Snapshot

[Franco Morelli]

I'm planning to buy a MSA2000 storage. To me online data recovery is a critical feature. I'd like to know if HP MSA2000 Snapshot Software can address the need to view and recover files/directories older versions by network users.
Thanks in advance

[Uwe Zessin · Accepted solution]

No, I don't think so. This is a block-based snapshot unlike Window's own host-based VSS snapshots. You would have to present the snapshot to a server and attach a file share to allow network users access to their old data.

[Franco Morelli]

Do you mean I should mount a share for each snapshot? And does the share have the same directory structure of the original data?

[Uwe Zessin]

Yes, a snapshot is a "point-in-time" block (visible)copy of the data, although it uses mapping tables, so there will not be a process that copies 100% of the data. Even the disk signature is part of the snapshot, so watch out if you present it to the source server.