partner

Establishes and manages the replication partners for a group.

Replicating volume data from one group to another enables you to protect the data from catastrophic failures. A replica represents the contents of a volume at a specific point in time. A replica set represents the set of replicas for a volume.

There are various options for replication configurations. You can configure one group to store replicas from the other group, or you can configure both groups to store replicas from each other. Also, you can configure centralized replication, which means that multiple groups replicate to another group.

The two groups involved in any given volume replication operation are called replication partners. Each group plays a role in the replication operation:

• The group where the original volume resides is called the primary group. The direction of the replication is outbound from the primary group.
• The group where the volume replicas are stored is called the secondary group. The direction of the replication is inbound to the secondary group. If a disaster destroys the primary group, the secondary group administrator can recover volume data by cloning a replica or promoting a replica set.

Configuring volume replication is a three-part process:

1. Establish a replication partnership between two groups. Log in to each group and configure the other group as a replication partner. The group that will act as the secondary group in the replication operation (that is, the group that will be storing replicas) must delegate space to the primary group.
2. Enable a volume for replication. Log in to the primary group. For each volume you want to replicate, select the volume and specify the replication partner that will store the replicas, the amount of space on the primary group to reserve for tracking volume changes during replication and, optionally, for retaining the failback snapshot (local replication reserve), and the portion of delegated space on the secondary group to reserve for storing the replicas (replica reserve).
   
   Also specify the method of transferring the first volume replica (manual using the Manual Transfer Utility or automatic over the network), and whether to keep the failback snapshot for the volume.
   
   If replicating a volume collection, you must also enable the collection for replication.
3. Create a replica at the current time or set up a replica schedule. The first replica is a complete copy of the volume data and will consume 100% of the volume size from the replica reserve on the secondary group. Subsequent replicas contain only changes to the volume since the first replica.

For detailed information on replication, see the PS Series Group Administration manual.

Format

partner subcommand

Subcommands