zfs discuss - Jul 2010 - ZFS snapshot zvols/iscsi send backup

I''m looking to use ZFS to export ISCSI volumes to a Windows/Linux
client.  Essentially, I''m looking to create two storage ZFS machines
that I will export ISCSI targets from.  Then from the client side, I will enable
mirrorings.  The two ZFS machines will be independent of each other.  I had
question about snapshoting of ISCSI zvols.

If I do a snapshot of ISCSI volume, it snapshots the blocks.  I know the sending
the blocks will allow from some from of replication.  However, if I send the
snapshot to a file, will I be able to recover the ISCSI volume from the file(s)?

e.g.

zfs send tank/test at 1 | gzip -c > zfs.tank.test.gz

Can I recover this ISCSI volume from zfs.tank.test.gz by sending it directly to
another ZFS machine?  Will I then be able to mount the ZFS volume created from
this file and have my filesystem be the way it was?  If I assemble the blocks
like they were before, I assume it assembles everything the way it was before,
including the filesytem and such.

Or am I incorrect about this?

Gary
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This message posted from opensolaris.org

On 07/13/10 12:26 PM, Gary Leong wrote:
> I''m looking to use ZFS to export ISCSI volumes to a Windows/Linux
client.  Essentially, I''m looking to create two storage ZFS machines
that I will export ISCSI targets from.  Then from the client side, I will enable
mirrorings.  The two ZFS machines will be independent of each other.  I had
question about snapshoting of ISCSI zvols.
>
> If I do a snapshot of ISCSI volume, it snapshots the blocks.  I know the
sending the blocks will allow from some from of replication.  However, if I send
the snapshot to a file, will I be able to recover the ISCSI volume from the
file(s)?
>
> e.g.
>
> zfs send tank/test at 1 | gzip -c>  zfs.tank.test.gz
>
> Can I recover this ISCSI volume from zfs.tank.test.gz by sending it
directly to another ZFS machine?
Yes.  The send data stream is just that, a stream of data.  If you want 
to archive the file, do a test receive first to make sure there isn''t 
any data corruption.
> Will I then be able to mount the ZFS volume created from this file and have
my filesystem be the way it was?
>    
Yes.

-- 
Ian.

Thanks for quick response. I appreciate it much.
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