Selecting a Replication Type for High Availability

Describes replication types for high-availability clusters, and the tradeoffs of using them.

HPE Ezmeral Data Fabric volumes, stored as pieces called containers, are replicated, typically three times, on separate nodes to protect data and provide uninterrupted access to data in the event of a node failure. Since all form of data is replicated, in the event of a node failure, after a brief delay while the failure is being detected, clients are simply directed to a replica, which serves as an alternative location for a data object, to continue normally. The latency as a result of the failure being detected can be reduced by adjusting the number of TCP retries. Furthermore, selecting a container replication type that is appropriate for your cluster layout allows for faster replication of container state, which in turn allows for retrieval of the most current data in the event of a node failure.

HPE Ezmeral Data Fabric supports two types of container replication -- high-throughput or cascading replication, where volumes are replicated sequentially on intermediate and tail containers and low-latency or star replication, where volumes are replicated on multiple containers in parallel.

NOTE
For more information, see How file system and Associated Services Work.

The tradeoffs between the replication types is one of latency and throughput. While the low-latency replication delivers relatively lower throughput than the high-throughput replication, the high-throughput replication suffers from relatively higher latencies than the low-latency replication. Another advantage of low-latency replication is that since the primary container is connected to all other replica containers, there is no need to failover a replica container in the event of a failure thus reducing the duration of recovery. However, with high-throughput replication, in the event of a failure of an intermediate container, clients may experience increased latency while CLDB, after detecting the failure, attempts to update the replication chain by making the next or tail container (whichever comes immediately after the failed container) as the next container in the chain.