How SnapManager works

What SnapManager Backup does

Functions it performs

SnapManager Backup performs a full online backup of the Domino server's Data directory and transaction logs. SnapManager Backup uses snapshot functionality to create real-time, online, read-only copies of the Domino Data directory. After the Data directory is safely backed up, SnapManager archives the available transaction log files to the SnapInfo directory.

In the context of SnapManager Backup, each volume is viewed as a discrete entity. Although backups are performed at the Data directory level (all databases in a server are backed up at once)--the entire content of the volume, including all its virtual disks, is captured in the snapshot.

How it works

When using SnapManager Backup, snapshots are prefaced by placing the Domino server in backup mode. This is initiated with a call to the Domino backup API. After a backup is initiated, a snapshot of the virtual disk that the data resides on is issued. While the backup progresses, pre-snapshot images are accumulated for each Data directory and archived along with the snapshot to restore the snapshot properly.

Using SnapManager Backup, you can back up the Data directory and transaction logs belonging to a Domino server at once. They are then placed together as one data set on their respective, separate virtual disks. For each Domino server, the backup includes the databases in the Domino Data directory, the transaction logs, and SnapInfo files belonging to the Data directory.

Data directory backups

When you select a Domino Data directory for backup, all databases composing the Data directory are automatically selected for backup.

Data organization in SnapManager backup sets

The SnapInfo subdirectory contains the information about each backup set created by SnapManager Backup. A subdirectory under the SnapInfo directory is created for each backup set. Each backup-set subdirectory contains the transaction logs backed up as part of that snapshot as well as the recovery information for that specific snapshot.

Every time a SnapManager backup is created, a new backup-set subdirectory is created under the SnapInfo directory and is populated with the appropriate information and data. A complete backup set consists of this SnapInfo subdirectory and the corresponding snapshot of the virtual disk drives that store the Domino Data directory and transaction logs. The SnapInfo subdirectories can reside on the same virtual disk as the transaction log files, but not on the same virtual disk with the Domino Data directory.