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Dell TimeFinder delivers point-in-time copies of volumes that can be used for backups, decision support, data warehouse refreshes, or any other process that requires parallel access to the production data.
Previous VMAX families offered multiple TimeFinder products, each with their own characteristics and use cases. These traditional products required a target volume to retain snapshot or clone data.
TimeFinder SnapVX provides the best aspects of the traditional TimeFinder offerings combined with increased scalability and ease-of-use.
TimeFinder SnapVX dramatically decreases the impact of snapshots and clones:
There is no need to specify a target device and source/target pairs. SnapVX supports up to 1024 snapshots per volume. Each snapshot can have a name and an automatic expiration date.
With SnapVX, a snapshot can be accessed by linking it to a host accessible volume (known as a target volume). Target volumes are standard PowerMax TDEVs. Up to 1024 target volumes can be linked to the snapshots of the source volumes. The 1024 links can all be to the same snapshot of the source volume, or they can be multiple target volumes linked to multiple snapshots from the same source volume. However, a target volume may be linked only to one snapshot at a time.
Snapshots can be cascaded from linked targets, and targets can be linked to snapshots of linked targets. There is no limit to the number of levels of cascading, and the cascade can be broken.
SnapVX links to targets in the following modes:
If an application needs to find a particular point-in-time copy among a large set of snapshots, SnapVX enables you to link and relink until the correct snapshot is located.
PowerMaxOS provides facilities for the online expansion of devices in TimeFinder SnapVX.