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CONCEPT Cited by 1 source

SnapMirror replication

Definition

SnapMirror is NetApp's asynchronous block-level replication technology for copying data between ONTAP volumes — across regions, clusters, or file systems. On AWS, it operates natively within Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP to replicate between FSx file systems in different AWS Regions.

Key properties: - Schedule-driven: configurable interval (e.g. every 15 minutes) - Snapshot-based: each replication cycle creates a consistent snapshot on the destination - Encrypted in transit: AES-256-GCM encryption between source and destination - Non-disruptive: ongoing replication does not interfere with FlexClone operations on existing snapshots

RPO characteristics

RPO is bounded by the replication schedule interval. S&P Global's 15-minute schedule yields: - Low-activity periods: RPO of a few minutes (replication completes quickly) - High-activity periods: RPO approaches the 15-minute window (more data to transfer)

This is structurally similar to concepts/asynchronous-replication in other storage systems — the replication lag varies with write volume but is bounded by the schedule interval.

Relationship to DR orchestration

SnapMirror provides the data replication foundation for DR architectures on FSx for NetApp ONTAP. It can be: - Left running — destination volume receives continuous updates (read-only) - Broken — destination volume becomes read-write for full failover (the snapmirror break operation) - Reversed — after failover, replication direction flips (DR → primary)

The break-and-reverse sequence is the Phase 2 (full read-write recovery) primitive in the patterns/two-phase-dr-read-then-write pattern.

(Source: sources/2026-07-07-aws-sp-globals-disaster-recovery-fsx-netapp-ontap)

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