Technical Note: XTN2201
Overview
One method of use for the Archive Series software may be generating LTO tapes that will be sent to a third party and will never return. In this case it can be beneficial to purge file and folder metadata from the archive, rather than allowing the cache drive to fill with metadata that will never be accessed again. This technical note explains to how to perform this action.
Introduction:
The default behaviour of the system when a file is deleted, is to write a delete record to the LTO cartridge that the deleted file/folder was written to. This is obviously undesirable in this scenario, as the files should not be deleted from the LTO cartridge prior to being sent to the third party. To work around this, there is an advance file group rule that should be set to allow the files/folders to be purged from the XenData archive without being deleted from the LTO cartridge.
Process:
The overall process to for this workflow is as follows.
At the point that you want to send the cartridge off, export it using the ‘Export’ option in the Tiered Management Console:
Once it has been Exported you should Forget it using the ‘Forget this cartridge’ option in the Tiered Management Console:
For the file group that covers the files to be purged, enable the Advance File Group option ‘Do not preserve history for deleted files’, see image below:
With this option ticked, the files can be deleted. If you have a file list, one method would be to create a batch file putting a ‘del’ in front of each and running it. If you are using Explorer to perform the delete, ensure that you hold the SHIFT key down while you press ‘DELETE’, as this removes the file completely rather than potentially moving them to the Recycle Bin.
Applicable Operating Systems
- Windows Server 2008 R2
- Windows Server 2012 R2
- Windows Server 2016
- Windows Server 2019
- Windows Server 2022
Applicable XenData Software
This technical note is applicable to:
- Version 7 – Server Editions of Archive Series software including the Cloud File Gateway
PBS
XenData’s fully supported clustered server meets all the requirements for our disaster recovery site. We have been very pleased with the SX-525 product and XenData’s technical team who have provided system design and integration services above and beyond expectations.
James Cutright, Director, Project Management
PBS
Crew Cuts
I did my research, and the best archive solution was from XenData which manages a robotic LTO library behind the scenes. This helps to minimize our total costs and allows us to focus on producing great content for our customers.
Chris Keenan, CTO
Crew Cuts
Ideal Systems Singapore
We partnered with XenData for the GlobeCast Broadcast facility rollout, because it offers one of the most cost effective, robust digital video archives on the market and a great migration alternative to some of the more expensive digital video archive vendor offerings.
Fintan Mc Kiernan, CEO
Ideal Systems Singapore
North Shore Automation
Having completed over 25 joint installations of XenData archive systems, we have found everyone on the XenData team to be both highly professional and super responsive and their technology to be rock solid. They are truly a pleasure to work with.
Bryson Jones, Founder
North Shore Automation
This is Just a Test
With over 558 TB of content and growing, conventional backup solutions just don’t work for us. Our XenData system allows us to maintain an ongoing mirrored copy of our shared storage while creating replica LTO copies for offsite storage.
Nathan Flom
This is Just a Test
Excelencia
We have now installed over 170 XenData archive systems across Mexico and they have proven to be very reliable. In addition, the technical support from XenData has been outstanding.
Jorge Castaneda, President
Excelencia en Comunicaciones y Tecnología