A LiveClone is an independent clone of an active image that consumesfull storage resources and can be mounted to a host. A LiveClone canbe refreshed incrementally from another image, allowing fast andefficient data refreshes for extract, transform, and load processesand test and development purposes. A LiveClone can also be mountedfor direct modification to support operations such as data masking.

Because a LiveClone can be created in a different snapshot pool to the sourceimage, a LiveClone can consume a different class of storage to the sourceimage. This is useful if you want to simulate workloads on the same classof storage as production data, while leaving the backups on a differentclass of storage.

LiveClones jobs are commonly run by Backup and DR Workflows and can be used to do thefollowing:

• Refresh: Create multiple, re-mountable copies of an active image that can be refreshed from the most recent image of the same application. SeeRefresh a LiveClone.

• PrepMount: Mount the LiveClone image to a specific host for a pre-processing operation—such as sanitizing data—even if some copies of this same LiveClone may already be mounted. You can prep-mount a LiveClone image to scrub confidential or sensitive data.

  Note: While the LiveClone image is prep-mounted, it is busy. It cannot be deleted, refreshed, or mounted. If you mount application images before prep-mounting another image of the same application, the mounted images continue to be usable.

• PrepUnmount: A prep-unmount operation on a LiveClone lets you decide if your changes are to be preserved or not. By default changes are tracked and preserved.

LiveClones provide a crucial building block in managing copy datalifecycle as they combine the performance and independence of afull clone with the efficiency and speed of incremental refreshes of data.

Create LiveClones

Use these instructions to create a LiveClone of a host.

1. From the Backup and DR Service management console, clickApp Manager and selectApplications from the drop-down list.

   TheApplications page opens.

2. Select the application or VM with the image that you want to clone,then chooseAccess from the drop-down list at the bottom of theApplications page.

   TheAccess page opens listing backup images in the timelineramp view. Image types that support LiveClone creation include snapshotand remote snapshot—StreamSnap images. The timeline ramp view is atime-based visualization of seven days of captured images for theselected application. You can use your mouse scroll wheel or theup and down arrows in the bottom left corner of the page to movethe timeline through the captured images and make a selection.SeeAccess the timeline ramp view of an image for details.

3. Select the image, then selectLiveClone from thelist of access operations. The LiveClone page opens.

4. Select a snapshot storage pool from theChoose Pooldrop-down list. If you have multiple pools, each consuming differentclasses of persistent disk, make sure you select the target pool.

5. InLabel, enter a unique name for the new LiveClone.

6. ClickSubmit. The creation of a LiveClone can take some timedepending on the image size. Once completed, you can see theLiveClone image in theAccess page. The LiveClone image appearsadjacent to the original data in the ramp view of theAccess pagewith a numeric one. Unlike snapshot images which are yellow, LiveCloneimages are purple.

Direct mount a LiveClone to a host

Direct-mount a LiveClone to present refreshed images to work from.If the LiveClone does not already exist, it is must be created first, seeCreate LiveClones.

To mount a LiveClone to a host follow these steps:

1. From the Backup and DR Service management console, clickApp Manager and selectApplications from the drop-down list.

   TheApplications page opens.

2. Select the application with the LiveClone image that you wantto mount, then chooseAccess from the drop-down list at thebottom of theApplications page.

   TheAccess page opens listing LiveClone images in the timelineramp view. Image types that support LiveClone creation include snapshotand remote snapshot—StreamSnap images. The timeline ramp view is atime-based visualization of seven days of captured images for theselected application. You can use your mouse scroll wheel or theup and down arrows in the bottom left corner of the page to movethe timeline through the captured images and make a selection.SeeAccess the timeline ramp view of an imagefor details.

3. Select the LiveClone image to mount, then selectMountfrom the drop-down list. Unlike snapshot images which are yellow,LiveClone images are purple.

   TheMount page opens.

4. Select a host fromHost drop-down list.

5. This setting only appears if the targeted host is a VMware VM.ForMount Mode, select one of the following:

   • NFS: By default NFS mode is selected.
   • vRDM (virtual raw device mapping):VMware snapshots treat mountedvRDMs as Independent and are not included in snapshots. Because of this,by default, Backup and DR does not include vRDMs when protecting a mountedVM. Backup and DR does provide an option where you can mark vRDMs asdependent. Although rarely used, when this option is enabled, vRDMs areincluded in VMware snapshots. Backup templates capturevRDMs marked as dependent.
   • pRDM (physical raw device mapping): For file-level restoreoperations, select pRDM mode.

   • This setting only appears if the targeted host is a VMware VMand RDM mount mode is selected. FromMap to ESX Hosts, selectone of the following options:

     • One: SelectOne if you want to map only to the ESXhost running the target VM.
     • Two: SelectTwo if you want to map to two ESX hosts, butnot all ESX hosts in the cluster. On selectingTwo, you aregiven the option to choose the second host, or chooseAuto-select.Auto-select choose the second host based on logical pairs of ESX hostsand always selects the partner ESX host for the one running the targetVM.

     • All: SelectAll if you want to map to all the ESX hostspresent in the cluster. SelectingAll may increasethe duration for the job.

       Note: You can see theMap to ESX Hosts option only when one or more target hosts are VMware VMs and when you have selected vRDM or pRDM in theMount Mode field.

6. ForMount Drive (Windows only), specify a drive letter to beassigned to the volume. If the drive letter is not available,the job fails. If multiple volumes are found, then it assignssubsequent drive letters. If no mount drive is specified, theBackup and DR agent chooses a drive letter itself, if available.

7. ForMount Point, specify the full path at which you want tomount the volume. If the path exists as an empty folder, theBackup and DR agent uses it. If it does not exist, the Backup and DR agentcreates it. If it exists as a file or as a folder that is not empty, thenthe job fails. If there are multiple volumes to be mounted, theBackup and DR agent chooses the user specified drive for one of the volumesand for the remaining it appends an underscore (_) followed by a number, forexample, userspecified#.

8. Enter a unique name associated with the LiveClone mount inLabel.

9. Select a single volume or multiple volumes from theSelect Volumes To Mount area of the page. By default,all volumes are selected, and the first volume cannot be deselected.For an individual file system there may be only one volume.

10. Specify the storage pool, mount drive, and mount point for each volumeyou want to mount.

11. ClickSubmit. A job is submitted to mount the LiveClone image tothe selected host. You can verify that the clone operation issuccessful by viewing the job status inSystem Monitor.Once completed, the image becomes active and is available for use.

Refresh a LiveClone image

Refresh a LiveClone from another image to allow fast and efficient datarefreshes for extract, transform, and load processes and test anddevelopment purposes.

1. From the Backup and DR Service management console, clickApp Manager and selectApplications from the drop-down list.

   TheApplications page opens.

2. Select the application or VM that has the LiveClone image that youwant to refresh, then chooseAccess from the drop-down list atthe bottom of theApplications page.

3. Select a LiveClone, then selectRefresh from the drop-down list. Unlikesnapshot images which are yellow, LiveClone images are purple.

   TheRefresh page opens.

4. From theRefresh to Image drop-down list select the imageyou want to use to refresh.

5. ClickSubmit to refresh the LiveClone image.

Perform a prep mount for a LiveClone

You can prep-mount a LiveClone if you want to present a sanitizedor otherwise processed snapshot before mounting the LiveClone imageto target hosts. You can prep-mount a LiveClone image to scrubconfidential or sensitive data.