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8/13/2019 White Paper - Improve Your NetApp Storage Efficiency_Rev2.1_5937EF
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 1
Improve NetApp Storage Efficiency with Directory
Based and Group-Based Quotas and Policie
White Pape
October 20
Managing storage cost-effectively has become one of the most important tasks for
todays organizations. However, it often seems like the only alternatives are all-or-
nothing and therefore too costly to implement. This white paper shows you how to
find the granularity and flexibility you need to manage your NetApp storage
systems effectively.
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 2
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................. 3
The Challenge ...................................................................................................................... 4Policy-Based Management ................................................................................................. 5
The Elements of a Storage Policy ........................................................................................ 6
Directory Quotas ................................................................................................................. 7
OK, Show Me! ..................................................................................................................... 8
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 11
About NTP Software ......................................................................................................... 12
NTP Software Professional Services ................................................................................. 12
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 3
Executive Summary
With saving money being more important than ever before, we are all looking for new
and better ways to manage our file storage. According to industry analysts, storageremains the most expensive resource on most organizations networks and the need for
storage resources continues to increase by 40-50% a year. As part of these same survey
results, analysts tell us that unstructured data (file data) accounts for 80% or more of all
storage requirements in most companies.
What this means is that, if we want to improve the cost-effectiveness of our storage,
our management of file data is the place to start. By choosing NetApp as your host
platform, you have already taken an important step in implementing a cost-effective
solution. The purpose of this white paper is to help you increase the return on your
investment by showing you Best Practice techniques for managing the data stored on
your NetApp storage systems.
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 4
FactMarc Staimer, one of
SearchStorage.coms
experts, points out in
a recent article that
the fully burdened
cost of a wasted
terabyte of primary
storage is now
$43,000 a year.
The Challenge
Without any policies to manage it, the storage on your
network becomes a dumping ground. Gartner Groupestimates that 20% to 40% of all the data stored on most
networks is junkit has no value to the business at all. But
dont blame the end-users; the lack of any governing
policies says to them that the resource should be treated as
though it is infinite and free.
Of course, we understand that this isnt the case, but it is
the policy infrastructure that we establish that carries the
message to our end-users. Without any policies, they never
get the message.
The message we need to send is that storage costs money and that protecting the
stored data costs even more money. Everyone can have as much as they need
provided that need is associated with their jobs and the needs of the business, not from
family photos and MP3s.
This means that we need to watch our users consumption (with Home Directory
thresholds) to ensure that it is reasonable, and so that we can intervene and offer
guidance when things exceed the norm. We also need to use storage management
policies (file screening) to help people understand the types of content that we view as
appropriate.
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 5
Policy-Based Management
Before we dive into the specifics, it is worth taking a step back to look at Policy-Based
Management in general. When it comes to what we are here to talk about Directory-
Based and Group-Based Managementwe should be clear that what we are managing
is our user community, not storage.This is a very important concept that can easily be
missed.
The benefits of managing well will come in the form of better service and reduced total
cost of ownership (reduced TCO). However, efficient and cost-effective management
centers around how our policies are organized relative to the user community, not how
they relate to the storage infrastructure.
Furthermore, in managing users, your storage infrastructure should be transparent. You
shouldnt need to know where a users home directory resides; you simply want toknow that your policies will be applied in every case.
This is where the concept of managing by groups enters the picture. If you have 5,000
users and the technology is flexible enough, you can manage 5,000 user Home
Directories one-by-one, but why would you ever want to do that? At the same time,
each user and each Home Directory is different. You cant just apply a blanket policy to
all storage without exception. What we need is technology that allows us the ability to
create communities (groups) and that automatically maps the policies we create onto
the appropriate users.
Storage policies, be they quotas or something else, are Best Practice items and are most
cost-effectively managed by addressing users in groups, not one-by-one.
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 6
The Elements of a Storage Policy
Implicitly, we have already talked about two of the elements of a storage management
policy: its scope over the resources (a directory) and its scope over the users (ActiveDirectory groups). It is important to recognize that all policies have the same four
dimensions, namely:
The Policy DefinitionWhat is this policy about? Is it a quota? A file blocking rule?etc.
Resource ScopeTo what portion of the storage resources does this policy apply?All of them? A specific users home directory? Just one single file?
User ScopeWhich users are subject to this policy? Which users are exempt? (TheMarketing Department may have a valid business need to store MP3 or video files,for example, while the Customer Service Department may not.)
ActionsWhat happens when a users action triggers a policy? Does the systemsend them a message? Are they denied? etc.
A Best Practice set of policies takes advantage of the ability to manipulate each of these
dimensions to derive the maximum benefit with the lowest ongoing costs. Policies, like
everything else, change over time. Todays music files are MP3s, but what comes next?
MP4s? A home directory quota today is commonly between 1 and 4 GB, yet this would
have been outrageously large five years ago. As time goes on, we dont want to be
updating 5,000 policies; we want as few objects to manage as makes sense.
Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
- Albert Einstein
By using the flexibility in resource scope and user scope, we can make everything simple
and cost-effective to maintain, while not making it too simple namely, all or nothing
and therefore ineffective or uneconomic.
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 7
Tip
Dont be the one who tells
the CEO that he or she cant
save files on the network. TheCEO has a home directory like
everyone else. Make sure you
have a VIP user group that is
exempt from certain storage
management policies. Home
directory quotas are a good
place to start.
Directory Quotas
For the majority of storage management policies, the most natural resource scope (the
point of attachment for the policy, if you will) is a directory. For most storage
administrators, this is the natural unit of management. (Dont forget thatwhat we are
really managing is users. Files do not create or change themselves. Users do it all.) NTP
Software File Management Essentials not only brings the ability to manage users by
directory to NetApp storage systems, but also allows you to understand what exists and
takes place on the system so that you can formulate
the most appropriate policies.
A volume is generally too large an object to manage as
a whole, and often it contains directories (shares) that
have little or nothing in common. Even if the volume
only contains user home directories, as we have
already discussed, not all users are equal from a policy
perspective (see sidebar).
A Best Practice strategy for managing home directories
is to allow the technology to apply your policies to the
individual directories while you focus on creating the
appropriate groups (storage user roles) within your
organization. Microsoft and Windows have already
provided us a paradigm for how to do this. We can map the role-based concept
Microsoft offers for security onto home directory quotasnamely, something along the
lines of: light user, normal user, power user, and exempt. What size gets associated with
each of these groups is up to you. Maybe you also want to include a zero entitlementa
class of users who are not allowed to save anything to the network (but who still need
home directories because this is where Windows and other applications store their state
and user preferences).
Lets look at how NTP Software File Management Essentials(FME)makes it easy to do
everything you need.
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 8
Tip
NTP Software QFS, part of
File Management Essentials,
provides per-policy security
to facilitate scenarios such
as the one mentioned below
with the Finance
Department. A further
discussion of this is beyond
the scope of this paper, but
please refer to the NTP
Software QFS
User Manualfor more information.
OK, Show Me!
NTP Software File Management Essentials is designed
to provide you with maximum efficiency and flexibility
in managing your storage and your users. Additionally,
File Management Essentials helps you fully recognize
how your data is utilized in your system, therefore
allowing you to make more guided, careful decisions in
terms of policy formulation and enforcement.
Many organizations use NTP Software Quota File
Sentinel (QFS) to manage multiple systems
(sometimes distributed across the globe) from a single
seat. Others, for reasons of security, delegate the
administration of a single vFiler to a specific individual.
Whatever may be the right model for your
environment, NTP Software QFScan accommodate it.
However, a complete discussion of all the alternatives is beyond the scope of this paper.
Here, we will limit the discussion to what is a Best Practice for most companies.
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 9
The image on the previous page shows the QFS policy overview. On the left side, you
see a hierarchy for a company, Galactic Getaways, that has facilities in two locations. To
minimize cost, the company has chosen a single seat management strategy, with one
exception.
The Finance users in the Boston office have convinced senior management that only
they should be allowed to set policies for their users. Finance has their own set of
policies that only they can administer (as seen in the overlaid image on page 8).
You can also see that the Marketing
Department is located in New York
and has policies that apply to a
business share that it has on the
Filer in New York.
Now lets take a detailed look at
one of the quota policies. First, welllook at one of the business share
quotas the Marketing Share
(image to the right). This is a
departmental, shared directory
where the Marketing Department
works collaboratively and stores all
of their finished products. It has a soft quota because users are never denied. Instead,
the quota provides for notification thresholds that signal management as the share
grows perhaps beyond what the Marketing Department has agreed to pay for.
Additionally, the thresholds are used to automatically move files to an archive orsecondary storage.
(Also, relative to managing the Marketing Share, recall our previous discussion about file
blocking. There would be no prohibition of MP3s, MPEGs, or other multi-media content
here. These are the types of objects a Marketing Department is paid to create.)
But what if you arent entirely sure which policies would be most helpful in improving
your storage efficiency? For example, what if Galactic Galaxies cannot describe the
breakdown of who uses what data, how much of that data they use, and how frequently
they use it? If you want to control something properly and efficiently, you have to
understand how it works and what it does before you set policies for it. This is where
NTP Software File Reporter can help. With automated, policy-based reporting acrossyour entire file data storage environment, NTP Software File Reporter can help you
achieve a better understanding of critical details about your storage. When joined with
QFS, this insight into your data allows you to enforce appropriate usage policies so that
you can preserve system performance and availability.
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 10
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 11
Conclusion
Having chosen a cost-effective hardware platform NetApp storage systems to host
your storage, you also need the ability to manage flexibly and efficiently. NTP Software
File Management Essentials gives you this ability. With NTP Software QFS
, you can
manage multiple storage systems and thousands of users from one seat with a only
handful of policies, dramatically increasing the return on your investment. Additionally,
with NTP Software FR, you can formulate more efficient policies through a complete
understanding of what exists on your system. NTP Sofware File Management Essentials
saves your company time and money on administration with automatic, enterprise-wide
policy enforcement and monitoring that can be applied across storage platforms and file
types. File Management Essentials makes it easy to reduce costs while improving overall
system performance. Why not begin enjoying these benefits today?
Learn more about NTP Softwares products and our relationship with NetApp at
http://partners.ntpsoftware.com/netapp.
http://partners.ntpsoftware.com/netapphttp://partners.ntpsoftware.com/netapphttp://partners.ntpsoftware.com/netapp8/13/2019 White Paper - Improve Your NetApp Storage Efficiency_Rev2.1_5937EF
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 12
About NTP Software
NTP Software puts users in charge of their file data and is the only company providing
file data management solutions that deliver all of the enterprise-class features neededto understand, manage, monitor, and secure file data completely. NTP Software is a
global leader and has been chosen by the majority of Fortune 1000 companies and
thousands of customers in private and public sectors for providing leadership through
superior solutions, professional services, experience, and trusted advice. NTP Software
delivers a single solution across the entire data storage environment, from individual
files and users to an entire global enterprise across thousands of systems and sites. NTP
Software reduces the cost and complexity associated with the exponential growth of file
data and is located on the web at www.ntpsoftware.com.
NTP Software Professional ServicesNTP Softwares Professional Services offers consulting, training, and design services to
help customers with their storage management challenges. We have helped hundreds
of customers to implement cost-effective solutions for managing their storage
environments. Our services range from a simple assessment to in-depth financial
analyses.
For further assistance in creating the most cost-effective Storage Management
Infrastructure, please contact your NTP Software Representative at 800-226-2755 or
603-622-4400.
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Copyright 2012 NTP Software 13
The information contained in this document is believed to be accurate as of the date of
publication. Because NTP Software must constantly respond to changing market
conditions, what is here should not be interpreted as a commitment on the part of NTP
Software, and NTP Software cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information
presented after the date of publication.
This White Paper is for informational purposes only. NTP SOFTWARE MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.
NTP Software and other marks are either registered trademarks or trademarks of NTP
Software in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and company
names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
NTP Software products and technologies described in this document may be protected
by United States and/or international patents.
NTP Software
20A Northwest Blvd., #136
Nashua, NH 03063
Toll Free: 800-226-2755
International: 1-603-622-4400
Web Site:http://www.ntpsoftware.com
Copyright 2012 NTP Software. All rights reserved. All trademarks and registered
trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Doc# 5937EF
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