Creating Snapshot schedules

Data ONTAP provides a default Snapshot schedule for each volume. You can configure the schedule to fit your needs.

This schedule creates Snapshot copies automatically and deletes old Snapshot copies after a predetermined amount of time.

When you install Data ONTAP on a storage system, it creates a default Snapshot schedule. The default Snapshot schedule automatically creates one nightly Snapshot copy Monday through Saturday at midnight, and four hourly Snapshot copies at 8 a.m., noon, 4 p.m., and 8 p.m. Data ONTAP retains the two most recent nightly Snapshot copies and the six most recent hourly Snapshot copies, and deletes the oldest nightly and hourly Snapshot copies when new Snapshot copies are created.

• User-specified Snapshot schedules
  There are three types of schedules that you can set up to run automatically using the snap sched command.
• Snapshot schedule conflicts
  If either the SnapMirror or SnapVault features are scheduled to perform Snapshot management at the same time as a snap sched activity, then the Snapshot management operations scheduled using the snap sched command might fail with syslog messages.
• Displaying the Snapshot schedule at the command line
  You can display the Snapshot schedule for a volume.
• Displaying the Snapshot schedule using FilerView
  You can use FilerView to display the Snapshot schedule for a volume.
• What the snap sched command arguments mean
  The following illustration explains the arguments in a sample snap sched command output.
• Strategies for creating a Snapshot schedule
  Following are some strategies for scheduling and retaining Snapshot copies:
• Changing the Snapshot schedule
  You can change the automatic Snapshot schedule for a specific volume.
• Disabling and enabling automatic Snapshot copies
  You can disable automatic Snapshot copies for a period of time without changing the automatic Snapshot schedule.