Data Protection

Ensuring that your data is protected is a critical part of managing arrays. Volumes that hold multiple components of an application, such as databases and transaction logs, can be grouped into volume collections. A volume collection includes a set of protection schedules that create snapshots of each associated volume at specified intervals.

The protection schedule specifies the downstream partner where the volume and snapshot data is replicated as well as information about how often the snapshots are taken and how long the snapshots are retained.

A volume collection can have up to ten protection schedules and up to two downstream partners when you select the replication type of Periodic Snapshot. Generally, each application uses a different volume collection.

Arrays ships with several predefined protection templates. These templates include information that is based on best practices for commonly used applications. You can copy the predefined templates and modify the copies, or you can create new protection templates to best match the requirements of applications used in your environment.

All volumes assigned to the volume collection use the same protection schedules, which specify downstream partners, scheduled snapshots, replication, and retention settings. After the volume collection is created, it can be modified as needed.

If you plan to take snapshots of volumes manually, you can create a volume collection without schedules on those volumes. This capability is available in the command-line interface (CLI).