Replication of SVMs during MetroCluster operations
The ONTAP configuration replication service (CRS) provides redundant data server configuration and mirroring of data volumes that belong to the SVM. If a switchover occurs, the source SVM is brought down and the destination SVM, located on the surviving cluster, becomes active.
-mcautomatically appended to their name to help identify them. A MetroCluster configuration appends the suffix
-mcto the name of the destination
-mcis applied prior to the first period. For example, if the
-mcis appended as SVM-MC.DNS.NAME.
The following example shows the SVMs for a MetroCluster configuration, where SVM_cluster_A is an SVM on the source site and SVM_cluster_A-mc is a sync-destination aggregate on the disaster recovery site.
SVM_cluster_A serves data on cluster A.
It is a sync-source SVM that represents the SVM configuration (LIFs, protocols, and services) and data in volumes belonging to the SVM. The configuration and data are replicated to SVM_cluster_A-mc, a sync-destination SVM located on cluster B.
SVM_cluster_B serves data on cluster B.
It is a sync-source SVM that represents configuration and data to SVM_cluster_B-mc located on cluster A.
SVM_cluster_B-mc is a sync-destination SVM that is stopped during normal, healthy operation of the MetroCluster configuration.
In a successful switchover from cluster B to cluster A, SVM_cluster_B is stopped and SVM_cluster_B-mc is activated and begins serving data from cluster A.
SVM_cluster_A-mc is a sync-destination SVM that is stopped during normal, healthy operation of the MetroCluster configuration.
In a successful switchover from cluster A to cluster B, SVM_cluster_A is stopped and SVM_cluster_A-mc is activated and begins serving data from cluster B.
If a switchover occurs, the remote plex on the surviving cluster comes online and the secondary SVM begins serving the data.
The availability of remote plexes after switchover depends on the MetroCluster configuration type:
For MetroCluster FC configurations, after switchover, both local and remote plexes remain online if the disaster site storage is accessible via the ISLs.
If the ISLs have failed and the disaster site storage is not available, the sync-destination SVM begins serving data from the surviving site.
For MetroCluster IP configurations the availability of the remote plexes depends on the ONTAP version:
Starting with ONTAP 9.5, both local and remote plexes remain online if the disaster site nodes remain booted up.
Prior to ONTAP 9.5, storage is available only from local plex on the surviving site.
The sync-destination SVM begins serving data from the surviving site.