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About LUN clones and SnapVault

A LUN clone is a space-efficient copy of another LUN. Initially, the LUN clone and its parent share the same storage space. More storage space is consumed only when one LUN or the other changes.

In releases prior to Data ONTAP 7.3, SnapVault considers each LUN clone as a new LUN. Therefore, during the initial transfer of the LUN clone, all data from the clone and the backing LUN is transferred to the secondary system.

Note: LUNs in this context refer to the LUNs that Data ONTAP serves to clients, not to the array LUNs used for storage on a storage array.

For descriptions of data backup and restore on volumes containing LUNs, see the Data ONTAP SAN Administration Guide for 7-Mode.

Starting with Data ONTAP 7.3, SnapVault can transfer LUN clones in an optimized way by using SnapDrive for Windows. To manage this process, SnapDrive for Windows creates two Snapshot copies:

Modes of transfer

Starting with Data ONTAP 7.3, a SnapVault transfer with LUN clones can run in two modes: These modes apply to newly created LUN clones. On successive update transfers, only the incremental changes are transferred to the destination in both modes.
Note: A single relationship must either be optimized or non-optimized. Switching between the two modes is not allowed.