Reactivating the original vFiler unit using SnapMirror commands

Boot the original storage system and interrupt the boot process by pressing the Del or Esc key while the memory self-test is in progress.

Note
If you don't press the Del or Esc key in time, you can press Ctrl-C when prompted later during the boot; then choose option 5 (maintenance mode); then enter halt.

At the OK prompt, set the no-vfiler-ips? variable as follows:

setenv no-vfiler-ips? true

This ensures that the storage system does not try to bind IP addresses already being used by the disaster-recovery vFiler unit. When the storage system boots, the original vFiler unit starts running, but it does not accept any read or write requests because its interfaces are unconfigured.

Resynchronize the mirrored volumes and qtrees.

For each volume and qtree owned by the original vFiler unit, enter the following command on the original storage system (the one you are trying to activate):

snapmirror resync -S disaster_recovery_filer:/pathname original_filer:/pathname

Example

snapmirror resync -S drfiler:/vol/vfiler1/qtree1 prfiler:/vol/vfiler1/qtree

Troubleshooting

If the snapmirror resync command fails, telling you that there are no matching Snapshot copies, you might have accidentally deleted the Snapshot copies that SnapMirror depends on. In this case, you need to initialize SnapMirror using the snapmirror initialize command (see the na_snapmirror man page for details). Then continue with the next step of this procedure, but skip Step 7 when you get there.

Find out if the snapmirror.access option on the disaster-recovery storage system is set to legacy. Enter the following command on the disaster-recovery storage system:

options snapmirror 

If...

Then...

The options snapmirror command returns snapmirror.access legacy

Edit the file /etc/snapmirror.allow and add the host name of the original storage system if it is not already there.

The options snapmirror command returns a list of host names, and the name of the original storage system is not in the list

Use the options snapmirror command to add the host name of the original storage system.

Example

options snapmirror.access 
host=fridge,toaster,prfiler

Run setup on the disaster-recovery vFiler unit and unconfigure its IP addresses.

Update the data on the original vFiler unit.

For each volume and qtree owned by the original vFiler unit, enter the following command on the original storage system:

snapmirror update -S disaster_recovery_filer:/pathname original_filer:/pathname

Example

snapmirror update -S drfiler:/vol/vfiler1/qtree1 prfiler:/vol/vfiler1/qtree1

Stop SnapMirror transfers to the disaster-recovery vFiler unit.

For each volume and qtree owned by the original vFiler unit, enter the following command on the original storage system:

snapmirror quiesce pathname 

Example

snapmirror quiesce /vol/vfiler1/qtree1

Note
This operation can take a long time. Use Ctrl-C to interrupt it if you need to.

Check that all the paths are quiesced by entering the following command:

snapmirror status

The status column in the output should show each path as Quiesced.

Break the SnapMirror relationship.

For each volume and qtree owned by the original vFiler unit, enter the following command on the original storage system:

snapmirror break pathname 

Example

snapmirror break /vol/vfiler1/qtree1

On the original vFiler, run setup to configure the vFiler unit's IP addresses and configure the NIS and DNS servers.

If the storage units that have been copied contain iSCSI LUNs, check that the iSCSI configuration on the original vFiler unit is intact and still makes sense.

You might need to remap the LUNs and re-create initiator groups (igroups).

If the storage units that have been copied contain iSCSI LUNs, bring the LUNs back online on the original vFiler unit.

Stop the disaster-recovery vFiler unit. On the disaster-recovery storage system, enter the following command:

vfiler stop vfilername

vfilername is the name of the disaster-recovery vFiler unit.

You are done reactivating the original storage system. To ensure that you have a disaster recovery vFiler unit available for the vFiler unit on the reactivated original storage system, go to the next step.

Resynchronize the disaster-recovery vFiler unit.

From the disaster-recovery storage system, perform the procedure Resynchronizing the original vFiler unit.

You are done.