A quorum disk monitors global-active device (GAD) pair volumes and can be located in a third, external storage system or in an iSCSI-attached host server. The quorum disk acts as a heartbeat for the GAD pair, with both storage systems accessing the quorum disk to check on each other. A communication failure between systems results in a series of checks with the quorum disk to identify the problem for the system unable to receive host updates.
For an overview of the global-active device features, components, and capabilities, visit our support site at: Overview of Global-Active Device
Terms to Know
Quorum Disk: A storage system or iSCSI-attached host server used to monitor GAD pair volumes.
Global-Active Device (GAD): A synchronous data replication solution that creates and maintains remote copies of data volumes.
High Availability: The ability of a system to ensure a high level of uptime performance for an extended period.
Amazon Machine Image (AMI): A template used to create a virtual machine.
Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2): A web service that provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud.
The Pros and Cons of Global-Active Device Cloud Quorum
Pros:
- Reduces the cost of global-active device by removing the cost of purchase and maintenance of a third physical storage system
- Provides a High Availability solution by using state-of-the-art AWS data centers
- Supports regions in the US, Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, and South America
- Streamlines configuration and setup requiring minimal user interaction
- Manages the quorum through a simple user interface
- Includes no cost software
- Requires only on-demand costs for hardware used in the cloud
- Ensures 99.9% availability for each Amazon EC2 region
View our Global-Active Device Cloud Quorum in AWS Implementation Guide for more details: Global-Active Device Cloud Quorum in AWS
Tips and Reminders
Tip#1: When inputting text into the user data field make sure to follow the following format:
#!/bin/bash
/home/ec2-user/quorum_setup/quorum_setup.sh [IQN#1] [IQN#2]
**Note: Specify the shebang on the first line followed by enter. On the second line, enter the name of the path followed by a space and the IQN number. The delimiter for specifying IQN is a space.
Resources
Link to document library: Global Active Device Cloud Quorum Documentation Library – Hitachi Vantara Knowledge
Conclusion
Using global-active device cloud quorum, it’s very simple to transition to a cloud architecture for your GAD quorum and ensure your business is protected with a high-availability solution that uses state of the art data centers across many regions all over the globe.
Visit the AWS Marketplace to view global-active device cloud quorum our new cloud offering that removes the need for a third physical storage system and streamlines the configuration upon launch:
AWS Marketplace: Global-Active Device Cloud Quorum (amazon.com)