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Dell EMC PowerVault MD 34XX/38XX Series Storage Arrays Administrator's Guide

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Volume shadow-copy service

The Microsoft Volume Shadow-Copy Service (VSS) is a component of the Microsoft Windows operating system. The VSS component uses third-party vendor-specific software modules, known as providers, to access and uses snapshot and disk copy functionality provided by third-party storage resources, such as MD Series storage arrays. The combination of the VSS component and the VSS Provider, included on the MD Series Resource media, enables the MD Series storage arrays to be used by third-party and Windows backup and snapshot applications.
NOTE:
  • Virtual disks used as source virtual disks for VSS snapshots must not have names longer than 16 characters.

  • Dell EMC is discontinuing support of the VSS and VDS hardware providers. For more information about deprecation, see the Dell EMC MD Series Storage Arrays Information Update. For supported software, see the Supported Management Software section in the Dell PowerVault MD Series Support Matrix at Dell.com/powervaultmanuals.

The VSS hardware provider uses the source virtual disk name as a prefix for the snapshot and repository virtual disk names. The resulting snapshot and repository names are too long if the source virtual disk name exceeds 16 characters.

VSS attaches to the service and uses it to coordinate the creation of snapshot virtual disks on the storage array. VSS-initiated snapshot virtual disks can be triggered through backup tools, known as requestors. The VSS Provider Configuration Tool makes available the following configuration options:
  • Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk Properties—This section contains a drop-down list for the RAID level and a field for entering source virtual disk capacity percentage for snapshot repositories.
  • Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk Location—This section contains a list of preferences for the location of the snapshot repository virtual disk. These preferences are honored whenever conditions permit.

The Microsoft VSS installer service for storage provisioning is available on the MD Series resource media in the \windows\VDS_VSS directory.

NOTE: When registering VSS during your Windows setup, the registration graphical user interface (GUI) prompts you to provide the name of your array because settings in the GUI are array-specific, not host-specific.
Storage Management VSS Hardware Provider tips:
  • The number of snapshot virtual disks that can be created using a single snapshot set varies with the I/O load on the RAID controller modules. Under little or no I/O load, the number of virtual disks in a snapshot set must be limited to eight. Under high I/O loads, the limit must be three.
  • The snapshot virtual disks created in the MD Storage Manager are differential snapshots. Plex snapshots are not supported.
  • Virtual disks to be used as source virtual disks for VSS snapshots must not have names longer than 16 characters. The VSS hardware provider uses the base virtual disk name as a prefix for the snapshot and repository virtual disk names. The resulting snapshot and repository names are too long if the source virtual disk name exceeds 16 characters.
NOTE: A volume is another term for virtual disk.

For more information about VDS and VSS, see Microsoft.com.

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