HP StorageWorks SAN Virtualization Services Platform Best Practices Guide (5697-0935, May 2011)

8 GB4 GBAdditional capacity (4)
13 GB5 GBAdditional capacity (5)
18 GB5 GBAdditional capacity (6)
Snapclones
The snapclone feature allows you to create multiple physical copies of a SVSP virtual disk, snapshot,
virtual disk group, or virtual disk group snapshot.
The snapclone function can create copies within a single SVSP domain (intra-domain) or between
SVSP domains (inter-domain). The copy process is carried out without any use of host resources.
Snapclones can be made independently accessible and instantly available for both read and write
operations. Applications can immediately start using the copies while the snapclone continues to
move the data in the background with no need to wait for the operation to complete. Using
snapclones within the SVSP domain requires a Business Copy license. Snapclones to other SVSP
domains are not instantly available and require a Continuous Access license.
Creating a snapclone (Figure 13 (page 29)) is a high performance operation, that is, quick and
efficient. Snapclones provide data protection, central copy management, instant availability, and
support one-to-many copies. There is a performance impact for performing multiple simultaneous
copies. The level of impact depends upon a number of factors including the storage subsystem
and the SVSP virtual disk layout. More than 30 snapclone operations in progress will slow the
system. A snapclone task copies the data from the PiT of the source storage element to the destination
storage element. The snapclone destination of a virtual disk is another virtual disk. The snapclone
destination of a virtual disk group (VDG) is another VDG.
Figure 13 Snapclone creation
Snapclones 29