Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance: Remote Replication Compatibility

Asset ID:	1-79-1958039.1
Update Date:	2017-10-05
Keywords:

Solution Type Predictive Self-Healing Sure

Solution 1958039.1 : Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance: Remote Replication Compatibility

Applies to:

Sun Storage 7210 Unified Storage System - Version All Versions and later
Oracle ZFS Storage ZS3-BA - Version All Versions and later
Sun ZFS Storage 7420 - Version All Versions and later
Oracle ZFS Storage ZS4-4 - Version All Versions and later
Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance Racked System ZS4-4 - Version All Versions and later
7000 Appliance OS (Fishworks)

Purpose

This document describes remote replication compatibility between Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance sources and targets.

Details

This document describes remote replication compatibility between Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance sources and targets. It includes these sections:

Deferred Updates and Features that Cause Replication Incompatibilities
Supported Source and Target Software Versions
"Target Needs to be Upgraded" Notification

Remote Replication is compatible between most Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance software versions 2011.1.8 or later.

Note: Prior to software version 2013.1.4, only TCP port 216 was used for replication updates. Beginning with software version 2013.1.4, replication uses TCP ports 216 and 217. Software version 2011.1.8 (and later) support receiving replication updates from a source appliance at version 2013.1.4 (and later) using TCP port 217. Beginning with version 2013.1.4, any replication traffic that crosses a firewall requires the firewall configuration to enable port 217 in addition to port 216.

Compatibility failures occur when you replicate a project or share that uses a feature that is not supported by the target appliance. For example, when replicating a project or share with a record or block size greater than 128 kilobytes to a target that does not support large block sizes, the replication will fail. Replication compatibility between storage appliances running different software versions is achieved by using only those features on the source appliance that are also supported by the target appliance. There are three methods for achieving replication compatibility.

Source and target are at the same software version and have the same deferred updates. The simplest way to ensure replication compatibility is for the source and target to be running the same software version with all available deferred updates applied. This ensures that the target appliance supports all of the features that the source appliance supports and the target will be capable of storing the replica of the source's share(s). Following replication reversal, the source and target roles are reversed. When the two replication peers are running the same software with the same deferred updates applied, replication in either direction is compatible.
Update software and apply deferred updates. When the source and target appliances are at the same software version, replication compatibility depends on whether the target supports features used by the project or share being replicated. Most features that affect replication compatibility are managed as deferred updates. Simply updating the target software is not sufficient to ensure that the target supports a particular feature. By default, the software update process disables new features that are not backward compatible with earlier software versions. The appliance administrator must explicitly enable the use of a new feature by applying all deferred updates, including that feature.
Factory-installed software or perform a factory reset. In contrast to the software update process in which new features are initially disabled, a factory reset immediately enables all features, including those in deferred updates, for the software version. Thus, any appliance running factory-installed software already contains all deferred updates for that software version, and there is no need to explicitly apply deferred updates before taking advantage of the full suite of features provided by that version.

A particular feature is supported, and thus available for use, as a result of one of the following actions:

a factory install or factory reset
explicitly applying deferred updates following a software update

Deferred Updates and Features that Cause Replication Incompatibilities

Some features delivered as deferred updates can have an impact on replication compatibility. When you update appliance software to a new version, you are given the option to apply deferred updates. You can apply deferred updates automatically during the software update or you can apply deferred updates after the software is installed. It is important to note that once a deferred update is applied, you cannot roll back to a previous software version. See the Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance Administration Guide (http://www.oracle.com/goto/zfsstorage/docs) for important information on deferred updates before applying them.

The following table describes the particular features that can cause replication failures.

Feature	Version Introduced	Deferred Update	Source/Target
Multiple Initiator Groups per LUN	2011.1.8.0	Yes	`If the` source `appliance supports the Multiple Initiator Groups per LUN feature and replicates a LUN with multiple initiator groups, the` `target` `appliance requires 2011.1.8.0 (or later) with the Multiple Initiator Groups per LUN deferred update applied.`
Support for Large Block Sizes	2013.1.1.0	Yes	`If the` source `appliance has enabled the Support for Large Block Sizes feature and replicates a project or share using large block or record sizes, the` target `appliance requires 2013.1.1.0 (or later) with the Support for Large Block Sizes deferred update applied.`
Support for Replicating Over-Quota Projects/Shares	2013.1.2.0	No	If the source appliance replicates a project or share that is slightly over its quota, the target must have 2013.1.2.0 (or later) to successfully receive the project or share. Shares that have not exceeded their quota will replicate successfully to targets running earlier software versions.
Support for Encrypting Projects and Shares	2013.1.3.0	Yes	If the source appliance replicates an encrypted project or share, the target appliance requires 2013.1.3.0 (or later) with the Optional Child Dir deferred update applied.
Support for NDMP-zfs Replica Backup	2013.1.4.0	Yes	If the target appliance has 2013.1.4.0 (or later) and Support for NDMP-zfs Replica Backup is applied, the source appliance requires 2011.1.0 (or later). If a replica backup is restored to the source appliance rather than the target appliance that created the backup, and the original dataset still exists on the source appliance, the source requires 2013.1.4.0 (or later). In this case, the Support for NDMP-zfs Replica Backup deferred update is not required on the source appliance.
Compressed Replication Streams	2013.1.4.0	No	If the source appliance has 2013.1.4.0 (or later), the target appliance requires 2011.1.8 (or later) to receive any update. In order to take advantage of the Compressed Replication Streams feature, the target appliance requires 2013.1.4.0 (or later). If the target is running 2013.1.3.0 (or earlier), the Compressed Replication Streams feature will automatically be disabled until the target is upgraded.
Offline Replication	2013.1.4.0	No	If the source appliance has 2013.1.4.0 (or later), the target appliance requires 2013.1.4.0 (or later) to use this feature. Note: This restriction does not apply to network-based replication updates.
ACL Passthrough with Mode Preservation	OS8.6.0 (2013.1.6.0)	Yes	If the source appliance has enabled the ACL Passthrough with Mode Preservation feature and replicates a project or share with the ACL inheritance behavior set to “Inherit all, but preserve mode from client”, the target appliance requires OS8.6.0 (or later) with the ACL Passthrough with Mode Preservation deferred update applied. Selecting ACL inheritance behavior that is not supported by the target is reversible. Changing this setting to one of the legacy values enables a later replication update to succeed.
Support for Retaining User-Generated Snapshots on Replication Target	OS8.6.0 (2013.1.6.0)	No	If the source appliance has OS8.6.0 (or later), the target appliance requires OS8.6.0 (or later) to use this feature.
Support for Data Deduplication v2	OS8.7.0 (2013.1.7.0)	Yes	If the source appliance replicates a deduplicated project or share to a target appliance, the target replica is deduplicated only if the target meets these requirements: Software version OS8.7.0 (or later) is installed Data Deduplication v2 deferred update is applied. Target pool contains a meta cache device or is an all-flash pool. If the target has OS8.7.0 (or later) but the target pool does not meet these requirements, the target successfully receives the deduplicated projects and shares, but the deduplication property for the replica projects and shares is disabled, in most cases. When a pre-OS8.7.0 source is updating a package that already contains a deduplicated project or share, the target allows the deduplication property to remain set in the replica. This is an exception that provides backward compatibility with an established action-package pair that was replicating a deduplicated project or share prior to the target having been upgraded to OS8.7.0 (or later). In most cases, a deduplicated project or share will fail to replicate if the source appliance has OS8.7.0 (or later) and the target has pre-OS8.7.0 software. This safeguards the pre-OS8.7.0 target from experiencing the performance issues that are addressed by the Data Deduplication v2 feature, which is only available in OS8.7.0 (or later). In some cases, an OS8.7.0 (or later) source will continue to replicate a deduplicated project or share to an existing deduplicated replication package on a pre-OS8.7.0 target. This exception is true only if the replication action was created before upgrading the source to OS8.7.0 (or later) and the Data Deduplication v2 deferred update was not applied on the source. For appliances that used deduplication v1 prior to installing OS8.7.0 (or later) on both the source and target, delaying the acceptance of deferred updates, including Data Deduplication v2, on the source provides a window of time for upgrading the replication target to OS8.7.0 (or later) while successfully delivering updates to the deduplicated packages.
Support for LZ4 Compression	OS8.7.0 (2013.1.7.0)	Yes	If the source appliance has applied the LZ4 Compression deferred update and replicates a project or share that uses LZ4 compression, the target appliance requires OS8.7.0 (or later) with the LZ4 Compression deferred update applied.
Replication Auto Snapshot Management	OS8.7.0 (2013.1.7.0)	No	If the source appliance specifies a target snapshot retention policy that is independent of the source's snapshot retention policy, the target appliance requires OS8.7.0 (or later).

Supported Source and Target Software Versions

The following table lists supported software versions between source and target appliances and conditions that must be met to ensure successful replication. See the key for a description of each condition.

KEY
A	The target supports Multiple Initiator Groups per LUN or the source is not replicating any LUNs that have multiple initiator groups.
B	The source is not replicating any LUNs that have multiple initiator groups.
C	The target supports Large Block Sizes or the data being replicated does not contain blocks that are larger than 128 kilobytes.
D	The data being replicated does not contain blocks that are larger than 128 kilobytes.
E	The source has not exceeded its quota.
F	The target supports Encrypted Projects and Shares or the source is not replicating an encrypted project or any encrypted shares.
G	The source is not replicating an encrypted project or any encrypted shares.
H	The Offline Replication feature is not used on the source.
I	The target supports ACL Passthrough with Mode Preservation or none of the package or shares being replicated have their ACL inheritance behavior set to “Inherit all, but preserve mode from client.”
J	None of the package or shares being replicated have their ACL inheritance set to “Inherit all, but preserve mode from client” and the Retain User Snapshots on Target feature is not used on the source.
K	Neither the package nor any of the shares being replicated are deduplicated or the action replicating the deduplicated package or shares was created while the source was at OS8.6 (or earlier) and the source has not applied the Data Deduplication v2 deferred update.
L	The target supports LZ4 Compression or neither the package nor any of the shares being replicated have ever used LZ4 compression.
M	Neither the package nor any of the shares being replicated have ever used LZ4 compression.
N	Neither the package nor any of the shares being replicated contain auto-snapshots or the target's auto-snapshot retention policy is synchronized with the source.

Source Version	Target Version OS8.7.x (2013.1.7.x)	Target Version OS8.6.x (2013.1.6.x)	Target Version 2013.1.5.x - 2013.1.4.x	Target Version 2013.1.3.x	Target Version 2013.1.2.x	Target Version 2013.1.1.x	Target Version 2013.1.0.x - 2011.1.8.x	Target Version 2011.1.7.x
OS8.7.x (2013.1.7.x)	A, C, F, I and L	A, C, F, I, K, M and N	A, C, F, J, K, M and N	A, C, F, H, J, K, M and N	A, C, G, H, J, K, M and N	A, C, E, G, H, J, K, M and N	A, D, E, G, H, J, K, M and N	Not Supported
OS8.6.x (2013.1.6.x)	A, C, F and I	A, C, F and I	A, C, F and J	A, C, F, H and J	A, C, G, H and J	A, C, E, G, H and J	A, D, E, G, H and J	Not Supported
2013.1.5.x	A, C and F	A, C and F	A, C, and F	A, C, F, and H	A, C, G, and H	A, C, E, G, and H	A, D, E, G, and H	Not Supported
2013.1.4.x	A, C and F	A, C, and F	A, C, and F	A, C, F, and H	A, C, G, and H	A, C, E, G, and H	A, D, E, G, and H	Not Supported
2013.1.3.x	A, C and F	A, C and F	A, C and F	A, C and F	A, C and G	A, C, E and G	A, D, E and G	B, D, E and G
2013.1.2.x	A and C	A and C	A and C	A and C	A and C	A, C and E	A, D and E	B, D and E
2013.1.1.x	A and C	A and C	A and C	A and C	A and C	A, C and E	A, D and E	B, D and E
2013.1.0.x 2011.1.9.x 2011.1.8.x	A	A	A	A	A	A and E	A and E	B and E
2011.1.7.x	Always Compatible	Always Compatible	Always Compatible	Always Compatible	Always Compatible	E	E	E

"Target Needs to be Upgraded" Notification

After a replication update completes, the source appliance generates one of the following alerts:

Finished replicating ‘project’ to appliance ‘target_host’. This indicates that the target supports all of the features that affect the compatibility of replication from this source appliance.

Finished replicating ‘project’ to appliance ‘target_host.’ Target needs to be upgraded. This indicates that the target does not support one or more of the features that affect the compatibility of replication from this source appliance. This particular replication update completed successfully because the data being replicated did not use any of the features that the target does not support. A future replication that uses one or more of the unsupported features will cause the replication update to fail.

The following table lists the conditions that generate the "Target needs to be upgraded" notification in the replication completion alert. See the key for a description of each condition.

KEY
P	The source supports Multiple Initiator Groups per LUN, but the target does not.
Q	The source supports Large Block Sizes, but the target does not.
R	The source supports Encrypted Projects and Shares, but the target does not.
S	The source supports Offline Replication, but the target does not.
T	The source supports ACL Passthrough with Mode Preservation, but the target does not.
U	The source supports Retaining User-Generated Snapshots on Replication Target, but the target does not.
V	The source is replicating a deduplicated project or share, but the target does not support Data Deduplication v2 or the target pool does not contain the required meta cache device.
W	The source supports LZ4 Compression, but the target does not.
X	The source supports Replication Auto Snapshot Management, but the target does not.

Source Version	Target Version OS8.7.x	Target Version OS8.6.x	Target Version 2013.1.5.x-2013.1.4.x	Target Version 2013.1.3.x-2011.1.8.x	Target Version 2011.1.7.x
OS8.7.x (2013.1.7.x)	P, Q, R, T, V or W	X	X	X	Not Supported
OS8.6.x (2013.1.6.x)	P, Q, R or T	P, Q, R or T	U	U	Not Supported
2013.1.5.x	P, Q or R	P, Q or R	P, Q or R	P, Q, R or S	Not Supported
2013.1.4.x	P, Q or R	P, Q or R	P, Q or R	P, Q, R or S	Not Supported
2013.1.3.x	P, Q or R	P, Q or R	P, Q or R	P, Q or R	P, Q or R
2013.1.2.x	P or Q	P or Q	P or Q	P or Q	P or Q
2013.1.1.x	P or Q	P or Q	P or Q	P or Q	P or Q
2013.1.0.x 2011.1.9.x 2011.1.8.x	P	P	P	P	P
2011.1.7.x	Never	Never	Never	Never	Never

RELATED INFORMATION:

See the Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance Administration Guide (http://www.oracle.com/goto/zfsstorage/docs) for details of possible replication failures and a list of deferred updates per software release.

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