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Manage cross-grid replication

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If your tenant account was assigned the Use grid federation connection permission when it was created, you can use cross-grid replication to automatically replicate objects between buckets on the tenant's source grid and buckets on the tenant's destination grid. Cross-grid replication can occur in one or both directions.

Workflow for cross-grid replication

The workflow diagram summarize the steps you will perform to configure cross-grid replication between buckets on two grids. These steps are described in more detail below.

Cross-grid replication workflow

Configure cross-grid replication

Before you can use cross-grid replication, you must sign in to the corresponding tenant accounts on each grid and create identical buckets. Then, you can enable cross-grid replication on either or both buckets.

Before you begin

Create two identical buckets

As a first step, sign in to the corresponding tenant accounts on each grid and create identical buckets.

Steps

  1. Starting from either grid in the grid federation connection, create a new bucket:

    1. Sign in to the tenant account using the credentials of a tenant user who exists on both grids.

      Note If you are unable to sign in to the tenant's destination grid as a local user, confirm that the root user for the tenant account has set a password for your user account.

    2. Follow the instructions to create an S3 bucket.

    3. On the Manage object settings tab, select Enable object versioning.

    4. If S3 Object Lock is enabled for your StorageGRID system, don't enable S3 Object Lock for the bucket.

    5. Select Create bucket.

    6. Select Finish.

  2. Repeat these steps to create an identical bucket for the same tenant account on the other grid in the grid federation connection.

    Tip As required, each bucket can use a different region.

Enable cross-grid replication

You must perform these steps before adding any objects to either bucket.

Steps

  1. Starting from a grid whose objects you want to replicate, enable cross-grid replication in one direction:

    1. Sign in to the tenant account for the bucket.

    2. Select View buckets from the dashboard, or select STORAGE (S3) > Buckets.

    3. Select the bucket name from the table to access the bucket details page.

    4. Select the Cross-grid replication tab.

    5. Select Enable, and review the list of requirements.

    6. If all requirements have been met, select the grid federation connection you want to use.

    7. Optionally, change the setting of Replicate delete markers to determine what happens on the destination grid if an S3 client issues a delete request to the source grid that doesn't include a version ID:

      • Yes (default): A delete marker is added to the source bucket and replicated to the destination bucket.

      • No: A delete marker is added to the source bucket but is not replicated to the destination bucket.

        image showing replicate client delete on both grids
        Note If the delete request includes a version ID, that object version is permanently removed from the source bucket. StorageGRID does not replicate delete requests that include a version ID, so the same object version is not deleted from the destination.

        See What is cross-grid replication for details.

    8. Optionally, change the setting of the Cross-grid replication audit category to manage the volume of audit messages:

      • Error (default): Only failed cross-grid replication requests are included in the audit output.

      • Normal: All cross-grid replication requests are included, which significantly increases the volume of the audit output.

    9. Review your selections. You aren't able to change these settings unless both buckets are empty.

    10. Select Enable and test.

      After a few moments, a success message appears. Objects added to this bucket will now be automatically replicated to the other grid. Cross-grid replication is shown as an enabled feature on the bucket details page.

  2. Optionally, go to the corresponding bucket on the other grid and enable cross-grid replication in both directions.

Test replication between grids

If cross-grid replication is enabled for a bucket, you might need to verify that the connection and cross-grid replication are working correctly and that the source and destination buckets still meet all requirements (for example, versioning is still enabled).

Before you begin
Steps

  1. Sign in to the tenant account for the bucket.

  2. Select View buckets from the dashboard, or select STORAGE (S3) > Buckets.

  3. Select the bucket name from the table to access the bucket details page.

  4. Select the Cross-grid replication tab.

  5. Select Test connection.

    If the connection is healthy, a success banner appears. Otherwise, an error message appears, which you and the grid admin can use to resolve the issue. For details, see Troubleshoot grid federation errors.

  6. If cross-grid replication is configured to occur in both directions, go to the corresponding bucket on the other grid and select Test connection to verify that cross-grid replication is working in the other direction.

Disable cross-grid replication

You can permanently stop cross-grid replication if you no longer want to copy objects to the other grid.

Before disabling cross-grid replication, note the following:

  • Disabling cross-grid replication does not remove any objects that have already been copied between grids. For example, objects in my-bucket on Grid 1 that have been copied to my-bucket on Grid 2 aren't removed if you disable cross-grid replication for that bucket. If you want to delete these objects, you must remove them manually.

  • If cross-grid replication was enabled for each of the buckets (that is, if replication occurs in both directions), you can disable cross-grid replication for either or both buckets. For example, you might want to disable replicating objects from my-bucket on Grid 1 to my-bucket on Grid 2, while continuing to replicate objects from my-bucket on Grid 2 to my-bucket on Grid 1.

  • You must disable cross-grid replication before you can remove a tenant's permission to use the grid federation connection. See Manage permitted tenants.

  • If you disable cross-grid replication for a bucket that contains objects, you will not be able to reenable cross-grid replication unless you delete all objects from both the source and destination buckets.

    Caution You can't reenable replication unless both buckets are empty.
Before you begin
Steps

  1. Starting from the grid whose objects you no longer want to replicate, stop cross-grid replication for the bucket:

    1. Sign in to the tenant account for the bucket.

    2. Select View buckets from the dashboard, or select STORAGE (S3) > Buckets.

    3. Select the bucket name from the table to access the bucket details page.

    4. Select the Cross-grid replication tab.

    5. Select Disable replication.

    6. If you are sure you want to disable cross-grid replication for this bucket, type Yes in the text box, and select Disable.

      After a few moments, a success message appears. New objects added to this bucket can no longer be automatically replicated to the other grid. Cross-grid replication is no longer shown as a Enabled feature on the Buckets page.

  2. If cross-grid replication was configured to occur in both directions, go to the corresponding bucket on the other grid and stop cross-grid replication in the other direction.