Creating a copy storage rule
You can create a copy storage rule to back up container storage pools to tape. The copy process also removes any data compression or deduplication. As a result, data is returned to its original state. This feature is designed to improve data recoverability from tape.
Before you begin
When you define a copy storage rule, you specify one or more container storage pools to back up, and a copy storage pool to which the data is copied. The source and target storage pools must exist before you create the copy storage rule.
About this task
- Whether the rule is active (enabled). When the rule is active, it runs daily at its scheduled start time. When you create a copy storage rule, it is initially inactive, regardless of what you specified on the Create Rule page.
- The server where the rule is specified.
- A target pool. The target pool is the copy storage pool to which data is
copied.Tip: After you create a copy storage rule, you can create a copy subrule that specifies exceptions to the storage rule for certain clients. In a copy subrule, you can specify a different target pool for certain clients.
- One or more source pools. The source pools are the container storage pools that contain the data to be copied to tape storage.
- The rule name.
- The data to be copied by the storage rule. You can specify one of the following options:
- All data
- Specifies that the storage rule copies all data from the source pools to the target pool. However, subrules of the storage rule can specify that data for certain clients is not copied or is copied to a different target pool.
- Specify by subrule
- Specifies that data is copied from the source pools only as specified by one or more subrules of the parent storage rule. If the parent rule has no subrules, no data is copied.
- The maximum number of parallel processes to use for copying data from each source pool to the target pool. Using multiple, parallel processes can improve the throughput of the copy operation. When the storage rule runs, the actual number of processes might be limited by the number of available drives.
- The rule's scheduled start time and maximum duration.
Procedure
To create a copy storage rule, complete the following steps:
-
On the Storage Rules page, click
Create Rule.
The Create Rule page is displayed. - From the Rule action list on the Create Rule page, select Copy.
- On the Create Rule page, complete the remaining fields.
- Click Create.
Results
The copy storage rule is created and its properties are displayed on the Properties tab of the Details page. By default, the copy storage rule is inactive, and does not run daily at its scheduled start time. You can edit the storage rule to activate it. Before you activate the storage rule, define any subrules for the storage rule. If the parent storage rule runs before its subrules are configured, more source pool data might be copied to the target pool than you want.
What to do next
- To specify exceptions to the copy storage rule, create one or more subrules. If the value of the storage rule property Data to copy is set to the value Specify by subrule, you must define at least one subrule to identify the client data to be copied.
- When you are ready to activate the copy storage rule, on the Properties tab, click Modify, click the Active toggle, and click Save. The active rule and any subrules run daily at the scheduled time.