Policy-Based Replication (PBR) on IBM FlashSystem provides a scalable, consistent way to replicate storage volumes across sites. When combined with Ansible automation, PBR becomes repeatable, secure, and easy to manage—ideal for disaster recovery and multi-site deployments.

This blog explains how to configure PBR using Ansible playbooks, covering security, pool setup, policy creation, and volume lifecycle management.

Why Use Ansible for Policy-Based Replication?

Manual replication setups are error-prone and hard to scale. Ansible brings clear advantages:

• Automation & repeatability – Same result every time

• Idempotency – Safe re-runs without breaking existing setups

• Declarative configuration – Define intent, not steps

• Scalability – Easily add volumes or hosts later

Together, Ansible and PBR enable replication-as-code.

Solution Overview

This Ansible solution automates end-to-end PBR setup between two IBM FlashSystem clusters:

• Secure cluster communication using mutual TLS (mTLS)

• Create or reuse Data Reduction Pools

• Link pools between primary and secondary clusters

• Create provisioning and replication policies

• Create multiple volumes using a configurable prefix

• Group volumes into a volume group

• Map all volumes to an existing host

Playbook Structure

1. main.yml – Entry Point

This is the only playbook you execute:

ansible-playbook main.yml

It orchestrates the full workflow:

• Invokes mTLS configuration

• Sets up pools and PBR policies

• Creates volume group and volumes

• Maps volumes to the specified host

If additional volumes are added to the inventory later, re-running the playbook will automatically add and map them.

2. create_mTLS.yml – Secure Communication

This playbook configures mutual TLS between clusters by:

• Exporting certificates

• Creating truststores

• Establishing secure cluster-to-cluster communication

This ensures replication traffic is authenticated and encrypted.

3. drp_pool_setup.yml – Pools and Policies

This playbook:

• Checks drive status and availability

• Creates mdisk groups and Data Reduction Pools (if needed)

• Supports using pre-existing pools by name

• Links pools between sites

• Creates provisioning and replication policies

Users can also manually create pools and assign drives beforehand if they want full control over drive selection.

Conclusion

Using Ansible to configure Policy-Based Replication on IBM FlashSystem transforms replication from a manual task into a reliable, repeatable workflow. By automating security, pools, policies, and volume management, teams can deploy and scale replication with confidence.

This approach is ideal for enterprises looking to standardize disaster recovery and modernize storage operations with automation.

References:

    •    Ansible automation hub: https://console.redhat.com/ansible/automation-hub/repo/published/ibm/storage_virtualize/
    •    Ansible Galaxy: https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/repo/published/ibm/storage_virtualize/
    •    PBR playbook:  https://github.com/ansible-collections/ibm.storage_virtualize/tree/develop/playbooks/policy_based_replication