3PAR InForm® OS 2.2.4 CLI Administrator's Manual (320-200113 Rev A, March 2009)

8.3
Virtual Copies
InForm OS Version 2.2.4 3PAR InForm OS CLI Administrator’s Manual
8.3 Virtual Copies
A virtual copy is a snapshot of another virtual volume (a base volume or another virtual copy)
created using copy-on-write techniques available only with a 3PAR Virtual Copy license.
Virtual copies can be:
 Created
 Promoted
 Modified
 Removed
You can also create a group of virtual copies.
For additional information about virtual copies, see the 3PAR InForm OS Concepts Guide.
8.3.1 Creating a Virtual Copy
Virtual copies can be read-only or read/write. Read-only and read/write copies must alternate.
You can only make a read-only copy of a read/write volume and a read/write copy of a
read-only volume. For detailed information about the rules governing virtual copies, see the
3PAR InForm OS Concepts Guide.
X To create a point-in-time copy (snapshot) of a virtual volume, issue the
createsv <SV_name> <copyofVV> command, where:
 <SV_name> is the name of the snapshot being created.
 <copyofVV> is the name of the virtual volume (parent volume) being copied.
For information on arguments that can optionally be specified with the
createsv
command, refer to the InForm OS Command Line Interface Reference.
8.3.2 Promoting a Virtual Copy
If you have created multiple copies of a base volume, the data on a virtual copy can be rolled
back to the base volume or to any of the virtual copy’s RW parents in the same tree by
promoting a virtual copy. This copies the changes from the virtual copy back onto the base
volume, overwriting the base volume with the copy. The virtual copy still remains on the
system.