The process of taking the volume snapshot on FlashArray is operating system independent. For simultaneous multiple volume snapshots it is recommended to use Protection Groups. Protection Groups are groups of volumes, hosts, or hosts groups which are protected together through snapshots.
BEST PRACTICE: Create Protection Group or Protection Groups for volume snapshots.
Create Protection Group
Using Command Line Interface:
purepgroup create --vollist <volumes> pgroup
where:
vollist - comma separated list of volumes to be included in the protection group
pgroup - name of the Protection Group
Example:
purepgroup create --vollist DB2_TEST_01A,DB2_TEST_02A db2pg
Using Graphical User Interface:
Select Storage ➤ Protection Groups ➤ '+' (plus sign)
See Figure 2.
Figure 2
Select Storage ➤ Protection Group ➤ Protection Group ➤ '⋮' (vertical ellipsis) ➤ Add Volumes...
See Figure 3.
Figure 3
Add volumes to the selected Protection Group.
Snapshot Volumes
Using Command Line Interface:
purepgroup snap pgroup
Using Graphical User Interface (GUI):
Select Storage ➤ Protection Group ➤ '+' (plus sign)
See Figure 4.
Figure 4
Create Volume from Snapshot
Using Command Line Interface:
List available snapshots for all or a specific volume.
purevol list --snap <volumes>
Example:
purevol list --snap DB2_TEST_01A DB2_TEST_01B
Copy snapshot to a volume.
purevol copy --snap <source> <target>
Example:
purevol copy --snap pg1.DB2_TEST_01A TEST01A_FROM_SNAP
Using Graphical User Interface:
Select Storage ➤ Volumes ➤ Snapshots ➤ '⋮' (vertical ellipsis)
See Figure 5.
Figure 5
Present (connect) copied volume(s) to the host.
purevol connect --host <host_name> <volume>
Example:
purevol connect --host HC-AIX87 TEST01A_FROM_SNAP
Using Graphical User Interface:
Select Storage ➤ Volumes ➤ Volume(name) ➤ '⋮' (vertical ellipsis) ➤Connect Host
See Figure 6.
Figure 6
Repeat the steps above for each volume containing table space containers.