Guidelines for Protecting Data using HP StorageWorks Storage Mirroring with Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) (T2558-96332, March 2009)

• VSS on Source and Target: Storage Mirroring provides failover of the source server identity and
maintains a real-time copy of the source production data. VSS is enabled on the source and target
servers, and snapshots are created on each server of the same data. In case of a source failure,
the target can fill in for the source completely, including allowing the user complete access to
production data and applications, as well as full capabilities to initiate file-level restore.
• VSS with Transactional Applications: Identical to the VSS on Source and Target configuration.
However, if the data being protected is from a transactional database application (for example,
SQL Server®), you must ensure that the snapshot is taken at a point where the data is consistent.
This is accomplished through the Storage Mirroring in-band control feature.
Modifying the sample script files
Sample batch files are available at http://www.hp.com/support.
After you modify the sample scripts, save them with a new name to remove the SAMPLE_ prefix. Copy
the scripts to the directory where Storage Mirroring is installed.
The sample batch files provided are only examples. Because no two environments or configurations
are exactly the same, you MUST modify the sample scripts in order to make the solution work in your
environment.
Enabling compression
By enabling compression, you can reduce the amount of bandwidth needed to transmit Storage
Mirroring data. When compression is enabled, the replication data is compressed before it is
transmitted from the source. When the target receives the compressed replication data, it uncompresses
it and then writes it to disk. On a default Storage Mirroring connection, compression is disabled.
Solution Overview12