Session states

You can view the health and status of a session in the Copy Services Manager GUI.

Attention: Use only the Copy Services Manager graphical user interface (GUI) or command-line interface CLI to manage session relationships, such as volume pairs and copy sets. Do not modify session relationships through other interfaces such as the System Storage DS CLI. If you modify relationships through other interfaces, a loss of consistency can occur across the relationships that are managed by the session. The exceptions to this requirement are failover operations that are managed by external applications for certain session and storage system types as described in Failover and failback operations.

The Refresh States command is used to refresh the states of the role pairs that are in a session (if applicable for the session type) and refresh the state of the session if it is incorrect. Issue this command to query the states of the copy sets on the hardware. You are not required to run this command under typical circumstances; Copy Services Manager refreshes the states of its sessions through multiple means. However, if you discover an inconsistency between Copy Services Manager and the hardware, you can use this command to enable Copy Services Manager to update itself. This command triggers multiple queries on the hardware, which can impact hardware performance. Do not run this command more frequently than every few minutes in each session.

The following table describes each session state.

Table 1. Session states
State	Session type	Description
Defined	All	The session exists but is inactive.
Flashing	All	In a Metro Mirror or Global Mirror session, data copying is temporarily suspended while a consistent practice copy of data is being prepared on site 2. In a Metro Global Mirror session, data copying is temporarily suspended while a consistent practice copy of data is being prepared on site 3.
Prepared	All	The source to target data transfer is active. In a Metro Mirror, Global Mirror, or Metro Global Mirror session, the data that is written to the source is transferred to the target, and all volumes are consistent and recoverable. In a FlashCopy® session, the volumes are not yet consistent, but the flash is ready to begin. Important: For sessions on the following storage systems, do not alter the relationships on the hardware that you established with Copy Services Manager: Systems running IBM Spectrum® Virtualize For example, if a Metro Mirror session with one copy set is in the Prepared state, and you stop the role pair, the session is still displayed in the Prepared state.
Preparing	All	The volumes are initializing, synchronizing, or resynchronizing. In a Metro Mirror, Global Mirror, or Metro Global Mirror session, synchronization occurs after the first Start command is issue on a session. Resynchronization occurs when a volume was prepared and then suspended. The hardware records the changed tracks so that on the next startup, only the changed tracks are copied. In a FlashCopy session, the volumes are initializing. The preparing state for FlashCopy sessions applies only to FlashSystem/IBM Spectrum Virtualize or SAN Volume Controller storage systems.
Recovering	All	The session is in the process of recovering.
Suspended	All	Data copying has temporarily stopped. Important: The suspended state applies only to Global Mirror, Metro Mirror, and Metro Global Mirror sessions.
Suspended (Partial)	Multi-target sessions	Data copying between the source site and one of the target sites has suspended.
SuspendedH1H3 MGM	Metro Global Mirror	Data copying between site 1 and site 3 is suspended.
SuspendedH1H2 MGM	Metro Global Mirror	Data copying between site 1 and site 2 is suspended.
Suspending	All	The session is changing into a Suspended state. Important: The Suspending state applies only to Metro Mirror Sessions in Global Copy mode, Global Mirror, and Metro Global Mirror sessions and does not apply to FlashSystem/IBM Spectrum Virtualize or SAN Volume Controller storage systems.
Target available	All	Target volumes are available for application updates.
Terminating	FlashCopy	The session is being terminated because you issued a Terminate action under the following conditions: You permitted the target to be Metro Mirror or Global Copy. You set the Require or Attempt to Preserve Mirror option. The session displays as Terminating until the FlashCopy background copy is complete and no longer exists on the hardware.

Table 2. Session states
State	Session type	Description
Defined	All	The session exists but is inactive.
Flashing	All	In a Metro Mirror or Global Mirror session, data copying is temporarily suspended while a consistent practice copy of data is being prepared on site 2. In a Metro Global Mirror session, data copying is temporarily suspended while a consistent practice copy of data is being prepared on site 3.
Prepared	All	The source to target data transfer is active. In a Metro Mirror, Global Mirror, or Metro Global Mirror session, the data that is written to the source is transferred to the target, and all volumes are consistent and recoverable. In a FlashCopy session, the volumes are not yet consistent, but the flash is ready to begin. Important: For sessions on the following storage systems, do not alter the relationships on the hardware that you established with Copy Services Manager: Systems running IBM Storage Virtualize For example, if a Metro Mirror session with one copy set is in the Prepared state, and you stop the role pair, the session is still displayed in the Prepared state.
Preparing	All	The volumes are initializing, synchronizing, or resynchronizing. In a Metro Mirror, Global Mirror, or Metro Global Mirror session, synchronization occurs after the first Start command is issue on a session. Resynchronization occurs when a volume was prepared and then suspended. The hardware records the changed tracks so that on the next startup, only the changed tracks are copied. In a FlashCopy session, the volumes are initializing. The preparing state for FlashCopy sessions applies only to FlashSystem/IBM Spectrum Virtualize or SAN Volume Controller storage systems.
Protected	Safeguarded Copy	All volumes in the session have a valid backup. Note: The Target Available state overrides the Protected state if a Recover Backup has been issued to the session.
Recovering	All	The session is in the process of recovering.
Suspended	All	Data copying has temporarily stopped. Important: The suspended state applies only to Global Mirror, Metro Mirror, and Metro Global Mirror sessions.
Suspended (Partial)	Multi-target sessions	Data copying between the source site and one of the target sites has suspended.
SuspendedH1H3 MGM	Metro Global Mirror	Data copying between site 1 and site 3 is suspended.
SuspendedH1H2 MGM	Metro Global Mirror	Data copying between site 1 and site 2 is suspended.
Suspending	All	The session is changing into a Suspended state. Important: The Suspending state applies only to Metro Mirror Sessions in Global Copy mode, Global Mirror, and Metro Global Mirror sessions and does not apply to FlashSystem/IBM Spectrum Virtualize or SAN Volume Controller storage systems.
Target available	All	Target volumes are available for application updates.
Terminating	FlashCopy	The session is being terminated because you issued a Terminate action under the following conditions: You permitted the target to be Metro Mirror or Global Copy. You set the Require or Attempt to Preserve Mirror option. The session displays as Terminating until the FlashCopy background copy is complete and no longer exists on the hardware.
Unprotected	Safeguarded Copy	Not all volumes in the session have a valid backup. Note: The Target Available state overrides the Unprotected state if a Recover Backup has been issued to the session.