3.9.3.1 Create a Volume Snapshot

A volume snapshot is a logical read-only point-in-time copy of a volume.

To create a volume snapshot, use the ESCLI mkvolumesnapshot command. For example:

@> mkvolumesnapshot 2:390535212ea7448299bcc7bc7f7653b2

As shown in the preceding example, the simplest form of the command specifies the identifier for the volume that you want to copy. You can use the lsvolume command to find the identifier for each volume.

You can also use the --attributes option to specify various attributes for the volume snapshot. For example:

@> mkvolumesnapshot 1:2ee25b4c77fa423a87a25bd2160154de --attributes name=snap1

Note:

The mkvolumesnapshot command fails if the specified volume supports Exascale Direct Volume (EDV) attachments and Oracle Advanced Cluster File System (ACFS) is currently mounted. To create a volume snapshot in this situation, you must either:
  • Unmount the affected file system on all servers before you use the mkvolumesnapshot command. Then, mount the file system again afterward.
  • Use the Oracle ACFS command-line utility (acfsutil) to synchronize the file system and create the volume snapshot. On an EDV client node, run the acfsutil volsnap create command as the root user and specify the ACFS mountpoint or EDV device.

    For example:

    # acfsutil volsnap create /mnt/myacfs

After you create a volume snapshot, you must create an attachment to read the contents. By itself, an unattached volume snapshot is not available to any clients.