Take action on your data in AI Data Engine
Suggest changes
PDFs
After identifying files using your defined filters, you can take direct action to enforce your organization's data lifecycle policies. For example, a storage administrator who filters to find terabytes of VM snapshots not accessed in over a year can archive them in bulk to a cold storage share, or delete them, depending on retention requirements and business policies.
To take action, select one or more items in the Investigation results table using the checkboxes. The action toolbar activates with four options: Delete, Archive, Copy, and Tag.
The actions available to you depend on your assigned role:
| Action | AI Data Engine administrator | AI Data Engine viewer |
|---|---|---|
Tag |
Yes |
Yes |
Archive |
Yes |
- |
Copy |
Yes |
- |
Delete |
Yes |
- |
For a full description of roles, refer to Manage users and roles.
Decide what to do
Choose an action based on how certain you are about the data:
| Action | When to use it |
|---|---|
Tag |
You need more time, or need to coordinate with another team, before committing to archive or delete. Tagging tracks the files without changing their location. |
Archive |
The data might still have value, but it doesn't belong in primary storage. Archiving moves it to a lower-cost destination while keeping it recoverable. |
Copy |
The data should exist in a second location, for example for backup or migration purposes. Copying preserves the original in place. |
Delete |
The data is no longer needed and has no retention requirements. Deletion is permanent, so use it only when you are sure. |
When data might still have value or require further review, choose tagging, archiving, or copying over deleting. Only delete when you are certain the data is safe to remove permanently.
Archive files
Archiving moves files to a cold storage destination over NFS or SMB/CIFS. You can optionally leave a breadcrumb file at the original location.
-
You must have the AI Data Engine administrator role.
-
In the Investigation view, select the files you want to archive.
-
Select Archive.
-
In the Archive dialog, select the destination volume protocol:
-
NFS: enter the NFS destination folder path.
-
CIFS: enter the CIFS destination folder path in the format
\\Hostname\share_name. Provide Active Directory credentials: enter the username indomain\useroruser@domainformat, and enter the password.
-
-
To create a breadcrumb file at the original location, enable Leave breadcrumb.
A breadcrumb file helps users understand why a file was moved.
-
Select Archive.
Copy files
Copying duplicates files to a destination volume without removing them from the original location.
-
You must have the AI Data Engine administrator role.
-
In the Investigation view, select the files you want to copy.
-
Select Copy.
-
In the Copy dialog, select the destination volume protocol:
-
NFS: enter the NFS destination folder path.
-
CIFS: enter the CIFS destination folder path in the format
\\Hostname\share_name. Provide Active Directory credentials: enter the username indomain\useroruser@domainformat, and enter the password.
-
-
Select Copy.
Delete files
Deleting permanently removes files from storage and can't be undone.
|
Deletion is permanent and can't be undone. This action deletes source files even if they contain active data. |
-
You must have the AI Data Engine administrator role.
-
In the Investigation view, select the files you want to delete.
-
Select Delete.
-
In the Delete dialog, type permanently delete in the confirmation field.
-
Select Delete.
The selected files are permanently deleted from storage.
Tag files
Tagging applies a business tag to files for classification and tracking.
-
In the Investigation view, select the files you want to tag.
-
Select Tag.
-
Enter or select the tags to apply (for example, "Archive candidate").
-
Confirm to apply the tags.