Overview

Local server data management based on archival and deletion policies is a necessity in a multi tiered storage environment. Individual file time associations, extensions and regular expression search strings are policies that can be specified to facilitate data archiving and/or deletion. By utilizing QStar MultiStor, customers can transparently apply a cost effective storage strategy within an already established application environment.

Policies

Policy Based Data Movement and Retention Management QStar MultiStor utilizes advanced policy management for data movement. Either one or a combination of File Modification, File Extensions, Regular Expression Searches and High Water Mark attributes can define policies. Once archive retention dates have been met, MultiStor is also designed to automatically delete files based on individual rules set on a monitored file system basis. Time Based Creation or Modification Dates can be monitored and files can be automatically archived when certain thresholds are met. Many implementations include a scan and approval phase that must be completed before the file can be archived. These same criteria can also be monitored for automatic deletion when certain time thresholds are met. This is essential for companies requiring compliancy solutions. Extensions Certain files may be automatically archived dependent upon the extensions. Alternatively, an exclusion list can be created to migrate all files except the files matching the extensions listed. In addition specific file extensions may be flagged for deletion. This is effective when monitoring user home directories to remove non-authorized material or when temporary files need not be archived. Search Criteria Files will be archived when the file’s name matches a specified pattern, i.e.” Archive any file with the string ‘project1’ in the name”. Files can also be deleted based on a file’s name matching a specified pattern. This method can be used to remove all the files from a finished project that share a common nomenclature. Disk Usage Files will be archived when a certain space threshold is reached. This policy ensures that the monitored file space never reaches full capacity, causing an “Out of Space” error. File Size The system is designed to identify and archive or delete all files that are larger than, smaller than or in between the range of two size values. This policy ensures larger files do not consume large quantities of primary storage space.

Features

Copy on Close MultiStor can be set to copy files to removable archive media when they are closed after creation, a file is renamed, a file attribute is changed, or an existing file is modified. Files that have been archived to removable archive media no longer need to be backed up, and thus reducing the backup window, adding to the overall return on investment. Synchronized Closed Files (Copy and Verify) The Synchronized Closed File option allows synchronizing an existing file system to an Integral Volume set. This utility is used to copy local files to an alterative location making a complete real time copy of the source data. This feature can be used to provide a real time backup copy of your data set, eliminating the time it takes to facilitate a restore during the recovery process after a server or system failure. File Versioning MultiStor will compare the modification date and file size of the source file and the file on the specific remote destination. If they match, MultiStor will re-link to the current remote file that already exists. Should either the modification date or the file size not match, then the remote file will be renamed with the time stamp extension and the source file will be migrated to the remote location maintaining the files original name.