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Disaster Recovery · ONTAP 9

Plan an SVM disaster recovery relationship

Replicate SVM configuration and validate destination activation.

Scenario

SVM DR can replicate an entire storage VM configuration, but some network and name-service settings may be excluded or adjusted for the DR site. Test actual access before relying on it.

Before you change production

Commands and screens can differ by release and platform. Replace example names and documentation IP addresses. Check prerequisites, impact, current health and rollback with your change owner.

1. Scope source and destination

  1. List all source SVM volumes, protocols, shares, exports, LIFs, name services and dependencies. Check ONTAP and feature support for the intended SVM DR policy.
  2. Design destination network addresses, DNS/AD integration and any configuration exclusions. Do not assume a replicated IP address is usable at a remote site.
Verify

A destination activation worksheet identifies every required post-failover configuration.

2. Protect and monitor

  1. Peer the clusters and SVMs, create the destination SVM DR relationship with a compatible policy and initialize it using the documented procedure.
  2. Verify all expected volumes and supported SVM configuration elements are protected; monitor transfer status, lag and destination capacity.
Read-only validation 
vserver peer show
snapmirror show
snapmirror show -fields health,lag-time,last-transfer-error

3. Test the cutover

  1. Use an approved isolated test or documented DR exercise. Confirm the destination SVM can be activated without competing source writes.
  2. Check data LIFs, DNS, NFS exports/SMB shares or SAN maps, identity services and application transaction flow. Document differences and a safe failback path.
Verify

The destination serves the intended workloads in a test, with measured RPO and RTO.

If validation fails

  1. If a source SVM change does not appear at DR, inspect relationship status and whether that configuration item is replicated or intentionally excluded.
  2. If destination data exists but clients cannot connect, inspect DR-site LIFs, IP routing, DNS/AD and protocol settings independently.
  3. If failback direction is ambiguous, freeze writes and identify the authoritative SVM before any resynchronization.
Verify

Re-run the original validation and record the observed result, exact error, time, and corrective action.

NetApp references