Storage optimization with HPE

3PAR File Persona and HPE

Storage Optimizer

Contents
Executive summary ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Audience ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
HPE 3PAR File Persona ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 2
HPE Storage Optimizer................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 2
HPE IDOL File System Connector ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Technology overview .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3
Repositories ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3
Target locations ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3
Solution components............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Recommendations ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Benefits............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Technical white paper

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Executive summary
This document describes an effective storage optimization solution by combining HPE 3PAR File Persona with HPE Storage Optimizer. This
solution automates the process of applying policies to data at scale through metadata, providing reliable access to end users, optimizing how it’s
stored by eliminating Redundant, Obsolete, or Trivial (ROT), and extracting inactive data from repositories to capacity-optimized file shares.

Audience
The descriptions and recommendations in this document are intended to help you and your Hewlett Packard Enterprise sales representatives to
understand the features and components of this solution.

Introduction
HPE 3PAR File Persona
HPE 3PAR StoreServ with HPE 3PAR File Persona offers a unique and efficient storage solution that incorporates multiprotocol support into the
system architecture. It delivers a tightly integrated, truly converged solution for provisioning both block storage volumes and file shares from a
single storage system.

HPE 3PAR File Persona Software Suite is a licensed feature of the HPE 3PAR Operating System enabling a rich set of file protocols, an Object
Access API (REST), and file data services. HPE 3PAR File Persona delivers Network File System (NFS), Server Message Block (SMB), and object
access on HPE 3PAR StoreServ platforms. This boosts storage utilization and lowers costs by moving storage-affinity—related workloads such as
data access, protection, and analytics directly into the storage operating system and controller. All block, file, and object access are managed via
the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console, which enables simple provisioning.

The HPE 3PAR File Persona Software Suite solution extends the spectrum of primary storage workloads natively addressed by the system’s
default Block Persona. The Block Persona is ideal for your virtualization, database, and application workloads with File Persona enabling home
directory consolidation, group or departmental shares, corporate shares, and custom cloud applications—all from truly Converged Controllers,
truly agile capacity, and truly unified management. The HPE 3PAR StoreServ File Persona Suite is your key to unlocking this capability within any
HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage system with Converged Controllers.

Only HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage has the ability to host workload-centric storage personas directly on a multicontroller architecture with
hardware-accelerated data compaction—delivering a high-performance, low-cost, tier-1 storage platform to address any application need and
data type. Protecting your file data and organization, as well as increasing your uptime have never been simpler thanks to high availability (HA)
and resiliency features built into HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage.

HPE Storage Optimizer

HPE Storage Optimizer helps you achieve information compliance by making it possible to not only access information but also understand, classify,
and reduce outdated and unnecessary legacy content. A key enabling technology for legacy data clean up, HPE Storage Optimizer helps you tackle
information sprawl and gain visibility into dark data that is sitting unmanaged in email repositories, file shares, and SharePoint sites.

You can ensure defensible data disposition or the migration of targeted legacy data to information archiving or records management systems, for
more efficient storage of data and improved information access. You can also analyze vast amounts of enterprise data and intelligently migrate
targeted data to a cloud-based repository that enables improved security, user accessibility, and overall lower storage cost.

As a truly holistic tool for information governance strategy for all connected data sources, HPE Storage Optimizer simplifies the definition and
application of policy—regardless of data format or location. There is no need for source-specific policies, which become difficult to manage and
unify across the enterprise. HPE Storage Optimizer uses the same look and feel as HPE ControlPoint, so when a more robust information
governance solution is needed, administrators can move to HPE ControlPoint without having to relearn anything. Role-based security allows you
to delegate different tasks to reduce the likelihood of errors and bottlenecks.

HPE IDOL File System Connector

Using the HPE Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) Connector Framework services, HPE Storage Optimizer can identify, analyze, and control
a variety of content sources and apply policies to the content indexed by IDOL. Information sources such as file shares, Hadoop, SharePoint, and
Microsoft® Exchange are indexed through the IDOL Connector Framework.
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Using the HPE IDOL File System Connector, HPE Storage Optimizer can now migrate targeted archive data to HPE 3PAR File Persona shares.
The IDOL File System Connector enables direct management of all your archived data.

Actions supported with the IDOL File System Connector for HPE 3PAR File Persona are Secure and Tag. A policy with an action of Secure has
three possible associated subactions: Leave, Remove, and Shortcut. A Secure action with the Leave subaction will effectively perform a copy
operation—copy files to a target location leaving the source files intact. A Secure action with the Remove subaction will place the files on the
target location and then remove them from the source location. A Secure action with the Shortcut subaction moves the file from the repository to
the target location and a shortcut remains in the repository enabling access to the file in its new location. The Tag action is used to flag content
for later review and disposition, for example, after files have been tagged, a defined policy can be applied later to all files with a given tag.

Technology overview
Repositories
HPE Storage Optimizer accesses data from a variety of content sources and gathers this data into MetaStore repositories. HPE Storage
Optimizer connects to a repository through the HPE IDOL Connector specific to that given content source, for example, the HPE IDOL
SharePoint Connector or the IDOL File System Connector used for HPE 3PAR File Persona. Repositories can be in one of the three
states: Indexed, Analyzed, Managed.

The first step in managing content with HPE Storage Optimizer is to index a MetaStore repository. Viewing an indexed repository allows
confirmation that HPE Storage Optimizer has identified all the desired content.

Indexed repositories are moved into the Analyzed state. To reduce the amount of data that is to be managed, the analysis identifies the content
as potentially ROT. The default definitions of ROT can be modified to suit the user. The analysis provides a breakdown of the repository content
by file metadata such as the file size, file extensions, and file create date as well as provides a visualization of analyzed content. Based on this
analysis, content that will not be managed going forward can be deleted from the repository.

A goal of content management is to organize and manage files with similar business value or characteristics. For example, HR documents may be
one category and vendor contract documents may be another category. HPE Storage Optimizer supports user-defined categories to provide this
function. Category definitions may be based on similar content, which HPE Storage Optimizer determines. This is done by specifying metadata
common to the documents, which are placed on the category or by specifying a set of sample documents to “train” HPE Storage Optimizer the
common characteristics of the documents. The category definition includes the repositories, which are to be examined for content that matches
the category criteria.

To manage categorized content, policies are created that define actions to apply to the files in a given category. Policies and actions dictate the
disposition of files according to the governance rules and regulations of the organization. In the Analyzed state, policies and actions are applied
manually to validate that a policy takes the right action on the right files. A policy is applied to all the files in the associated category, which has
the effect of applying the policy across all of the repositories having content belonging to that category.

When the analysis is complete, the repositories are moved to the Managed state. In this state, as new files are added to the repositories,
HPE Storage Optimizer automatically categorizes those files and applies policies without any further user intervention.

In implementing an enterprise content management scheme, HPE 3PAR StoreServ with the HPE 3PAR File Persona Software Suite provides the
benefits of reclaiming disk space and simplifying file management by providing a secure, highly available location where files may be archived.

Target locations
Files contained in HPE Storage Optimizer repositories can be relocated to alternate destinations called target locations. Files that need to be
retained may be copied or moved from repositories to target locations by the application of policies and actions. Secure-Leave is a policy action
that leaves the file in the original repository but copies the file to the target location. Secure-Remove deletes the file from the repository and
places the file in the target location. Secure-Shortcut moves the file from the repository to the target location and the shortcut remains in the
repository. A given target location may serve as a destination for files from multiple repositories.

The IDOL File System Connector allows HPE Storage Optimizer to utilize HPE 3PAR File Persona as a target location. The File System Connector
gives HPE Storage Optimizer access to the metadata necessary for managing and archiving data to HPE 3PAR File Persona shares.
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Solution components
HPE Storage Optimizer is a Web application interface designed as an administrative application, where there are no client systems or agents
involved. HPE Storage Optimizer consists of the following components:
• Storage Optimizer dashboard
• Storage Optimizer engine
• Storage Optimizer client classifiers
• Storage Optimizer data analysis
• Storage Optimizer connectors (IDOL)

HPE Storage Optimizer ships with all the available IDOL Connectors. Those connectors applicable to the end-user environment are then selected
at installation time.

HPE Storage Optimizer can support larger environments allowing components to be distributed across multiple servers. The most basic
HPE Storage Optimizer installation involves installation of all components on a single server platform. Figure 1 shows HPE Storage Optimizer’s
conceptual architecture with HPE 3PAR File Persona.

Figure 1. HPE Storage Optimizer architecture

Recommendations
• Engage HPE Professional Services to help with the planning and installation, setup, and configuration of HPE Storage Optimizer.
• HPE Storage Optimizer and the HPE IDOL File System Connector place no restrictions on the model of HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage platform
that may be used. Choose the model that matches your needs for performance, capacity, and potential growth.
• Follow the guidelines in the HPE 3PAR File Persona Software Suite technical overview document and the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage best
practices guide (see Useful links) for configuration and setup of HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage and HPE 3PAR File Persona Software.
Technical white paper

Benefits
HPE Storage Optimizer and HPE 3PAR File Persona provide greater IT control over active and archived data growth that ensures critical
resources are shielded from being overburdened by excessive growth and demand. They provide the following benefits:
• Increased cost containment—HPE Storage Optimizer analyzes files based on metadata so that you can identify data that’s currently stored
in tier 1 infrastructure and move it to tier 2 storage. This makes it possible to lower the cost of primary storage materially. You can make more
effective and intelligent use of tiered storage, including the cloud, for added cost savings as well as lowering backup time.
• Unstructured content aggregation—enables identification and automatic classification of valuable content within enterprise systems such as
file shares, email, and Microsoft SharePoint, according to user-defined categories to improve manageability of business-critical data.
• Legacy data clean up—optimization of storage by facilitating the deletion of content with no business or legal value, thus reducing the overall
storage requirements and costs. The migration of inactive but valuable content from tier 1 storage to HPE 3PAR File Persona, where it will be
retained and securely archived.
• Compliance and governance—enables management and control of valuable business information in accordance with corporate policy and
regulatory requirements throughout the information lifecycle.
• Transparent data access—is enabled through file stubs, which minimizes change to business processes and delivers no noticeable impact to
end users.

Conclusion
With the unprecedented growth in data volumes and formats, it’s getting more difficult to find the information you need, maintain customer
service levels, and block information leakage. HPE 3PAR converged block and file solution with HPE 3PAR StoreServ featuring File Persona
and HPE Storage Optimizer solution intelligently manages business data. It applies rich metadata in accordance with corporate policy and
ensures data integrity through fully integrated role-based security. This solution delivers superior business insight and value with lower total cost
of ownership.
Useful links
HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage
HPE 3PAR File Persona

Technical overview of HPE 3PAR File Persona Software Suite

HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage best practices guide

HPE Storage Optimizer

Learn more at
hpe.com/storage/3PAR

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4AA6-4054ENW, February 2016