Checking replication status

Reliable failover and failback processing depends on the currency of the client data that was replicated to target server. Verify that replication processing is successful and efficient to ensure that the target server provides the intended coverage.

About this task

On the Overview page, you can view a replication summary. To resolve errors and identify performance problems, you can view pages that show more details about replication between source and target replication servers.

Two ways to configure replication are available. They way that you check replication status depends on how replication is configured. Starting in version 8.1.13, you can use storage-rule-initiated replication. With storage-rule-initiated replication, you configure and schedule replication by defining replication storage rules. In versions earlier than IBM Spectrum Protect 8.1.13, the only way to configure and start replication was by using command-initiated replication. With command-initiated replication, you define a replication server pair by using the SET REPLSERVER command, and create administrative schedules for the REPLICATE NODE and PROTECT STGPOOL commands. Although you do not issue these commands directly in the Operations Center, certain actions and wizards in the Operations Center issue the commands in the background or define administrative schedules for the commands.

Regardless of how replication is configured, you can view high-level status on the Overview page, and you can view the replication status for clients on the Client Replication page. For command-initiated replication, you can view replication details on the Replication page. For storage-rule-initiated replication, you can view status and details for replication storage rules on the Storage Rules page.

Procedure

  1. On the Overview page, review the summary information in the Replication area. The summary area shows the replication status for client file spaces.

    If command-initiated replication is configured, the Command-initiated Workload bar shows the data to be replicated for all replication-enabled clients that back up to managed servers that replicate data. This workload bar tracks only command-initiated replication, and does not track storage-rule-initiated replication. If replication tasks are running, the workload bar highlights the task progress. A marker on the bar shows the projected amount of data to be replicated for the running tasks in relation to the overall workload.

  2. To investigate replication status errors for client file spaces, complete the following steps:
    1. On the Operations Center menu bar, select Clients > Client Replication.
      The Client Replication page opens.
    2. Review the information on the Client Replication page for each client file space.
  3. To investigate replication errors and examine replication performance for each replication server pair, complete the following steps:
    1. On the Operations Center menu bar, hover over Storage and click Replication.
      The Replication page opens.
    2. Review the information on the Replication page for each replication server pair.
  4. To view detailed replication and performance information for a replication server pair that is replicated by command-initiated replication, complete the following steps:
    1. On the Replication page, select a replication server pair and click Details.
    2. Review the information that is shown on the details page for the replication server pair. You can review the status of the previous replication process, and the replication backlog. To diagnose performance problems, you can review the amount of data that was replicated to the target server for each day over the previous two weeks.
  5. To view detailed replication and performance information for a replication server pair that replicates by using storage-rule-initiated replication, complete the following steps:
    1. On the Replication page, in the row for the replication server pair, click the name on the replication storage rule that is shown in the Storage Rule column.
      The details notebook for the replication storage rule is displayed.
    2. Review the recent history of the replication storage rule and the status of replication jobs. If a job failed, open the activity log to review the errors. To diagnose performance problems, you can review a summary of the replication workload and the amount of data that was replicated.