A FlashCopy logical drive is a point-in-time image of a logical drive. It is the logical equivalent of a complete physical copy, but you create it much more quickly than a physical copy and it requires less disk space. In this release of the storage management software, the logical drive from which you are basing the FlashCopy, called the base logical drive
You can also create several FlashCopys of a base logical drive and write data to the FlashCopy logical drives in order to perform testing and analysis. Before upgrading your database management system, for example, you can use FlashCopy logical drives to test different configurations. Then you can use the performance data provided by the storage management software to help you decide how to configure your live database system.
When you take a FlashCopy, the controller suspends I/O to the base logical drive for a few seconds while it creates a physical logical drive called the repository logical drive
When you create a FlashCopy logical drive, you specify where to create the repository logical drive, its capacity, and other parameters. You can disable the FlashCopy when you are finished with it, for example after a backup completes. Then, you can re-create the FlashCopy the next time you do a backup and reuse the same repository logical drive. Using the Disable FlashCopy and Re-create FlashCopy pull-down menu options provides a shortcut to creating a new FlashCopy logical drive of a particular base logical drive because you do not need to create a new repository logical drive. You can also delete a FlashCopy logical drive, which also deletes the associated repository logical drive.
The storage management software provides a warning message when your repository logical drive nears a user-specified threshold (a percentage of its full capacity, the default is 50%). When this condition occurs, you can use the storage management software to expand the capacity of your repository logical drive from free capacity on the array. If you are out of free capacity on the array, you can even add unconfigured capacity to the array in order to expand the repository logical drive.
Creating a FlashCopy Logical Drive Using the FlashCopy Wizard
Disabling a FlashCopy Logical Drive
Re-creating a FlashCopy Logical Drive
Learn About Disabling and Re-creating a FlashCopy Logical Drive