Snapshots appear to be the way forward to ensure data consistency and protection in modern storage systems. The two methods of performing snapshots, copy-on-write (COW) and redirect-on-write (ROW), each of which have its advantages and disadvantages. An administrator expects maximum flexibility in creating, deleting, and rolling back snapshots, and expects that each operation take a minimum amount of time. The most advanced snapshot implementations allow the administrator to mount snapshots as both read-only and writable volumes, for the purpose of experimentation. In addition to all the above features, an administrator expects stability and performance from any snapshot implementation. The manner in which snapshots can be used to enhance data protection, especially in the creation of replication schemes, shows what an invaluable technology they truly are.

The snapshot implementation offered in the StorTrends iTX software by American Megatrends, featured in every StorTrends IP-SAN and NAS appliance, can be considered one of the premier snapshot implementations in the industry. StorTrends provides all of the above features, at a minimum performance premium, with minimal wastage of space, and with almost no performance impact or data degradation. At this time, no other implementation has been able to improve on such phenomenal snapshot performance. In addition, the snapshot implementation found in StorTrends iTX is lightweight and flexible, making it easy to add new features and fine-tune existing ones. Finally, AMI uses its snapshot implementation to enable various other attractive features, primary among them being snapshot-assisted replication and information lifecycle management. StorTrends makes sophisticated snapshot technology that was once available only to enterprise-level users accessible to those in small and medium-sized business (SMB) for the first time.