Understanding disaster recovery and data migration

Similarities between disaster recovery and data migration

Although the reasons for preparing a disaster-recovery vFiler unit are quite different from the reasons for moving (migrating) a vFiler unit, many of the tasks involved are similar. In both cases, you need to take inventory of the source vFiler unit and make sure the destination storage system has the storage capacity and characteristics, and the network connectivity, to host an identical copy of the original vFiler unit. Then, in both cases, you use a small set of vFiler unit commands to actually create the new vFiler unit, populate it with the original vFiler unit's data, and prepare its connections to the network.

What the procedures do and do not describe

In both cases, the procedures that follow help you not only to move or copy the data (using the SnapMirror technology), but also to configure all of the networking needed to serve the data. But they do not describe adjustments on the client side (for example, mounts onto a Solaris or Windows host). You will need to work closely with the administrators of those systems and with your network administrator to make those adjustments.

Note
A SnapMirror license is required on both the source and destination storage systems.

Differences between disaster-recovery and data migration

After the new vFiler unit has been created, the states of the source and destination vFiler units depend on how you will use the new vFiler unit.

If you are preparing a disaster-recovery vFiler unit:
- The original (source) vFiler unit remains intact and continues to serve data to its clients.
- The new (destination) vFiler unit is inactive, and its IP addresses remain unconfigured, until you activate it in the case of a disaster that destroys or incapacitates the original vFiler unit.
If you are moving (migrating) a vFiler unit:
- The original (source) vFiler unit is destroyed after the migration is complete.
- The new (destination) vFiler unit becomes active and begins serving data as soon as the migration is complete.