Creating and applying ILM policy by using GUI

The Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) feature that is available in the IBM Storage Scale system facilitates automated tiered storage management. You need to create a set of policies and rules that automatically determine where to physically store your data regardless of its placement in the logical directory structure. Proper management of files ensures the efficient use and balance of premium and less expensive storage resources.

You can use the Files > Information Lifecycle page in the IBM Storage Scale GUI to create and manage the ILM policies. The Information Lifecycle page consists of the following tabs:
  • Active Policy: Lists the policy that is applied to the file systems. You can add new rules or run policy from this section. A default placement policy is added to the file system if the file system is created by using the GUI.
  • Policy Repository: Repository of the policies that are configured in the system. You can create new policy and add it in to the repository or make an existing policy as the active policy for a file system. You can even run a policy from the Policy Repository section without making it as the active policy.
  • Policy Run Settings: Provides the options to select the nodes that run the policy, select temporary folder to be used while running the policy, and configure certain performance tuning.

Defining and applying an ILM policy includes the following steps at a high-level:

  1. Set policy run settings.
  2. If the file system is not created through GUI, create a policy and make it as the active policy for the file system.
  3. If the file system is created by using GUI, either modify the default placement policy based on your requirement or create a policy and apply it as the active policy.
Perform the following steps to create and apply an ILM policy:
  1. Go to Files > Information Lifecycle page in the IBM Storage Scale GUI. The Information Lifecycle page appears.
  2. Select Policy Run Settings.
  3. In the Nodes that run policies field, select the criterion for which the node or nodes to be selected.
    You can select the following values:
    • Master nodes
    • Node class
    • Individual nodes
  4. If you select Node Class or Individual Nodes as the criterion, you need to specify the node classes and nodes.
  5. In the Local work directory field, specify the local directory to be selected for temporary storage.
  6. In the Global work directory field, specify a global work directory for the temporary storage, if you want to use a global work directory instead of a local work directory.
  7. Specify the following performance tuning parameters:
    • Average number of CPU cores per node
    • Number of threads for policy scan
    • Number of threads for policy execution
  8. Click Save to save the changes that are made to the policy run settings.

Note: Assuming that the file system is not created through GUI. Hence, this procedure explains the steps to create a policy and make it as the active policy for the file system. If the file system is created by using GUI, either modify the default placement policy based on your requirement or create a policy and apply it as the active policy.

  1. Click Policy Repository.
  2. Click the add symbol or select Create Policy from the Actions menu. The Create Policy window appears.
  3. In the Create Policy window, specify the policy name and file system for which the policy is applicable.
  4. Click Create to create the policy.
    The policy is created. Now, you need to add rules in the policy that manages the files in the system.
  5. Click Add Rule in the Policy Repository and define rules with the required rule types. The Add Rule option only supports to add placement, migration, file compression, encryption, exclusion, or deletion rules, or to define an external pool. To add list rules, the policy text must be modified by using the text editor.
    You can create multiple rules in a policy. You can drag the rules in the rules list to change the order in which the rules are applied in a policy.
  6. Optionally, you can use the text editor to edit policy text. Click Policy Text option that is available in the upper right corner of the GUI page to launch the text editor. The support for expressions are also more in the text editor. The list rules are supported only on the text editor. After editing the policy details, click Apply Changes.
  7. Select the policy from the Policy Repository and then select Apply as Active Policy option that is available in the Actions menu. You can also change the active policy of the file system.
    Note: The GUI does not support scheduling of policy runs. Not all tuning options are available in the Policy Run Settings. Some rule types and complex expressions are also not supported. Therefore, you need to use the mmapplypolicy command to support specific ILM related actions.