Adaptec 5325301638 Administration Guide - Page 69

Chapter 7 Snapshots A snapshot is a consistent, stable, point-in-time image of a volume used for backup purposes. Snapshots can satisfy short-term backup situations such as recovering a file deleted in error, or even restoring an entire file system, without resorting to tape. Perhaps more importantly, snapshots can be incorporated as a central component of your backup strategy to ensure that all data in every backup operation is internally consistent and that no data is overlooked or skipped. Topics in Snapshot Management: • Snapshot Management and Usage • Estimating Snapshot Pool Requirements • Adjusting Snapshot Pool Size • Accessing Snapshots • Coordinating Snapshot and Backup Operations Related Information: • Isolate iSCSI Disks from Other Resources for Backup Purposes Snapshot Management and Usage This section describes snapshot components and dependencies. The Snapshot Pool Snapshot data are stored on a RAID in a snapshot pool, or space reserved within the RAID for this purpose. Each RAID on the system contains only one snapshot pool. This pool contains all snapshot data for all volumes on the RAID. For more information, see "Estimating Snapshot Pool Requirements" on page 57. Rolling a Volume Back to a Previous State If you need to restore an entire file system to a previous state, you can do so without resorting to tape. The snapshot rollback feature allows you to use any archived snapshot to restore an entire file system to a previous state simply by selecting the Snap Server Administrator Guide 55