Adding a Metro Mirror relationship with data to a 3-site consistency group

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If you are using Orchestrator 4.0, you can add a remote-copy relationship with data to a stopped 3-site consistency group.

Ensure that the following prerequisites are completed before adding an independent relationship with data to an existing 3-site consistency group:
  • Ensure that the target volumes at the auxiliary-far site contain enough capacity to accommodate the new data within the independent relationship that you are adding.
  • Ensure that you have updated IBM Spectrum Virtualize 3-Site Orchestrator to version 4.0. You can only add independent relationships with data with Orchestrator 4.0.
  • Ensure that your systems in the 3-site partnership are running version 8.4.0.2 or later.
  • All the attributes of the independent relationship must also match the properties of the 3-site consistency group that it is being added to.
  • The state of the independent relationship must be consistent synchronized.

Using the management GUI

To add an independent relationship that contains data to a 3-site consistency group, complete these steps:
  1. Select Copy Services > Remote Copy.
  2. Under Partnerships, select the 3-site partnership in the left navigation.
  3. Verify that the 3-site consistency group that you want to add the independent relationship to is stopped. If it is not Stopped state, you must stop the 3-site consistency group before the independent relationship can be added. To stop the 3-site consistency group, select the consistency group and select Actions > Stop group. Wait for the consistency group state to change to stopped before proceeding.
  4. Under Partnerships, select the 2-site partnership that contains the independent relationship that you want to add to the 3-site consistency group.
  5. On the Independent Relationships tab, right-click the independent relationship, and select Convert to 3-site.
  6. Verify that the checkbox This relationship contains data is checked.
  7. Select the 3-site consistency group from the list that displays and select Next.
    Note: Only the eligible 3-site consistency groups in the stopped state are displayed.
  8. Under Choose a pool, specify the numerical ID for the storage pool on the auxiliary-far site that provides capacity for the target volumes. To verify these details, select Launch the Aux-Far management GUI, and select Pools > Pools. If the selected pool is a data reduction pool, select This is a data reduction pool.
  9. Under Aux-Far pool settings, select the method for saving capacity that this pool uses.
  10. In the Volume base name field, enter a naming convention that identifies the volume as part of the 3-site consistency group. The names are automatically generated to include the specified base name, the name of the 3-site consistency group, and an incremental number.
  11. Click Convert.
  12. After the conversion completes, verify that the independent relationship is part of the 3-site consistency group. Select the 3-site consistency group and verify that the new relationship displays in the list of relationships. The added relationship status will show as New.
  13. Add any other independent relationships to the 3-site consistency group.
  14. Select the 3-site partnership from the Partnership navigation, click the 3-site consistency group and select Actions > Start group.

Using the command-line interface

To add an independent remote-copy relationship with data to a 3-site consistency group, complete these steps:
Stop the 3-site consistency group
To stop the 3-site consistency group, complete these steps:
  1. To stop the 3-site consistency group, enter the following command:
    stop3sitercconsistgrp <3site_consistency_group_name>
    where <3site_consistency_group_name> is the name of the 3-site consistency group that you are adding the remote-copy relationship with data to.
  2. To verify that the 3-site consistency group is stopped, enter the following commands:
    ls3sitercconsistgrp
    In the results, the sync_copy_state should be in consistent_synchronized and the state should be stopped state. For example,
    name state primary periodic_copy_source sync_copy_state periodic_copy_state freeze_time cycle_period status
rccstgrp0 stopped Master Auxnear consistent_synchronized idling 2022/01/14/05/33/48 300 online
Add the 2-site relationship with data to a 3-site consistency group
To add the 2-site relationship with data to a 3-site consistency group, complete these steps:
  1. To verify that the 2-site relationship is consistent_synchronized, enter the following command:
    lsrcrelationship <id or name>
    where <id or name> is the ID or name of the 2-site relationship. In the results, verify that the state of the 2-site relationship is consistent_synchronized.
  2. To add the 2-site relationship to the 3-site consistency group, enter the following command:
    convertrcrelationship -type 3site -periodicsrc <periodic_source_site_name> -pool <auxfar_pool_id> -cycleperiod 500 -consistgrpname <name> <2site_relationship_name>
    where the following values are included in the command:
    -periodicsrc
    Specify the source site system name or alias for periodic replication.
    -pool
    Specify the ID for the pool for the new volume on the auxiliary-far site.
    -cycleperiod
    Specify the cycle period in seconds for periodic replication. The value must be greater than or equal to 300.
    -consistgrpname
    Specify the name of the 3-site consistency group that you are adding the remote-copy relationship to.
    2site_relationship_name
    Specify the name of the source 2-site relationship that you want to add to the 3-site consistency group.
    For example:
    convertrcrelationship -type 3site -periodicsrc Master -cycleperiod 500 -pool 0 -consistgrpname rccstgrp0 rcrel1
  3. To verify that the 2-site relationship was added successfully to the 3-site consistency group, enter the following command:
    ls3siterelationship | grep <3site_consistency_group_name>
    where <3site_consistency_group_name> is the name of the 3-site consistency group. In the results, verify that the state of the newly added 2-site relationship is new. In the following example of the results, the name of the relationship is rcrel0: 
    name     consistgrp master_vdisk_id auxnear_vdisk_id auxfar_vdisk_id sync_copy_progress periodic_copy_progress status 
        rcrel0   rccstgrp0  12              12               12                                                        new
  4. The status is partial indicates that the conversion failed. Fix the reported error and rerun the command.
  5. Add any additional 2-site relationships with data to the consistency group before you start the 3-site consistency group.
Start the 3-site consistency group
To start the 3-site consistency group, complete these steps:
  1. To start the 3-site consistency group, enter the following command: 
    start3sitercconsistgrp <3site_consistency_group_name>
    where <3site_consistency_group_name> is the name of the 3-site consistency group that the 2-site relationship was added to.
  2. To verify the newly added 2-site relationship is part of the 3-site consistency group, enter the following command: 
    ls3siterelationship | grep <3site_consistency_group_name>
    where <3site_consistency_group_name> is the name of the 3-site consistency group. In the results, verify that the state of the newly added 2-site relationship is complete. In the following example of the results, the name of the relationship is rcrel0:
    name consistgrp master_vdisk_id auxnear_vdisk_id auxfar_vdisk_id sync_copy_progress periodic_copy_progress status
         rcrel0 rccstgrp0 12 12 12 100 complete

Orchestrator failure and recovery when adding 2-site relationships with data

In the case where the IBM Spectrum Virtualize 3-Site Orchestrator encounters a failure during any phase of adding a 2-site relationship with data, the following actions can be required:

  • If the orchestrator fails before you add a new 2-site relationship with data to a 3-site consistency group, ensure the following actions are taken:
    1. If the orchestrator fails and recovers back in the stopped state, the periodic source is lost and the 3-site consistency group status can change to periodic_src_offline. If this occurs, the new 2-site relationship with data cannot be added to the 3-site consistency group. To add a relationship with data, you can set the periodic source back to the online state by restarting the 3-site consistency group in the management GUI or use the start3siteconsistgrp command. This action returns the periodic source back to its original state. After verifying that the periodic source is correct, ensure that the 3-site consistency group status is online.
    2. Run stop3siteconsistgrp command to stop the 3-site consistency group.
    3. On the auxiliary-far site, use the ls3siteconsistencygrp command, verify that the status of the 3-site consistency group is online. In addition verify that the original site for the periodic source is displayed in the periodic_copy_source parameter.
  • If the orchestrator fails and recovers during an attempt to add new relationship with data, the 3 site consistency group recovers in partial state. Run the convertrcrelationship. After the conversion succeeds, the 2-site relationship is added to the 3-site consistency group and data cycling starts automatically.
  • If the orchestrator fails and recovers after you add a new relationship with data to the 3-site consistency group, the new 2-site relationship (state is new) cannot be recovered. The state of the 3-site relationship after recovery is complete and the state or the 3-site consistency group is either 3site_consistent or 3site_inconsistent.