Administering volume snapshots 319

Creating instant snapshots

Creating instant snapshots

Note: You need a full license to use this feature.

VxVM allows you to make instant snapshots of volumes by using the vxsnap command.

Note: The information in this section also applies to RAID-5 volumes that have been converted to a special layered volume layout by the addition of a DCO and DCO volume. See Using a DCO and DCO volume with a RAID-5 volume” on page 277 for details.

A plex in a full-sized instant snapshot requires as much space as the original volume. If you instead make a space-optimized instant snapshot of a volume, this only requires enough storage to record the original contents of the parent volume as they are changed during the life of the snapshot.

The recommended approach to performing volume backup from the command line, or from a script, is to use the vxsnap command. The vxsnap prepare and make tasks allow you to back up volumes online with minimal disruption to users.

The vxsnap prepare step creates a DCO and DCO volume and associates this with the volume. It also enables Persistent FastResync on the volume.

The vxsnap make step creates an instant snapshot that is immediately available for making a backup. After the snapshot has been taken, read requests for data in the original volume are satisfied by reading either from a non-updated region of the original volume, or from the copy of the original contents of an updated region that have been recorded by the snapshot.

Note: Synchronization of a full-sized instant snapshot from the original volume is enabled by default. If you specify the syncing=no attribute to vxsnap make, this disables synchronization, and the contents of the instant snapshot are unlikely ever to become fully synchronized with the contents of the original volume at the point in time that the snapshot was taken. If you wish to move an instant snapshot volume to another disk group for export to another machine for off-host processing, or to turn it into an independent volume, you must ensure that the snapshot volume has been completely synchronized.

You can immediately retake a full-sized or space-optimized instant snapshot at any time by using the vxsnap refresh command. If a fully synchronized instant snapshot is required, you must wait for the new resynchronization to complete.