PowerScale: Create a cascaded replication properly on OneFS

Summary: Below are steps to properly configure cascaded replication between Cluster_A, Cluster_B, and Cluster_C.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Instructions

The main idea to keep in mind while configuring a cascaded replication. Ensure that replication job A_B should finish with "success/needs_attention" before starting replication job B_C.

Always, we should avoid that replication job A_B status is "failed OR canceled OR running OR paused" while replication job B_C starts.

In order to reach the above conditions:

1. We can make the replication policy from A_B to create a target snapshot with the name pattern "Archive-%{SrcCluster}-%{PolicyName}-%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S" when the job is finished with success.

Cluster_A# isi sync policies create --name=A_B --source-root-path=/ifs/folder_A --target-host=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx --target-path=/ifs/folder_B --action=sync --target-snapshot-archive=yes --target-snapshot-pattern=Archive-%{SrcCluster}-%{PolicyName}-%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S --target-snapshot-expiration=5D

 

NOTE: Target snapshot cannot have an SIQ- prefix. Use "SIQ_" or "Archive-" as shown in the example above:

 

--target-snapshot-pattern=Archive-%{SrcCluster}-%

  1. Then we make the replication policy from B_C to start only when a source snapshot pattern "Archive-*" is created.

    Cluster_B# isi sync policies create --name=B_C --source-root-path=/ifs/folder_B --target-host=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx --target-path=/ifs/folder_C --action=sync --schedule=when-snapshot-taken --snapshot-sync-pattern="Archive-*" --snapshot-sync-existing=yes


    This will guarantee that the B_C replication job starts only after A_B replication job completes with success + the B_C schedule is tied to the A_B schedule.

    Check below from LAB:

    Cluster_A# cd /ifs/folder_A
    Cluster_A# ls -lh
    total 10249
    -rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel    10M Jul 14 20:51 file
    Cluster_A# isi sync jobs start A_B
    Cluster_A# isi sync reports list
    Policy Name  Job ID  Start Time          End Time            Action  State
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    A_B          1       2021-07-14T20:51:22 2021-07-14T20:51:31 run     finished
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total: 1

    Cluster_B# cd /ifs/folder_B
    Cluster_B# ls -lh
    total 10249
    -rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel    10M Jul 14 20:51 file
    Cluster_B# isi sync reports list
    Policy Name  Job ID  Start Time          End Time            Action  State
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    B_C          2       2021-07-14T20:51:51 2021-07-14T20:52:10 run     finished
    B_C          1       2021-07-14T20:51:32 2021-07-14T20:51:38 run     finished
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total: 2

    Cluster_C# cd /ifs/folder_C
    Cluster_C# ls -lh
    total 10249
    -rw-r--r--     1 root  wheel    10M Jul 14 20:51 file
     
NOTE:
  1. The cascaded replication is one-way replication and right in specific workflows and in migrations. 
  2. Failover and Failback is ONLY SUPPORTED between Cluster A and Cluster B. Failover between B and C is NOT SUPPORTED due to target overlap on cluster B.
  3. On Failover to cluster B, the schedule must be modified to support replication from B back to A.
     

Affected Products

Isilon, PowerScale OneFS, Isilon SyncIQ
Article Properties
Article Number: 000189650
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 07 Nov 2025
Version:  7
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