Create Snapshot Virtual Disk

Create Snapshot Virtual Disk

This command creates a snapshot virtual disk. When you use this command, you can define the snapshot virtual disk in one of three ways: user-defined physical disks, user-defined disk group, or user-defined number of physical disks for the snapshot virtual disk. If you choose to define a number of physical disks, the RAID controller module firmware chooses which physical disks to use for the snapshot virtual disk.

Syntax (User-Defined Physical Disks)

create snapshotVirtual Disk baseVirtualDisk="baseVolumeName" [repositoryRAIDLevel=(1 | 3 | 5 | 6) repositoryPhysical Disks=(trayID1,slotID1 ... trayIDn,slotIDn) userLabel="snapshotVolumeName" warningThresholdPercent=percentValue repositoryPercentOfBase=percentValue repositoryUserLabel="repositoryName" repositoryFullPolicy=(failBaseWrites | failSnapShot) enclosureLossProtect=(TRUE | FALSE)]

Syntax (User-Defined Disk Group)

create snapshotVirtual Disk baseVirtualDisk="baseVolumeName" [repositoryDiskGroup=volumeGroupName freeCapacityArea=freeCapacityIndex Number userLabel="snapshotVolumeName" warningThresholdPercent=percentValue repositoryPercentOfBase=percentValue repositoryUserLabel="repositoryName" repositoryFullPolicy=(failBaseWrites | fail SnapShot ) enclosureLossProtect=(TRUE | FALSE)]

Syntax (User-Defined Number of Physical Disks)

create snapshotVirtual Disk baseVirtualDisk="baseVolumeName" [repositoryRAIDLevel=(1 | 3 | 5 | 6) repositoryDriveCount=numberOfPhysical Disks driveType=(fibre | SATA | SAS | PATA) userLabel="snapshotVolumeName" warningThresholdPercent=percentValue repositoryPercentOfBase=percentValue repositoryUserLabel="repositoryName" repositoryFullPolicy=(failBaseWrites | failSnapShot) enclosureLossProtect=(TRUE | FALSE)]

Parameters

Parameter Description

baseVirtualDisk
The name of the source virtual disk from which you want to take a snapshot. Enclose the source virtual disk name in double quotes (" ").

repositoryRAIDLevel
The RAID level for the repository virtual disk. Valid values are 1, 3, 5,or 6.

repositoryPhysical Disks
The physical disks that you want to assign to the snapshot repository virtual disk. Specify the enclosure ID and the slot ID for each physical disk that you assign to the snapshot repository virtual disk. Enclosure ID values are 0 to 99. Slot ID values are 1 to 32. Enclose the list of physical disks in parentheses.

repositoryDriveCount
The number of unassigned physical disks that you want to use for the repository virtual disk.

driveType
The type of physical disks that you want to use for the snapshot repository virtual disk. Valid physical disk types are: SCSI, fibre, or SAS.

repositoryDiskGroup
The alphanumeric identifier (including - and _) of the disk group where the snapshot repository virtual disk is located.

freeCapacityArea
The index number of the free space in an existing disk group that you want to use to create the snapshot repository virtual disk. Free capacity is defined as the free capacity between existing virtual disks in a disk group. For example, a disk group might have the following areas: virtual disk 1, free capacity, virtual disk 2, free capacity, virtual disk 3 free capacity. To use the free capacity following virtual disk 2, you would specify:

freeCapacityArea=2.

Use the show diskGroup command to determine if free capacity area exists.

userLabel
The name you want to give the snapshot virtual disk. Enclose the snapshot virtual disk name in double quotes (" ").

warningThresholdPercent
The percentage of repository capacity at which you will receive a warning that the repository is nearing full. Use integer values. For example, a value of 70 means 70 percent. The default value is 50.

repositoryPercentOfBase
The size of the repository virtual disk as a percentage of the source virtual disk. Use integer values. For example, a value of 40 means 40 percent. The default value is 20.

repositoryUserLabel
The name you want to give to the repository virtual disk. Enclose the repository virtual disk name in double quotes (" ").

repositoryFullPolicy
Defines how you want snapshot processing to continue if the repository is full. You can choose to fail writes to the source virtual disk (failBaseWrites) or fail the snapshot virtual disk (failSnapShot ). The default is failSnapShot.

enclosureLossProtect
Specifies that enclosure loss protection will be enforced when creating the repository. To enforce enclosure loss protection, set this parameter to TRUE. The default setting is FALSE.

Notes

A snapshot virtual disk is a point-in-time image of a virtual disk in a storage array. The source virtual disk is the virtual disk from which you take a "snapshot." The virtual disk you are taking a snapshot of must be a standard virtual disk in the storage array. The maximum number of snapshot virtual disks you can create is one half of the total number of virtual disks supported by a RAID controller module.

You can use any combination of alphanumeric characters, hyphens, and underscores for the name. Names can have a maximum of 30 characters.

One technique for naming the snapshot virtual disk and the repository virtual disk is to add a hyphenated suffix to the original source virtual disk name. The suffix distinguishes between the snapshot virtual disk and the repository virtual disk. For example: If you have a source virtual disk with a name of "Engineering Data" the snapshot virtual disk can have a name of "Engineering Data-S1" and the repository virtual disk can have a name of "Engineering Data-R1."

If you do not choose a name for the either the snapshot virtual disk or repository virtual disk, the RAID controller modules create a default name using the source virtual disk name. An example of the snapshot virtual disk name the RAID controller modules might create is: if the source virtual disk name is "aaa" and does not have a snapshot virtual disk, the default snapshot virtual disk name is "aaa-1." If the source virtual disk already has n-1 number of snapshot virtual disks, the default name is "aaa-n." An example of the repository virtual disk name the RAID controller module might create is: if the source virtual disk name is "aaa" and does not have a repository virtual disk, the default repository virtual disk name is "aaa-R1." If the source virtual disk already has n-1 number of repository virtual disks, the default name is "aaa-Rn."

If you do not specify the unconfigured or free space, the repository virtual disk is placed in the same disk group as the source virtual disk. If the disk group where the source virtual disk resides does not have enough space this command will fail.

When you assign the physical disks, if you set enclosureLossProtect to true and have selected more than one physical disk from any one enclosure, the storage array will return an error. If you set enclosureLossProtect to false, the storage array will perform operations, but the disk group you create may not have enclosure loss protection.

When the RAID controller module fimware assigns the physical disks, if you set enclosureLossProtect to true, the storage array will error the function if the RAID controller module fimware cannot provide physical disks that will result in the new disk group having enclosure loss protection. If you set enclosureLossProtect to false, the storage array will perform the operation even if it means the disk group may not have enclosure loss protection.

Minimum Firmware Level

5.00
7.10 adds RAID 6 capability

Parameter	Description
`baseVirtualDisk`	The name of the source virtual disk from which you want to take a snapshot. Enclose the source virtual disk name in double quotes (" ").
`repositoryRAIDLevel`	The RAID level for the repository virtual disk. Valid values are 1, 3, 5,or 6.
`repositoryPhysical Disks`	The physical disks that you want to assign to the snapshot repository virtual disk. Specify the enclosure ID and the slot ID for each physical disk that you assign to the snapshot repository virtual disk. Enclosure ID values are 0 to 99. Slot ID values are 1 to 32. Enclose the list of physical disks in parentheses.
`repositoryDriveCount`	The number of unassigned physical disks that you want to use for the repository virtual disk.
`driveType`	The type of physical disks that you want to use for the snapshot repository virtual disk. Valid physical disk types are: SCSI, fibre, or SAS.
`repositoryDiskGroup`	The alphanumeric identifier (including - and _) of the disk group where the snapshot repository virtual disk is located.
`freeCapacityArea`	The index number of the free space in an existing disk group that you want to use to create the snapshot repository virtual disk. Free capacity is defined as the free capacity between existing virtual disks in a disk group. For example, a disk group might have the following areas: virtual disk 1, free capacity, virtual disk 2, free capacity, virtual disk 3 free capacity. To use the free capacity following virtual disk 2, you would specify: `freeCapacityArea=2`. Use the `show diskGroup` command to determine if free capacity area exists.
`userLabel`	The name you want to give the snapshot virtual disk. Enclose the snapshot virtual disk name in double quotes (" ").
`warningThresholdPercent`	The percentage of repository capacity at which you will receive a warning that the repository is nearing full. Use integer values. For example, a value of 70 means 70 percent. The default value is 50.
`repositoryPercentOfBase`	The size of the repository virtual disk as a percentage of the source virtual disk. Use integer values. For example, a value of 40 means 40 percent. The default value is 20.
`repositoryUserLabel`	The name you want to give to the repository virtual disk. Enclose the repository virtual disk name in double quotes (" ").
`repositoryFullPolicy`	Defines how you want snapshot processing to continue if the repository is full. You can choose to fail writes to the source virtual disk (`failBaseWrites`) or fail the snapshot virtual disk (failSnapShot ). The default is `failSnapShot`.
`enclosureLossProtect`	Specifies that enclosure loss protection will be enforced when creating the repository. To enforce enclosure loss protection, set this parameter to TRUE. The default setting is FALSE.