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Create a snapshot policy for FSx for ONTAP volumes

Contributors netapp-rlithman
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Create a custom snapshot policy for FSx for ONTAP volumes. A snapshot policy defines how the system creates snapshots for a volume.

About this task

You can create a custom snapshot policy that differs from the three built-in snapshot policies for FSx for ONTAP:

  • default

  • default-1weekly

  • none

By default, every volume is associated with the file system's default snapshot policy. We recommend using this policy for most workloads.

Customizing a policy lets you specify when to create snapshots, how many copies to retain, and how to name them.

Before you begin

  • Consider the following about snapshot capacity before you use snapshots:

    • For most datasets, an additional capacity of 20% is enough to keep snapshots for up to four weeks. As data gets older, its use for restorations becomes less likely.

    • Overwriting all the data in a snapshot consumes significant volume capacity, which factors into provisioning volume capacity.

  • To create a custom snapshot policy, you must associate a link. If you don't have an existing link, create a link. To associate a link in the file system, click Associate link under Account name. Once the link associates, return to this operation.

Steps

  1. Log in to the Workload Factory console

  2. In Storage, select Go to storage inventory.

  3. In the FSx for ONTAP tab, click the three dots menu of the file system with the volume and then select Manage.

  4. In the file system overview, select the Volumes tab.

  5. From the Volumes tab, select the three dots menu for the volume to protect with scheduled snapshots.

  6. Select Data protection actions, Snapshots, then Manage snapshot policies.

  7. On the Snapshot policy management page, select Create a new snapshot policy.

  8. In the Snapshot policy name field, enter a name for the snapshot policy.

  9. Optional: in the Description field, enter a description for the snapshot policy.

  10. Under Schedule, select when to create snapshots. For example, every minute or hourly.

    You can select more than one frequency.

  11. Under Number of copies, enter the number of copies to retain.

    The maximum number of copies is 1,023.

  12. Optional: Under Naming convention, enter a Prefix for the policy.

  13. Retention label is automatically populated.

    This label refers to the SnapMirror, or replication label, used to select only specified snapshots for replication from the source to the target file system.

  14. Click Apply.