Features supported
SnapDrive for Windows supports a variety of protocols and applications, and it offer a number of features to enable LUN provision and Snapshot copy managment in virtual and non-virtual Windows environments.
- Support for VMDKs in NFS and VMFS datastores
You can use SnapDrive for Windows with SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure when you want to perform Snapshot copy operations in VMDKs on NFS and VMFS datastores.
- SnapDrive VMDK support limitations
SnapDrive has some limitations of which you should be aware before using SnapDrive to perform Snapshot copy operations on VMDKs.
- Support for space reclamation in VMDK files in NFS datastores
You can use the Space Reclaimer feature to reclaim space left by recently freed blocks in VMDK files located in NFS datastores when you use SnapDrive for Windows with SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure in an ESX environment.
- SnapDrive support in Windows Server 2008 Server Core
Windows Server 2008 Server Core, including Windows Hypervisor (Hyper-V), is supported by SnapDrive for Windows, and it enables remote LUN management using SnapDrive sdcli.exe and MMC from a standard Windows server.
- Support for dynamically adding and removing pass-through disks on Hyper-V virtual machines
SnapDrive supports the feature introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2 that enables you to add or remove a pass-through disk on a Hyper-V virtual machine without shutting down that virtual machine. This is sometimes called the hot add and remove feature.
- Support for restoring data at the file level
You can use SnapDrive command-line interface to restore one or more files from a Snapshot copy.
- Support for storage system access control
SnapDrive provides support for storage system access control to separate server administrator and storage administrator functions, and to limit SnapDrive actions and operations that depend on the user.
- Support for ESX iSCSI initiators with SnapDrive for Windows
SnapDrive for Windows enables the use of ESX iSCSI initiators to provide LUN provisioning and Snapshot copy management operations in a guest OS.
- SnapDrive changes with MMC 3.0
SnapDrive's implementation of MMC 3.0 introduces some changes from previous versions of SnapDrive, including the introduction of a new Action pane and improved error messages.
- MultiStore support
SnapDrive is supported on vFiler units when using the iSCSI protocol.
- HTTP and HTTPS transport protocol support
SnapDrive for Windows allows you to use HTTP or HTTPS in addition to the default RPC protocol for storage system communication. This feature, along with CIFS share dependency removal, means you are no longer required to have root access on the storage system for SnapDrive-related operations.
- IPv6 support
SnapDrive supports IPv6 in a Windows Server 2008 environment when you are using Data ONTAP 7.3.1 or later on your storage system .
- SnapVault support
SnapDrive provides SnapVault backup support of existing SnapVault configurations when your storage system is running Data ONTAP 7.2.6 or later. If you are using SnapVault with MultiStore, Data ONTAP 7.3 or later is required.
- VMware support
SnapDrive for Windows provides LUN provisioning and Snapshot copy management support with VMware ESX 3.0.2 or later guest OS on x86, and x64 platforms when using either the Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator 2.04 or later, FC HBAs, or ESX iSCSI software initiators or iSCSI HBAs.
- GPT partition support
SnapDrive supports the GUID partition table (GPT) partitioning style on new LUNs created by SnapDrive when you have Data ONTAP 7.2.6 or later installed on your storage system .
- LUN boot disk (SAN booting) support
SnapDrive supports both bootable LUNs (SAN booting) and nonbootable LUNs.
- Cluster support
SnapDrive for Windows can be deployed in a variety of cluster configurations.
