IBM N Series Hardware Guide

Chapter 8. MetroCluster 107
8.2 Business continuity solutions
The N series offers several levels of protection with several different options. MetroCluster is
one of the options that is offered by the N series. MetroCluster fits into the campus-level
distance requirement of business continuity, as shown in Figure 8-3.
Figure 8-3 Business continuity with IBM System Storage N series
Table 8-1 lists the differences between synchronous SnapMirror and MetroCluster with
SyncMirror.
Table 8-1 Differences between Sync SnapMirror and MetroCluster SyncMirror
8.3 Stretch MetroCluster
The Stretch MetroCluster configuration uses two storage systems that are connected to
provide high availability and data mirroring. You can place these two systems in separate
locations. When the distance between the two systems is less than 500 m, you can
implement Stretch MetroCluster. The cabling is direct connected between nodes and shelves.
FibreBridges are required when SAS Shelves (EXN3000 and EXN3500) are used.
Feature Synchronous SnapMirror MetroCluster (SyncMirror)
Network for Replication Fibre Channel or IP Fibre Channel only
Concurrent transfer limited Yes No
Distance limitation Up to 200 km
(depending on latency)
150-500 m(Stretch mode)
160 km (Fabric mode)
a
a. Requires ONTAP version 8.1.1 7-mode and SAS shelves only; otherwise, the maximum
distance is 100 km
Replication between HA pairs Yes No
Deduplication Deduplicated volume and sync
volume cannot be in same
aggregate
Ye s
Use of secondary node for an
additional async mirroring
Yes No, async replication occurs
from primary plex

IBM N Series Specifications

General

Brand	IBM
Model	N Series
Category	Storage
Language	English