Copying volumes

You use the vol copy start command to generate volume copy operations, which produce screen messages that show the progress of the operations.

Each vol copy start command generates two volume copy operations, each of which is assigned a number:

One operation is for reading data from the source volume. Screen messages displayed by a vol copy command refer to this operation as the volcopy dump operation.
One operation is for writing data to the destination volume. Screen messages displayed by a vol copy command refer to this operation as the volcopy restore operation.

When to use the volume copy operation number: You need the volume copy operation number if you want to stop a volume copy operation or change the volume copy operation speed. For information about obtaining the volume copy operation number, see the "Checking the status of a volume copy operation" section.

Number of vol copy operations supported
Whether Data ONTAP can execute a vol copy start command depends on how many volume copy operations are already in progress on the storage systems specified in the vol copy start command.
Copying Snapshot copies with the vol copy start command
The following table describes the Snapshot copies that will be copied from the source volume and the resulting Snapshot copies on the destination volume, depending on the option you use with the vol copy start command.
Copying one volume to another
To copy one volume to another, complete the following step.
Using volume copy to copy LUNs
You can use the vol copy command to copy LUNs; however, this requires that applications accessing the LUNs are quiesced and offline prior to the copy operation.

Parent topic: Volume copy