Home > Storage > PowerFlex > White Papers > Microsoft SQL Server Data Protection using Dell PowerFlex Snapshots > SQL Server snapshots and database file location
SQL Server provides multiple ways to identify the location of its datafiles and transaction log files. These include folders based on Windows drive letters, folders based on Windows mount points, and Clustered Shared Volumes (CSV) in the case of Windows Failover Clusters.
It is important to note that when using PowerFlex storage snapshots, the method that is used to identify the source database files can be changed for the snapshot volumes. This allows a lot of flexibility such as mounting multiple database copies to the same server, using different mount-points, or CSVs for example.
This capability is used when the snapshot volumes are mounted. Regardless of how the source volumes were mounted, the target snapshot volumes can use their own method, such as drive letters, mount-points, or CSVs. When the database residing on the snapshot volume is imported, SQL Server is directed to find the datafiles and transaction log in their new location. Then, if the DBA so wants, they can also import the database with a new name, for better identification purposes, or to allow multiple copies of the same database on the same server or cluster.