Storevirtual converting standard to multi-site cluster

[giladzzz]

Hi

can you convert existing 4 node VSA standard cluster to 8 node VSA multi-site cluster

without losing existing data.

I saw in the guide that you first need to add new nodes to cluster and then create sites

Regards

[oikjn]

the short answer...  yes.

Site are just a logical definition that you assign to a node or a host.  When you define multipe sites in a cluster that cluster becomes a multi-site cluster and multi-site logic starts to be implimented.  What that means is that hosts using the HP DSM will only actively connect and write to the nodes that are on the same site that they are on (unless those nodes go offline).  This is exactly what you want as it limits inter-site traffic and improves latency.  In addition, it will re-stripe data to ensure maximum availability such that an NR10 LUN will have one copy on each site.

What you need to be aware of is that you will initiate a cluster restripe when the add the nodes to the cluster AND when you change their site assignements, so it is important to first add the nodes to the management group and then assign everything their correct sites and finally add all the additional nodes to the cluster AT THE SAME TIME so that you only do a single re-stripe.  After that is done, you can desice if you want to stick with NR10 or go to NR10+1 or 2 to ensure two local copies along with the remote copy.