Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery 19.13 Product Guide

Multilink overview

The multilink feature enables you to define one or more links between a CyberSense version 8.2 or later host and one or more DD systems. A link is a network connection between a CyberSense network interface and a DD network interface.

The multilink feature provides increased performance for CyberSense analyses if network bottlenecks occur. It enables you to take advantage of the throughput provided by multiple Ethernet interfaces on the CyberSense host and the DD systems. CyberSense Analyze operations read data from the DD system using both the NFS and DD Boost protocols. A multilink configuration improves performance for both NFS, and DD Boost read operations by load-balancing traffic across all available links.

When analyzing the data for a specific Cyber Recovery policy, one of the links in the multilink definition is chosen for the NFS mount, and all NFS reads for that policy use the same link. DD Boost reads for analyzing that same policy load balance across all the links in the multilink definition. The CyberSense software assigns NFS mount links to policy analyze operations in a round-robin fashion.

You can configure multiple links between a CyberSense host and a DD system using direct connections, or through a switch. It is assumed that the physical networking and routing are in place between those interfaces.

After you create a multilink configuration, you must assign at least one DD Boost user on the CyberSense server to this multilink configuration. One user is required even if you are not using Delta Block Analysis on CyberSense to allow connectivity testing of the links. If you are using Delta Block Analysis and have different DD Boost users, you can add more users to the same multilink configuration.

After you create a multilink definition, the link and connectivity statuses are displayed as Inactive. Therefore, you must add a DD Boost user on the CyberSense host so that the links become Active. You cannot run an Analyze operation if the link status of the multilink definition is Inactive.

For a CyberSense Version 8.2 deployment, the link status of the multilink definition must be Active to run an Analyze operation. If a schedule starts an Analyze operation and the associated multilink definition is not Active, an alert is generated. If you attempt to analyze a copy and the associated multilink definition is not Active, an error message is displayed.

For a CyberSense Version 8.3 or later deployment, the link status of the multilink definition can be Active or Degraded to run an Analyze operation. However, the analysis performance might not be optimal.

If the multilink definition status changes during an Analyze job, the job might complete with a status of Warning w/ Exception and an analysis status of Partial.

The status can become Inactive or Degraded if:

• A DD or CyberSense interface is disabled.
• Cabling and switches between the interfaces are not working correctly.
• A DD Boost user is not configured on the CyberSense host.
• There is a hardware issue.

When the status becomes Inactive or Degraded, an alert is generated. The Details pane in the Alerts and Events pane provides detailed information and remedies.