Adding a Storage Manager Policy
Add a New Storage Manager Storage Policy
- If you have not already done so, choose Storage Policies from the Configuration menu.
- Click New.
- Enter the following fields:
- Policy Class: The name of the new policy you are creating. The policy class name must be unique. You cannot enter the name of an existing policy class. Also, if you use upper-class characters when entering the policy class name, the name will be converted to lower-case characters when the policy class is created.
- Policy Type: Click the Storage Manager tab to create a policy for StorNext Storage Manager.
- Click Configure to continue.
- Enter information on the General, Relocation, Steering, Schedule and Associated Directories tabs. See the sections following for more information about fields on these tabs.
- When you are finished entering information about the new policy, click Apply, or click Cancel to exit without saving.
- After the Status page informs you that the policy was created successfully, click OK.
The General Tab
The General tab contains parameters that apply to all storage policies. Fields marked with an asterisk are required. Enter additional fields as desired, or accept the displayed default values.
The General tab contains the following fields:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| File Age Before Copy is Made |
This value determines the minimum number of minutes, hours or days a file must reside unmodified on disk before it is considered a candidate for copying to storage media. Enter the number in the first field, and the unit of measure in the second pull-down field. The minimum value is 1 minute. The default value is 5 minutes. Note: A minimum of one hundred files is required to trigger the copy after 1 minute. |
| File Age Before Truncation | This value determines the minimum number of minutes, hours or days a file must reside on a disk unaccessed before it is considered a candidate for truncation from disk. Truncation removes the disk blocks of a stored file, but not the file itself. Enter the number in the first field, and the unit of measure in the second pull-down field. The minimum value is 5 minutes. |
| Default Media Type | Select the appropriate media type that applies to devices associated with this policy. When creating a policy, the Default Media Type you select applies to all defined copies in the policy unless overridden in the policy. For additional information, see The Steering Tab. |
| Truncate File Immediately After Store | Enable this option (check this box) to truncate files immediately after they are stored. |
| Clean Database When File Removed | If this option is enabled (the box is checked), StorNext cleans or consolidates the database after a file is removed. |
| Generate Checksum | If this option is enabled, (the box is checked), checksums are generated and retained in the database for files stored by the corresponding policy. |
| Validate Checksum | If this option is enabled (the box is checked), checksums are compared to retained values for the files retrieved by the corresponding policy. The Checksum feature consumes additional space in the StorNext database whether it is enabled or not. When disabled, this feature consumes approximately 2 bytes per stored file; when enabled, this feature consumes approximately 18 bytes per stored file. The database stores data in files on the host computer, so the increase in database size translates to a corresponding increase in disk space requirements. The exact amount of space consumed (whether the feature is enabled or disabled) may vary. |
| Alternate Store Location | Provides an automatic system for copying files from a main instance of StorNext to a remote instance of StorNext at the same time as copies are made to tertiary storage at the main site. |
| Maximum Inactive Versions | The maximum number of inactive versions of a file StorNext keeps track of for recovery purposes. |
| Tape Drive Pool | Associates the drive pool to use with the policy. If you specify a drive pool, the drive pool name must be defined before any data operation can occur. |
| Media Email Warning Limit | The warning limit for the number of media that can be allocated in the policy class. If you specify an amount at this field, when the storage disk reaches the amount you specify you will receive an email message warning that the device is nearing capacity. The maximum number for the limit is 65,000. |
| Media Limit | The maximum number of media that are allowed in this policy class. When this limit is reached you will receive an email message warning. Files can still be stored in the policy class as long as there is room on the media that have already been used to store files in that policy class. The maximum number for the limit is 65,000. |
| Media Cleanup | This option determines the action StorNext applies to storage media follows after media are cleaned. Select return to scratch pool or keep in policy. |
| Stub Files | Select this option to enable the Stub File feature. When this feature is enabled, third-party applications can gather information about a file by reading a portion of the file (called a stub) rather than reading the entire file. When you enable stub file support for a storage policy, you must specify the size of the stub file (in kilobytes). When stub file support is enabled, the beginning portion of the file (up to the size you specified) remains on disk after data blocks are freed during policy management or space management. |
| Stub File Size (KB) | When the Stub File feature is enabled, specify the target size for the stub file in kilobytes. |
| Delay File Storage | The store candidates in the policy class have to add up to Minimum File Size before any of the files will be stored. When this option is enabled, files are not stored immediately. |
| Minimum File Size (1 to 999 in MB or GB) | This value determines the minimum size (in megabytes or gigabytes) all valid store candidates in the policy class combined must reach before they are stored. This field is enabled only if the Delay File Storage option is also enabled. |
| Maximum File Age (Hours) | This option works in conjunction with the Delay File Storage option so that files will never be stored because the Minimum File Size limit has not been reached. As soon as any file in the policy class reaches the Maximum File Age, all of the files will be stored. This value determines the time after which any valid store candidate in the policy is stored. |
| Retrieve to Affinity | This field enables you to indicate that you want StorNext to retrieve files to an affinity other than the primary affinity. To retrieve to an alternative affinity, select the desired affinity from the drop down list. To retrieve to the primary affinity, select None, which is the default value. |
| Compression (Q-Cloud only) | This option allows you to enable compression on the data corresponding to the policy. Note, compression is only available for Q-Cloud-based policies. For additional information, see Client Side Compression and Encryption. |
| Encryption (Q-Cloud only): | This option allows you to enable encryption on the data corresponding to the policy. Note, encryption is only available for Q-Cloud-based policies. For additional information, see Client Side Compression and Encryption. |
| Encryption Master Key (Q-Cloud only) | The option allows you to select an existing master key. If you intend to create a new master key, you can do so by selecting the Add New... option from the drop-down list. This parameter is enabled only if Encryption (Q-Cloud only) is set to Client AES 256. |
The Relocation Tab
The Relocation tab enables you to configure the Disk-to-Disk relocation feature. Disk-to-Disk relocation allows you to move data from one set of disks (disk stripe group) to another without affecting the file name space. In order to use this feature you must have a managed file system with at least two affinities configured.
The Relocation tab contains the following fields:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Disk-to-Disk Relocation | To enable this feature, select from the dropdown list the destination disk to which you want to move data. Select None, the default value, to disable this feature. |
| File Age Before Relocation | When Disk-to-Disk relocation is enabled, specify the number of seconds, minutes, hours or days a file must reside on a disk unaccessed before file relocation commences. Enter the numberin the first field, and the unit of measure in the second pull-down field. The minimum value is 5 minutes. |
The Steering Tab
The Steering tab enables you to configure file steering, which allows you to direct a copy of a file to a designated drive pool. This is normally used when you want to direct two or more copies of a file to different archives by putting the tape drive in separate pools and then setting the copy number of the file to go to that pool. You can also use this feature to route your copies of the file to different media types, including storage disks. In addition, you can manage the number of tape drives to use per store policy by using the Drive Limit feature.
The Steering tab contains the following fields:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Media Type | For each copy (1 - 4), select from the Media Type list the media type for devices in the drive pool. This can be an actual device type such as LTO, Lattus, S3COMPAT, Q-Cloud, or a Storage Disk. If you select None for a given copy, the Media Format, Tape Drive Pool, and Drive Limit lists for that specific copy are grayed out, and you are not able to configure the parameters for that specific copy. |
| Media Format | For each copy (1 - 4), select from the Media Format list the media format for LTO devices in the drive pool. Select ANTF or LTFS. ANTF is the Quantum internal tape format. LTFS is the Linear Tape File System specification tape format. ANTF will format media with a single partition containing ANTF volume labels. This data partition will store StorNext file data. LTFS will format media with two partitions containing LTFS volume labels. The index partition will store LTFS metadata and the data partition will store StorNext file data. |
| Tape Drive Pool | For each copy (1 - 4), select from the Tape Drive Pool list the specific drive pool to which you want to write that copy's data. A Tape Drive Pool must be defined before it can be selected. For more information, see refer to Tools > Storage Manager > Drive Pools. |
| Drive Limit | For each copy (1 - 4) in the Drive Limit list, select the number of tape drives to use per policy and copy. The Drive Limit feature allows you to manage the number of drives used per store policy. The default is None; no limit will be set and all drives will be used on stores. The Drive Limit feature is not supported for Storage Disks or Object Storage. |
The Schedule Tab
The Schedule tab allows you to enable or disable the Store Files Automatically feature. When this feature is enabled, StorNext automatically stores files for the current storage policy. If this feature is disabled, Quantum recommends that the files for the policy class be stored by scheduled events. (Scheduled events are certain activities which you can set up to run at specified times using StorNext’s schedule. For more information, see Tools > Storage Manager > Scheduler)
The Schedule tab contains the following field:
- Store Files Automatically: Select this option to enable the Store Files Automatically feature.
The Associated Directories Tab
The Associated Directories tab enables you to view or delete existing relation points (directories) in the file system for the policy, and to add new relation points.
Note: Review the content for the CLI command fsaddrelation, in the latest version of the StorNext 5 Man Pages Reference Guide for information on limitations and constraints.
The Associated Directories tab contains the following fields:
- File System: Select from the dropdown list the file system for which you want to view, delete or add relation points.
- Directory: Select the directory you want to add, or type the name of a new directory in the field to the left of the Create Directory button. Click Add to add that directory as a new relation point.
- Associated Directories: This area displays any existing associated directories.
Deleting
an Associated Directory
To delete a directory listed under the Associated Directories heading, select the desired relation point and then click Delete. The directory must be empty before you can delete it.
Caution: This particular delete function does not provide a confirmation message, so be absolutely sure you want to delete the selected relation point before you click Delete. The selected relation point will be deleted immediately after you click Delete, and there is no Undo feature.
