Setting up BCV on Windows 2000 Servers

Setting up a BCV (Business Continuance Volume) on Windows 2000 requires two servers:

1. A Primary Host 
2. A BCV Host 

NOTE: Both machines must be properly configured and setup to “connect” to the EMC Symmetrix. 

This document assumes the machines are properly configured and the disks / volumes are already setup on the symmetrix.  This document is the “lessons learned” from implementing EMC BCV on Executive Dashboard (EDB) and Microsoft Customer Relations Management (MS CRM) in supporting SQL Server. 

This document details how to:

1. Setup the Device Groups on the Primary and BCV Hosts
2. Associate the BCV Devices to the Primary Devices
3. Synchronize the BCV Devices with the Primary
4. “Split” / “Snap” the devices using EMC TimeFinder
5. Attach the BCV Devices to the BCV Host
6. DeAttach the BCV Devices from the BCV Host
7. Re-Synchronize the BCV Device with the Primary Host

This document assumes the following:

1. The EMC Disk is configured and setup on both the Primary and BCV Host by the Unix Team.
2. EMC Gatekeeper devices have been assigned to the BCV Host
3. That the following software is installed on both the Primary and BCV Host:
1. Veritas Enterprise Manager
2. EMC WideSky Solution Enabler
3. EMC Resource Pak

A properly configured install of the EMC Software should result in the following software being show in the symapi_licenses.dat file (usually located at (C:\Program Files\EMC\SYMAPI\config\)

• WIDESKY Feature: BASE / Symmetrix
• WIDESKY Feature: SERVER / Symmetrix
• WIDESKY Feature: ConfigChange / Symmetrix
• WIDESKY Feature: TimeFinder / Symmetrix
• WIDESKY Feature: SOLUTION_4 / Symmetrix

Supporting / Additional documentation:

• EMC Resource Pak
• EMC WideSky Solutions Enabler
• Using Windows 2000 Storage with TimeFinder
• EMC TimeFinder Integration with Micrososft SQL Server 2000
• Veritas Enterprise Manager Online help

Steps to Configure the Primary Host.   [Whqepdb001]

1. Ensure the EMC Host Symmetrix is “visible”, run the command:
1. SYMCFG Discover
   
   
2. Check that the EMC storage is “visible”, this information will be needed later run the SYMINQ command:
1. SYMINQ
   
   
3. To view the device groups. Add –v to get more verbose information.
1. SYMDG list
   
   
4. If a previous EMC Device Group exists it must be deleted, delete a device group with the following command
1. SYMDG –force delete {device group name}
2. SYMDG –force delete BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001
   
   
5. Create a new Device Group
1. SYMDG –type {Regular, RDF1, RDF2} create {device group name}
2. SYMDG -type Regular create BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001
   
   
6. Verify that the new Device Group was created successfully
1. SYMDG list
   
   
7. Add each physical device to the newly created Group, repeate for each physical device to be included in the group
1. SYMLD –g {device group name} add pd {physical device name}
2. SYMLD –g BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001 add pd \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE48
   
   
8. To view the device group with the newly added devices:
1. SYMDG SHOW {device group name}
2. SYMDG SHOW BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001
   
   
9. Export the Device Group to a text file (to be imported by the BCV Host)
1. SYMDG –f {path & file name} export {device group name}
2. SYMDG –f c:\EDBGroup.txt export BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001
   
   

      STOP CONFIGURING THE PRIMARY HOST

      Go to the directions for Configuring the BCV HOST before continuing

10. Copy the exported device group from the BCV Host to the primary Host.
    
    
11. Edit the copied text file with a text editor, remove the standard devices (as the next step is to import the device group, but the standard devices already exist, we are just trying to import the BCV devices.)  Save the edited text file.
    
    
12. Import the text file copied from the production host into the newly created device group:
1. SYMDG –f {path & file name} import {device group name}
2. SYMDG –f c:\edbgroup.txt import BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001
   
   
13. To view the device group with the newly added devices:
1. SYMDG SHOW {device group name}
2. SYMDG SHOW BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001
   
   
14. Synchronize the devices:
1. SYMMIR –g BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001 –full establish
   
   
15. Check the status of the device
1. SYMMIR –g BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001 query

Steps to Configure the BCV Host.   [Tstepdb001]

1. Ensure the EMC Host Symmetrix is “visible”, run the command
1. SYMCFG discover
   
   
2. Check that the EMC Storage is “Visible”, this information will be needed later run the SYMINQ command:
1. SYMINQ

3. To view the device groups. Add –v to get more verbose information.
1. a.SYMDG list

4. If a previous EMC Device Group exists it must be deleted, delete a device group with the following command
1. SYMDG –force delete {device group name}
2. SYMDG –force delete BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001
   
   
5. Create a new Device Group
1. SYMDG –type {Regular, RDF1, RDF2} create {device group name}
2. SYMDG -type Regular create BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001

6. Verify that the new Device Group was created successfully

a.    SYMDG list

7. Copy the file exported from the production host to the bcv host.
   
   
8. Import the text file copied from the production host into the newly created device group:
1. SYMDG –f {path & file name} import {device group name}
2. SYMDG –f c:\edbgroup.txt import BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001
   
   
9. Associate the BCV Devices with the newly imported devices in the device group, (refer to syminq to get the device range – 3^rd, 4^th, & 5^th characters of the serial number)
1. SYMBCV –g {device group name} –Range {range} associateAll
2. SYMBCV –g BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001 –Range 68D:68F associateAll
   
   
10. View the device group with the newly added devices (The BCV devices should now be listed:
1. SYMDG SHOW {device group name}
2. SYMDG SHOW BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001
   
   
11. Export the Device Group to a text file (to be imported by the Primary Host)
1. SYMDG –f {path & file name} export {device group name}
2. SYMDG –f c:\EDBGroup.txt export BCV_B_WHQEPDB001_TSTEPDB001
   
   

          STOP CONFIGURING THE BCV HOST

Return to the Primary configuration.

Setting up the jobs on SQL Server to control BCV Backups

General Description

BCVs are implemented on SQL Server using two servers, the Primary and BCV Host.  Generally this requires creating 4 SQL Server agent jobs, two on each server.  These jobs need to be coordinated so that they happen in the correct sequence.  It is possible to create other mechanisms to control the bcv split and sync process than described here.

The 4 jobs to control the BCV process are:

1. BCV Synchronize       (Primary)
2. BCV Split / Backup    (Primary)
3. BCV Attach / Backup (BCV Host)
4. BCV De-Attach         (BCV Host)

BCV Synchronize (Primary)

The synchronize job running on the primary host is to synchronize the BCV Volume with the primary volume.  This requires the disks to be in a “split state” and the BCV De-Attach job should have completed successfully prior to this job running.  It is possible to successfully execute a BCV Synchronize without have completed a BCV De-Attach.

If the BCV Synchronize is run, without running the BCV De-Attach prior, the BCV Host SQL Server can be left in an “unstable” state.  The EMC Software runs at a low level and the BCV Synchronize jobs will “rip” the disks off the BCV Host SQL Server regardless of the state of the BCV De-Attach job.

BCV Split / Backup (Primary)

The BCV Split job runs on the primary host and separates the disks, effectively stopping the “3-way mirroring”.  This step must complete successfully for the BCV Attach / Backup job to run on the BCV Host, as it is not possible for the BCV Host to attach the BCV Volumes if the disks are not in a split state.  The disks must also be in a “synchronized state” in order to split them.

BCV Attach / Backup (BCV Host)

The BCV Attach / Backup job on the BCV Host attaches the EMC Device Groups as physical volumes on the BCV Host.  Once these volumes are on the BCV Hosts, depending on the application specific requests. These requests determine the exact backup scenario, as it is possible to attach the disk and have it go directly to tape with no interaction with SQL Server, other applications may want to use the databases. 

Use of the databases requires changing the backup strategy to ensure that the databases are committed to tape; either by directly backing up the volume (mdf / ldf) or attaching the database and taking a SQL server backup that is committed to tape (.bak).

BCV De-Attach (BCV Host).

The purpose of the BCV De-Attach job is to prepare the SQL Server and operating system on the BCV Host to have the disks re-synchronized.  The re-synchronize process runs at a low level and will complete regardless of the status of this job.  If the server and / or database does not properly de-attach the BCV Volume the server and/or database software may experience errors as the synchronize job will take the BCV Volume away from the BCV Host regardless of the state.