Forum Discussion

Cbhatt's avatar
Cbhatt
Level 3
8 years ago

Replication status for one RLINK is showing as "Activating"

Veritas Storage Foundation for Windows 4.3 MP1 / Windows 2003 Server SP2

Replication status for one RLINK is showing as "Activating" with a orange Arrow pointing upwards.

DCM Log Usage is at 15% with nearly 13 million blocks pending.

The icon for the RVG:secondary has a pause symbol next to it.

How do I resume synchronization between this primary and secondary?

Via the GUI, I have tried stopping and starting replication, using TCP and UDP as the replication protocol and tried hostnames and ip addresses as the Secondary side IP.

I have tried dissocating the SRL log connected to the secondary and then associating it back but to no avail. The replication status just sits in "Activating".

I have rebooted the primary and the secondary many times but that has made no difference.

I have tried vradmin -g <DG> resync <RVG> but that just returns a prompt.

vxrlink -g <DG> -i 5 status <rlk> shows that RLINK is in autosync with 15% remaining.

Other primaries that replicate to this secondary are all replicating without issues.

I guess my questions are:

Why is this specific replication stuck in Activating / Paused?

How do I get it out of this stuck state?

Happy to provide more details / screenshots if helpful

  • VirgilDobos's avatar
    VirgilDobos
    Moderator
    8 years ago

    Hi mate,

    Have you tried restarting the cluster nodes? Sometimes the VVR RLINK goes in a frenzy state and a server reboot will do the trick.

  • VirgilDobos's avatar
    VirgilDobos
    Moderator
    8 years ago

    Hi mate, Have you tried restarting the cluster nodes? Sometimes the VVR RLINK goes in a frenzy state and a server reboot will do the trick.

    • Cbhatt's avatar
      Cbhatt
      Level 3
      8 years ago

      Thanks Virgil but this is a simple primary / secondary setup and not clustered

      The following has been tried but to no avail:

      Have tried rebooting both the primary and the secondary servers

      Have tried stopping and restarting replication as well as pausing and resuming

      Have tried deleting the secondary and recreating it

      Have tried vradmin -g <Diskgroup> resync <Rvg> on the primary

      Have tried dissociating and re-associating the SRL

      All result in the same - status Activating, blocks pending and no movement.

  • Mouse's avatar
    Mouse
    Moderator
    8 years ago

    Problem

    The Replication Monitor, in Veritas Enterprise Administrator (VEA), maintains a status of "activating" for replication. No blocks are being sent to the secondary site.

    Solution

    When replication is stuck in the "activating" state, it usually indicates that there is a network communication problem between the primay and secondary sites.

    1. Use vxprint to determine that the Rlinks, hostnames and IP addresses for the primary and secondary replication partners match each other. Information on this can be found here: www.symantec.com/docs/TECH52571

     

    2. Use pathping to test network connectivity between the primary and secondary sites. Pathping is a Microsoft utility that comes with Windows. More information on this utility is found here: technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff963096(WS.10).aspx

    Note: Test connectivity in both directions. Confirm that packets are being sent back and forth using the same route. If packets from the secondary take a different route to get to the primary, differences in timing problems may occur, causing the primary not to receive acknowledgements from the secondary in a timely manner.

     

    3. Try to pause and then resume replication.

    To pause replication:

    a. Expand Replication Network.
    b. Right-click on the primary RVG (Replicated Volume Group).
    c. Select "Pause Secondary from Primary."
    d. From Secondary Host, select the IP or host name of the secondary host that is to be 
    paused.
     
    To resume replication:
    a. Expand Replication Network.
    b. Right-click on the primary RVG (Replicated Volume Group).
    c. Select "Resume."
     
     

    4. Use vxrlink to detach and reattach the primary rlink from the primary site using the following syntax:

    To detach the rlink:

    vxrlink -g [disk group] -r [rvg] det [rlink]

    To attach the rlink:

    vxrlink -a -g [disk group] -r [rvg] att [rlink]

    Note: The information required for these commands can be found using vxprint.

    • Cbhatt's avatar
      Cbhatt
      Level 3
      8 years ago

      Thanks Mouse

      Have tried your suggestions but no change unfortunately - VVR still sits in Activating with a "Pause" symbol on the RVG:Secondary Host. 

      The RVG:Primary host has a symbol that looks like a page with three written lines on it (rather than a "play button" symbol) if that helps at all.

       

      • Cbhatt's avatar
        Cbhatt
        Level 3
        8 years ago
        Not sure why emoticons came through on the previous page. Thanks Mouse Have tried your suggestions but no change unfortunately - VVR still sits in Activating with a "Pause" symbol on the RVG Secondary Host in the right hand pane under the Replicated Data Set tab The RVG Primary host has a symbol that looks like a page with three written lines on it (rather than a "play button" symbol) in the Management console with the Secondary having a "Rewind" icon if that helps at all.