A snapshot is a read-only image of the entire Data ONTAP file system. It reflects the state of the file system at the time the snapshot is created.
Snapshot files carry the same permissions as the original file. A user who has permission to read a file in the active file system can still read that file in the snapshot. A user without read permission to the same file cannot read that file in a snapshot. Write permission does not apply because snapshots are read-only. Snapshots can be accessed by any user with the appropriate permissions.
Every directory in the filer's active file system contains a directory named .snapshot through which users can access old versions of files in that directory.
FilerView enables you to configure and manage all snapshots in all volumes on the filer.