IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for Windows, Version 4.1

Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager with SAN Volume Controller and Storwize V7000

Tivoli® Storage FlashCopy® Manager exploitation of SAN Volume Controller and Storwize® V7000 FlashCopy capabilities on Windows are dependent on the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) hardware provider for SAN Volume Controller and Storwize V7000.

Configuration of the VSS provider for SAN Volume Controller and Storwize V7000 controls what type of FlashCopy is run when a VSS snapshot is requested. It also controls the behavior that results when you use VSS snapshots.

The VSS provider that supports SAN Volume Controller and Storwize V7000 has the following characteristics:

A space-efficient backup version is defined by a FlashCopy to an space-efficient target volume that has a background copy rate of zero. The use of space-efficient target volumes with the autoexpand option that is enabled and a background copy rate set to greater than zero does not create space-efficient backup versions. The target volumes grow to the allocated size of the source volumes when the background copy completes.

Given these characteristics, the following requirements apply to Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager support of SAN Volume Controller and Storwize V7000:

Instant restore

Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager supports VSS instant restore operations when multiple backup versions exist on SAN Volume Controller and Storwize V7000 space-efficient target volumes.

However, in this situation, VSS instant restore accesses snapshot volumes that contain dependent FlashCopy relationships. The snapshot volumes that create the dependency are typically backups that are created after the snapshot that is being restored. These snapshot volumes are removed for the VSS instant restore operation to complete successfully. The backups that included the deleted snapshots are deleted from storage. This destructive restore operation occurs only when VSS instant restore operations occur in an environment where Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager manages multiple backup versions on SAN Volume Controller and Storwize V7000 space-efficient target volumes.

When multiple backup versions exist, all snapshots that are newer than the snapshot that is being restored are deleted during the VSS instant restore operation. The snapshot that is being restored is also deleted. When only one snapshot backup version exists, the snapshot that is being restored is not deleted.



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