Snapshot online not in adapters?

[egroeg120]

Hi NimbleConnect.

I have a Nimble array that a colleague is attempting to test the restore process using snapshots.

He ideally wishes to make the data available to the ESXi hosts the volume was initially on. He's selected "Set Online" and then conducted a re-scan of the HBAS, but he doesnt see a new target.

If he uses "Clone" then the volume does populate into the HBAs and he can connect.

My understanding was the "Set Online" would retain the pointers and provide another logical copy of the same volume/datastore (obviously we'd need to re-signature the device) but it's not even visible on the ESXi hosts whereas "Clone" is?

Any advice, or are we using it for the wrong purposes?

[Nick_Dyer · Accepted solution]

Hello Kenny,

My hunch here is that either a) the snapshot is a non-writable snapshot - which would mean that VMware wouldn't see the target as it cannot mount or b) VMware is refusing to mount it as it has the same disk signature of the parent snapshot. When creating a clone, it creates a new read/writeable volume which VMware is able to put a new disk signature on.

To restore data from a snapshot we do not recommend that you make snaps online for this reason; the correct process is to create a clone and mount that.