5. Local Replication - SnapVX Snaphots

Dell TimeFinder SnapVX creates and manages point-in-time snapshots of critical data that can be used for backups, decision support, and to refresh data warehouse, test, and development environments. SnapVX snapshots require little setup and are incredibly space efficient with snapshots sharing tracks between source and target volumes,.

Manual and Policy Based Snapshots

This lesson will demonstrate the simple process create snapshots with SnapVX.

If this is your first time accessing the demo, double click the **U4V Demo** icon on the Desktop Enter the following credentials to access Unisphere. - Username: **smc** - Password: **smc** Click **"Login"**

After you've logged into the new Unisphere you will be brought to the **Overview** page, indicated by the House icon on the left hand navigation menu. This is where you can get an overview of all systems visible to the Unisphere instance. Click the PowerMax 8500 **"000120200107"**

From the system dashboard, in the left side navigation bar, click the **Storage** and then **Storage Groups**.

Click on **Create** in the top left corner of the **Storage Group** dashboard to bring up the **Provision Storage** wizard

In the **Provision Storage** Wizard, enter the name of the Storage Group being created. For this example, we are going to use the below: - Storage Group Name: **snapvx** - Volumes: **1** - Volume Capacity: **100 GB** Click **"Run Now"**

Click **"OK"** when the storage group has been created successfully

Select the newly created storage group, **snapvx**, in the Storage Group's list

Click **"Protect"**

You are now looking at the **Protection Wizard**. The aim of the wizard is to simplify data protection by offering all the protection available to the SG in a single place. From the protection wizard, choose **Create a snapshot using SnapVX** Click **"Next"**

Ensure **New** is selected for Snapshot configuration. Complete the below details: - Snapshot Name: **snapshot_1** - Expiry Type: **Time to Live** Snapshots can be created with an automatic expiration (time to live) in either hours or days, this is an optional setting Set the expire time to **1 day** Click **"Next"**

Click **"Run Now"**

Click **"OK"** once the task is complete.

We can now see the newly created snapshot, from the right-hand side panel of the Storage Groups list view. We can view this snapshot, by clicking on the number next to Snapshots, in this case, **1**. Click **"1"**

Our view has switched to the **Data Protection** tab, of the storage group details page, for our storage group - **snapvx**, and from here, we can see the newly created snapshot - **snapshot_1** Select this snapshot- **snapshot_1** to view additional details form the details pane on the right.

Link a Snapshot to a Target

SnapVX snapshots are immutable meaning the point in time is always preserved on the PowerMax array in a space efficient way, to access the snapshot data the snapshot must be linked to a new storage group and presented to a host in a masking view. This lesson will demonstrate how to link that snapshot to a storage group enabling it to be accessed by a host,

From the **Data Protection** tab select the snapshot created in the previous lesson - **snapshot_1**

Click **"Link"**, this will initiate the link snapshot wizard.

The user is presented with a wizard. The user must supply a name for a new storage group or select an existing storage group with the correct capacity and number of volumes. For this demo we will simply create a new storage group and accept the default name. Click **Run Now** **Note:** the default name will have the source storage group name and append ***LNK*\_SG_NUMBER** to the name. It is possible to link the same snapshot to multiple storage groups providing the same copy of data for different purposes. A new storage group will get created with the same count and matching capacity volumes to the source storage group,

Once Complete, Click **"OK"** to close the task summary.

Note the snapshot now has a **check** for **Link** and in the details tab the number of linked storage groups is now **1**. Clicking the hot link on number **1** will bring you to the details for the linked storage group.

Congratulations, you've successfully created and linked a SnapVX snapshot storage group. It was pretty easy. To present this storage to a host you can navigate back to the storage groups view and search for the storage group by name and click provision, following the wizard to add the storage group to a masking view. Any changes made to the data on the snapshot volumes on the host will not affect the source device or the snapshot image. The data can be refreshed to the same point in time by following the same wizard using the relink option, this is very useful for iterative testing where data may need to be reset.

Creating Secure Snaps

This lesson will demonstrate how to create Secure Snaps with TimeFinder/SnapVX

Secure Snapshots provide tamperproof snapshots on PowerMax arrays. The snapshot is created with special attributes that ensure that it can not be terminated prior to the expiration date set at creation. The expiration can be extended but can't be reduced. Secure Snapshots can not be destroyed on a whim making them an excellent protection mechanism for highly sensitive data. Secure Snapshots should also be used with caution as they will consume capacity on the array for any tracks changed on the source volume from the time they are created until they expire and are deleted

From the **Storage Groups** dashboard select the **"SnapVX"** storage group and click **"Protect"**

Select Create a **"Snapshot using SnapVX"** and Click **"Next"**

Click **"New"** for the snapshot name and enter **"DTW_Secure"** as the name of the snapshot.

Click **"Advanced Options"**

Click the **"Enable Secure Snaps"** field.

Set an Expiration Time of **1** day and ensure **Enable Secure Snapshots** is ticked Click **OK**

Click **Next**

Click **"Run Now"**

Once the task completes click **"OK"**

Click the **SnapVX** storage group again.

Click **"Data Protection"** tab to view snapshot information.

Note a second snapshot now appears for the storage group with the name specified earlier - **DTW_Secure** **Note:** the Green Checkbox to indicate that this snapshot is secure.

Attempt to Delete Secure Snapshot before it's expiry date has elapsed.

Select the snapshot - **DTW_Secure** Click the three vertical dots to access the advanced menu ensuring the secure snapshot has been selected.

Click **"Terminate"**

Click **"Run Now"**

Note a warning is displayed indicating that this snapshot can not be terminated due to the additional protection of the secure snapshot. Click **OK**

Click **"Cancel"**

Snapshot Policies

In this lesson we will explore Snapshot Policies, which provide a mechanism for automatically creating snapshots at predefined intervals, with configured retention and reporting on compliance to policy configurations. Policies can be customized and can be set to take regular or secure snapshots.

From the **Data Protection** menu on the left side, click **"Snapshot Policies"**

You are now in the Snapshot Policy Manager, Unipshere for PowerMax has a number of predefines snapshot policies ready for use. If these don't meet the RPO needs of your dataset you can configure custom ones. In this lab we will create a new one.

Click **"Create Snapshot Policy"**

Type **"DTW_Hourly_Secure"** as the **Name** Review the settings that can be set for policies.

Tip! Click on the ? in the lower left corner to explain each of the options. The online help is choked full of useful information.

Click the **"Secure"** field.

Click **"Create"**

Once complete - click **"OK"**.

That's it you've created a new snapshot policy to create secure snapshots every hour. All that's left to do is to associate to the storage groups.

Select the **DTW_Hourly_Secure** policy, and select the three **vertical dots > add to storage group**.

You can now select storage groups where the policy will begin to take and manage secure snapshots every hour starting from the next interval. Unfortunately this functionality is not fully implemented in the demo but you get the idea. Click **Cancel**.

Congratulations! You have reached the end this lesson. At this point you should have a basic understanding of the creation and management of snapshots and snapshot policies for PowerMax arrays. Be sure to checkout our Whitepapers and blogs on [infohub.delltechnologies.com](https://infohub.delltechnologies.com/en-us/) Note all of the functionality explored in this lab is available thorugh our REST API and in our Ansible Collection should you wish to automate any of the process. Click **Close** in the top left corner of this script to return to the demo guide.

5. Local Replication - SnapVX Snaphots

Manual and Policy Based Snapshots

This lesson will demonstrate the simple process create snapshots with SnapVX.

From the system dashboard, in the left side navigation bar, click the **Storage** and then **Storage Groups**.

Click on **Create** in the top left corner of the **Storage Group** dashboard to bring up the **Provision Storage** wizard

Click **"OK"** when the storage group has been created successfully

Select the newly created storage group, **snapvx**, in the Storage Group's list

Click **"Protect"**

Click **"Run Now"**

Click **"OK"** once the task is complete.

Link a Snapshot to a Target

From the **Data Protection** tab select the snapshot created in the previous lesson - **snapshot_1**

Click **"Link"**, this will initiate the link snapshot wizard.

Once Complete, Click **"OK"** to close the task summary.

Creating Secure Snaps

This lesson will demonstrate how to create Secure Snaps with TimeFinder/SnapVX

From the **Storage Groups** dashboard select the **"SnapVX"** storage group and click **"Protect"**

Select Create a **"Snapshot using SnapVX"** and Click **"Next"**

Click **"New"** for the snapshot name and enter **"DTW_Secure"** as the name of the snapshot.

Click **"Advanced Options"**

Click the **"Enable Secure Snaps"** field.

Set an Expiration Time of **1** day and ensure **Enable Secure Snapshots** is ticked Click **OK**

Click **Next**

Click **"Run Now"**

Once the task completes click **"OK"**

Click the **SnapVX** storage group again.

Click **"Data Protection"** tab to view snapshot information.

Note a second snapshot now appears for the storage group with the name specified earlier - **DTW_Secure** **Note:** the Green Checkbox to indicate that this snapshot is secure.

Attempt to Delete Secure Snapshot before it's expiry date has elapsed.

Select the snapshot - **DTW_Secure** Click the three vertical dots to access the advanced menu ensuring the secure snapshot has been selected.

Click **"Terminate"**

Click **"Run Now"**

Note a warning is displayed indicating that this snapshot can not be terminated due to the additional protection of the secure snapshot. Click **OK**

Click **"Cancel"**

Snapshot Policies

From the **Data Protection** menu on the left side, click **"Snapshot Policies"**

Click **"Create Snapshot Policy"**

Type **"DTW_Hourly_Secure"** as the **Name** Review the settings that can be set for policies.

Tip! Click on the ? in the lower left corner to explain each of the options. The online help is choked full of useful information.

Click the **"Secure"** field.

Click **"Create"**

Once complete - click **"OK"**.

That's it you've created a new snapshot policy to create secure snapshots every hour. All that's left to do is to associate to the storage groups.

Select the **DTW_Hourly_Secure** policy, and select the three **vertical dots > add to storage group**.