Data Storage Policy

Describes the use of data storage policy rules.

The storage policy simplifies the lifecycle management of data in the volume including automated migration of files to low-cost storage alternatives. The policy can contain rules for files that have a well-defined lifecycle or for files you want to switch to different storage tiers during their lifecycle.

You can specify the rules, at the volume level, to selectively identify files to offload (such as file size, file owner, and file modification time), the schedule for offloading the data (for example, 2 months after file modification), and the settings for storing (such as the location and credentials for the tier) and recalling the offloaded data. You can configure one rule per volume using the CLI or REST API. You can also associate a schedule to automatically offload data at scheduled intervals based on the associated rules.

Data offload is driven by rules, which are configured per volume. Data offload rule can be based on size of file, owner of the file, and/or file modification timestamp. You can apply one rule per volume.

When a rule is associated with a volume, the rule is first applied on the files in the tiering-enabled volume. When applied on the files in the tiering-enabled volume, the offload is triggered for all files in the snapshot chain as well when the criteria in the rule is met. If the file does not exist in the tiering-enabled volume, rule is applied on the latest state of the file in the snapshot chain. If the file exists in the tiering-enabled volume but has no latest state or if the file was deleted in the tiering-enabled volume, offload does not happen.