Administrator Guide

About Snapshots
Snapshots enable you to capture volume data at a specific point in time without disrupting access to the volume.
A snapshot represents the contents of a volume at the time of creation. If needed, a volume can be restored from a snapshot.
Creating a snapshot does not prevent access to a volume, and the snapshot is instantly available to authorized iSCSI initiators.
Similar to volumes, snapshots appear on the network as iSCSI targets, and can be set online and accessed by hosts with iSCSI
initiators.
You can create a snapshot of a volume at the current time, or you can set up schedules to automatically create snapshots on a
regular basis.
If you accidentally delete data, you can set a snapshot online and retrieve the data. If a volume is corrupted, you can restore the
volume from a snapshot.
NOTE: Generally, snapshots will not be deleted unless you take action to delete them. In some instances, however,
snapshots can be deleted by the system. For example, when a new snapshot is taken and not enough snapshot reserve
space is available for the new snapshot and the previous one, the older one will be deleted. A snapshot can also be deleted
during snapshot borrowing if you run out of borrowable space.
Create a Snapshot
You can create a snapshot of a single volume at the current time. Snapshot creation occurs immediately, with no impact on
volume availability or performance.
Steps
1. Click the Storage view.
2. In the Storage pane, select a PS Series group.
3. Click the Storage tab.
4. In the Storage tab navigation pane, select a volume.
5. In the right pane, click Create Snapshot. The Create Snapshot dialog box opens.
6. (Optional) In the Description field, type a description for the snapshot.
7. To set the snapshot online after it is created, select the Set snapshot online checkbox.
8. To give read-write permissions to the snapshot, select the Make snapshot read-write checkbox.
9. Click OK.
Create a Snapshot Schedule
To specify how often to create snapshots of a volume, create a snapshot schedule.
Steps
1. Click the Storage view.
2. In the Storage pane, select a PS Series group.
3. Click the Storage tab.
4. In the Storage tab navigation pane, select a volume.
5. In the right pane, click Create Schedule. The Create Schedule dialog box opens.
6. In the Name field, type a name for the schedule.
7. In the Frequency drop-down list, select the frequency with which the schedule runs.
8. In the Schedule Type area, select the Snapshot Schedule option.
9. In the Start and End Dates area, select the date and time for the schedule to start and the date and time for the schedule
to end.
10. In the Snapshot Settings area, type the maximum number of snapshots to keep.
11. Click OK.
PS Series Storage Array Administration
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