EMC Business Continuity for Physical Security Enabled By EMC CLARiiON,

EMC MirrorView/S, and Verint Nextiva A Detailed Review

EMC Information Infrastructure Solutions

Abstract

This white paper provides an overview describing the use of EMC® MirrorView™ protection of Verint Nextiva Servers for either remote or local failovers. Scripts and programs developed for the EMC Business Continuity for Physical Security solution will assist in implementing a full-site or local, per-server server failover solution.

August 2010

EMC Business Continuity for Physical Security Enabled By EMC CLARiiON, EMC MirrorView/S, and

Verint Nextiva—A Detailed Review 2

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Part number: H7324

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Contents

Executive summary ........................................................................................................................... 4 Business case ............................................................................................................................... 4 Product solution............................................................................................................................. 4 Key results ..................................................................................................................................... 4

Introduction........................................................................................................................................ 5 Purpose ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Scope ............................................................................................................................................ 5 Audience ....................................................................................................................................... 5

Site failover ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Overview ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Failover scripts .............................................................................................................................. 6

MirrorView failover/failback ............................................................................................................... 7 Required scripts ............................................................................................................................ 7 Script customization ...................................................................................................................... 7 Script functions .............................................................................................................................. 8

Physical architecture ......................................................................................................................... 9 Architecture diagram ..................................................................................................................... 9 Normal operation ......................................................................................................................... 10 Backup operation ........................................................................................................................ 10

Script requirements ......................................................................................................................... 11 Required files .............................................................................................................................. 11 Script set ..................................................................................................................................... 11 Additional files ............................................................................................................................. 11

Performing a failover ....................................................................................................................... 12 Execute a single server failover .................................................................................................. 12 Full-site failover ........................................................................................................................... 12

Script customization ........................................................................................................................ 13 Customizing a script .................................................................................................................... 13 Script return codes ...................................................................................................................... 13

Conclusion....................................................................................................................................... 14 Key points .................................................................................................................................... 14

References ...................................................................................................................................... 14 White papers ............................................................................................................................... 14

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Executive summary

Business case Private businesses and public entities have responded to rising concerns about theft,

fraud, and terrorism by sharpening their focus on physical security and surveillance systems. EMC offers physical security solutions that unite disparate legacy systems and state-of-the-art infrastructure, and allow these organizations to manage their growing volume of physical security information.

Physical security solutions require high-availability solutions for video data, audio data, and the system hardware itself. Two crucial needs are:

• Restoring operations in the wake of site disasters with little downtime or data loss

• Restoring an individual server after a hardware failure with little or no downtime and minimum data loss

Product solution

The EMC Business Continuity for Physical Security solution uses EMC® MirrorView™ to provide failover for Verint Nextiva Servers. The solution is designed to provide full-site failover, but it will also work locally (within the same data center) on a per-server basis.

By combining MirrorView with EMC Physical Security solution scripts, Verint Nextiva Server applications can easily be moved from a primary site to a disaster-recovery failover site.

Key results • The EMC Physical Security failover scripts provide a framework that may be

customized to meet a customer’s full-site failover requirements.

• The scripts are enabled by EMC CLARiiON® and EMC MirrorView.

• The failover and failback scripts can be executed manually or using automation tools such as EMC AutoStart™.

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Introduction

Purpose This document discussed the EMC MirrorView failover concept as used in a physical

security environment based on Verint Nextiva, including:

• How it works

• Implementation concepts

• How the scripts may be integrated into a larger script or automation tool.

Scope The programs and scripts used in this EMC Business Continuity for Physical Security

solution allow single command or automation-controlled (such as AutoStart) full-site failovers. If an automation tool is not being used, the scripts should be included within a customer-supplied customized failover script.

For disaster recovery each customer must identify and address issues specific to their installation that are not immediately part of the Nextiva Server solution. Examples of issues not addressed in the scripts include:

• Moving the IP subnet(s) between locations

• Message passing to the customer’s suite of data center management tools

• Other environment-specific considerations

Audience This white paper is for use by EMC employees and approved partners interested in

learning more about full-site, or individual server, failover protection for Verint Nextiva Servers.

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Site failover

Overview At the highest level a server failover, or failback, can be viewed as having three

phases:

1. Shutdown/power off of the primary servers

2. Reverse the direction of the LUN mirrors (LUN promotion)

3. Power on the server at the remote site, allowing the Nextiva Server to become active

In the event that the primary site is no longer reachable, the scripts may be optioned to bypass the shutdown/power-off phase.

Failover scripts The primary function of the EMC Physical Security Failover scripts is to provide a

framework that may be tailored to meet a customer’s full-site failover requirements. The scripts are enabled by EMC CLARiiON and EMC MirrorView.

Site failover is accomplished by combining per-server scripts into a script tailored by the customer or executed from an automation tool such are EMC AutoStart. The basis of the failover is that each LUN a Nextiva Server uses is synchronously mirrored to the disaster-recovery/failover site. Script options allow the failover to be fully controlled by the script or may be partially a manual process requiring operators to shut down and/or power on servers.

The EMC Physical Security MirrorView scripts provide meaningful return codes in order to meet the individual needs of any customer.

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MirrorView failover/failback

Required scripts

To successfully run the EMC Physical Security MirrorView failover scripts, you must install the products listed in the following table on a workstation or server that is not co-located at the primary server site.

Application/Script Description

ManualFailoversetup.msi Installation for EMC MirrorView full-site failover scripts

NaviCLI_6.24.2.5.0.exe EMC Navisphere® CLI agent

(optional) OM_5.2.0_MgmtStat_A00.exe Dell System Management tools for RAC

Script customization

To install and tailor the EMC Physical Security MirrorView failover and failback solution, “ManualFailovereSetup.msi” must be installed. After successful installation, a minimum of three files per Nextiva Server will need to be created and modified:

• Configuration file

• Failover batch file

• Failback batch file

Each failover script performs the following tasks:

• Verifies the status of the CLARiiON and server

• Issues a shutdown of the primary server, if executing a failover with Dell’s Remote Access Controller (DRAC)

• Verifies LUN synchronization before promoting the remote LUNs

• Powers on the server being failed to (DRAC required)

Note: The scripts assume Nextiva services are configured to start on power-up.

In the event that a customer is not using a DRAC, the power-down can be controlled manually or using another vendor’s Remote Access Controller (RAC). To use another vendor’s RAC, the customer simply replaces the provided DRAC module with one of their own.

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Script functions

Each server’s failover and failback scripts consist of three parts as described in the following table.

Script operation Description

Power-off In the process of powering off the host, the script first verifies both CLARiiONs are reachable as well as both hosts. In the event the source host and CLARiiON are no longer reachable, the script can be executed, bypassing this check and host power-off.

LUN promotion The script will wait for the LUNs to be fully synchronized. Once the LUNs are synchronized the source and destination roles will be reversed by promoting the old destination LUN to the new source LUN.

Power-on Once all the defined LUNs are promoted to source LUNs, the server is powered on, which completes its execution. At this point, normal Nextiva startup continues.

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Physical architecture

Architecture diagram

The following figure shows the model architecture of an EMC Business Continuity for Physical Security solution environment.

The illustration shows four active Verint Nextiva Servers consisting of one Master Server and three Recorder Servers each located at the primary site. Likewise, there are four servers at the backup site, along with the workstation, which executes the failover and failback scripts.

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Normal operation

EMC MirrorView synchronously mirrors the LUNs for each primary Nextiva Server (LUN source) to the secondary servers (LUN destination). The following illustration shows the primary servers are powered on and active, while the secondary servers at the remote site are powered down.

Backup operation

When a site failover is executed, the primary servers are shut down and their associated LUNs become the destination LUNs. The secondary servers will be powered on, and Nextiva will become active as shown in the following figure.

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Script requirements

Required files Each Nextiva Server will require the creation and modification of three files:

• The configuration file defines the IP addresses of one Ethernet NIC on each CLARiiON, the MirrorView name for each associated remote mirror, the IP address for the Remote Access Controller along with sign-on information.

• The failover script and failback script each consist of a single line that, when executed, will refer the associated failover, or failback, function to the defined configuration file.

Script set With one Nextiva Master and two Nextiva Recorder Servers, a minimum of nine files

are required. For example:

• Master.config

• MasterFailOver.bat

• MasterFailBack.bat

• Recorder1.bat

• Recorder1FailOver.bat

• Recorder1FailBack.bat

• Recorder2.bat

• Recorder2FailOver.bat

• Recorder2FailBack.bat

Additional files Additional files may be required to accommodate using alternate CLARiiON IP

addresses, and forcing a failover in the event the active site has a disaster that causes the servers and CLARiiONs to be unreachable.

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Performing a failover

Execute a single server failover

To execute a failover of a single Nextiva Server simply run that server’s failover script. The following figure shows an example.

Full-site failover

A full-site failover is simply the execution of a series of scripts. The simplest full-site script is illustrated in the following figure.

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Script customization

Customizing a script

Tailoring the execution of the scripts may be accomplished using the script return codes in larger scripts or in your automation tool.

Script return codes

The script return codes are listed in the following table.

Return code Description

0 Successful execution

-1 Some storage system IP addresses are unreachable.

-2 A DRAC IP address is not reachable

-3 System is already in the requested mode. This will be returned if a failover is requested when a failback should have been requested.

-4 Server power-off failed

-5 LUNs not synchronizing

-6 Some mirror will not promote

-7 Power-up failed

-8 Some mirror is not promotable and failed to power up the server

1 Other error

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Conclusion

Key points EMC Physical Security scripts, configuration files, and executable code can be

tailored to meet a customer’s disaster recovery requirements.

The table below summarizes the key points that this solution addresses.

Key Point Solution objective

Private businesses and public entities have responded to rising concerns about theft, fraud, and terrorism by sharpening their focus on physical security and surveillance systems.

EMC offers physical security solutions that unite disparate legacy systems and state-of-the-art infrastructure, and allow these orgainzations to manage their growing volume of physical security information.

Physical security solutions require high-availability solutions for video data, audio data, and the system hardware itself.

The EMC Business Continuity for Physical Security solution provides protection against system failures and disasters.

Organizations must be able to restore operations in the wake of site disasters with little downtime or data loss.

EMC MirrorView provides failover capability for Verint Nextiva Servers.

Organizations must be able to restore an individual server after a hardware failure with little or no downtime and minimum data loss

EMC Business Continuity for Physical Security scripts can be used to fail over and restore full sites or an individual server.

References

White papers For additional information, see the following white papers:

• EMC Tiered Storage for Physical Security Enabled by EMC CLARiiON and Verint Nextiva —Reference Architecture

• EMC Business Continuity for Physical Security Enabled By EMC CLARiiON, EMC MirrorView, EMC AutoStart, and Verint Nextiva —Reference Architecture

• EMC Virtual Infrastructure for Physical Security Enabled by EMC CLARiiON, VMware ESX/ESXi, VMware vSphere 4, and Verint Nextiva —Reference Architecture