About Global Replication reports

Key features

Pre-requisite and Setup

To provide the reports, Protector queries Ops Center CM-REST. Consequently it is a requirement that CM-REST is configured for every array where the report is required. When setting up the Protector Block Node, there is now an additional section where you can specify the connection and credentials details for the REST interface on CM-REST.

When setting up a Block Node, it is optional to add the CM-REST information. You cannot however have a Block Node configured to use the CM-REST interface only.

Ops Center CM-REST can be configured to manage multiple arrays in the same way that a Protector node might manage multiple array. However it is not a requirement that Protector and CM-REST are configured symmetrically each dividing up the management the same way. It is also possible for CM-REST and Protector be installed on the same machine or on different systems.

Note that if CM-REST and Protector reside on the same array and are configured to use In-band Command device, they must be configured to uses different array accounts. In the configuration where CM-REST and Protector both reside on the same host, if Protector and CM-REST share the same array account credentials there will be unpredictable behaviour and failures will occur.

Architecture

Each host that services a Protector Block Node, eg array, has a database to store the replication information for that array. Protector queries CM-REST every 1 hour by default to get the inventory of all replications for a configured array and stores the result in the database. When the user creates a report, the Protector Master will query each of the nodes that manage the block host to query their databases. The results will then be merged to provide the federated results into a single report. Because replications are frequently across two arrays, it is possible to get the result from both sides of the replications (eg from the P-VOL and from the S-VOL array). In that situation, Protector will choose the result that had the newest refresh. In the extended view of the report, the field "Cache Updated" gives an indication of how recently the database had been updated for that record.

Report Choices

There are multiple choices of reports split into how the replications should be grouped. By default the reports will report across all replications on all arrays. Each report has extensive filtering capabilities that allow the reports to be more manageable in size and targeted towards the users needs. Note that the maximum number of return values is capped by default to 1000 rows. When returning to a report in the UI, the last search result will automatically be cached.

All Pairs

This report provides a list of all the replication pairs. There is no grouping. If multiple LDEVs are part of replication setup in Protector or they were together in a HRCM file, each individual LDEV will be shown as a replication.

Pairs by Storage Record

This report shows replication grouped by Protector record groups. This would be the replications shown inside a Protector dataflows.

Pairs by Consistency Group

This report shows replications grouped by Array Consistency Group.

Pairs by Copy Group

This report shows replications grouped by Array Copy Groups.

Pairs by Snapshot Group

This report shows snapshots grouped by Snapshot Groups.