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Using StorageGRID information lifecycle management with FabricPool data

Contributors netapp-lhalbert
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If you are using FabricPool to tier data to StorageGRID, you must understand the requirements for creating StorageGRID information lifecycle management (ILM) rules and an ILM policy to manage FabricPool data. You must ensure the ILM rules that apply to FabricPool data are not disruptive.

Important

FabricPool has no knowledge of StorageGRID ILM rules or policies. Data loss can occur if the StorageGRID ILM policy is misconfigured.

To learn more: Manage objects with ILM

ILM guidelines for FabricPool data

Review these guidelines to ensure that your ILM rules and ILM policy are suitable for FabricPool data and your business requirements. If you are already using StorageGRID ILM, you might need to update your active ILM policy to meet these guidelines.

  • You can use any combination of replication and erasure-coding rules to protect cloud tier data.

    The recommended best practice is to use 2+1 erasure coding within a site for cost-efficient data protection. Erasure coding uses more CPU, but significantly less storage capacity, than replication. The 4+1 and 6+1 schemes use less capacity than 2+1, but at the cost of lower throughput and less flexibility when you add Storage Nodes during grid expansion.

  • Each rule applied to FabricPool data must either use erasure coding or it must create at least two replicated copies.

    Important An ILM rule that creates only one replicated copy for any time period puts data at risk of permanent loss. If only one replicated copy of an object exists, that object is lost if a Storage Node fails or has a significant error. You also temporarily lose access to the object during maintenance procedures such as upgrades.

  • Do not use an ILM rule that will expire or delete FabricPool cloud tier data. Set the retention period in each ILM rule to "forever" to ensure that FabricPool objects are not deleted by StorageGRID ILM.

  • Do not create rules that will move FabricPool cloud tier data out of the bucket to another location. You cannot use ILM rules to archive FabricPool data to tape using an Archive Node or use a Cloud Storage Pool to move FabricPool data to Glacier.

    Note Using Cloud Storage Pools with FabricPool is not supported because of the added latency to retrieve an object from the Cloud Storage Pool target.

  • Starting with ONTAP 9.8, you can optionally create object tags to help classify and sort tiered data for easier management. For example, you can set tags only on FabricPool volumes attached to StorageGRID. Then, when you create ILM rules in StorageGRID, you can use the Object Tag advanced filter to select and place this data.