cluStore Frequently Asked Questions
General
In 2001, the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) gave the following definitions to storage virtualization:
- The act of abstracting, hiding, or isolating the internal functions of a storage (sub)system or service from applications, host computers, or general network resources, for the purpose of enabling application and network-independent management of storage or data.
- The application of virtualization to storage services or devices for the purpose of aggregating functions or devices, hiding complexity, or adding new capabilities to lower level storage resources.
cluStore brings affordable storage virtualization to the desktop. It lets you consolidate your storage resources by combining multiple volumes. cluStore solves many common IT challenges: data can be unified and accessed through a single volume; storage capacity can be expanded dynamically; runtime policies ensure data gets stored on the optimal volume based on file type, available space, performance, usage, etc.
cluStore is a storage virtualization software that combines multiple physical storage devices under a single namespace (a volume name on Mac and a drive letter on Windows). When browsing the pool, information from all storage resources is merged. Folder structures remain intact so all information can be found easily. Content from different drives, but stored using identical structures, will be presented to the user as if all files were stored in a common location. This technology greatly simplifies the management of complex storage resources by allowing content to be moved from one physical storage device to another without affecting users.
cluStore appeals to anyone looking to reduce the number of volumes they must manage. cluStore enables easy and transparent data movement between physical volumes without affecting users.
cluStore creates a thin virtual layer on top of your physical drives in order to help you:
- consolidate storage resources
- increase storage capacity with virtually no downtime
- optimize storage performance utilization
- transparently transfer data from one storage device to another
- repurpose storage resources by flushing content back into the remaining pool
- better match the type of data with your available storage devices
- reduce storage maintenance costs
- eliminate the risks traditionally associated with “very large” file systems
- better manage removable devices
- overcome 2TB limitations
DFS helps administrators to group shared folders located on different servers and present them to users as a virtual tree of folders known as a namespace. The root of the volume therefore contains folders that represent the individual storage devices. Users do not benefit from a transparent access to a common pool. They are still exposed to the complexity of the underlying storage infrastructure and must decide where to store information.
In contrast, when cluStore mounts the volume pool it is seen by users as a local drive (a volume name on Mac and a drive letter on Windows) that contains the merged folder structures of all comprising drives. When the user creates a file on the pool, he/she only chooses the folder on the pool drive, but cluStore smart write policies decide on which of the hidden pool members the file is actually saved.
Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Please refer to the Minimum System Requirements for specific OS builds.
cluStore is fully transparent to the way the file system interacts with the operating system and doesn't alter any of the security settings the file system has had before adding it to the pool.
No it doesn’t. Your drives must be formatted BEFORE cluStore can manage them.
Yes, but only with the cluStore version that requires an activation key.
No. The performance of the individual drives doesn’t change.
Virtually none. cluStore is a very thin layer that simply sparses the file systems. Performance degradation might be more noticeable when using “match” policies that require dynamic analysis and comparison of the multiple pool members.
Yes.
All information contained on that volume will no longer be visible in the pool. However, it remains fully available on the drive.
No, data is actually stored on the pool members, so by deleting the pool you simply disband it and can access data from each individual member.
Yes, but the main reason for doing this would be to pre-load cluStore in order to prepare for future storage expansion.
No. Any given file must reside entirely on a single drive. Users will get an error message saying the drive is full when trying to save a file that doesn’t fit on the target drive, even though there might be space left on other drives.However, you can adjust the soft limit to ensure the largest file will fit. For example, on a 1TB drive, a 70% soft limit will trigger cluStore to start filling a new pool member when it reaches 70% capacity. This mean the last file before the switch can still be 300GB in size before the member runs out of space.
No, there’s no need to uninstall cluStore for SAN to upgrade it to the full featured edition of cluStore. You simply have to activate it with the product key you will receive upon purchasing a cluStore license.
No, the pool and its settings are preserved after you upgrade cluStore for SAN to the paid version of cluStore.
The soft limit defines how full a drive is allowed to get before it is considered full. cluStore SmartWrite™ policies will avoid writing to a drive if it has reached its soft limit (unless no other volume is available). Corruption, and or performance degradation can result when a drive gets too full. It is always recommended to never exceed 80%-90% of a drive capacity.
SmartWrite™ policies are used to tell cluStore where to write data in the pool. The policy you chose depends on your workflow and how you want to manage your storage resources.
The following policies are available:
Fill up:
- When a pool member is full, data goes to the next one. Pool members are assigned a priority number.
- Great for expanding storage capacity. Just keep adding new volumes in the pool, as needed. It just takes a few seconds to increase storage capacity.
- Can be used to optimize SAN performances: Each workstation creates its own pool from a common set of drives. By assigning different drive priorities, each user effectively ends up writing to its own “RAID”. Yet, everyone can see and access all the content as if it was stored on one and the same drive.
Harmonize:
- Stores data on whichever pool member the current folder already exists.
- Great with removable devices. Keep data organized in the most natural way, based on the drive’s existing content.
- Can be used to optimize SAN performances: Project folders can be created on different drives. Everyone works off the same pool, but different projects are assigned to different physical drives.
File-type:
- Stores data on whichever pool member the current filetype is assigned. Project data can be stored on secure RAID6, while video files can be stored on faster RAID0 drives.
- Great to better match the type of storage with value of data.
- Great to optimize backup policies based on value of data.
Last accessed:
- When your primary drive capacity exceeds the set limit, oldest data gets moved (a scheduled operation) to a near-line volume until limit has been met again. Users continues to see all files on the pool, but older files now come from the near line volume. A “Near line” volume is any volume defined as such in the pool. This can be a remote NAS or highly compressed volume.
- Great when working with faster and more expensive storage technologies such as fast RAIDs and solid state drives
As cluStore lets you add to the pool volumes that already contain data, it is possible ambiguity of file objects to occur i.e. files/folders with one and the same name to exist in exactly the same location on two or more member volumes. Although no data is lost after adding a volume to the pool, the operating system does not allow two or more files/folders with exactly the same name to coexist in the same location. To allow you to control how these files/folders are displayed and treated, cluStore provides you with ambiguous files display and handling options.
Yes, LAN clients accessing a pool shared by a Windows Server 2003/2008/2008 R2 computer can use Access Based Enumeration (ABE) feature as they would on any other shared volume. You can share a pool to LAN clients only with the paid version of cluStore. Note that users with administrative rights will see the whole content of the pool.
Storage and Hardware
In 2001, the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) gave the following definitions to storage virtualization:
- The act of abstracting, hiding, or isolating the internal functions of a storage (sub)system or service from applications, host computers, or general network resources, for the purpose of enabling application and network-independent management of storage or data.
- The application of virtualization to storage services or devices for the purpose of aggregating functions or devices, hiding complexity, or adding new capabilities to lower level storage resources.
cluStore brings affordable storage virtualization to the desktop. It lets you consolidate your storage resources by combining multiple volumes. cluStore solves many common IT challenges: data can be unified and accessed through a single volume; storage capacity can be expanded dynamically; runtime policies ensure data gets stored on the optimal volume based on file type, available space, performance, usage, etc.
cluStore is a storage virtualization software that combines multiple physical storage devices under a single namespace (a volume name on Mac and a drive letter on Windows). When browsing the pool, information from all storage resources is merged. Folder structures remain intact so all information can be found easily. Content from different drives, but stored using identical structures, will be presented to the user as if all files were stored in a common location. This technology greatly simplifies the management of complex storage resources by allowing content to be moved from one physical storage device to another without affecting users.
cluStore appeals to anyone looking to reduce the number of volumes they must manage. cluStore enables easy and transparent data movement between physical volumes without affecting users.
cluStore creates a thin virtual layer on top of your physical drives in order to help you:
- consolidate storage resources
- increase storage capacity with virtually no downtime
- optimize storage performance utilization
- transparently transfer data from one storage device to another
- repurpose storage resources by flushing content back into the remaining pool
- better match the type of data with your available storage devices
- reduce storage maintenance costs
- eliminate the risks traditionally associated with “very large” file systems
- better manage removable devices
- overcome 2TB limitations
DFS helps administrators to group shared folders located on different servers and present them to users as a virtual tree of folders known as a namespace. The root of the volume therefore contains folders that represent the individual storage devices. Users do not benefit from a transparent access to a common pool. They are still exposed to the complexity of the underlying storage infrastructure and must decide where to store information.
In contrast, when cluStore mounts the volume pool it is seen by users as a local drive (a volume name on Mac and a drive letter on Windows) that contains the merged folder structures of all comprising drives. When the user creates a file on the pool, he/she only chooses the folder on the pool drive, but cluStore smart write policies decide on which of the hidden pool members the file is actually saved.
Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Please refer to the Minimum System Requirements for specific OS builds.
cluStore is fully transparent to the way the file system interacts with the operating system and doesn't alter any of the security settings the file system has had before adding it to the pool.
No it doesn’t. Your drives must be formatted BEFORE cluStore can manage them.
Yes, but only with the cluStore version that requires an activation key.
No. The performance of the individual drives doesn’t change.
Virtually none. cluStore is a very thin layer that simply sparses the file systems. Performance degradation might be more noticeable when using “match” policies that require dynamic analysis and comparison of the multiple pool members.
Yes.
All information contained on that volume will no longer be visible in the pool. However, it remains fully available on the drive.
No, data is actually stored on the pool members, so by deleting the pool you simply disband it and can access data from each individual member.
Yes, but the main reason for doing this would be to pre-load cluStore in order to prepare for future storage expansion.
No. Any given file must reside entirely on a single drive. Users will get an error message saying the drive is full when trying to save a file that doesn’t fit on the target drive, even though there might be space left on other drives.However, you can adjust the soft limit to ensure the largest file will fit. For example, on a 1TB drive, a 70% soft limit will trigger cluStore to start filling a new pool member when it reaches 70% capacity. This mean the last file before the switch can still be 300GB in size before the member runs out of space.
No, there’s no need to uninstall cluStore for SAN to upgrade it to the full featured edition of cluStore. You simply have to activate it with the product key you will receive upon purchasing a cluStore license.
No, the pool and its settings are preserved after you upgrade cluStore for SAN to the paid version of cluStore.
The soft limit defines how full a drive is allowed to get before it is considered full. cluStore SmartWrite™ policies will avoid writing to a drive if it has reached its soft limit (unless no other volume is available). Corruption, and or performance degradation can result when a drive gets too full. It is always recommended to never exceed 80%-90% of a drive capacity.
SmartWrite™ policies are used to tell cluStore where to write data in the pool. The policy you chose depends on your workflow and how you want to manage your storage resources.
The following policies are available:
Fill up:
- When a pool member is full, data goes to the next one. Pool members are assigned a priority number.
- Great for expanding storage capacity. Just keep adding new volumes in the pool, as needed. It just takes a few seconds to increase storage capacity.
- Can be used to optimize SAN performances: Each workstation creates its own pool from a common set of drives. By assigning different drive priorities, each user effectively ends up writing to its own “RAID”. Yet, everyone can see and access all the content as if it was stored on one and the same drive.
Harmonize:
- Stores data on whichever pool member the current folder already exists.
- Great with removable devices. Keep data organized in the most natural way, based on the drive’s existing content.
- Can be used to optimize SAN performances: Project folders can be created on different drives. Everyone works off the same pool, but different projects are assigned to different physical drives.
File-type:
- Stores data on whichever pool member the current filetype is assigned. Project data can be stored on secure RAID6, while video files can be stored on faster RAID0 drives.
- Great to better match the type of storage with value of data.
- Great to optimize backup policies based on value of data.
Last accessed:
- When your primary drive capacity exceeds the set limit, oldest data gets moved (a scheduled operation) to a near-line volume until limit has been met again. Users continues to see all files on the pool, but older files now come from the near line volume. A “Near line” volume is any volume defined as such in the pool. This can be a remote NAS or highly compressed volume.
- Great when working with faster and more expensive storage technologies such as fast RAIDs and solid state drives
As cluStore lets you add to the pool volumes that already contain data, it is possible ambiguity of file objects to occur i.e. files/folders with one and the same name to exist in exactly the same location on two or more member volumes. Although no data is lost after adding a volume to the pool, the operating system does not allow two or more files/folders with exactly the same name to coexist in the same location. To allow you to control how these files/folders are displayed and treated, cluStore provides you with ambiguous files display and handling options.
Yes, LAN clients accessing a pool shared by a Windows Server 2003/2008/2008 R2 computer can use Access Based Enumeration (ABE) feature as they would on any other shared volume. You can share a pool to LAN clients only with the paid version of cluStore. Note that users with administrative rights will see the whole content of the pool.
Sales & Support
In 2001, the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) gave the following definitions to storage virtualization:
- The act of abstracting, hiding, or isolating the internal functions of a storage (sub)system or service from applications, host computers, or general network resources, for the purpose of enabling application and network-independent management of storage or data.
- The application of virtualization to storage services or devices for the purpose of aggregating functions or devices, hiding complexity, or adding new capabilities to lower level storage resources.
cluStore brings affordable storage virtualization to the desktop. It lets you consolidate your storage resources by combining multiple volumes. cluStore solves many common IT challenges: data can be unified and accessed through a single volume; storage capacity can be expanded dynamically; runtime policies ensure data gets stored on the optimal volume based on file type, available space, performance, usage, etc.
cluStore is a storage virtualization software that combines multiple physical storage devices under a single namespace (a volume name on Mac and a drive letter on Windows). When browsing the pool, information from all storage resources is merged. Folder structures remain intact so all information can be found easily. Content from different drives, but stored using identical structures, will be presented to the user as if all files were stored in a common location. This technology greatly simplifies the management of complex storage resources by allowing content to be moved from one physical storage device to another without affecting users.
cluStore appeals to anyone looking to reduce the number of volumes they must manage. cluStore enables easy and transparent data movement between physical volumes without affecting users.
cluStore creates a thin virtual layer on top of your physical drives in order to help you:
- consolidate storage resources
- increase storage capacity with virtually no downtime
- optimize storage performance utilization
- transparently transfer data from one storage device to another
- repurpose storage resources by flushing content back into the remaining pool
- better match the type of data with your available storage devices
- reduce storage maintenance costs
- eliminate the risks traditionally associated with “very large” file systems
- better manage removable devices
- overcome 2TB limitations
DFS helps administrators to group shared folders located on different servers and present them to users as a virtual tree of folders known as a namespace. The root of the volume therefore contains folders that represent the individual storage devices. Users do not benefit from a transparent access to a common pool. They are still exposed to the complexity of the underlying storage infrastructure and must decide where to store information.
In contrast, when cluStore mounts the volume pool it is seen by users as a local drive (a volume name on Mac and a drive letter on Windows) that contains the merged folder structures of all comprising drives. When the user creates a file on the pool, he/she only chooses the folder on the pool drive, but cluStore smart write policies decide on which of the hidden pool members the file is actually saved.
Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Please refer to the Minimum System Requirements for specific OS builds.
cluStore is fully transparent to the way the file system interacts with the operating system and doesn't alter any of the security settings the file system has had before adding it to the pool.
No it doesn’t. Your drives must be formatted BEFORE cluStore can manage them.
Yes, but only with the cluStore version that requires an activation key.
No. The performance of the individual drives doesn’t change.
Virtually none. cluStore is a very thin layer that simply sparses the file systems. Performance degradation might be more noticeable when using “match” policies that require dynamic analysis and comparison of the multiple pool members.
Yes.
All information contained on that volume will no longer be visible in the pool. However, it remains fully available on the drive.
No, data is actually stored on the pool members, so by deleting the pool you simply disband it and can access data from each individual member.
Yes, but the main reason for doing this would be to pre-load cluStore in order to prepare for future storage expansion.
No. Any given file must reside entirely on a single drive. Users will get an error message saying the drive is full when trying to save a file that doesn’t fit on the target drive, even though there might be space left on other drives.However, you can adjust the soft limit to ensure the largest file will fit. For example, on a 1TB drive, a 70% soft limit will trigger cluStore to start filling a new pool member when it reaches 70% capacity. This mean the last file before the switch can still be 300GB in size before the member runs out of space.
No, there’s no need to uninstall cluStore for SAN to upgrade it to the full featured edition of cluStore. You simply have to activate it with the product key you will receive upon purchasing a cluStore license.
No, the pool and its settings are preserved after you upgrade cluStore for SAN to the paid version of cluStore.
The soft limit defines how full a drive is allowed to get before it is considered full. cluStore SmartWrite™ policies will avoid writing to a drive if it has reached its soft limit (unless no other volume is available). Corruption, and or performance degradation can result when a drive gets too full. It is always recommended to never exceed 80%-90% of a drive capacity.
SmartWrite™ policies are used to tell cluStore where to write data in the pool. The policy you chose depends on your workflow and how you want to manage your storage resources.
The following policies are available:
Fill up:
- When a pool member is full, data goes to the next one. Pool members are assigned a priority number.
- Great for expanding storage capacity. Just keep adding new volumes in the pool, as needed. It just takes a few seconds to increase storage capacity.
- Can be used to optimize SAN performances: Each workstation creates its own pool from a common set of drives. By assigning different drive priorities, each user effectively ends up writing to its own “RAID”. Yet, everyone can see and access all the content as if it was stored on one and the same drive.
Harmonize:
- Stores data on whichever pool member the current folder already exists.
- Great with removable devices. Keep data organized in the most natural way, based on the drive’s existing content.
- Can be used to optimize SAN performances: Project folders can be created on different drives. Everyone works off the same pool, but different projects are assigned to different physical drives.
File-type:
- Stores data on whichever pool member the current filetype is assigned. Project data can be stored on secure RAID6, while video files can be stored on faster RAID0 drives.
- Great to better match the type of storage with value of data.
- Great to optimize backup policies based on value of data.
Last accessed:
- When your primary drive capacity exceeds the set limit, oldest data gets moved (a scheduled operation) to a near-line volume until limit has been met again. Users continues to see all files on the pool, but older files now come from the near line volume. A “Near line” volume is any volume defined as such in the pool. This can be a remote NAS or highly compressed volume.
- Great when working with faster and more expensive storage technologies such as fast RAIDs and solid state drives
As cluStore lets you add to the pool volumes that already contain data, it is possible ambiguity of file objects to occur i.e. files/folders with one and the same name to exist in exactly the same location on two or more member volumes. Although no data is lost after adding a volume to the pool, the operating system does not allow two or more files/folders with exactly the same name to coexist in the same location. To allow you to control how these files/folders are displayed and treated, cluStore provides you with ambiguous files display and handling options.
Yes, LAN clients accessing a pool shared by a Windows Server 2003/2008/2008 R2 computer can use Access Based Enumeration (ABE) feature as they would on any other shared volume. You can share a pool to LAN clients only with the paid version of cluStore. Note that users with administrative rights will see the whole content of the pool.
