Initializing AIM Sets
Before mirroring data from the source to the destination virtual volumes, a “baseline” mirror will need to be created. During this process source and destination virtual volumes are synchronized.
If you created your AIM set first and mapped the source virtual volume to the application server as a new volume, you do not have to do the initial synchronization, as both source and destination volumes can be considered synchronized as they are both unformatted until discovered and formatted on the application server.
If a source virtual volume was in use on the application server and has existing files or data on it at the time an AIM set was created, you must initialize the destination virtual volume from the source virtual volume. This will replicate all blocks of the source virtual volume to its configured destination virtual volume, so both virtual volumes of the AIM set will be identical. If you have a multiple-destination configuration, synchronizing the source virtual volume once will initialize all the destination virtual volumes.
For examples of estimated initialization times using various high-speed connections, refer to AIM Initialization Time Estimates.
To synchronize source and destination virtual volumes by initializing over the network:
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In AIM Source Manager, select AIM Source Volumes from the left pane.
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In the right pane, select an AIM set and choose Initialize Volume from the context menu.
Notice the column named AIM State will show that the AIM set is initializing. The column Init Percent will show the initialization progress. The completion time for this process varies with the size of the volume, the connection speed, server performance, and network congestion. Check the system event log on the source server for information on when initialization starts and completes.
To stop initialization, take the same steps with the Stop Initialization option.
You must re-initialize if you stop your initialization or your server restarts for any reason during the initialization process. You must also initialize if the AIM set was “in log” or “in recovery” and the source server restarts for any reason.