timefinder foundations - srg

8/10/2019 Timefinder Foundations - Srg

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/timefinder-foundations-srg 1/62

yright © 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome to TimeFinder Foundations.

Copyright © 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 EMC Corporation. AllRights Reserved. EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information issubject to change without notice.

THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” EMC CORPORATION MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS ORWARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMSIMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.

EMC2, EMC, Data Domain, RSA, EMC Centera, EMC ControlCenter, EMC LifeLine, EMC OnCourse, EMC Proven, EMC Snap,EMC SourceOne, EMC Storage Administrator, Acartus, Access Logix, AdvantEdge, AlphaStor, ApplicationXtender,ArchiveXtender, Atmos, Authentica, Authentic Problems, Automated Resource Manager, AutoStart, AutoSwap,AVALONidm, Avamar, Captiva, Catalog Solution, C-Clip, Celerra, Celerra Replicator, Centera, CenterStage, CentraStar,ClaimPack, ClaimsEditor, CLARiiON, ClientPak, Codebook Correlation Technology, Common Information Model,Configuration Intelligence, Configuresoft, Connectrix, CopyCross, CopyPoint, Dantz, DatabaseXtender, Direct MatrixArchitecture, DiskXtender, DiskXtender 2000, Document Sciences, Documentum, elnput, E-Lab, EmailXaminer,EmailXtender, Enginuity, eRoom, Event Explorer, FarPoint, FirstPass, FLARE, FormWare, Geosynchrony, Global FileVirtualization, Graphic Visualization, Greenplum, HighRoad, HomeBase, InfoMover, Infoscape, Infra, InputAccel, InputAccelExpress, Invista, Ionix, ISIS, Max Retriever, MediaStor, MirrorView, Navisphere, NetWorker, nLayers, OnAlert, OpenScale,PixTools, Powerlink, PowerPath, PowerSnap, QuickScan, Rainfinity, RepliCare, RepliStor, ResourcePak, Retrospect, RSA, theRSA logo, SafeLine, SAN Advisor, SAN Copy, SAN Manager, Smarts, SnapImage, SnapSure, SnapView, SRDF, StorageScope,SupportMate, SymmAPI, SymmEnabler, Symmetrix, Symmetrix DMX, Symmetrix VMAX, TimeFinder, UltraFlex, UltraPoint,UltraScale, Unisphere, VMAX, Vblock, Viewlets, Virtual Matrix, Virtual Matrix Architecture, Virtual Provisioning, VisualSAN,VisualSRM, Voyence, VPLEX, VSAM-Assist, WebXtender, xPression, xPresso, YottaYotta, the EMC logo, and whereinformation lives, are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries.

All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

© Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA.

Revision: 003

TimeFinder Foundations




Upon completion of this course, you should be able to identify TimeFinder concepts and

architecture, differentiate TimeFinder solutions, describe TimeFinder operations, identify

management software offerings, and describe the TimeFinder business benefits and

considerations.





This lesson covers TimeFinder local replication benefits and TimeFinder usage as a point-in-

time business tool. It also provides an overview of TimeFinder’s application set, lists the

architectural components, and describes the TimeFinder product family.





Local replication can significantly enhance your current business and technical operations by

providing access points to production data for parallel processing activities such as backups, disk-

based recovery after logical corruptions, and creating test environments for faster application time to

revenue.

Every business strives to increase the utilization of its most important resource—information—in

order to improve business productivity. This asset is key to finding the right customers, building the

right products, and offering the best service. The greater the extent to which you can share, re-use,

and exploit this corporate information, the greater competitive advantage your company can gain.

Let’s look at this business challenge: Increasing productivity through parallel access to information.

Imagine that you could create an environment in which a singular instance of corporate information

could be accessed in parallel by multiple business units, and in which you could retain multiple

checkpoints of that data throughout the day without consuming large amounts of disk space. Imagine

an environment in which you could improve service levels by eliminating the stop-and-go sequential

information-access methods of the past.What would this environment do for your enterprise?

• Increase application availability while reducing downtime

• Minimize data exposure and recovery time by creating more frequent point-in-time images of

data

• Enable non-disruptive access to critical data for concurrent processing

Backup, reporting, testing, migrations, data warehousing

• Provide improved data recovery and application consistency

•Reduce replication total cost of ownership while meeting new and ever-changing service levels





TimeFinder is a family of products that enable businesses to provide multiple point-in-time

copies of data to distribute business tasks. This allows for simultaneous action of previously

sequential business tasks. An example is the ability to back up a point-in-time copy of critical

data while production operations continue on the source data.In today’s IT environments, it is critical to have choice and flexibility when building local

replication solutions in order to match the right product to your service-level requirements.

The TimeFinder family of products offers the broadest choice of alternatives, from full-

volume mirrors and clone copies to space saving snapshot copies. Understanding the

features and functions of each of the TimeFinder product family options is imperative for

identifying the appropriate solution.





TimeFinder allows storage-based information users to make more effective use of their most

valuable resources by enabling parallel information access. In contrast to traditional

sequential information access, TimeFinder eliminates the need to quiesce an application for

backup. This provides tangible benefits to businesses, including accelerated upgrades.TimeFinder enables application upgrades to quickly identify and remedy problems, minimize

risk, and reduce production downtime. TimeFinder eliminates the backup window to high

availability demand systems. TimeFinder can also shorten maintenance windows, minimize

infrastructure costs, and improve service levels.





Each TimeFinder product (TimeFinder/Clone, TimeFinder/Snap) has its own distinct

architecture and operational characteristics. These attributes are essential when addressing

the wide scope of customer data replication requirements. The components that make up

each TimeFinder solution are listed here. TimeFinder architectural components arepresented at a high level within the next few slides.

VP Snap leverages TimeFinder/Clone technology to create space-efficient snaps for thin

devices by allowing multiple sessions to share allocations within a thin pool. VP Snap

provides the efficiency of snap technology with improved cache utilization and simplified

pool management. With VP Snap, tracks can be stored in the same thin pool as the source,

or in another pool of your choice.





Regardless of the replication technology that is being implemented, the Symmetrix storage

array uses “Track Table” technology that creates a record of the data that has been changed.

Using this information is what drives the movement or resynchronization of data back and

forth from the source and/or target devices.This technology is employed regardless of whether the data is located in a single array or

across multiple arrays. The Track Table is the underlying enabler for all Symmetrix storage

array-based data-mobility applications and technologies.





This slide describes the EMC TimeFinder family of products for the VMAX 20K/VMAX and VMAX 40K

arrays. The TimeFinder family of products includes Symmetrix local replication solutions designed to

non-disruptively create point-in-time copies of critical data. You can configure backup sessions,

initiate copies, and terminate TimeFinder operations from mainframe and open systems controlling

hosts using EMC Symmetrix host-based control software.

The TimeFinder local replication solutions include TimeFinder/Clone, TimeFinder/Snap, and

TimeFinder VP Snap. TimeFinder/Clone creates full-device and extent-level point-in-time copies.

TimeFinder/Snap creates pointer-based logical copies that consume less storage space on physical

drives. TimeFinder VP Snap provides the efficiency of snap technology with improved cache

utilization and simplified pool management.

Each solution guarantees high data availability. The source device is always available to production

applications. The target device becomes read/write enabled as soon as you initiate the point-in-time

copy. Host applications can therefore immediately access the point-in-time image of critical data

from the target device while TimeFinder copies data in the background.TimeFinder includes the following features:

• Supports RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, and RAID 10 protection schemes

• Provides restore capabilities

• Provides incremental re-synchronization between the source and the target

• Supports virtual provisioning

• Tightly integrated with SRDF





This slide describes the EMC TimeFinder for VMAX 10K/VMAXe family of products.

The TimeFinder family of products are Symmetrix local replication solutions designed to non-

disruptively create point-in-time copies of critical data. You can configure backup sessions,

initiate copies, and terminate TimeFinder operations using EMC Symmetrix host-basedcontrol software.

TimeFinder local replication solutions include TimeFinder/Clone and TimeFinder VP Snap.

TimeFinder/Clone creates full-device point-in-time copies. TimeFinder VP Snap provides the

efficiency of snap technology with improved cache utilization and simplified pool

management.

Each solution guarantees high data availability. The source device is always available to

production applications. The target device becomes read/write enabled as soon as you

initiate the point-in-time copy. Host applications can therefore immediately access the point-

in-time image of critical data from the target device while TimeFinder copies data in the

background.

TimeFinder includes the following features:

• Supports RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6 protection schemes

• Provides restore capabilities

• Provides incremental re-synchronization between the source and the target

• Supports virtual provisioning

•

Tightly integrated with SRDF





The TimeFinder family has several different solutions to help you meet your service-level

requirements while providing very powerful local replication capabilities.

Let’s take a look at what the TimeFinder family delivers. First is its massively parallel high

performance and unsurpassed RPO and RTO with minimal server impact.

TimeFinder easily integrates into industry-leading applications, such as Oracle, Microsoft,

VMware, SAP, and IBM. This is a result of the integration efforts as well as EMC partnerships

with these major application vendors. TimeFinder is highly recommended with remote

replication solutions like SRDF to increase application availability and improve

test/development capabilities and disaster restart requirements.

TimeFinder is the solution Symmetrix customers rely on for business continuity locally, in the

array, and in the data center.





With all the choice and flexibility in making TimeFinder family replicas, how do you know

which type to use and when? It is a matter of balancing customer needs and mapping them

back to a few key areas: performance, availability, functionality, and economics.

Pointer-based images are not a physical copy of your information; they are logical views ofthe original information based on the time the image was created. Snapshots and snaps are

created in seconds and can be retired when no longer needed.

In contrast to a full data copy, a snapshot uses only a fraction of the original space. Multiple

snapshots can be created to suit the needs of multiple business processes. Secondary servers

see the snapshot as an additional mountable disk volume. Servers mounting a snapshot have

full read/write capabilities with the snapshot data.

TimeFinder/Snap multi-virtual sessions allow up to 128 virtual point-in-time copies.

TimeFinder/Snap sessions on Symmetrix VMAX 40K systems always use multi-virtual mode.

VP Snap leverages TimeFinder/Clone technology to create space-efficient snaps for thin

devices by allowing multiple sessions to share allocations within a thin pool. VP Snap

provides the efficiency of snap technology with improved cache utilization and simplified

pool management. With VP Snap, tracks can be stored in the same thin pool as the source or

in another pool of your choice.





This lesson covers TimeFinder/Clone, clone operations, clone components, cascaded clone

functionality, and TimeFinder/Clone functional capabilities.





TimeFinder/Clone is a pointer-based, full-copy product for open systems. It enables the

creation of point-in-time copies that can be used for backups, decision support, data-

warehouse refreshes, or any other process that requires parallel access to production

information.Clones can be protected using any type of supported protection scheme, including RAID 5

and RAID 6. They do not require a Symmetrix mirror position. You can create up to 16 active

clones of a single source volume, all of which are immediately available for both read and

write access.

A differential clone session uses two (2) copy sessions, therefore, you can only have a max of

eight (8) differential clone sessions.

TimeFinder/Clone also includes a “NOCOPY” option, which enables you to perform a copy

process only when the actual data is requested. As with all TimeFinder family products,

TimeFinder/Clone supports the TimeFinder/Consistency Groups option to ensure data

consistency between volumes and across Symmetrix systems.

TimeFinder/Clone is ideal when high performance, RAID 5 and RAID 6 protection, and highly

functional point-in-time copies are required.





The TimeFinder/Clone creation and implementation process consists of five main steps.

The TimeFinder/Clone operations are:

1. Create: creates a relationship between source and clone.

2. Activate: the Clone is now active and available immediately for read/write access and

the production I/O is processed against standard.

Note: Performing a TimeFinder/Clone “Establish” process “Creates” a relationship

between the source and target and “Activates” the clone session.

3. Recreate: / Activate: the Clone is re-attached to Standard for new point-in-time copy

which is incremental.

4. Restore: the Clone is re-attached to Standard: incremental or full restore performed.

5. Terminate: causes the target host to lose access to clone, removes clone.

Each step is a critical component of a disk-based, local protection and recovery solution.





When you use the copy option, the TimeFinder/Clone session copies all of the source device

tracks to the target device. The copy process starts when you activate the session (initiate

the point-in-time copy) and completes when all of the source device tracks are copied to the

target device and no protected tracks are left. You will typically use the copy option to createa full source device copy on the target device (gold copy) and keep data on the target device

intact for recovery purposes. You can also use the copy option if you need to make the full-

device point-in-time copy available to another host. The other host can then access the

target device while the production host continues to access the source device.

The TimeFinder/Clone copy options are:

Copy on access – The track is copied the first time a track on the source device is written to,

or a track on the target is accessed. This is the default mode of operation for

TimeFinder/Clone.

Full background – This option copies data as a low priority task whether the data is accessed

or not. This mode is enabled after activation of the clone session.

Pre-copy function – Starts copying tracks in the background, before the clone session is

activated.





TimeFinder/Clone can use Standard or BCV (Business Continuance Volumes) for source and

target devices, as long as all the devices are the same size and emulation type (FBA or CKD).

The target of a copy operation is a Symmetrix storage array clone. Copying to a clone can be

immediate as with Precopy or deferred as with CopyOnAccess.

Copying occurs when there are writes to the source device or reads/writes to the target

device. The clone pair state remains CopyOnAccess until you terminate the copy session or

until all tracks have been accessed. This is the default option for any Open Systems

environment.

In the mainframe environment, there is an option rather than a default setting for

CopyOnAccess. It is invoked by adding the MODE -NOCOPY parameter to the command.





The TimeFinder/Clone restore command copies target data to another device or back to the

original source device.

In the case of a Full Restore, the original session terminates and a copy session to the target

of the restore starts. In the case of an Incremental Restore, the original session terminatesand an incremental copy session back to the original source device will start.

To support a Full or Incremental operation, the session must have been created with the -

differential option during the create session stage and the target device must be in a fully

copied state.





With Enginuity 5874 and beyond, TimeFinder/Clone supports Thick to Thin replication,

allowing customers to take advantage of virtual provisioning by providing the ability to

quickly move an application’s data from standard or thick volumes to virtually provisioned

storage (Thin devices) within the same array.Data can also be moved from Thin devices to standard devices (Thin to Thick) for situations

where the space efficiencies and rapid provisioning of virtual provisioning is no longer

required or where specific applications may be better suited to standard devices. During the

replication operation disk extents (chunks) marked as “Not Written By Host” (NWBH) are

automatically detected and will not be copied to the thin device.

A key consideration for Thick to Thin replication is ensuring the thin pool has an adequate

amount of space to accommodate the standard device.

The replication does not disrupt hosts or internal applications during the copy process; but

the user will need to handle the application and host addressing of the new devices. During

the cloning process, replications of the standard devices remain in full operation.

The source and target of the replication operation can also be different RAID protection

levels. An unprotected device can be replicated to a RAID protected device, but you cannot

replicate a protected volume to an unprotected volume. TimeFinder/Clone support for Thick

to Thin replication is supported on EFD, Fibre Channel drives, and SATA drives for FBA

emulations.





Full-device TimeFinder/Clone supports cascaded operations. The cascaded clone capability

allows you to create two full-device TimeFinder/Clone sessions using the same device as a

source device and as a target device. You can then run both sessions concurrently as long as

you activated the copy process sequentially (to preserve the copy direction).Clone from clone target (both sessions are cascaded clone) shows how cascaded sessions are

accepted from left to right. You can activate session 1 to copy from device A to device B.

Then, you can activate session 2 to clone device B to device C. If your copy direction is

A=>B=>C, you can activate session B=>C only after you activated session 1 from A=>B.

Cascaded clone is supported with VP Snap with some restrictions. Refer to the EMC Solutions

Enabler TimeFinder Family CLI Product Guide for additional details.





The table illustrated here highlights some of the major specifications and limitations of

TimeFinder/Clone.

The slide also highlights TimeFinder/Clone compatibility with other EMC software products.





This lesson covers an overview of TimeFinder/Snap, snap operations, snap components, and

using TimeFinder/Snap for backups. It also covers TimeFinder/Snap and Clone operations

with Thin Devices (TDEV’s) and TimeFinder/Snap restore operations and functional

capabilities. TimeFinder/Clone and TimeFinder/Snap support for virtual provisioning isdiscussed.





TimeFinder/Snap creates space-saving, economical, logical point-in-time images or

snapshots. The snapshots are not full copies of data; they are logical images of the original

information, each based on the time the snapshot was created. A snapshot is simply a view

into the data that was frozen at the time of activation.A set of pointers to the source-volume data tracks is instantly created on activation of the

snapshot. This set of pointers is addressed as a logical volume, and is made accessible to a

secondary host that uses the point-in-time image of the underlying data.

TimeFinder/Snap supports:

• Open systems and mainframe data volumes

• Up to 128 concurrent snaps of a single-source volume

• Full-function access to the snap—that is, the snap may also be updated, with the

updates residing in the Save area

• RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6 protection

In many situations, you’ll find yourself trying to support multiple service levels with a single

solution. TimeFinder/Snap allows you to complement existing TimeFinder family

environments, fulfilling multiple service level requirements while balancing the economics of

the solutions.





A SAVE device is a Symmetrix device that is not accessible to the host and can only be

accessed through virtual devices that point to it. SAVE devices provide pooled physical

storage and are configured with any supported RAID scheme. SAVE devices cannot be

metadevices. They store either source data copied to the SAVE pool during theTimeFinder/Snap session or updates from the host mapped to the virtual device.

TimeFinder/Snap operations are designed to create point-in-time copies of the source device

when only a fraction of the source device changes over time. The SAVE device pool storage

capacity can be much smaller than the capacity of the source device.

Note: Source, Virtual, and SAVE devices have to be configured with the same device

emulation type (FBA or CKD).

This slide provides an overview of how a TimeFinder/Snap device works, including:

• The creation of the snap through a copy session

• Copying the original source data to a “save” device

• Setting up a tracking relationship between the source device and its updated save device;

that keeps data in place and current between both the source and the save device





TimeFinder/Snap supports open systems and mainframe data volumes, up to 128 concurrent

snaps of a single source volume in open systems and eight (8) on the mainframe.

There is full function access to the snap. That is, the snap may also be updated with the

updates residing in the save area.

Save devices contain the original tracks that were changed as a result of a first copy on write

to a source device or a new write to a virtual device during a virtual device copy session. The

Symmetrix storage array supports the creation of multiple named SAVE device pools,

allowing commands to use a specific pool.

EMC Snap allows the user to complement existing TimeFinder solutions, such as Clone and

Mirror, fulfilling multiple service-level requirements, while balancing the economics of the

solutions.





When handling writes to the production data, TimeFinder/Snap uses a process called Copy

on First Write. As an example, let’s say a snapshot is active on the production volume. When

a host attempts to write to the data on the production volume, the original track C is first

copied to the save area, then the write is processed against the production volume. The trackpointers are maintained for consistency, that is, the point-in-time copy of the data of the

ongoing snapshot.

The copy on first write process is as follows:

1. A write from the host is sent to the source device during the copy session. The track is

marked write pending.

2. A pre-updated image of the changed track is copied to a SAVE device.

3. The host I/O is completed.

4. The track pointer on the virtual device will then be updated to point to the data on theSAVE device.





Because of the delay of operation when moving the original track on copy on first write,

enhancements have been made to TimeFinder/Snap. “Avoiding Copy On First Write” provides

for improved host performance response times making the use of space-saving snap devices

extremely appealing for point in time operations.The process with TimeFinder/Snap Avoid Copy on First Write is as follows:

1. Write I/O from host to Symmetrix with new data track cache slot marked as version

write pending.

2. New write I/O completion immediately acknowledged back to the host application.

3. Older data track is read from disk and marked write pending to Save Pool; new write

version indicator cleared and new write marked write pending to Standard.

4. New write and older data track marked write pending in cache are both de-staged and

the VDEV pointer is updated.





The TimeFinder/Snap creation and usage process consists of five main steps:

1. Create: creates relationship between standard and virtual device

2. Activate: activates the copy session and starts the copy on first write mechanism,

production I/O is processed against standard

3. Recreate: creates a new Point-In-Time of the standard.

4. Restore: copies tracks from the virtual device to the standard or other device.

5. Terminate: causes the target host to lose access to data pointed to by the virtual

device.

Each step is a critical component of a disk-based local protection and recovery solution.

Prior to Enginuity 5874, taking a new point-in-time TimeFinder/Snap copy required

terminating the previously activated snap session between the source volume and the target

virtual volume (VDEV). The Recreate operation now allows a new point-in-time without

terminating the previous TimeFinder/Snap session. After activation of a Snap session, the

session can be recreated and then activated, as when new point-in-time images are required.





The Production view is a standard view into an active production volume from the host’s

perspective. EMC Snap creates the same type of view into the production data at a specific

point-in-time. The cache-resident pointers maintain the point-in-time nature of the snapshot

as unchanged data is “shared” with the production view and changed data is temporarilycollected in the pre-defined save area.

A best practice for snap does not require more than 20% of the source volumes’ capacity in

the save area.

TimeFinder/Snap sessions are also referred to as virtual sessions. Like TimeFinder/Clone

sessions, virtual sessions use a protection session on the source device. You can run only one

type of a virtual device session on a single source device.

Note: Since a virtual session is associated with a point-in-time copy and a particular virtual

device, you need to keep a virtual session active as long as you need its snapshot copy. By

terminating a virtual session, you remove the associated point-in-time copy because

Enginuity automatically releases the storage space in the associated SAVE device pool.

TimeFinder/Snap sessions on Symmetrix VMAX 40K systems always use multi-virtual mode.





This is an example of a backup operation from a snapshot. The snapshot gets created and the

backup host mounts the snapshot and performs the backup against the snapshot.

It is important to note that the backup runs a sequential read process against the snapshot,

so the production application may encounter some performance contention during thebackup, due to the fact that the snapshot and production host are both looking at many of

the same spindles for the unchanged data.





Here is an example of an incremental restore operation back to the original standard device.

When the restore is initiated, the host application must be offline so as not to create the

potential for data corruption during the restore process.

The restore completes after all the collected changed data in the save area for that particularsnapshot is copied back to the standard device. You can also restore to a BCV device when it

is in split state.





From Enginuity 5874 onward, the TimeFinder/Clone relationship can be maintained while a

restore occurs from a TimeFinder/Snap to a production volume that is a source volume for

both the TimeFinder/Snap and TimeFinder/Clone volume.





Thin devices are cache only devices. TimeFinder/Snap supports snapping a Thin device to a

virtual device. All operations are supported. TimeFinder/Clone supports cloning a Thin

source device to a Thin target device. TimeFinder/Mirror is not supported with Thin devices.

Mainframe CKD Thin devices are not supported with TimeFinder/Clone or TimeFinder/Snap.





The table illustrated here highlights some of the major specifications and limitations of

TimeFinder/Snap. This slide also highlights TimeFinder/Snap compatibility with other EMC

software products.





Full-device TimeFinder/Clone and TimeFinder/Snap both support virtual provisioning and

allow thin source and target devices in TimeFinder operations. Extent-level TimeFinder/Clone

operations do not support virtual provisioning and thin devices. Enginuity versions 5773 and

higher support multi-virtual TimeFinder/Snap sessions and the Asynchronous copy on firstwrite optimization technique for thin devices used as source devices in TimeFinder/Clone or

TimeFinder/Snap sessions. Mixed thick and thin devices are not supported with cascading

operations. All devices in cascading sessions must be thick or thin.

Table 1 shows TimeFinder/Clone thin and full device support. Note that at Enginuity 5773

and 5874, the data devices can be configured as RAID 1 and RAID 6 but not RAID 5 groups.

With Enginuity 5875 and higher, data devices support RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6 groups.

Table 2 shows TimeFinder/Snap and Thin Devices. Note that at Enginuity 5773 and 5874, the

data devices can be configured as RAID 1 and RAID 6 but not RAID 5 groups. With Enginuity

5875 and higher, data devices support RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6 groups. Also withTimeFinder/Snap using a virtual thin device as a target, you can restore to the same device or

to a different device.

Refer to the EMC Symmetrix TimeFinder for VMAX 40K, VMAX 20K/VMAX Series Product

Guide for more information regarding TimeFinder/Clone and TimeFinder/Snap support for

virtual provisioning.





This lesson provides an overview of the TimeFinder VP Snap environment. It includes using

VP Snap with TimeFinder/Clone, and identifying Cascaded VP Snap and SRDF with VP Snap. It

also reviews the limitations and restrictions using VP Snap.





TimeFinder VP Snap is supported with Enginuity 5876. This feature provides the ability for

multiple Clone Nocopy sessions to target Virtual Provisioned volumes (TDEVs) that can share

allocations within the same Thin Pool, thus reducing the space needed for storage of the

tracks saved, in a manner that is similar to the use of TimeFinder/Snap pools. It furtherprovides the ability to perform Incremental Restores from these VP Snap sessions.





TimeFinder VP Snap provides the ability to create space-efficient snaps for Virtual Pool

devices. This functionality is available for Symmetrix VMAX 10K, 20K, and 40K. Up to 32

snaps per VP source can be created.

TimeFinder VP Snap is efficient because there is no separate SAVE pool area. It is the samevirtual pool as the source devices.





VP Snap will be supported on Fixed Block Architecture (FBA) volumes. VP Snap will support

FBA volumes using thin source to thin targets. To take advantage of the sharing of

allocations, the VP Snap targets must be bound to the same thin pool.

The –vse attribute may only be applied at session creation or theSYMCLI_CLONE_COPY_MODE environmental variable can set the default clone mode to

VSE_NODIFF. After the session is created it must be activated. All activated VP Snap sessions

will use Asynchronous Copy on First Write (ACOFW) and will be in the CopyOnWrite state.





TimeFinder/Clone full and differential copy sessions may be mixed with VP Snap sessions,

but will have restrictions on the incremental restore.





TimeFinder/Clone Nocopy sessions cannot be mixed with VP Snap on the same source

device.





TimeFinder/Snap sessions and VP Snap sessions cannot be mixed using the same source

volume.





The target of a VP Snap session may not be used as a source for any other VP Snap,

TimeFinder Clone, or Snap sessions. In this example, volume 005A is the target of a VP Snap

session but 005A cannot be the source for any VP Snap, Clone, or Snap sessions.





The target of a TimeFinder/Clone operation can be the source of VP Snap sessions. However

an incremental restore of VP Snap sessions will not be allowed. Cascading from

TimeFinder/Clone emulation is not supported.





In order to use VP Snap sessions on a source volume, one of the traditional clone sessions

must be kept in reserve for restore operations. While the maximum amount of traditional

clones possible is 16, if they are combined on the same source with VP Snap, their maximum

becomes 15 in order to reserve the restore session for VP Snap.In total, when using VP Snaps, a source can have up to 47 copies, both traditional and VP

Snaps combined (15 + 32).





Only one incremental VP Snap restore at a time will be allowed for the source volume. The

VP Snap restore will result in an additional session charged against the source volume.

Before executing the restore, all concurrent sessions must be fully copied. Additionally, the

original CopyOnWrite session will be preserved.Here are some of the limitations of VP Snap sessions. Once a target is restored to the source

the only operation that will be allowed is termination of the restored session. A

TimeFinder/Clone split command will not be supported for VP Snap restored sessions. A full

restore from another session to a VP Snap source volume is not supported. The

SYMCLI_CLONE_LARGER_TGT feature will not be supported for VP Snap. VP Snap targets

(TDEVs) cannot have persistent preallocation set or be part of a rebind or symmigrate

operation.





This lesson covers the TimeFinder/Mirror management tools, TimeFinder integration with

SRDF, and the consistent split functionality.





The SYMCLI TimeFinder component extends the basic SYMCLI command set to include

TimeFinder or business continuance commands that allow you to perform control operations

on device pairs within your TimeFinder environment.

The TimeFinder CLI command set provides functionality for general monitor and controloperations using BCVs, snap copy sessions, clone copy sessions, and consistency groups.





TimeFinder can be managed by a variety of management tools such as EMC ControlCenter

and Symmetrix Management Console. Through its graphical user interface, EMC

ControlCenter and SMC software organize related devices into device groups. TimeFinder

operations may be performed on all devices in this device group by using a single command.The group information is maintained in the SYMAPI database.

Another management tool is EMC Replication Manager. It is an application that automates,

simplifies, and manages disk-based replications by using TimeFinder operations.





The TimeFinder/Exchange Integration Module (T/EIM) produces exact copies of the

production volumes that hold the Exchange server information stores and logs. This enables

Exchange administrators to perform full and single mailbox restores in a fraction of the usual

time.The TimeFinder/SQL Integration Module (T/SIM) provides a comprehensive backup and

recovery management interface specifically for Windows servers that support Microsoft SQL

Server databases.

TimeFinder/SIM integrates and collectively automates the command actions and behavioral

features of EMC TimeFinder, SRDF, (Symmetrix Remote Data Facility) and tools supplied with

Microsoft SQL Server products.





TimeFinder is closely integrated with the EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF). The

SRDF family of products are Symmetrix-based disaster recovery, parallel processing, and data

migration solutions. The SRDF family of products is based on active remote mirroring and

dependent-write consistent copies of data maintained at one or more remote locations. Adependent-write is a write I/O request that cannot be issued by an application until a prior,

related write I/O request is completed. Dependent-write consistency is required to ensure

transactional consistency once the applications are restarted at the remote location.

SRDF solutions require at least two arrays (the primary array and the secondary array). The

arrays can be located at sites in the same room, in different buildings within the same

campus, or many kilometers apart.

Depending on the type of remote mirroring, the SRDF solutions operate in synchronous

mode (SRDF/S), asynchronous mode (SRDF/A), or adaptive copy mode.

The EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) for VMAX 40K, VMAX 20K/VMAX Product

Guide provides more information about SRDF operations.





When you create a point-in-time image across multiple devices, it is imperative that the

entire set of logical volumes be captured at the exact same time.

One way to achieve this is to shut down (totally quiesce) an application so that no I/O occurs

while you create the sessions. This would obviously be a problem in today’s applicationenvironments.

The EMC solution to the problem is called Enginuity Consistency Assist or ECA. When you

create a set of sessions and invoke Enginuity Consistency Assist, the Symmetrix storage array

aligns the I/O of those devices and halts all I/O from the host systems, very briefly, much

faster than the applications can detect, while it creates the sessions.

It then resumes normal operation without any application impact.





TimeFinder/CG is based on the Enginuity Consistency Assist (ECA) feature that enables you to

create a consistent point-in-time image across multiple devices. This is necessary for tasks

such as backing up all of the devices that belong to a particular application or backing up

multiple devices distributed across multiple sites.When you use TimeFinder/Clone to create a consistent point-in-time copy across multiple

devices, you need to ensure that the point-in-time copy starts simultaneously across a range

of devices that participate in the process. To accomplish this, you need to block host I/Os

across multiple devices when you activate multiple TimeFinder/Clone sessions. The time

interval during which the host I/Os are blocked is also referred to as the ECA window.

The TimeFinder/Consistency Group (TimeFinder/CG) feature guarantees that a consistent

point-in-time image of data written across multiple local devices (TimeFinder source devices)

is created on another set of local devices (TimeFinder target devices).

The SRDF/Consistency Group (SRDF/CG) feature is used in SRDF/S solutions to guarantee that

a dependent-write consistent image of production data on the R1 devices is created across

the SRDF links.

TimeFinder/CG and SRDF/CG both use the Enginuity Consistency Assist infrastructure. By

using TimeFinder/CG in an SRDF configuration, you can create dependent-write consistent

local and remote images of production data across multiple devices and Symmetrix arrays.





The device groups and composite groups are entities you can create and use to manage and

control Source and Target pairs.

You can create a composite group to control a set of device pairs that span multiple arrays. A

composite group provides greater flexibility than a device group, which can define devicesonly on a single array.

The Symmetrix storage device groups or composite groups must be created on the

controlling host for the targets to be consistently split.

Composite groups are used in conjunction with Consistent Splits to create a restartable

database application.

In a mainframe environment, device ranges can be specified in the SPLIT command, or GNS

Groups can be created and used to control multiple device pairs that will ensure consistency.





This lesson covers business benefits using TimeFinder and business considerations when

selecting a solution.





As EMC’s customers work to support their overall business, they have to be particularly

focused on information storage and management. The fact that data continues to grow at a

robust rate shows that they will always have a dramatic growth in information.

There are new requirements around compliance, new levels of protection and recovery. It isnot just about backups; it also includes how customers can restore their application and get

their business back online quickly and efficiently.





The key benefits of the TimeFinder family include:

• Continued access to applications even in the event of a restore operation

• The ability to create up to 16 TimeFinder volumes from a single standard volume

• The ability to create point-in-time snapshots, using less disk space without

compromising local restoration capabilities

• VP Snap leverages TimeFinder/Clone technology to create space-efficient snaps for

thin devices by allowing multiple sessions to share allocations within a thin pool.





Local replication can significantly enhance current business and technical operations by

providing access points to production data for parallel processing activities like backups, disk-

based recovery after logical corruptions, and creating test environments for faster

application time-to-revenue.The Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is the point-in-time to which systems and data must be

recovered after an outage; for example, the end of the previous day’s processing. RPOs are

often used as the basis for the development of replication and backup strategies and as a

determinant of the amount of data that may need to be recreated after the systems or

functions are recovered.

The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is the period of time within which systems, applications,

and functions must be recovered after an outage; for example, one business day. RTOs are

often used as the basis for the development of recovery strategies, and as a determinant as

to whether or not to implement the recovery strategies during a disaster situation.





TimeFinder/Snap proves beneficial in those environments that require a more economical

solution with fast, easily accessible, short-term copies and extremely small recovery point

objectives, without the cost of full copies.

For those situations where advanced replication is a requirement, including suchtechnologies as SRDF/AR, as well as full copies for high performance and availability,

mainframe dataset level copies, and ultra-high BCV availability—the integration of

TimeFinder/Clone is appropriate.





This slide shows product resources for this course available on Powerlink.





This course covered TimeFinder concepts, architecture, terminology, and environmental

aspects. It also covered TimeFinder operations, TimeFinder/Snap and Clone solutions along

with management offerings, and TimeFinder business benefits.

This concludes the training. Proceed to the course assessment on the next slide.


timefinder foundations - srg

Documents