How to configure Synchronous Replication between Compellent Storage Centers

Applies to: 

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Storage Platform(s) – Dell Compellent Series 40 and Dell Compellent Series 8000 storage systems with Storage Center 6.3 and greater 

Author: 

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Ramamohan Reddy K

Problem: 

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How to configure Synchronous Replication on Compellent?

Solution: 

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Synchronous replication will be created if we want the source and destination volumes to be synchronized at all times.

To replicate a volume from one Storage Center to another Storage Center synchronously, below are the prerequisites

• Both Storages should have Storage Center versions 6.3 or above
• Both the source and destination Storage Centers must be added to the Enterprise Manager Client
• The Storage Centers must be connected using Fibre Channel or iSCSI, and each Storage Center must be defined on the other Storage Center.
• On the source Storage Center, the destination Storage Center must be defined as a remote Storage Center.
• On the destination Storage Center, the source Storage Center must be defined as a remote Storage Center.
• On the source Storage Center, a quality of service (QoS) definition must be set up for the replication

Configuring Synchronous Replication: 

Synchronous replication can be configured in two modes: High consistency and high availability 

1. In the Enterprise manager Client Click the Replication & Live Volumes view on the left bottom of the pane.
   
   Figure 1: Replication & Live
2. In the Replications Tab choose Replicate Volumes. Then Create Replication wizard appears.
   
   Figure 2: Replicate Volume
3. Select the source storage center from where volumes should be replicated, then click Next
   
   Figure 3: Source storage center
4. Select the destination storage center to which volumes to be replicated and click Next
   
   Figure 4: Destination storage center
5. In the next wizard,select all the volumes that has be replicated and click Next
   
   Figure 5: Volumes that has be replicated
6.  In next wizard,
   a) For Configuring in high consistency mode, configure the Replication attributes as
   - Select Type as Asynchronous and Sync mode as High Consistency
   - Select other attributes Deduplication and Replicate Active Replay if it is necessary
   - Select QoS node which is created as a Prerequisite. 
             Select the destination volume attributesand click Next
   
   Figure 6: QoS node
   
         b) For Configuring in High Availability mode, configure the Replication attributes as
   
   - Select Type as Asynchronous and Sync mode as High Availability
   - Select other attributes Deduplication and Replicate Active Replay if it is necessary
   - Select QoS node which is created as a Prerequisite.
             Select the destination volume attributes and click Next 
   
   Figure 7: Destination volume attributes
7. In this wizard, review and modify the replications if necessary by clicking Edit Settings, then click Finish.
   
   Figure 8: Review and modify the replications
8. We can see all the configured replication in the Replications Tab
   
   Figure 9: Replications