Accelerate business continuity and application development with OCI File Storage clone detach

Today, we’re announcing the general availability of the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) File Storage clone detach feature, an easy way to make a space-efficient File Storage clone into a fully independent file system separate from the parent file system. You can use OCI File Storage clones to quickly create thin, read-write copies of a file system for disaster recovery testing, application testing and development, and other use cases. Clone detach expands the utility of these clones and enables you to go from testing to production in minutes by creating a dedicated file system completely detached from the parent file system. You can now detach a clone from new or existing file system clones through the Oracle Cloud Console, software developer kits (SDKs), or APIs.

File Storage clones enable you to instantly create a live file system from a File Storage snapshot and access it for reading and writing. These clones are zero-byte thin clones that reference the parent file system for any data they share, as shown in Figure 1. The clone detach feature seamlessly creates a fully independent file system by copying the data in the background from the clone, which enables you to use the file system in production while the data is being hydrated. The detached clone doesn’t share references or resources with the parent file system, as shown in Figure 2. The clone retains all the configurations of the parent file system, and you can enable all file system features, such as snapshots, clones, and replication. The detached file system is metered and billed as an independent file system. When detached, you can delete the source file system if you no longer need it. You can also delete the source file system directly without detaching, as shown in figure 3.

^{Figure 1: File Storage clone with reference to parent file system}

^{Figure 2: Clone detach creates a new file system with data blocks independent from the parent}

^{Figure 3: Delete the root of the clone}

Use cases

OCI File Storage is a highly scalable distributed cloud file system used by enterprise applications, such as Oracle E-Business suite, for storing shared files, binaries, and backups. These enterprise applications maintain clone copies and need clone detach for the following use cases:

• Enable business continuity in minutes: Mission-critical enterprise applications use clones to perform disaster recovery drills. Clones enables you to quickly create a file system from replicated copy in the disaster recovery site for validation. If a disaster occurs, you must fail over the file system in the disaster recovery site to handle production traffic. Clone detach streamlines the process of bringing a disaster recovery site online in minutes by converting a replicated clone into a fully independent file system, ready to handle production workloads. When the clone is detached, it’s independent from the parent filesystem, and you can delete the parent filesystem if you no longer need it, which reduces the cost of disaster recovery operation.

• Optimize cost of application development cycle: Customers running Oracle applications, such as Oracle E-Business Suite, have multiple copies of their production environments for refreshing the development environments, testing patches, and running experiments. Clones enables you to create the space efficient zero-byte copies at no extra cost. Clone detach enables you to create an independent file system only for the copies that you have validated and want to promote to production. This process optimizes cost by eliminating the need to create multiple duplicate copies.

• Enable compliance and data governance: Customers manage independent policies and permissions for clones, distinct from those of the parent volume, for compliance purposes. Clone detach enables you to create independent copies, each with its own permission profiles, ensuring that data is properly managed, retained, or deleted.

Getting started

You can use clone detach on existing File Storage clones or when a clone is being created. To detach an existing clone from its parent, use the new detach option in the file system details of the clone, as shown in Figure 4.

^{Figure 4: Clone detach from an existing clone}

You can detach the clone from its parent during creation by selecting the Detach clone checkbox while creating the clone, as shown in Figure 5.

^{Figure 5: Clone detach at the time of clone creation}

The clone detach feature also enables you to delete the root of a clone with a simple selection or a single API operation.

Try it for yourself

We want you to experience these new features and all the enterprise-grade capabilities that Oracle Cloud Infrastructure offers. Interested in trying File Storage? Sign up for a free trial.

We value your feedback as we continue to make our service the best in the industry. Contact us to share your thoughts on how we can continue to improve or if you want more details about any topic. More feature updates are on the horizon for our cloud storage platform.

For more information, see the following resources:

• OCI File Storage

• File Storage snapshots

• File Storage clones

• File Storage clones considerations

• Detaching a clone