Quantum STORNEXT 4.1 User Manual

User’s Guide Addendum

StorNext 4.1

6-67139-01 Rev A

StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum, 6-67139-01 Rev A, January 2011, Product of USA.

Quantum Corporation provides this publication “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or
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purpose. Quantum Corporation may revise this publication from time to time without notice.

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Copyright 2011 by Quantum Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TRADEMARK STATEMENT

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trademarks of Quantum Corporation, registered in the U.S. and other countries.

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LTO and Ultrium are trademarks of HP, IBM, and Quantum in the U.S. and other countries. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective companies.

Specifications are subject to change without notice.

Quantum StorNext User’s Guide

Appendix H

StorNext

Offline Notification

Note: This addendum to the

changes added to Appendix H since StorNext 4.1 was released
for general availability.

Appendix H is included in its entirety, with additions and
changes indicated by red change bars in the left margin.

StorNext supports a Windows feature called StorNext Offline
Notification. This feature should be installed only at sites which are
using StorNext Storage Manager.

This appendix provides an overview of the feature and describes how to
install the application, configure and uninstall the feature. The following
topics are addressed:

• StorNext Offline Notification Overview

• Installing the Notification Application

• Starting the Notification Application

• Configuring the Notification Application

• Uninstalling the Notification Application

StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide

contains

Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum 401

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification
StorNext Offline Notification Overview

StorNext Offline Notification Overview

The StorNext Offline Notification feature is a Windows only application
which helps users from accidently retrieving offline StorNext files.
Retrieving an offline (i.e., truncated) file often takes several minutes,
and the user’s application is “blocked” while the retrieval is in progress.
This feature prevents unintentional access and the subsequent retrieval
of offline files by asking the user if the retrieval is desired before
continuing.

What is a StorNext Offline File?

Why Block Access to Offline Files?

A StorNext
moved from primary storage (such as a disk) to secondary storage by
the Storage Manager. Usually this involves a storage device such as tape,
which is slower than disk. Files are moved to secondary storage
according to administrative policies (see Appendix E: Storage Manager
Truncation).

Once this has occurred, the StorNext Storage Manager truncates the file
and adds the Windows offline attribute to the file. You can identify an
offline file in Windows Explorer by the square black box with a clock
icon or X icon. Although the offline file is visible and you can view its
properties, the data in the file is not physically present on primary
storage (although stub files have some data present). The offline

attribute should not be confused with Microsoft Windows
offline files.

Moving files from secondary storage to primary storage is often a
lengthy process. The application causing the retrieval will be blocked
until the file is restored. The file is usually on a tape, which contributes
to the length of the delay. Users may wish to avoid these delays for files
which are accidently accessed. Generating a warning not only helps
users understand they are accessing an offline StorNext file, but also
why accessing the data in the file is taking so long.

offline file

is a file in the StorNext file system which has been

®

CIFS-related

402 Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification

StorNext Offline Notification Overview

Offline Notification Configuration Options

How the Notification Feature Operates

The StorNext Offline Notification application can be configured to work
in one of the following three modes (see configuration instructions):

1 Notify the user via a pop-up dialog

2 Deny access to all offline files

3 Allow access to all offline files

The first mode, notify the user, should be used when the user is allowed
to decide whether the file should be retrieved.

The second mode should be used if the workstation user never wants to
retrieve offline files. In this case the user's application will fail if it tries to
access data in an offline file.

The last mode should be used if unrestricted access to offline files is
desired.

If your StorNext Offline Notification feature is set to configuration mode
#1, you will see a pop-up any time any application on the Windows
system tries to read or write an offline StorNext file. Your application
will be blocked until either you respond to this pop-up or the pop-up
times out after two minutes. If the pop-up times out, the I/O request
will be allowed. The pop-up can occur only with files on a StorNext file
system. Offline files on other file systems will not be blocked.

Note: Metadata file operations such as looking at a file’s properties

or renaming a file will not be blocked.

When a user responds to a pop-up, the response is stored in an internal
cache. The cache is 1024 entries long. This cache is used for both
“allow” and “deny” entries. The cache is checked before generating a
pop-up. If a matching entry is found, the previous answer is used. If the
cache is full and a new entry is needed, the oldest entry is removed. Files
marked as “deny” will eventually time-out. “Allow” entries do not time­out.

If configuration mode #2 is selected, no pop-up will appear; access to
the file will automatically be denied. The application immediately
receives the error “Access Denied.”

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Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification
StorNext Offline Notification Overview

If configuration mode #3 is selected, no pop-up will appear; access to
the file is automatically allowed. However, the application's I/O request
will be blocked by StorNext until the file is retrieved.

For configuration mode #1: If multiple applications are trying to access
the same file at the same time, all applications are blocked, but only one
pop-up will appear. If the user wants to allow access to the file, he
should select the “Yes” button. All blocked applications will continue to
be blocked until the file is retrieved to primary storage. If another
application tries to access the file before it is retrieved, it will not cause a
new pop-up (unless the file has been removed from the Offline
Notification's cache.)

If, on the other hand, the user wants to deny access to the file, the user
should select the “No” button. All blocked applications will be denied
access and all future requests will be denied access until the file is
removed from the Offline Notification's cache.

Note: Responding “Yes” or “No” to any new pop-up will not affect

In summary, for configuration mode #1 only, one pop-up dialog will
appear for each accessed offline StorNext file. The file is no longer
offline when the file is restored to primary storage.

previous responses.

In configuration mode #2, access to an offline file is always immediately
denied.

In configuration mode #3, access to an offline file is always allowed.
The user will experience a delay while the file is being retrieved, and she
will not see a popup.

404 Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification

Installing the Notification Application

Installing the Notification Application

The Quantum Offline Notification feature can be installed on the
following platforms:

•Windows XP (x86)

• Windows 2003 SP1 (x86)

• Windows 2003 SP1 (x64)

•Windows Vista (x86)

•Windows Vista (x64)

• Windows 2008 Server (x64)

• Windows 2008 R2 Server (x64)

•Windows 7 (x86)

•Windows 7 (x64)

Caution: Do not install this feature on a Windows CIFS server or

multi-user machines. This feature should be installed only
on single user machines.

Installing onto a Standalone Machine

Locate the appropriate installation package for the machine onto which
you want to install. Use
bit machines and
machines.

Move the appropriate installation package to the destination machine
and unzip it. You will find two files:

SnfsOfflineNotifyInstall32.zip for 32-

SnfsOfflineNotifyInstall64.zip for 64-bit

SnfsOfflineSetup.exe and

SnfsOfflineSetup.msi. Use the following steps to install:

1 Log onto the machine as a Local or Domain Administrator. In

Windows Explorer start the install by double clicking on

SnfsOfflineSetup.exe.

On Windows XP platforms and higher Windows versions, an
alternate method to start the installation is to right-click on

SnfsOfflineSetup.exeand select “Run as ..." as shown in

Figure 128.

Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum 405

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification
Installing the Notification Application

Figure 128 Run as
Administrator

Figure 129 Logging in to
the Administrator Account

If you select this option, you must log in with the credentials for the
Administrator account as shown in

Figure 129.

406 Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum

Figure 130 Installing the
.NET Framework

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification

Installing the Notification Application

2 The application installer requires .NET updates to function correctly.

If you are installing onto a machine without any of the .NET
updates, you will be prompted to update to .NET Framework 3.5 as
shown in

Figure 130.

3 Read the end user license agreement, and then click Accept to

continue.

Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum 407

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification
Installing the Notification Application

4 Wait for the .NET updates to be downloaded and installed. After

Figure 131 Offline
Notification Setup Wizard

this process is complete, the Offline Notification Setup Wizard
launches.

408 Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum

Figure 132 Quantum End
User License Agreement

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification

Installing the Notification Application

5 Click Next to continue. The Quantum End User License Agreement

window appears.

6 Read the end user license agreement. If you accept the terms of the

agreement, select I Agree and click Next to continue. The Select
Installation Folder window appears. (If you do not accept the
terms of the agreement, click Cancel to stop the installation.)

Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum 409

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification
Installing the Notification Application

Figure 133 Select
Installation Folder

7 On the Select Installation Folder window, you can do the

following:

• Change the location where the installation resides by clicking

Browse and navigating to the desired location

• Specify whether to install Offline Notification for yourself only,
or for everyone who users the computer

8 Click Next to continue. The Confirm Installation window appears.

Figure 134 Confirm
Installation

410 Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum

Figure 135 Installation
Complete

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification

Installing the Notification Application

9 Before you proceed, make sure you have enough disk space to

install the binaries. A minimum of 10MB is required.

10 Click Next to begin the installation.

Note: This is the last opportunity you will have to cancel the

installation, so be certain you want to install before you
click Next.

After the application is installed, the Installation Complete
window appears.

11 Click Close to exit the installation .

The next time you start your computer, the notification application
automatically starts on login.

Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum 411

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification
Starting the Notification Application

Starting the Notification Application

The StorNext Offline Notification application starts automatically after
you log in, but if necessary you can start it manually.

From the Windows Start menu, choose All Programs > Quantum >
StorNext Offline Notification. The application starts.

Figure 136 Manual Start

412 Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification

Configuring the Notification Application

Configuring the Notification Application

When the application is already running, the gold StorNext icon appears
in the Windows System Tray (generally found at the lower right corner
of the screen).

When you hover the mouse over the gold StorNext icon and right click,
three options appear:

• Preferences: View and enter application options, view a blocked file

list, and view the application log

• About: View the StorNext Offline Notification application’s current

version number and copyright date

• Exit: Terminate the application

Setting Application Options

Follow these steps to set preferences for the StorNext Offline
Notification application:

1 If you have not already done so, move the mouse over the gold

StorNext icon in the Windows system tray and right-click. Select
Preferences. (Alternatively, you can double-click the StorNext icon.)

Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum 413

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification
Configuring the Notification Application

Figure 137 Application
Options

2 View or adjust the following fields on the Application Options tab:

• Cache Timeout: The value in the Cache Timeout field
determines how many minutes a file remains in the “Access
Denied” list. The range is 1 to 499,999 minutes, and the default
is 5 minutes. However, the cache can hold only 1024 entries
total for both allowed and denied entries. If the total entries
exceeds 1024, the oldest entry is deleted even if the timeout has
not been reached.

• Default Action: This drop down list provides three options:

• Prompt User: When this option is selected, users are always

prompted with a dialog box whether to open an offline file,
which means retrieving the file from offline storage such as
tape, or from near-line disk storage. Users also have the
option of preventing the file from being retrieved.

• Always Deny Access: When this option is selected, access

to offline files is always denied, preventing files from being
retrieved from offline storage.

• Always Allow Access: When this option is selected files are

always allowed to be retrieved from offline storage without
prompting the user.

414 Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification

Configuring the Notification Application

Viewing Access Denied Files

Figure 138 Access Denied
List

The Access Denied List tab displays a list of files that have been
prevented from being retrieved from offline storage. (See

Figure 138.)

The files listed are automatically prevented from being retrieved as long
as they remain in the Access Denied list.

These files are automatically removed from this list after they have not
been accessed for a period of time (see the Cache Timeout field on the
Application Options tab to determine the timeout period.) If you need
to access any file in this list before the timeout period has expired, you
must remove it from the list.

To remove files from the list, select the check box next to the desired
files and then click Remove Files. Only the files selected will be removed
from the access denied list.

Note: The Remove Files button is disabled when there are no files in

the list.

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Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification
Configuring the Notification Application

When you select the Prompt User option from the Default Action
dropdown list, files are added to the access denied list after an attempt
is made to open an offline file and you prevent the file from being
retrieved.

Files are also added to the blocked files list whenever the Default
Action of Always Deny Access is selected. This means that every offline
file opened is added to the list and no notification is presented to the
user.

Viewing the Application Log

Figure 139 Application log

The Application Log tab displays any events that have occurred in the
system.

Exiting Application Preferences

416 Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum

When you are finished viewing or setting preferences for the StorNext
Offline Notification application, click OK to close the Preferences
window.

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification

Uninstalling the Notification Application

Uninstalling the Notification Application

Follow these steps to uninstall the StorNext Offline Notification
application:

1 Access the Control Panel by choosing Control Panel from the

Windows Start menu.

2 When the Control Panel launches, open Add or Remove Programs

(on Windows XP) or Programs and Features (on Windows Vista
and later platforms).

3 When the Add or Remove Programs window appears click Change

or Remove Programs if it isn’t already selected.

Figure 140 Removing the
Application

4 Locate and select the StorNext Offline Notification application.

Programs are typically listed alphabetically.

5 Click Remove to uninstall the application.

Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum 417

Appendix H: StorNext Offline Notification
Uninstalling the Notification Application

418 Quantum StorNext 4.1 User’s Guide Addendum