General considerations for using storage replication with GPFS

This topic describes the general considerations that need to be followed for using storage replication with IBM Storage Scale.

Different storage-level replication capabilities are available on both IBM® and non-IBM storage systems. IBM provides storage-level replication functionality on the following platforms:
  • The DS8000® provides synchronous replication with Metro Mirror and asynchronous replication with Global Mirror. Three and four site replication topologies are also possible by combining these functions. For more information, see IBM DS8000 Documentation.
  • The Storwize® family of storage systems also provides a synchronous replication capability with Metro Mirror and has two versions of asynchronous replication called Global Mirror and Global Mirror with Change Volumes. Point in Time copy functionality is provided by FlashCopy®. For more information, see IBM Storwize V7000 Documentation.
  • The XIV® provides both synchronous and asynchronous Remote Replication and also provides point in time copy functionality referred to as Snapshot. For more information, see IBM XIV Storage System documentation.
Note: In this document, synchronous replication is referred to as Metro Mirror, asynchronous replication is referred to as Global Mirror, and point in time copy functionality is referred to as FlashCopy.