Questions about replication

Hi,

I have a few questions about Open-E iSCSI's replication feature:
I want to set up replication between 2 Open-E servers (hooked up directly via gigabit) for my existing volumes in a specific target.

• Is it possible to enable replication for a active/existing volume or do I have to remove and add the volume again?
• If so, is it possible that I might loose any data by removing a volume from a target and adding it again?
• Will Open-E reset the iSCSI connection during this process?
• Does Open-E "lock" a volume in any way while running a replication?
• What happens if I do a replication while "something" (read: a Xen DomU) is writing to the volume?

I'm running

Code:

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Model: Open-E iSCSI ENTERPRISE
Version: 1.72.IE00000000.2512

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This also makes up another question ... is it possible to upgrade this device without losing data?

On the first server (the one, that holds the data) and

Code:

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Modell:  iSCSI-R3
Version:  2.32.DB00000000.2863

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on the server, that will store the replicated data.

We thought about expanding a volume by 0.00 GB and enabling replication (makes 0.12 GB "for replication) - would this work for activating the replication?

I would appreciate it, if anyone could help me with these questions.

Regards, Patrick

Hi Patrick,

Your iSCSI Enterprise "1.72" will not replicate to the iSCSI-R3 Enterprise. Only iSCSI-R3 Enterprise will replicate to another iSCSI-R3 or DSS.
For DSS and iSCSI-R3 you can enable replication for an existing volume without losing data as well as removing and adding it again just don't delete the volume.

If the target is removed then connection to target will no longer be available and will not reset the other connections to other luns or or targets, also it is recommended to allow the replication to complete first before writing to the target as this will speed up the replication (best to add a dedicated NIC). Once the replication is completed only enable the target for the source not the destination target.

We don't have a way to upgrade the iSCSI Enterprise to iSCSI-R3 Enterprise as they are different logical volume managers and the USB build is larger the the IDE module.