Restoring a snapshot can be extremely quick, which is
critical for 24/7 systems.
Caveats and Recommendations
Follow these recommendations and best practices when using database snapshots,
whether for recovery or for other purposes:
??? Follow proper naming conventions: As you??™ve already seen, naming snapshots
properly is critical to using them effectively. Poorly named snapshots are of little
use to anyone. It should go without saying at this point, but whatever naming
convention you choose (e.g., DBNAME_DATETIME_SS), you should be consistent with
its usage.
??? Manage the number of snapshots: Snapshots have no automated expiration, so
if left unchecked, they will continue to grow as necessary. If you have one or two
snapshots, this probably won??™t be an issue. However, keep in mind that a database
snapshot could theoretically grow as large as its source database, so maintaining
a number of snapshots could consume disk space quickly. This is most
likely to occur when using snapshots in a development or quality assurance
environment.
CHAPTER 9 n DATABASE SNAPSHOTS 241
??? Consider the impact on performance: Obviously, adding a database snapshot creates
additional resource demands on the server.
Pages:
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444