Users Guide

You can modify a collection by changing its name, by replacing all existing mount points, by adding one or more mount points, or by
deleting it. For example,
# asmcli update collection --name daily-user-vols --add /source/VolC
For information about using ASMCLI to perform these collection operations, see Creating and Managing Collections.
About Smart Copy Schedules
Schedules perform Smart Copy operations at regular intervals. They are predefined Smart Copy creation commands that you create once
and use repeatedly. You can also control how many Smart Copies ASM/LE preserves.
To create a Smart Copy schedule, use the asmcli create schedule command and specify a schedule name and a list of one or
more mount points using the --source or --collection parameters.
Advantages of Smart Copy Schedules
Using Smart Copy schedules provides several advantages over manual Smart Copy creation:
• You can name commonly used commands for creating a Smart Copy to indicate its purpose.
• You can incorporate schedules into scripts or cron jobs.
• You can include the scheduled operation in a script or cron table, and change schedules without modifying any scripts or cron tables.
• You can find Smart Copies that were created by a particular schedule using the list smart-copy --schedule command in
addition to other commands.
• You can limit the number of Smart Copies a schedule keeps by using the --keep option. By default, ASM/LE keeps 12 Smart Copies.
If you specify a value of 10 for --keep, when the schedule creates copy 11, ASM/LE either deletes copy 1, if that copy is not in use
(logged in or mounted), or the oldest copy that is not in use.
NOTE:
Snapshot and replica Smart Copies are also limited by the snapshot reserve and replica reserve configured on
the PS Series group. See the Dell EqualLogic Group Manager Administrator’s Guide for details.
For information about commands for schedule operations, see Creating and Managing a Smart Copy as a Scheduled Operation.
Constraints of Smart Copy Schedules
There are several constraints to consider when using Smart Copy schedules:
• You can only schedule snapshot or replica Smart Copy operations. You cannot create clones by using a schedule.
• While you can incorporate scheduled operations into scripts or cron jobs and enable them, creating Smart Copies every few minutes
could adversely affect performance. ASMCLI enforces a minimum elapsed time limit between using a schedule, and Dell recommends
specifying at least 10 minutes for cron jobs that run a Smart Copy schedule.
• By default, ASMCLI keeps 12 schedules. You can use the --keep option in the asmcli create schedule command to modify
the number of schedules retained. If the --keep value is set to 12, when the schedule creates copy 13, ASMCLI either deletes copy 1
if that copy is not in use (logged in or mounted), or deletes the oldest copy that is not in use. The deleted Smart Copies result in a
broken Smart Copy, because the backup document refers to snapshots or replicas that are no longer on the PS Series group.
Data Restoration
Data restoration involves mounting a Smart Copy, restoring data from it, and then unmounting and logging off the Smart Copy.
How you access or restore data from a Smart Copy depends on the original object (volume or collection) and the result of the Smart Copy
operation (snapshot, replica, or clone).
Collections and applications can have multiple components (for example, multiple volumes or databases spanning multiple volumes). Based
on the components of the original object, a Smart Copy can include one or more snapshots, replicas, or clones created at the same time,
Options for accessing data include:
• Quickly restore the original object from a Smart Copy. Applies to Smart Copies that contain volume snapshots.
• Mount a Smart Copy as read-only. Applies to replicas, or Smart Copies that contain replicas of volumes.
• Restore the original object in a new location. Applies to Smart Copies that contain snapshots and clones.
If you make changes to a volume layout and have a Smart Copy that predates the layout changes, you cannot use that Smart Copy to
recover data. Attempting to recover the data might cause data loss on the production volume.
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Introduction to ASM/LE