What is Access Zone Failover?

Introduction

Access Zone Failover is an essential tool for ensuring seamless disaster recovery within your environments. It operates on a per-access zone basis, managing the failover of SyncIQ policies, Service Principal Name (SPN) delegations, and DNS delegations as a cohesive unit. This process requires remounts for SMB shares and NFS exports, making it particularly beneficial when maintaining SmartConnect Zone Names post-failover is necessary.

This section will walk you through the factors influencing Access Zone Failover, the execution process, and the outcomes, helping you to effectively manage and secure your data during failover scenarios.

Which factors are involved?

Successfully executing an Access Zone failover involves several critical factors. Below are the key factors involved:

• Configuration Compliance

  • Ensure that all shares, exports, and aliases are correctly set within the Access Zone to be failed over. Misalignment may lead to data access outages.
  • Set up Service Principal Name (SPN) delegation for SMB shares to avoid SMB client authentication issues.

• SyncIQ Policy Readiness

  • The last run of the SyncIQ policy should be successful, and policies should not be in a paused or canceled state.
  • Avoid using exclusions or inclusions in SyncIQ policies as they are not supported for failback.

• Network and Node Management

  • Restrict source nodes in SyncIQ policies to manage bandwidth and ensure specific nodes replicate data.
  • Ensure that no critical SyncIQ policies are disabled, as these will be skipped during the failover.

• System and Process Integrity

  • Confirm that Eyeglass configuration replication jobs for SyncIQ policies have been completed without error.
  • Continuously monitor the Access Zones Readiness section in the DR Dashboard.

• Manual Intervention Risks

  • Investigate and understand any errors in pre-failover checks to prevent issues during the failover process.

tip

For more details, please refer to the section Recommendations for Access Zone Failover.

How is Access Zone Failover executed?

The Access Zone failover process minimizes disruption and maintains data integrity throughout the failover. The following steps outline how the failover is executed:

1. Failover Initiated from Eyeglass (Manual)

   • The failover process begins manually when initiated through Eyeglass, setting the stage for the automated steps to follow.

2. SyncIQ Policy Run One Last Time (Automatic)

   • The SyncIQ policies on the source cluster are run one final time to ensure all data is fully synchronized before the failover begins.

3. SmartConnect Zone Names/Aliases and SPNs Transferred to Target Cluster (Automatic)

   • SmartConnect Zone names, aliases, and Service Principal Names (SPNs) are transferred from the source cluster to the target cluster.

4. HOST SPNs Deleted on Source and Created on Target in Active Directory (Automatic)

   • SPNs associated with the source cluster are deleted and recreated on the target cluster in Active Directory, maintaining secure access for SMB shares.

5. SyncIQ Policy Target Path Made Writable (Automatic)

   • The target path for the SyncIQ policy on the target cluster is made writable, while the source path is set to read-only to prevent further modifications.

6. Resync Prep Creates Mirror SyncIQ Policy and Runs It (Automatic)

   • A mirror SyncIQ policy is automatically created and run on the target cluster to ensure data consistency across both clusters.

7. Quota Failover (Optional)

   • Quotas on the source cluster may be deleted and recreated on the target cluster as part of the failover process, depending on the configuration.

8. Post-Failover Manual Steps (Manual)

   • NFS Exports/Aliases Remount: NFS exports and aliases must be manually remounted on the target cluster to restore full access.
   • SMB Share Remounts: SMB share remounts can be avoided by removing network interfaces from the failover network pools on the source cluster. If this step is not performed, manual remounting, rebooting, or logging out/in to Windows will be required to restore access.

What are the results of Access Zone Failover?

These results reflect the effectiveness of the failover process in transferring operations from the Source Cluster to the Target Cluster while maintaining data integrity and minimizing disruptions. The main results are:

• Data Synchronization and Integrity

  • All data previously replicated using SyncIQ is now fully synchronized to the Target Cluster, ensuring that no data is lost during the failover process.

• Reestablished Network and Service Connectivity

  • SmartConnect Zone names and aliases have been successfully moved to the Target Cluster. This ensures that network services and client connections are seamlessly redirected to the Target Cluster.

• Updated Active Directory Configurations

  • Service Principal Names (SPNs) for the cluster have been updated in Active Directory. This allows for continued secure access to SMB shares on the Target Cluster, avoiding authentication issues and maintaining security protocols.

• Quota Management and Policy Enforcement

  • Quotas and SyncIQ policies have been recreated and enforced on the Target Cluster, ensuring that storage limits and data protection policies remain consistent and effective in the new environment.

• Minimal Service Disruption

  • While some manual steps may be required post-failover (such as remounting NFS exports or SMB shares), these are minor and typically do not result in significant downtime.

• Preparedness for Further Failback or Recovery

  • The Target Cluster is now fully prepared to handle ongoing operations, and the environment is set up for potential failback or future failover scenarios.