3PAR VSS Provider 2.1.0 for Microsoft Windows User's Guide (QL226-96144, August 2011)

• HP Data Protector.
Support for HP Data Protector through Recovery Manager for SQL and Recovery Manager
for Exchange backup methods.
• Transportable shadow copy.
Supports transportable shadow copy to allow import from another system.
• x86 and x64 platform support.
Provides 32-bit and 64-bit installation packages for working with x86 and x64 platforms.
• Secure system connection.
Connects to the system using the encrypted authentication information.
• Support for the following:
Microsoft VSS Transportable shadow copy.◦
◦ Egenera environment.
◦ VMware environment.
◦ iSCSI configurations.
• Command line interface for system connection setup.
A command line interface is provided to quickly determine and modify connection settings.
• Support for multiple system configurations.
Provides the capability to handle VSS snapshots on different systems that are connected to
the local host.
Special Considerations
• Auto-Import Shadow Copies are not supported on Windows Cluster service.
Windows Cluster service cannot accommodate LUNs with duplicate signatures and partition
layout. The shadow copy LUNs must be transported to a host outside the cluster, or the original
volume must be dismounted before the shadow copy can be imported. This is a limitation of
the Window Cluster service.
• Shadow Copies Containing Dynamic Disks must be Transported.
The native support for dynamic disks cannot accommodate LUNs with duplicate signatures
and configuration database contents. The shadow copy LUNs must be transported to a different
host. VSS enforces this by not allowing auto-import shadow copies of dynamic disks. A
requestor should not import a transportable shadow copy back to the same host. This is a
limitation on Dynamic Disk.
• Create Shadow Copy Volumes Read-Only and Hidden.
VSS sets flags on each affected LUN such that the resulting shadow copy will be hidden and
read-only when detected by a Windows Server 2003 or 2008 system. Drive letters and/or
mount points are not automatically assigned. VSS maintains these flags throughout the lifecycle
of a shadow copy. Modification of these flags may lead to unpredictable results.
• Shadow Copy Attribute Context.
The following are shadow copy attributes supported by passing in the shadow copy context:
◦ The shadow copy is persistent across reboots.
◦ The shadow copy is not automatically deleted when the shadow copy requestor process
ends. The shadow copy can be deleted only by a call to:
IvssBackupComponents::DeleteSnapshots
8 Overview