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Table Of Contents
Figure 10-1. Full Database Clone
staging
production
full database
clone
Linked Clones
Linked clones are two or more databases that share storage. The linked clone
technology supports efficient sharing of duplicate data. Linked clones use delta
disk backings. A delta disk backing is a virtual disk file that is located on top
of a standard virtual disk backing file. When one of the databases writes to disk,
the data is written to that database's delta disk. When one of the databases reads
from disk, the read process first checks the delta disk. If the data is not in the
delta disk, the database retrieves the information from the parent disk.
You can create a linked clone from a snapshot or from the current running point
but not from an earlier backup or from a specific point in the past. If you use
linked clones, the clone and the source database cannot change data disk size.
Figure 10-2. Linked Database Clone
dev QA perf
staging
linked database
clones
Choosing a Full Clone or a Linked Clone
To choose the clone type most appropriate for your situation, consider these points:
n
Full clones take longer to create than linked clones.
n
Linked clones are much faster to create.
n
Linked clones do not support storage isolation. Running several linked clones can affect the performance
of both the source database and the linked clones.
VMware best practice is to first create a full clone of a production database to use as a staging clone, then create
linked clones of the production system full clone, the staging system in the illustration. In this scenario,
potential performance degradation affects only the staging system clone and not the production database.
VMware vFabric Data Director Administrator and User Guide
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