Asynchronous Volume Replication of VMware Virtual Machines with DSS V6 and Acronis Backup & Recovery software

How effectively prevent a decrease in performance?

When your organization has several regional branches located all around the world, you probably need Asynchronous Volume Replication more than Synchronous Volume Replication, despite the fact that the second solution provides the shortest time to restore system functionality and minimize data loss in case of outage. If your servers are located in remote locations - for example one server is in U.S, and a second in Asia, Asynchronous Volume Replication is the mechanism which will prevent a decrease in performance when saving files to storage. When changes in files are replicated asynchronously - the write speed of data to storage is not limited by the speed of the connection between servers. So, if you have a slow internet connection in one location (like 10 Mbit / sec), the speed of writing data to the array when using asynchronous volume replication will not fall to the speed of the connection.

How to get the benefits of Asynchronous Volume Replication in a different way?

So what can you do when you need that feature and you know that it’s not available on our software? In response to such needs, we have prepared an equivalent solution that will provide the same benefits as the aforementioned mechanism, but in a different way. Are you ready for a complete, detailed solution that will ensure you uninterrupted and fast asynchronous volume replication of a database to a remote location? If yes, this document describes solution that can be used as a replacement for Asynchronous Volume Replication in any customer’s environment. More about this solution you will find on our blog post.

1. Software requirements

a) 2 x Data Storage Software V6 b5845 with Data (file) replication enabled

b) VMware ESXi 5.0

c) Acronis Backup and Recovery 11

2. Preparing DSS storage with Data (file) replication

Now we will describe how to prepare NAS share on both DSS machines with enabled Data (file) replication. NAS share on the first DSS machine will be used as a centralized backup folder in Acronis Backup and Recovery for a virtual machine backup. The second DSS machine will be used as a co-located backup.

3.1. Configuring the destination node for Data (file) replication - DSS2

Please configure the volume group and create a logical volume for destination data (file) replication (CONFIGURATION -> volume manager -> Vol. groups -> vg00).

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Please configure the IP address on the first eth on the second DSS (SETUP-> network -> Interfaces -> eth0).

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Please configure the IP address on the second eth on the second DSS (SETUP -> network -> Interfaces -> eth1).

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Please enable the data (file) replication agent on the second DSS (CONFIGURATION -> NAS settings).

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