VSS Hardware Provider

I have a Windows Server 2003 Marjority Node Set Cluster. There are VDisks from our EVA8000 connected. From these VDisks I would like to create Snapshots using VSS. The Snapshots should appear in the “Previous Versions” tab from the Properties from a folder. So a user can restore his data independently.

I’ve installed the HP VSS Hardware Provider on one Node. So I’m able to create Snapshots with the command “vshadow –p” from the VSS SDK.

Now I don’t think it is very thoughtfully to install on every Client (Windows XP) the SDK that a user can make restores from his data with a vshadow command. This method is not very easy to use and I don’t think that every user can handle this.

Now my Questions:
1. Is there a possibility for the EVA8000 that the snapshots appear under “previous versions”?
2. Is there a possibility that the Snapshots which were created with the RSM appear in Windows as a Shadow Copy?

I’m grateful for every hint.

Best regards

Answer

Although it’s possible to have RSM create your VSS snaps using the VSS Providers I’ve never used this from a client perspective, only ever on the actual server and then only in a ‘one-time-snap’ mode, never with multiple snaps. I’d say give it a try, maybe on a new unused LUN first but it’s the only way to really know.

Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Andreas Vogelsang , Answer Author : Chopper3

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