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Volume Replicator 7.4.2 Administrator's Guide - Windows

Last Published: 2020-05-31

Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (7.4.2)

Platform: Windows

Prerequisites for creating synchronized snapshot sets

Before you create a synchronized snapshot you need to follow certain prerequisites

They are as follows:

Exchange or SQL as required, has been configured on the system.
RVG volumes include the all the volumes as in the Exchange storage group or the SQL database.
At least one RLINK to the Secondary exists.
RVG with same name as on Primary exists on the Secondary.
Volumes have been prepared.

To create the snapshot set using the VEA console snapshot option

From the VEA console URL bar, select the <host name> which is the system where the production volumes and snapshot mirrors are located, as the active host.
Expand the system node, the Storage Agent node, and the VSS Writers node.
Select one of the following depending on the application for which you create the snapshot:
- For Exchange, right-click Microsoft Exchange Writer and click VSS Exchange Snapshot.
- For SQL, right-click Microsoft SQL Writer and click VSS SQL Snapshot.
In the wizard, review the Welcome panel and click Next.

Specify the snapshot set parameters as follows and then click Next.

Complete this panel as follows:

Select Component for snapshot operation

Select the appropriate component that you have created, for the snapshot set.

If you create snapshots for Exchange, select the storage group.

If you create snapshots for SQL, select the database.

Snapshot set

Enter a name for the snapshot set. The snapshot set metadata XML file is stored under this name.

To change the XML file location, use a text editor to create a text file named redirect.txt. This text file should contain a single text line specifying the full path to the location of the XML file, for example, G:\BackupSets. Save the redirect.txt file in the default directory C:\Program Files\Veritas\Veritas Volume Manager\VSSXML.

Select snapshot type

You can specify that snapshots be created as either a Full backup or Copy backup type.

Full Backup is typically used for backup to tape or other storage media. It does the following:

Creates a copy of the selected component
Only for Exchange, runs Eseutil to check for consistency before you truncate the logs
Truncates the transaction logs

Copy is typically used for Quick Recovery. It creates a copy of the storage group, but does not truncate the transaction logs.

For Exchange: optionally check Run Eseutil with the Copy option to check the snapshot for consistency.

For SQL: Either type can be used to restore a database. However, if you want to replay logs in SQL Server as part of restoring a database, a Full backup needs to have been created earlier. When replaying logs, you can replay from the time of the last Full backup. A Copy backup does not affect this sequence of log replay and therefore is often used as an "out of band" copy for purposes such as testing or data mining.

In the Change Attributes panel, optionally, change the attributes for the snapshot volumes and click Next.

Snapshot Volume Label	Displays the read-only label for the snapshot volume.
Drive Letter	Optionally, click a drive letter and select a new choice from the drop-down menu.
Plex	Optionally, click a plex and select a new choice from the drop-down menu.

On the Synchronized Snapshot panel, select the Secondary hosts for which you want to create synchronized snapshots. Either double-click on the host name or click the Add option to move the host into the Selected Secondary Host pane. To select all the available hosts, click the Add All option. The VSS wizard creates synchronized snapshots on all the selected Secondary hosts.
This panel is displayed only in an environment using Volume Replicator. Otherwise, you are directly taken to the Schedule Information panel.
Review the specifications of the snapshot set and click Finish.