
alled cycle time. it is usually set to operate in Adaptive Copy mode due to the
long distance between local and remote sites. This allows the users to save on n
etwork bandwidth thus minimizing the network costs without compromising the inte
grity of the data.
Allows business restart site to be at any distance away from source
Collaboration of SRDF and TimeFinder commands
Minimizes network costs
How do you change or set the SRDF mode of operations?
Examples:
symrdf -g "DgName" set mode sync
symrdf -cg set mode semi
symrdf -f FileName set mode async
symrdf -g "DgName" set domino on
symrdf -g "DgName" set domino off
symrdf -g "DgName" set mode acp_wp
symrdf -g "DgName" set mode acp_off
symrdf -g prod set mode acp_disk
symrdf -g prod set mode acp_off
What is the background process during the SRDF pairs full establish?
The target (R2) device is Write Disabled to its local host I/O.
Traffic is suspend on the SRDF links.
All the tracks on the target (R2) device are marked invalid.
All tracks on the R2 side are refreshed by the R1 source side. The track tables
are merged between the R1 and R2 side.
Traffic is resumed on the SRDF links.
What is the background process during the failback?
The target (R2) device is Write Disabled to its local hosts.
Traffic is suspended on the SRDF links.
If the target side is operational, and there are invalid remote (R2) tracks on t
he source side (and the force option is specified), the invalid R1 source tracks
are marked to refresh from the target side.
The invalid tracks on the source (R1) side are refreshed from the target R2 side
. The track tables are merged between the R1 and R2 sides.
Traffic is resumed on the SRDF links.
The source (R1) device is Read/Write Enabled to its local hosts
How will the SRDF restore operation works?
The source (R1) device is Write Disabled to its local hosts.
The target (R2) device is Write Disabled to its local hosts.
Traffic is suspended on the SRDF links.
All tracks on the source (R1) device are marked as invalid.
All R1 tracks are refreshed from the R2 side. The track tables are merged betwee
n the R1 and R2 side.
Traffic is resumed on the SRDF links.
The source (R1) device is read/write enabled to its local hosts.
Explain step by step procedure to perform SRDF/S?
SRDF/S normal operations
Creating device groups in source and target Arrays:
symdg -type RDF1 create "SourceDgName"
symdg -type RDF2 create "TargetDgName"
Adding devices R1 and R2 devices to source and target device groups
symld -g "SourceDgName" add dev "SymDevName"
symld -g "TargetDgName" add dev "SymDevName"
Setting SRDF mode of operation:
symrdf -g "DgName" set mode sync
SRDF normal operations:
symrdf -g "DgName" suspend
symrdf -g "DgName" resume
SRDF/S disaster recover operations
symrdf -g "DgName" failover
symrdf -g "DgName" update -remote
symrdf -g "DgName" failback
SRDF/S decission support operations:
symrdf -g "DgName" split
symrdf -g "DgName" restore
symrdf -g "DgName" establish
Explain step by step procedure to perform SRDF/Asynchronous?
Creating RDF group:
symrdf addgrp -label -rdfg "GrpNum" -sid "SymID" -dir "DirNum" -remote_sid remote
_dir -remote_rdfg "RemoteRdfgNum"
Create device pair:
symrdf -file "DevFileName" -sid "SymID" -rdfg "GrpNum" -type r1 -establish -g "D
gName" createpair noprompt
Changing SRDF mode :
symrdf -g "DgName" set mode async -noprompt
Explain step by step procedure to perform SRDF/AR for single hop?
Create a device group:
symdg create "DgName" -type regular
Add the standard device to the device group:
symld -g "DgName" add dev "SymDev"
Associate the R1/BCV device:
symbcv -g "DgName" associate dev "SymBcvDev"
Associate the remote BCV device:
symbcv -g "DgName" associate dev -rdf -bcv
Prepare the mirror states and start the session:
symreplicate -g "DgName" start -option "Path" -setup -consistent
Stop the session:
symreplicate -g "DgName" stop -nop
Restart the session:
symreplicate -g "DgName" restart -nop
OR
Create a device group:
symdg create "DgName" -type regular
Add the standard device to the device group:
symld -g "DgName" add dev "SymDev"
Associate the R1/BCV device:
symbcv -g "DgName" associate dev "SymBcvDev"
Associate the remote BCV device:
symbcv -g "DgName" associate dev "SymBcvDev" -rdf -bcv
Establish the STD and R1/BCV:
symmir -g "DgName" establish -full
Split the STD and R1/BCV:
symmir -g "DgName" split -consistent
Resume SRDF link:
symrdf -g "DgName" resume -bc
Establish the R2 and remote BCV:
symmir -g "DgName" est -full -rdf -bcv
Split the R2 and remote BCV:
symmir -g "DgName" split -full -rdf -bcv
Establish the STD and R1/ BCV:
symmir -g "DgName" establish
How the symstar will be configured?
Uses concurrent and cascaded SRDF/Synchronous and SRDF/Asynchronous links to rep
licate source data synchronously to a nearby regional site and asynchronously to
a distant remote site.
How do you recover suspended or partitioned state session?
Using symrecover command.
What are the access rights required if ACLs enabled?
BASE and CFGSYM access rights required.
Can we migrate the R1 data to larger R2 device?
Yes, we can migrate the R1 data to larger R2 but we can not perform device swap,
SRDF/Star operations, we can not restore back to the R1 device and Concatenated
meta devices are not supported.
How do you create groups for dynamic RDF pairs in a device file?
Creating dynamic pairs in a device file:
symrdf createpair -file "DevFileName" -sid 55 -rdfg 2 -type rdf1 -invalidate r2
-g "DgName"
What is dynamic R1/R2 swap?
The dynamic R1/R2 swap feature swaps the SRDF personality of the SRDF device des
ignations of a specified device or composite group
What is link limbo and how do you specify?
feature allows you to set a specific length of time for Enginuity to wait when a
down link is detected before updating the link status. If the link status is st
ill Not Ready after the link limbo time expires, devices are marked Not Ready to
the link.
symrdf -sid 80 -rdfg 4 set link_limbo 60
How do you create/add the dynamic SRDF group?
symrdf addgrp -label "RdfGrpName" -rdfg "RdfGrpNum" -sid "SymID" -dir "DirNum" -
remote_rdfg 4 -remote_sid "SymID" -remote_dir "RemDirNum"
How do you add dynamic SRDF pairs to dynamic SRDF group?
symrdf createpair -file "DevFileName" -sid "SymID" -rdfg "RdfGrpNum" -type rdf1
-invalidate r2
What are the Symmetrix Array-wide parameter in SRDF/A?
Maximum SRDF/A Cache Usage and Maximum Host Throttle Time
How do you set the metrics on symmetrix for SRDF/A?
set symmetrix rdfa_cache_percent = 94;
set symmetrix rdfa_host_throttle_time = 0;
What is RDF group session priority parameter?
When SRDF/A needs ts drop sessions when the cache WP limit is reached, the sessi
ons will be dropped starting with priority values of 64 with a setting of 1 bein
g the last to be dropped.
What is the SRDF mode of operation for SRDF/AR?
Adaptive copy mode.
What are the required options for symreplicate options file?
SYMCLI_REPLICATE_HOP_TYPE and one of SYMCLI_REPLICATE_CYCLE or SYMCLI_REPLICATE_
CYCLE_DELAY
What is consitency and how to enable?
Consistent split allows us to avoid inconsistencies and restart problems that ca
n occur if you split a database-related BCV without first quiescing the database
.
symrdf -g enable
What is automatic tripping and manually tripping of composite group?
Automatic Tripping - Occurs when one or more R1 source devices in an consistency
enabled Composite Group cannot propagate data to their corresponding target dev
ices.
Manual Tripping - Occurs when you invoke the symrdf cg suspend or split command.