What is Dell Technologies PowerStore – Part 15, Copy Data Management with AppSync

So far, we have covered the following aspects of Dell Technologies PowerStore:

High Level Overview, Hardware, AppsON, vVols, File Capabilities, User Interface , Importing external storage, PowerStore local protection works , remote replication , VMware SRM integration , resource balancer , the integration with an upstream Kubernetes and / or RedHat OpenShift & The integration with VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid & CloudIQ

CDM (Copy Data Management) is exploding, analysts predict that most of your data in the data center is derived from copies of your data and as such, we are continuing to invest in this field.

For the readers of my blog, you know that I’m a big fan of AppSync which allows you to copy/restore/repurpose your data with a direct integration to the Dell EMC storage products so now is a great time to explain about the 4.0 version of AppSync which we have just released.

AppSync is a software that enables Integrated Copy Data Management (iCDM) with Dell EMC’s primary storage systems.

AppSync simplifies and automates the process of generating and consuming copies of production data. By abstracting the underlying storage and replication technologies, and through deep application integration, AppSync empowers application owners to satisfy copy demand for operational recovery and data repurposing on their own. In turn, storage administrators need only be concerned with initial setup and policy management, resulting in an agile, frictionless environment.

AppSync automatically discovers application databases, learns the database structure, and maps it through the Virtualization Layer to the underlying storage LUN. It then orchestrates all the activities required from copy creation and validation through mounting at the target host and launching or recovering the application. Supported workflows also include refresh, expire, and restore production.

Dell EMC AppSync simplifies and automates the process of generating and consuming copies of production data. AppSync enables application owners to satisfy copy demand for data repurposing, operational recovery and disaster recovery across multiple EMC arrays and applications with a single user interface.

As previously discussed, snapshots that are created within a PowerStore system, either manually or automatically by a snapshot rule, are considered crash consistent. To achieve application-consistent snapshots, users can deploy AppSync in their environment for supported configurations. AppSync simplifies
and automates the process of generating application-consistent snapshots, and the creation and consumption of copies of production data using thin clones.
AppSync integrates with PowerStore by handling the quiescing of host applications, and the creation of PowerStore application-consistent snapshots. When a snapshot is taken, AppSync marks the Application Consistent property of the snapshot to yes within PowerStore. Users can then review the Application Consistent property on each snapshot, and confirm which snapshots are application consistent. If application consistency is required, use AppSync and not snapshot rules to create snapshots

Other Improvements in AppSync 4.1

Ability to restore at PDB level (pluggable database)
– Previously, AppSync could only restore at the CDB level (container database)
– Now AppSync can restore 1 or more PDB’s of a protected CDB