Setting up communication between the source and the destination clusters
You need to set up communication between your source and your destination clusters.
Make sure that you already created an online file system on the Access Appliance source cluster and an online file system on the Access Appliance destination cluster.
Access Appliance episodic replication authentication strategy is based on RSA-key authentication, and both the source and the destination clusters have to export their episodic replication public keys. The source cluster imports the destination cluster's public key and the destination cluster imports the source cluster's public key.
After you have determined which two Access Appliance clusters to use, you need to authenticate them.
The replication episodic config commands must be executed in a specific order.
Use the replication episodic config del_keys after the replication episodic config deauth command, or it fails.
You can only run the replication episodic config unbind command (to unbind the virtual IP) after you have run the replication episodic service stop command.
You need to run the replication episodic config bind command (to bind the virtual IP) before you can run the replication episodic service start command.
You need to run the replication episodic config export_keys and Replication> episodic config import_keys to export and import the keys of both the source and the destination clusters.
You can only run the replication episodic config auth command after both the source and destination have imported each others keys.
You need to run the replication episodic config auth command to create a link from every cluster to any remaining cluster that is used for episodic replication irrespective of their role as a source or a destination cluster.
After the source and the destination clusters have successfully imported each other's public keys, you need to run the Replication> episodic config auth command on the source cluster to complete the authentication between the two clusters. This command checks the two-way communication between the source and the destination cluster, and authenticates the clusters allowing the Access Appliance episodic replication service to begin.
Note:
The replication episodic config auth command must be executed from the source cluster.
This section provides a walk-through for the creation and export/import of these encrypted keys for both the source and the destination cluster.
Note:
Without the correct authentication of the source and the destination encryption keys, Access Appliance episodic replication does not function correctly.
To export the source cluster's key to the destination cluster
- To export the source cluster's key to the destination cluster, enter the following:
Replication> episodic config export_keys [URL]
URL
The location you want to copy the public keys to.
If you do not want to enter a URL, you can copy the output from the Replication> episodic config export_keys command into the replication episodic config import_keys command at the destination cluster.
By default, the output is displayed to your computer screen.
The SCP and FTP protocols are supported.
- To import the source cluster's key to the destination cluster, enter the following:
Replication> episodic config import_keys [URL/keyfile]
URL
The location you want to copy the public keys from.
keyfile
The file name of the key that is generated by the export.
If you did not enter a URL during the replication episodic config export_keys command, you can cut and paste the output and enter it into the replication episodic config import_keys command.
- To verify that the key has been imported correctly, enter the following:
Replication> episodic config show
To export the destination cluster's key to the source cluster
- To export the destination cluster's key to the source cluster, enter the following:
Replication> episodic config export_keys [URL]
URL
The location you want to copy the public keys to.
The SCP and FTP protocols are supported.
If you do not want to enter a URL, you can cut and paste the output from the Replication> episodic config export_keys command to the Replication> episodic config import_keys command. By default, the output is displayed to your computer screen.
- To import the destination cluster's key to the source cluster, enter the following:
Replication> episodic config import_keys [URL/keyfile]
URL
Enter the URL of the location you want to copy the public keys from.
keyfile
Enter the file name of the key that is generated by the export.
If you did not enter a URL during the replication episodic config export_keys command, you can cut and paste the output and enter it into the replication episodic config import_keys command.
- To verify that the key has been imported correctly, enter the following:
Replication> episodic config show
To authenticate source cluster and destination clusters for episodic replication
- This command should be executed on the source cluster as well as on the destination cluster. To authenticate the public keys on the source cluster and the destination clusters, enter the following:
Replication> episodic config auth conIP link_name
conIP
Enter the destination cluster console IP address.
link_name
Both the source cluster and the destination cluster need to be assigned a unique identifier (name). This identifier is used to identify the link that is established between the source and the destination clusters. You can use the link name instead of the virtual IP addresses of the source and the destination clusters when using the other episodic replication commands. For example: Pune_Shanghai.
- To confirm the authentication, enter the following:
Replication> episodic config show
Note:
These steps must be executed on the destination side cluster to authenticate the public keys on the source and the destination cluster.
Once you have configured the clusters and links, you need to set up the file systems you want to replicate.