For readers that didn’t already know this, Snapshots on NetApp-hosted CIFS shares are automatically and transparently recognized by Windows versions that support the “Previous Versions” tab. I believe this functionality is native on Windows Server 2003 and an add-on for Windows XP, but I’m not 100% certain. Either way, this means that users can easily recover files from NetApp Snapshots from within the Windows GUI.
Here’s a screenshot of the Previous Versions support on an out-of-the-box server running Windows Server 2003 R2:
As you can see in the screenshot, the Previous Versions tab automatically shows the NetApp Snapshots. No configuration is required; this is after a vanilla installation of Windows Server 2003 R2 and all applicable updates from Windows Update.
To NetApp veterans, this is nothing new, but I thought some new NetApp users out there might find information about this functionality and integration useful.
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The Previous Versions feature is super nice, but can be a tad bit too powerful at times. Restoring a previous version of a file is ideal, but restoring at a folder level can have implications to all files below the folder.
I’ve had several NetApp customers ask me how to remove and this is what I’ve found:
You can disable the entire Previous Versions tab, or just the actual Restore button.
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Charles,
Thanks, that’s useful information to have.
I agree that the Previous Versions feature isn’t right for every organization, so this ability to disable the feature entirely or just the Restore button is very helpful.
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This is an useful information. Thanks
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