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Table Of Contents
- VMware vFabric Data Director Administrator and User Guide
- Contents
- About VMware vFabric Data Director
- Updated Information
- VMware vFabric Data Director and vFabric Postgres Overview
- Managing Data Director Resources
- Managing Users and Roles
- Managing Organizations
- Managing Database Groups
- Managing Database Templates
- Managing Databases
- Cloning Databases
- Managing Database Entities
- Safeguarding Data
- Monitoring the Data Director Environment
- Managing Licenses
- Reconfiguring Data Director Networks
- Change the vCenter IP Address
- Reconfigure the Web Console Network Mapping or Network Adapter
- Reconfigure the vCenter Network Mapping
- Reconfigure the vCenter Network Adapter Settings
- Reconfigure the DB Name Service Network or DB Name Service Network Adapter
- Reconfigure the Internal Network or Internal Network Adapter Mapping
- Verify Network Settings in Data Director
- Data Director Troubleshooting
- Index
Figure 8-1. Full Database Clone
staging
production
full database
clone
Linked Clones
Linked clones are two or more databases that share storage. The linked clone
technology supports efficient sharing of duplicate data. Linked clones use delta
disk backings. A delta disk backing is a virtual disk file that is located on top
of a standard virtual disk backing file. When one of the databases writes to disk,
the data is written to that database's delta disk. When one of the databases reads
from disk, the read process first checks the delta disk. If the data is not in the
delta disk, the database retrieves the information from the parent disk.
You can create a linked clone from a snapshot or from the current running point
but not from an earlier backup or from a specific point in the past. If you use
linked clones, the clone and the source database cannot change data disk size.
Figure 8-2. Linked Database Clone
dev QA perf
staging
linked database
clones
Choosing a Full Clone or a Linked Clone
To choose the clone type most appropriate for your situation, consider these points:
n
Full clones require a longer time to create than linked clones.
n
Linked clones are much faster to create.
n
Linked clones do not support storage isolation. Having several linked clones can affect the performance
of the source database and the performance of the linked clones.
VMware best practice is to first create a full clone of a production database to use it as a staging clone. Next,
you create linked clones of the production system full clone, the staging system in the illustration. In this
scenario, potential performance degradation affects only the staging system clone and not the production
database.
VMware vFabric Data Director Administrator and User Guide
58 VMware, Inc.