SnapView Snapshot

Upon completion of this module, you should be able

to:
Describe SnapView Snapshot operations
Configure and Manage SnapView Snapshots

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 1

 SnapView Snapshots

Lesson 1: Theory and Operation

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

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 2

SnapView Snapshots
SnapView Snapshot - an instantaneous frozen
virtual copy of a LUN on a storage system
Allows a secondary server to view a point-in-time
copy of a source LUN
Snapshots are created instantly no data is copied at
creation time
Snapshot will not change UNLESS the user writes to it
Original view available by deactivating changed
Snapshot
Virtual LUN
Not a real LUN - made up of pointers, original and
saved blocks
Uses a copy on first write (COFW) mechanism
Requires a save area the Reserved LUN Pool

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 3

SnapView Snapshots Requirements
Environment System Requirements
Hardware VNX Storage System
Two or more Servers (if the SnapView
snapshot is to be accessed by a host),
each attached to the VNX that will run
SnapView
Storage System Software VNX Operating Environment for Block
SnapView enabler
Management Software Unisphere UI
Navisphere Secure CLI
Admsnap
Operating Systems HP-UX
IBM AIX
Linux
Solaris
Windows Server

Refer to EMC Support Matrix for a

complete list

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 4

SnapView Snapshots Managed Objects
Source LUN
The LUN containing production data
SnapView Session
Process of defining the point-in-time designation
Invokes COFW activity for updates to the source LUN
Reserved LUN
Supports the pointer-based design of SnapView
Snapshot
Used to save data chunks
SnapView Snapshot
The defined virtual LUN
Presented to the secondary host
Enables visibility into running sessions

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 5

SnapView Session
SnapView Session
COFW mechanism starts and ends with session
SnapView snapshot appears off-line until there is an
active session
A multiple Source LUN session can be started
consistently
SnapView Session name
Sessions should have significant names
Compatibility with admsnap use alphanumerics,
underscores
Its case-sensitive!
Session consistent start
Holds I/O until session starts on all source LUNs
Fails if any source LUN fails
Does not allow other LUNs to be added to session
Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 6
Copy on First Write
Allows efficient utilization of copy space
Uses a dedicated save area the Reserved LUN Pool
Total capacity of Reserved LUN Pool LUNs is
approximately 20% of total source LUN sizes
Saves original data chunks once only
Chunks are a fixed size - 64 KB (128 blocks)
Chunks are saved when theyre modified for the first
time
Allows consistent point-in-time views of LUN(s)
Allows rollback to previous points in time

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 7

Reserved LUN Recommendations
Total number of Reserved LUNs is VNX model-
dependent
Reserved LUNs may be of different sizes
No checking of size, disk type or RAID type when
allocated
Use SAS drives with write-cache enabled LUNs
Thin LUNS cannot be used in the RLP
Create 2 RLs per Source LUN, each 10% of Source
LUN size
Example
LUNs to be snapped: 10 GB, 20 GB, 30 GB, 100 GB
Average LUN size = 160 GB/4 = 40 GB
Make each Reserved LUN 4 GB in size
Make 8 Reserved LUNs
Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 8
SnapView: Stopping Sessions
Sessions may be manually stopped by the user
SnapView Sessions are automatically stopped
If the Reserved LUN Pool fills (attempt to use too
much disk space)
Stopping the SnapView Session
Removes all memory map entries associated with
session
Reserved LUN Pool space is made available for reuse

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 9

Host I/O to a Source LUN
Three possible types of I/O to a source LUN
1. Read or write request with no active session
I/O passed to driver below in I/O stack
2. Read request with active session
I/O passed to driver below in I/O stack
3. Write request with an active session
If the original data is not already in the Reserved LUN
Pool, Copy on First Write is performed
Original data read from source LUN
SnapView finds an unused area in the Reserved LUN Pool
Original data written to unused area in Reserved LUN Pool
Entry made in memory and on disk to indicate where
original data is written
Write request passed to driver below in I/O stack
If the original data is already in the Reserved LUN Pool,
the write request is passed to driver below in I/O stack

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 10

Host I/O to a Snapshot
Three possible types of I/O to a Snapshot
1. Read or write request with no active session is
intercepted by the SnapView driver
I/O requests fail drive appears off-line
2. Read request with an active session
Memory map consulted to determine if the data should be
read from the Reserved LUN Pool or from the source LUN
3. Write request with an active session
Write requests are allowed; however, any data written to a
Snapshot is not persistent beyond the end of the session
The memory map is consulted to determine if the original
data has been written to the Reserved LUN Pool (i.e., COFW
has already occurred)
If not, a new map entry is created, and the original data is
written to the RLP. The new data is written to the Source
LUN

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 11

SnapView Snapshot Theory of Operation

Source Reserved LUN Pool

Production LUN
Server
1
Chunks
A B C LUN 6 LUN 7

Continuous
I/O

LUN 8 LUN 9
1
Session
Chunks 9AM
1 Session 9AM is started
A B C
Reserved LUN 6 is allocated
Source COFW is enabled
LUN

8AM 9AM

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 12

SnapView Snapshot Theory of Operation
(continued)
Production
Server Source LUN Reserved LUN Pool

R/W Chunks
A B C
LUN 6 LUN 7

Session LUN 8 LUN 9

9AM

2 Snapshot of Source LUN is created

2 but not activated
Server B
3 Snapshot of Source LUN is added
A B C to the Storage Group of Server B
Chunks
Not Ready 3
Snapshot of
Source LUN
10AM

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 13

SnapView Snapshot Theory of Operation
(continued)
Production
Server Source LUN Reserved LUN Pool

R/W Chunks
A B C
LUN 6 LUN 7

Session LUN 8 LUN 9

9AM
4 Snapshot of Source LUN is activated
Session 9AM is allocated by Snapshot
of Source LUN
4 Server B
Virtual Source LUN (Snapshot of Source LUN)
A B C is made available (R / W) to Server B
Chunks
R/W
Snapshot of
Source LUN
11AM

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 14

SnapView Snapshot Theory of Operation
(continued)
Production
Server Source LUN Reserved LUN Pool
5
C
Chunks
R/W C
A B C 6
LUN 6 LUN 7

Session LUN 8 LUN 9

9AM
5 Production Server requests a change
on Chunk C (COFW)

Server B
Original Chunk C is copied to the
6 Reserved LUN 6 allocated by Session 9AM
A B C
Chunks
R/W
Snapshot of
Source LUN
12PM

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 15

SnapView Snapshot Theory of Operation
(continued)
Production
Server Source LUN Reserved LUN Pool

Chunks
R/W C
A B C
LUN 6 LUN 7

7
Session LUN 8 LUN 9
9AM

7 Session 9AM pointer uses the original

Chunk C from Reserved LUN 6
Server B

A B C
Chunks
R/W
Snapshot of
Source LUN
12PM

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 16

SnapView Snapshot Theory of Operation
(continued)
Production
Server Source LUN Reserved LUN Pool

9
Chunks
R/W
A B C B BC
LUN 6 LUN 7

Session LUN 8 LUN 9

9AM
Server B requests a change on Chunk
8
B (COFW)

9 Original Chunk B is copied to the Server B

Reserved LUN 6 allocated by Session 9AM
and then modified by the write
A B C B
Chunks
R/W 8
Snapshot of
Source LUN
1PM

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 17

SnapView Snapshot Theory of Operation
(continued)
Production
Server Source LUN Reserved LUN Pool

Chunks
R/W
A B C B B C
LUN 7
LUN 6

10
Session LUN 8 LUN 9
9AM

Session 9AM pointer uses

10
Chunk B from Reserved LUN 6
Server B

A B C
Chunks
R/W
Snapshot of
Source LUN
1PM

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 18

 SnapView Snapshots

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

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 19

 SnapView Snapshots

Lesson 2: Configuring and Managing SnapView

Snapshots
During this lesson the following topics are covered:
Managing the Reserved LUN Pool
Managing SnapView sessions and SnapView
snapshots
Configuring and managing SnapView sessions and
SnapView snapshots with the Wizards

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 20

Reserved LUN Pool Management

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 21

Reserved LUN Pool LUNs Free LUNs

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 22

Reserved LUN Pool Allocated LUNs

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 23

Monitoring Reserved LUN Pool Usage
Storage System > System > Monitoring and Alerts > SP Event
Logs

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 24

SnapView Sessions

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 25

SnapView Session Properties
Storage System > Data Protection > Snapshots > LUN
Snapshots

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 26

SnapView Session Start / Stop

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 27

SnapView Snapshot

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 28

Snapshot Session Rollback

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 29

Snapshot Session Rollback Properties

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 30

Snapshot Configuration Wizard

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 31

 SnapView Snapshots

Lesson 2: Summary
During this lesson the following topics were covered:
Managing SnapView snapshots and SnapView
sessions
Configuring and managing SnapView snapshots
and sessions with the Snapshot Wizard

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 32

Summary
Key points covered in this module:
SnapView Snapshot is an instantaneous frozen
virtual copy of a LUN on a VNX storage system
SnapView Snapshot uses COFW technology
Snapshot Wizard can be used to Configuring and
managing SnapView snapshots and sessions

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights SnapView Snapshot 33