System requirements

The following table lists the system requirements for UR operations.

Item

Requirement

Supported storage systems

VSP G1000, VSP G1500, and VSP F1500 can be paired with the following:

  • VSP G1000 (80-01-01-00/00 or later)
  • VSP G1500, and VSP F1500 (80-05-0x-00/00 or later)
  • VSP (70-06-16-00/00 or later)
  • USP V/VM (60-08-47-00/00 or later)
  • VSP G100, VSP G200: 83-01-21-20/xx or later
  • VSP G400, G600, VSP F400, F600: 83-01-21-40/xx or later
  • VSP G800, VSP F800: 83-01-21-60/xx or later
  • HUS VM (73-03-07-00/00 or later)

If you are using a Dynamic Provisioning virtual volume (DP-VOL) with the Data Direct Mapping attribute, you can only connect to VSP G1000, VSP G1500, and VSP F1500 with microcode 80-03-30-00/00 or later.

For information about availability of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F1500, contact your HDS representative.

Supported storage systems

Microcode requirements for connecting VSP Gx00 models or VSP Fx00 models to VSP Gx00 models or VSP Fx00 models:

  • VSP G200: 83-01-01-20/00 or later
  • VSP G400, G600: 83-01-01-40/00 or later
  • VSP G800: 83-01-21-60/00 or later
  • VSP F400, F600, F800: 83-02-0x or later

Microcode requirements for connecting VSP Gx00 models or VSP Fx00 models to Hitachi Unified Storage VM ():

  • VSP G200: 83-01-21-20/00 or later
  • VSP G400, G600: 83-01-21-40/00 or later
  • VSP G800: 83-01-21-60/00 or later
  • VSP F400, F600, F800: 83-02-0x or later
  • HUS VM: 73-03-39-x0/00 or later, x = 0 or 1

If you are using a Dynamic Provisioning virtual volume (DP-VOL) with the data direct mapping attribute, you can only connect to VSP Gx00 models or VSP Fx00 models with microcode 83-02-0x or later.

Microcode requirements for connecting VSP Gx00 models or VSP Fx00 models to :

  • VSP G200: 83-01-21-20/00 or later
  • VSP G400, G600: 83-01-21-40/00 or later
  • VSP G800: 83-01-21-60/00 or later
  • VSP F400, F600, F800: 83-02-0x or later
  • VSP G1000: 80-04-xx or later
  • VSP G1500 and VSP F1500: 80-05-0x-00/00 or later

For more information, contact Hitachi Solution Support Center.

Number of storage systems

A maximum of 64 units can be connected to one unit storage system. For example, you can make a configuration of one unit storage system for the primary site and 64 units storage system for the secondary site.

Number of storage systems

The maximum number of storage systems that can be connected to one unit storage system depends on the models

  • VSP G100 or VSP G200: A maximum of 16 units can be connected. For example, you can configure one unit storage system for the primary site and 16 units storage system for the secondary site.
  • VSP G400, G600, G800 or VSP F400, F600, F800:

    A maximum of 64 units can be connected to one unit storage system. For example, you can make a configuration of one unit storage system for the primary site and 64 units storage system for the secondary site.

Universal Replicator

  • Must be installed on the primary and secondary storage systems.
  • License keys required.
  • UR and UR-MF can coexist in the same storage system.
  • For licensing capacity requirements when UR volumes are shared with other software products, see Dynamic Provisioning
  • For information on expired licenses or exceeding licensed capacity, see the Hitachi Device Manager - Storage Navigator User Guide.

Other licenses required

  • TrueCopy is required, whether or not TC volumes are shared with UR.
  • Disaster Recovery Extended. Used for 3DC configurations and UR operations in multiple primary and secondary storage systems.
  • Dynamic Provisioning. DP-VOLs are required for journal volumes.

Interfaces

  • Device Manager - Storage Navigator:
    • Must be LAN-attached to the primary storage system.
    • Not required on the secondary storage system, but recommended in order to change UR parameters and access the S-VOL for disaster recovery and maintenance.
    • The following roles are required:

      Storage Administrator (Remote Backup Management), to perform pair operations

      Storage Administrator (System Resource Management), to configure settings

  • RAID Manager:
    • Optional
    • Command device required
    • When using virtual storage machine volumes, specify the LDEV ID, serial number, and virtual information in the configuration definition file.

Supported host platforms

  • AIX
  • HP-UX
  • OpenVMS
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  • Solaris
  • SuSE Linux
  • VMWare ESX
  • Windows Server

For the supported version, refer to the Hitachi Data Systems interoperability matrix at http://support.hds.com/en_us/interoperability.

Data path

The following interfaces with direct, switch, or channel extenders are available:

  • Fibre channel
  • iSCSI

For details, see Supported data path configurations .

When both systems are the same model, you can use multiple path groups. This is done by registering path groups with multiple path group IDs in the same storage system. But note that only one path group can be specified for a mirror. Up to eight paths can be registered in one path group.

Path group

Groups of remote paths, which allows you to configure or change the configuration of multiple paths at the same time.

  • A maximum of eight remote paths can be registered in a path group.
  • A maximum of 64 path groups can be set in a storage system.
  • The range of values for the path group ID is 0-255.
  • Two path group IDs can be set in a port.
  • All remote paths in a path group must be the same protocol, either Fibre Channel or iSCSI.

    Remote paths for Fibre Channel and iSCSI cannot coexist within the same path group.

  • If iSCSI is used in a remote path, the Blocked Path Monitoring remote replica option must be set to at least 40 seconds (default).

    If Blocked Path Monitoring is less than 40 seconds, the path might be blocked due to a delay in the network such as many switches in a spanning tree protocol (STP) network or a long distance connection.

  • For a mirror, the path group ID that is used to connect the primary storage system to the secondary storage system must also be used to connect the systems in the reverse direction.
  • The path group is specified during the create pair operation. It cannot be changed by resynchronization or the swap operation.
  • Path groups can be created and specified using RAID Manager.

    See configuration setting commands in RAID Manager User Guide and sample configuration definition files in RAID Manager Installation and Configuration Guide.

  • Specify different paths and path groups for TC and UR secondary storage systems when using CU Free.

Pair volumes

  • A P-VOL can be copied to only one S-VOL.
  • The P-VOL and S-VOL must be equal in size.
  • The P-VOL and S-VOL must be the same emulation type.
  • Supported emulation type: OPEN-V
  • The maximum size of the P-VOL and S-VOL is:
    • Internal volume: 3,145,663 MB (6,442,317,824 blocks)
    • External volume: 4,194,304 MB (8,589,934,592 blocks)
    • DP-VOL: Same as the maximum size of the DP-VOL. For details, see the Provisioning Guide.
  • The minimum volume size of the P-VOL and S-VOL is 46.875 MB (96,000 blocks).
  • When TC is cascaded with UR, a data volume can be copied to multiple data centers.
  • The same value must be set for the T10 PI attribute of the P-VOL and the S-VOL.
  • A volume (LDEV) from a parity group with accelerated compression enabled cannot be used directly as a pair volume. Such volumes must be used as pool volumes for an HDP or HDT pool.
  • You need to set the same value for T10 PI attribute for both P-VOL and S-VOL.
  • You cannot use the NAS Platform system LU as a pair volume.

Journals and journal volumes

  • Maximum number of journals supported per storage system: 256 (0 to 255)
  • Maximum number of data volumes: 16,384 for each journal, and 8,192 for each mirror. However, for the 3DC multi-target or 3DC cascade configuration with three UR sites, use the same data volume in two mirrors.
  • Maximum journal volume size: 60 TB
  • Minimum journal volume size: 1.5 GB
  • Maximum number of data volumes per journal: 8,192
  • Emulation types for journal volumes: OPEN-V. Journal volumes must be DP-VOLs.

    The following volumes cannot be registered to a journal:

    • A DP-VOL with the Data Direct Mapping attribute.
    • A DP-VOL with the capacity saving enabled.
    • A deduplication system data volume.
  • The relationship between a master journal and a restore journal is called a mirror. Mirror IDs are 0 to 3.

For details, see Planning journal volumes .

Journals and journal volumes

  • Maximum number of journals:
    • VSP G800, VSP F800: 128 (journal ID: 0-255) if shared memory "Extension2" is implemented. If shared memory "Extension2" is not implemented, you can only set up to 32 journals. If shared memory "Extension3" is not implemented, you can only set up to 64 journals.

      Even though 256 IDs are available, you can only use 128 of them.

    • VSP G400, VSP F400, VSP G600, VSP F600: 64 (journal ID: 0-255) if shared memory "Extension2" is implemented. If shared memory "Extension2" is not implemented, you can only set up to 32 journals.

      Even though 256 IDs are available, you can only use 64 of them.

    • VSP G200: 16 (journal ID: 0-255)

      Even though 256 IDs are available, you can only use 16 of them.

  • Preferred number of journals: up to 4
  • Maximum number of data volumes in a journal:
    • VSP G800, VSP F800: 8,192 per journal
    • VSP G400, VSP F400, VSP G600, VSP F600: 4,096 per journal
    • VSP G200: 2,048 per journal
  • Maximum number of journal volumes in a journal: 2 per journal. When there are two, one is the reserve (spare) journal volume.
  • Volumes to which a path (LU path) is set from a host cannot be registered as journal volumes.
  • Only Dynamic Provisioning virtual volumes (DP-VOLs) can be used as journal volumes.

    The following volumes cannot be registered to a journal:

    • A DP-VOL with the Data Direct Mapping attribute.
    • A DP-VOL with the capacity saving enabled.
    • A deduplication system data volume.
  • Virtual storage machine volumes cannot be used as journal volumes.
  • Data volumes belonging to different virtual storage machines cannot be registered to the same journal.
  • Minimum journal volume size: 1.5 GB
  • Recommended journal volume size: 6 GB or more
  • Journal volume capacity is not included in Universal Replicator capacity cost.
  • Journal IDs cannot be duplicated among the virtual storage machines of VSP G200, VSP G400, VSP G600, and VSP F400, F600.

Supported volume types

Virtual LUN:

  • Can be used for data and journal volumes.
  • S-VOL capacity must equal P-VOL capacity.

Cache Residency Manager:

  • Data volume: yes
  • Journal volume: no

Maximum number of pairs

Limited per storage system. See Maximum number of pairs allowed.

Supported RAID groups

  • RAID1, RAID5, and RAID6 are supported for both data and journal volumes.
  • RAID1, RAID5, and RAID6 can co-exist in the same journal.

Cache and nonvolatile storage (NVS)

Must be operable for primary and secondary storage systems to ensure pair creation success. The secondary storage system cache must be configured to adequately support UR remote-copy workloads, as well as local workload activity. To determine the appropriate cache capacity to be increased, perform the following calculations A and B and use the smaller result:

A. 1 GB × number of journals

B. 25% of the necessary cache to support the storage capacity

Note: When pair status is COPY, neither cache nor shared memory can be added to or removed from the system. When either of these tasks is to be performed, first split any pairs in COPY status, and then resynchronize when the cache or shared memory operation is completed.

Host failover software

Required for disaster recovery.

RAID Manager consistency groups with multiple primary and secondary storage systems

  • In the RAID Manager CTG with multiple storage systems, a maximum of four units storage system can be connected.

    For example, you can configure the RAID Manager CTG storage system of four units each for the primary site and secondary site. Likewise, you can configure the RAID Manager CTG multiple systems of two units storage system for the primary site and one unit storage system for the secondary site.

  • Up to 8,192 pairs.

    You can register the total number of pairs in the journals within one RAID Manager consistency group. It is recommended that you register only up to 4,096 pairs.