14 Smartclone Volumes; What Are Smartclone Volumes; Prerequisites; Smartclone Volume Terminology - HP StoreVirtual 4000 User Manual

14 SmartClone volumes

SmartClone are space-efficient copies of existing volumes or snapshots. They appear as multiple
volumes that share a common snapshot, called a clone point. They share this snapshot data on
the SAN. SmartClone volumes can be used to duplicate configurations or environments for
widespread use, quickly and without consuming disk space for duplicated data. Use the SmartClone
process to create up to 25 volumes in a single operation. Repeat the process to create more
volumes, or use the CLI to create larger quantities in a single scripted operation.volumes

What are SmartClone volumes?

SmartClone volumes can be created instantaneously and are fully featured, writable volumes. The
only difference between regular volumes, snapshots, and SmartClone volumes is that SmartClone
volumes are dependent on the clone point, that is, the snapshot they are created from. Additionally,
they may minimize space used on the SAN. For example, you create a volume with a specific OS
configuration. Then, using the SmartClone process, you create multiple volumes with access to that
same OS configuration, and yet you only need a single instance of the configuration. Only as
additional data is written to the different SmartClone volumes do those volumes consume additional
space on the SAN. The space you save is reflected on the Use Summary tab in the Cluster tab
window, described in
Multiple SmartClone volumes can be individually managed just like other volumes. SmartClone
volumes can be used long term in production environments. Examples of common uses for
SmartClone volumes:
Deploy large quantities of virtual machine clones, including virtual servers and virtual desktops
Copy production data for use in test and development environments
Clone database volumes for data mining
Create and deploy boot-from-SAN images

Prerequisites

You must have created a management group, cluster, and at least one volume.
You must have enough space on the SAN for the configuration you are planning.
You must be running SAN/iQ software version 8.0 or later.

SmartClone volume terminology

Table 55 (page 178)
illustration in
in the CMC.
Table 55 Terms used for SmartClone features
Term
SmartClone Volume
Clone point
Shared snapshot
178 SmartClone volumes
"Cluster use summary" (page
lists terms and definitions used for the SmartClone volumes feature. The
Figure 68 (page 179)
149).
shows how the SmartClone volumes and related elements look
Definition
A volume created using the SmartClone process. In
Figure 68 (page
volume.
The snapshot from which the SmartClone volumes are
created. The clone point cannot be deleted. In
(page 179), the snapshot Volume_1_SS_3 is the clone point.
Shared snapshots occur when a clone point is created from
a newer snapshot that has older snapshots below it in the
tree. Shared snapshots can be deleted. In
179), the volume Volume_2 is a SmartClone
Figure 68
Figure 68