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SmartSync decouples the snapshot creation process on the source cluster from the data replication to the target cluster. Separate policies are configured for snapshot creation and data replication. SmartSync refers to the snapshot creation as the dataset creation. The decoupling of snapshots and data replication allows each policy job to run independently, which further reduces the chain effect of a failure during the snapshot process early in the policy job state.
SmartSync also introduces child-parent relationships to launch a data-replication job only after the snapshot creation is complete, as described in Parent-child policies.