6-2 Dell ActiveArchive™
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Dell ActiveArchive allows the creation and preservation of persistent images of Dell
PowerVault™ 750N and 755N system data volumes. The Dell ActiveArchive software is
installed on all PowerVault 75xN systems. It can be configured by using the NAS Manager.
This chapter provides information on the following topics:
• Introduction to persistent images
• Scheduling persistent images
• Adding persistent images to the schedule
• Deleting a persistent image schedule
• Editing the properties of a persistent image’s schedule
• Taking a new persistent image
• Deleting a persistent image
• Configuring the persistent image environment
• Setting persistent image retention weights
• Accessing persistent images
•Restoring a volume
Introduction to Persistent Images
A persistent image is a point-in-time copy of a disk volume. Unlike conventiona l volumes,
the information in the persistent image is static. A persistent image contains an exact copy
of the file system at the time the persistent image was created. If you change a file on the
active file system after taking a persistent image, the persistent image contains the old
version of the file. If an active file gets corrupted or deleted, you can restore the old version
by copying the file from the latest persistent image. Also, because the persistent image
contains the contents of the file system when the persistent image was taken, you can
perform a backup from the persistent image without stopping all I/O to the file servers, thus
eliminating the backup window required by other types of backup.
NOTE: Persistent images are temporary backups of your data that reside on the same volume as
your data. If the volume becomes damaged, you lose your data including the persistent image.
Therefore, persistent images do not replace regular backups of your volume.