Virtual snapshots provide point-in-time access to a replicated LUN without the need to roll back the data on the source or target Oracle FS System or to create a LUN copy.
A virtual snapshot, called a Vsnap, is a virtual LUN that is created on the Oracle MaxRep Replication Engine, which then can be mounted to a host through an iSCSI target port. Virtual snapshots use the target LUN and the data in the retention logs to create a virtual image of the LUN at a specified point in time. Virtual snapshots are ideal for single file recovery or for verifying data integrity because they are quick to create and occupy no disk space on the target Oracle FS System.
Creating a virtual snapshot does not interfere with the current replication. However, writing to the virtual snapshot can affect the retention log LUN.
If a readable and writable virtual snapshot shares a LUN with the retention log of a replication pair, the capacity of the retention log LUN can fill up as changes are made to the virtual snapshot.