Create a new volume from a snapshot

This page provides details and instructions for how to create a volume from a snapshot.

Before you begin

The creation of a new volume from a snapshot in NetApp Volumes is comparable to cloning. If you create a volume from a snapshot with the Flex Unified service level, NetApp Volumes uses thin clones. For other service levels, NetApp Volumes creates a regular clone.

You can clone or copy entire volumes within a few seconds independent of volume size. The newly created clone represents a new volume. The process for snapshot-driven volume creation is similar to the procedure for new volume creation. NetApp Volumes assigns the clone to the same storage pool as the source volume. The host storage pool needs enough available capacity to accommodate the volume clone. The new volume inherits settings from the source volume. For the Flex Unified service level volumes, capacity and protocols are inherited from the source volume and can't be changed during creation. For other service levels, you can explicitly specify settings like protocols in the creation workflow.

Considerations

Consider the following limitations before you create a volume from a snapshot:

  • Changes to permission models: if you use the cloning mechanism to switch the network-attached storage (NAS) protocol type, it might also switch the permission model that the security style provides. You might experience file access permission issues, which you can only fix manually with administrator access by using the NAS client tools to set permissions. For the Flex Unified service level volumes, you can't change the protocol when creating a volume from a snapshot; it's inherited from the source volume.

  • Increased volume consumption: after you create a volume from a snapshot, you have two independent volumes and both consume capacity from the host storage pool. For the Flex Unified service level volumes, clones initially share data blocks with the source volume and consume additional capacity only for new or modified data.

  • Replication capabilities: volumes created from a snapshot don't support volume replication.

  • Thin clones: if you create a volume from a snapshot with the Flex Unified service level, the following considerations apply to thin clones:

    • The new volumes depend on the source volume. You can't delete the source volume until you delete all associated clone volumes, which are created from the source volume's snapshots.

    • You can't delete a snapshot until you delete the thin clone created from that snapshot.

    • You can create nested clones by creating a clone from a snapshot of an existing clone volume.

Create a new volume from a snapshot

Use the following instructions to create a new volume from a snapshot using the Google Cloud console or Google Cloud CLI or ONTAP-mode.

Console

Use the following instructions to clone the latest state of the volume:

  1. Go to the NetApp Volumes page in the Google Cloud console.

    Go to NetApp Volumes

  2. Click Volumes.

  3. Select the volume to clone.

  4. Select the Snapshots tab.

  5. Click Create Snapshot.

To clone from a previous snapshot, complete the following instructions:

  1. Find the snapshot you want to clone.

  2. Click Show more.

  3. Click Create new volume from snapshot.

  4. Enter a volume name in the Volume name field for the cloned volume.

  5. Optional: Enter a description in the Description field.

  6. Enter a share name in the Share name field.

  7. Select the NAS protocol from the Protocol(s) drop-down list to use for the clone. We recommend that you choose the same protocol as the source volume.

  8. Select the protocol-specific options to apply to the clone. Protocol options depend on the protocol choice. For more information, see Create a volume.

  9. Click Block volume from deletion when clients are connected in the Configuration for selected protocol(s) for volumes used as GCVE datastores. This setting is permanent.

  10. Optional: Define a snapshot schedule.

  11. Select Make snapshot directory visible if you want to enable file system access to snapshot versions by clients.

  12. Select Allow scheduled snapshots if you want to configure the volume to automatically take snapshots. You can specify the number of snapshots to keep at hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly snapshots intervals. NetApp Volumes specifies time in the UTC format. If you reach the maximum number of snapshots, the older snapshot deletes automatically.

  13. Review your snapshot selections.

  14. Optional: under the Labels section, click Add label to enter relevant labels for reporting and querying purposes.

  15. Click Create.

    NetApp Volumes creates the volume within a few seconds. You can find the new volume in the Volumes page.

    For the Flex Unified thin clones, the Source volume column represents the hierarchy of source and clone volumes. The Source volume column isn't shown by default. To add the Source volume column, select it from the Displayed Column option. This column displays the source volume name as a link to the source volume details page. For more information about how to manage clone volumes, see Manage clone volumes.

    You can mount the volume with clients using the NetApp Volumes instructions for how to mount a volume.

gcloud

Create a new volume from an existing snapshot:

 gcloud netapp volumes create VOLUME_NAME \
  --project=PROJECT_ID \
  --location=LOCATION \
  --storage-pool=STORAGE_POOL \
  --capacity=CAPACITY \
  --protocols=PROTOCOLS \
  --share-name=SHARE_NAME \
  --source-snapshot=SOURCE_SNAPSHOT

Replace the following information:

  • VOLUME_NAME: the name of the volume you want to create the snapshot in. This name must be unique per location.

  • PROJECT_ID: the name of the project you want to create the new volume in.

  • LOCATION: the location of the existing volume.

  • STORAGE_POOL: the name of the storage pool you want to create the volume in.

  • CAPACITY: the capacity of the volume. It defines the capacity that NAS clients see.

  • PROTOCOLS: choose the NAS protocols you want to export the new volume with. Valid choices include the following:

    • NFSV3 and NFSV4.1

    • NFSV3 and SMB

    • NFSV4.1 and SMB

    We strongly recommend that you choose the same protocol as the source volume.

  • SHARE_NAME: the NFS export path or SMB share name of the new volume.

  • SOURCE_SNAPSHOT: the ID of the snapshot or fully qualified identifier for the snapshot.

For more options, see Google Cloud SDK documentation for NetApp Volumes volume snapshots.

ONTAP-mode

Identify the required ONTAP commands in the ONTAP documentation.

For example, see FlexClone volume use overview.

After you identify the required commands, see ONTAP-mode for instructions about how to submit ONTAP commands to the storage pool.

Manage clone volumes

You can manage a clone volume created from a snapshot like any other volume. However, thin clones have specific behaviors.

View clone volume details

The volume details page for a clone includes the following fields:

  • Capacity: the volume's allocated capacity.

  • Used capacity: includes the shared space and any new data written to the volume.

  • Shared capacity: the snapshot data that is linked to the source volume.

    • Source volume: the source volume information is displayed with the shared capacity value and represents the relationship between the volumes.

The volume details page for a newly created volume from a snapshot displays a message with source volume details.

The source volume includes the Associated clones section. The Delete operation for this volume is disabled because it has associated clones.

Edit a clone volume

After volume creation, you can modify the capacity of the clone volume as follows:

  • For NFS and SMB protocols, you can increase or decrease the clone volume's capacity. However, the capacity must be at least the total used capacity, including shared capacity and incrementally added data.

  • For the iSCSI protocol, you can only increase the capacity; you can't decrease it.

Delete a clone volume

Consider the following when you delete a clone volume:

  • A clone volume that has no associated child volumes can be deleted like a standard volume.

  • The source volume can be deleted only after all its associated clones are deleted.

What's next

Restore your data using snapshots.