The Block Volume service provides you with the capability to perform ongoing automatic asynchronous replication of block volumes, boot volumes, and volume groups to other regions and availability domains.
This feature supports the following scenarios without requiring volume backups and volume
group backups:
Disaster recovery
Migration
Business expansion
The replication feature is complementary to the backup feature, not a replacement.
Backups give you a point-in-time snapshot of volumes that enables you to return to a
previous version of a volume or volume group. Replicas give you the current version of
the data.
When you enable replication for a volume or volume group, the process includes an initial
sync of the data from the source to the replica. Depending on volume size and amount of
data written to volumes, this sync can take hours. After the initial synchronization
process is complete, the replication process is continuous, with the typical Recovery
Point Object (RPO) target rate being less than thirty minutes for replication across
regions, however the RPO can vary. See Limitations and Considerations.
Note
Replication doesn't cause any downtime or impact on source volumes.
Limitations and Considerations
The following applies to both replication to another region and replication to another availability domain within the same region.
Replication isn't supported for volumes encrypted using customer-managed Vault
encryption keys.
You can't resize a volume with replication enabled. When resizing a volume, you need
to disable replication, which deletes the volume replica. After the volume is
resized, you can reenable replication for the volume, which starts the replication
process from scratch.
While the typical RPO target rate is significantly less than thirty
minutes for replication, the RPO can vary depending on the change rate of data on
the source volume. For example, the RPO can be greater than an hour for volumes with
a large amount of write I/O operations to the volume.
Cost Considerations for Replication 🔗
After you enable replication for a volume or volume group, it will be replicated in the
specified availability domain or the specified region and availability domain. Your bill
will include storage costs for the volume or volume group replica in the destination.
The replica in the destination is billed using the Block Storage Lower Cost option
price, regardless of volume type in the source region.
Block Volume replication supports replicating a volume or
volume group to another region. For this type of replication, when you enable
replication for a volume or volume group, you select a different region than the current
source region as the destination region to replicate to. If the destination region
supports multiple availaiblity domains, you can also select the availability domain you
want to replicate to.
The source region for the volume or volume group determines the target regions available
to select as a destination region for replication. Each region has one or more regions
available as possible destination regions. The destination regions are selected based on
geographical locations. Your tenancy must be subscribed to the destination region for
replication. See Source and Destination Region Mappings for
more information.
Network Costs for Cross Region Replication 🔗
Your bill will also include any applicable network costs for the replication process
between regions. Network costs for replication between availability domains within the
same region are not billed. As part of the replication process, all data being updated
on the source volume or source volume group is transferred to the replica, so volumes
with continual updates incur higher network costs.
You can see the amount of data transferred for an individual volume during replication in
the Console.
To see the amount of data transferred from the replication process for a
volume
Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Block Volumes.
Click the replica that you want to see the amount of data transferred for. On
the Replica Details page, the Total Data Transferred field
displays the amount of data, in GBs, that has been transferred during the
replication process for the volume. This number includes all data from the point
that volume replication was enabled to now.
If your tenancy is not subscribed to any of the destination regions for the source region, and the source region only supports one availability domain, no regions are displayed in the region list and an error message is shown. For source regions containg multiple availability domains, the source region is displayed in the region list, and cross availability domain replication is the only replication available. To use cross region replication, you must subscribe to one of the destination regions for the source region. To subscribe to a region, see Managing Regions.
Note
If you do not see a region that you are subscribed to in the destination region list, open a support ticket to request that the region be added as a destination target for the source region for your volume or volume group.
The following table lists the region mappings for cross region replication.
Source Region
Destination Region
Australia East (Sydney)
Australia Southeast (Melbourne)
Japan East (Tokyo)
US East (Ashburn)
US Midwest (Chicago)
US West (Phoenix)
US West (San Jose)
Australia Southeast (Melbourne)
Australia East (Sydney)
Singapore (Singapore)
Singapore West (Singapore)
US East (Ashburn)
US Midwest (Chicago)
US West (Phoenix)
US West (San Jose)
Brazil East (Sao Paulo)
Brazil Southeast (Vinhedo)
Chile Central (Santiago)
Colombia Central (Bogota)
US East (Ashburn)
US West (Phoenix)
US West (San Jose)
Brazil Southeast (Vinhedo)
Brazil East (Sao Paulo)
US East (Ashburn)
US West (Phoenix)
US West (San Jose)
Canada Southeast (Montreal)
Canada Southeast (Toronto)
Canada Southeast (Toronto)
Canada Southeast (Montreal)
US Midwest (Chicago)
US East (Ashburn)
Chile Central (Santiago)
Brazil East (Sao Paulo)
Chile West (Valparaiso)
Chile West (Valparaiso)
Chile Central (Santiago)
Colombia Central (Bogota)
Colombia Central (Bogota)
Brazil East (Sao Paulo)
Chile West (Valparaiso)
Mexico Central (Queretaro)
US East (Ashburn)
France Central (Paris)
France South (Marseille)
Germany Central (Frankfurt)
Italy Northwest (Milan)
Netherlands Northwest (Amsterdam)
Spain Central (Madrid)
Sweden Central (Stockholm)
Switzerland North (Zurich)
UK South (London)
UK West (Newport)
US East (Ashburn)
France South (Marseille)
France Central (Paris)
Germany Central (Frankfurt)
Italy Northwest (Milan)
Netherlands Northwest (Amsterdam)
Spain Central (Madrid)
Sweden Central (Stockholm)
Switzerland North (Zurich)
UK South (London)
UK West (Newport)
Germany Central (Frankfurt)
France Central (Paris)
France South (Marseille)
Netherlands Northwest (Amsterdam)
Israel Central (Jerusalem)
Italy Northwest (Milan)
Spain Central (Madrid)
Sweden Central (Stockholm)
Switzerland North (Zurich)
UK South (London)
UK West (Newport)
India South (Hyderabad)
India West (Mumbai)
Singapore (Singapore)
Singapore West (Singapore)
India West (Mumbai)
India South (Hyderabad)
Singapore West (Singapore)
UK South (London)
Israel Central (Jerusalem)
Germany Central (Frankfurt)
UK South (London)
Italy Northwest (Milan)
France Central (Paris)
France South (Marseille)
Germany Central (Frankfurt)
Netherlands Northwest (Amsterdam)
Spain Central (Madrid)
Sweden Central (Stockholm)
Switzerland North (Zurich)
UK South (London)
UK West (Newport)
Japan Central (Osaka)
Japan East (Tokyo)
South Korea Central (Seoul)
South Korea North (Chuncheon)
US East (Ashburn)
US West (Phoenix)
US West (San Jose)
Japan East (Tokyo)
Australia East (Sydney)
Japan Central (Osaka)
Singapore (Singapore)
Singapore West (Singapore)
South Korea Central (Seoul)
South Korea North (Chuncheon)
US East (Ashburn)
US West (Phoenix)
US West (San Jose)
Mexico Central (Queretaro)
Colombia Central (Bogota)
Mexico Northeast (Monterrey)
US East (Ashburn)
US West (Phoenix)
US West (San Jose)
Mexico Northeast (Monterrey)
Mexico Central (Queretaro)
US East (Ashburn)
US West (Phoenix)
US West (San Jose)
Netherlands Northwest (Amsterdam)
France Central (Paris)
Germany Central (Frankfurt)
Italy Northwest (Milan)
Spain Central (Madrid)
Sweden Central (Stockholm)
Switzerland North (Zurich)
UK South (London)
UK West (Newport)
US East (Ashburn)
Saudi Arabia West (Jeddah)
UAE East (Dubai)
Singapore (Singapore)
Australia Southeast (Melbourne)
India South (Hyderabad)
Japan East (Tokyo)
Singapore West (Singapore)
Singapore West (Singapore)
Australia Southeast (Melbourne)
India South (Hyderabad)
India West (Mumbai)
Japan East (Tokyo)
Singapore (Singapore)
South Africa Central (Johannesburg)
UK South (London)
South Korea Central (Seoul)
Japan Central (Osaka)
Japan East (Tokyo)
South Korea North (Chuncheon)
South Korea North (Chuncheon)
Japan Central (Osaka)
Japan East (Tokyo)
South Korea Central (Seoul)
Spain Central (Madrid)
France Central (Paris)
France South (Marseille)
Germany Central (Frankfurt)
Italy Northwest (Milan)
Netherlands Northwest (Amsterdam)
Sweden Central (Stockholm)
Switzerland North (Zurich)
UK South (London)
UK West (Newport)
Sweden Central (Stockholm)
France Central (Paris)
France South (Marseille)
Germany Central (Frankfurt)
Italy Northwest (Milan)
Netherlands Northwest (Amsterdam)
Spain Central (Madrid)
Switzerland North (Zurich)
UK South (London)
UK West (Newport)
Switzerland North (Zurich)
France Central (Paris)
France South (Marseille)
Germany Central (Frankfurt)
Italy Northwest (Milan)
Netherlands Northwest (Amsterdam)
Spain Central (Madrid)
Sweden Central (Stockholm)
UK South (London)
UK West (Newport)
UAE Central (Abu Dhabi)
UAE East (Dubai)
UAE East (Dubai)
Saudi Arabia West (Jeddah)
UAE Central (Abu Dhabi)
UK South (London)
France Central (Paris)
France South (Marseille)
Germany Central (Frankfurt)
India West (Mumbai)
Israel Central (Jerusalem)
Italy Northwest (Milan)
Netherlands Northwest (Amsterdam)
Spain Central (Madrid)
Sweden Central (Stockholm)
Switzerland North (Zurich)
UK West (Newport)
US East (Ashburn)
UK West (Newport)
France Central (Paris)
France South (Marseille)
Germany Central (Frankfurt)
Italy Northwest (Milan)
Netherlands Northwest (Amsterdam)
Spain Central (Madrid)
Sweden Central (Stockholm)
Switzerland North (Zurich)
UK South (London)
US East (Ashburn)
Australia East (Sydney)
Australia Southeast (Melbourne)
Brazil East (Sao Paulo)
Brazil Southeast (Vinhedo)
Colombia Central (Bogota)
Canada Southeast (Toronto)
France Central (Paris)
Japan Central (Osaka)
Japan East (Tokyo)
Mexico Central (Queretaro)
Mexico Northeast (Monterrey)
Netherlands Northwest (Amsterdam)
UK South (London)
US Midwest (Chicago)
US West (Phoenix)
US West (San Jose)
US Midwest (Chicago)
Australia East (Sydney)
Australia Southeast (Melbourne)
Canada Southeast (Toronto)
US East (Ashburn)
US West (Phoenix)
US West (San Jose)
US West (Phoenix)
Australia East (Sydney)
Australia Southeast (Melbourne)
Brazil East (Sao Paulo)
Brazil Southeast (Vinhedo)
Japan Central (Osaka)
Japan East (Tokyo)
Mexico Central (Queretaro)
Mexico Northeast (Monterrey)
US East (Ashburn)
US Midwest (Chicago)
US West (San Jose)
US West (San Jose)
Australia East (Sydney)
Australia Southeast (Melbourne)
Brazil East (Sao Paulo)
Brazil Southeast (Vinhedo)
Japan Central (Osaka)
Japan East (Tokyo)
Mexico Central (Queretaro)
Mexico Northeast (Monterrey)
US East (Ashburn)
US Midwest (Chicago)
US West (Phoenix)
Cross Availability Domain Replication 🔗
Block Volume replication supports replicating a volume or
volume group to another availability domain within the same region. For this type of
replication, when you enable replication for a volume or volume group, if the current
region contains more than one availability domain, the regions list will include the
current region. Select this region as the source region, and then select the
availaiblity domain that you want to replicate to.
Note
Replication across availability domains is only supported in commercial regions with multiple availability domains. To determine which regions contain more than one availability domain, see the Availability Domains field in the table listing the commercial regions in About Regions and Availaibility Domains.
Replication Metrics 🔗
The Block Volume service emits metrics to help you track
volume replication operations. For more information, see Replication Metrics and Block Volume Metrics.
Tagging Resources 🔗
You can apply tags to your resources to help you organize them according to your business needs. You can update the resource later with the desired tags. For general information about applying tags, see Resource Tags. Any tags applied to the source volume are replicated to the volume replica in the destination region.
Required IAM Policy 🔗
To use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, you must be granted security access in a policy by an administrator. This access is required whether you're using the Console or the REST API with an SDK, CLI, or other tool. If you get a message that you don't have permission or are unauthorized, verify with your administrator what type of access you have and which compartment to work in.
Use the steps described in this procedure to enable replication on an existing volume.
You can also enable replication when you create a volume, see Creating a Block Volume.
Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Block Volumes.
Click the block volume that you want to enable replication for.
Click Edit.
In the Cross Region Replication section, select ON.
For cross region replication, select the region you want to replicate the volume to, the
availability domain to place the volume replica in, and then specify the name
for the volume replica.
To replicate to another availability domain in the same region, select the region the volume is
located in, the availability domain to place the volume replica in, and then
specify the name for the volume replica.
Optionally, encrypt the volume replica in the destination region by using your own Vault encryption key. Select Encrypt using
customer-managed keys for Cross region replication
encryption, and then specify the OCID for a valid encryption key
in the region you selected to replicate the volume to. For more information, see
Requirements for Customer-Managed Encryption Keys for Cross-Region Operations.
To change the destination region or availability domain for cross region replication you
need to first turn cross region replication off for a volume. Then specify the new
region and availability domain selections when you turn replication on again.
Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Block Volumes.
Click the block volume that you want to change the replication settings for.
Click Edit.
In the Cross Region Replication section, select OFF.
Check CONFIRM to acknowledge the that volume replica will be deleted.
Click Save Changes.
Click Edit.
In the Cross Region Replication section, select ON.
For cross region replication, select the region you want to replicate the volume
to, the availability domain to place the volume replica in, and then specify the
name for the volume replica.
To replicate to another availability domain in the same region, select the region
the volume is located in, the availability domain to place the volume replica
in, and then specify the name for the volume replica.
To encrypt the volume replica by using your own Vault encryption
key, select Encrypt using customer-managed keys for Cross
region replication encryption, and then specify the OCID for a
valid encryption key in the region you selected to replicate the volume to. For
more information, see Requirements for Customer-Managed Encryption Keys for Cross-Region Operations
For volumes in a volume group configured for replication, activate the
volume group replica instead of individual volume replicas if you want to ensure
that all replicas are activated from the same coordinated synchronization point.
To create a new volume from a volume replica, you need to activate the replica. The
activation process creates a new volume by cloning the replica.
Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Block Volume Replicas. Ensure that you are in correct destination region or availability domain that contains the volume replica you want to activate.
Click the replica that you want to activate.
Click Activate to open the Activate Volume Replica form.
On the Activate Volume Replica form, specify the settings for the new volume, including:
Name
Compartment
(Optional) Cluster Placement Group
Note
The Cluster
Placement Group control only appears in the Console if Cluster Placement Groups are
enabled for the tenancy, and you've created and activated a cluster
placement group with the capability added for volume resources, see
Cluster Placement Groups for Block Volume.
Size and performance settings
Backup policy
Volume replication
Encryption
Tags
Click Create. The new volume appears in the block volumes list, in the
provisioning state.
The volume replica's details page provides information about the replica's status.
Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Block Volume Replicas. Ensure that you are in the destination region and availability domain containing the volume replica that you want to view.
Click the replica that you're interested in.
The replica details page displays the following relevant fields:
Last Sync: The time of the last data synchronization from the source volume to the
replica.
Total Data Transfered: The amount of data, in GBs, that has been transferred during the
replication process for the volume. This includes all data from the point
that volume replication was enabled to now.
To failback a volume replica to the source region, you need activate the volume replica
in the destination region, with volume replication enabled, and select the original
source region as the target region for replication.
Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Block Volume Replicas. Ensure that you're in
correct destination region that contains the volume replica you want to
activate.
Click the replica that you want to activate.
Click Activate to open the Activate Volume Replica form.
On the Activate Volume Replica, specify the settings for the new volume, including:
Name
Compartment
Size and performance settings
Backup policy
Volume replication
Encryption
Tags
Ensure that Volume Replication is enabled, and select the original source region.
Click Create. The new volume appears in the block volumes list, in the
provisioning state. After the initial synchronization finishes, the failback process
is complete, and you can use the volume in the original source region.
Boot Volume Replicas 🔗
Use the Console procedures in this section for boot volume replicas.
Use the steps described in this procedure to enable replication on an existing boot
volume.
Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Block Volumes. In the Block Storage menu on the sidebar, click Boot Volumes.
Click the boot volume that you want to enable replication for.
Click Edit.
In the Cross Region Replication section, select ON.
For cross region replication, select the region you want to replicate the boot
volume to, the availability domain to place the boot volume replica in, and then
specify the name for the boot volume replica.
To replicate to another availability domain in the same region, select the region
the boot volume is located in, the availability domain to place the boot volume
replica in, and then specify the name for the boot volume replica.
Optionally, encrypt the boot volume replica in the destination region by using your own Vault encryption key. Select Encrypt using
customer-managed keys for Cross region replication
encryption, and then specify the OCID for a valid encryption key
in the region you selected to replicate the boot volume to. For more
information, see Requirements for Customer-Managed Encryption Keys for Cross-Region Operations.
To change the destination region or availability domain for cross-region replication you
need to first turn cross-region replication off for a boot volume. Then specify the new
region and availability domain selections when you turn cross-region replication on
again.
Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Block Volumes. In the Block Storage menu on the sidebar, click Boot Volumes.
Click the boot volume that you want to change the replication settings for.
Click Edit.
In the Cross Region Replication section, select OFF.
Check CONFIRM to acknowledge the that boot volume replica will be
deleted.
Click Save Changes.
Click Edit.
In the Cross Region Replication section, select ON.
For cross region replication, select the region you want to replicate the boot
volume to, the availability domain to place the boot volume replica in, and then
specify the name for the boot volume replica.
To replicate to another availability domain in the same region, select the region
the boot volume is located in, the availability domain to place the boot volume
replica in, and then specify the name for the boot volume replica.
To encrypt the volume replica by using your own Vault encryption
key, select Encrypt using customer-managed keys for Cross
region replication encryption, and then specify the OCID for a
valid encryption key in the region you selected to replicate the volume to. For
more information, see Requirements for Customer-Managed Encryption Keys for Cross-Region Operations.
For volumes in a volume group configured for replication, activate the
volume group replica instead of individual volume replicas to ensure that all
replicas are activated from the same coordinated synchronization point.
To create a new volume from a volume replica, you need to activate the replica. The
activation process creates a new volume by cloning the replica.
Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Block Volumes. In the Block Storage menu on the sidebar, click Boot Volume Replicas. Ensure that you're in
correct destination region that contains the boot volume replica you want to
activate.
Click the boot volume replica that you want to activate.
Click Activate to open the Activate Volume Replica form.
On the Activate Volume Replica, specify the settings for the new volume, including:
Name
Compartment
(Optional) Cluster Placement Group
Note
The Cluster Placement Group control only appears
in the Console if Cluster Placement
Groups are enabled for the tenancy, and you've created and activated a
cluster placement group with the capability added for volume resources,
see Cluster Placement Groups for Block Volume.
Size and performance settings
Backup policy
Volume replication
Encryption
Tags
Click Create. The new volume will appear in the boot volumes list, in the
provisioning state.
The boot volume replica's details page provides information about the replica's
status.
Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Block Volumes. In the Block Storage menu on the sidebar, click Boot Volume Replicas. Ensure that you are in the destination region and availability domain containing the boot volume replica that you want to view.
Click the replica that you're interested in.
The replica details page displays the following relevant fields:
Last Sync: The time of the last data synchronization from the source boot volume to the
replica.
Total Data Transfered: The amount of data, in GBs, that has been transferred during the
replication process for the boot volume. This includes all data from the
point that cross-region replication was enabled to now.
To failback a boot volume replica to the source region, you need activate the boot volume
replica in the destination region, with volume replication enabled, and select the
original source region as the target region for replication.
Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Block Volumes. In the Block Storage menu on the sidebar, click Boot Volume Replicas. Ensure that you are in correct destination region that contains the boot volume replica you want to activate.
Click the replica that you want to activate.
Click Activate to open the Activate Volume Replica form.
On the Activate Volume Replica, specify the settings for the new boot volume, including:
Name
Compartment
Size and performance settings
Backup policy
Volume replication
Encryption
Tags
Ensure that Volume Replication is enabled, and select the original source
region.
Click Create. The new boot volume will appear in the boot volumes list, in
the provisioning state. Once the initial synchronization finishes, the failback
process is complete, and you can use the boot volume in the original source
region.
For volumes in a volume group configured for replication, activate the
volume group replica instead of individual volume replicas if you want to ensure
that all replicas are activated from the same coordinated synchronization point.
For volumes in a volume group configured for replication, activate the
volume group replica instead of individual volume replicas if you want to ensure
that all replicas are activated from the same coordinated synchronization point.
You can enable replication for a boot volume or block volume when you create or update a
volume. To disable replication, use the Update operation. To activate a volume replica,
use the Create operation and pass the source volume's replica ID.