Dell PowerStore Protecting Your Data

Create a snapshot

Creating a snapshot saves the state of the storage resource and all files and data within it at a particular point in time. You can use snapshots to restore the entire storage resource to a previous state. You can create a snapshot of a volume, volume group, file system, or virtual machine.

Before creating a snapshot, consider the following:

• Snapshots are not full copies of the original data. Do not rely on snapshots for mirrors, disaster recovery, or high-availability tools. Because snapshots are partially derived from the real-time data of the storage resources, they can become inaccessible if the storage resource becomes inaccessible.
• Although snapshots are space efficient, they consume overall system storage capacity . Ensure that the system has enough capacity to accommodate snapshots.
• When configuring snapshots, review the snapshot retention policy that is associated with the storage resource. You may want to change the retention policy in the associated rules or manually set a different retention policy, depending on the purpose of the snapshot.
• Manual snapshots that are created with PowerStore Manager are retained for one week after creation (unless configured otherwise).
• If the maximum number of snapshots is reached, no more can be created. In this case, to enable creation of new snapshots, you are required to delete existing snapshots.
• If you wish to configure secure snapshots (especially when they are configured as part of a local protection policy), it is recommended to review the business requirements with an administrator before proceeding. Secure snapshots cannot be deleted until the end of the retention period, therefore it is required to plan ahead to avoid reaching the maximum snapshot limit. For details on secure snapshots, see Secure snapshots.

If you cannot view the snapshots that are created for a storage object, add the Snapshots column to the table using the Show/Hide Table Columns. The Snapshots column displays the number of snapshots that are created for each object. Clicking the number opens the Snapshots window that provides detailed information for each snapshot.