This section provides general notes on backup and replication.
The following devices must not be backed up or replicated:
The device on which AdvancedCopy Manager has been installed
The device on which the management list of AdvancedCopy Manager resides
Data in transaction volume | Maintenance of data integrity | Operation |
|---|---|---|
Oracle database space that is currently in use | Linkage with Oracle is required. | Use a sample script designed for linkage with Oracle. For details, refer to "Appendix B Sample Script for Backup Operations". |
File system | A AdvancedCopy Manager command unmounts the file system to maintain the integrity. | Refer to "Appendix A Pre-processing and Post-processing of Backup and Restoration" and "Appendix C Pre-processing and Post-processing of Replication". |
Other than the above | The data integrity must be maintained in operations. | Take appropriate action, such as stopping transactions during execution of backup or replication. |
Before starting either the backup or replication operation, "3.4.4 Fetching device information on a Managed Server" that is managed by all Managed Servers using the Web Console. The time taken to complete this operation is proportional to the total number of devices defined on the selected Managed Servers. If many devices are involved, perform this operation while the CPU or I/O load on the system is low.
As a guide, about 0.5 seconds are required per device (i.e., partition) when there is no load on the system.
An upper limit (maximum value) applies to the number of Advanced Copy sessions in one Logical Unit (LU) that can be executed simultaneously. Ensure the number of volumes in one LU is the same or less than the maximum number of copy sessions per LU.
When you create more volumes in one LU than the maximum number of copy sessions per LU, for the volumes in that LU, an operational configuration is required that does not implement Advanced Copy simultaneously in excess of the maximum number of copy sessions per LU.
Refer to the ETERNUS Disk storage system SA/SE Handbook for the maximum number of copy sessions per LU.
The header slice in VTOC-labelled disks may contain disk management information (VTOC).
Slices that contain this type of VTOC cannot be used in backup operations.
These slices can be used in replication operations if the -Xvtoc option is specified when the replication volume information is set.
Note
The above restriction does not apply if there are separate operations for each physical disk that makes up the VxVM disk group.
When a slice that contains VTOC is copied to the header slice (containing VTOC) of another disk, the VTOC of the copy destination disk is rewritten.
If a slice that contains VTOC is to be copied to the header slice (containing VTOC) of another disk, prepare the copy destination disk as a VTOC-labelled disk and set the same disk configuration, and then execute the copy process.
Do not copy a slice that does not contain VTOC to the header slice (containing VTOC) of another disk.
If a slice that does not contain VTOC is copied to the header slice (containing VTOC) of another disk, the VTOC of the copy destination disk is rewritten, and access to the slices in the copy destination disk may no longer be possible.
SynfinityFILE file systems comprised of multiple slices and the global file systems of Global File Services cannot be processed.
To backup or restore SynfinityFILE file systems comprised of multiple slices or the global file systems of Global File Services, process the multiple slices simultaneously in the unmounted state.
Note the following points about backup, restoration, and replication of the SynfinityFILE/Global file system and Global File Services shared file system.
The target file system must be unmounted in advance.
Execute the operations on all partitions of the target file system.
The file system is unmounted as follows.
SynfinityFILE/Global file system: Stop all daemons/services
Global File Services shared file system: Unmount all nodes
Before backup/restoration or replication of a volume that can be mounted from multiple servers, unmount and cancel any pending mount on the other servers.
For disks that need not be mounted from other servers, prevent multiple servers from detecting or accessing the same partition by setting up hardware, such as devices in the ETERNUS Disk storage system and Fibre Channel switches, accordingly.
For a copy operation targeted at a file system, unmount the relevant volume to prevent data access and maintain the data integrity.
If backup/restoration and replication are performed without unmounting the volume, an error occurs since a volume in use cannot be unmounted.
Note the following about processing where unmounting is enabled:
Another application is not using the volume. If another application is using it, suspend the application temporarily.
Users are not using the volume. If users are using it, prohibit them from using it temporarily.
Another volume is not mounted on the volume. If it is mounted, unmount it temporarily.
The volume is not shared with NFS sharing. If it is shared, unshare it temporarily.
Unmounting is required only during command execution. Normal operations can be resumed after command execution.
If disks that have 1 terabyte and over are used, disks with an EFI disk label must be used.
Logical Unit (disk unit) copy can be used for replication operations.
Note the following points if Logical Unit (disk unit) copy is executed:
Both servers must run Version 13.1 or later.
When copying between Logical Units (disks) of different sizes, the physical copy matches the size of the smaller Logical Unit (disk). If the copy direction is from the smaller Logical Unit (disk) to the larger Logical Unit (disk), part of the area on the larger disk is not physically copied to, and data from before the copy operation remains. If this remaining area contains the Logical Unit (disk) management information, partitioning tools may identify the disk format incorrectly. Therefore, format the copy destination Logical Unit (disk) before copying to it.
To copy the GPT disks by each Logical Unit (disk), create the source and destination volumes in the same size for replication in the unit of bytes.
When copying between volumes of different sizes, the GPT label of the destination volume may be changed. If you restore the destination volume whose GPT label is changed, you cannot use the destination volume.
Copying between Logical Units (disks) of EFI labelled disks also copies the UUID disk management information that is used to uniquely identify disks and slices included in the Logical Unit (disk). Thus, after copy is executed, duplicate disk management information may exist within a system.
Disk management information is duplicated when the following types of copying are performed:
Copying between Logical Units (disks) within a server
Copying between Logical Units (disks) on different servers, if there are multiple copy destinations within the same copy destination server for the same copy source
Copying from a volume that has previously been copied to a Logical Unit (disk) that is not the copy source but is on the same server as the copy source
Refer to "Solaris 10 System Administrator Collection" - "System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems", "29. Copying UFS Files and File Systems (Tasks)", "Example 29-2" for the action to take if disk management information (UUID) is duplicated.
If the replication source/destination volume areas for replication management, and the transaction/backup volume areas for backup management duplicate each other, replication management and backup management operations cannot be performed simultaneously for volumes that have duplicate areas.
Execute copy operations when the slices included in the Logical Unit (disk) are in the unmounted state. If copy is executed when the slices are in the mounted state, the slices included in the copy destination disk may not be able to be made consistent as a file system.
Logical Unit (disk unit) copying cannot be used for SDX objects.
Copies can be made between different operating systems by using replication operations.
Use the following combinations to execute copy between different operating systems:
Copy source | Copy destination | |
|---|---|---|
slices | Logical Unit (disk) | |
slices | A | N/A |
Logical Unit (disk) | A | N/A |
(A=Available, N/A=Not Available)
When setting the ETERNUS multipath driver environment in a Solaris 10 operating system, select one of the following to use as the access special file:
Solaris standard special file (/dev/[r]dsk/c*t*d*s*)
Mplb special file (/dev/FJSVmplb/[r]dsk/mplb*s*)
Note
If the Solaris standard special file is used
System volume backup operations are not possible.
This is because the ETERNUS multipath driver cannot use the Solaris standard special file as a boot device.
If the mplb special file is used
Logical unit (disk unit) copy of EFI disk label disks is not possible.
When replication occurs between servers, the -m option can be specified in the following commands in order to avoid communication processing to non-operating servers:
When the -m option is specified, any one of the following conditions must apply in order to ensure that problems do not arise as a result of not performing volume pre-processing and post-processing at the non-operating server:
The non-operating server has been shut down.
Manual pre-processing and post-processing is performed for the volumes on the non-operating server.
The target volume is a RAW device (Oracle, etc., that does not need pre-processing and post-processing), rather than a file system.
The Advanced Copy processing is performed by the ETERNUS Disk storage system. Therefore, direct enquiries concerning copy processing performance to the support department for the ETERNUS Disk storage system.
