DataCore SANsymphony
Author: s | 2025-04-24
Help for Previous Versions. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP17U1 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP17 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP16 Update 1 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP16 Help Help for Previous Versions. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP17 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP16 Update 1 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP16 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP15 Update 3 Help
SANsymphony : Solid State Disks and SANsymphony - datacore
Some steps may have been performed by the Automated Installation and Upgrade Wizard during software installation, in which case skip those steps. Those steps depend on the template selected during installation. Most configuration and operations performed for Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) nodes are the same as that for any standard DataCore Server. However, some special notes apply when performing configuration or operations from an HCI node, as noted below. (Refer to the associated Help topics below for more information and instructions.) Once configured, the HCI node can perform operations and management activities in the same manner as any standard DataCore Server in the server group. Special Configuration Notes: Refer to the SANsymphony Best Practices Guide for important configuration information. The guide can be found on the DataCore Technical Support Portal in FAQ 838 (All Best Practices Guidelines). Also see these other applicable FAQs on the DataCore Technical Support Portal for running the software on virtual machines: FAQ 1155 (Best Practices-Installing a DataCore Server within a Virtual Machine), FAQ 1348 (Best Practice Guideline for DataCore SANsymphony), and FAQ 1626 (iSCSI Best Practices, Network Settings for DataCore SANsymphony in a VM). (These FAQs can be viewed by registered customers with a login to the DataCore Technical Support Portal.) Add DataCore Server operation: When adding the HCI node as a DataCore Server to an existing server group, the Add DataCore Server operation must be performed from one of the DataCore Servers in the existing server group, not from the HCI node. See Establishing Server Groups. Port roles assignments: Port roles should be configured to provide dedicated network ports for use with the software. Remove port roles for all other ports not dedicated to running the software in order to prohibit access. See Assigning Port Roles and Groups. System startup and shutdown: The software runs as a system service called DataCore Executive (Dcsx); only when the service is started can the virtual disk be accessed. Properly configuring service dependencies is essential to ensure the proper start and/or stop order of the software and application services. See Configuring Service Dependencies for Proper System Startup and Shutdown
SANsymphony : Supported SANsymphony Upgrade Paths - datacore
Scaling up to 64 nodes in a grid which means there can be any combination of two-way and three-way mirrors for each virtual disk across up to a maximum of 64 nodes spanning two or more sites.Also take note of the different types of SANsymphony deployment models across the various nodes – storage virtualization of SANs, converged SAN on servers, JBODs/JBOFs. Even HCI deployment of SANsymphony can be factored into the HA grid. And these can all change as required without any negative impact to the applications accessing data.Load Redistribution Within The HA GridAnother helpful capability of SANsymphony is to transparently migrate data between the different nodes without any impact on business operation. This helps with optimal resource utilization and customized placement of original data and replicas within the multi-node HA grid. There will be no impact to the applications accessing the data and no downtime.ConclusionThese are just some examples demonstrating the flexible scaling of SANsymphony to increase data availability and storage resiliency in your environment. Based on your business needs and IT requirements, you can configure high availability with SANsymphony the way that suits you best. Contact DataCore to learn more about achieving high availability and data resiliency using SANsymphony in your environment.Helpful ResourcesWhite Paper: RPO, RTO and RTA: The Storage Trifecta That Impacts Business ResiliencyBlog: Availability vs Durability vs Reliability vs Resilience vs Fault ToleranceSolution Brief: Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery with DataCore SANsymphonySANsymphony : SANsymphony - iSCSI Best Practices - datacore
Deployment.In this high availability setup, we have created two replicas of the original data. The virtual disks with suffixes ‘2’ and ‘3’ correspond to the two replicas. So, even when one instance is down, there are two remaining synchronous datasets. Thanks to the same failover processes as with a 2-node HA grid, this configuration would tolerate failure in a further instance without end-users and the applications getting affected.This three-node, three-way mirror deployment further increases HA and business continuity and provides up to six nines availability (99.9999%). 2-Node HA Grid | 2 Sites | 2-Way MirrorFor enhanced protection against larger outages (e.g., fire, power outage, etc.), the SANsymphony grid could be stretched across different buildings, campuses, or sites. As mentioned earlier, the distance of the SANsymphony nodes depend on the latency of their connection. In fast and low latency network environments, this could be up to 100 km. Expanding the two-way mirror deployment across two sites, we now have two SANsymphony nodes – one in each site – with synchronous mirroring set up between them. Here, the virtual disks on the node in Site I are getting mirrored to the node in Site II, providing cross-site resiliency within a stretched metro storage grid. 3-Node HA Grid | 2 Sites | 3-Way MirrorConsequent to the previous use case, let’s scale out with a third SANsymphony node to create a three-way mirror between two sites.Here again, we establish a long-distance redundant connection across a stretched metro storage grid; but this configuration increases availability and resiliency with the capability to withstand failure in up to two nodes. Multi-Node HA Grid | 2 Sites | 2- & 3-Way MirrorsNext, we are going to scale out with six SANsymphony nodes across two sites with a combination of two-way and three-way mirrors that work cross-sites. In the diagram below, we have examples of some mirrors that have virtual disks with their replicas on the same site, and some having their replicas at the second site.A key takeaway from this multi-node HA deployment is that you can leverage any SANsymphony node in the grid to store the original dataset, while also storing on it the replicas from any other node in the grid. You can decide in which node you want what dataset or replica. And based on your requirements you can choose to use a two-way mirror or a three-way mirror for each virtual disk. SANsymphony supports. Help for Previous Versions. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP17U1 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP17 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP16 Update 1 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP16 Help Help for Previous Versions. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP17 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP16 Update 1 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP16 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP15 Update 3 HelpAbout the DataCore SANsymphony Help - DataCore Product
Is commonly referred to as "mirror down" on Server1. A log recovery is needed from Server1 to Server2 to synchronize a mirrored virtual disk. When virtualization is stopped on a server, DataCore SANsymphony software flushes the DataCore Server cache and all write operations are forced to the active mirror partner, which starts to log data changes in memory. When virtualization is restarted, a log recovery will begin and the log is used to resynchronize the virtual disk data. The log used for recovery is held in memory on the server with active host access as long as virtualization is running. If virtualization is stopped on the active mirror and a logstore pool is assigned, the log is saved to the "logstore" on that server. When virtualization is restarted, the logstore will be used to perform a logged recovery. If that log recovery is interrupted for any reason while virtualization is running, the log recovery will resume and include any new data changes that may have occurred in the interim. If a logstore pool is not assigned on the remaining server with host access, the log will be lost and those virtual disks that require log recoveries will undergo full recoveries to resynchronize the data. Assigning a logstore on all servers is important to prevent full recoveries in this scenario, see Logstore for more information. Full Recoveries A full recovery synchronizes all storage allocation units (SAUs) in the virtual disk storage source regardless of which SAUs may have changed. Full recovery may be required when virtualization cannot be stopped cleanly or DataCore SANsymphony software cannot flush the cache to the storage source before a server is stopped. The next time virtualization is started on that server, a full recovery may be performed to ensure that all host I/O that was held in the DataCore Server cache or not successfully destaged will be copied from the up-to-date storage source. If a full recovery is interrupted while it is running, for example one node is stopped, or the mirror paths go unavailable, then once this has been resolved the recovery will restart from the beginning. If there was no host I/O in the server cache at the time when the DataCore Server was unexpectedly shutdown, DataCore SANsymphony will detect this and a full recovery will not be needed. For example, a full recovery could happen if I/O is running on Server1 and Server2Getting Started with DataCore SANsymphony
DataCore SANsymphony software consists of the following components: The Server component (also referred to as the Virtualization component) consists of the program files used to run virtualization functions. These components are required to be installed on all DataCore Servers. The DataCore Management Console component consists of the program files used to run the user interface. The console is used to configure, control, and monitor DataCore Servers. This component can be installed on any computer running a supported operating system. (Not available for installation on servers running the Windows Server Core Installation Option.) This component is optional during the installation. The DataCore Cmdlet for Windows PowerShell component provides the ability to perform storage management activities through the Windows PowerShell command line interface. This component is optional during the installation. An automated installation tool (the DataCore Deployment Wizard) can be used to assist and guide administrators through the process of configuring and deploying DataCore Servers in various SAN configurations. (See DataCore Deployment Wizard Overview and Installing Software Using the Wizard.) The wizard can install all the components or selective components depending on the scenario selected in the wizard. Upgrading software versions can also be performed using the wizard. Before beginning the installation: A product license key is not necessary to install and evaluate this software. However, software activation with a valid product license key is required within 30 days. Failing to activate the software within the trial period will prohibit configuration operations when the trial period expires. (Certain software features are disabled or limited in trial mode.) Review and ensure DataCore Servers and hosts are prepared for installation.Welcome to DataCore SANsymphony Help
Today’s application-centric and data-driven economy demands always-on access. Organizations just cannot afford their storage infrastructure to go down when all the mission-critical data is stored and protected there. Being always-on gets challenging as storage hardware and component failures are bound to happen over time, power outages disrupt connectivity, etc.With SANsymphony software defined storage, you benefit from THREE LINES OF DEFENSE to ensure business continuity:Circumvent storage failures and outagesEnable recovery at a remote secondary/DR siteEnsure point-in-time recovery of data from last-known good stateThe first line of defense is what we are going to focus in this blog, and specifically cover use cases for scaling out in steps to increase high availability. SANsymphony addresses local site problems such as hardware/component failures by replicating data within a site or metro cluster in real time.2-Node HA Grid | Single Site | 2-Way MirrorHere we make use of two separate SANsymphony instances (nodes): one as a storage virtualization deployment using disparate array, and the other as a converged storage with HDDs/SSDs built-in and/or directly attached to the SANsymphony node.Data is copied synchronously between the two physically separate nodes. These nodes can be hosted within a room, a site (can be different rooms, or in different buildings/sites. The distance depends on the latency of their connection. In this example, both deployments are within a site. The virtual disks – A1, B1, C1, and D1 – belonging to the first SANsymphony node are synchronously mirrored and their replicas – A2, B2, C2, and D2 – are available in the second SANsymphony node. When a failure occurs, the application access to the stored data will fail over to the second SANsymphony node. This immediate access to the replicas ensures continuous data access for the applications. End-users and the applications will even not notice the failover because it is a fully transparent process. It is to be noted that the second SANsymphony node can also host the original dataset and synchronously copy it to the first one, making synchronous mirroring bi-directional.Such a two-node HA grid provides up to four nines availability (99.99%), while a typical single-node or single storage installation provides only 2 nines availability.3-Node HA Grid | Single Site | 3-Way MirrorTo increase availability further, a third synchronous copy of the data could be added. In our example, let’s configure a three-way mirror by adding one additional SANsymphony node which is using direct attached JBODs/JBOFs as converged storage. Help for Previous Versions. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP17U1 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP17 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP16 Update 1 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP16 Help Help for Previous Versions. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP17 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP16 Update 1 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP16 Help. DataCore SANsymphony 10 PSP15 Update 3 HelpComments
Some steps may have been performed by the Automated Installation and Upgrade Wizard during software installation, in which case skip those steps. Those steps depend on the template selected during installation. Most configuration and operations performed for Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) nodes are the same as that for any standard DataCore Server. However, some special notes apply when performing configuration or operations from an HCI node, as noted below. (Refer to the associated Help topics below for more information and instructions.) Once configured, the HCI node can perform operations and management activities in the same manner as any standard DataCore Server in the server group. Special Configuration Notes: Refer to the SANsymphony Best Practices Guide for important configuration information. The guide can be found on the DataCore Technical Support Portal in FAQ 838 (All Best Practices Guidelines). Also see these other applicable FAQs on the DataCore Technical Support Portal for running the software on virtual machines: FAQ 1155 (Best Practices-Installing a DataCore Server within a Virtual Machine), FAQ 1348 (Best Practice Guideline for DataCore SANsymphony), and FAQ 1626 (iSCSI Best Practices, Network Settings for DataCore SANsymphony in a VM). (These FAQs can be viewed by registered customers with a login to the DataCore Technical Support Portal.) Add DataCore Server operation: When adding the HCI node as a DataCore Server to an existing server group, the Add DataCore Server operation must be performed from one of the DataCore Servers in the existing server group, not from the HCI node. See Establishing Server Groups. Port roles assignments: Port roles should be configured to provide dedicated network ports for use with the software. Remove port roles for all other ports not dedicated to running the software in order to prohibit access. See Assigning Port Roles and Groups. System startup and shutdown: The software runs as a system service called DataCore Executive (Dcsx); only when the service is started can the virtual disk be accessed. Properly configuring service dependencies is essential to ensure the proper start and/or stop order of the software and application services. See Configuring Service Dependencies for Proper System Startup and Shutdown
2025-04-20Scaling up to 64 nodes in a grid which means there can be any combination of two-way and three-way mirrors for each virtual disk across up to a maximum of 64 nodes spanning two or more sites.Also take note of the different types of SANsymphony deployment models across the various nodes – storage virtualization of SANs, converged SAN on servers, JBODs/JBOFs. Even HCI deployment of SANsymphony can be factored into the HA grid. And these can all change as required without any negative impact to the applications accessing data.Load Redistribution Within The HA GridAnother helpful capability of SANsymphony is to transparently migrate data between the different nodes without any impact on business operation. This helps with optimal resource utilization and customized placement of original data and replicas within the multi-node HA grid. There will be no impact to the applications accessing the data and no downtime.ConclusionThese are just some examples demonstrating the flexible scaling of SANsymphony to increase data availability and storage resiliency in your environment. Based on your business needs and IT requirements, you can configure high availability with SANsymphony the way that suits you best. Contact DataCore to learn more about achieving high availability and data resiliency using SANsymphony in your environment.Helpful ResourcesWhite Paper: RPO, RTO and RTA: The Storage Trifecta That Impacts Business ResiliencyBlog: Availability vs Durability vs Reliability vs Resilience vs Fault ToleranceSolution Brief: Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery with DataCore SANsymphony
2025-04-21Is commonly referred to as "mirror down" on Server1. A log recovery is needed from Server1 to Server2 to synchronize a mirrored virtual disk. When virtualization is stopped on a server, DataCore SANsymphony software flushes the DataCore Server cache and all write operations are forced to the active mirror partner, which starts to log data changes in memory. When virtualization is restarted, a log recovery will begin and the log is used to resynchronize the virtual disk data. The log used for recovery is held in memory on the server with active host access as long as virtualization is running. If virtualization is stopped on the active mirror and a logstore pool is assigned, the log is saved to the "logstore" on that server. When virtualization is restarted, the logstore will be used to perform a logged recovery. If that log recovery is interrupted for any reason while virtualization is running, the log recovery will resume and include any new data changes that may have occurred in the interim. If a logstore pool is not assigned on the remaining server with host access, the log will be lost and those virtual disks that require log recoveries will undergo full recoveries to resynchronize the data. Assigning a logstore on all servers is important to prevent full recoveries in this scenario, see Logstore for more information. Full Recoveries A full recovery synchronizes all storage allocation units (SAUs) in the virtual disk storage source regardless of which SAUs may have changed. Full recovery may be required when virtualization cannot be stopped cleanly or DataCore SANsymphony software cannot flush the cache to the storage source before a server is stopped. The next time virtualization is started on that server, a full recovery may be performed to ensure that all host I/O that was held in the DataCore Server cache or not successfully destaged will be copied from the up-to-date storage source. If a full recovery is interrupted while it is running, for example one node is stopped, or the mirror paths go unavailable, then once this has been resolved the recovery will restart from the beginning. If there was no host I/O in the server cache at the time when the DataCore Server was unexpectedly shutdown, DataCore SANsymphony will detect this and a full recovery will not be needed. For example, a full recovery could happen if I/O is running on Server1 and Server2
2025-03-28DataCore SANsymphony software consists of the following components: The Server component (also referred to as the Virtualization component) consists of the program files used to run virtualization functions. These components are required to be installed on all DataCore Servers. The DataCore Management Console component consists of the program files used to run the user interface. The console is used to configure, control, and monitor DataCore Servers. This component can be installed on any computer running a supported operating system. (Not available for installation on servers running the Windows Server Core Installation Option.) This component is optional during the installation. The DataCore Cmdlet for Windows PowerShell component provides the ability to perform storage management activities through the Windows PowerShell command line interface. This component is optional during the installation. An automated installation tool (the DataCore Deployment Wizard) can be used to assist and guide administrators through the process of configuring and deploying DataCore Servers in various SAN configurations. (See DataCore Deployment Wizard Overview and Installing Software Using the Wizard.) The wizard can install all the components or selective components depending on the scenario selected in the wizard. Upgrading software versions can also be performed using the wizard. Before beginning the installation: A product license key is not necessary to install and evaluate this software. However, software activation with a valid product license key is required within 30 days. Failing to activate the software within the trial period will prohibit configuration operations when the trial period expires. (Certain software features are disabled or limited in trial mode.) Review and ensure DataCore Servers and hosts are prepared for installation.
2025-03-30