Managing storage groups
To organize your data, you can easily create storage groups and create containers within those storage groups on your QoreStor system. A storage group allows you to create separate storage policies for different data groups and the different capacities utilized on a single QoreStor. You can also create and organize storage groups for the different organizations in your enterprise, such as Engineering, Sales, Finance, and so on.
After initialization, QoreStor contains a single default storage group, named DefaultGroup.
Refer to these important notes about storage groups.
- Only administrator users can create storage groups.
- Data/containers cannot be moved between storage groups.
- Deduplication is defined at the storage group level and is not global to the appliance.
- Encryption is defined separately for each storage group.
- Compression is defined separately for each storage group.
- The system cleaner cannot be run on a single storage group; only at the system level.
- Before you can delete a storage group, you must delete all containers contained in that storage group.
- A filesystem scan can be run on a single storage group.
To view the Storage Groups page, on the left navigation menu, click Storage > Storage Groups in the QoreStor navigation pane.
Viewing storage group information
In the QoreStor GUI you can easily view all of your storage groups on the Storage Groups page.
To view storage groups, complete the following steps.
- In the navigation menu, click Local Storage to expand the menu, then click Storage Groups.
- On the Storage Groups page you can view the following columns of information about your storage groups.
- Name—Displays the name of the Storage Group.
- Encryption—Displays whether Encryption is turned On or Off.
- Compression—Displays the compression type as either Fast or Best.
- Containers—Displays the number of containers in this storage group. You can click this number, which links to the Containers page for the storage group.
- In the list of storage groups, find the storage group for which you want to view statistics, and then click the
(ellipsis icon) in the upper-right corner of the information pane.
- Click Details. A page for the selected storage group is displayed, showing the following:
- Summary— Provides summary data for the storage group, including:
- Name
- Compression Mode
- Number of Containers
- Encryption status
- Storage group metadata
- Record Cleaner—
- Throughput—Displays the number of read data in Mebibytes/per second (MiB/s) based on time (in minutes), and the number of write data in MiB/s based on time (in minutes)
- Statistics—Lists the following statistics for the storage group.
- Cleaner Status
- Total Inodes
- Current Files
- Current Bytes
- Decrypted Bytes
- Post Compression Bytes
- Post Dedupe Bytes
- Post Encryption Bytes
- Compression Savings
- Dedupe Savings
- Total Savings
- Processed Cleaner—
- Log Cleaner—
- Summary— Provides summary data for the storage group, including:
Adding a storage group
You can add a storage group to QoreStor through either the QoreStor GUI or the command line interface. In both cases, when creating a storage group you define the name and compression level.
Adding a storage group through the GUI
To add a storage group, complete the following steps.
- In the navigation menu, click Local Storage to expand the menu, then click Storage Groups.
- Click Add Storage Group. The Add a Storage Group pane is displayed.
- In the Name field, enter a name for the storage group.
- For Storage Optimization, select a Compression Type from the drop-down list:
- Fast — Results in shorter backup time, but with less space savings.
- Best — Provides the highest space savings, but with a longer backup time.
- To apply encryption, select Encryption and enter the following:
- Passphrase — the passphrase is user-defined and is used to generate a passphrase key that encrypts the file in which the content encryption keys are kept. The passphrase is a human readable key, which can be up to 255 bytes in length. It is mandatory to define a passphrase to enable encryption.
NOTE: It is mandatory to define a passphrase to enable encryption. If the passphrase is compromised or lost, the administrator should change it immediately so that the content encryption keys do not become vulnerable.
- Confirm Passphrase — re-enter the passphrase used above.
- Encryption Mode — Select either static or internal.
- static - A global mode of key management in which a fixed key is used to encrypt all data.
- internal - A mode of key lifecycle management in which the keys are periodically generated and rotated. The minimum key rotation period before the content encryption key can be rotated and a new key is generated is 7 days. This rotation period is user-configurable and can be specified in days.
NOTE: Refer to Configuring and Using Encryption at Rest for more information about encryption.
NOTE: Due to export regulations, the encryption at rest feature is not available in certain markets, and, therefore, may not be available in your locale. For more information about recommended guidelines for encryption, see Understanding Encryption at Rest
NOTE: After encryption is enabled, all of the data that is backed up is encrypted and is kept encrypted until it is expired and cleaned by the system cleaner. Note that encryption is an irreversible process.
- Passphrase — the passphrase is user-defined and is used to generate a passphrase key that encrypts the file in which the content encryption keys are kept. The passphrase is a human readable key, which can be up to 255 bytes in length. It is mandatory to define a passphrase to enable encryption.
- Click Add
Adding a storage group through the command line
To add a storage group, complete the following steps.
- (missing or bad snippet)
- Add a new storage group using the command
storage_group --add --name <name> [--compression_mode <fast|best>]
Refer to the QoreStor Command LIne Reference Guide for more information
- To apply encryption to the data in this storage group, use the command:
storage_group --encryption --name <name> [--set <ON | OFF>] [--mode <static|internal> <--interval <7 days to 70 years>]
For more information, refer to the Storage Group commands section of the QoreStor Command Line Reference Guide.
NOTE: Due to export regulations, the encryption at rest feature is not available in certain markets, and, therefore, may not be available in your locale. For more information about recommended guidelines for encryption, see Understanding Encryption at Rest
NOTE: It is mandatory to define a passphrase to enable encryption. If the passphrase is compromised or lost, the administrator should change it immediately so that the content encryption keys do not become vulnerable.
NOTE: After encryption is enabled, all of the data that is backed up is encrypted and is kept encrypted until it is expired and cleaned by the system cleaner. Note that encryption is an irreversible process.
Adding a Cloud storage group
You can add a cloud tier to QoreStor through either the QoreStor GUI or the command line interface. For more information on Cloud Storage Groups and cloud replication, refer to the topics below: