Snapmirror to tape or something else?

[nsitps1976]

I am looking for a simple way to transfer an initial snapmirror volume via external media – I have heard of snapmirror to tape, however I am unsure of what is required to use this.

Can someone give me an example of how this works and what is required or another method?

[aborzenkov · Accepted solution]

SM to tape is described in Data ONTAP manuals; it requires (obviously) tape drive connected to FAS. As your system most likely does not have SCSI port, it has to be drive with FC connection. It does not matter whether this drive is in a library or not.

You will have to manually load tape. Then on source system do “snapmirror store source_vol tape_name”, move system (and possibly tape drive) to destination system and do “snapmirror restore destination_vol tape_drive”. The effect is the same as after doing “snapmirror initialize –S source:source_vol destination_vol”.

If volume does not fit on one tape, you will be prompted to exchange media; you can also specify multiple tape devices in “store” command.

[rmharwood]

This will vary depending upon how you're getting the dump to tape. Using Netbackup (6.5) for example, you can place the following into the backup selections in an NDMP policy:

    set type = smtape

    /vol/volname

Note that this causes a snapshot to be taken on the volume which won't automatically be deleted. It has to be deleted manually or scripted.

If you are looking for methods of doing an initial snapmirror transfer you should also consider the LREP tool (on the NOW site). I've never used it but it can be used to create a copy of the volume on removable media for transporting to a remote site.

HTH,

Richard

[aborzenkov]

LREP is for QSM only; SM to tape for VSM only; this determines which one to use.

[nsitps1976]

So SM 2 Tape does not require any backup software?

Are there any other mehods of achiving what I want ? 

[aborzenkov]

For initializing SnapMirror relationship no extra backup software is required.

It is also possible

- Attach shelf from another site so FAS, initialize SnapMirror locally and then move shelves to another site. It requires downtime to disconnect shelves

- Use small FAS like FAS2020 that can be easily transported to another site; we used such method several times. First do SnapMirror from local system to this FAS; then move it to remote site and initialize SM from this FAS to remote filer; finally do resync between sites.

[nsitps1976]

Thanks.

Is it possible to take a 2020 to initialise SM, transport this to the DR site, SM this data to a DR filer and then setup SM between the remote system and the DR filer - 3 filers used in this scenario.

[aborzenkov]

If this is a question – yes, it is possible. ☺

[nsitps1976]

Great. Do you know where I can find this procedure??...

[aborzenkov]

You could search NetApp knowledge base, I think there are some articles about this. But it is really simple.

1. Do SM initialize from source volume to FAS2020

2. Do SM initialize from FAS2020 to target volume

3. Do SM resync from source to target volume

The point is to do resync. It will pick up common snapshot from step 1 and continue from there.

[nsitps1976]

Thanks

Just to confirm - The 2020 is not the actual DR filer, just a unit to allow the initial SM data transfer, not sure if I explained this well in the question?

Lastly, The SM2T documentation only discusses  the command to set it up. Do you know where I can find info on the tape drive installation requirements? Surely there is more to it than just attaching a drive to a filer via FC?

Many thanks for your help

[aborzenkov]

Yes, 2020 is just an intermediate unit to move data.

There is not much to say about tape install. Check compatibility matrix to make sure your version of Data ONTAP supports your tape drive model, then just connect it to filer. It will be recognized automatically (at least for FC connection; for SCSI you probably need to reboot filer). FC filer port should be in initiator mode. You can find more details about tape management in Tape backup guide.

[nsitps1976]

Excellent, thanks so much.