SAN snapshots and SQL database

Hello Everyone,
Can someone tell me if there is a vendor that has the option of making a
snapshot of a drive or vdisk with a SQL Server database? As far as I
understand, a normal snapshot might not have a consistant copy of the
database. Therefore, I was wondering if there is a product that actually can
make a good/valid copy of a sql database with a snapshot (maybe by using SQL
Server Virtual Backup Device Interface). I rather not backup the database on
disk and then do the snapshot as space is definitely more $expensive$ on a
SAN.
Thank you in advance for your input.
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Senior DBA
"I saw it work in a cartoon once so I am pretty sure I can do it.""Sas" <Sas@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:D7BFA8DA-2918-417F-8D6B-648C1621B249@.microsoft.com...
> Hello Everyone,
> Can someone tell me if there is a vendor that has the option of making a
> snapshot of a drive or vdisk with a SQL Server database? As far as I
> understand, a normal snapshot might not have a consistant copy of the
> database. Therefore, I was wondering if there is a product that actually
can
> make a good/valid copy of a sql database with a snapshot (maybe by using
SQL
> Server Virtual Backup Device Interface). I rather not backup the database
on
> disk and then do the snapshot as space is definitely more $expensive$ on a
> SAN.
Yes. There are. I believe NetApp does as does EMC.

> Thank you in advance for your input.
> --
> --
> Senior DBA
> "I saw it work in a cartoon once so I am pretty sure I can do it."|||SQL Server snapshot backup can be used with EMC TimeFinder via EMC utilities
tsimsnap and tsimsnap2. This can create a database backup almost
instantaniously.
Linchi
"Sas" wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
> Can someone tell me if there is a vendor that has the option of making a
> snapshot of a drive or vdisk with a SQL Server database? As far as I
> understand, a normal snapshot might not have a consistant copy of the
> database. Therefore, I was wondering if there is a product that actually c
an
> make a good/valid copy of a sql database with a snapshot (maybe by using S
QL
> Server Virtual Backup Device Interface). I rather not backup the database
on
> disk and then do the snapshot as space is definitely more $expensive$ on a
> SAN.
> Thank you in advance for your input.
> --
> --
> Senior DBA
> "I saw it work in a cartoon once so I am pretty sure I can do it."