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Initialize a replication relationship

Contributors

For all relationship types, initialization performs a baseline transfer: it makes a Snapshot copy of the source volume, then transfers that copy and all the data blocks it references to the destination volume.

Before you begin
  • The Element node containing the volume to be replicated must have been made accessible to ONTAP.

  • The Element volume must have been enabled for SnapMirror replication.

  • If you are using the “mirror-vault” policy type, a SnapMirror label must have been configured for the Element Snapshot copies to be replicated.

About this task

You must specify the Element source path in the form hostip:/lun/name, where “lun” is the actual string “lun” and name is the name of the Element volume.

Initialization can be time-consuming. You might want to run the baseline transfer in off-peak hours.

Note

If initialization of a relationship from an ONTAP source to an Element destination fails for any reason, it will continue to fail even after you have corrected the problem (an invalid LUN name, for example). The workaround is as follows:

  1. Delete the relationship.

  2. Delete the Element destination volume.

  3. Create a new Element destination volume.

  4. Create and initialize a new relationship from the ONTAP source to the Element destination volume.

Step
  1. Initialize a replication relationship:

    snapmirror initialize -source-path hostip:/lun/name -destination-path SVM:volume|cluster://SVM/volume

    For complete command syntax, see the man page.

    The following example initializes the relationship between the source volume 0005 at IP address 10.0.0.11 and the destination volume volA_dst on svm_backup:

    cluster_dst::> snapmirror initialize -source-path 10.0.0.11:/lun/0005 -destination-path svm_backup:volA_dst