Using the Create Remote Virtual Disk Mirror Wizard

Use the Remote Virtual Disk Mirroring Wizard to create a copy of a  on another, secondary . Creating a copy of a  at a remote location gives you a backup of your data that can be accessed in case of catastrophic data loss at the primary site.

The Create Remote Virtual Disk Mirror Wizard helps you quickly define a primary virtual disk and a  and synchronize the data between the two virtual disks. To learn more about the Create Remote Virtual Disk Mirror Wizard before you begin, see Preview of the Create Remote Virtual Disk Wizard, which follows.

Use the following procedure to use the Create Remote Virtual Disk Mirror Wizard:

 Caution: Risk of application errors - You cannot create a mirror relationship if the primary virtual disk contains unreadable sectors. Furthermore, if an unreadable sector is discovered during a mirroring operation, the mirror relationship fails.

Important:

• Not all  have the capability to create and support a . RAID Controller Modules must have dual, -side interface ports to use this feature. Consult your hardware documentation for more information about your RAID controller modules.
• You cannot create a secondary virtual disk in a Remote Virtual Disk Mirror from a  or  in a .
• Reservations on secondary virtual disks will be blocked. Reservations on primary virtual disks, however, will be allowed.
• On a 5884 or 4884 storage array, up to 64 virtual disks might participate in mirror relationships. In previous versions of the storage management software, a maximum of 32 virtual disks could participate in mirror relationships. To accommodate the increase, any  created prior to the current version of storage management must be upgraded. For more information, see Using the Upgrade Mirror Repository Virtual Disk Wizard.

Before using this wizard, make sure the following requirements have been met:

• Ensure that the storage arrays containing the two virtual disks you want to mirror are connected together through a  Fabric interface.
• Ensure that you enable the  on both storage arrays (primary and secondary) using a .
• Ensure that you activate the Remote Virtual Disk Mirroring Feature on both storage arrays (primary and secondary) by selecting Storage Array >> Remote Virtual Disk Mirroring >> Activate.
  
  Note: You can launch the Create Remote Virtual Disk Mirror Wizard if you have not activated the Remote Virtual Disk Mirroring Premium Feature on the local storage array. However, an error dialog is displayed: "Remote Virtual Disk Mirroring Not Activated." From this dialog, click Activate, and the Activation Wizard is started. After you have activated the feature on the storage array, restart the Create Remote Virtual Disk Mirror Wizard.
  
• Ensure that the secondary storage array contains a virtual disk that is greater than or equal to the capacity of the primary virtual disk in the mirrored pair.

Preview of the Create Remote Virtual Disk Mirror Wizard

After enabling the Remote Virtual Disk Mirroring Premium Feature and activating it on both the primary and secondary storage arrays, you can create a Remote Virtual Disk Mirror. The following list describes some of the dialogs you will encounter when using the Create Remote Virtual Disk Mirror Wizard:

• The Introduction dialog describes the tasks that need to be completed before creating a Remote Virtual Disk Mirror.
• The Select Storage Array dialog enables you to select the storage array that contains the secondary virtual disk to be included in the mirrored pair.
• The Select Secondary Virtual Disk dialog selects the secondary virtual disk to be included in the mirrored pair.
• The Set Write Mode dialog enables you to set the  and  options for the mirrored pair.
• The Set Synchronization Settings dialog sets the  level for the mirrored pair.

Related Topics

Learn About Remote Virtual Disk Mirroring

Using the Activate Remote Virtual Disk Mirroring Wizard

Enabling Premium Features