3PAR VSS Provider for Microsoft Windows 1.6 User's Guide

2.2
3PAR VSS Provider for Microsoft Windows 1.6 User’s Guide
2.2 Operation of 3PAR VSS Provider for Microsoft Windows
3PAR VSS Provider for Microsoft Windows (Figure 2-1) communicates with the operating
system and applications, and temporarily freezes computing tasks to allow for the creation of
and removal of snapshots. The freeze function allows for the creation of a snapshot that
reflects the state of application data at a given point in time. When the process resumes, the
original volume will continue to change while the shadow copy of the volume remains
constant.
3PAR VSS Provider for Microsoft Windows also gives permission for the backup application to
access the volume and back it up in its “frozen” state. The shadow copy volume is then used
for the actual backup. After the shadow copy volume is saved on the backup device, the
shadow copy is deleted.
Figure 2-1. 3PAR VSS Provider for Microsoft Windows Operation Overview