Managing Replication and High Availability Scenarios › Run the Scenario from Outside the Wizard

Run the Scenario from Outside the Wizard

After you create a scenario, you need to run it to start the replication process. Normally, before data changes on the Master will begin to be replicated on the Replica, the Master and the Replica need to be synchronized. Therefore, the first step in initiating a replication is synchronizing the Master and Replica servers. After the servers have been synchronized, online replication starts automatically, continuously updating the Replica with all of the changes that occur on the Master.

Note: In order for the replication process to succeed, verify that the user under which the Arcserve RHA Engine is running has Read permission on the Master, and Read and Write permissions on each replication root directory and included files, and on all participating Replica hosts.

To run the scenario from outside the wizard

1. From the Scenario pane, select the scenario you want to run.
2. Click Run on the Standard toolbar.

   Before initiating synchronization and replication, Arcserve RHA verifies your scenario configuration. When verification completes successfully, Arcserve RHA Manager displays the message: Are you sure you want to run scenario "scenario_name?" If problems are discovered, the top pane displays any warning and error messages resulting from verification.

   Note: Scenario Verification checks many different parameters between the Master and Replica servers to ensure a successful switchover. If any errors or warnings are reported you should not continue until they are resolved.

3. Correct errors before you continue. Errors are reported on the Event pane.

   Note: Replication of mount points succeeds only if those were added to the Master before the Engine was started. If you included the mount points in the Master root directories when the Engine was already running, no error is reported but the replication does not start. In this case, you need to restart the Engine on the Master before initiating replication.

   When no error is reported, the Run dialog appears and contains synchronization options.

   Note: Do not use Skip Synchronization for any scenarios replicating a database.

4. Select Block Synchronization. Select the Ignore same size/time files to skip the comparison of files with the same path, name, size and modification time, which are generally identical, to reduce synchronization time. You should enable the Skip Synchronization option only when you are certain the files on both Master and Replica are identical.
5. Click the OK button. Synchronization may take a while, depending on database size and network bandwidth between the Master and Replica. You will receive the following message in the event window when the synchronization is complete: All modifications during synchronization are replicated.

At this point, the scenario is operational and active. By default, a Synchronization Report is generated when synchronization finishes. To view the report, refer to the topic, View a Report. You can also generate regular Replication Reports to monitor the replication process on each participating server. For more information, see the Arcserve RHA Administration Guide.