archiving with enterprise vault 9 and dell dx object...
TRANSCRIPT
s
Archiving with Enterprise Vault 9
and Dell DX Object Storage Symantec Technical Whitepaper
Contents
ENTERPRISE VAULT 9 ‐ OVERVIEW .................................................................................... 3
DELL DX OBJECT STORAGE PLATFORM ‐ OVERVIEW ........................................................... 4
HOW ENTERPRISE VAULT 9 AND DX OBJECT STORAGE WORK TOGETHER .......................... 5
SETTING UP THE DX OBJECT STORAGE PLATFORM AS AN ENTERPRISE VAULT PARTITION ........................... 5
ADDITIONAL DETAILS OF ENTERPRISE VAULT 9 AND THE DX OBJECT STORAGE PLATFORM ...................... 15
WORM Compliance ........................................................................................................... 15
Mixing Worm & non‐Worm archives in a Single DX Object Storage Platform Cluster ...... 15
Built‐in Safety Features when Deleting Data .................................................................... 15
Managing Retention Periods & Life Cycles ....................................................................... 15
Managing Replicas ........................................................................................................... 16
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 16
White Paper:
Archiving with Enterprise Vault 9 and Dell DX Object Storage
Enterprise Vault 9 - Overview Enterprise Vault, the industry leader in integrated content archiving, enables users to store, manage, and discover unstructured
information across the organization. As the industry’s most widely‐deployed archiving solution, Enterprise Vault helps
customers deduplicate information at the source to reduce costs, delete information confidently and discover information
efficiently. Enterprise Vault stores, manages, and enables the discovery of corporate data from email systems, file server
environments, instant messaging platforms, and collaboration and content management systems. Enterprise Vault delivers the
following key business benefits:
Eliminates .PST headaches. PST files (also known as personal folders or Outlook data files within Outlook)
were not designed to handle the rigorous demands of today's large‐scale corporate email requirements.
However, many companies commonly move email from Exchange to PST files for retention. Ultimately,
these files create more problems than they solve. They are one of the main reasons why many
organizations eventually seek an enterprise archiving solution. Enterprise Vault software helps
organizations solve these issues by migrating PST files into a central archiving repository.
Archives for legal and compliance. Enterprise Vault can be configured to retain and expire email and
other electronically stored information according to policy, ensuring that it is kept for the appropriate
period of time required to meet regulatory or legal requirements.
Faster backup and improved disaster recovery. By reducing the online message store by 50% to 75%,
Enterprise Vault can shrink backup and recovery times and can help save money on storage and storage
management. More important, this archived data can be leveraged for greater value through search and
retrieval tools. End users benefit from the ability to initiate their own restores quickly, and IT groups
spend less time on administrative restore requests.
Automatic mailbox management. With Enterprise Vault's automatic mailbox management, organizations
can eliminate quotas and message size restrictions and give users a mailbox of virtually unlimited size.
Enterprise Vault also reduces the time spent dealing with mailbox housekeeping. Admin‐defined policies
automatically archive individual mailbox email and attachments out of Microsoft Exchange and into
online Enterprise Vault stores.
Storage optimization. Enterprise Vault blocks unwanted content and moves files to alternative storage
devices without affecting the end user, allowing organizations to free up space on primary storage
resources. User‐driven recovery of specific content helps reduce administration overhead.
Intelligent archiving. Because different types of content have different values (e.g., business, personal,
junk, and so on), companies are increasingly interested in controlling archive storage and operational
costs. Intelligent archiving is a methodology to shape the Enterprise Vault archive and store only
business‐valued content with context. This is accomplished through classification options using
automated classification, user‐driven classification, or third‐party (for example, records management)
approaches.
Dell DX Object Storage Platform - Overview The Dell DX Object Storage Platform is designed to intelligently access, store, protect and distribute fixed digital content. From
web publishing to archiving, the Dell DX Object Storage Platform offers a powerful combination of data and storage
management features through an elegant, self‐managing, peer‐scaling architecture. In addition, the DX Object Storage
Platform uses an easy interface that employs simple HTTP and Native API integration. It is supported by Enterprise Vault 9. This
versatile platform can serve as a foundational storage tier for unstructured data allowing multiple applications in different
solution areas to access, store and distribute digital content. Object‐based storage offers a solution for the Rapid growth of
unstructured data such as files, images and videos is bloating primary storage and complicating data management. The DX
Object Storage Platform delivers the following key benefits:
Simple architecture. Information is only valuable when it can be accessed, but keeping it readily
available can be cumbersome and expensive. With Dell DX Object Storage Platform, you can simplify data
management while easily expanding capacity. A flat‐address‐space design removes file‐system
complexity and the need to manage LUNs and RAID groups.
Metadata. Object‐based and metadata‐aware disk storage lets you identify and retrieve information
quickly, better leverage your data for decision‐making, automatically manage that data from creation
through deletion, and minimize your dependence on complex and sometimes unreliable tape storage. By
incorporating metadata into objects, you can apply preservation, retention and deletion policies, lower
management resources, and facilitate enhanced discovery.
Enhanced scalability. An extremely large number of available addresses means a common pool of
storage can support literally billions of objects. Massively expand your system, scaling in amounts as
small as 3TB up to multiple petabytes and billions of objects, without the complexity or limitations of a
traditional file system
Policy‐based management. The DX Object storage platform features automated, object‐level retention
and deletion based on metadata, eliminating the human errors, access and preservation problems that
increase risk and drive up costs.
Self‐healing. The DX Object storage platform continuously self‐manages the integrity of stored objects to
detect and repair errors and automatically reconfigures and regenerates objects without the need for IT
intervention.
Transparent upgrades. As storage needs evolve, you can easily add, replace or retire nodes without any
manual migration requirements.
Flexible & peer‐scaling. The architecture of the DX Object storage platform allows you to scale at your
own pace, ensuring a perfect balance between capacity and throughput
How Enterprise Vault 9 and DX Object Storage Work Together Dell and Symantec have worked together to integrate the DX Object Storage platform with Enterprise Vault 9 to help customers
optimize their storage. The Dell DX Object Storage Platform is ideal for Enterprise Vault or Archiving in general because it's
extremely scalable ‐ scaling up to multiple petabytes of data and/or billions of objects. It's extremely easy to add storage nodes
to the cluster ‐ they simply PXE boot and are automatically added to the pool of storage. As storage nodes are added, capacity
and performance of the cluster increases. This is ideal for archiving when one starts to consider how long data must be
retained, and how storage requirements will increase over time. In addition, the DX Object Storage Platform is a WORM
capable storage device; make the DX Object Based storage platform ideal for Enterprise Vault 9 customers. This section will
cover the technical aspects of Enterprise Vault 9 functionality with the DX Object Storage Platform:
Setting up the DX Object Storage Platform as an Enterprise Vault Partition When Symantec Enterprise Vault is deployed, The DX Object Storage Platform Connector/Streamer is installed by Enterprise
Vault 9.0 as part of its installation. There is no need to install additional software or license on the Enterprise Vault server to
use the DX Object Storage Platform as the archiving destination. This document outlines the steps to create a new DX Vault
Store and Vault Store Partition in Symantec Enterprise Vault 9.0. It also includes notes regarding important settings for utilizing
the DX Object Storage Platform.
To create a new DX Vault Store and Vault Storage Partition:
1. Open Enterprise Vault Administration Console ‐> [Site] ‐> Vault Storage Groups …
2. Right click the Vault Store Group to add a DX Vault Store, select New‐>Vault Store.
3. Review the information on Vault Store and Click the Next button.
4. Enter a name and description for the new Vault Store, then click the Next button
Note: The name may contain the letters A through Z, the numbers 0 through 9, and spaces. It does not allow the use of
any other characters. …
Not 5. Specify the name of an existing SQL Server, then click the Next button. For a clustered SQL server use the cluster name.
Note: Microsoft SQL Server Client Tools must be installed on the Enterprise Vault server to support hosting the database
on a named instance of SQL server.
6. Specify the Vault Store database and transaction log location on the SQL server. You can enter the UNC path directly or
use the Browse button to locate the folder.
7. Select the appropriate safety copy removal option, then click the Next button. There are four options to choose from:
After backup: This option postpones the deletion of the original data, “safety copy”, until the data copied to the
archive has been backed up.
After backup (immediate for Journaling): This option causes Enterprise Vault to delete the safety copy
immediately when journaling, but for other archive types it deletes the safety copy after the appropriate Vault
Store has been backed up.
Immediately after archive: Selecting this option removes original items immediately without waiting for the
archive copy to be backed up
Never: The production data is never deleted and replaced with a pointer, this allows the entire production
environment to be archived and indexed for legal e‐Discovery searches without impacting the production
environment.
Enterprise Vault will consider the creation of all required object replicas on the DX Storage Platform to meet the
requirement of a backup.
Notethi s option remo
8. Review the new Vault Store summary information; click the Next button to create the new Vault Store.
9. Once the vault store is created successfully, click the Next button to finish the Vault Store creation.
10. You will be prompted to create a new Vault Store Partition, click the Next button to start.
11. Enter a name and description for the new Vault Store Partition. You can use the default settings. Because you want to use
the Vault Store Partition, we will create the partition as Open. Click the Next button to continue.
Note: Each Vault Store will have one Open partition on the DX Object Storage Platform. If there is a need to assign
different attributes to data as it is being ingested, multiple Vault Stores can be used. For example, this would apply if the
archive for one set of users should maintain 4 replicas while the archive for a separate set of users should maintain only 2
replicas.
12. Select Dell DX Object Storage Platform from the Storage type drop down list. Click the Next button.
13. Highlight Primary DX Storage Nodes, and click the Modify button.
14. Enter name or IP addresses of the Primary DX Cluster Storage Nodes as a space separated list, and then click the OK
button.
Note: We recommended entering at least one IP address from each Storage Node. For consistency you can use the Node
IP address on each Storage Node.
You can obtain the DX Cluster Storage Node IP address by looking them up in the DX Storage Console.
15. Highlight Primary DX CR Publisher, and click the Modify button.
16. Enter name or IP address of the Primary DX Cluster CR (Content Router) Publishing service, and then click the OK button.
You can obtain the DX CR Publisher IP address from the DX Storage Console ‐>Content Router.
17. The number of Primary DX replicas can also be changed. The default value is 2. The minimum number of replicas set at
the DX Object Storage Platform takes precedence.
18. Click the Test button to verify all settings work properly, and the click the OK button.
19. Click the Next button. You will be prompted to specify whether or not data should be stored in Compliance mode. Click
the Next button to continue.
Note: When the Compliance mode is selected, objects are written to the DX storage platform with a life point that insures
it will be undeletable prior to the designated retention period.
20. Click the Run Test button to test the connectivity to the Enterprise Vault server(s) and SQL server. The connection rating
should be Good in most LANs. Click the Next button to continue.
The results of the connectivity test are interpreted as follows:
Good: Less than 1 ms and up to 1ms
Bad: Between 1ms and up to 10 ms
Very Bad: More than 10 ms
Failed: No response
Since ICMP traffic can be restricted or blocked in certain network environment, this could affect the connectivity test
results. However, it does not mean that the network is unsuitable. The results only indicate that the connectivity test
cannot operate correctly in this environment.
21. Select Not Enabled on the Partition Rollover screen. Unlike a Vault Store Partition on an NTFS volume, there is no need to
rollover a Vault Store Partition on the DX Object Storage Platform. The DX Object Storage Platform does not have the
volume size or object quantity limitation of a NTFS file system.
22. You can change the default partition scan interval if required. The default setting is to scan the partition every 60 minutes
for replication. Click the Next button to continue. Note: Every object written to the DX Object Storage Platform has a
value that dictates how many replicas are to be maintained. Once the DX Object Storage Platform has confirmed that all
the required replicas have been created, Enterprise Vault will flag the object as backed up.
23. Review Vault Store Partition information, and click the Finish button to create the new Partition.
24. Verify the Partition has been created successfully, and click the Close button to complete.
Additional Details of Enterprise Vault 9 and the DX Object Storage Platform When using Enterprise Vault and the DX Object Storage Platform together, consider the following:
WORM Compliance
Various industry regulations require data, such as health information and transaction records, to be archived reliably and
securely over a long period of time. The Dell DX Object Storage Platform can manage content lifecycle information
automatically and Enterprise Vault can specify that a file cannot be changed throughout its defined life and cannot be deleted
until the retention period has expired. This addresses regulatory mandates such as Securities and Exchange (SEC) Rule 17a‐4,
which is the most stringent regulatory requirement defined for data storage for the US Finance Industry.
Dell’s DX Object Based Storage platform has been designed to deliver the assurance that content can be stored safely over
extremely long periods of time. Therefore, WORM capability has been intentionally added to otherwise rewritable mutable
objects. The compliance feature is configured within the Enterprise Vault GUI under “Create a New Vault Partition”. This GUI
presents a “Compliance Mode” box which provides administrators with an option to enable “Compliance Mode”. (See step 19
above) When the “Compliance Mode” box is checked within the Vault Partition setting, the DX Object Storage Platform will
deny any request by the Enterprise Vault application to delete an object prior to expiration of the object’s lifepoint. A lifepoint
is a special metadata element (contained as part of the metadata elements stored along with objects in the DX Object Storage
Platform) that gives Enterprise Vault parameters on how a file should be managed during its lifecycle.
Mixing Worm & non‐Worm archives in a Single DX Object Storage Platform Cluster
It is possible to set up multiple Vault Stores each with a unique Vault Partition configuration. This would enable both WORM
protected and Non‐WORM Objects to be saved in the single flat file space that makes up a local DX Object Storage Platform
cluster. To accommodate this business objective two Vault Stores would be created, one of them would have a Vault Partition
configured without “Compliance Mode” enabled, and the other would have a Vault Partition with “Compliance Mode” enabled.
Enterprise Vault Policies would map specific archives to the appropriate vault store either WORM or Non‐WORM. But all of the
archives could be stored on a single DX Object Storage Platform cluster. Each Vault Store would determine the characteristics
of the objects that are routed to it, allowing an organization to have a single DX Object Storage Platform cluster contain both
WORM and non‐WORM objects.
Built‐in Safety Features when Deleting Data
Objects written to the DX Object Storage Platform can be deleted by Enterprise Vault if the object was written outside of
“Compliance Mode.” In compliance mode, Enterprise Vault’s request to delete an item from the archive must pass a two‐step
validation process. First, Enterprise Vault will check to see if the archived item is beyond the Enterprise Vault Retention Period.
If the Enterprise Vault retention period has been met, the second step is for the DX Object Storage platform to approve that the
object is past its designated life span as recorded in the lifepoint metadata attribute. Only after the Enterprise Vault retention
period has been met, AND the object’s lifespan has expired – will Enterprise Vault succeed in deleting the item from the
archive. This gives users added insurance that files cannot be accidently deleted.
Managing Retention Periods & Life Cycles
When writing to a DX Object Storage Platform cluster the retention period within an EV policy is recorded in the “lifepoint”
metadata field. Despite being written as Mutable the Enterprise Vault will not change the “lifepoint”. This limitation is by
Design, it was intended to prohibit an update that would call for a write change to what could be many billions of objects.
When an administrator attempts to reduce the retention span of an archive within Enterprise Vault, this will have no effect on
the actual lifecycle of the object on the DX Object Storage Platform if was written in “compliance mode”. Any request to delete
expired archives will fail the two step validation process described in the ‘Built‐in Safety Features when Deleting Data’ section.
Lengthening the retention period of an archive within Enterprise Vault will effectively extend the actual life cycle of the object
on the DX Object Storage Platform. This is because the DX Object Storage Platform will not actually delete objects that expire;
the DX Object Storage Platform will simply allow expired objects to be deleted by Enterprise Vault. However, Enterprise Vault
won’t delete an archive until its retention period has been met.
Managing Replicas
The DX Object Storage Platform protects against loss of content objects using replication where it creates one or more exact
replicas (copies) of each file stored in the system. Each replica is stored on a different node within the cluster to ensure that if a
node fails, another replica will be accessible through a different node.
Enterprise Vault can designate the quantity of replicas that should be maintained for an object within the range configured on
the hardware. By default the Minimum is 2 replicas, and the Maximum is 12 replicas. The hardware settings will always take
precedence if the EV setting is below the minimum or above the maximum. However, if the Enterprise Vault value is within the
hardware range then EV will dictate the number of replicas an object should maintain.
In order to configure multiple replica values for different groups of users set up multiple Vault Stores. One of them may have a
Vault Partition configured with 2 replicas per an object, and the other would have a Vault Partition configured with 3 replicas
per an object. Each Vault Store would determine the characteristics of the objects that are routed to it, allowing an
organization to have a single DX Object Storage Platform cluster contain archives with 3 replicas, as well as archives with 2
replicas. Policies would map specific user groups to archive to the appropriate vault store depending on the desired number of
replicas.
Conclusion
Many businesses have massive amounts of unstructured data in diverse formats such as e-mail, instant messages,
documents, spreadsheets, graphics, images, and videos that may be subject to industry or government regulations
for access and retention. With unstructured information consuming a large percentage of corporate storage, it must
be appropriately classified, managed and placed in storage systems that are easily accessible for search and
discovery.
Enterprise Vault and the DX Object Storage Platform are ideal for large-scale digital content and long-term data
storage. The peer-scaling architecture of the Dell DX Object Storage Platform gives you the ability to add
capacity in a modular approach without the need to configure LUNs, RAID groups or hierarchical file structures.
Scale at your own pace, non-disruptively, by starting with a cluster of 2TB and grow in increments as small as
1TB with the flexibility to grow up to multiple petabytes and billions of objects.
Enterprise Vault, the industry leader in email and content archiving, enables companies to store, manage, and
discover unstructured information across the enterprise. With Enterprise Vault IT can partner with Legal departments
to develop information retention systems that not only ensure records are not accidentally lost or deleted, but can
also ensure rapid recovery. Any organizations faced with litigation involving e-discovery must be able to apply
indefinite litigation hold of relevant content with minimal strain on storage and IT resources. Enterprise Vault helps
companies close the gap between technology and policies in order to eliminate the risk associated with non-
compliance.
With Enterprise Vault, organizations are able to consolidate email and other electronic information from any source
across the organization into a single repository. This simplifies management, enforces policies, enables legal hold,
reduces information redundancy, and allows for timely search and retrieval of relevant information for legal cases.
Archiving with Enterprise Vault and the Dell DX Object Storage Platform is the cornerstone of an efficient,
repeatable and defensible discovery process.