HyperSwap volumes

HyperSwap volumes create copies on separate sites for systems that are configured with HyperSwap topology. Data that is written to a HyperSwap volume is automatically sent to both copies so that either site can provide access to the volume if the other site becomes unavailable. HyperSwap volumes are supported on systems that contain more than one I/O group.

HyperSwap is a system topology that enables disaster recovery and high availability between I/O groups at different locations. Before you configure HyperSwap volumes, the system topology needs to be configured for HyperSwap and sites must be defined.

In the management GUI, HyperSwap volumes are configured by specifying volume details such as quantity, capacity, name, and the method for saving capacity. As with basic volumes, you can choose either compression or thin-provisioning to save capacity on volumes. For thin-provisioning or compression, you can also select to use deduplication for the volume that you create. For example, you can create a compressed volume that also uses deduplication to remove duplicated data. The method for capacity savings applies to all HyperSwap volumes and copies that are created. The volume location displays the site where copies will be located, based on the configured sites for the HyperSwap system topology. For each site, specify a pool and I/O group that are used by the volume copies that are created on each site. If you select to deduplicate volume data, the volume copies must be in data reduction pools on both sites.

In addition, the management GUI creates an active-active relationship and change volumes automatically. Active-active relationships manage the synchronous replication of data between HyperSwap volume copies at the two sites. If your HyperSwap system supports self-encrypting drives and the base volume is fully allocated in a data reduction pool, then the corresponding change volume is created with compression enabled. If base volume is in a standard pool, then the change volume is created as a thin-provisioned volume. You can specify a consistency group that contains multiple active-active relationships to simplify management of replication and provide consistency across multiple volumes. A consistency group is commonly used when an application spans multiple volumes. Change volumes maintain a consistent copy of data during resynchronization. Change volumes allow an older copy to be used for disaster recovery when a failure occurred on the up-to-date copy before resynchronization completes.

You can also use the mkvolume command to create a HyperSwap volume. The command also defines pools and sites for HyperSwap volume copies and creates the active-active relationship and change volumes automatically. If your HyperSwap system supports self-encrypting drives and the base volume is fully allocated in a data reduction pool, then the corresponding change volume is created with compression enabled. If base volume is in a standard pool, then the change volume is created as a thin-provisioned volume.