VNX Snapshot

Upon completion of this module, you should be able to:

• Describe VNX Snapshot operations
• Manage VNX Snapshot and Sessions

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 VNX Snapshot

Lesson 1: VNX Snapshots: Theory and Operation

During this lesson the following topics are covered:
• Purpose of VNX Snapshots
• VNX Snapshots requirements
• VNX Snapshots managed objects
• VNX Snapshots theory of operations

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VNX Snapshots
• VNX Snapshots – virtual point-in-time copy of a LUN
 Allows to create snapshots of pool-based LUNs
 Use pointer-based replication and Relocate on First Write (ROW)
technology
 Make use of the source LUN’s parent Pool to store original data
 Have three managed objects: Snapshot, Snapshot Mount Point,
Consistency Group
• VNX Snapshots are managed by
 Unisphere
 Navisphere Secure CLI
 SnapCLI

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VNX Snapshots Requirements
Environment System Requirements
Hardware VNX Storage System
Two or more Servers (if the VNX Snapshots
snap is to be accessed by a host), each
attached to the VNX that will run VNX
Snapshots
Storage System Software VNX Operating Environment for Block
Release 32
VNX Snapshot enabler
Management Software Unisphere UI
Navisphere Secure CLI
SnapCLI
Operating Systems HP-UX
IBM AIX
Linux
Solaris
Windo
ws
Server
Refer to EMC Support Matrix for a complete
list

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VNX Snapshots Managed Objects
• Primary LUN
 Pool LUN from which the snapshot is taken
• Snapshot
 Point-in-time copy of a LUN
• Snapshot Mount Point
 An object that is exposed to the host through a storage group
• Consistency Group
 Persistent grouping of primary LUNs or Mount Points

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VNX Snapshots Characteristics
• Scalability
Primary  256 snapshots per LUN
LUN
 Thin provisioned copies
 Lower write performance
2:00 pm Dev impact
Snapshot Snapshot
• Functionality
4:00 pm Patch 1  Snapshot of a Snapshot
Snapshot Snapshot
 RecoverPoint support
 Clone support
6:00 pm Patch 2
Snapshot Snapshot
• Consistency Groups

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VNX Snapshot Mount Points
• A Snapshot Mount Point is a container that holds SCSI attributes
 Behaves like a LUN of the same size as the Primary LUN
 Added as a member LUN in the secondary host Storage Group
• A VNX Snapshot is attached to a Snapshot Mount Point (SMP) in
order to allow host access to the replica data
• VNX Snapshots are easily switched on one SMP
 No SCSI rescan is required on the host
• Must have an attached Snapshot for data to be host-visible

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VNX Snapshot Consistency Group
• A group of Primary LUNs or VNX Snapshot Mount Points
• Snapshots can be made of the entire Group
• Primary LUNs or VNX SMPs can be added to the Group
 Snapshots may have more or fewer members as a result
 Snapshots being restored must have the same members as the
Group
• Does not require application I/O to be stopped
• Related terms
 VNX Snapshot Set - a Snapshot of a Consistency Group
 VNX Snapshot Family – a group of Snapshots of the same LUN

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SnapView and VNX Snapshot Terminology
Comparison
VNX Snapshot Term SnapView Term Definition
Snapshot Session Point in time copy
Restore Rollback Restore primary LUN to point in
time copy
Attach Activate Make the point in time copy
accessible to a host
Detach Deactivate Remove the point in time copy
from the host
Consistency Group n/a Persistent grouping of primary
LUNs or Mount Points
Snapshot Family n/a Pool LUN, all of its associated
mount points and all of their
snapshots
Primary LUN Source LUN Pool LUN that can be used by
VNX Snapshots
Snapshot Mount Point Snapshot [LUN] LUN that host uses to access the
snapshot data

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Snapshot Technology Comparison: Source LUN
Writes

Copy on first write Redirect on write

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Snapshot Technology Comparison: Snapshot Reads

Read from two places Read from a single place

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VNX Snapshot Operations
• Create a Snapshot
• Create a Snapshot Mount Point (SMP)
• Attach a Snapshot
• Copy a Snapshot
• Snap a Snapshot Mount Point (Cascading Snapshots)
• Detach a Snapshot Mount Point
• Destroy a Snapshot
• Attach a Consistency Snapshot

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Create a VNX Snapshot
Primary LUN

Lun_20
Snap 1 (R/O)
Creation time: 8pm
Last modify time:
Last modified by: Snap 1
Source LUN: LUN_20
Primary LUN:
LUN_20
Attached LUN:

Snap 2 (R/O)
Creation time: 9pm
Last modify time:
Last modified by: Snap 2
Source LUN: LUN_20
Primary LUN:
LUN_20
...

Attached LUN:

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Create a VNX Snapshot Mount Point (SMP)
Primary LUN

Lun_20
Snap 1 (R/O)
Creation time: 8pm
Last modify time:
Last modified by: Snap 1 SMP1
Source LUN: LUN_20
Primary LUN:
LUN_20
Attached LUN:

Snap 2 (R/O)
Creation time: 9pm
Last modify time:
Last modified by: Snap 2
Source LUN: LUN_20
Primary LUN:
LUN_20
...

Attached LUN:

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Attach a VNX Snapshot to a SMP
Primary LUN

Lun_20
Snap 1 (R/O)
Creation time: 8pm
Last modify time:
Last modified by: Snap 1
Source LUN: LUN_20
Primary LUN:
LUN_20
Attached LUN:

Snap 2 (R/W)
Creation time: 9pm
Last modify time:
Last modified by: Snap 2 SMP1
Source LUN: LUN_20
Primary LUN:
LUN_20
...

Attached LUN: SMP1

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Copy a VNX Snapshot (Snap of a Snap)

Primary LUN

Lun_20
...

Snap 1 Snap 2 Snap 3

Snap 1 (R/W) Snap 2 (R/W) Snap 2 (R/O)

Creation time: 8pm Creation time: 9pm Creation time: 8pm
Last modify time: Last modify time: Last modify time:
Last modified by: Last modified by: Last modified by:
Source LUN: LUN_20 Source LUN: LUN_20 Source LUN: LUN_20
Primary LUN: Primary LUN: Primary LUN:
LUN_20 LUN_20 LUN_20
Attached LUN: Attached LUN: SMP1 Attached LUN:

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Snap of a Snapshot Mount Point

Lun_20
...
Primary
LUN
Snap 1 Snap 2
Snap 2 (R/W)
Snap 1 (R/O) SMP1
Creation time: 9pm
Creation time: 8pm
Last modify time:
Last modify time:
Last modified by:
Last modified by:
Source LUN:
Source LUN:
LUN_20 Snap 2.1
LUN_20 Snap 2.2
Primary LUN:
Primary LUN:
LUN_20 Snap 2 (R/O)
LUN_20 Snap 1 (R/O)
Attached LUN:
Attached LUN:
SMP1 Creation time: 11pm
Creation time: 10pm
Last modify time:
Last modify time:
Last modified by:
Last modified by:
Source LUN: SMP1
Source LUN: SMP1
Primary LUN:
Primary LUN:
LUN_20
LUN_20
Attached LUN:
Attached LUN:
SMP1

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Detach a VNX Snapshot to a SMP
Primary LUN

Lun_20
Snap 1 (R/O)
Creation time: 8pm
Last modify time:
Last modified by: Snap 1
Source LUN: LUN_20
Primary LUN:
LUN_20
Attached LUN:

Snap 2 (R/W)
Creation time: 9pm
Last modify time: 11:47pm
Last modified by:
Source LUN: LUN_20
Snap 2 X SMP1
Primary LUN: LUN_20
Attached LUN: SMP1
...

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Destroy a VNX Snapshot
Primary LUN

Lun_20
Snap 1 (R/O)
Creation time: 8pm
Last modify time:
Last modified by: Snap 1 SMP1
Source LUN: LUN_20
Primary LUN:
LUN_20
Attached LUN:

X
Snap 2 (R/O)
Creation time: 9pm
Last modify time:
Last modified by: Snap 2
Source LUN: LUN_20
Primary LUN:
LUN_20
...

Attached LUN:

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Attach a Consistency Snapshot

Host 1 Host 2

Lun_20

SMP
Lun_21 LUN_20

SMP
LUN_21
R/W
CG
CG1 Snap 1

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 VNX Snapshot

Lesson 1: Summary
During this lesson the following topics were covered:
• Purpose of VNX Snapshots
• VNX Snapshots requirements
• VNX Snapshots managed objects
• VNX Snapshots theory of operations

Copyright © 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. VNX Snapshot 21

 VNX Snapshot

Lesson 2: Managing VNX Snapshots

During this lesson the following topics are covered:
• Displaying VNX Snapshots
• VNX Snapshot expiration
• Cascading VNX Snapshots
• Restoring VNX Snapshots

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VNX Snapshot Management

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VNX Snapshot Properties

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VNX Snapshot Consistency Group Properties

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Storage Pool Properties - VNX Snapshots

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VNX Snapshot and SMP Creation

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VNX Snapshot Expiration
• Every VNX Snapshot may
have an optional expiration
date
• Expired VNX Snapshots are
destroyed at regular intervals
 VNX array scans for expired
snapshots once an hour
• Set an expiration date only
after Auto-Delete is disabled
• User is warned before
Snapshots are
deleted

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Cascading VNX Snapshots
• VNX Snapshot of an attached Snapshot Mount Point

Not attached Attached

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Restore
• Use VNX Snapshot to restore a primary LUN or a SMP
• Data in the LUN is changed to match the data in the snapshot
 Does not change the “Restore Point” snapshot
 Return no the poin-in-time of the source data
• Used when recovering from data corruption
• LUN with state ‘Initializing’ while being restored
 Changes back to ‘Ready’ after the restore is complete
• Restoring can change the LUN size
 If the source snapshot was taken before the primary LUN expansion
or shrinking

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Restore Considerations
• Restore with SnapView Snapshots and VNX Snapshots
 Restore a primary LUN from a VNX Snapshot
 All SnapView session must be manually stopped
 Restore a primary LUN from a SnapView Snapshot
 VNX Snapshots are unaffected
• Stop application access to the primary
LUN
• Flush the buffers for the drive

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Restoring a Primary LUN

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VNX Snapshot Configuration Wizard

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 VNX Snapshot

Lesson 2: Summary
During this lesson the following topics were covered:
• VNX Snapshot Management
• VNX Snapshot properties
• VNX Snapshot expiration and restore

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VNX Snapshot Summary
Key points covered in this module:
• VNX Snapshot provides a point-in-time virtual copy of pool-
based LUNs using ROW technology
• A Snapshot Mount Point is a container that holds SCSI attributes,
behaves like a LUN, and is added to host Storage Group

Copyright © 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. VNX Snapshot 35