Creating the disaster-recovery vFiler unit

Before you start

Before you begin creating the disaster-recovery vFiler unit, make sure the following are true:

You have performed all the preparation steps listed under Storage checks and actions and Network checks and actions.
SnapMirror is licensed and enabled on both the source and the destination storage system.
The source and destination storage systems can communicate with each other over the network (for example, by means of DNS lookup or entries in /etc/hosts).
The destination volumes are online.
You know the source storage system's administrative ID and password.

Creating the vFiler unit

To create the disaster-recovery vFiler unit, perform the following steps.

Attention
In the disaster-recovery storage system, protect any volumes that have the same names as volumes on the original vFiler unit. Otherwise, data in those volumes will be lost.

Step	Action
1	On the destination storage system, enter the following command: vfiler dr configure source_vfiler@source_filer Notes: If you want to set up synchronous SnapMirror between the source and destination storage systems, use the `-s` option of the `vfiler dr configure` command. For more information about the `-s` option, see the na_vfiler man page. The `vfiler dr configure` command uses the Data ONTAP SnapMirror feature as its underlying technology. You can set multiple paths from the source to the destination storage systems in SnapMirror. The `-a` option of the `vfiler dr configure` command enables you to set multiple paths for the configure operation. For more information, see the section on using SnapMirror over multiple paths in the Data ONTAP Data Protection, Online Backup and Recovery Guide.
2	Respond to the login prompt with a valid administrative ID and password for the source storage system.
3	Respond to the IP address and binding prompts, using the addresses you entered on the "new interface" lines on the worksheet under NETWORK CHECKLIST.
4	Respond to the NIS and DNS server prompts, using the addresses you entered under "New NIS addr" and "New DNS addr" on the worksheet under NETWORK CHECKLIST.
5	(Optional) Monitor progress using the following command: vfiler dr status source_vfiler@source_filer Note The `vfiler dr configure` command might take some time to complete, especially if a source qtree has many millions of inodes. When the `vfiler dr` `status` command reports all the storage units of the source vFiler unit as `snapmirrored`, proceed to the next step. Note The disaster-recovery vFiler unit now exists, but has not been started. See What the vfiler dr configure command does for more information.
6	If you copied quota information into the destination storage system's /etc/quotas file (see Step 8 of Preparing the destination storage system earlier in this chapter), activate the quotas on that storage system. For each volume you are activating quotas on, use the following command: quota on volume_name
7	Edit the disaster-recovery vFiler unit's /etc/hosts.equiv file, adding the name of the trusted host for administering the disaster-recovery vFiler unit. (This is the host name you entered on the worksheet under NETWORK CHECKLIST as "new trusted host.") Note If the trusted host is a Windows system, or if it is a UNIX system and the trusted user is not the root user, you need to add the user name as well: for example, `adminhost joe_smith.`
8	Add the path to the root volume and the name of the trusted host to the disaster-recovery vFiler unit's /etc/exports file. Example /vol/vf1_root access=adminhost, root=adminhost
9	If the vFiler unit's storage units contain iSCSI LUNs, reconfigure iSCSI authentication. See the Data ONTAP Block Access Management Guide for instructions.

What the vfiler dr configure command does

The vfiler dr configure command does the following:

Checks that the destination storage system is capable of receiving the source data.
Configures and runs SnapMirror to copy the data from the source to the destination vFiler unit.
- iSCSI LUNs (including the LUN maps) are copied from the source vFiler unit to the destination vFiler unit.
- Initiator groups (igroups) and the iSCSI configuration, including node names and the iSCSI service state, are also copied to the destination vFiler unit.
- iSCSI authentication is not copied to the destination vFiler unit.
Saves the IP configuration information you supply (see Step 3 under Creating the vFiler unit).
Saves the NIS and DNS server information you supply (see Step 4 under Creating the vFiler unit).
Saves the quota information from the source vFiler unit's /etc/quotas file.
Causes a baseline transfer to occur from the source to the destination.
Sets the incremental update interval from the source to the destination to be once every three minutes.
- Three minutes is the default setting. If you want to change the default setting, edit the etc/snapmirror.conf file as described in the "Data Protection Using SnapMirror" chapter of the Online Backup and Recovery Guide.
- The vfiler dr configure command automatically configures everything that SnapMirror requires for regular updates. No other SnapMirror configuration is necessary. If any SnapMirror configuration requirements are missing from your system (for example, a volume or license is missing), the vfiler dr configure command returns errors.
Overwrites all data on the volumes of the destination vFiler unit.
You must protect any volumes on the destination storage system that have the same names as the volumes on the source vFiler unit. Otherwise, data in those volumes will be lost.
Creates a special type of vFiler unit, known as a DR backup vFiler unit, on the destination storage system.
This vFiler unit is stopped and cannot be started except as described under Activating the disaster-recovery vFiler unit. Before activation, the vFiler unit will respond only to the vfiler dr delete, vfiler dr status, and vfiler dr resync commands. You should not use ifconfig to configure its addresses.

Creating the disaster-recovery vFiler unit

Before you start

Creating the vFiler unit

Example

What the vfiler dr configure command does