About AIM
Asynchronous mirroring is beneficial in environments where synchronous mirroring is not a viable solution due to distance and limited throughput. This is because during the synchronous mirroring process, I/O write acknowledgements are not returned to the requesting server until the data is received by both storage servers responsible for maintaining the mirrored virtual volumes. Over long distances, the latency involved would directly and negatively impact performance.
With asynchronous mirroring, it is understood that the throughput between the sites is limited, and therefore, I/O writes to the source virtual volume are acknowledged immediately. Replication of the data on the destination virtual volume is made as soon as possible, but lags behind. How far the destination volume falls out of synchronization is determined by several factors, such as the amount of I/O writes, throughput, network QOS policies, and network outages.
The DataCore™ AIM (Asynchronous IP Mirroring) product allows you to asynchronously mirror disks (from laptops, personal computers, or application servers) to remote storage servers using Internet ( IP) or file transfer protocols (FTP) providing both data sharing and disaster recovery capabilities.
AIM can be used in unidirectional single or multiple source servers to single destination servers.
What Can AIM Do for You?
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Mirror a Physical Drive to a Remote Storage Server
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Restore a Data Disk When It Fails
Source server – The AIM Source server can mirror data to a destination server using standard IP connections. Source servers can be either SANmelody or SANsymphony storage servers, or a combination of both.
Destination server – The AIM Destination server can receive asynchronous mirrored data from an AIM Source server over standard IP connections. Destination servers can be either SANmelody or SANsymphony storage servers.
Transfer Mode Options – AIM provides two options for transferring data: File Transfer Protocol which is best for data transfer over long distances, or Server Message Block which is best for transfers on a LAN or VPN (Servers on remote LANs can be accessed through the Internet using PPTP networking protocol.) Refer to Setting Up Data Transfer Mode for more information.
For a step-by-step guide to set up a basic AIM configuration, refer to Getting Started with AIM.
AIM Client is a version of AIM that can be installed and configured on application servers. It requires an IP connection to a storage server via a modem or LAN.