The customer wants to achieve the lowest RPO (Recovery Point Objective) possible for their data when replicating between a FlashArray//X70R3 in production and a FlashArray//C60R3 at a secondary site. The best feature to meet this requirement is ActiveDR.
Why This Matters:
ActiveDR:
ActiveDR is an asynchronous replication solution designed for disaster recovery scenarios. It provides low RPOs, typically in the range of seconds to minutes, depending on network conditions and workload characteristics.
While it is asynchronous, ActiveDR achieves much lower RPOs compared to traditional async replication methods like snapshot replication.
It also supports fast failover and failback, ensuring minimal downtime during a disaster recovery event.
Why Not the Other Options?
A). ActiveCluster:
ActiveCluster provides synchronous replication with zero RPO and near-zero RTO. However, it requires both sites to be within a low-latency range (typically <10 ms). Since the customer has not specified that the secondary site is within synchronous distance, ActiveCluster is not feasible in this scenario.
C). Async Replication:
Traditional asynchronous replication (e.g., snapshot replication) typically results in higher RPOs compared to ActiveDR. It does not provide the same level of optimization for low RPOs as ActiveDR.
Key Points:
ActiveDR: Provides the lowest RPO possible for asynchronous replication, making it ideal for geographically distant secondary sites.
Network Latency: ActiveDR is designed to work efficiently over longer distances and higher latencies compared to synchronous solutions like ActiveCluster.
Disaster Recovery: Ensures protection against site failures with minimal data loss and downtime.
Reference: Pure Storage FlashArray Documentation: "ActiveDR for Disaster Recovery" Pure Storage Whitepaper: "Meeting RPO and RTO Requirements with FlashArray" Pure Storage Knowledge Base: "Choosing the Right Replication Solution for High Latency"