These are some basic considerations regarding FlashCopy:
- A FlashCopy image
is simply an image of an entire fileset as it exists at a specific point in
time.
- While a FlashCopy image is being created, all data remains online
and available to users and applications.
- The FlashCopy image
operation is performed individually for each fileset — that is, you can create
only one FlashCopy image at a time.
- FlashCopy images
are full images — you cannot create incremental FlashCopy images.
- Each fileset can have up to 32 read-only FlashCopy images.
- Once a FlashCopy image is created, its name cannot be changed.
- You can use a FlashCopy image for backing up files, instead of the original
source data. This guarantees a consistent image of the files because the files
in a FlashCopy image
are read-only.
- Clients have file-level access to FlashCopy images, in order to access older
versions of files, or to copy individual files back to the real fileset if
required.
- FlashCopy images
for each fileset are stored in a special subdirectory called .flashcopy under
the fileset’s attachment point. The .flashcopy directory is a hidden directory,
so by default, it does not appear in Windows® Explorer in a SAN File System
client.