docs/source/administration/bucket-replication/enable-server-side-multi-site-bucket-replication.rst

Enable Multi-Site Server-Side Bucket Replication

minio

Table of Contents

The procedure on this page configures automatic server-side bucket replication between multiple MinIO deployments. Multi-Site Active-Active replication builds on the minio-bucket-replication-serverside-twoway procedure with additional considerations required to ensure predictable replication behavior across all sites.

• To configure replication between arbitrary S3-compatible services, use mc mirror.
• To configure one-way "active-active" replication between two MinIO deployments, see minio-bucket-replication-serverside-twoway.
• To configure one-way "active-passive" replication between MinIO deployments, see minio-bucket-replication-serverside-oneway.

Multi-Site Active-Active replication configurations can span multiple racks, datacenters, or geographic locations. Complexity of configuring and maintaining multi-site configurations generally increase with the number of sites and size of each site. Enterprises looking to implement multi-site replication should consider leveraging MinIO SUBNET support to access the expertise, planning, and engineering resources required for addressing that use case.

• Use the mc replicate update command to modify an existing replication rule.
• Use the mc replicate update command with the --state "disable" <mc replicate update --state> flag to disable an existing replication rule.
• Use the mc replicate rm command to remove an existing replication rule.

Requirements

You must meet all of the basic requirements for bucket replication described in Bucket Replication Requirements <minio-bucket-replication-requirements>.

In addition, to create multi-site bucket replication set up, you must meet the following additional requirements:

Access to All Clusters

You must have network access and log in credentials with correct permissions to all deployments to set up multi-site active-active bucket replication.

You can access the deployments by logging in to the MinIO Console <minio-console> for each deployment or by installing mc and using the command line.

If using the command line, use the mc alias command to create an alias for each MinIO deployment. Alias creation requires specifying an access key for a user on the deployment. This user must have permission to create and manage users and policies on the deployment.

Specifically, ensure the user has at minimum:

• admin:CreateUser
• admin:ListUsers
• admin:GetUser
• admin:CreatePolicy
• admin:GetPolicy
• admin:AttachUserOrGroupPolicy

Considerations

Click to expand any of the following:

Use Consistent Replication Settings

MinIO supports customizing the replication configuration to enable or disable the following replication behaviors:

• Replication of delete operations
• Replication of delete markers
• Replication of existing objects
• Replication of metadata-only changes

When configuring replication rules for a bucket, ensure that all MinIO deployments participating in multi-site replication use the same replication behaviors to ensure consistent and predictable synchronization of objects.

Replication of Existing Objects

MinIO supports automatically replicating existing objects in a bucket.

MinIO requires explicitly enabling replication of existing objects using the mc replicate add --replicate or mc replicate update --replicate and including the existing-objects replication feature flag. This procedure includes the required flags for enabling replication of existing objects.

Replication of Delete Operations

MinIO supports replicating delete operations onto the target bucket. Specifically, MinIO can replicate versioning Delete Markers <versioning-workflows.html> and the deletion of specific versioned objects:

• For delete operations on an object, MinIO replication also creates the delete marker on the target bucket.
• For delete operations on versions of an object, MinIO replication also deletes those versions on the target bucket.

MinIO requires explicitly enabling replication of delete operations using the mc replicate add --replicate or mc replicate update --replicate. This procedure includes the required flags for enabling replication of delete operations and delete markers.

MinIO does not replicate delete operations resulting from the application of lifecycle management expiration rules <minio-lifecycle-management-expiration>. Configure matching expiration rules for the bucket on all replication sites to ensure consistent application of object expiration.

Procedure

This procedure requires repeating steps for each MinIO deployment participating in the multi-site replication configuration. Depending on the number of deployments, this procedure may require significant time and care in implementation. MinIO recommends reading through the procedure before attempting to implement the documented steps.

• Configure Multi-Site Bucket Replication Using the MinIO Console <minio-bucket-replication-multi-site-minio-console-procedure>

  • Create the Replication Rules <minio-bucket-replication-multi-site-minio-console-create-replication-rules>
  • Validate the Replication Configuration <minio-bucket-replication-multi-site-minio-console-validate-replication-config>

• Configure Multi-Site Bucket Replication Using the Command Line <minio-bucket-replication-multi-site-minio-cli-procedure>

  • Create Replication Remote Targets <minio-bucket-replication-multi-site-minio-cli-create-remote-targets>
  • Create New Bucket Replication Rules <minio-bucket-replication-multi-site-minio-cli-create-replication-rules>
  • Validate the Replication Configuration <minio-bucket-replication-multi-site-minio-cli-verify-replication-config>

Configure Multi-Site Bucket Replication Using the MinIO Console

1) Create the Replication Rules

Repeat the above steps to create a rule from this deployment to each of the other target deployments.

Then, repeat the above steps on each of the other deployments in the multi-site setup so that each deployment has a separate replication rule for all of the other deployments.

2) Validate the Replication Configuration

Repeat this test on each deployment by copying a new unique file and checking that the file replicates to each of the other deployments.

Configure Multi-Site Bucket Replication Using the Command Line (mc)

This procedure uses the placeholder ALIAS to reference the alias <alias> each MinIO deployment being configured for replication. Replace these values with the appropriate alias for each MinIO deployment.

This procedure assumes each alias corresponds to a user with the necessary replication permissions <minio-bucket-replication-requirements>.

RELEASE.2022-12-24T15-21-38Z

mc replicate add automatically creates the necessary replication targets, removing the need for using the deprecated mc admin remote bucket add command. This procedure only documents the procedure as of that release.

1) Create New Bucket Replication Rules

Repeat these commands for each remote MinIO deployment participating in the multi-site replication configuration. For example, a multi-site replication configuration consisting of MinIO deployments minio1, minio2, and minio3 would require repeating this step on each deployment for each remote.

Specifically, in this scenario, perform this step twice on each deployment:

• On the minio1 deployment, once for a rule for minio2 and again for a separate rule for minio3.
• On the minio2 deployment, once for a rule for minio1 and again for a separate rule for minio3.
• On the minio3 deployment, once for a rule for minio1 and again for a separate rule for minio2.

2) Validate the Replication Configuration

Repeat this test on each deployment by copying a new unique file and checking that the file replicates to each of the other deployments.

You can also use mc stat to check the file to check the current replication stage <minio-replication-process> of the object.