IBM XIV Storage System Copy Services and Migration

An application can utilize many volumes on the XIV Storage System. For example, adatabase application can span several volumes for journaling and user data. In this case, thesnapshot for the volumes must occur at the same moment in time so that the journal and dataare synchronized. The consistency group allows the user to perform the snapshot on all thevolumes assigned to the group at the same moment in time, therefore enforcing dataconsistency.The XIV Storage System creates a special snapshot related to the Remote Mirroringfunctionality. During the recovery process of lost links, the system creates a snapshot of allthe volumes in the system. This snapshot is used if the synchronization process fails. Thedata can be restored to a point of known consistency. A special value of the deletion priority isused to prevent the snapshot from being automatically deleted. Refer to 1.4, “Snapshot withRemote Mirror” on page 33, for an example of this snapshot.1.2 SnapshotsThe creation and management of snapshots with the XIV Storage System are simple andeasy to perform. This section guides you through the life cycle of a snapshot, providingexamples of how to interact with the snapshots using the GUI. This section also discussesduplicate snapshots and the automatic deletion of snapshots.1.2.1 Creating a snapshotSnapshot creation is a simple and easy task to accomplish. Using the Volumes andsnapshots view, right-click the volume and select Create Snapshot. Figure 1-8 depicts howto make a snapshot of the ITSO_Volume volume.Figure 1-8 Creating a snapshot8 IBM XIV Storage System: Copy Services and Migration