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BlueXP copy and sync

Managing sync relationships

Contributors netapp-ivanad netapp-bcammett
PDFs

You can manage sync relationships at any time by immediately syncing data, changing schedules, and more.

Perform an immediate data sync

Rather than wait for the next scheduled sync, you can press a button to immediately sync data between the source and target.

Steps

  1. From the Dashboard, navigate to the sync relationship and select A screenshot of the button that enables you to take actions on a sync relationship

  2. Select Sync Now and then select Sync to confirm.

Result

BlueXP copy and sync starts the data sync process for the relationship.

Accelerate sync performance

Accelerate the performance of a sync relationship by adding an additional data broker to the group that manages the relationship. The additional data broker must be a new data broker.

How this works

If the data broker group manages other sync relationships, then the new data broker that you add to the group also accelerates the performance of those sync relationships.

For example, let's say you have three relationships:

  • Relationship 1 is managed by data broker group A

  • Relationship 2 is managed by data broker group B

  • Relationship 3 is managed by data broker group A

You want to accelerate the performance of relationship 1 so you add a new data broker to data broker group A. Because group A also manages sync relationship 3, the sync performance for relationship is automatically accelerated as well.

Steps

  1. Ensure that at least one of the existing data brokers in the relationship are online.

  2. From the Dashboard, navigate to the sync relationship and select A screenshot of the button that enables you to take actions on a sync relationship

  3. Select Accelerate.

  4. Follow the prompts to create a new data broker.

Result

BlueXP copy and sync adds the new data broker to the group. The performance of the next data sync should be accelerated.

Update credentials

You can update the data broker with the latest credentials of the source or target in an existing sync relationship. Updating the credentials can help if your security policies require you to update credentials on a periodic basis.

Updating credentials is supported with any source or target that BlueXP copy and sync requires credentials for: Azure Blob, Box, IBM Cloud Object Storage, StorageGRID, ONTAP S3 Storage, SFTP, and SMB servers.

Steps

  1. From the Sync Dashboard, go to a sync relationship that requires credentials and then select Update Credentials.

    A screenshot that shows the Update Credentials option on the Sync Relationships page just under the name of the source or target.

  2. Enter the credentials and select Update.

    A note about SMB servers: if the domain is new, then you'll need to specify it when you update the credentials. If the domain hasn't changed, then you don't need to enter it again.

    If you entered a domain when you created the sync relationship, but you don't enter a new domain when you update the credentials, then BlueXP copy and sync will keep using the original domain that you provided.

Result

BlueXP copy and sync updates the credentials on the data broker. It can take up 10 minutes until the data broker starts using the updated credentials for data syncs.

Set up notifications

A Notifications setting for each sync relationship enables you to choose whether to receive BlueXP copy and sync notifications in BlueXP's Notification Center. You can enable notifications for successful data syncs, failed data syncs, and canceled data syncs.

A screenshot that shows the Notification Center in BlueXP.

In addition, you can also receive notifications by email.

Steps

  1. Modify the settings for a sync relationship:

    1. From the Dashboard, navigate to the sync relationship and select A screenshot of the button that enables you to take actions on a sync relationship

    2. Select Settings.

    3. Enable Notifications.

    4. Select Save Settings.

  2. If you want to receive notifications by email, configure alert and notifications settings:

    1. Select Settings > Alerts and Notifications Settings.

    2. Select a user or multiple users and choose the Info notification type.

    3. Select Apply.

Result

You'll now receive BlueXP copy and sync notifications in BlueXP's Notification Center, with a few notifications arriving by email, if you configured that option.

Change the settings for a sync relationship

Modify settings that define how source files and folders are synced and maintained in the target location.

  1. From the Dashboard, navigate to the sync relationship and select A screenshot of the button that enables you to take actions on a sync relationship

  2. Select Settings.

  3. Modify any of the settings.

    A screenshot that shows the settings for a sync relationship.

    Here's a brief description of each setting:

    Schedule

    Choose a recurring schedule for future syncs or turn off the sync schedule. You can schedule a relationship to sync data as often as every 1 minute.

    Sync Timeout

    Define whether BlueXP copy and sync should cancel a data sync if the sync hasn't completed in the specified number of minutes, hours, or days.

    Notifications

    Enables you to choose whether to receive BlueXP copy and sync notifications in BlueXP's Notification Center. You can enable notifications for successful data syncs, failed data syncs, and canceled data syncs.

    If you want to receive notifications for

    Retries

    Define the number of times that BlueXP copy and sync should retry to sync a file before skipping it.

    Compare By

    Choose whether BlueXP copy and sync should compare certain attributes when determining whether a file or directory has changed and should be synced again.

    Even if you uncheck these attributes, BlueXP copy and sync still compares the source to the target by checking the paths, file sizes, and file names. If there are any changes, then it syncs those files and directories.

    You can choose to enable or disable BlueXP copy and sync from comparing the following attributes:

    • mtime: The last modified time for a file. This attribute isn't valid for directories.

    • uid, gid, and mode: Permission flags for Linux.

    Copy for Objects

    You can't edit this option after you create the relationship.

    Recently Modified Files

    Choose to exclude files that were recently modified prior to the scheduled sync.

    Delete Files on Source

    Choose to delete files from the source location after BlueXP copy and sync copies the files to the target location. This option includes the risk of data loss because the source files are deleted after they're copied.

    If you enable this option, you also need to change a parameter in the local.json file on the data broker. Open the file and update it as follows:

    {
"workers":{
"transferrer":{
"delete-on-source": true
}
}
}

    After updating the local.json file, you should do a restart: pm2 restart all.

    Delete Files on Target

    Choose to delete files from the target location, if they were deleted from the source. The default is to never deletes files from the target location.

    File Types

    Define the file types to include in each sync: files, directories, symbolic links, and hard links.

    Note Hard links are only available for unsecured NFS to NFS relationships. Users will be limited to one scanner process and one scanner concurrency, and scans must be run from a root directory.
    Exclude File Extensions

    Specify the regex or file extensions to exclude from the sync by typing the file extension and pressing Enter. For example, type log or .log to exclude *.log files. A separator isn't required for multiple extensions. The following video provides a short demo:

    Exclude file extensions for a sync relationship
    Note Regex, or regular expressions, differ from wildcards or glob expressions. This feature only works with regex.
    Exclude Directories

    Specify a maximum of 15 regex or directories to exclude from the sync by typing their name or directory full path and pressing Enter. The .copy-offload, .snapshot, ~snapshot directories are excluded by default.

    Note Regex, or regular expressions, differ from wildcards or glob expressions. This feature only works with regex.
    File Size

    Choose to sync all files regardless of their size or just files that are in a specific size range.

    Date Modified

    Choose all files regardless of their last modified date, files modified after a specific date, before a specific date, or between a time range.

    Date Created

    When an SMB server is the source, this setting enables you to sync files that were created after a specific date, before a specific date, or between a specific time range.

    ACL - Access Control List

    Copy ACLs only, files only, or ACLs and files from an SMB server by enabling a setting when you create a relationship or after you create a relationship.

  4. Select Save Settings.

Result

BlueXP copy and sync modifies the sync relationship with the new settings.

Delete relationships

You can delete a sync relationship, if you no longer need to sync data between the source and target. This action doesn't delete the data broker group (or the individual data broker instances) and it does not delete data from the target.

Option 1: Delete a single sync relationship

Steps

  1. From the Dashboard, navigate to the sync relationship and select A screenshot of the button that enables you to take actions on a sync relationship

  2. Select Delete and then select Delete again to confirm.

Result

BlueXP copy and sync deletes the sync relationship.

Option 2: Delete multiple sync relationships

Steps

  1. From the Dashboard, navigate to the "Create New Sync" button and select A screenshot of the button that enables you to take actions on a sync relationship

  2. Select the sync relationships you want to delete, select Delete and then select Delete again to confirm.

Result

BlueXP copy and sync deletes the sync relationships.