XtremIO to XtremIO migration options

Hi dynamox,

I initially asked about vRPA's when the RP/XtremIO solution was released and was informed it was not supported with iSCSI back to the the XtremIO's. That was about 2 months ago and not sure if the stance has changed. With that being said, it could just be an RPQ route now. I would suggest to post this query in the RP ECN space as those CSE's will be able to field the question and any follow-up that can be discussed.

In your situation, I have had to deal with that a couple times and utilize host-based methods all but once (where the customer had physical RP running and it was a CDP copy).

HTH,

-Keith

vRPAs are not supported with XtremIO. There is no way to configure storage using IP.

Thanks Avi, so what are my options then ?   You guys are taking your sweet time with native replication.

I cannot really comment on the roadmap items in this forum, but at this time the host based options are the only ones available (for the scenario mentioned above).

Sounds like there are no options unless you go host based.

I also do not believe native replication is planned; that's what RP is for.

host based is not an option and if native is not planned your competitor  in orange socks will continue to eat your lunch.

What's your concern with a RecoverPoint based replication?

>investment $$$ into infrastructure that i don't have.

That's a concept that EMC chooses to not understand.

You're already spending a ton of money on the most expensive price/tb array on the market; asking someone to spend another 100k+ to add RP blows my mind.

I am inclined to agree here, and was just discussing this with our new XtremIO area rep on Friday.

Native, simple, point to point replication is now something that just needs to be inherent in a product, not an add on.

As much as I love RecoverPoint, in many scenarios it's overkill

When we purchased XtremIO, we looked at it and RecoverPoint as a single solution because the ability to replicate the data was an absolute requirement - if we were buying XtremIO, we were also buying RecoverPoint as that is the preferred replication method... and the price was still lower than some of the competition.

I've had enough bad experiences with array-to-array replication systems from other vendors that, while skeptical about the added complexity, it was intriguing. Now, I'm very happy to be using RecoverPoint and it really doesn't add much complexity. It's basically just another host that has read access to your XtremIO LUNs and replicates snapshot deltas over an IP network. It works very well and isn't all that expensive compared to the cost of the array. Unisphere for RecoverPoint is quite easy to use, plus it has a CLI and REST API for those who work with it enough that using a GUI would be time consuming/cumbersome.

EMC has multiple solutions to replicate the data - if you don't like any of them or they won't work for you for some reason, you probably bought the wrong array, because as it has been pointed out, there are other vendors who do exactly what you want.

you are missing the point, yes i can put XtremIO behind VMAX and use the best replication technology EMC has to offer in SRDF, I can do VPLEX, i can do many things .  At this price point solution needs to have native replication.

You don't have to put it behind VMAX or VPLEX or anything else... all you need to do is buy a complete solution. Whether that means buying a product from an orange vendor that has array-to-array replication built into the array or just buying a complete XtremIO + RecoverPoint solution to allow you to replicate data outside of the array. If replication was not a requirement for you when you purchased XtremIO, you can hardly be justified in getting upset about the absence of it.

If I bought a new Cadillac for $60,000 and then decided I needed to tow an 11,000 pound trailer, can I really be upset that I can't tow it with my Cadillac simply because a $50,000 Ford F-150 can tow a 12,000 pound trailer and I didn't think to specify that the ability to tow an 11,000 pound trailer was a requirement for my new vehicle?

You're not wrong, but you must also understand the spirit of the frustration this causes people.