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Unity Test DR
Hi,
Is there a way to perform a test DR for a NAS server (CIFS / Fs) without performing a failover/failback
Objectif is to remove all changes performed (on the DR site) during the failover test
On the vnx we used the following procedure
- stop VMD/Cifs server on primary site
- stop replication
- load replicaed DM (nas_server .. -setstate loaded) + - remount the FS RW
- test the replicated environment
...
- unload "replicated "DM/remount FS ro
- restart replication with overwrite_destination flag
Is there something similar on the UNITY ???????????
Eventually can we delete the replication and remount the "replicated" nas server/File system on the remote site ?????????
OR Is it possible to mount the replicated file systems rw on another temporary cifs server ????
OR use a checkpointt of the replicated FS ??????
Regards,
Patrick
Rainer_EMC
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April 6th, 2017 01:00
Hi Patrick,
that is currently not possible with Unity.
It is being looked at for the future.
What you can currently do is enable access to the destination NAS server via NFS or ftp/sftp
Or use ndmpcopy if you need restore of data
regards
Rainer
willap
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April 6th, 2017 08:00
Thanks a lot for this information
De : Rainer_EMC
Envoyé : jeudi 6 avril 2017 10:24
À : Willame, Patrick
Objet : Re: - Unity Test DR
DECN
Unity Test DR
reply from Rainer_EMC in Unity - View the full discussion
JPS2018
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May 10th, 2018 14:00
Hi Rainer_EMC
Is there any change on Unity OE 4.3 that can help with a DR test without affecting Production?
I could not find much other than a new NAS Proxy, but it allows Read Only access and it might not be enough to test applications that cannot write to disk
Any Fail over and Fail back issue with UniSphere will create production outage.
Is any workaround to do a DR test without production outage ?
Should we looking to use Recovery Point for VM to allow a non-disruptive test ?
I used to do this with NetAPP snap mirror and then flex clones but can not find anything close on Unity
Thanks for any suggestion
Rainer_EMC
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May 14th, 2018 06:00
correct - current NAS proxy is read-only
its designed for DR restore or access
an enhancement for CIFS DR testing to allow writeable shares is planned for a future version.
ask you local contact about roadmap info
Lee_exelatech
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November 11th, 2019 08:00
There is a way to have a DR test with R/W snapshots in proxy shares. We have set those up but now have a question about refreshing those snapshots for future DR tests to have the latest data.
Our DR tests are done by application and we have several applications that require DR tests at different times. We need to have fresh data in the snapshots to properly test the functionality of those apps in a DR situation without failing over and interrupting production.
Is there a way to refresh the replicated file system snapshots if we have another DR test in 6 months ?
Lee_exelatech
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November 11th, 2019 10:00
We tried using the uemcli command "/prot/snap -name refresh" and it failed with
Operation failed. Error code: 0x6000c3c
The system does not support the refresh operation for file-based snapshots. (Error Code:0x6000c3c)
The only way I can see to refresh them is to delete the proxy shares, delete and recreate a fresh snapshot, then recreate the proxy nas shares.
If anyone has a better way of refreshing, please speak up.
Rainer_EMC
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November 12th, 2019 08:00
Newer Unity OE versions now do have the option for writable shares as well
Rainer_EMC
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November 12th, 2019 08:00
just delete the old snapshot and create a new one with the same name
Lee_exelatech
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November 21st, 2019 05:00
Thanks for the reply, Rainer_EMC.
I have several CIFS shares and NFS mounts pointing to different paths within that snapshot.
Have you done this in your lab sucessfully with clients accessing the proxy shares ?
I cannot try it on my DR site as we have turned it over to our applications team for qualification testing and do not want to interrupt their testing.
Rainer_EMC
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November 25th, 2019 06:00
you can test this just as well be using a VSA as the replication destination
Rainer_EMC
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November 25th, 2019 06:00
in general that shouldnt be an issue
Lee_exelatech
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January 23rd, 2020 07:00
I tried deleting the old snapshot so I could create a new one, but it wouldn't let me because the snapshot has shares pointing to it.
Lee_exelatech
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February 5th, 2020 07:00
This reply is an FYI for those of us struggling with Unity DR testing procedures in an enterprise environment.
We created proxy nas servers and proxy shares following the procedures in the white paper (docu88679_Dell-EMC-Unity_-DR-Access-and-Testing---Dell-EMC-Unity-OE-4.5) in November based on a R/W snapshot created at that time. We recently had a request to refresh the snapshot for one multi-protocol application that uses three NFS exports and three associated SMB shares. We tried refreshing the FS snapshot, but refresh for file system snapshots is not supported in the current GA release of Unity OE.
Since there are no provisions for modifying the path of SMB proxy shares or NFS exports, our only choice was to remove the SMB proxy shares and delete the NFS exports pointing to the old snapshot, create a new FS snapshot, then re-create the SMB proxy shares (using svc_nas commands) and NFS exports (using the webui) pointing to the new snapshot. The unix clients un-mounted the NFS shares and Windows clients un-mapped the SMB shares prior to deletion and re-mounted/re-mapped after the re-creation.
In an attempt to automate the process, a script was created utilizing a combination of svc_nas and uemcli commands. When we ran the script, the svc_nas commands for the proxy share removal/addition ran without issue but the "uemcli /prov/fs/nfs -name delete" command failed with " Operation failed. Error code: 0x900a001 The system could not find the specified file share. (Error Code:0x900a001)", although we were able to locate and delete the nfs exports in the webui.
The "uemcli /prov/fs/nfs create -name -fsName -path / / command failed with the error " Operation failed. Error code: 0x900a10e
Creating NFS share on a file system is prohibited when associated NAS server is configured as a replication destination.", although we were able create the nfs exports pointing to the snapshot in the webui.
Overall, we were successful in refreshing the snapshot for this one application that only required recreation of three exports/shares. Our other applications will be a bit more complicated as some have up to 12 shares/exports that need a snapshot refreshed for testing. If we're unable to refresh the snapshot or automate the deletion/re-creation process these other applications are going to be much more complicated.
Is it possible to allow FS snapshot refresh in future OE releases ?