MiraLink 400 is a remote data mirroring appliance designed to be part of your business continuation and disaster-recovery plan. The product is a desktop unit that can have internal Serial ATA (SATA) or SCSI disk storage or external SCSI disk arrays that support Windows and other OS environments. You use MiraLink units in pairs. You connect one unit—a source unit—to the application server at the local site. Data written to this unit is mirrored in real time over a standard IP connection to the second unit—a destination unit—that is connected to a backup server at a remote site. Businesses commonly use MiraLink units for application data storage, either as the primary storage device or as half of a mirrored volume. MiraLink units appear to be "just a disk drive" to their respective application servers. On the primary application server, you use the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Windows Disk Management snap-in to configure MiraLink resident volumes, just as you would configure a volume on a hard drive.
MiraLink's IntelliBuffer software insures data reliability and integrity by mirroring data from the primary server to the MiraLink source and destination units. In the event of a network failure, IntelliBuffer continues to queue the data in the source MiraLink unit. In Windows environments, data on the destination unit isn't available while the source unit is actively mirroring to it. In UNIX and Linux environments, MiraLink supports read-only access to data on the destination unit while active mirroring is in process from the source unit.
To create my test network, I used two identically configured Windows Server 2003 systems with Adaptec SCSI 29160LP Card storage controllers for my local (primary) and remote (secondary) servers. The MiraLink source unit I used for testing had 80GB of SATA disk storage and more than 75GB of IntelliBuffer storage. Physical setup consisted of connecting the MiraLink units to the local and remote server with a SCSI cable. Then I connected the servers and the MiraLink units to an Ethernet switch, as Figure 1 shows.
Configuring MiraLink units was easy. I used Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) to connect to MiraLink's Web-based UI to assign IP addresses to the units, as Web Figure 1 shows. As recommended in the product manual, I set up and configured the units on the same network subnet.
During my testing, I used MiraLink's storage to mirror a volume and to write data to another volume; both processes worked without a hitch. My next task was to see whether I could access the data I had mirrored on the destination unit. First, I had to change the role of the MiraLink destination unit to that of a source unit—a simple matter of selecting Source on the Role tab in MiraLink's Web-based UI. Next, I booted the server that was connected to my destination unit, which was now my source unit. Finally, the Windows Disk Management snap-in showed the MiraLink source unit as a foreign disk, so I imported the disk and made its volumes accessible. The data files on both volumes were intact and usable. The MiraLink 400 worked as advertised.
Summary
MiraLink 400
PROS: Looks like a SCSI drive to the server; easy to install and configure CONS: Windows access to remote mirror while mirroring is active isn't supported RATING: 4 1/2 out of 5 PRICE: Pricing starts at $4085 for a source-and destination-server pair RECOMMENDATION: Whatever your company's size, if you need remote data and application mirroring, consider MiraLink 400. CONTACT: MiraLink Corporation * 503-621-5100 * www.miralink.com
The decision to upgrade your XP systems to Vista is simple when you consider features such as easier backup, a great desktop search, and vastly improved security options. ...
The decision to upgrade to Vista has to make business sense, but many companies find the costs in training and application compatibility problems outweigh any benefits Vista brings. ...
An often irreverent look at some of the week's other CES 2009 news, including covering the Vegas spectacle from the comfort of my own home, Windows 7 public beta, a weird Microsoft song application, Palm Pre, pending Microsoft mobile moves, and much more ...
Microsoft Learning Snack - Green IT Through Virtualization Many organizations face rising operating costs caused by excessive energy consumption. Virtualization and "Green IT" can help cut these costs. Get the information you need to bring Green IT savings to your business.
Order Your Fundamentals CD Today! Register today for your in-depth copy of one of three Fundamental CDs on the following topics – Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint.
Microsoft Learning Snack - Virtualization Basics With virtualization, computing components essentially become on-demand services, freeing each element of a system from the others. This short video explains the needs, benefits, and technologies behind virtualization.
Microsoft Learning Snack - Virtualization Basics With virtualization, computing components essentially become on-demand services, freeing each element of a system from the others. This short video explains the needs, benefits, and technologies behind virtualization.
Empower Your Processes with PowerShell 201 Paul Robichaux delves deep into PowerShell how-tos in 3 informative lessons, each followed by live Q&A—all on your own computer! Register today!
Microsoft Learning Snack - Green IT Through Virtualization Many organizations face rising operating costs caused by excessive energy consumption. Virtualization and "Green IT" can help cut these costs. Get the information you need to bring Green IT savings to your business.
New Release: Windows IT Pro Master CD 13 years of content archives, fast answers with advanced search tools, and full access to WindowsITPro.com—order today!
Register
