436 Implementing the IBM Storwize V7000 with IBM Spectrum Virtualize V8.2.1
11.1  IBM FlashCopy 
Through the IBM FlashCopy function of IBM Spectrum Virtualize, you can perform a 
point-in-time copy of one or more volumes. This section describes the inner workings of 
FlashCopy and provides details about its configuration and use. 
You can use FlashCopy to help you solve critical and challenging business needs that require 
duplication of data of your source volume. Volumes can remain online and active while you 
create consistent copies of the data sets. Because the copy is performed at the block level, it 
operates below the host operating system and its cache. Therefore, the copy is not apparent 
to the host unless it is mapped.
While the FlashCopy operation is performed, the source volume is frozen briefly to initialize 
the FlashCopy bitmap after which I/O can resume. Although several FlashCopy options 
require the data to be copied from the source to the target in the background, which can take 
time to complete, the resulting data on the target volume is presented so that the copy 
appears to complete immediately. This feature means that the copy can immediately be 
mapped to a host and is directly accessible for Read and Write operations.
11.1.1  Business requirements for FlashCopy
When you are deciding whether FlashCopy addresses your needs, you must adopt a 
combined business and technical view of the problems that you want to solve. First, 
determine the needs from a business perspective. Then, determine whether FlashCopy can 
address the technical needs of those business requirements.
The business applications for FlashCopy are wide-ranging. Common use cases for 
FlashCopy include, but are not limited to, the following examples:
/SM590000Rapidly creating consistent backups of dynamically changing data
/SM590000Rapidly creating consistent copies of production data to facilitate data movement or 
migration between hosts
/SM590000Rapidly creating copies of production data sets for application development and testing
/SM590000Rapidly creating copies of production data sets for auditing purposes and data mining
/SM590000Rapidly creating copies of production data sets for quality assurance
Regardless of your business needs, FlashCopy within the IBM Spectrum Virtualize is flexible 
and offers a broad feature set, which makes it applicable to several scenarios.
Back up improvements with FlashCopy
FlashCopy does not reduce the time that it takes to perform a backup to traditional backup 
infrastructure. However, it can be used to minimize and under certain conditions, eliminate 
application downtime that is associated with performing backups. FlashCopy can also transfer 
the resource usage of performing intensive backups from production systems. 
After the FlashCopy is performed, the resulting image of the data can be backed up to tape, 
as though it were the source system. After the copy to tape is completed, the image data is 
redundant and the target volumes can be discarded. For time-limited applications, such as 
these examples, “no copy” or incremental FlashCopy is used most often. The use of these 
methods puts less load on your servers infrastructure.