1. Overview

1.1 Introduction

DataCore FileFly® is a heterogeneous Data Management System. It automates and manages the tiering and movement of data between file systems, object stores, and cloud storage services. Use cases include storage cost optimization, backup optimization and workload placement.
In a tiering scenario, files are migrated from primary storage locations to secondary storage locations. Files are demigrated transparently when accessed by a user or application. FileFly® also provides a range of Disaster Recovery options.

1.2 System Components

Figure 1.1 provides an overview of a FileFly deployment. All communication between FileFly components is secured with Transport Layer Security (TLS). The individual components are described below.

DataCore FileFly Admin Portal

FileFly Admin Portal is the system’s policy manager. It provides a centralized web-based configuration interface and is responsible for task scheduling, server monitoring, and file reporting. It lies outside the data path for file transfers.

DataCore FileFly Agent

DataCore FileFly Agent performs file operations as directed by Admin Portal Policies. The FileFly Agent is also responsible for retrieving tiered file data from secondary storage upon user / application access.
File operations include migration and demigration, as well as a range of operations to assist disaster recovery. Data is streamed directly between agents and storage without any intermediary staging on disk.

Open

Figure 1.1: FileFly® System Overview

When installed in a Gateway configuration, DataCore FileFly Agent does not allow tiering of files from that server, instead, the FileFly Agent provides access to third-party protocols and devices. Device specific configuration details (such as sensitive encryption keys and authentication details) are isolated from the file servers.
Optionally, Gateways can be configured for High-Availability (HA).

DataCore FileFly FPolicy Server

FileFly FPolicy Server provides tiering support for NetApp filers via the NetApp FPolicy protocol. This component is the equivalent of DataCore FileFly Agent for NetApp filers.
FileFly FPolicy Server may also be configured for High-Availability (HA).

DataCore FileFly LinkConnect Server

FileFly LinkConnect Server provides link-based tiering support for either Dell EMC OneFS or as an alternative method for migrating files from Windows Server volumes in the case where an agent may not be installed directly on the file server. This component performs a similar role to DataCore FileFly Agent for SMB shares.
FileFly LinkConnect Server may also be configured for High-Availability (HA).

DataCore FileFly DrTool

DataCore FileFly DrTool is an additional application that assists in Disaster Recovery.
Note: This functionality is not included with Community Edition licenses.

1.3 FileFly Admin Portal Concepts

DataCore FileFly Admin Portal is the web-based interface that provides central management of a FileFly deployment. It is installed as part of the FileFly Tools package.
Upon logging in to the FileFly Admin Portal, the ‘Dashboard’ will be displayed – we will come back to the dashboard in §1.4. For now, the remainder of this section will follow the Admin Portal’s navigation menu.

1.3.1 Servers

The ‘Servers’ page displays the installed and activated agents across the deployment of FileFly®. Health information and statistics are provided for each server or cluster node. You will use this page when activating the other components in your system.

Click a Server’s ellipsis control to:

• view additional server information

• configure storage plugins

• add / retire / restart cluster nodes

• upgrade a standalone server to high-availability

• view detailed charts of recent activity

• edit server-specific configuration (see Appendix E)

1.3.2 Sources

Sources describe volumes or folders to which Policies may be applied (i.e., locations from which data may be transferred).
A Source location is specified by a URI. Platform-specific information for all supported sources is detailed in Chapter 5. A filesystem browser is provided to assist in setting the URI location interactively.

Subdirectory Filtering

Within a given Source, individual directory subtrees may be included or excluded to provide greater control over which files are eligible for policy operations. Excluded directories will not be traversed.
On the Source Details page, the directory tree may be expanded and explored in the ‘Subdirectory Filtering’ section. By default, the entire source will be included.

1.3.3 Destinations

Destinations are storage locations that Policies may write files to. Platform-specific information for all supported destinations is detailed in Chapter 5.
Optionally, a Destination may be configured to use Write Once Read Many (WORM) semantics for migration operations. This option is useful when the underlying storage device has WORM-like behavior, but is exposed using a generic protocol.

1.3.4 Rules

Rules allow a specific subset of files within a Source or Sources to be selected for processing.

Rules can match a variety of metadata: filename / pathname, size, timestamps / age, file owner, and attribute flags. A rule matches if all of its specified criteria match the file’s metadata. However, rules can be negated or compounded as necessary to perform more complex matches.

You will be able to simulate your Rules against your Sources during Policy creation.

Some criteria are specified as comma-separated lists of patterns:

• wildcard patterns, e.g. *.doc (see §A.1 (p.66))

• regular expressions, e.g. /2004-06-[0-9][0-9]n.log/ (see §A.2 (p.67))

Note that:

• files match if any one of the patterns in the list match version 4.8 4

• whitespace before and after each pattern is ignored

• patterns are case-insensitive by default (see §A.3 (p.67))

• filename patterns starting with ‘/’ match the path from the point specified by the Source URI

• filename patterns NOT starting with ‘/’ match files in any subtree

• literal commas within a pattern must be escaped with a backslash

1.3.5 Policies

A Policy specifies an operation to perform on a set of files. Depending on the type of operation, a Policy will specify Source(s) and/or Destination(s), and possibly Rules to limit the Policy to a subset of files.
Each operation has different parameters, refer to Chapter 4 for a full reference.

1.3.6 Tasks

A Task selects one or more Policies for execution.
While a Task is running, its status is displayed in the ‘Running Tasks’ panel of the ‘Dashboard’. When Tasks finish they are moved to the ‘Recent Tasks’ panel.
Operation statistics are updated in real time as the task runs. Operations will automatically be executed in parallel, see Appendix E for more details.

Launching Tasks

While Tasks may be launched manually, it is often more desirable to enable a Task’s schedule with a specific start time and optional repeat configuration.
If multiple Tasks are scheduled to launch simultaneously, Policies on each Source are grouped such that only a single traversal of each file system is required.

Completion Notification

When a Task finishes running, regardless of whether it succeeds or fails, a completion notification email may be sent as a convenience to the administrator. This notification email contains summary information similar to that available in the ‘Recent Tasks’ panel on the ‘Dashboard’.

To use this feature, either:

• check the ‘Notify completion’ option when configuring the Task, or

• click the notify icon on a running task on the ‘Dashboard’

1.3.7 Browser

The built-in Browser enables examination of a variety of source / destination locations. Features include:

• Metadata display and sorting

• Optional filtering based on filename pattern or Rules

• Download, upload, and deletion of files

1.3.8 Reports

Reports – generated by Gather Statistics Policies – contain charts detailing:

• a 30-day review of access and change activity

• a long-term trend chart to assist with planning tiering strategy

• a breakdown of the most common file types

• optionally, a breakdown of file ownership

Secure links to reports may be shared with other members of your organization without the need to grant these users Admin Portal login access. Either share individual reports or share all reports generated by a Policy on an ongoing basis. To limit access to reports by IP address / subnet, refer to §C.2 (p.70).

1.3.9 Recovery

The ‘Recovery’ page provides access to multiple versions of the recovery files produced by each Create Recovery File From Source/Destination Policy. Retention options may be adjusted in ‘Settings’.
Refer to Chapter 6 for more information on performing recovery operations.

1.3.10 Settings

The Admin Portal ‘Settings’ page allows configuration of a wide range of global settings including:

• email notification

• configuration backup (see §3.3 (p.15))

• security roles (see §C.2 (p.70))

• work hours

• Admin Portal logging

Additionally, it is possible to:

• view and update the product license

• suspend the scheduler to prevent scheduled Tasks launching while maintenance procedures are being performed

• update the TLS certificate for the Admin Portal web interface

Server-specific settings and plugin configuration are available via the ‘Servers’ page.

1.3.11 Help

The ‘Help’ page provides version information, as well as links to documentation and support resources. You may also view the global log, or generate a system diagnostic file (support.zip) for use when contacting DataCore Support.

1.4 FileFly Admin Portal Dashboard

The ‘Dashboard’ provides a concise view of the FileFly system status, current activity and recent task history. It may also be used to run Tasks on-demand via the ‘Launch Task. . . ’ control.
The ‘Notices’ panel summarizes system issues that need to be addressed by the administrator. For instance, this panel will guide you through initial setup tasks such as license installation.
The circular ‘Servers’ display shows high-level health information for the servers / clusters in the FileFly deployment.

1.4.1 Storage Charts

‘Primary’ and ‘Secondary’ storage charts may be read together to gain insight into the impact of currently configured tiering policies on primary and secondary storage consumption over time. Each bar indicates an amount of storage space consumed or released. Consumed storage is indicated by a positive bar, while released storage is shown in the negative. Stacked bars indicate the contributions of the different operations by color.

For instance, a Migration Policy consumes secondary storage in order to release primary storage.

By contrast, demigration consumes primary storage immediately, but defers release until later. Specifically, either the primary storage is released by a Quick-Remigrate, or the associated secondary storage is released by a Scrub.

In a complex environment, these charts provide insight into patterns of user-behavior and policy activity.

Click on a bar to zoom in to an hourly breakdown for the chosen day.

1.4.2 Other Charts

The ‘Processed’ line chart graphs both the rate of operations successfully performed and data processed over time. Data transfer and bytes Quick-Remigrated (i.e. without any transfer required) are shown separately.

The ‘Operations’ breakdown chart shows successful activity by operation type across the whole system over time. Additionally, per-server operations charts are available via the ‘Servers’ page – see §1.3.1.

The ‘Operations’ radar chart shows a visual representation of the relative operation profile across your deployment. Two figures are drawn, one for each of the two preceding 7-day periods. This allows behavioral change from week to week to be seen at a glance.

1.4.3 Task Control & History

Per-file operation details (including any error messages) may be viewed by clicking a Task’s log icon. It is also possible to launch and stop Tasks, update task configuration, or request a completion notification for a task that is already in progress.

2. Deployment

Refer to these instructions during initial deployment and when adding new components. For upgrade instructions, please refer to §3.7 (p.19) instead.

For further information about each supported storage platform, refer to Chapter 5.

2.1 Installing DataCore FileFly Tools

The DataCore FileFly Tools package consists of the FileFly Admin Portal and the FileFly DrTool application (not licensed for Community Edition users). FileFly Tools must be installed before any other components.

System Requirements

• A dedicated server with a supported operating system:

  • Windows Server 2022

  • Windows Server 2019

  • Windows Server 2016

• Minimum 12GB RAM

• Minimum 10GB disk space for log files

• Active clock synchronization (e.g. via NTP)

Setup

1. Run DataCore FileFly Tools.exe

2. Follow the instructions on screen

2.1.1 Initial Configuration

After completing the installation process, FileFly Tools must be configured via the Admin Portal web interface. The FileFly Admin Portal will be opened automatically and can be found later via the Start Menu.

The web interface will lead you through the process of initial configuration: refer to the ‘Notices’ panel on the ‘Dashboard’ to ensure that all steps are completed.
Consider configuring additional users or IP restrictions – see §C.2 (p.70).

2.2 Installing FileFly Agents

Each FileFly Agent server may fulfill one of two roles, selected at installation time.

In the ‘FileFly Agent for migration’ role, an agent assists the operating system to migrate and demigrate files (tiering). It is essential for the agent to be installed on all machines from which files will be migrated.

By contrast, in the ‘FileFly Gateway agent’ role, an agent provides access to external devices and storage services. While it does allow access to local disk and mounted SAN volumes, it does not provide local migration source support. Storage plugins will normally be deployed on Gateways.

2.2.1 High-Availability Gateway Configuration

A high-availability gateway configuration is recommended. Such FileFly Gateways must be activated as ‘High-Availability FileFly Gateway’.

High-Availability Gateway DNS Setup

At least two FileFly Gateways are required for High-Availability.

1. Add each FileFly Gateway server to DNS

2. Create an FQDN that resolves to all of the IP addresses

3. Use this FQDN when activating the HA Servers

4. Use this FQDN (or a CNAME alias to it) in FileFly Destination URIs

Example:

• gw-1.example.com ! 192.168.0.1

• gw-2.example.com ! 192.168.0.2

• gw.example.com ! 192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.2

Note: The servers that form the High-Availability Gateway cluster must NOT be members of a Windows failover cluster.

2.2.2 DataCore FileFly Agent for Windows Servers

System Requirements

• Supported Windows Server operating system:

  • Windows Server 2022

  • Windows Server 2019

  • Windows Server 2016

  • Minimum 8GB RAM

  • Minimum 2GB disk space for log files

  • Active clock synchronization (e.g. via NTP)

Note: When installed in the Gateway role, a dedicated server is required, unless it is to be co-located on the FileFly Tools server. When co-locating, create separate DNS aliases to refer to the Gateway and the FileFly Admin Portal web interface.

Setup

1. Run the DataCore FileFly Agent.exe

2. Follow the instructions to activate the agent via FileFly Admin Portal

2.2.3 DataCore FileFly Gateway for Linux

System Requirements

• A dedicated x86 64 server with a supported operating system:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9

  • Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS

• Minimum 8GB RAM

• Minimum 2GB disk space for log files

• Active clock synchronization (e.g. via NTP)

Setup – RHEL

In a root terminal:

1. tar xzf DataCore FileFly Gateway Agent rhel9 4 8.tgz

2. DataCore FileFly Gateway Agent rhel9 4 8/install.sh

3. Follow the instructions to activate the agent via FileFly Admin Portal

Setup – Ubuntu

In a root terminal:

1. tar xzf DataCore FileFly Gateway Agent ubuntu22 4 8.tgz

2. DataCore FileFly Gateway Agent ubuntu22 4 8/install.sh

3. Follow the instructions to activate the agent via FileFly Admin Portal

2.2.4 DataCore FileFly FPolicy Server for NetApp Filers

A DataCore FileFly FPolicy Server provides tiering support for one or more NetApp Filers through the FPolicy protocol. This component is the equivalent of DataCore File- Fly Agent for NetApp Filers. Typically FileFly FPolicy Servers are installed in a high-availability configuration.

System Requirements

• A dedicated server with a supported operating system:

  • Windows Server 2022

  • Windows Server 2019

  • Windows Server 2016

• Minimum 8GB RAM

• Minimum 2GB disk space for log files

• Active clock synchronization (e.g. via NTP)

Setup

• Installation of the FileFly FPolicy Server software requires careful preparation of the NetApp Filer and the FileFly FPolicy Server machines. Instructions are provided in §5.3.

2.2.5 DataCore FileFly LinkConnect Server

A DataCore FileFly LinkConnect Server provides link-based tiering support for one or more Dell EMC OneFS or Windows SMB shares. This component performs a similar role to DataCore FileFly Agent without the need for software to be installed directly on the NAS or file server.

System Requirements

• A dedicated server with a supported operating system:

  • Windows Server 2022

  • Windows Server 2019

  • Windows Server 2016

• Minimum 2GB disk space for log files (on the system volume)

• Minimum 1TB disk space for LinkConnect Cache (as a single NTFS volume)

• RAM: 8GB base, plus:

  • 4GB per TB of LinkConnect Cache

  • 0.5GB per billion link-migrated files

• Active clock synchronization (e.g. via NTP)

Setup

Installation of the FileFly LinkConnect Server software requires careful configuration of both the NAS / file server and the FileFly LinkConnect Server machines. Instructions are provided in §5.4 (p.42) for OneFS and §5.2 (p.31) for Windows file servers. Other devices are not supported.

2.3 LinkConnect Client Deployment

Installation

Having deployed one or more LinkConnect Servers, all Windows clients that will need to access link-migrated files will require the LinkConnect Client Driver to be installed as follows:

1. Ensure the client machine is joined to the Active Directory domain

2. Run DataCore FileFly LinkConnect Client Driver.exe

3. Follow the prompts

Alternatively to ease deployment, the installer may be run in silent mode by specifying /S on the command line. Note that when upgrading the driver silently, the updated driver will not be loaded until the next reboot.

Important: Client Driver versions newer than the installed FileFly LinkConnect Server version should not be deployed.

Deployment Considerations

Access to NAS / file server shares containing files that have been link-migrated must use the domain credentials of the logged-in Windows desktop session. When a user accesses a link-migrated file, the client driver will transparently redirect the access to the FileFly LinkConnect Server if required. This redirected access will use the same logged-in Windows desktop session credentials.

Installation of the client driver will enable remote symlink evaluation in Windows. If remote symlink evaluation was disabled prior to client driver installation, the driver will continue to prevent remote symlink access for other symlinks. Do not disable remote symlink evaluation (e.g. by group policy) after installation since doing so will cause the client driver to stop functioning.

Client Driver Removal

In the unlikely event that the LinkConnect client driver must be removed, please complete the following steps:

1. Open an Administrator command prompt

2. sc delete mwilcflt

3. fsutil behavior set symlinkEvaluation R2R:

4. Reboot

3. Usage

3.1 DNS Best Practice

Storage locations in DataCore FileFly® are referred to by URI. Relationships between files must be maintained over a long period of time. It is therefore advisable to take steps to ensure that the FQDNs used in these URIs are valid long-term, even as individual server roles are changed or consolidated.

In a production deployment, always use Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs) in preference to bare IP addresses.

It is recommended to create DNS aliases for each logical storage role for each server. For example, use different DNS aliases when storing your finance department’s data as opposed to your engineering department’s data – even if they initially reside on the same server.

3.2 Getting Started

3.2.1 Analyze Volumes

Once the software has been installed, the first step in any new FileFly deployment is to analyze the characteristics of the primary storage volumes. The following steps describe how to generate file statistics reports for each volume.

In the FileFly Admin Portal web interface:

1. Create Sources for each volume to analyze

2. Create a Gather Statistics Policy and select all defined Sources

3. Create a Task for the Gather Statistics Policy

4. Launch the Task

5. When the Task has finished, view the report(s) on the ‘Reports’ page

3.2.2 Configure Tiering

Using the information from the reports, create a rule to select files for migration. A typical rule might limit migrations to files modified more than six months ago. The reports’ long-term trend charts will indicate the amount of data that will be migrated by a ‘modified more than n months ago’ rule – adjust the age cutoff as necessary to suit your filesystems.

To avoid unnecessary migration of active files, be conservative with your first Migration Rule – it can be updated to migrate more recently modified files on subsequent runs.

Once the Rule has been created:

1. Create a secondary tier Destination to store your migrated data

   • see Chapter 5 for platform-specific instructions

2. Create a Migration Policy and add the Source(s), Rule and Destination

3. Use the ‘Simulate rule matching. . . ’ button to explore the effect of your rule

4. Create a Task for the new Policy

5. Launch the task

When the task has completed, check the corresponding ‘Recent Tasks’ entries on the ‘Dashboard’. Click on the log icon to review any errors in detail.

Migration is typically performed periodically: configure a schedule on the Migration Task.

3.2.3 Next Steps

Chapter 4 describes all FileFly Policy Operations in detail and will help you to get the most out of FileFly®.

The remainder of this chapter gives guidance on using FileFly® in a production environment.

3.3 Configuration Backup

This section describes how to backup DataCore FileFly® configuration (for primary and secondary storage backup considerations, see §3.4).

3.3.1 FileFly Tools

Backing up the DataCore FileFly Tools configuration will preserve policy configuration and server registrations as well as per-server settings and storage plugin configuration.

Backup Process

Configuration backup can be scheduled on the Admin Portal’s ‘Settings’ page. A default schedule is created at installation time to backup configuration once a week.

Configuration backup files include:

• Policy configuration

• Server registrations

• Per-Server settings, including plugin configuration, credentials etc.

• Recovery files

• Settings from the Admin Portal ‘Settings’ page

• Settings specified when FileFly Tools was installed

It is strongly recommended that these backup files are retrieved and stored securely as part of your overall backup plan. These backup files can be found at:

C:\Program Files\DataCore FileFly\data\AdminPortal\configBackups

Additionally, log files may be backed up from:

• C:\Program Files\DataCore FileFly\logs\AdminPortal\

• C:\Program Files\DataCore FileFly\logs\DrTool\

Restore Process

1. Ensure that the server to be restored to has the same FQDN and IP address as the original server

2. If present, uninstall DataCore FileFly Tools

3. Run the installer: DataCore FileFly Tools.exe

   • use the same version that was used to generate the backup file

4. On the ‘Installation Type’ page, select ‘Restore from Backup’

5. Choose the backup zip file and follow the instructions

6. Optionally, log files may be restored from server backups to:

   • C:\Program Files\DataCore FileFly\logs\AdminPortal\

   • C:\Program Files\DataCore FileFly\logs\DrTool\

Note: Restore from any backup (or virtual machine snapshot) that is more than 6 months old may fail due to certificate expiry. Contact DataCore Support for assistance if this occurs.

3.3.2 Per-Server Logs

Backing up the configuration on each server is not necessary since such configuration is already included in the above FileFly Tools backup process. You may optionally backup server logs from the logs location on each server – by default these are located at:

• Windows: C:\Program Files\DataCore FileFly\logs\FileFly Agent

• Linux: /var/opt/datacore/filefly-agent/log

Note: Do not attempt to restore logs back into an active installation, since this will
interfere with log rotation.

3.4 Storage Backup

Each stub on a primary storage tier is associated with a corresponding MWI file on a secondary storage tier. During the normal process of migration and demigration the relationship between stub and MWI file is maintained.

The recommendations below ensure that the consistency of this relationship is maintained even after files are restored from backup.

3.4.1 Backup Planning

Ensure that the restoration of stubs is included as part of your backup & restore test regimen.

When using Scrub policies, ensure the Scrub grace period is sufficient to cover the time from when a backup is taken to when the restore and Post-Restore Revalidate steps are completed (see below).

It is strongly recommended to set the global minimum grace period accordingly to guard against the accidental creation of scrub policies with insufficient grace. This setting may be configured on the Admin Portal ‘Settings’ page.

Important: It will NOT be possible to safely restore stubs or MigLinks from a backup set taken more than one grace period ago.

Additional Planning

To complement standard backup and recovery solutions, and to allow the widest range of recovery options, it is recommended to run a ‘Create Recovery File From Source’ Policy after each migration.

3.4.2 Restore Process

1. Click ‘Settings’ → ‘Scheduler’ → ‘Suspend scheduler’

2. Restore the primary volume

3. Run a ‘Post-Restore Revalidate’ policy against the primary volume

   • To ensure all stubs are revalidated, run this policy against the entire primary volume, NOT simply against the migration source folder

   • This policy is not required when only WORM destinations are in use

4. Click ‘Settings’ → ‘Scheduler’ → ‘Start scheduler’

If restoring the primary volume to a different server (a server with a different FQDN), the following preparatory steps will also be required:

1. On the ‘Servers’ page, retire the old server (unless still in use for other volumes)

2. Install FileFly Agent on the new server

3. Update Sources as required to refer to the FQDN of the new server

4. Perform the restore process as above

3.4.3 Platform-specific Considerations

Windows
Enterprise Windows backup software should respect FileFly stubs and back them up correctly without causing any unwanted demigrations. For some backup software, it may be necessary to refer to the software documentation for options regarding Offline files.

When testing backup software configuration, test that backup of stubs does not cause unwanted demigration.

Additional backup testing may be required if Stub Deletion Monitoring is required. Please refer to Appendix E for more details.

NetApp Filers

Please consult §5.3.5 (p.38) regarding snapshot restore on NetApp Filers.

3.5 Production Readiness Checklist

Backup

1. Check your FileFly configuration is adequately backed up – see §3.3

2. Review the storage backup and restore procedures described in §3.4

3. Check backup software can backup stubs without triggering demigration

4. Check backup software restores stubs and that they can be demigrated

5. Schedule regular ‘Create Recovery File From Source’ Policies on your migration
   sources – see §4.10 (p.25)

Antivirus

Generally, antivirus software will not cause demigrations during normal file access. However, some antivirus software will demigrate files when performing scheduled file system scans.

Prior to production deployment, always check that installed antivirus software does not cause unwanted demigrations. Some software may need to be configured to skip offline files in order to avoid these inappropriate demigrations. Consult the antivirus software documentation for further details.

If the antivirus software does not provide an option to skip offline files during a scan, DataCore FileFly Agent may be configured to deny demigration rights to the antivirus software. Refer to Appendix E for more information.

It may be necessary for some antivirus products to exempt the DataCore FileFly Agent process from real-time protection (scan-on-access). If the exclusion configuration requires the path of the executable to be specified, be sure to update the exclusion whenever FileFly® is upgraded (since the path will change on upgrade).

Other System-wide Applications

Check for other applications that open all the files on the whole volume. Audit scheduled processes on file servers – if such processes cause unwanted demigration, it may be possible to block them (see Appendix E).

Monitoring and Notification

To facilitate proactive monitoring, it is recommended to:

1. Configure email notifications to monitor system health and Task activity

2. Enable syslog – see Appendix E

Platform Considerations

For further information on platform-specific interoperability considerations, please refer to the appropriates sections of Chapter 5.

3.6 Policy Tuning

Periodically re-assess file distribution and access behavior:

1. Run ‘Gather Statistics’ Policies

   • Examine reports

2. Examine Server statistics – see §1.3.1

   • For more detail, examine demigrates in file server agent.log files

Consider:

• Are there unexpected peaks in demigration activity?

• Are there any file types that should not be migrated?

• Should different rules be applied to different file types?

• Is the Migration Policy migrating data that is regularly accessed?

• Are the Rules aggressive enough or too aggressive?

• What is the data growth rate on primary and secondary storage?

• Are there subtrees on the source file system that should be addressed by separate policies or excluded from the source entirely?

3.7 System Upgrade

When a FileFly deployment is upgraded from a previous version, FileFly Tools must always be upgraded first, followed by all Server components.
Run:

• DataCore FileFly Tools.exe

3.7.1 Automated Server Upgrade

Where possible, it is advisable to upgrade Server agents using the automated upgrade feature by clicking the UPGRADE SYSTEM icon on the ‘Servers’ page.
The automated process transfers installers to each server and performs the upgrades in parallel to minimize downtime. If a server fails or is offline during the upgrade, manually upgrade it later. Once the automated upgrade procedure is finalized, the ‘Servers’ page will update to display the health of the upgraded servers.

Following the upgrade, resolve any warnings displayed on the ‘Dashboard’.

3.7.2 Manual Server Upgrade

Follow the instructions appropriate for the platform of each server as described below.

FileFly Agent for Windows

1. Run DataCore FileFly Agent.exe and follow the instructions

2. Resolve any warnings displayed on the ‘Dashboard’

FileFly Gateway for Linux (RHEL)

In a root terminal:

1. tar xzf DataCore FileFly Gateway Agent rhel9 4 8.tgz

2. DataCore FileFly Gateway Agent rhel9 4 8/install.sh

3. Resolve any warnings displayed on the ‘Dashboard’

FileFly Gateway for Linux (Ubuntu)

In a root terminal:

1. tar xzf DataCore FileFly Gateway Agent ubuntu22 4 8.tgz

2. DataCore FileFly Gateway Agent ubuntu22 4 8/install.sh

3. Resolve any warnings displayed on the ‘Dashboard’

FileFly NetApp FPolicy Server

1. Run DataCore FileFly NetApp FPolicy Server.exe and follow the instructions

2. Resolve any warnings displayed on the ‘Dashboard’

FileFly LinkConnect Server

3. Run DataCore FileFly LinkConnect Server.exe and follow the instructions

4. Resolve any warnings displayed on the ‘Dashboard’

Policy Operation Reference

This chapter describes the various operations that may be performed on selected files by FileFly Admin Portal policies.

4.1 Gather Statistics

Requires: Source(s)
Included in Community Edition: yes

Generate statistics report(s) for file sets at the selected Source(s). If desired, Rules may be used to specify a subset of files on which to report rather than the whole source.

Optionally include statistics by file owner. By default, owner statistics are omitted which generally results in a faster policy run.

Gather Statistics Policies can also be configured to export per-file metadata – optionally including ACL information – in JSON or CSV format.

4.2 Tiering – Migrate

Requires: Source(s), Rule(s), Destination
Included in Community Edition: yes

Migrate file data from selected Source(s) to a Destination. Stub files remain at the Source location as placeholders until files are demigrated. File content will be transparently demigrated (returned to primary storage) when accessed by a user or application. Stub files retain the original logical size and file metadata. Files containing no data will not be migrated.

Each Migrate operation will be logged as a Migrate, Remigrate, or Quick-Remigrate.

A Remigrate is the same as a Migrate except it explicitly recognizes that a previous version of the file had been migrated in the past and that stored data pertaining to that previous version is no longer required and so is eligible for removal via a Scrub policy.

A Quick-Remigrate occurs when a file has been demigrated and NOT modified. In this case it is not necessary to retransfer the data to secondary storage so the operation can be performed very quickly. Quick-remigration does not change the secondary storage location of the migrated data.

Optionally:

• Quick-remigration of files demigrated within a specified number of days may be prevented – this option can be used to avoid quick-remigrations occurring in an overly aggressive fashion

• Policies may be configured to pause during the globally configured work hours

• Sparse files may be skipped – it is often undesirable to migrate files that are highly sparse since sparseness is not preserved by the migration process

Alternatively, the ‘Premigrate only’ option may be specified to transfer file data from selected Source(s) to a Destination in preparation for a later migration. With this option, files on primary storage will not be converted to stubs until a later normal Migrate or Quick-Remigrate Policy is run.

Premigrate can assist if you have a requirement to delay the stubbing process until secondary storage backup or replication has occurred.

Note: Premigration is intended to be followed by full migration / quick-remigration. If this is not done, a large number of files in the premigrated state may slow down further premigration policies, as the same files are rechecked each time.

For Sources using a FileFly LinkConnect Server, such as Dell EMC OneFS shares, see §4.3 instead.

4.3 Tiering – Link-Migrate

Requires: Source(s), Rule(s), Destination
Included in Community Edition: yes

For platforms that do not support standard stub-based tiering, Link-Migrate file data from selected Source(s) to a Destination.

Files at the source location will be replaced with FileFly-encoded links (MigLinks) which allow client applications to transparently read data without returning files to primary storage. If an application attempts to modify a link, the file will be automatically returned to primary storage and then modified in-place. Files containing no data will be skipped by this policy.

MigLinks present the original logical size and file metadata.

Since MigLinks remain links when read by client applications, there is no analogue of quick-remigration for link-migrate.

Optionally:

• Policies may be configured to pause during the globally configured work hours

• Sparse files may be skipped – it is often undesirable to Link-Migrate files that are highly sparse since sparseness is not preserved by the migration process

Note: To perform link-migration to Swarm targets, the destination should use the s3swarm scheme, see §5.8.

4.4 Tiering – Demigrate

Requires: Source(s), Rule(s)
Included in Community Edition: yes

Return migrated file content back to files on the selected Source(s). Normally Demigrate policies are not needed since file content is returned transparently on user access anyway.

Prior to running a Demigrate policy, be sure that there is sufficient primary storage available to accommodate the demigrated data.

This operation may be used with both Migrated and Link-Migrated files.

The following advanced options are provided:

• Disconnect files from destination – remove destination information from demigrated files (both files demigrated by this policy and files that have already been demigrated); it will no longer be possible to quick-remigrate these files

• A Destination Filter may be specified in order to demigrate / disconnect only files that were migrated to a particular destination

4.5 Tiering – Quick-Remigrate

Requires: Source(s), Rule(s)
Included in Community Edition: yes

Quick-Remigrate demigrated files that do not require data transfer, enabling space to be reclaimed quickly. This operation acts only on files that have not been altered since the last migration.
Optionally:

• Quick-remigration of files demigrated within a specified number of days may be prevented – this option can be used to avoid quick-remigrations occurring in an overly aggressive fashion

• Policies may be configured to pause during the globally configured work hours

4.6 Tiering – Scrub Destination

Requires: Destination (non-WORM)
Included in Community Edition: yes
Removes unnecessary stored file content from a migration destination. This is a maintenance policy that should be scheduled regularly to reclaim space.

A grace period must be specified which is sufficient to cover the time from when a backup is taken to when the restore and corresponding Post-Restore Revalidate policy would complete. The grace period effectively delays the removal of data sufficiently to accommodate the effects of restoring primary storage from backup to an earlier state.

Use of Scrub is usually desirable to maximize storage efficiency. In order to also maximize performance benefits from quick-remigration, it is advisable to schedule migration / quick-remigration policies more frequently than the grace period.

To avoid interactions with Migration policies, Scrub tasks are automatically paused while migration-related tasks are in progress.

Scrub policies may be configured to generate log output only, without actually removing files.

Important: If the Scrub feature is to be utilized, Scrub and Post-Restore Revalidate MUST be integrated into backup and restore procedures, see §3.4.1.

4.7 Tiering – Post-Restore Revalidate

Requires: Source(s)
Included in Community Edition: yes

Scan all stubs / MigLinks present on a given Source, revalidating the relationship between the stubs / MigLinks and the corresponding files on secondary storage. This operation is required following a restore from backup and should be performed on the root of the restored source volume.

If only Write Once Read Many (WORM) destinations are in use, this policy is not required.

Important: This revalidation operation MUST be integrated into backup and restore procedures, see §3.4.1.

4.8 Tiering – Retarget Destination

Requires: Source(s), Destination Filter, New Destination
Included in Community Edition: no

Permanently retarget stubs or MigLinks to a new migration destination. This operation is intended for use when completely decommissioning an old migration destination – the defunct copy of the file content will not be removed from the original destination either by this operation or by subsequent Scrub operations.

Any old data that is no longer referenced by stubs or MigLinks will not be transferred to the new destination.

Warning: This policy MUST be run on the root of all volumes that may contain stubs on all servers prior to finally decommissioning the old migration destination. Re-run the policies as necessary until there are no more files to retarget.

This policy may be configured to pause during the globally configured work hours.

Note: This operation does not support SCSP-based targets for the new destination.

4.9 Tiering – Change Destination Tier

Requires: Source(s), Rule(s), Destination Filter, New Destination
Included in Community Edition: no

Change the migration tier of selected files by copying the corresponding secondary storage data to the new Destination and then updating the stubs / MigLinks accordingly. The defunct copy on the original Destination will be removed by a subsequent Scrub Policy (scheduled separately and subject to the configured grace period).

This operation is typically used to realize a multi-tier environment in which files can be aged across storage tiers over time. This is not to be confused with the Retarget Destination operation (§4.8), which caters for the decommissioning of a secondary storage target.

If desired, Rules can be used to apply different tiering criteria to different subsets of the data.

This policy may be configured to pause during the globally configured work hours.

Note: Files migrated to WORM destinations cannot be moved to another tier. These files will be skipped.

Note: This operation does not support SCSP-based targets for the new destination.

4.10 Create Recovery File From Source

Requires: Source(s), Rule(s)
Included in Community Edition: no

Generate a disaster recovery file for DataCore FileFly DrTool by analyzing files at the selected Source(s). FileFly DrTool can use the generated file(s) to recover or update source files.

Note: Recovery files generated from Source will account for renames.

4.11 Create Recovery File From Destination

Requires: Destination
Included in Community Edition: no

Generate a disaster recovery file for DataCore FileFly DrTool by reading the index and analyzing files at the selected Destination without reference to the associated primary storage files.

Note: Recovery files from Destination may not account for renames.

Important: It is strongly recommended to use ‘Create Recovery File From Source’ in preference where possible.

5. Source and Destination Reference

The following pages describe the characteristics of the Sources and Destinations supported by DataCore FileFly®. Planning, setup, usage and maintenance considerations are outlined for each storage platform.

Important: Read any relevant sections of this chapter prior to deploying DataCore FileFly® in a production environment.

5.1 Microsoft Windows

5.1.1 Tiering Support

Windows NTFS and ReFS volumes may be used as migration sources.

FileFly stub files can be identified by the ‘O’ (Offline) attribute in Explorer. Depending on the version of Windows, files with this flag may be displayed with an overlay icon.

Note: If it is not possible to install the DataCore FileFly Agent directly on the file server, see §5.2 for an alternative solution using Link-Migration.

5.1.2 Planning

When creating a production deployment plan, please refer to §3.5.

Cluster Support

Clustered volumes managed by Windows failover clusters are supported. However, the Cluster Shared Volume (CSVFS) feature is NOT supported. As a result, when configuring a ‘File Server’ role in the Failover Cluster Manager, ‘File Server for general use’ is the only supported File Server Type. The ‘Scale-Out File Server for application data’ File Server Type is NOT supported.

When using clustered volumes in FileFly URIs, ensure that the resource FQDN appropriate to the volume is specified rather than the FQDN of any individual node.

5.1.3 Setup

See Installing FileFly Agent for Windows §2.2.2.

5.1.4 Interoperability

This section describes Windows-specific considerations only and should be read in conjunction with §3.5.

Microsoft Storage Replica

FileFly® supports Microsoft Storage Replica.

If Storage Replica is configured for asynchronous replication, a disaster failover effectively reverts the volume to a previous point in time. As such, this kind of failover is directly equivalent to a volume restore operation (albeit to a very recent state).

As with any restore, a Post-Restore Revalidate Policy (see §4.7 (p.24)) should be run across the restored volume within the scrub grace period window. This will ensure correct operation of any future scrub policies by accounting for discrepancies between the demigration state of the files on the (failed) replication source volume and the replication destination volume.

Important: Integrate this process into your recovery procedures prior to production deployment of asynchronous storage replication.

Microsoft DFS Namespaces (DFSN)

DFSN is supported. FileFly Sources must be configured to access volumes on individual servers directly rather than through a DFS namespace. Users and applications may continue to access files and stubs via DFS namespaces as normal.

Microsoft DFS Replication (DFSR)

FileFly Agents must be installed (selecting the ‘FileFly Agent for migration’ role during installation) on EACH member server of a DFS Replication Group prior to running migration tasks on any of the group’s Replication Folders.

If adding a new member server to an existing Replication Group where FileFly® is already in use, FileFly Agent must be installed on the new server first.

When running policies on a Replicated Folder, sources should be defined such that each policy acts upon only one replica. DFSR will replicate the changes to the other members as usual.

Read-only (one-way) replicated folders are NOT supported. However, read-only SMB shares can be used to prevent users from writing to a particular replica as an alternative.

Due to the way DFSR is implemented, care should be taken to avoid writing to stub files that are being concurrently accessed from another replica.

In the rare event that DFSR-replicated data is restored to a member from backup, ensure that DFSR services on all members are running and that replication is fully up-to-date (check for the DFSR ‘finished initial replication’ Windows Event Log message), then run a Post-Restore Revalidate Policy using the same source used for migration.

Retiring a DFSR Replica

Retiring a replica effectively creates two independent copies of each stub, without updating secondary storage. To avoid any potential loss of data:

1. Delete the contents of the retired replica (preferably by formatting the disk, or at least disable Stub Deletion Monitoring during the deletion)

2. Run a Post-Restore Revalidate Policy on the remaining copy of the data

If it is strictly necessary to keep both, now independent, copies of the data and stubs, then run a Post-Restore Revalidate Policy on both copies separately (not concurrently).

Preseeding a DFSR Replicated Folder Using Robocopy

The most common use of Robocopy with FileFly stubs is to preseed or stage initial synchronization. When performing such a preseeding operation:

• for new Replicated Folders, ensure that the ‘Primary member’ is set to be the original server, not the preseeded copy

• both servers must have FileFly Agent installed before presenting

• add a “Process Exclusion” to Windows Defender for robocopy.exe (allow a while for the setting to take effect)

• on the source server, preseed by running robocopy with the /b flag (to copy stubs as-is to the new server)

• once preseeding is complete and replication is fully up-to-date (check for the DFSR ‘finished initial replication’ Windows Event Log message), it is recommended to run a Post-Restore Revalidate Policy on the original FileFly Source

Note: If the process above is aborted, be sure to delete all preseeded files and stubs (preferably by formatting the disk, or at least disable Stub Deletion Monitoring during the deletion) and then run a Post-Restore Revalidate Policy on the original FileFly Source.

Robocopy (Other Uses)

Robocopy will, by default, demigrate stubs as they are copied. This is the same behavior as Explorer copy-paste, xcopy etc..

Robocopy with the /b flag (backup mode – must be performed as an administrator) will copy stubs as-is.

Robocopy /b is not recommended. If stubs are copied in this fashion, the following must be considered:

• for a copy from one server to another, both servers must have DataCore FileFly Agent installed

• this operation is essentially a backup and restore in one step, and thus inappropriately duplicates stubs which are intended to be unique

  • after the duplication, one copy of the stubs must be deleted immediately

  • run a Post-Restore Revalidate policy on the remaining copy

  • this process will render the corresponding secondary storage files nonscrubbable, even after they are demigrated

• to prevent Windows Defender triggering demigrations when the stubs are accessed in this fashion:

  • always run the robocopy from the source end (the file server with the stubs)

  • add a “Process Exclusion” to Windows Defender for robocopy.exe (allow a while for the setting to take effect)

Windows Data Deduplication

If a Windows source server is configured to use migration policies and Windows Data Deduplication, it should be noted that a given file can either be deduplicated or migrated, but not both at the same time. FileFly migration policies will automatically skip files that are already deduplicated. Similarly, Windows will skip FileFly stubs when deduplicating.

When using both technologies, it is recommended to configure Data Deduplication and Migration based on file type such that the most efficacious strategy is chosen for each type of file.

Note: Microsoft’s legacy Single Instance Storage (SIS) feature is not supported. Do not use SIS on the same server as DataCore FileFly Agent.

Windows Shadow Copy

Windows Shadow Copy – also known as Volume Snapshot Service (VSS) – allows previous versions of files to be restored, e.g. from Windows Explorer. This mechanism cannot be used to restore a stub. Restore stubs from backup instead – see §3.4.

5.1.5 Behavioral Notes

Symbolic Links

Symbolic links (symlinks) will be skipped during traversal of the file system. This ensures that files are not seen – and thus acted upon – multiple times during a single execution of a given policy. If it is intended that a policy should apply to files within a directory referred to by a symbolic link, either ensure that the Source encompasses the real location at the link’s destination, or specify the link itself as the Source.

Mount Points / Junctions

Mount Points are always traversed.

By default all other directory junctions will be traversed as expected, unless the junction represents a legacy path, identifiable by its ACL explicitly denying the Everyone SID the List Folder permission.

If it is desired to omit traversal of directory junctions, add the following setting to the Server’s manual override settings in FileFly Admin Portal:

Windows.TraverseNonVolumeJunctions=false

Mount-DiskImage

On Windows 8 or above, VHD and ISO images may be mounted as normal drives using the PowerShell Mount-DiskImage cmdlet. This functionality can also be accessed via the Explorer context menu for an image file.

A known limitation of this cmdlet is that it does not permit sparse files to be mounted (see Microsoft KB2993573). Since migrated image files are always sparse, they must be demigrated prior to mounting. This can be achieved either by copying the file or by removing the sparse flag with the following command:

fsutil sparse setflag <file name> 0

5.1.6 Stub Deletion Monitoring

On Windows, the FileFly Agent can monitor stub deletions to identify secondary storage files that are no longer referenced in order to maximize the usefulness of Scrub Policies. This feature extends not only to stubs that are directly deleted by the user, but also to other cases of stub file destruction such as overwriting a stub or renaming a different file over the top of a stub.

This feature is not enabled by default – see §E.2.

5.2 Microsoft Windows via FileFly LinkConnect Server

5.2.1 Tiering Support

This section details the configuration of a DataCore FileFly LinkConnect Server to enable Link-Migration of files from Windows Server SMB shares. This option should be used when it is not possible to install DataCore FileFly Agent directly on the Windows file server in question. For other cases – where FileFly Agent can be installed on the server – please refer to §5.1.

Refer to §4.2 (p.21) and §4.3 (p.22) for details of the Migrate and Link-Migrate operations respectively.

LinkConnect Servers pair Windows SMB shares with corresponding LinkConnect Cache Shares. Typically a top-level share on each Windows file server volume is mapped to a unique share (or subdivision) on a FileFly LinkConnect Server. Multiple file server shares may use Cache Shares / subdivisions on the same FileFly LinkConnect Server if desired.

Once this configuration is completed, Link-Migrate policies convert files on the source Windows Server SMB share to links pointing to the destination files via the LinkConnect Cache Share, according to configured rules.

Link-Migrated files can be identified by the ‘O’ (Offline) attribute in Explorer. Depending on the version of Windows, files with this flag may be displayed with an overlay icon.

5.2.2 Planning

Prerequisites

• An NTFS Cache Volume of at least 1TB – see §2.2.5

• A supported secondary storage destination (excluding scsp and scspdirect)

When creating a production deployment plan, please refer to §3.5.

Note: It is recommended that a FileFly LinkConnect Server is only associated with one type of SMB device. For example, do not associate a single FileFly LinkConnect Server with both Windows and OneFS shares. This is because agent configuration options may need to be tuned differently to best work with the different platforms.

File Server System Requirements

• Windows Server 2016 or higher

• The server must NOT have the Active Directory Domain Services role

Client Requirements

Windows clients require a supported 64-bit Windows operating system:

• Windows 11

• Windows 10

• Windows Server 2022

• Windows Server 2019

• Windows Server 2016

In order to access Link-Migrated files, the LinkConnect Client Driver must be installed
on each client machine – see §2.3.

Network

Place the DataCore FileFly LinkConnect Server on the same subnet and same switch as the corresponding Windows file server(s) to minimize latency.

Additionally, the FileFly LinkConnect Server must be joined to the same domain as the Windows file server.

Antivirus Considerations

Ensure that Windows Defender or any other antivirus product installed on the File-Fly LinkConnect Server is configured to omit scanning/screening on the LinkConnect Cache Volume and any Windows file server SMB shares.

High-Availability for FileFly LinkConnect Server

Consider whether High-Availability (HA) is required in your environment (either now or in the future). If so, LinkConnect Servers must be deployed in a DFSN configuration from the outset.

LinkConnect Cache Shares are configured for HA by exposing the share name at the domain level using DFSN. If not using HA, it is possible to use either a simple share on a standalone server, or a share exposed at the domain level using DFSN. The latter is always recommended to allow transition to an HA configuration in the future.

Regular Maintenance Activity

Each configured MigLink source will be periodically scanned to perform maintenance tasks such as MigLink ACL propagation and Link Deletion Monitoring (see below).

In an HA configuration, this scanning activity will be performed by a single caretaker node, as can be seen on the Admin Portal Servers page. A standalone FileFly LinkConnect Server always performs the caretaker role.

Security Considerations

Files with certain ACLs cannot be Link-Migrated – they will be skipped during Link-Migrate Policies. If such an ACL is set on a file that has already been Link-Migrated, the new ACL will NOT be propagated to the FileFly LinkConnect Server. Specifically:

• Conditional ACEs will not be Link-Migrated (consider using Central Access Policies instead where applicable)

• Audit ACEs which track attempted read access will not be Link-Migrated (Audit ACEs which track e.g. write or delete work as expected)

When using Dynamic Access Control, Central Access Policies must be propagated to the FileFly LinkConnect Server as well as the file servers.

Link Deletion Monitoring

Link Deletion Monitoring (LDM) may be enabled on a per-share basis.

Similar to the Stub Deletion Monitoring feature provided by DataCore FileFly Agents on Windows, LDM identifies secondary storage files that are no longer referenced in order to facilitate recovery of storage space by Scrub Policies. This feature extends not only to MigLinks that are demigrated or directly deleted by the user, but also to other cases such as overwriting a MigLink or renaming a different file over the top of a MigLink.

Unlike SDM, LDM requires a number of maintenance scans to determine that a given secondary storage file is no longer referenced. It should be noted that interrupting the maintenance process (e.g. by restarting the caretaker node) will delay the detection of unreferenced secondary storage. For optimal and timely storage space recovery, ensure that LinkConnect Servers can run uninterrupted for extended periods.

Warning: In order to avoid LDM incorrectly identifying files as deleted – leading to unwanted data loss during Scrub – it is critical to ensure that users cannot move/rename MigLinks out of the scanned portion of the directory tree within the filesystem. This is typically done by configuring the managed shares at the root of each data volume.

5.2.3 Setup

Installation

Provision a user on the Active Directory domain for the exclusive use of your LinkConnect service(s). This user does not need to be a member of Domain Admins.
On each FileFly LinkConnect Server machine:

1. Add the LinkConnect user to the local Administrators group

2. Assign the ‘Log on as a service’ privilege to this user

3. Run the DataCore FileFly LinkConnect Server.exe

4. Follow the prompts to complete the installation

5. Follow the instructions to activate the installation

Configuring the FileFly LinkConnect Server

In the DataCore FileFly Admin Portal, navigate to the ‘Servers’ page and configure the FileFly LinkConnect Server. In the ‘Configuration’ panel, select ‘FileFly LinkConnect Server’, then use the wizard to add shares.

5.4.4 Adding Shares

Further ‘top-level’ shares can be added using the ‘Configuration’ panel as above.

If you use shares defined in terms of path expansion variables (e.g. for dynamic home directories such as [HOME → /ifs/data/home%0/%U] or [%U → /ifs/data/homes/%U]), check the ‘Path expansion variables in use’ box in the wizard and specify these share expansions to enable the FileFly LinkConnect Server to correctly apply them when MigLinks are accessed. The following variables are supported in expansion paths: %U,
%D, %0, %1, and %2.

For all other sub-shares (that is, shares within the directory tree of a registered top-level share, including shares that are simply aliases for top-level shares), simply add permissions for the LinkConnect user:

1. Open the OneFS Storage Administration web console

2. Navigate to Protocols ! Windows Sharing (SMB) ! SMB Shares

3. Edit the share

   • Add the LinkConnect user as a new member

   • Specify ‘Run as root’ permission

   • Move the new member to the top of the members list

5.4.5 Usage

URI format

smb://fserverg/fnasg/fshareg/[fpathg/]
Where:

• server – FQDN of a FileFly LinkConnect Server that is configured to support the OneFS share

• nas – OneFS FQDN

• share – OneFS SMB share

• path – path within the share

Example:
smb://link.example.com/onefs.example.com/pub/projects/

5.4.6 Policy Limitations

Link-Migration cannot be configured to skip sparse files on this platform due to its limited sparse file support.

5.4.7 Snapshot Support

MigLinks may be restored from OneFS snapshots, providing that the associated secondary storage file has not yet been Scrubbed. This includes restoring an entire snapshot (SnapRevert) as well as copying an individual MigLink from a snapshot. When copying individual MigLinks, depending on the copy method used, the file will either be restored as a regular file (e.g. Explorer copy) or remain as a MigLink (e.g. cp -a command at the OneFS console).

5.4.8 SyncIQ

There is a known issue with SyncIQ not correctly copying symbolic links. This issue occurs even when not using FileFly®. Due to this limitation, it may not be possible to correctly copy MigLinks using SyncIQ – test your OneFS version prior to attempting this operation.

5.5 DataCore Swarm SCSP

5.5.1 Introduction

DataCore Swarm provides a multi-tenanted object storage platform built upon Swarm storage nodes. Swarm may be used as a migration destination only.

This section details the use of FileFly® with Swarm using SCSP. Use of Swarm with the S3 protocol is described in §5.8.

SCSP traffic may optionally be encrypted in transit with TLS. Additionally, the plugin can employ client-side encryption to protect migrated data at rest.

5.5.2 Planning

Prerequisites

• Cloud Gateway 3.0.0 or above

• Swarm 8 or above

Policy Limitations
The following Policy limitations apply to this scheme:

• It may not be used as a Link-Migration destination

• It may not be used as the new destination for Change Destination Tier policies

• It may not be used as the new destination for Retarget Destination policies

Firewall

The TCP port used to access the Swarm Content Gateway via HTTP or HTTPS must be allowed by any firewalls between the DataCore FileFly Gateway and the Swarm endpoint. For further information regarding firewall configuration see Appendix B.

Named and Unnamed Objects

Swarm domain names used with FileFly® must be valid FQDNs which resolve to one or more Content Gateway endpoints.

Migrated files may be stored as either unnamed objects (accessed by UUID), or as named objects residing in a bucket. Bucket creation must be performed ahead of time, prior to configuring FileFly®.

Authentication

When using buckets, it is a requirement that the configured credentials for accessing the bucket are also permitted to perform HEAD requests at the root of the domain in order to obtain domain information. This must be considered when provisioning buckets.

5.5.3 Usage

In DataCore FileFly Admin Portal, navigate to the ‘Servers’ page and configure the Server on which the plugin will be enabled. In the ‘Configuration’ panel, select the plugin from the ‘Enabled Plugins’ or ‘Available Plugins’ list as appropriate.

Configure the plugin to specify options such as proxy and encryption, as well as Domain credentials. Note that encrypted credentials and keys will be stored in secured areas on the Admin Portal server (where they will be backed up) and on the corresponding Gateways.

Swarm Destinations require an index to be created prior to use. Once credentials have been supplied, click Create new index to create a new index and corresponding migration Destination.

Additional indexes can be added at a later date to further subdivide storage if required. Multiple migration destinations may be created in the same bucket by specifying different partition names.

Important: Each FileFly Admin Portal must have its own destination indexes; DO NOT share indexes across multiple FileFly implementations.

Metadata Options

Enable ‘Include metadata headers’ to store per-file HTTP metadata with the destination objects, such as original filename and location, content-type, owner and timestamps – see §5.5.6 for details.

Also enable ‘Include Content-Disposition’ to include original filename for use when downloading the target objects directly using a web browser.

5.5.4 Legacy URIs

URIs created on previous versions of FileFly® using the cloudscaler scheme will continue to function as expected. Existing destinations should NOT be updated to use the scsp scheme. The cloudscaler scheme is simply an alias for the scsp scheme.

5.5.5 Disaster Recovery Considerations

During migration, each newly migrated file is recorded in the corresponding index. The index may be used in disaster scenarios where:

1. stubs have been lost, and

2. a Create Recovery File from Source file is not available, and

3. no current backup of the stubs exists

Index performance is optimized for migrations and demigrations, not for Create Recovery File from Destination policies.

Create Recovery File from Source policies are the recommended means to obtain a Recovery file for restoring stubs. This method provides better performance and the most up-to-date stub location information.

It is recommended to regularly run Create Recovery File from Source policies following Migration policies.

5.5.6 Swarm Metadata Headers

The following metadata fields are supported:

• X-Alt-Meta-Name – the original source file’s filename (excluding directory path)

• X-Alt-Meta-Path – the original source file’s directory path (excluding the filename) in a platform-independent manner such that ‘/’ is used as the path separator and the path will start with ‘/’, followed by drive/volume/share if appropriate, but not end with ‘/’ (unless this path represents the root directory)

• X-FileFly-Meta-Partition – the Destination URI partition – if no partition is present, this header is omitted

• X-Source-Meta-Host – the FQDN of the original source file’s server

• X-Source-Meta-Owner – the owner of the original source file in a format appropriate to the source system (e.g. DOMAINnusername)

• X-Source-Meta-Modified – the Last Modified timestamp of the original source file at the time of migration in RFC3339 format

• X-Source-Meta-Created – the Created timestamp of the original source file in RFC3339 format

• X-Source-Meta-Attribs – a case-sensitive sequence of characters fAHRSg representing the original source file’s file flags: Archive, Hidden, Read-Only and System

• all other characters are reserved for future use and should be ignored

• Content-Type – the MIME Type of the content, determined based on the fileextension of the original source filename

Note: Timestamps may be omitted if the source file timestamps are not set.

Non-ASCII characters will be be stored using RFC2047 encoding, as described in the Swarm documentation. Swarm will decode these values prior to indexing in Elasticsearch.

5.6 DataCore Swarm (Direct Node Access)

5.6.1 Introduction

The scspdirect scheme should only be used when accessing Swarm storage nodes directly. Swarm may be used as a migration destination only.

Swarm (SCSP) traffic is not encrypted in transit when using this scheme. Optionally, the plugin can employ client-side encryption to protect migrated data at rest.

Normally, Swarm will be accessed via a Swarm Content Gateway, in which case the scsp scheme must be used instead, see §5.5.

5.6.2 Planning

Prerequisites

• Swarm 8 or above

Policy Limitations
The following Policy limitations apply to this scheme:

• it may not be used as a Link-Migration destination

• it may not be used as the new destination for Change Destination Tier policies

• it may not be used as the new destination for Retarget Destination policies

Firewall

The Swarm storage node port must be allowed by any firewalls between the DataCore FileFly Gateway and the Swarm storage nodes. For further information regarding firewall configuration see Appendix B.

Domains and Endpoints

Swarm storage locations are accessed via a configured endpoint FQDN. Add several Swarm storage node IP addresses to DNS under a single endpoint FQDN (4-8 addresses are recommended). If Swarm domains are in use, the FQDN must be the name of the domain in which the FileFly data will be stored. If domains are NOT in use (i.e. data will be stored in the default cluster domain), it is strongly recommended that the FQDN be the name of the cluster for best Swarm performance.

When using multiple Swarm domains, ensure that each domain FQDN is added to DNS as described above.

Named and Unnamed Objects

Migrated files may be stored as either unnamed objects (accessed by UUID), or as named objects residing in a bucket. Bucket creation must be performed ahead of time, prior to configuring FileFly®.

5.6.3 Usage

In DataCore FileFly Admin Portal, navigate to the ‘Servers’ page and configure the Server on which the plugin will be enabled. In the ‘Configuration’ panel, select the plugin from the ‘Enabled Plugins’ or ‘Available Plugins’ list as appropriate.

Configure the plugin to specify options and encryption settings. Note that encrypted keys will be stored in secured areas on the Admin Portal server (where they will be backed up) and on the corresponding Gateways.

Swarm Destinations require an index to be created prior to use: click Create new index to create a new index and corresponding migration Destination.

Additional indexes can be added at a later date to further subdivide storage if required. Multiple migration destinations may be created in the same bucket by specifying different partition names.

Important: Each FileFly Admin Portal must have its own destination indexes; DO NOT share indexes across multiple FileFly implementations.

Metadata Options

Enable ‘Include metadata headers’ to store per-file HTTP metadata with the destination objects, such as original filename and location, content-type, owner and timestamps – see §5.5.6 for details. Swarm 8 or above is required to use this option.

Also enable ‘Include Content-Disposition’ to include original filename for use when downloading the target objects directly using a web browser.

5.6.4 Legacy URIs

URIs created on previous versions of FileFly® using the swarm scheme will continue to function as expected. Existing destinations should NOT be updated to use the scspdirect scheme. The swarm scheme is simply an alias for the scspdirect scheme.

5.6.5 Disaster Recovery Considerations

Refer to §5.5.5.

5.7 Amazon S3

5.7.1 Introduction

Amazon S3 may be used as a migration destination only.

S3 traffic is encrypted in transit with TLS. Additionally, the plugin can employ client-side encryption to protect data at rest.

This section strictly pertains to Amazon S3.

5.7.2 Planning

Prerequisites

• an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Account

Dedicated buckets – without versioning enabled – should be used for FileFly migration data. However, do not create any S3 buckets at this stage.

Firewall

The HTTPS port (TCP port 443) must be allowed by any firewalls between the DataCore FileFly Gateway and the Internet.

5.7.3 Usage

In DataCore FileFly Admin Portal, navigate to the ‘Servers’ page and configure the Server on which the plugin will be enabled. In the ‘Configuration’ panel, select the plugin from the ‘Enabled Plugins’ or ‘Available Plugins’ list as appropriate.

Configure the plugin to specify options such as proxy and encryption, as well as S3 account credentials. Note that encrypted credentials and keys will be stored in secured areas on the Admin Portal server (where they will be backed up) and on the corresponding Gateways. Once credentials have been supplied, click on the MANAGE BUCKETS icon to create buckets and edit bucket-specific settings.

When configuration is complete, click the CREATE MIGRATION DESTINATION icon next to the desired bucket.

Partitions may be used to subdivide a bucket into multiple migration destinations. A greater number of smaller migration destinations may be helpful in a recovery scenario where destinations can be recovered in order of priority.

Transfer Acceleration

Transfer acceleration allows data to be uploaded via the fastest data center for your location, regardless of the actual location of the bucket.

This per-bucket option provides a way to upload data to a bucket in a remote AWS region while minimizing the adverse effects on migration policies that would otherwise be caused by the correspondingly higher latency of using the remote region.

Additional AWS charges may apply for using transfer acceleration at upload time, but for archived data these initial charges may be significantly outweighed by reduced storage costs in the target region. For further details, please consult AWS pricing.

Default Storage Class

This per-bucket option allows files to be uploaded directly into the STANDARD, STANDARD IA or the GLACIER IR storage class subject to eligibility. Unconfigured buckets use the STANDARD storage class.

Please consult AWS pricing for further details.

Migration Layout

By default, migrated data is stored in Standard migration layout within the object store. Standard layout supports encryption at rest.

Alternatively, migrated data may be stored in a manner that preserves original filename information. This layout does not support encryption, and is subject to limitations such as path / filename length imposed by the object store. This option is useful in specific circumstances where data at a migration destination must be read directly by other applications. Files are stored under <bucket>/<partition>/FILES. FileFly-specific metadata is stored under <bucket>/<partition>/HDR and should not be made accessible to other applications.

Note: Buckets configured to preserve original filename information upon migration may not be used as the new Destination for Change Destination Tier or Retarget Destination Policies.

5.7.4 Extended Metadata Fields

Extended metadata fields are written when the ‘Migrate with original filenames’ option is selected for a migration destination bucket.

Notes:

• headers will be sent in UTF-8 using RFC2047 encoding as necessary to unambiguously represent the original metadata values (in accordance with the
  HTTP/1.1 specification – see RFC2616/2.2)

• due to Amazon-specific limitations, sequences of adjacent whitespace within x-amz-meta-orig-name may be returned as a single space by some client software

• all timestamps are stored as UTC in RFC3339 format

5.8 DataCore Swarm S3

5.8.1 Introduction

DataCore Swarm provides a multi-tenanted object storage platform built upon Swarm storage nodes.

Swarm S3 may be used as a migration destination only.

This section details the use of FileFly® with Swarm using the S3 protocol. Use of Swarm with SCSP is described in §5.5.

S3 traffic may optionally be encrypted in transit with TLS. Additionally, the plugin can employ client-side encryption to protect data at rest.

5.8.2 Planning

Prerequisites

• suitable S3 API credentials

Dedicated buckets should be used for FileFly migration data. However, do not create any S3 buckets at this stage.

Firewall

The S3 port must be allowed by any firewalls between the DataCore FileFly Gateway and the Swarm endpoint.

5.8.3 Usage

In DataCore FileFly Admin Portal, navigate to the ‘Servers’ page and configure the Server on which the plugin will be enabled. In the ‘Configuration’ panel, select the plugin from the ‘Enabled Plugins’ or ‘Available Plugins’ list as appropriate.

Configure the plugin to specify options such as proxy and encryption, as well as S3 account credentials. Note that encrypted credentials and keys will be stored in secured areas on the Admin Portal server (where they will be backed up) and on the corresponding Gateways. Once credentials have been supplied, click on the MANAGE BUCKETS icon to create buckets and edit bucket-specific settings.

When configuration is complete, click the CREATE MIGRATION DESTINATION icon next to the desired bucket.

Partitions may be used to subdivide a bucket into multiple migration destinations. A greater number of smaller migration destinations may be helpful in a recovery scenario where destinations can be recovered in order of priority.

Migration Layout

By default, migrated data is stored in Standard migration layout within the object store. Standard layout supports encryption at rest.

Alternatively, migrated data may be stored in a manner that preserves original filename information. This layout does not support encryption, and is subject to limitations such as path/filename length imposed by the object store. This option is useful in specific circumstances where data at a migration destination must be read directly by other applications. Files are stored under <bucket>/<partition>/FILES. FileFly-specific metadata is stored under <bucket>/<partition>/HDR and should not be made accessible to other applications.

Note: Buckets configured to preserve original filename information upon migration may not be used as the new Destination for Change Destination Tier or Retarget Destination Policies.

5.8.4 Extended Metadata Fields

Please refer to §5.7.4 for S3 metadata field details.

5.9 Generic S3 Endpoint

5.9.1 Introduction

Other generic or third-party storage devices and services that support the Amazon S3 protocol may be addressed using the ‘Generic S3 Endpoint’ feature. Such endpoints may be used as migration destinations only.

S3 traffic may optionally be encrypted in transit with TLS. Additionally, the plugin can employ client-side encryption to protect data at rest.

5.9.2 Planning

Important: Prior to production deployment, please confirm with DataCore Support that the chosen device or service has been certified for compatibility to ensure that it will be covered by your support agreement.

Prerequisites:

• suitable S3 API credentials

Dedicated buckets – without versioning enabled – should be used for FileFly migration data. However, do not create any S3 buckets at this stage.

Firewall

The S3 port must be allowed by any firewalls between the DataCore FileFly Gateway and the storage endpoint.

5.9.3 Usage

In DataCore FileFly Admin Portal, navigate to the ‘Servers’ page and configure the Server on which the plugin will be enabled. In the ‘Configuration’ panel, select the plugin from the ‘Enabled Plugins’ or ‘Available Plugins’ list as appropriate.

Configure the plugin to specify options such as proxy and encryption, as well as S3 account credentials. Note that encrypted credentials and keys will be stored in secured areas on the Admin Portal server (where they will be backed up) and on the corresponding Gateways. Once credentials have been supplied, click on the MANAGE BUCKETS icon to create buckets and edit bucket-specific settings.

When configuration is complete, click the CREATE MIGRATION DESTINATION icon next to the desired bucket.

Partitions may be used to subdivide a bucket into multiple migration destinations. A greater number of smaller migration destinations may be helpful in a recovery scenario where destinations can be recovered in order of priority.

Omit ISO date from path

Normally, when FileFly® migrates a file to S3, a timestamp is included in each resulting S3 object key (name). Amazon S3 implements a flat, uniform keyspace – there is no concept of a directory structure within an Amazon storage bucket. However, some S3- compatible devices map the keyspace to an underlying directory structure or other nonuniform or hierarchical namespace. On such systems, the inclusion of the timestamp may result in excessive directory creation which may adversely impact performance and/or resource consumption. For such devices, use the ‘Omit ISO date from path’
option to omit the timestamp.

Virtual Host Access

The S3 protocol supports a virtual-host-style bucket access method, for example https://bucket.s3.example.com rather than only https://s3.example.com/bucket. This facilitates connecting to a node in the correct region for the bucket, rather than requiring redirect.

Generally the ‘Use Virtual Host Access’ option should be enabled (the default) to ensure optimal performance and correct operation. However, if the generic S3 endpoint in question does not support this feature at all, Virtual Host Access may be disabled.

Note: When using Virtual Host Access in conjunction with HTTPS (recommended) it is important to ensure that the endpoint’s TLS certificate has been created correctly. For example, if the endpoint FQDN is s3.example.com, the certificate must contain Subject Alternative Names (SANs) for both s3.example.com and *.s3.example.com.

Migration Layout

By default, migrated data is stored in Standard migration layout within the object store. Standard layout supports encryption at rest.

Alternatively, migrated data may be stored in a manner that preserves original filename information. This layout does not support encryption, and is subject to limitations such as path/filename length imposed by the object store. This option is useful in specific circumstances where data at a migration destination must be read directly by other applications. Files are stored under <bucket>/<partition>/FILES. FileFly-specific metadata is stored under <bucket>/<partition>/HDR and should not be made accessible to other applications.

Note: Buckets configured to preserve original filename information upon migration may not be used as the new Destination for Change Destination Tier or Retarget Destination Policies.

5.9.4 Extended Metadata Fields

Please refer to §5.7.4 for S3 metadata field details.

5.10 Microsoft Azure Storage

5.10.1 Introduction

Microsoft Azure may be used as a migration destination only.

Azure traffic is encrypted in transit with TLS. Additionally, the plugin can employ clientside encryption to protect data at rest.

5.10.2 Planning

Prerequisites

• a Microsoft Azure Account

• a Storage Account within Azure – both General Purpose and Blob Storage (with Hot and Cool access tiers) account types are supported

Firewall

The HTTPS port (TCP port 443) must be allowed by any firewalls between the DataCore FileFly Gateway and the Internet.

5.10.3 Usage

In DataCore FileFly Admin Portal, navigate to the ‘Servers’ page and configure the Server on which the plugin will be enabled. In the ‘Configuration’ panel, select the plugin from the ‘Enabled Plugins’ or ‘Available Plugins’ list as appropriate.

Configure the plugin to specify options such as proxy and encryption, as well as Azure Storage Accounts. Note that encrypted credentials and keys will be stored in secured areas on the Admin Portal server (where they will be backed up) and on the corresponding Gateways. Once credentials have been supplied, click on the MANAGE CONTAINERS icon to create and view containers.

When configuration is complete, click the CREATE MIGRATION DESTINATION icon next to the desired container.

Advanced Encryption Options

The ‘Allow unencrypted filenames’ option greatly increases performance when creating Recovery files from an Azure Destination. This is facilitated by recording stub filenames in Azure metadata in unencrypted form, even when encryption at rest is enabled.

5.11 Google Cloud Storage

5.11.1 Introduction

Google Cloud Storage is used only as a migration destination with FileFly®.

Google Cloud Storage traffic is encrypted in transit with TLS. Additionally, the plugin can employ client-side encryption to protect data at rest.

5.11.2 Planning

Prerequisites

• a Google Account

Firewall

The HTTPS port (TCP port 443) must be allowed by any firewalls between the DataCore FileFly Gateway and the Internet.

5.11.3 Storage Bucket Preparation

Using the Google Cloud Platform web console, create a new Service Account in the desired project for the exclusive use of FileFly®. Create a P12 format private key for this Service Account. Record the Service Account ID and store the downloaded private key file securely for use in later steps.

Create a Storage Bucket exclusively for FileFly migration data.

For FileFly® use, bucket names must:

• be 3-40 characters long

• contain only lowercase letters, numbers and dashes (-)

• not begin or end with a dash

• not contain adjacent dashes

Edit the bucket’s permissions to add the new Service Account as a member with the ‘Storage Object Admin’ role.

5.11.4 Usage

In DataCore FileFly Admin Portal, navigate to the ‘Servers’ page and configure the Server on which the plugin will be enabled. In the ‘Configuration’ panel, select the plugin from the ‘Enabled Plugins’ or ‘Available Plugins’ list as appropriate.

Configure the plugin to specify options such as proxy and encryption, as well as Google Storage Accounts. Note that encrypted credentials and keys will be stored in secured areas on the Admin Portal server (where they will be backed up) and on the corresponding Gateways. Once credentials have been supplied, click on the MANAGE BUCKETS icon to register previously created buckets.

When configuration is complete, click the CREATE MIGRATION DESTINATION icon next to the desired bucket.

6. Disaster Recovery

6.1 Introduction

The FileFly DrTool application allows for the recovery of stubs and MigLinks where normal backup and restore of primary storage has failed. Storage backup recommendations and considerations are covered in §3.4.

It is recommended to regularly run a ‘Create Recovery File From Source’ Policy to generate an up-to-date list of source–destination mappings.
FileFly DrTool is installed as part of DataCore FileFly Tools.

Note: Community Edition licenses do not include FileFly DrTool functionality.

6.2 Recovery Files

Recovery files are normally generated by running ‘Create Recovery File From Source’ Policies in FileFly Admin Portal. To open a file previously generated by FileFly Admin Portal:

1. Open DataCore FileFly DrTool from the Start Menu

2. Go to File → Open From FileFly Admin Portal. . .--> Recovery File From Source

3. Select a Recovery file to open

Older versions of Recovery files may be found via the ‘Recovery’ page in FileFly Admin Portal.

6.3 Filtering Results

In FileFly DrTool, click Filter to filter results by source file properties. Filter options are described below.

Note: When a Filter is applied, Save only saves the filtered results.

6.4. RECOVERING FILES

Scheme Pattern

In the ‘Scheme Pattern’ field, use the name of the Scheme only (e.g. win, not win:// or win://servername ). This field may be left blank to return results for all schemes.

This field matches against the scheme section of a URI:

• fschemeg://fservernameg/[fpathg]

Server Pattern

In the ‘Server Pattern’ field, use the full server name or a wildcard expression.

This field matches against the servername section of a URI:

• fschemeg://fservernameg/[fpathg]

Examples:

• server65.example.com – will match only the specified server

• *.finance.example.com – will match all servers in the ‘finance’ subdomain

File Pattern

The ‘File Pattern’ field will match either filenames only (and search within all directories), or filenames qualified with directory paths in the same manner as filename patterns in FileFly Admin Portal Rules – see Appendix A.

For the purposes of file pattern matching, the top-level directory is considered to be the top level of the entire URI path. This may be different to the top-level of the original Source URI.

Using the Analyze Button

Analyze assists in creating simple filters.

1. Click Analyze

   • Analyze will display a breakdown by scheme, server and file type

2. Select a subset of the results by making a selection in each column

3. Click Filter to create a filter based on the selection

6.4 Recovering Files

Selected Files

To recover files interactively:

• Select the results for which files will be recovered

• Click Edit → Recover File. . .

6.5. RECOVERING FILES TO A NEW LOCATION

All Files

All files may be recovered either as a batch process using the command line (see §6.7) or interactively as follows:

• Click Edit → Recover All Files. . .

Missing folders will be recreated as required to contain the recovered files.

Recreated files and folders will not have ACLs applied to them so care should be taken when recreating in sensitive areas.

6.5 Recovering Files to a New Location

When recovering to a new location, always use an up-to-date Recovery file generated by a ‘Create Recovery File From Source’ Policy.

To rewrite source file URIs to the new location, use the -csu command line option to update the prefix of each URI. Once these URI substitutions have been applied (and checked in the GUI) files may be recovered as previously outlined. The -csu option is further detailed in §6.7.

Important: DO NOT create stubs in a new location and then continue to use the old location. To avoid incorrect reference counts, only one set of stubs should exist at any given time.

6.6 Updating Sources to Reflect Destination URI Change

Generally, a Retarget Destination Policy – see §4.8 – is the most effective way to permanently move migrated data from one destination to another. If, however, the destination URI changes for some other reason, such as an FQDN being updated externally, FileFly DrTool may be used to repair the linkage between the source and the destination.

In FileFly DrTool, source files may be updated to reflect a destination URI change through use of the -cmu command line option – detailed in §6.7.

To apply the destination URI substitution to existing files on the source, select ‘Update All Source Files. . . ’ from the Edit menu. When given the option, elect to update substituted entries only.

Note: This operation must always be performed using an up-to-date Recovery file generated by a ‘Create Recovery File From Source’ Policy.

6.7 Using FileFly DrTool from the Command Line

Important: DO NOT create stubs in a new location and then continue to use the old location. To avoid incorrect reference counts, only one set of stubs should exist at any given time.

DrTool commands must be executed from an Administrator command prompt. By default DrTool is located in:

C:\Program FilesnDataCore FileFly\AdminTools\DrTool\

Interactive Usage

DrTool [Recovery file] [extra options]

Opens the FileFly DrTool in interactive (GUI) mode with the desired options and optionally opens a Recovery file.

Batch Usage

DrTool <operation> <Recovery file> [<options>]

Run the FileFly DrTool without a GUI to perform a batch operation on all entries in the input file.

Note: The Recovery file provided as input is usually created by saving (possibly filtered) results to the hard disk from the interactive DrTool GUI.

Basic Command Line Options

• operation – is either:

  • -recoverFiles

  • -updateSource

    • if combined with -cmu, only matching entries will be updated

  • -updateSourceAll

    • all entries will be updated, even when -cmu is specified

  • if operation is omitted, the GUI will be opened with any supplied options

• Recovery file – the file to open

• options (related to the operation are):

  • -csu ffromg ftog – to change Source URI prefix, this option can be specified multiple times

  • -cmu ffromg ftog – to change Migrated URI prefix, this option can be specified multiple times

Examples
All the following examples are run from the FileFly DrTool directory.

• DrTool -recoverFiles result.txt – recover all files from the result.txt file

• DrTool -updateSource result.txt -cmu scsp://oldfqdn/
  scsp://newfqdn/ – update existing files to point to a new storage location

• DrTool -recoverFiles result.txt -csu win://old1/ win://new1/ -csu
  win://old2/ win://new2/ -cmu scsp://oldfqdn/ scsp://newfqdn/ – recover files to different servers and update the secondary storage location
  simultaneously

Expert Options

To use the expert options below, include -expert as the first parameter.

WARNING: restoring old ACLs into locations that may have changed significantly since the files were originally migrated can lead to unintended and unpredictable results. Use these options with caution.

• -do-not-restore-acls – this is the DEFAULT behavior (recreated files and folders will inherit Windows ACLs from the existing folders into which they are created)

• -merge-acls – restore files’ explicit Windows ACLs and inherit from the parent folder

• -exact-acls – Windows ACLs will be restored exactly – if parent folder ACLs are now different, these will be propagated when a future change is made to the parent

• -restore-acls-disable-inherit – Windows ACLs will be restored, then inheritance will be disabled ( inherited central access policies and resource attributes
  will be discarded in favor of those inherited at the new destination)

If -expert is specified when running via the GUI (rather than a batch operation), the GUI will prompt which of the above ACL options should be used.

6.8 Querying a Destination

While it is strongly recommended to obtain Recovery files from a ‘Create Recovery File From Source’ Policy, where this has been overlooked it is possible to obtain Recovery files from the destination. However, some changes in the source file system, such as renames and deletions, may not be reflected in these results.

Querying the Destination from FileFly Admin Portal

Run a ‘Create Recovery File From Destination’ Policy, see §4.10.

Appendix A - Pattern Matching Reference

This appendix details the specifics of the pattern-matching syntax for filename and owner patterns used in Rules (see §1.3.4).

A.1 Wildcard Patterns

The following wildcards are accepted:

• ? – matches one character (except ‘/’)

• * – matches zero or more characters (except ‘/’)

• ** – matches zero or more characters, including ‘/’

• /**/ – matches zero or more directory components

Literal commas within a pattern must be escaped with a backslash.

Examples of Supported Wildcard Patterns:

• * – all filenames

• .doc – filenames ending with .doc (including ‘.doc’)

• ?.doc – filenames ending with .doc (excluding ‘.doc’)

• *.do? – filenames matching .doc, .dot, .dop, etc. but not e.g. .docx

• ???.* – filenames beginning with any three characters, followed by a period, followed by any number of characters

• *\, * – filenames containing a comma

Examples of Using * and ** in Wildcard Patterns:

• /.doc – matches files ending with .doc directly within the Source URI location, but not within its subdirectories

• public/* – matches all files directly within any directory named ‘public’

• public/** – matches all files at any depth within any directory named ‘public’

• public/**/*.pdf – matches all .pdf files at any depth within any directory named ‘public’

• /home/*.archived/** – matches the contents of any directory ending with ‘.archived’ directly within the home directory (<Source URI>/home)

• /*/public/** – matches all files at any depth within any directory named ‘public’ where the public directory is exactly one level deep within the Source

• /*/**/public/** – matches all files at any depth with any directory named ‘public’ where the public directory is at least one level deep within the Source

A.1.1 Directory Exclusion Patterns

In most cases, directory inclusion and exclusion of specific directories is best performed using Subdirectory Filtering (see §1.3.2).

For more complex cases, e.g. where directories to be excluded follow a pattern, wildcard patterns ending with ‘/**’ may be used to match all files in a particular tree.

A.2 Regular Expressions

More complex pattern matching can be achieved using regular expressions. Patterns in this format must be enclosed in a pair of ‘/’ characters. e.g. /[a-z].*/

To assist with correctly matching file path components, the ‘/’ character is only matched if used explicitly. Specifically:

• . does NOT match the ‘/’ char

• the subpattern (.|/) is equivalent to the normal regex ‘.’ (i.e. ALL characters)

• [^abc] does NOT match ‘/’ (i.e. it behaves like [^/abc])

Literal commas within a pattern must be escaped with a backslash.

It is recommended to avoid regex matching where wildcard matching is sufficient to improve readability.

Examples of Regular Expressions:

• /.*/ – all filenames

• /.*\.doc/ – filenames ending with .doc

• /~[w$].+/ – filenames beginning with ˜w or ˜$ followed by one or more chars

• /.*\.[0-9]{3}/ – filenames with an extension of three digits

• /public/.+\.html?/ – .htm and .html files directly within any ‘public’ directory

• /public/(.|/)*/ – equivalent to wildcard pattern public/**

• /public/((.|/)+/)*index.html/ – equivalent to public/**/index.html

A.3 Case Sensitivity

By default, all patterns are matched case-insensitively using Unicode case-folding. Specifically, two characters are considered equal if they are the same or if they are equivalent in the Unicode case-folding table. This comparison is independent of language or locale settings. For example ‘cafe´ ’, is considered equal to ‘CAFE´ ’.

Of particular note is that Unicode case-folding will match lowercase ‘i’ with both the usual ASCII uppercase ‘I’ and the Turkish dotted-i (’˙I’).

To match using ASCII-only case-insensitivity (i.e. disable Unicode case-folding), prefix pattern with ‘(?-u)’.

To match case-sensitively, prefix pattern with ‘(?-i)’.

For a list of patterns, these prefixes must be applied to each individual pattern as appropriate.

Appendix B - Network Ports

The default ports required for FileFly operation are listed below.

B.1 FileFly Tools

The following ports must be free before installing FileFly Tools:

• 443 (Admin Portal web interface – configurable during installation)

• 8005

The following ports are used for outgoing connections:

• 4604-4609 (inclusive)

Any firewall should be configured to allow incoming and outgoing communication on the above ports.

B.2 FileFly Agent / FileFly FPolicy Server / FileFly LinkConnect Server

The following ports must be free before installing FileFly server components:

• 4604-4609 (inclusive)

Any firewall should be configured to allow incoming and outgoing communication on the above ports.

Other Ports

FileFly plugins may require other ports to be opened in any firewalls to access storage devices / services from FileFly Gateway machines. See also Chapter 5.

Appendix C - Admin Portal Security Configuration

C.1 Updating the Admin Portal TLS Certificate

The Admin Portal TLS certificate may be updated via the Admin Portal ‘Settings’ page by uploading a PKCS#12 certificate and private key pair.

Alternatively, the certificate may be updated using the following procedure:

1. Go to C:nProgram FilesnDataCore FileFlynAdminToolsn

2. Run Update Webserver Certificate

Important: The new certificate MUST appropriately match the original Admin Portal FQDN specified at install time.

C.2 Security Roles and IP Restrictions

The ‘Settings’ → ‘Security Roles’ page allows for the configuration of multiple security roles to cater for different groups of users in Active Directory. Either full access or readonly access may be granted to an AD group, and access for each group may be limited by IP Address / Subnet.

Anonymous access for Secure Link Users – used to control access to shared links (e.g. statistics reports) – may also be restricted by IP Address / Subnet.

If Active Directory integration was not configured at install time, you will still be able to restrict by IP Address / Subnet for the Administrator and Secure Link Users roles.

C.3 Password Reset

In a production deployment, FileFly Admin Portal is usually configured to use Active Directory LDAP authentication. In this case passwords should be changed via Active Directory as normal.

However, if using local administration credentials, the password may be changed on the ‘Settings’ page.

Should the system administrator forget the username or password entirely, the credentials may be reset as follows:

1. Go to C:nProgram FilesnDataCore FileFlynAdminToolsn

2. Run Reset Web Password

3. Follow the instructions to provide new credentials

Appendix D - Service Probe

To remotely test whether the DataCore FileFly Webapps service is responding, perform an HTTP GET request on the following resource:

<https://<serverFQDN>>[:<port>]/ffap/probe

For example, to probe with curl:

curl -i -k `https://server.example.com/ffap/probe'

The service will respond with 200 OK.

Appendix E - Advanced FileFly Agent Configuration

FileFly Agents may be configured on a per-server basis via the Admin Portal ‘Servers’ page.

When the configuration options are saved, they are pushed to the target server to be loaded on the next service restart. In the case of a cluster, all nodes will receive the same updated configuration.

E.1 Logging

Log location and rotation options may be adjusted if required. Debug mode may impact performance and should only be enabled following advice from DataCore Support.

Additionally FileFly® can be configured to send UDP syslog messages in either RFC5424 or RFC3164 format. Syslog output is not enabled by default.

E.2 Stub Deletion Monitoring

As described in §5.1.6, on Windows file systems, FileFly® can monitor stub deletion events in order to make corresponding secondary storage files eligible for removal using Scrub Policies.

This feature is not enabled by default. It must be enabled on a per-volume basis either by specifying volume GUIDs (preferred) or drive letters. Volume GUIDs may be determined by running the Windows mountvol command or Powershell Get-WmiObject -Class win32 volume. For Windows clustered volumes, the cluster volume must be specified using a volume GUID.

Note: This feature should not be configured to monitor events on backup destination volumes. In particular, some basic backup tools such as Windows Server Backup copy individual files to VHDX backup volumes in a manner which is not supported and so such volumesmust not be configured for Stub Deletion Monitoring. Of course, deletions may still be monitored on source data volumes.

E.3 Parallelization Tuning

When a Policy is executed on a Source, operations will automatically be executed in parallel. Parallelization parameters may be tuned for each Server if necessary.

E.4 Deny Demigrations

Applications may be denied the right to demigrate stubs. Such an application – specified either by application binary name or full path – will be unable to access a stub and demigrate the file contents (an error will be returned to the application instead).

Note: Only local applications (applications running directly on the file server) may be blocked.

E.5 Enabled / Available Plugins

Storage plugins may be configured and enabled as necessary for each server. For plugin-specific details, refer to the appropriate section of Chapter 5.

E.6 Manual Overrides

Additional options may be manually entered. Undocumented options should not be entered unless under the direction of a FileFly support engineer.

E.7 Upload Configuration

Under some circumstances it may be necessary to upload a configuration file under the direction of a FileFly support engineer. The configuration for this server will be REPLACED in its entirety.

Appendix F - Troubleshooting

Before contacting DataCore Support, please review relevant log files and Windows Event Viewer for error messages.

F.1 Log Files

Admin Portal Logs

Admin Portal logs describing each attempted policy operation are accessed through the Recent Tasks panel on the ‘Dashboard’. This is the first place to look when investigating a Policy problem.

The FileFly Admin Portal also maintains a ‘Global Log’ (accessible from the ‘Help’ page) which summarizes Policy start / stop activity.

For other issues, including failure of user-initiated demigrations, it may be necessary to consult the FileFly Agent logs on the servers in question.

Server Statistics

In addition to log files, FileFly Admin Portal also provides per-cluster and per-node charts of operation successes and failures on each Server’s ‘Server Details’ page. This includes information about failed demigrates over time which may be useful in conjunction with a Server’s log files to troubleshoot user-initiated demigration issues.

FileFly Agent Logs

Location:

• Windows: C:\Program Files\DataCore FileFly\logs\FileFly Agent

• Linux: /var/opt/datacore/filefly-agent/log

There are two types of FileFly Agent log file. The agent.log contains all FileFly Agent messages, including startup, shutdown, and error information, as well as details of each individual file operation (migrate, demigrate, etc.). Use this log to determine which operations have been performed on which files and to check any errors that may have occurred.

The messages.log contains a subset of the FileFly Agent messages, related to startup, shutdown, critical events and system-wide notifications.

Log messages in both logs are prefixed with a timestamp and thread tag. The thread tag (e.g. <A123>) can be used to distinguish messages from concurrent threads of activity.

Log files are regularly rotated to keep the size of individual log files manageable. Old rotations are compressed as gzip (.gz) files, and can be read using many common tools such as 7-zip, WinZip, or zless. To adjust logging parameters, including how much storage to allow for log files before removing old rotations, see Appendix E.

Log information for operations performed as the result of an Admin Portal Policy will also be available via the web interface.

DrTool Logs

Location: C:\Program Files\DataCore FileFly\logs\DrTool

FileFly DrTool operations such as recovering files are logged in this location. FileFly DrTool will provide the exact name of the log file in the interface.

F.2 Interpreting Errors

Logged errors are recorded in a tree format which enables user-diagnosis of errors / issues, as well as providing detail for any further investigation by support engineers.

Error trees are structured to show WHAT failed, and WHY, at various levels of detail. This section provides a rough guide to extracting the salient features from an error tree.

Each numbered line consists of the following fields:

• WHAT failed – e.g. a migration operation failed

• WHY the failure occurred – e.g. ‘[FILE NOT FOUND]’

• optionally, extra DETAILS about the failure – e.g. the path to a file

As can be seen in the example below, most lines only have a WHAT component, as the reason is further explained by the following line.

A Simple Error

ERROR demigrate win://server.test/G/source/data.dat
[0] ERR_DMAGENT_DEMIGRATE_FAILED [] []
[1] ERR_DMMIGRATESUPPORTWIN_DEMIGRATE_FAILED [] []
[2] ERR_DMAGENT_DEMIGRATEIMP_FAILED [] []
[3] ERR_DMAGENT_COPYDATA_FAILED [] []
[4] ERR_DMSTREAMWIN_WRITE_FAILED [DISK_FULL] [112: There is not enough space on the disk (or a quota has been reached).]

To expand the error above into English:

• demigration failed for the file: win://server.test/G/source/data.dat

• because copying the data failed

• because one of the writes failed with a disk full error

  • the full text of the Windows error (112) is provided

So, G: drive on server.test is full (or a quota has been reached).

Errors with Multiple Branches

Some errors result in further action being taken which may itself fail. Errors with multiple branches are used to convey this to the administrator. Consider an error with the following structure:
[0] ERR...
[1] ERR...
[2] ERR...
[3] ERR...
[4] ERR...
[5] ERR...
[6] ERR...
[3] ERR...
[4] ERR...
[5] ERR...
Whatever ultimately went wrong in line 6 caused the operation in question to fail. However, the function at line 2 chose to take further action following the error – possibly to recover from the original error or simply to clean up after it. This action also failed, the details of which are given by the additional errors in lines 3, 4 and 5 at the end.

Check the Last Line First

For many errors, the most salient details are to be found in the last line of the error tree (or the last line of the first branch of the error tree). Consider the following last line:

[11] ERR_DMSOCKETUTIL_GETROUNDROBINCONNECTEDSOCKET_FAILED [COULD_NOT_RE SOLVE_HOSTNAME] [host was [svr1279.example.com]]

It is fairly clear that this error represents a failure to resolve the server hostname svr1279.example.com. As with any other software, the administrator’s next steps will include checking the spelling of the DNS name, the server’s DNS configuration and whether the hostname is indeed present in DNS.

F.3 Contacting Support

If an issue cannot be resolved after reviewing the logs, contact DataCore Support at:
Support & Services | DataCore Software

Include the following information in any support request (where possible):

1. DataCore FileFly® version

2. Swarm version

3. A description of the issue – be sure to include:

   • how long the issue has been present

   • how regularly the issue occurs

   • any changes made to the environment or configuration

   • any specific circumstances which trigger the issue

   • does the issue occur for a particular file and/or server?

4. Operating System(s)

5. Saved system info (.NFO) from msinfo32.exe

6. Source and Destination URIs

7. Applicable Log Files

   • see §F.1 for log locations

   • include Admin Portal logs

   • include source agent logs

   • include destination / gateway agent logs

   • remember to include all nodes in each agent cluster

   • zip the entire log folders wherever possible

8. Generate a system configuration file (support.zip) from the Admin Portal
   ‘Help’ page

9. Any other error messages – include screenshots if necessary

Important: Failure to include all relevant details may delay resolution of your issue.

Appendix G

Glossary

ACL - Access Control List; file/folder/share level metadata encapsulating permissions granted to users or other entities

Caretaker - a specific node within a cluster that performs maintenance tasks that must be run on a single node at a time

Demigrate - to return migrated file content data to its original location (primary tier), e.g. in response to user access

DFS - Microsoft’s Distributed File System; comprised of DFSN and DFSR

DFSN - DFS Namespace; a Windows mechanism allowing for the presentation of multiple SMB shares as a single logical share

DFSR - DFS Replication; an SMB share-based file replication technology, see also Storage Replica as an alternative

DR - Disaster Recovery

FPolicy - a component of NetApp Data ONTAP which enables extension of native Filer functionality by other applications

FPolicy Server - a server which connects to a NetApp Filer via the FPolicy protocols in order to provide extended functionality

FQDN - Fully Qualified Domain Name, e.g. server1.example.com

GUID - Globally unique identifier

HA - High-Availability; specifically the provision of redundant instances of a resource in a manner which ensures availability of service, even in the event of the failure of a particular instance

LDM - Link Deletion Monitoring

Link-Migrate - to transparently relocate file content data to a secondary storage tier, replacing the original file with a MigLink

MigLink - a placeholder for a file that has been Link-Migrated; applications accessing the MigLink will be transparently redirected to the corresponding FileFly LinkConnect Server to facilitate data access

Migrate - to transparently relocate file content data to a secondary storage tier without removing the file itself; the existing file becomes a stub

MWI file - a file on secondary storage which encapsulates the file content data of a corresponding primary storage stub file or MigLink
NTP - Network Time Protocol, a protocol for clock synchronization between computer systems over a network

Quick-Remigrate - to quickly return a previously demigrated (but unmodified) file back to its migrated state without the need to re-transfer file content data

Recovery File - a text file describing the relationships between stubs/MigLinks and their corresponding MWI files

Scheduler - the Admin Portal component responsible for starting scheduled Tasks

SDM - Stub Deletion Monitoring

Stub - a file whose content data has been transparently migrated to a secondary storage tier location

Storage Replica - a Windows Server volume replication technology offering synchronous or asynchronous replication modes

Syslog - a protocol used to send system log or event messages, e.g. to a centralized Syslog collector

TLS - Transport Layer Security; a protocol used for establishing secure connections between servers (formerly known as SSL)

UUID - Universally unique identifier