How to create DR on diffent location of NETApp with simliar or diffrent hardware manufacture

vriadmin · ‎2013-09-05

We have Netapp FAS3240 with 100Tb of size and we want to make DR of this storage on some other location.. over wan netwrok can any one help me with requirements as well as limitation and how to proceed for the same? or what are the steps to be followed

nigelg1965 · ‎2013-09-05

The answer depends on many factors :

What you are trying to achieve?

What sort of systems you have?

How much downtime you can tolerate in the case of an outage?

How far apart are your sites?

Unless there's NetApps both ends your options are limited, basically data back up using third party software and a lot of work.

If you've a fat WAN pipe to the second site within 100km you could run synchronous replication, combine that with VMWare SRM or similar and you approach a near zero downtime solution.

vriadmin · ‎2013-09-06

Thanks for your response,

I have FAS3240 on my site with 100 TB of Storage,

My Dr site is almost 25 Km far from my primary site

Currently Storage Connected to Windows 2008 Server

Down time should be less as much possible , but if cost is major we can

afford 15-30 min max downtime

Below i want to Achieve

I want to create exact replica of this on DR site with less investment.

should be secured , reliable, and cost effective.

want to know should i use same hardware (Net app) on DR site or i can use

other hardware, (like Hp IBM or some other low cost)

Is there any software which can help me if i am using different vendor

hardware.

What bandwidth size or connectivity i require for between primary and DR

site.

Will it work on Cross platform too? Windows and SUN Linux Unix Mac

And how exactly it will work .

Thanks

On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 8:15 PM, nigelg1965 <

nigelg1965 · ‎2013-09-06

Simplest thing would be to have a NetApp the other end, this would enable the use of things like SnapMirror, but it doesn't need to be the same spec, a 2240 could be a good choice.

Using non-NetApp hardware is possible, NetApp had a product called VFM which was a rebadge of Brocades StorageX. NetApp have EOL'd it, but a company has brought the code from Brocade, they're a bit low profile http://www.datadynamicsinc.com/products/storagex-platform/

Bandwidth is going to depend on change rate and growth of data, Snapmirror is very efficient sending only changes at a block level, other solutions will likely be file based.

Cross platform depends on how the storage is presented and what your DR system supports. CIFS / NFS shouldn't be a problem, LUNs could be more of a challenge,

vriadmin · ‎2013-09-06

Thanks

I feel using non net app hardware and using StorageX software is much

better as there is no physical movement of data needed or restoration on DR

site is needed. Using Storage X i can transfer files to DR site over wan

Right and its cost effective also

Any other special requirement for using StorageX or related to Non netapp

hardware.

Regards...

On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 3:46 PM, nigelg1965 <

nigelg1965 · ‎2013-09-06

StorageX makes use of Microsoft DFS for some of the cleverer DR stuff, but beyond that no.

vriadmin · ‎2013-09-06

I didnt get you

On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 4:06 PM, nigelg1965 <

nigelg1965 · ‎2013-09-06

Let me clarify.

You'll need the VFM software (licensed by size of data now, I think) and a server or two to run it.

You don't need DFS but if you have it VFM should be able to manage it and make DR switch over easier.

Not sure if it can interact with NFS, you may need to look at DNS methods to achieve DR switch over here.

vriadmin · ‎2013-09-06

thanks And we have data on storage not only windows file system but also

mac format data will it help

see we want hardware or software irrespective of data file system (i.e any

filesystem like linux sun mac windows mixed )

Aim is to just make backup in case of DR but automated

And one thing i come to know is u r advise is to go for similar hardware

IBM _IBM Netapp -Netapp

regards

On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 4:31 PM, nigelg1965 <

nigelg1965 · ‎2013-09-06

Sounds like you are not really looking for DR, just off-site back up?

If you just want back up, then all you need is some backup app software and some storage the other end. Then in a DR situ you go through a manual restore process to get back up and working.

Of course the hardware on the DR site and any software needs to support all your platforms. With a NetApp snapmirroring to another NetApp that's guaranteed as it's block level replication. Using different hardware will make things more complex.

If you want to buy IBM, buy the IBM hardware that's rebadged NetApp hardware!

vriadmin · ‎2013-09-06

thanks Replication between netapp & netapp or non netapp also requires

software for replication ? both requires software ?

On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 5:27 PM, nigelg1965 <

vriadmin · ‎2013-09-07

And also can you brief on what are the problems or complexity using net app

with other hardware.

regards

On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 5:27 PM, nigelg1965 <

nigelg1965 · ‎2013-09-09

To answer your first question, replicating NetApp to NetApp is building to the O/S although is licensed separately like many NetApp features. Replicating between NetApp and non-NetApp requires extra software, that you either buy one of the many vendors or you write it yourself in some scripting language or similar.

To your second question: I wouldn't say there'd be problems, especially if you are sticking to products in NetApp's interoperability list. But I think anyone would acknowledge, the more different vendors in a solution, the more room for issues.

Think I've helped you as much as I can.