IBM Storwize 7.7 now supports Microsoft ASR using SAN replication channel

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With the introduction of IBM Spectrum Virtualize software 7.7, the IBM Storwize product family now supports on-premises Microsoft Azure Site Recovery (ASR) using a Hyper-V replica Storage Area Network (SAN) replication channel. Rather than share similar content as my previous blog about IBM XIV Microsoft ASR at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6164985, I thought I would share a few of the key test differences between the IBM XIV and IBM Storwize when implementing this Microsoft solution. Think of it more as a support blog that reveals a few workarounds to help expedite your Microsoft ASR cloud disaster recovery solution.

There are 3 primary differences that I noticed when testing this solution:

1. In the Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) console when adding a storage device, you may encounter an error ID 20909:

Could not retrieve a certificate from the 9.x.x.x server because of the error: The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send.

ID: 20909

Details: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host (0x80072746)

Workaround: Use the PowerShell to add the IBM Storwize storage device:

Example syntax:

$RunAsAcct = Get-SCRunAsAccount -Name "V5000RunAsAcct"
Add-SCStorageProvider -NetworkDeviceName "111.111.111.111" -TCPPort 5989 -Name "isvg25k1.kir.labs.ibm.com" -RunAsAccount $RunAsAcct

Note:In my example above, RunAsAcct was first created in the SCVMM console using a preferred naming convention. Also, -NetworkDeviceName is the IP Address of the Storwize management IP. - Name is the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the Storwize system or management IP.

2. In the Azure management portal when adding a replication group to enable protection for larger volumes, you may encounter an error code 600. This is due to an ASR-defined timeout policy that is triggered after approximately 2 hours during the IBM Storwize remote copy mirroring or synchronization phase. Here are the ASR management portal job error details:

Job ID: 1592a88c-3245-4a63-b232-b5595999dbfb-2016-08-05 20:34:34Z ActivityId: 985f9a49-073a-4606-a9ee-3ff9ed27014f
Start Time: 8/5/2016 1:34:29 PM
Duration: 2 HOURS 2 MINUTES

Task execution has timed out while waiting for job to complete on VMM. (Error code: 600)
Possible causes: VMM might be overloaded.
Recommendation: Please retry the operation after sometime.

Workaround: After the associated job completes in the VMM console (also in the Storwize Storage Management web interface, you should see the IBM Storwize remote copy change to a consistent synchronized state), restart the ASR management portal job. You can also  perform IBM Storwize Storage Management manual steps to create a 4+ TB volume at both sites and then define remote copy consistency groups and member volumes. Manually complete the remote copy synchronization and in the VMM console, create a primary site replication group that includes the 4+ TB remote copy volume(s). Afterwards, you should be able to use the ASR management portal to add a replication group to enable protection for the larger volumes.

Note: In my test environment, ASR job timeouts occurred for 4 TB or larger volumes. Your results may vary.

3. Unlike the IBM XIV, compressed volumes are not defined at the pool level. IBM Storwize compressed volumes must be created or defined at the volume level. Unfortunately, VMM does not allow administrators to create an IBM Storwize compressed volume.

Workaround: Users can manually create compressed volumes using the IBM Storwize Storage Management interface. IBM recommends (and only supports) creating a Storwize pool that contains compressed volumes exclusively and then refresh or rescan the VMM storage array to detect new storage pools and volumes. In other words, pools should not mix compressed volumes with regular or thin provisioned volumes. After, the volumes can be assigned to any VMM host group where they can be used for cluster shared volumes (CSVs). At this stage, perform the manual IBM Storwize Storage Management remote copy steps for 4+ TB volumes in the step 2 Workaround above.

For detailed step-by-step processes and further information about how to enable multisite on-premises cloud protection using Microsoft Azure Site Recovery with IBM Storwize, refer to the following website:

https://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?htmlfid=TSW03495USEN&