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Differences between FlexClone LUNs and LUN clones

Data ONTAP provides two LUN cloning capabilities—LUN clone with the support of a Snapshot copy and FlexClone LUN. However, there are a few differences between these two LUN cloning techniques.

The following table lists the key differences between the two LUN cloning techniques:

FlexClone LUN LUN clone
To create a FlexClone LUN, you should use the clone start command. To create a LUN clone, you should use the lun clone create command.
You do not need to create a Snapshot copy manually. You must create a Snapshot copy manually before creating a LUN clone, because a LUN clone uses a backing Snapshot copy
A temporary Snapshot copy is created during the cloning operation. The Snapshot copy is deleted immediately after the cloning operation. However, you can prevent the Snapshot copy creation by using the -n option of the clone start command. A LUN clone is coupled with a Snapshot copy.
A FlexClone LUN is independent of Snapshot copies. Therefore, no splitting is required. When a LUN clone is split from the backing Snapshot copy, it uses extra storage space. The amount of extra space used depends on the type of clone split.

You can clone a complete LUN or a sub-LUN.

To clone a sub-LUN, you should know the block range of the parent entity and clone entity.

You can only clone a complete LUN.
FlexClone LUNs are best for situations where you need to keep the clone for a long time. LUN clones are best when you need a clone only for a short time.
No Snapshot copy management is required. You need to manage Snapshot copies if you keep the LUN clones for a long time.

For more information about FlexClone LUNs, see the Data ONTAP Storage Management Guide for 7-Mode.