The overall steps for how Encryption at Rest is enabled and used in QoreStor are described below.
- Enabling encryption.
Encryption is disabled by default on QoreStor. An administrator can enable encryption by using the GUI or CLI.
Encryption is set at the storage group level.
- Setting a passphrase and setting the mode.
When defining encryption for a storage group, a passphrase is set. This passphrase is used to encrypt the content encryption keys, which adds a second layer of security to the key management. At this time, the mode is also set. The default key management mode is “internal” mode, in which key rotation happens periodically as specified by the set key rotation period.
- Encryption process.
After encryption is enabled, the data in the storage group that gets backed up is encrypted and is kept encrypted until it is expired and cleaned by the system cleaner. Note that the encryption process is irreversible.
- Encryption of pre-existing data.
Any pre-existing data will also be encrypted using the currently set mode of key management. This encryption occurs as part of the system cleaner process. Encryption is scheduled as the last action item in the cleaner workflow. You must launch the cleaner manually using the maintenance command to reclaim space. It then encrypts all pre-existing unencrypted data. The cleaner can also be scheduled as per the existing pre-defined cleaner schedule.
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NOTE: The cleaner can take some time to start the encryption process if the system is nearing full system capacity. Encryption starts only after the cleaner processes data slated for cleaning and the related logs. This ensures that space reclamation is prioritized when free space is low and also ensures that data stores are not redundantly encrypted. |
Refer to theQoreStor Command Line Interface Reference Guide for information about the CLI commands used for encryption.
Using the QoreStor CLI, you can configure email notifications that are sent when a QoreStor Alert occurs. The email alert service is disabled by default, and must be properly configured before the service can be enabled.
To begin using email alerts, peform the actions below :
- Configure the email alerts service using the command email_alerts --configure.
- To configure email alerts, you will need to have:
- The SMTP Relay FQDN or IP address
- The sender's name
- A list of email recipients' email addresses.
- [Optional] a list of email addresses to be CC'ed
- Optional] a list of email addresses to be BCC'ed
- Enable the email alerts service using the command email_alerts --enable.
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NOTE: Refer to the QoreStor Command Line Reference Guide for more information on using the CLI. |
In QoreStor, data is stored in containers, which are stored in storage groups. Some containers function like a shared file system. These types of containers can be assigned a specific connection type, for example, NFS/CIFS or RDA (including both OST and RDS clients). These containers are then accessed via NFS, CIFS, and RDA protocols.
In QoreStor you can manage your storage groups and data containers, including viewing storage groups and containers, creating new storage groups and containers, modifying or deleting them, moving data into containers, and viewing current statistics. Management for containers can be done either through the GUI or the command line.
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NOTE: If only the DefaultGroup storage group exists on your system, all containers you create are automatically added to that group. You can create custom storage groups, and then when you create a container, you can specify that it be added to the custom storage group. For more information about storage groups, see the topic, “Managing Storage Groups.” |
You can easily view a list of containers in your QoreStor instance on the Storage Containers page, or by using the container command in the QoreStor CLI.
Viewing containers in the GUI
- In the navigation menu, click Containers. The Containers page is displayed.
- You can view the following columns of information about the containers.
- Container—The name of the container.
- Path —The path for the container.
- Marker —The marker type that supports your Data Management Application (DMA).
- Connection — The connection type/access protocol for the container:
- Cloud Tiering Policy— The status of whether the container is connected to a cloud container. If a cloud container link is not configured, Enable Cloud Tiering Policy will be displayed.
- Archive Tiering Policy— The status of whether the container is connected to a archive tier. If a archive tier link is not configured, Enable Archive Tiering Policy will be displayed.
- Ellipsis icon
— Provides additional options as listed below:
- Details
- Enable Cloud Tiering Policy
- Enable Archive Tiering Policy
- Edit
- Delete
Viewing containers via the CLI
To view the list of containers, follow these steps.
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- Access the QoreStor CLI. Refer to Using the QoreStor command line for more information.
- To view the containers on this QoreStor instance, use the command
container --show [--name <name>] [--verbose]
Refer to the QoreStor Command Line Reference Guide for more information.
