A company has VPLEX Metro protecting two applications without Cluster Witness:.

In a VPLEX Metro environment without a Cluster Witness, consistency groups (CGs) are used to manage distributed virtual volumes with detach rules that determine the behavior during a cluster failure.

CG1 with Cluster-1 as Winner: For App1, the distributed virtual volumes are added to CG1, which has a detach rule set with cluster-1 as the winner. This means that if cluster-2 fails, I/O for CG1 will continue to be serviced at cluster-1 after it automatically attaches the volumes that were distributed across both clusters1.

CG2 with Cluster-2 as Winner: For App2, the distributed virtual volumes are added to CG2, which has a detach rule set with cluster-2 as the winner. In the event of a cluster-2 failure, I/O for CG2 will be serviced after the volumes are detached from cluster-2, allowing cluster-1 to take over and service the I/O1.

Extended Cluster-2 Failure: If cluster-2 fails for an extended period, the VPLEX Metro will follow the detach rules set for each consistency group. CG1 will have its I/O serviced at cluster-1, and CG2 will also have its I/O serviced at cluster-1 after detaching from the failed cluster-21.

No Cluster Witness: Without a Cluster Witness, the VPLEX Metro relies on the detach rules defined in the consistency groups to determine how to handle I/O in the event of a cluster failure1.

Operational Continuity: The goal is to maintain operational continuity for both applications. By servicing I/O for both CG1 and CG2 at cluster-1, VPLEX ensures that both applications remain operational despite the failure of cluster-21.

In summary, if cluster-2 fails for an extended period in a VPLEX Metro setup without a Cluster Witness, I/O for CG1 will be serviced at cluster-1, and I/O for CG2 will also be serviced at cluster-1 after detaching from cluster-2, as per the detach rules set for each consistency group.