Determining the volume size when you do not need Snapshot copies

If you are not using Snapshot copies, the size of your volume depends on the size of the LUNs and whether you are using traditional or FlexVol volumes.

Before You Begin

Before you determine that you do not need Snapshot copies, verify the method for protecting data in your configuration. Most data protection methods, such as SnapRestore, SnapMirror, SnapManager for Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft SQL Server, SyncMirror, dump and restore, and ndmpcopy methods rely on Snapshot copies. If you are using any of these methods, you cannot use this procedure to estimate volume size.

Note: Host-based backup methods do not require Snapshot copies.

Step

Use the following method to determine the require size of your volume, depending on your volume type.

If you are estimating a...	Then...
FlexVol volume	The FlexVol volume should be at least as large as the size of the data to be contained by the volume.
Traditional volume	The traditional volume should contain enough disks to hold the size of the data to be contained by the volume.

Example

If you need a traditional volume to contain two 200-GB LUNs, you should create the volume with enough disks to provide at least 400 GB of storage capacity.