Manage snapshots using the CLI

This page describes how to manage snapshots using the CLI.

Using the CLI, you can:

• Create a snapshot

• Delete a snapshot

• Restore a snapshot to a filesystem or another snapshot

• Update a snapshot

Consider the following when working with snapshots:

• When moving a file in or out of a snapshot directory, or between snapshots, the kernel implements the move operation as a copy operation, similar to moving a file between two different filesystems. Such operations for directories fail.

• If symbolic links are accessed via the .snapshots directory, the symlinks with absolute paths can lead to the current filesystem. Consequently, depending on the usage, it may be preferable not to follow symlinks or to use relative paths.

The .snapshots directory is not listed. Running ls on the root of the filesystem does not show the .snapshots directory. However, it can be explicitly accessed, e.g. using the cd .snapshots command.

Create a snapshot

Command: weka fs snapshot create

Use the following command line to add a snapshot:

weka fs snapshot create <file-system> <name> [--access-point access-point] [--source-snap=<source-snap>] [--is-writable]

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
file-system	String	A valid filesystem identifier	Must be a valid name	Yes	​
name	String	Unique name for filesystem snapshot	Must be a valid name	Yes
access-point	String	Name of the newly-created directory for filesystem-level snapshots, which serves as the access point for the snapshots	Must be a valid name	No	Controlled by weka fs snapshot access-point-naming-convention update <date/name>. By default it is <date> format: @GMT_%Y.%m.%d-%H.%M.%S which is compatible with windows previous versions format for SMB.
source-snap	String	Must be an existing snapshot	Must be a valid name	No	The snapshot name of the specified filesystem.
is-writable	Boolean	Sets the created snapshot to be writable		No	False

Delete a snapshot

Command: weka fs snapshot delete

Use the following command line to delete a snapshot:

weka fs snapshot delete <file-system> <name>

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
file-system	String	A valid filesystem identifier	Must be a valid name	Yes	​
name	String	Unique name for filesystem snapshot	Must be a valid name	Yes

Note: A snapshot deletion cannot happen in parallel to a snapshot upload to the same filesystem. Since uploading a snapshot to a remote object store might take a while, it is advisable to delete the desired snapshots before uploading to the remote object store.

Also, note that this becomes more important when uploading snapshots to both local and remote object stores. While local and remote uploads can progress in parallel, consider the case of a remote upload in progress, then a snapshot is deleted, and later a snapshot is uploaded to the local object store. In this scenario, the local snapshot upload waits for the pending deletion of the snapshot (which happens only once the remote snapshot upload is done).

Restore a snapshot to a filesystem or another snapshot

Commands: weka fs restore or weka fs snapshot copy

Use the following command line to restore a filesystem from a snapshot:

weka fs restore <file-system> <source-name>

Use the following command line to restore a snapshot to another snapshot:

weka fs snapshot copy <file-system> <source-name> <destination-name>

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
file-system	String	A valid filesystem identifier	Must be a valid name	Yes	​
source-name	String	Unique name for the source of the snapshot	Must be a valid name	Yes
destination-name	String	Name of the destination to which the snapshot should be copied	Must be an existing snapshot	Yes

Note: When restoring a filesystem from a snapshot (or copying over an existing snapshot), the filesystem data and metadata are changed. Make sure IOs to the filesystem are stopped during this time.

Update a snapshot

Command: weka fs snapshot update

This command changes the snapshot attributes. Use the following command line to update an existing snapshot:

weka fs snapshot update <file-system> <name> [--new-name=<new-name>] [--access-point=<access-point>]

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
file-system	String	A valid filesystem identifier	Must be a valid name	Yes	​
name	String	Unique name for the updated snapshot	Must be a valid name	Yes
new-name	String	New name for the updated snapshot	Must be a valid name	No
access-point	String	Name of a directory for the snapshot that serves as the access point for the snapshot	Must be a valid name	No