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BridgeHead Software HT FileStore

From STORAGE Magazine Vol 6, Issue 9 - December 2006

The days are long gone when network administrators could simply throw more hardware at their storage-related problems. It is far more cost effective to manage existing resources with greater efficiency and HT FileStore offers a unique data archiving solution.

The days are long gone when network administrators could simply throw more hardware at their storage-related problems. It is far more cost effective to manage existing resources with greater efficiency and HT FileStore offers a unique data archiving solution.

Part of BridgeHead Software's protected data lifecycle software suite, HT FileStore uses policies that identify unused data and migrate it to lower-cost storage media. It stands out from the crowd, as it can use a single policy simultaneously to take multiple copies of data and position each copy on different types of media. It is designed to archive any data that can be presented as a UNC share, but BridgeHead also offers other modules for handling email and database archiving.

At its foundation is the OMM (Open Media Management) module, which handles all physical storage devices. It maps these to the HTDR (HT Data Repository) module, essentially a virtual archiving engine. The HT FileStore component sits on top and manages the data-archiving policies. In all, four migration methods are available, as the software can archive and delete, archive and stub, archive and keep, or simply delete data that is no longer required.

HT FileStore uses an intuitive management console, with your first task being to declare your storage devices - anything from a NAS appliance or optical library, to a single tape drive or iSCSI target. For storage devices physically connected to other servers, a client utility is installed locally to allow HT FileStore to see them.
Repositories determine where data is to be archived and how many copies taken. You can define multiple repositories, where one could be used to migrate non-essential data to a tape drive, while another deals with business-critical files and copies them to four different locations, using a mixture of the four archiving methods. Policies containing multiple rules determine how data stored in the specified locations is handled. These make HT FileStore extremely flexible, as you can decide what archive method should be used, the file attributes to check, relative or absolute retention periods, along with any further actions.

You decide how many copies of a file you want simply by associating a predefined repository with the rule. Network storage can be analysed first, as you can use a rule set passively to report its findings or create an object that runs in model mode. To make either active, you simply change the rule to migrate data actively or change the object from model to action mode.

Extensive file management tools make light work of locating and restoring archived files. An archive folder can be added to Windows Explorer, where you can view those files you are permitted to see. Far better is the browser-based facility, which provides administrators with full access to all archived files and offers the tools to create restoration jobs. These can contain multiple file entries, the destination can be modified and, on completion, you can send an email to other users, advising that their files have been reinstated.

The search feature is very sophisticated, as it uses the Lucene information retrieval API, which actually allows you to search the contents of a file for keywords. It uses iFilters for each application and the more common ones for products such as Word, Excel and Adobe Acrobat are provided as standard.

HT FileStore offers a refreshing alternative to top-heavy archiving solutions that require their own proprietary disk arrays. This software solution can integrate with virtually any existing storage infrastructure, delivers unique archiving and file search capabilities, and is very simple to deploy and manage. ST

Product: HT FileStore
Supplier: BridgeHead Software
Tel: 01372 221950
Web: www.bridgeheadsoftware.com
Price: 5TB-7.5TB - £3.90 per GB