Mirror retention type for SLP operations
A mirror replica of a snapshot is eligible for expiration as soon as:
All immediate child copies are successfully created.
All immediate child copies that are mirrors are eligible for expiration.
The selection of the Mirror retention indicates that NetApp volume SnapMirror is to be used as the replication method. If any non-mirror retention type such as Fixed or Expire after copy is selected for the Replication operation, the NetApp SnapVault replication method is used.
In mirror replication, the replica copy is dependent on the existence of the source. (The source can be the original snapshot or another replica.) Therefore, the retention of the replica depends on the retention of the source. If the source is deleted, the mirror is automatically deleted.
In non-mirror replication, the replica is independent of the source and can have an independent retention. If the source is deleted, the non-mirror replica is not affected and can be used longer than the source. Or, if the replica is deleted first, it is not recreated and the source can be kept longer than the replica.