You can create FlexClone files and FlexClone LUNs from an existing Snapshot copy of the parent files and parent LUNs contained in a FlexVol volume. If the base Snapshot copy of a FlexVol volume is deleted, the dependent FlexClone files and FlexClone LUNs are not deleted.
You must consider the following while using a Snapshot copy for creating FlexClone files and FlexClone LUNs:
- If the Snapshot copy gets automatically deleted because of using the snap autodelete command, the dependent FlexClone files and FlexClone LUNs are not deleted. However, if the block-sharing on the FlexClone files and FlexClone LUNs is not complete, data might be lost.
- You cannot manually delete a Snapshot copy from which FlexClone files or FlexClone LUNs are being created until the block-sharing process between the parent and clone entities is complete. The Snapshot copy remains locked until the completion of the block-sharing process, which happens in the background. Therefore, when you try deleting a locked Snapshot copy, the system displays a message asking you to retry the operation after some time. In such a situation, if you want to manually delete the particular Snapshot copy, you must keep retrying the deletion operation so that the Snapshot copy gets deleted after the block sharing is complete.
For more information about the automatic and manual deletion of Snapshot copies, see the Data ONTAP Data Protection Online Backup and Recovery Guide for 7-Mode.
