You are on page 1of 62

Welcome to TimeFinder Foundations.

Copyright 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 EMC Corporation. All
Rights Reserved. EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is
subject to change without notice.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED AS IS. EMC CORPORATION MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.
EMC2, EMC, Data Domain, RSA, EMC Centera, EMC ControlCenter, EMC LifeLine, EMC OnCourse, EMC Proven, EMC Snap,
EMC SourceOne, EMC Storage Administrator, Acartus, Access Logix, AdvantEdge, AlphaStor, ApplicationXtender,
ArchiveXtender, Atmos, Authentica, Authentic Problems, Automated Resource Manager, AutoStart, AutoSwap,
AVALONidm, Avamar, Captiva, Catalog Solution, C-Clip, Celerra, Celerra Replicator, Centera, CenterStage, CentraStar,
ClaimPack, ClaimsEditor, CLARiiON, ClientPak, Codebook Correlation Technology, Common Information Model,
Configuration Intelligence, Configuresoft, Connectrix, CopyCross, CopyPoint, Dantz, DatabaseXtender, Direct Matrix
Architecture, DiskXtender, DiskXtender 2000, Document Sciences, Documentum, elnput, E-Lab, EmailXaminer,
EmailXtender, Enginuity, eRoom, Event Explorer, FarPoint, FirstPass, FLARE, FormWare, Geosynchrony, Global File
Virtualization, Graphic Visualization, Greenplum, HighRoad, HomeBase, InfoMover, Infoscape, Infra, InputAccel, InputAccel
Express, Invista, Ionix, ISIS, Max Retriever, MediaStor, MirrorView, Navisphere, NetWorker, nLayers, OnAlert, OpenScale,
PixTools, Powerlink, PowerPath, PowerSnap, QuickScan, Rainfinity, RepliCare, RepliStor, ResourcePak, Retrospect, RSA, the
RSA logo, SafeLine, SAN Advisor, SAN Copy, SAN Manager, Smarts, SnapImage, SnapSure, SnapView, SRDF, StorageScope,
SupportMate, SymmAPI, SymmEnabler, Symmetrix, Symmetrix DMX, Symmetrix VMAX, TimeFinder, UltraFlex, UltraPoint,
UltraScale, Unisphere, VMAX, Vblock, Viewlets, Virtual Matrix, Virtual Matrix Architecture, Virtual Provisioning, VisualSAN,
VisualSRM, Voyence, VPLEX, VSAM-Assist, WebXtender, xPression, xPresso, YottaYotta, the EMC logo, and where
information lives, are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries.
All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.
Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA.
Revision: 003

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to identify TimeFinder concepts and
architecture, differentiate TimeFinder solutions, describe TimeFinder operations, identify
management software offerings, and describe the TimeFinder business benefits and
considerations.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations

This lesson covers TimeFinder local replication benefits and TimeFinder usage as a point-intime business tool. It also provides an overview of TimeFinders application set, lists the
architectural components, and describes the TimeFinder product family.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations

Local replication can significantly enhance your current business and technical operations by
providing access points to production data for parallel processing activities such as backups, diskbased recovery after logical corruptions, and creating test environments for faster application time to
revenue.
Every business strives to increase the utilization of its most important resourceinformationin
order to improve business productivity. This asset is key to finding the right customers, building the
right products, and offering the best service. The greater the extent to which you can share, re-use,
and exploit this corporate information, the greater competitive advantage your company can gain.

Lets look at this business challenge: Increasing productivity through parallel access to information.
Imagine that you could create an environment in which a singular instance of corporate information
could be accessed in parallel by multiple business units, and in which you could retain multiple
checkpoints of that data throughout the day without consuming large amounts of disk space. Imagine
an environment in which you could improve service levels by eliminating the stop-and-go sequential
information-access methods of the past.
What would this environment do for your enterprise?

Increase application availability while reducing downtime


Minimize data exposure and recovery time by creating more frequent point-in-time images of
data

Enable non-disruptive access to critical data for concurrent processing


Backup, reporting, testing, migrations, data warehousing

Provide improved data recovery and application consistency


Reduce replication total cost of ownership while meeting new and ever-changing service levels
Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations

TimeFinder is a family of products that enable businesses to provide multiple point-in-time


copies of data to distribute business tasks. This allows for simultaneous action of previously
sequential business tasks. An example is the ability to back up a point-in-time copy of critical
data while production operations continue on the source data.
In todays IT environments, it is critical to have choice and flexibility when building local
replication solutions in order to match the right product to your service-level requirements.
The TimeFinder family of products offers the broadest choice of alternatives, from fullvolume mirrors and clone copies to space saving snapshot copies. Understanding the
features and functions of each of the TimeFinder product family options is imperative for
identifying the appropriate solution.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations

TimeFinder allows storage-based information users to make more effective use of their most
valuable resources by enabling parallel information access. In contrast to traditional
sequential information access, TimeFinder eliminates the need to quiesce an application for
backup. This provides tangible benefits to businesses, including accelerated upgrades.
TimeFinder enables application upgrades to quickly identify and remedy problems, minimize
risk, and reduce production downtime. TimeFinder eliminates the backup window to high
availability demand systems. TimeFinder can also shorten maintenance windows, minimize
infrastructure costs, and improve service levels.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations

Each TimeFinder product (TimeFinder/Clone, TimeFinder/Snap) has its own distinct


architecture and operational characteristics. These attributes are essential when addressing
the wide scope of customer data replication requirements. The components that make up
each TimeFinder solution are listed here. TimeFinder architectural components are
presented at a high level within the next few slides.
VP Snap leverages TimeFinder/Clone technology to create space-efficient snaps for thin
devices by allowing multiple sessions to share allocations within a thin pool. VP Snap
provides the efficiency of snap technology with improved cache utilization and simplified
pool management. With VP Snap, tracks can be stored in the same thin pool as the source,
or in another pool of your choice.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations

Regardless of the replication technology that is being implemented, the Symmetrix storage
array uses Track Table technology that creates a record of the data that has been changed.
Using this information is what drives the movement or resynchronization of data back and
forth from the source and/or target devices.
This technology is employed regardless of whether the data is located in a single array or
across multiple arrays. The Track Table is the underlying enabler for all Symmetrix storage
array-based data-mobility applications and technologies.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations

This slide describes the EMC TimeFinder family of products for the VMAX 20K/VMAX and VMAX 40K
arrays. The TimeFinder family of products includes Symmetrix local replication solutions designed to
non-disruptively create point-in-time copies of critical data. You can configure backup sessions,
initiate copies, and terminate TimeFinder operations from mainframe and open systems controlling
hosts using EMC Symmetrix host-based control software.
The TimeFinder local replication solutions include TimeFinder/Clone, TimeFinder/Snap, and
TimeFinder VP Snap. TimeFinder/Clone creates full-device and extent-level point-in-time copies.
TimeFinder/Snap creates pointer-based logical copies that consume less storage space on physical
drives. TimeFinder VP Snap provides the efficiency of snap technology with improved cache
utilization and simplified pool management.
Each solution guarantees high data availability. The source device is always available to production
applications. The target device becomes read/write enabled as soon as you initiate the point-in-time
copy. Host applications can therefore immediately access the point-in-time image of critical data
from the target device while TimeFinder copies data in the background.
TimeFinder includes the following features:

Supports RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, and RAID 10 protection schemes

Provides restore capabilities

Provides incremental re-synchronization between the source and the target

Supports virtual provisioning

Tightly integrated with SRDF

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations

This slide describes the EMC TimeFinder for VMAX 10K/VMAXe family of products.
The TimeFinder family of products are Symmetrix local replication solutions designed to nondisruptively create point-in-time copies of critical data. You can configure backup sessions,
initiate copies, and terminate TimeFinder operations using EMC Symmetrix host-based
control software.
TimeFinder local replication solutions include TimeFinder/Clone and TimeFinder VP Snap.
TimeFinder/Clone creates full-device point-in-time copies. TimeFinder VP Snap provides the
efficiency of snap technology with improved cache utilization and simplified pool
management.
Each solution guarantees high data availability. The source device is always available to
production applications. The target device becomes read/write enabled as soon as you
initiate the point-in-time copy. Host applications can therefore immediately access the pointin-time image of critical data from the target device while TimeFinder copies data in the
background.
TimeFinder includes the following features:

Supports RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6 protection schemes

Provides restore capabilities

Provides incremental re-synchronization between the source and the target

Supports virtual provisioning

Tightly integrated with SRDF

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 10

The TimeFinder family has several different solutions to help you meet your service-level
requirements while providing very powerful local replication capabilities.
Lets take a look at what the TimeFinder family delivers. First is its massively parallel high
performance and unsurpassed RPO and RTO with minimal server impact.
TimeFinder easily integrates into industry-leading applications, such as Oracle, Microsoft,
VMware, SAP, and IBM. This is a result of the integration efforts as well as EMC partnerships
with these major application vendors. TimeFinder is highly recommended with remote
replication solutions like SRDF to increase application availability and improve
test/development capabilities and disaster restart requirements.
TimeFinder is the solution Symmetrix customers rely on for business continuity locally, in the
array, and in the data center.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 11

With all the choice and flexibility in making TimeFinder family replicas, how do you know
which type to use and when? It is a matter of balancing customer needs and mapping them
back to a few key areas: performance, availability, functionality, and economics.
Pointer-based images are not a physical copy of your information; they are logical views of
the original information based on the time the image was created. Snapshots and snaps are
created in seconds and can be retired when no longer needed.
In contrast to a full data copy, a snapshot uses only a fraction of the original space. Multiple
snapshots can be created to suit the needs of multiple business processes. Secondary servers
see the snapshot as an additional mountable disk volume. Servers mounting a snapshot have
full read/write capabilities with the snapshot data.
TimeFinder/Snap multi-virtual sessions allow up to 128 virtual point-in-time copies.
TimeFinder/Snap sessions on Symmetrix VMAX 40K systems always use multi-virtual mode.
VP Snap leverages TimeFinder/Clone technology to create space-efficient snaps for thin
devices by allowing multiple sessions to share allocations within a thin pool. VP Snap
provides the efficiency of snap technology with improved cache utilization and simplified
pool management. With VP Snap, tracks can be stored in the same thin pool as the source or
in another pool of your choice.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 12

This lesson covers TimeFinder/Clone, clone operations, clone components, cascaded clone
functionality, and TimeFinder/Clone functional capabilities.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 13

TimeFinder/Clone is a pointer-based, full-copy product for open systems. It enables the


creation of point-in-time copies that can be used for backups, decision support, datawarehouse refreshes, or any other process that requires parallel access to production
information.
Clones can be protected using any type of supported protection scheme, including RAID 5
and RAID 6. They do not require a Symmetrix mirror position. You can create up to 16 active
clones of a single source volume, all of which are immediately available for both read and
write access.
A differential clone session uses two (2) copy sessions, therefore, you can only have a max of
eight (8) differential clone sessions.
TimeFinder/Clone also includes a NOCOPY option, which enables you to perform a copy
process only when the actual data is requested. As with all TimeFinder family products,
TimeFinder/Clone supports the TimeFinder/Consistency Groups option to ensure data
consistency between volumes and across Symmetrix systems.
TimeFinder/Clone is ideal when high performance, RAID 5 and RAID 6 protection, and highly
functional point-in-time copies are required.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 14

The TimeFinder/Clone creation and implementation process consists of five main steps.
The TimeFinder/Clone operations are:

1. Create: creates a relationship between source and clone.


2. Activate: the Clone is now active and available immediately for read/write access and
the production I/O is processed against standard.
Note: Performing a TimeFinder/Clone Establish process Creates a relationship
between the source and target and Activates the clone session.

3. Recreate: / Activate: the Clone is re-attached to Standard for new point-in-time copy
which is incremental.

4. Restore: the Clone is re-attached to Standard: incremental or full restore performed.


5. Terminate: causes the target host to lose access to clone, removes clone.
Each step is a critical component of a disk-based, local protection and recovery solution.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 15

When you use the copy option, the TimeFinder/Clone session copies all of the source device
tracks to the target device. The copy process starts when you activate the session (initiate
the point-in-time copy) and completes when all of the source device tracks are copied to the
target device and no protected tracks are left. You will typically use the copy option to create
a full source device copy on the target device (gold copy) and keep data on the target device
intact for recovery purposes. You can also use the copy option if you need to make the fulldevice point-in-time copy available to another host. The other host can then access the
target device while the production host continues to access the source device.
The TimeFinder/Clone copy options are:
Copy on access The track is copied the first time a track on the source device is written to,
or a track on the target is accessed. This is the default mode of operation for
TimeFinder/Clone.
Full background This option copies data as a low priority task whether the data is accessed
or not. This mode is enabled after activation of the clone session.
Pre-copy function Starts copying tracks in the background, before the clone session is
activated.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 16

TimeFinder/Clone can use Standard or BCV (Business Continuance Volumes) for source and
target devices, as long as all the devices are the same size and emulation type (FBA or CKD).
The target of a copy operation is a Symmetrix storage array clone. Copying to a clone can be
immediate as with Precopy or deferred as with CopyOnAccess.
Copying occurs when there are writes to the source device or reads/writes to the target
device. The clone pair state remains CopyOnAccess until you terminate the copy session or
until all tracks have been accessed. This is the default option for any Open Systems
environment.
In the mainframe environment, there is an option rather than a default setting for
CopyOnAccess. It is invoked by adding the MODE -NOCOPY parameter to the command.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 17

The TimeFinder/Clone restore command copies target data to another device or back to the
original source device.
In the case of a Full Restore, the original session terminates and a copy session to the target
of the restore starts. In the case of an Incremental Restore, the original session terminates
and an incremental copy session back to the original source device will start.
To support a Full or Incremental operation, the session must have been created with the differential option during the create session stage and the target device must be in a fully
copied state.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 18

With Enginuity 5874 and beyond, TimeFinder/Clone supports Thick to Thin replication,
allowing customers to take advantage of virtual provisioning by providing the ability to
quickly move an applications data from standard or thick volumes to virtually provisioned
storage (Thin devices) within the same array.
Data can also be moved from Thin devices to standard devices (Thin to Thick) for situations
where the space efficiencies and rapid provisioning of virtual provisioning is no longer
required or where specific applications may be better suited to standard devices. During the
replication operation disk extents (chunks) marked as Not Written By Host (NWBH) are
automatically detected and will not be copied to the thin device.
A key consideration for Thick to Thin replication is ensuring the thin pool has an adequate
amount of space to accommodate the standard device.
The replication does not disrupt hosts or internal applications during the copy process; but
the user will need to handle the application and host addressing of the new devices. During
the cloning process, replications of the standard devices remain in full operation.
The source and target of the replication operation can also be different RAID protection
levels. An unprotected device can be replicated to a RAID protected device, but you cannot
replicate a protected volume to an unprotected volume. TimeFinder/Clone support for Thick
to Thin replication is supported on EFD, Fibre Channel drives, and SATA drives for FBA
emulations.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 19

Full-device TimeFinder/Clone supports cascaded operations. The cascaded clone capability


allows you to create two full-device TimeFinder/Clone sessions using the same device as a
source device and as a target device. You can then run both sessions concurrently as long as
you activated the copy process sequentially (to preserve the copy direction).
Clone from clone target (both sessions are cascaded clone) shows how cascaded sessions are
accepted from left to right. You can activate session 1 to copy from device A to device B.
Then, you can activate session 2 to clone device B to device C. If your copy direction is
A=>B=>C, you can activate session B=>C only after you activated session 1 from A=>B.
Cascaded clone is supported with VP Snap with some restrictions. Refer to the EMC Solutions
Enabler TimeFinder Family CLI Product Guide for additional details.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 20

The table illustrated here highlights some of the major specifications and limitations of
TimeFinder/Clone.
The slide also highlights TimeFinder/Clone compatibility with other EMC software products.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 21

This lesson covers an overview of TimeFinder/Snap, snap operations, snap components, and
using TimeFinder/Snap for backups. It also covers TimeFinder/Snap and Clone operations
with Thin Devices (TDEVs) and TimeFinder/Snap restore operations and functional
capabilities. TimeFinder/Clone and TimeFinder/Snap support for virtual provisioning is
discussed.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 22

TimeFinder/Snap creates space-saving, economical, logical point-in-time images or


snapshots. The snapshots are not full copies of data; they are logical images of the original
information, each based on the time the snapshot was created. A snapshot is simply a view
into the data that was frozen at the time of activation.
A set of pointers to the source-volume data tracks is instantly created on activation of the
snapshot. This set of pointers is addressed as a logical volume, and is made accessible to a
secondary host that uses the point-in-time image of the underlying data.
TimeFinder/Snap supports:

Open systems and mainframe data volumes


Up to 128 concurrent snaps of a single-source volume
Full-function access to the snapthat is, the snap may also be updated, with the
updates residing in the Save area

RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6 protection


In many situations, youll find yourself trying to support multiple service levels with a single
solution. TimeFinder/Snap allows you to complement existing TimeFinder family
environments, fulfilling multiple service level requirements while balancing the economics of
the solutions.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 23

A SAVE device is a Symmetrix device that is not accessible to the host and can only be
accessed through virtual devices that point to it. SAVE devices provide pooled physical
storage and are configured with any supported RAID scheme. SAVE devices cannot be
metadevices. They store either source data copied to the SAVE pool during the
TimeFinder/Snap session or updates from the host mapped to the virtual device.
TimeFinder/Snap operations are designed to create point-in-time copies of the source device
when only a fraction of the source device changes over time. The SAVE device pool storage
capacity can be much smaller than the capacity of the source device.
Note: Source, Virtual, and SAVE devices have to be configured with the same device
emulation type (FBA or CKD).
This slide provides an overview of how a TimeFinder/Snap device works, including:

The creation of the snap through a copy session


Copying the original source data to a save device
Setting up a tracking relationship between the source device and its updated save device;
that keeps data in place and current between both the source and the save device

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 24

TimeFinder/Snap supports open systems and mainframe data volumes, up to 128 concurrent
snaps of a single source volume in open systems and eight (8) on the mainframe.
There is full function access to the snap. That is, the snap may also be updated with the
updates residing in the save area.
Save devices contain the original tracks that were changed as a result of a first copy on write
to a source device or a new write to a virtual device during a virtual device copy session. The
Symmetrix storage array supports the creation of multiple named SAVE device pools,
allowing commands to use a specific pool.
EMC Snap allows the user to complement existing TimeFinder solutions, such as Clone and
Mirror, fulfilling multiple service-level requirements, while balancing the economics of the
solutions.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 25

When handling writes to the production data, TimeFinder/Snap uses a process called Copy
on First Write. As an example, lets say a snapshot is active on the production volume. When
a host attempts to write to the data on the production volume, the original track C is first
copied to the save area, then the write is processed against the production volume. The track
pointers are maintained for consistency, that is, the point-in-time copy of the data of the
ongoing snapshot.
The copy on first write process is as follows:
1. A write from the host is sent to the source device during the copy session. The track is
marked write pending.
2. A pre-updated image of the changed track is copied to a SAVE device.
3. The host I/O is completed.
4. The track pointer on the virtual device will then be updated to point to the data on the
SAVE device.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 26

Because of the delay of operation when moving the original track on copy on first write,
enhancements have been made to TimeFinder/Snap. Avoiding Copy On First Write provides
for improved host performance response times making the use of space-saving snap devices
extremely appealing for point in time operations.
The process with TimeFinder/Snap Avoid Copy on First Write is as follows:
1. Write I/O from host to Symmetrix with new data track cache slot marked as version
write pending.

2. New write I/O completion immediately acknowledged back to the host application.
3. Older data track is read from disk and marked write pending to Save Pool; new write
version indicator cleared and new write marked write pending to Standard.
4. New write and older data track marked write pending in cache are both de-staged and
the VDEV pointer is updated.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 27

The TimeFinder/Snap creation and usage process consists of five main steps:
1. Create: creates relationship between standard and virtual device
2. Activate: activates the copy session and starts the copy on first write mechanism,
production I/O is processed against standard
3. Recreate: creates a new Point-In-Time of the standard.
4. Restore: copies tracks from the virtual device to the standard or other device.
5. Terminate: causes the target host to lose access to data pointed to by the virtual
device.
Each step is a critical component of a disk-based local protection and recovery solution.
Prior to Enginuity 5874, taking a new point-in-time TimeFinder/Snap copy required
terminating the previously activated snap session between the source volume and the target
virtual volume (VDEV). The Recreate operation now allows a new point-in-time without
terminating the previous TimeFinder/Snap session. After activation of a Snap session, the
session can be recreated and then activated, as when new point-in-time images are required.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 28

The Production view is a standard view into an active production volume from the hosts
perspective. EMC Snap creates the same type of view into the production data at a specific
point-in-time. The cache-resident pointers maintain the point-in-time nature of the snapshot
as unchanged data is shared with the production view and changed data is temporarily
collected in the pre-defined save area.
A best practice for snap does not require more than 20% of the source volumes capacity in
the save area.
TimeFinder/Snap sessions are also referred to as virtual sessions. Like TimeFinder/Clone
sessions, virtual sessions use a protection session on the source device. You can run only one
type of a virtual device session on a single source device.
Note: Since a virtual session is associated with a point-in-time copy and a particular virtual
device, you need to keep a virtual session active as long as you need its snapshot copy. By
terminating a virtual session, you remove the associated point-in-time copy because
Enginuity automatically releases the storage space in the associated SAVE device pool.
TimeFinder/Snap sessions on Symmetrix VMAX 40K systems always use multi-virtual mode.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 29

This is an example of a backup operation from a snapshot. The snapshot gets created and the
backup host mounts the snapshot and performs the backup against the snapshot.
It is important to note that the backup runs a sequential read process against the snapshot,
so the production application may encounter some performance contention during the
backup, due to the fact that the snapshot and production host are both looking at many of
the same spindles for the unchanged data.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 30

Here is an example of an incremental restore operation back to the original standard device.
When the restore is initiated, the host application must be offline so as not to create the
potential for data corruption during the restore process.
The restore completes after all the collected changed data in the save area for that particular
snapshot is copied back to the standard device. You can also restore to a BCV device when it
is in split state.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 31

From Enginuity 5874 onward, the TimeFinder/Clone relationship can be maintained while a
restore occurs from a TimeFinder/Snap to a production volume that is a source volume for
both the TimeFinder/Snap and TimeFinder/Clone volume.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 32

Thin devices are cache only devices. TimeFinder/Snap supports snapping a Thin device to a
virtual device. All operations are supported. TimeFinder/Clone supports cloning a Thin
source device to a Thin target device. TimeFinder/Mirror is not supported with Thin devices.
Mainframe CKD Thin devices are not supported with TimeFinder/Clone or TimeFinder/Snap.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 33

The table illustrated here highlights some of the major specifications and limitations of
TimeFinder/Snap. This slide also highlights TimeFinder/Snap compatibility with other EMC
software products.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 34

Full-device TimeFinder/Clone and TimeFinder/Snap both support virtual provisioning and


allow thin source and target devices in TimeFinder operations. Extent-level TimeFinder/Clone
operations do not support virtual provisioning and thin devices. Enginuity versions 5773 and
higher support multi-virtual TimeFinder/Snap sessions and the Asynchronous copy on first
write optimization technique for thin devices used as source devices in TimeFinder/Clone or
TimeFinder/Snap sessions. Mixed thick and thin devices are not supported with cascading
operations. All devices in cascading sessions must be thick or thin.
Table 1 shows TimeFinder/Clone thin and full device support. Note that at Enginuity 5773
and 5874, the data devices can be configured as RAID 1 and RAID 6 but not RAID 5 groups.
With Enginuity 5875 and higher, data devices support RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6 groups.
Table 2 shows TimeFinder/Snap and Thin Devices. Note that at Enginuity 5773 and 5874, the
data devices can be configured as RAID 1 and RAID 6 but not RAID 5 groups. With Enginuity
5875 and higher, data devices support RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6 groups. Also with
TimeFinder/Snap using a virtual thin device as a target, you can restore to the same device or
to a different device.
Refer to the EMC Symmetrix TimeFinder for VMAX 40K, VMAX 20K/VMAX Series Product
Guide for more information regarding TimeFinder/Clone and TimeFinder/Snap support for
virtual provisioning.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 35

This lesson provides an overview of the TimeFinder VP Snap environment. It includes using
VP Snap with TimeFinder/Clone, and identifying Cascaded VP Snap and SRDF with VP Snap. It
also reviews the limitations and restrictions using VP Snap.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 36

TimeFinder VP Snap is supported with Enginuity 5876. This feature provides the ability for
multiple Clone Nocopy sessions to target Virtual Provisioned volumes (TDEVs) that can share
allocations within the same Thin Pool, thus reducing the space needed for storage of the
tracks saved, in a manner that is similar to the use of TimeFinder/Snap pools. It further
provides the ability to perform Incremental Restores from these VP Snap sessions.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 37

TimeFinder VP Snap provides the ability to create space-efficient snaps for Virtual Pool
devices. This functionality is available for Symmetrix VMAX 10K, 20K, and 40K. Up to 32
snaps per VP source can be created.
TimeFinder VP Snap is efficient because there is no separate SAVE pool area. It is the same
virtual pool as the source devices.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 38

VP Snap will be supported on Fixed Block Architecture (FBA) volumes. VP Snap will support
FBA volumes using thin source to thin targets. To take advantage of the sharing of
allocations, the VP Snap targets must be bound to the same thin pool.
The vse attribute may only be applied at session creation or the
SYMCLI_CLONE_COPY_MODE environmental variable can set the default clone mode to
VSE_NODIFF. After the session is created it must be activated. All activated VP Snap sessions
will use Asynchronous Copy on First Write (ACOFW) and will be in the CopyOnWrite state.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 39

TimeFinder/Clone full and differential copy sessions may be mixed with VP Snap sessions,
but will have restrictions on the incremental restore.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 40

TimeFinder/Clone Nocopy sessions cannot be mixed with VP Snap on the same source
device.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 41

TimeFinder/Snap sessions and VP Snap sessions cannot be mixed using the same source
volume.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 42

The target of a VP Snap session may not be used as a source for any other VP Snap,
TimeFinder Clone, or Snap sessions. In this example, volume 005A is the target of a VP Snap
session but 005A cannot be the source for any VP Snap, Clone, or Snap sessions.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 43

The target of a TimeFinder/Clone operation can be the source of VP Snap sessions. However
an incremental restore of VP Snap sessions will not be allowed. Cascading from
TimeFinder/Clone emulation is not supported.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 44

In order to use VP Snap sessions on a source volume, one of the traditional clone sessions
must be kept in reserve for restore operations. While the maximum amount of traditional
clones possible is 16, if they are combined on the same source with VP Snap, their maximum
becomes 15 in order to reserve the restore session for VP Snap.
In total, when using VP Snaps, a source can have up to 47 copies, both traditional and VP
Snaps combined (15 + 32).

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 45

Only one incremental VP Snap restore at a time will be allowed for the source volume. The
VP Snap restore will result in an additional session charged against the source volume.
Before executing the restore, all concurrent sessions must be fully copied. Additionally, the
original CopyOnWrite session will be preserved.
Here are some of the limitations of VP Snap sessions. Once a target is restored to the source
the only operation that will be allowed is termination of the restored session. A
TimeFinder/Clone split command will not be supported for VP Snap restored sessions. A full
restore from another session to a VP Snap source volume is not supported. The
SYMCLI_CLONE_LARGER_TGT feature will not be supported for VP Snap. VP Snap targets
(TDEVs) cannot have persistent preallocation set or be part of a rebind or symmigrate
operation.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 46

This lesson covers the TimeFinder/Mirror management tools, TimeFinder integration with
SRDF, and the consistent split functionality.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 47

The SYMCLI TimeFinder component extends the basic SYMCLI command set to include
TimeFinder or business continuance commands that allow you to perform control operations
on device pairs within your TimeFinder environment.
The TimeFinder CLI command set provides functionality for general monitor and control
operations using BCVs, snap copy sessions, clone copy sessions, and consistency groups.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 48

TimeFinder can be managed by a variety of management tools such as EMC ControlCenter


and Symmetrix Management Console. Through its graphical user interface, EMC
ControlCenter and SMC software organize related devices into device groups. TimeFinder
operations may be performed on all devices in this device group by using a single command.
The group information is maintained in the SYMAPI database.
Another management tool is EMC Replication Manager. It is an application that automates,
simplifies, and manages disk-based replications by using TimeFinder operations.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 49

The TimeFinder/Exchange Integration Module (T/EIM) produces exact copies of the


production volumes that hold the Exchange server information stores and logs. This enables
Exchange administrators to perform full and single mailbox restores in a fraction of the usual
time.
The TimeFinder/SQL Integration Module (T/SIM) provides a comprehensive backup and
recovery management interface specifically for Windows servers that support Microsoft SQL
Server databases.
TimeFinder/SIM integrates and collectively automates the command actions and behavioral
features of EMC TimeFinder, SRDF, (Symmetrix Remote Data Facility) and tools supplied with
Microsoft SQL Server products.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 50

TimeFinder is closely integrated with the EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF). The
SRDF family of products are Symmetrix-based disaster recovery, parallel processing, and data
migration solutions. The SRDF family of products is based on active remote mirroring and
dependent-write consistent copies of data maintained at one or more remote locations. A
dependent-write is a write I/O request that cannot be issued by an application until a prior,
related write I/O request is completed. Dependent-write consistency is required to ensure
transactional consistency once the applications are restarted at the remote location.
SRDF solutions require at least two arrays (the primary array and the secondary array). The
arrays can be located at sites in the same room, in different buildings within the same
campus, or many kilometers apart.
Depending on the type of remote mirroring, the SRDF solutions operate in synchronous
mode (SRDF/S), asynchronous mode (SRDF/A), or adaptive copy mode.
The EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) for VMAX 40K, VMAX 20K/VMAX Product
Guide provides more information about SRDF operations.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 51

When you create a point-in-time image across multiple devices, it is imperative that the
entire set of logical volumes be captured at the exact same time.
One way to achieve this is to shut down (totally quiesce) an application so that no I/O occurs
while you create the sessions. This would obviously be a problem in todays application
environments.
The EMC solution to the problem is called Enginuity Consistency Assist or ECA. When you
create a set of sessions and invoke Enginuity Consistency Assist, the Symmetrix storage array
aligns the I/O of those devices and halts all I/O from the host systems, very briefly, much
faster than the applications can detect, while it creates the sessions.
It then resumes normal operation without any application impact.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 52

TimeFinder/CG is based on the Enginuity Consistency Assist (ECA) feature that enables you to
create a consistent point-in-time image across multiple devices. This is necessary for tasks
such as backing up all of the devices that belong to a particular application or backing up
multiple devices distributed across multiple sites.
When you use TimeFinder/Clone to create a consistent point-in-time copy across multiple
devices, you need to ensure that the point-in-time copy starts simultaneously across a range
of devices that participate in the process. To accomplish this, you need to block host I/Os
across multiple devices when you activate multiple TimeFinder/Clone sessions. The time
interval during which the host I/Os are blocked is also referred to as the ECA window.
The TimeFinder/Consistency Group (TimeFinder/CG) feature guarantees that a consistent
point-in-time image of data written across multiple local devices (TimeFinder source devices)
is created on another set of local devices (TimeFinder target devices).
The SRDF/Consistency Group (SRDF/CG) feature is used in SRDF/S solutions to guarantee that
a dependent-write consistent image of production data on the R1 devices is created across
the SRDF links.
TimeFinder/CG and SRDF/CG both use the Enginuity Consistency Assist infrastructure. By
using TimeFinder/CG in an SRDF configuration, you can create dependent-write consistent
local and remote images of production data across multiple devices and Symmetrix arrays.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 53

The device groups and composite groups are entities you can create and use to manage and
control Source and Target pairs.
You can create a composite group to control a set of device pairs that span multiple arrays. A
composite group provides greater flexibility than a device group, which can define devices
only on a single array.
The Symmetrix storage device groups or composite groups must be created on the
controlling host for the targets to be consistently split.

Composite groups are used in conjunction with Consistent Splits to create a restartable
database application.
In a mainframe environment, device ranges can be specified in the SPLIT command, or GNS
Groups can be created and used to control multiple device pairs that will ensure consistency.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 54

This lesson covers business benefits using TimeFinder and business considerations when
selecting a solution.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 55

As EMCs customers work to support their overall business, they have to be particularly
focused on information storage and management. The fact that data continues to grow at a
robust rate shows that they will always have a dramatic growth in information.
There are new requirements around compliance, new levels of protection and recovery. It is
not just about backups; it also includes how customers can restore their application and get
their business back online quickly and efficiently.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 56

The key benefits of the TimeFinder family include:

Continued access to applications even in the event of a restore operation


The ability to create up to 16 TimeFinder volumes from a single standard volume
The ability to create point-in-time snapshots, using less disk space without
compromising local restoration capabilities

VP Snap leverages TimeFinder/Clone technology to create space-efficient snaps for


thin devices by allowing multiple sessions to share allocations within a thin pool.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 57

Local replication can significantly enhance current business and technical operations by
providing access points to production data for parallel processing activities like backups, diskbased recovery after logical corruptions, and creating test environments for faster
application time-to-revenue.
The Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is the point-in-time to which systems and data must be
recovered after an outage; for example, the end of the previous days processing. RPOs are
often used as the basis for the development of replication and backup strategies and as a
determinant of the amount of data that may need to be recreated after the systems or
functions are recovered.
The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is the period of time within which systems, applications,
and functions must be recovered after an outage; for example, one business day. RTOs are
often used as the basis for the development of recovery strategies, and as a determinant as
to whether or not to implement the recovery strategies during a disaster situation.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 58

TimeFinder/Snap proves beneficial in those environments that require a more economical


solution with fast, easily accessible, short-term copies and extremely small recovery point
objectives, without the cost of full copies.
For those situations where advanced replication is a requirement, including such
technologies as SRDF/AR, as well as full copies for high performance and availability,
mainframe dataset level copies, and ultra-high BCV availabilitythe integration of
TimeFinder/Clone is appropriate.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 59

This slide shows product resources for this course available on Powerlink.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 60

This course covered TimeFinder concepts, architecture, terminology, and environmental


aspects. It also covered TimeFinder operations, TimeFinder/Snap and Clone solutions along
with management offerings, and TimeFinder business benefits.
This concludes the training. Proceed to the course assessment on the next slide.

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 61

Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TimeFinder Foundations 62

You might also like