Inline Replication for the Dell EMC VMAX Storage Array

With the VMAX Replication feature, you can create a replica copy on a remote array, in addition to the primary snapshot copy on the local array.

When you run a snap backup operation, the snapshot is created on the local array and on the remote array.

The Inline Replication for the Dell EMC VMAX storage array feature supports both synchronous and asynchronous Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) link modes.

In synchronous mode, the replica copy is application consistent, except for the Microsoft Hyper-V agent. In asynchronous mode, the replica copy is crash-consistent.

For the Microsoft Hyper-V agent, the replica copy is crash-consistent in synchronous and asynchronous modes.

Key Features

The key features of the Dell EMC VMAX Replication feature are as follows:

• For synchronous replica copies, both the local and the remote copies keep operations synchronized, even considering network delays.

• For asynchronous copies, the remote copy is updated every 1-60 seconds with the latest state of the local array.

• For inline replication, replication is performed only if the subclient on which you run the snapshot operation is associated with the replica copy.

Snapshot Consistency for VMAX Engines

Snapshot consistency of primary and replica snapshots is the following.