Viewing the capacity of external storage

View the used capacity and capacity of external pool storage that is used by file systems in IBM Storage Scale. External pools can include storage that is provided by IBM Cloud Object Storage, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), OpenStack Swift, IBM Storage Archive, IBM Storage Protect, and other storage providers.

About this task

For all external storage that is being used by IBM Storage Scale file systems, you can complete the following tasks:

• View used capacity to understand how much data is being migrated from those file systems to external storage.
• Charge back storage costs to the departments within your organization.
• Gauge shortfall in case you need to recall data from external pools.

For external storage that is provided by IBM Cloud Object Storage, you can also view capacity information, including the percentage of space (active and inactive) that is being used. Use this information to complete the following tasks:

• View how storage space is distributed between internal and external storage tiers.
• Identify the external pools that are running out of space.
• Determine when you need to reconcile files between an IBM Storage Scale and an external storage tier. For example, when you remove files from a file system, no policy is available to automatically remove the cloud objects that are created. This situation might cause orphan objects (inactive data) on the cloud. To clean up inactive data and keep the cloud in sync with the file system, you can reconcile files.

The following figure illustrates the relationship between IBM Storage Scale and the IBM Cloud Object Storage system that provides storage for external pools:

To view the used capacity and capacity of external storage, complete the following steps:

1. From the Resources menu, click File Storage Systems.
2. Right-click a IBM Storage Scale storage system and click View Details.
3. In the navigation pane, click Pools.
4. View the following columns for information about the used capacity and capacity of external pools:

   Capacity (%)

   The percentage of used capacity in the file system pool. Hover over the bar for a specific pool to view statistics about its used and available capacity.

   For external pools that are connected to cloud services or storage providers, only the amount of used capacity is shown. Cloud services and other storage providers might include IBM Storage Protect, IBM Storage Archive, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), or OpenStack Swift.

   For external pools that are connected to vaults in IBM Cloud Object Storage, the percentage of used capacity includes active and inactive data. Space values are determined from the usable vault capacity that is associated with the cloud account and the hard quota value (if a hard quota is configured). Hover over the bar for a specific pool to view statistics about its used active space, used inactive space, and available capacity.

   Active and inactive data in external pools

   Active data is data that has corresponding stub files on the GPFS file system. Inactive data is data that exists in the external pool but is not accessible in the GPFS file system. Data is classified as inactive under these conditions:

   • When you migrate a file off a GPFS file system, its data is still visible and accessible through its stub file. When the stub file is deleted, the data in the external pool is no longer accessible and is considered inactive.
   • When you modify a migrated file, it's recalled from the external pool and modified locally. The previous data for the file remains in the external pool but is no longer accessible through the GPFS file system and is considered inactive.

   Tip: To keep the files in sync between an external pool and a GPFS file system and clean up inactive data, you can run the IBM Storage Scale mmcloudgateway files reconcile command. For more information, see Reconciling files between IBM Storage Scale file system and cloud storage tier.

   External Used Capacity (GiB)

   The amount of used capacity on an external pool. This value includes active data and inactive data. Active data is data that has corresponding stub files on the GPFS file system. Inactive data is data that exists in the external pool but is not accessible in the GPFS file system.

   Availability: External pools that are provided by IBM Cloud Object Storage.

   Inactive Used Capacity

   The amount of inactive used capacity on an external pool. Inactive data is data that exists in the external pool but is not accessible in the GPFS file system. Available for external pools that are provided by Cloud Object Storage only.

   Availability: External pools that are provided by IBM Cloud Object Storage.

   Used Capacity

   The amount of capacity in the file system pool that is being used. For external pools, used capacity includes active data only. Active data is data that has corresponding stub files on the GPFS file system.

   Availability: All storage systems.