topic Can't find snapmirror.conf in ONTAP Discussions

Can't find snapmirror.conf

bstrignano — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 06:57:09 GMT

Hello All,

I want to enable compression on my snap mirror destinations and I know that the option needs to be manually specified in the /etc/snapmirror.conf file. But I can not find that file on my destination filer.

I have some relationships already defined, the were created either through FilerView or by Protection Manager.

Do these methods of setting up snapmirror not create the required snamirror.conf file?

On my destination filer:

fas2020> snapmirror status
Snapmirror is on.
Source                                   Destination                                                         State          Lag        Status
FAS3140a.mirabito.com:user_home_dirs     fas2020:Home_Dirs_Mirror                                            Snapmirrored   01:12:01   Idle
FAS3140a.mirabito.com:mfg_sql_data       fas2020:MFG_SQL_Data_Mirror                                         Snapmirrored   16:39:26   Idle
FAS3140b.mirabito.com:mfg_sql_logs       fas2020:MFG_SQL_Logs_Mirror                                         Snapmirrored   16:39:18   Idle
FAS3140a.mirabito.com:mfg_sql_snapinfo   fas2020:MFG_SQL_Snap_Mirror                                         Snapmirrored   16:39:39   Idle
FAS3140b.mirabito.com:Onbase             fas2020:Onbase_Mirror_1                                             Snapmirrored   01:18:00   Idle
FAS3140a.mirabito.com:Onbase             fas2020:Onbase_Mirror_2                                             Snapmirrored   01:17:57   Idle
FAS3140a.mirabito.com:pamsdata_lv1       fas2020:PAMS_mirror_FAS3140a_pamsdata_lv1                           Snapmirrored   01:17:57   Idle
FAS3140b.mirabito.com:pamsdata_lv2       fas2020:PAMS_mirror_FAS3140b_pamsdata_lv2                           Snapmirrored   01:18:00   Idle
FAS3140a.mirabito.com:user_profile_dirs fas2020:Profiles_Mirror                                             Snapmirrored   01:17:57   Idle
FAS3140b.mirabito.com:sidney_files       fas2020:Sidney_Files_mirror_FAS3140b_sidney_files                   Snapmirrored   01:12:01   Idle
FAS3140a.mirabito.com:exch_public_data   fas2020:SnapMgr_Exchange_EXCHMBX1_mirror_FAS3140a_exch_public_data Snapmirrored   17:16:32   Idle
FAS3140a.mirabito.com:exchange_data      fas2020:SnapMgr_Exchange_EXCHMBX1_mirror_FAS3140a_exchange_data     Snapmirrored   17:19:09   Idle
FAS3140b.mirabito.com:exch_public_log    fas2020:SnapMgr_Exchange_EXCHMBX1_mirror_FAS3140b_exch_public_log   Snapmirrored   17:16:25   Idle
FAS3140b.mirabito.com:exchange_log       fas2020:SnapMgr_Exchange_EXCHMBX1_mirror_FAS3140b_exchange_log      Snapmirrored   17:19:01   Idle
fas2020>

From my workstation:

C:\Windows\System32>net use x: \\fas2020\c$
The command completed successfully.

C:\Windows\System32>x:

X:\>cd etc

X:\etc>dir s*
Volume in drive X is C$

Directory of X:\etc

03/22/2011 02:19 PM               666 snmppersist.conf
05/20/2007 11:43 PM    <DIR>          stats
03/22/2011 02:07 PM    <DIR>          software
03/22/2011 02:07 PM             2,239 services
03/22/2011 02:07 PM           112,163 sysconfigtab
03/22/2011 02:07 PM             1,207 syslog.conf.sample
03/22/2011 02:07 PM    <DIR>          shelf_fw
05/21/2007 12:32 AM                 9 serialnum
04/04/2011 02:34 AM            22,169 shm_stat.bin
06/14/2009 03:33 AM             6,752 shm_med_err.log
02/12/2009 04:14 PM    <DIR>          sshd
07/01/2009 01:50 PM    <DIR>          sm
               7 File(s)        165,685 bytes
               5 Dir(s)   6,688,665,600 bytes free

X:\etc>

If I manually create this file will it overwrite my current relationships?

Where are they being defined if not in a snammirror.conf file?

Confused.

Thanks, Brent

Re: Can't find snapmirror.conf

larryet — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:16:14 GMT

That is strange, if that is your root volume etc directory it does not look like there is all the files in there.

I would go to the netapp console, type cifs shares to see that your root volume /vol/vol0 (or whatever the name of your root volume is) or / is being shared as your c$ share.

You can also type at the console rdfile /etc/snapmirror.conf to display the contents of the snapmirror.conf file to make sure there is one, there should be.

Maybe you are having a permissions issue preventing you from seeing the whole folder, I doubt there would be such an issue that would prevent the files from listing though.

Re: Can't find snapmirror.conf

bstrignano — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:45:25 GMT

Thanks for your reply.

fas2020> cifs shares
Name         Mount Point                       Description
----         -----------                       -----------
ETC$         /etc                              Remote Administration
                        BUILTIN\Administrators / Full Control
HOME         /vol/vol0/home                    Default Share
                        everyone / Full Control
C$           /                                 Remote Administration
                        BUILTIN\Administrators / Full Control

fas2020> rdfile /etc/snapmirror.conf
/etc/snapmirror.conf: No such file or directory
fas2020>

The C$ share is full control to me at the root of the filer.

rdfile cant find the file either.

Re: Can't find snapmirror.conf

larryet — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 21:23:27 GMT

The reason I was wondering if you were looking in the correct place is because there should be more than just 7 files and 5 dirs in your /etc directory. For example there is no hosts file either in your dir command output, which exists by default on every filer.

If there is no snapmirror.conf file you can create one.

Filerview will create snapmirror.conf file entries on the destination, if it didnt then your relationships could have been setup by protection manager, your lag times do not look incredibly old so something is triggering your snapmirror udpates if not snapmirror.conf.

If you want to use compression you have to create a connection name, and if your using protection manager and want to use compression the connection name has to match the hostname of the source system.

The way to create a connection name is to put this line at the begining of snapmirror.conf which defines a connection called connection1

connection1 = multi (source_IP,destination_IP) (source_IP,destination_IP)

if you only want to enable compression then only one (source_IP,destination_IP) entry is ok.

then use the connection1 name in place of the hostname of the souce on a line that defines the snapmirror relationship like this:

connection1:source_vol destination:destination_vol compression=enable - - - -

As I said above replace "connection1" with the hostname of your source filer.

BTW, you should look into why you see so few files in your etc directory. For example, since you have cifs shares on that filer you should have a /etc/cifsconfig_shares.cfg file, which I don't see in your list either. A filer I just checked in the lab has 117 files and folders under /etc.

Re: Can't find snapmirror.conf

shaunjurr — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 23:25:51 GMT

Hi,

I assume you are looking for your snapmirror.conf file on the destination filer. Relationships that you setup via Protection Manager will not be written to snapmirror.conf .

I unfortunately can't help with how you will be able to add compression for such a setup. I don't think you are going to get any great savings with compression. If you really have problems over WAN links, you might look into getting a couple of Riverbed devices. Great WAN accelerators, by far the most diverse and capable on the market.

Re: Can't find snapmirror.conf

bstrignano — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 14:34:39 GMT

Thanks Larry,

The reason you didn't see the other files in the directory listing is that I only listed the files that start with S.

dir s*

There are 89 total files and directories in the /etc directory inculding all the files you were concerned about.

The initial connection was created with protection mananger so that is why there is no snapmirror.conf.

I will try to create a snapmirror.conf file and set up the new connection name and let you know.

Brent

Re: Can't find snapmirror.conf

larryet — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:20:04 GMT

LOL I did not notice that.

Re: Can't find snapmirror.conf

clackamas — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 02:24:12 GMT

Mount it as a network drive on a windows box. You should see a bunch of files - use word pad to view it

Here is a valid entry for compression that I use --- BTW in 8.X, at least so far, compression is not supported. Only in the 7.3.3 or better does it work.

2050fas01=multi(2050fas01,FAS3070)

FAS3070-2=multi(FAS3070,FAS3070-2)

2050fas01:Shares_vol1 FAS3070:bp_share1 cksum=crc32c,connection_mode=inet,compression=enable,restart=always 0 18 * *

Make sure you can resolve it on both sides - I have it working through a VPN which is a little tricky on how each side resolves corectly with the NAT but if you are doing it within your WAN its easy -

Cheers,

Brian