You can use the Veritas Enterprise Administrator (VEA) GUI to take a snapshot of a volume.
The snapshot feature can also be accessed through the command line interface.
You can take a snapshot of mirrored or unmirrored volumes, but not of RAID-5 volumes.
The Snapshot feature enables quick and efficient online backup of volumes, with minimum disruption to the user. Snapshot automatically enables FastResync (FR) and creates a snapshot image of a volume, which can be detached from the volume. The detached snapshot image can be used for backup or other purposes, while the original volume remains in service.
The snapshot can then be quickly reattached and resynchronized with the volume through the FR reconnection capability.
The snapshot volume can also be permanently disconnected from the original volume.
You can attach more than one snapshot plex to a volume by issuing successive Prepare commands on the volume. This enables you to take multiple snapshots of a single volume.
You can attach a snapshot to either the original volume or the snapshot volume.
The GUI supports the following snapshot commands. You can access these commands through the volume context menu:
Prepare
Creates the snapshot mirror and attaches it to the original volume.
Snap Shot
Detaches the snapshot mirror from the original volume and creates a snapshot volume that is associated with the snapshot mirror.
Snap Back
Reattaches the snapshot mirror to the original volume.
Snap Clear
Permanently removes the snapshot mirror from the original volume.
Snap Abort
Aborts the snapshot operation after a Prepare or Snap Back command is issued. Snap Abort permanently removes the snapshot mirror from the volume and releases its space.