P9500 Storage Systems; Main And Remote Control Units; Pair Volumes; Journal Volumes - HP StorageWorks P9000 User Manual

P9500 storage systems

Continuous Access Journal Z is operated using two P9500 storage systems, one at the primary
and one at secondary sites. The primary system consists of the main control unit (MCU) and the
SVP . The secondary system consists of the remote control unit (RCU) and the SVP.
The primary system communicates with the secondary system over dedicated fibre channel
remote copy connections.
The P9500 system can function simultaneously as a primary and secondary system.

Main and remote control units

The primary and secondary systems are often referred to as the MCU (primary system) and RCU
(secondary system). MCU is the main control unit, RCU is the remote control unit.
MCUs control the primary storage volume (P-VOL) and the following operations:
Host I/O operations to the P-VOL
Master journal operations
Initial copy and update copy operations between the P-VOL and secondary volume (S-VOL).
RCUs control the secondary storage volume (S-VOL) and the following operations:
Issue read-journal commands to the MCU.
Manage the copying of journal data from master to restore journal
Manage the copying of restore journal data to S-VOL
Assist in managing pair status and configuration (for example, rejects write I/Os to the S-VOLs).

Pair volumes

Original data is stored in the P-VOL and the remote copy is stored in the S-VOL. The pair can be
paired, split, resynchronized, and returned to the simplex state. When synchronized, the volumes
are paired; when split, new data sent is to the P-VOL but held from the S-VOL. When resynchronized,
changed data is copied to the S-VOL. When a disaster occurs, production operations can be
transferred to the S-VOL. When the primary site is functional again, operations and data can be
transferred and copied back to the P-VOL.
The P-VOL remains available to the host for read and write I/O operations. The secondary system
rejects write I/Os for the S-VOL, unless the write-enable option is specified for the S-VOL. Then,
write I/O is allowed to the S-VOL while the pair is split. In this instance, S-VOL and P-VOL track
maps keep track of differential data and uses it to resynchronize the pair.
See "Duplicating VOLSERs" (page 29)
NOTE: When you configure a journal pair, you have to specify the serial numbers of primary
storage systems and secondary storage systems. You have to specify the different serial numbers
of the primary storage system and the secondary storage system for the same journal pair. If you
have to specify the same serial number, contact HP Technical Support.

Journal volumes

Journal volumes are required on the primary and secondary systems.
Updates to the P-VOL are copied to the master journal volume in the primary system. See the
illustration in
Master journal data is copied to the restore journal volume on the secondary system.
Journal volumes can have different volume sizes and different RAID configurations.
Journal data is stored sequentially and separately into each journal volume in the same journal.
for further information on volume requirements and support.
"Journals" (page 12).
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