Managing Snapshots in Qumulo Core

This section explains how to create on-demand snapshots and snapshot policies, view and search for existing snapshots, and delete snapshots by using the Qumulo Core Web UI. It also explains how to create snapshots on a schedule, create a snapshot with an expiration time, and modify a snapshot's expiration time.

Managing Snapshots by Using the Qumulo Core Web UI

This section explains how to create on-demand snapshots and snapshot policies, view and search for existing snapshots, and delete snapshots by using the Qumulo Core Web UI.

To Create an On-Demand Snapshot

Log in to the Qumulo Core Web UI.
Click Cluster > Saved Snapshots.
On the Saved Snapshots page, in the upper right, click Take Snapshot.
In the On Demand Snapshot dialog box, do the following.
1. Enter the Snapshot Name.
2. For Apply to Directory, enter the directory to snapshot.
3. For Delete Snapshot, specify whether Qumulo Core should never delete the snapshot or delete it after a specified time period.
4. Click Save.

To Create a Snapshot Policy

Log in to the Qumulo Core Web UI.
Click Cluster > Policy.
On the Snapshot Policies page, in the upper right, click Create Policy.
On the Create Snapshot Policy page, do the following:
1. Enter the Policy Name.
2. For Apply to Directory, enter the directory to snapshot.
3. In the Run Policy on the Following Schedule section, specify the snapshot frequency and when to delete snapshots.
4. Click Enable policy upon creation.
5. Click Create Policy.

To View Existing Snapshots

The Snapshots page lets you navigate a large number of snapshots.

Log in to the Qumulo Core Web UI.
Click Cluster > Saved Snapshots.
In Qumulo Core version 4.3.3 (and higher), if you have more than 50 snapshots, use to navigate the snapshot pages.

You can also use the controls at the bottom of the table to navigate to a specific page or change the number of rows for each page.

To Find a Specific Snapshot

In Qumulo Core version 4.3.3 (and higher), you can search for a specific snapshot by name, creation time, and so on.

Log in to the Qumulo Core Web UI.
Click Cluster > Saved Snapshots.
At the top of the table, click enable filters.

The Search… field appears.
Enter a search query.

The table rows match your query as you type.
(Optional) To turn off filtering, click disable filters.

To Delete a Single Snapshot

Log in to the Qumulo Core Web UI.
Click Cluster > Saved Snapshots.
On the right side of a snapshot’s row, click .

To Delete Multiple Snapshots

In Qumulo Core version 4.3.3 (and higher), you can delete multiple snapshots at once.

Log in to the Qumulo Core Web UI.
Click Cluster > Saved Snapshots.
On the left side of the table, select every snapshot to delete.

When you select more than one row, the Bulk Delete button appears.
When you finish selecting snapshots, click Bulk Delete.

Note
Because all selection and deletion controls operate only on the current page, it isn’t possible to delete a snapshot accidentally if it isn’t listed on the current page.

Managing Snapshots by Using the qq CLI

This section explains how to create snapshots on a schedule, create a snapshot with an expiration time, and modify a snapshot’s expiration time by using the qq CLI.

Important
Creating and modifying snapshot policies with an associated lock requires the SNAPSHOT_LOCK permission in addition to policy permissions.

Creating Snapshots on a Schedule by Using a Snapshot Policy

Run the qq snapshot_create_policy command to create a snapshot policy and specify the interval at which Qumulo Core takes and deletes snapshots.

In the following example, we create a policy named every_day that takes a snapshot every midnight in the Pacific time zone and retains the snapshot for two days. Every new snapshot that this policy creates is locked with a key named my-key-name. For more information, see Locking and Unlocking Snapshots in Qumulo Core.

Note
The timezone flag uses values from the tz database. If you don’t specify a time zone, the snapshot policy uses UTC time.

qq snapshot_create_policy daily \
  --name every_day \
  --days-of-week all \
  --at 00:00 \
  --timezone America/Los_Angeles \
  --time-to-live 7days
  --lock-key my-key-name

In the following example, we change a previously created policy with ID 1 to a policy named hourly that takes a snapshot every hour, but only during business hours (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm in the Pacific time zone), and retains snapshots for two days. Every new snapshot that this policy creates is unlocked (previously created snapshots remain locked). For more information, see Locking and Unlocking Snapshots in Qumulo Core.

qq snapshot_modify_policy change_to_hourly_or_less \
  -i 1 \
  --name hourly \
  --period 1hours \
  --days-of-week MON,TUE,WED,THU,FRI \
  --start-time 08:00 \
  --end-time 18:00 \
  --timezone America/Los_Angeles \
  --time-to-live 2days
  --clear-lock-key

Creating an On-Demand Snapshot with an Expiration Time

Run the qq_snapshot_create_snapshot command to specify an expiration date or expiration time before Qumulo Core deletes the snapshot.

Note
If you don’t specify an expiration date or expiration time before deletion, Qumulo Core never deletes the snapshot.

In the following example, the snapshot expires on December 31, 2030, at midnight, in UTC time.

qq snapshot_create_snapshot \
  --expiration 2030-12-31T00:00:00Z

In the following example, Qumulo Core deletes the snapshot in one year from the snapshot’s creation time.

qq snapshot_create_snapshot \
  --time-to-live 12months

Modifying a Snapshot’s Expiration Time

Run the qq snapshot_modify_snapshot command and specify the snapshot ID from the Saved Snapshots page in the Qumulo Core Web UI (for example, for the 1234567_replication_from_prod snapshot, the ID is 1234567).

In the following example, the snapshot with ID 1234567 never expires.

qq snapshot_modify_snapshot \
  -i 1234567
  -e ''

In the following example, the snapshot with ID 1234567 expires after one month.

qq snapshot_modify_snapshot \
  -i 1234567 \
  -t 1month