HP AiO400r HP StorageWorks All-in-One Storage System User Guide (440583-006, J - Page 155
Backup and shadow copies, Shadow Copy Transport
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3. Click either Copy... or Restore. Clicking Restore enables the user to recover everything in that folder as well as all subfolders. Clicking Restore does not delete any files. Backup and shadow copies Shadow copies are only available on the network via the client application, and only at a file or folder level as opposed to the entire volume. Hence, the standard backup associated with a volume backup will not work to back up the previous versions of the file system. To answer this particular issue, shadow copies are available for back up in two situations. If the backup software in question supports the use of shadow copies and can communicate with underlying block device, it is supported, and the previous version of the file system will be listed in the backup application as a complete file system snapshot. If the built-in backup application NTbackup is used, the backup software forces a snapshot, and then uses the snapshot as the means for back up. The user is unaware of this activity and it is not self-evident although it does address the issue of open files. Shadow Copy Transport Shadow Copy Transport provides the ability to transport data on a Storage Area Network (SAN). With a storage array and a VSS-aware hardware provider, it is possible to create a shadow copy on one server and import it on another server. This process, essentially "virtual" transport, is accomplished in a matter of minutes, regardless of the size of the data. NOTE: Shadow copy transport is supported only on Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, Windows Storage Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition. It is an advanced solution that works only if it has a hardware provider on the storage array. A shadow copy transport can be used for a number of purposes, including: • Tape backups An alternative to traditional backup to tape processes is transport of shadow copies from the production server onto a backup server, where they can then be backed up to tape. Like the other two alternatives, this option removes backup traffic from the production server. While some backup applications might be designed with the hardware provider software that enables transport, others are not. The administrator should determine whether or not this functionality is included in the backup application. • Data mining The data in use by a particular production server is often useful to different groups or departments within an organization. Rather than add additional traffic to the production server, a shadow copy of the data can be made available through transport to another server. The shadow copy can then be processed for different purposes, without any performance impact on the original server. The transport process is accomplished through a series of DISKRAID command steps: 1. Create a shadow copy of the source data on the source server (read-only). 2. Mask off (hide) the shadow copy from the source server. 3. Unmask the shadow copy to a target server. 4. Optionally, clear the read-only flags on the shadow copy. HP StorageWorks All-in-One Storage System 155