Users Guide
HIT Groups allow you to create and manage Smart Copies and Smart Copy schedules on all your hosts, and simultaneously edit settings on
multiple hosts. When a new host is added to a HIT Group, the Host Integration Tools (including ASM/ME) are automatically installed on
the host.
See HIT Groups for more information.
ASM/ME Smart Copies
While the Group Manager GUI allows you to create snapshots, clones, and replicas of volumes, ASM/ME provides the same capability, but
additionally allows you to create snapshots, clones, and replica Smart Copies of Exchange mailbox databases, SQL Server databases, and
Hyper-V virtual machines. ASM/ME can also create Smart Copies of groups or collections of those objects.
You can use ASM/ME to create Smart Copies of the following objects:
• Volumes—PS Series volumes formatted using the NTFS or ReFS file systems. These iSCSI objects are represented by nodes in the
ASM/ME tree panel under Volumes list node.
• Application components of SQL Server databases, Exchange mailbox databases, or Hyper-V virtual machines—Components are
represented by nodes in the ASM/ME tree panel under Applications list node.
Because ASM/ME supports Hyper-V, you can also create Smart Copies of virtual machines (VMs), VMs residing on CSVs, and CSVs
themselves. See Cluster Shared Volumes for more information.
• Collections—Related groups of volumes or application components. Collections are represented by nodes in the ASM/ME tree panel
under Collections list node. For example, you can group multiple volumes or components together as a single collection, and then
create a Smart Copy of the collection. This feature is useful when you want the Smart Copies to be created simultaneously in one set.
You can use either the ASM/ME GUI or the Group Manager GUI to view the snapshots, replicas, and clones created by a Smart Copy
operation.
Smart Copy Types
A Smart Copy is one of three types:
• Snapshot—A point-in-time copy of a PS Series volume. Restoring a snapshot restores the volume to the state represented by the
snapshot.
• Clone—A new, independent volume containing the same data as the original volume at the time the clone is created. Because creating
a clone creates a new, independent volume, you cannot restore a clone.
• Replica—A point-in-time copy of a PS Series volume. The original volume and the replica are located on different PS Series groups
that might be separated by distance for disaster tolerance. The groups and the volume must be configured for replication.
For example, if you use ASM/ME for a snapshot Smart Copy operation on a volume, it results in a Smart Copy consisting of one snapshot
with its associated backup document. However, if you use ASM/ME to perform a snapshot Smart Copy operation on a collection that
consists of four volumes, it results in a Smart Copy comprising four snapshots (one for each volume) and the associated backup
document.
If you promote and mount a replica set, any additional replication attempts are automatically canceled. However, you can also create a
clone of any replica, and then mount the clone to access data. This feature allows replication to continue to the replica set.
Smart Copy Operations for Template and Thin Clone
Volumes
A template volume is a read-only, thin-provisioned volume from which you can create thin clone volumes. A thin clone volume has
dependencies on its template volume. Template and thin clone volumes are useful in situations where you need to create multiple volumes
that have common data. This common data can be written to a volume, and that volume can be converted to a template volume. Thin
clones created from the template volume also include that common data, and then each thin clone volume can be modified as needed.
See the Dell EqualLogic Group Manager Administrator’s Guide for more information about thin clones.
ASM/ME supports the following operations on thin clone volumes:
• Taking a snapshot
• Replicating a thin clone volume
• Cloning a thin clone volume, which creates a new thin clone volume under the template volume
ASM/ME supports the following operations on template volumes:
• Creating a thin clone from the template volume
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Introduction to ASM/ME