White Paper

Abstract
EMC

File-Level Retention (FLR) is a feature that provides a software

infrastructure for users to secure files on a production file system and retain the
files on cost-effective network-attached storage (NAS). The FLR Toolkit allows
users to leverage the capabilities of this feature. This white paper covers the
FLR Toolkit and the EMC VNXe series.
November 2011
MANAGING AN FLR-ENABLED NAS
ENVIRONMENT WITH THE EMC FLR TOOLKIT
ON VNXe
Overview

Managing an FLR-enabled NAS Environment with the
EMC FLR Toolkit on VNXe Overview

2



Copyright 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its
publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.
The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC Corporation makes
no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in
this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this
publication requires an applicable software license.
For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC Corporation
Trademarks on EMC.com.
All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.
Part Number H8189.1

3 Managing an FLR-enabled NAS Environment with the
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Table of contents
Executive summary ............................................................................................................... 4
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 5
Audience.......................................................................................................................................... 5
Terminology ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Managing and monitoring an FLR environment ....................................................................... 7
File-Level Retention for VNXe ............................................................................................................ 7
FLR states .................................................................................................................................... 7
FLR Toolkit ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Implementation .................................................................................................................. 10
Set a retention date ....................................................................................................................... 10
Manually set a retention date .................................................................................................... 10
Automatically set retention dates by using the Monitor Service ................................................. 11
Set a soft infinite retention date, and then a hard retention date ........................................ 14
Transition files to append-only ....................................................................................................... 15
Manage expired files ...................................................................................................................... 16
Monitor and report ......................................................................................................................... 17
Add the FLR Retention Date attribute column in Windows Explorer ............................................ 17
Query for files with active retention periods ............................................................................... 18
Run a report on FLR files by using a saved query builder ............................................................ 19
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 21
References .......................................................................................................................... 22

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Executive summary
All data goes through some form of an information lifecycle. With the introduction of
new regulations and compliance requirements, data now has extended lifecycles that
require longer maintenance periods. The rate at which files are being generated is
increasingly greater than the rate at which files are being destroyed. Fixed-content
data typically consumes more than half of an average organizations storage
resources. Safeguarding business data is an essential business practice in many
industries including health care, law, and broadcasting. There is clearly an urgent
need for cost-effective file retention technology.
EMC

File-Level Retention (FLR) is a software technology that addresses the need for
cost-effective file retention. With FLR, VNXe offers a cost-effective NAS solution that
can manage files over an entire lifecycle at the compliance level.
For the VNXe storage environment, FLR provides the infrastructure to protect file
systems with files that require retention. The FLR Toolkit is a Windows-based solution
that simplifies the management and monitoring of files that are stored on file systems
that have the FLR feature enabled. Additionally, the FLR Toolkit provides extra
capabilities for users to administer their FLR file systems with features such as
reporting, querying, and automatic assigning of retention dates.

5 Managing an FLR-enabled NAS Environment with the
EMC FLR Toolkit on VNXe Overview

Introduction
This white paper explores the features of the FLR Toolkit and the available
management components. Specifically, this paper discusses the common operations
used by administrators to manage and monitor files stored on FLR-enabled file
systems. This white paper also highlights several features of the FLR Toolkit and
demonstrates how to apply them in an FLR environment. The features covered in this
paper are available with EMC VNXe version 2.0 and later, and the FLR Toolkit
version 3.4.

This white paper is intended to be used by EMC field personnel and customers who
are familiar with EMC VNXe technology, including the FLR Toolkit, but are not familiar
with how to use the Toolkit in an FLR environment.

This section covers some key terms that are used in this paper, but it does not
include terms that are generic to the basic management and administration of FLR on
VNXe.
Table 1. Terminology
Term Definition
Append-only state The append-only state is the state of a file
when the data in it cannot be modified, but
the file can have new data appended to the
end of it. In addition, the file itself cannot
be deleted. Once a file in the append-only
state has been written to, changing it to the
locked state by making it read-only locks it
into that state until its retention date has
passed.
Common Internet File System (CIFS) CIFS is a file-sharing protocol based on the
Microsoft Server Message Block (SMB). It
allows users to share file systems over the
Internet and intranets.
Expired state The expired state is the state of a file when
its retention date has passed. A file in the
expired state can be reverted back to the
locked state or deleted from the FLR-
enabled file system, but cannot be altered.
If the expired file is empty, it can be
transitioned to the append-only state.
File-level retention (FLR) FLR lets you store data on standard
rewriteable magnetic disks by using CIFS
operations to create a permanent,
unalterable set of files and directories.
Audience
Terminology

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Term Definition
FLR clock The FLR clock is a non-modifiable, per file
system clock used to track the retention
date. It is initialized when an FLR-enabled
file system is mounted read/write on the
VNXe. It does not advance when a file
system is unmounted or mounted read-
only.
Locked state A file is in the locked state when its
read/write permission is changed to read-
only in a file system enabled for file-level
retention and a retention date has been set.
Files committed to the locked state cannot
be altered or deleted until their retention
date has passed.
Not-locked state The not-locked state is the initial state of a
file when it is created. A file that is not
locked is treated in the same manner as
any file in the file system not enabled for
FLR. This means it can be renamed,
modified, or deleted until the time that the
file is locked.
Retention date The retention date is the date until which a
locked file in an FLR-enabled file system
will be protected. Users and applications
manage a files retention date by using CIFS
to set the files last access time to a future
date and time. The retention timestamp is
compared to the file systems FLR clock to
determine whether a files retention date
has passed.


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Managing and monitoring an FLR environment
This section describes the two main components that are used to manage and
monitor an FLR environment: FLR file systems and the FLR Toolkit. This overview does
not cover the FLR feature and toolkit in its entirety, but it describes the concepts and
elements pertinent to administering an FLR environment. Implementation on page 10
covers the operations that are applicable in an FLR environment.
FLR is an optional VNXe software feature that protects files from modification or
deletion until a specified retention date. When you use FLR, you can archive data to
file-level retention storage on standard rewritable magnetic disks through CIFS
operations. FLR enables you to create a permanent, unalterable set of files and
directories and ensures the integrity of the data.
In this version of the FLR Toolkit, additional measures are taken to secure the
environment in which FLR files are stored. This is to ensure the integrity and
protection of FLR files.
In FLR-E file systems, you cannot modify or delete files that are in the locked state.
Additionally, the path to a file in the locked state is also protected from modification,
which means you cannot delete or rename a directory on an FLR file system if it
contains protected files.
There is an append-only state that enables users to add data to the end of locked
files. This feature is typically used for log files.
Note The FLR Toolkit version 3.4 does not detect or display FLR state for append-
only files.
FLR states
In FLR-E file systems, however, there is an additional state that supports append-only
files. Figure 1 shows the four possible states in the new FLR-E file systems. The four
states are locked, not locked, append-only, and expired.

Figure 1. FLR state diagram
Not locked: All files start as not locked. A not locked file is an unprotected file that is
treated as a regular file in a file system. In an FLR file system, the state of an
unprotected file can change to locked or remain as not locked.

File-Level
Retention for VNXe

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Locked: A locked file has a set retention period that prevents users from modifying
the file data or extending, deleting, or renaming the file. A locked file remains in this
state until its retention period expires. An administrator can perform two actions on a
locked file:
Increase the file retention date to extend the existing retention period.
If the locked file is initially empty, move the file to the append-only state.
Append-only: You cannot delete, rename, and modify the existing data in an append-
only file, but you can add data to it. The file can remain in the append-only state
forever. However, you can transition it back to the locked state by setting the file
status to read-only with a retention date.
Expired: When the retention period ends, the file transitions from the locked state to
the expired state. You cannot modify or rename a file in the expired state, but you can
delete the file. An expired file can have its retention period extended such that the
file transitions back to the locked state. An empty expired file can also transition to
the append-only state.
The FLR Toolkit is a solution to manage protected files that are stored on file systems
that have the FLR feature enabled. After a file system is created and enabled with FLR,
you can apply FLR protection on each file manually or automatically through the
toolkits Monitor Service. The toolkit also provides a GUI tool, called FLR Explorer, for
file querying, reporting, and status checks.
FLR Toolkit version 3.4 is an application suite for 32-bit Microsoft Windows platforms.
FLR Toolkit provides users with GUI tools, a command line interface (CLI), and a
software development kit to provide management solutions for FLR-enabled file
systems. You can download the toolkit from the EMC online support website. You
must install the toolkit on the client machine to use the following CLI and FLR Explorer
tools.
The CLI tools are:
flrapply: The flrapply CLI tool enables users to apply retention dates on files
either individually or by specific directories.
flrquery: The flrquery CLI tool enables users to query the files within a CIFS
share based on specified file-selection criteria, and performs actions such as
move, delete, and extend the retention date on the set of files returned by the
query.
The FLR Explorer tools are:
Dashboard: The dashboard provides an overall snapshot of a user-specified
CIFS share. It generates a report with charts that show the percentage
distribution of files in various FLR states, the number of files that expire within
the next month on a weekly basis, and the number of files that expire in the
current year on a monthly basis.

FLR Toolkit

9 Managing an FLR-enabled NAS Environment with the
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Report generator: The report generator builds detailed reports about files in a
user-specified CIFS share. You can customize the report by FLR state, file type,
retention date, and access and modification dates. The results are displayed in
graphs and tables and are listed file-by-file with their corresponding pathname
and retention date, if applicable.
Query builder: The query builder enables users to search for files in a CIFS
share by specifying the pathname, FLR state, file type, and access and
modification dates.
The FLR Monitor Service is a tool that enables users to use the toolkit to actively
monitor specified pathnames and automatically set predefined retention dates to
files created in the directories. The tool can also monitor expiring files and act on
them based on user-defined policies, such as deleting, moving, and extending
retention dates on expired files. You can apply the Monitor Service to multiple
pathnames. This allows each pathname to have its own policy for retention setting
and file retention period expiration.
Since the FLR Toolkit runs as a Windows application, it can only manage file systems
that are mapped as CIFS shares.

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Implementation
This section illustrates the steps to perform the following operations:
Set a retention date
Manually set retention dates for each file in a Windows environment
Set up Monitor Service to automatically set retention dates on new files in a
specified pathname
Set a soft infinite retention date on a file, and then set a hard retention
date
Transition files to append-only
Manually transition a locked file to the append-only state
Manage expired files
Set up Monitor Service to automatically act on newly expired files
Monitor and report
Add the EMC FLR Date attribute column in Windows Explorer
Query for files with active retention periods
Run a report on FLR files by using a saved query builder

Manually set a retention date
To manually set a retention date on a file:
1. Set a retention date.
2. Lock the file by setting it to read-only.
In a Windows environment, you can set a retention date by going to the files
Properties window and selecting the FLR Attribute tab. The FLR Attribute tab is
available on the client machine after the shell extensions component of the FLR
Toolkit is installed on it. The FLR Attribute tab displays the FLR Date (or retention
date), if applicable. The FLR Date is the date when the file expires. You can set the
retention date in three different ways by selecting the appropriate option in the
Adjust FLR by field:
Absolute Date and Time
Incremental (with respect to the current date and time or the current FLR date if
it exists)
Infinite retention period
In Figure 2, the file Daily_report (3-23-09).xls is saved in a folder where the files are
locked for five days (Y:\Locked 5 days). The file is then set with an incremental
retention period of five days. Click OK or Apply to automatically convert the file to
read-only, which directs the FLR file system to lock the file until the retention period
expires.
Set a retention
date

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Figure 2. Set the retention date to five days after the current date and time
It is important to note that the FLR Date is derived from the current time of the client
machine and not from the VNXe. To synchronize the time reported on both the client
machine and VNXe, refer to the same Network Time Protocol server. This can still
represent an issue if the client machine and the VNXe are located in different time
zones. For example, files may be listed as expired earlier than they should be
because of the time zone difference.
Automatically set retention dates by using the Monitor Service
When using the Monitor Service to automatically set retention dates, a rule is set for
files in Y:\Hold until 6-30-09 (the path is the same as \\48_S2\flr-e\Hold until 6-30-
09) so that all new files saved in that pathname have a retention date automatically
set to June 30, 2009.


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To automatically set retention dates:
1. From the Start menu, select Program Files > EMC > FLR Toolkit > FLR Monitor
Service.
2. Click FLR Connections.
3. Click Add as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Add a new rule to set retention dates
4. Type the correct pathname and select Also monitor sub-directories so that the
rule is applied for files in subdirectories under the pathname as shown in
Figure 4.

Figure 4. Select the directory pathname to apply the rule

13 Managing an FLR-enabled NAS Environment with the
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5. Click Monitoring Options. You can specify when to scan the specific pathname.
To initiate an immediate operation by this rule, select Fast. This option uses
CIFS notifications to trigger the rule to run.
6. Click FLR Options.
7. Select Absolute Date and Time and set it to June 30, 2009.
Note The Advanced button enables users to filter out the file types to exclude from
this rule.
8. Click OK to save the settings for the rule.
9. In the Monitor Service application, click Apply to save the new rule.
10. If Monitor Service is not running, click Service Details in the Monitor Service
application and then click Start to begin the Monitor Service.
11. If the Monitor Service was not running at the time the new rule was created, you
must enable the new rule after starting the Monitor Service. In the Monitor
Service application, click FLR Connections and select \\48_S2\flr_e\Hold until
6-30-09. Click Enable to enable Monitor Service for this directory tree as shown
in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Enable the rule for \\48_S2\flr_e\Hold until 6-30-09


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Set a soft infinite retention date, and then a hard retention date
A soft retention date has an infinite retention period. To set a soft, infinite
retention date:
1. Right-click a file and click Properties to open a Properties window.
2. Click FLR Attributes in the Properties window.
3. In the Adjust FLR by list box, select Infinite.
4. Click Apply.
5. Click OK to confirm all settings.
Users can then set an absolute or hard retention date to reduce the retention
period.
To set a hard retention date:
1. Right-click a file and click Properties to open a Properties window.
2. Click FLR Attributes in the Properties window.
3. In the Adjust FLR by list box, select Absolute Date and Time.
4. In the New FLR Value list box, set the absolute retention date. An example is
March 30, 2009. Figure 6 shows an example of setting a hard retention date.

Figure 6. Set a hard retention date with an existing soft infinite retention date
5. Click OK to confirm the settings.

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You can transition an empty file from the locked state to an append-only state. In the
append-only state, you can append a file but you cannot delete it. However, you
cannot modify appended data in an append-only file at a later time. FLR allows users
to append to the file until it is transitioned back to the locked state. In a Windows
environment, clear Read-only on an empty locked file to transition to the append-only
state. For example, you can set a log file to append-only to protect previous entries
written to it and append additional entries to the existing data.
To set an empty locked file to append-only:
1. Right-click a locked file and click Properties to open a Properties window.
2. Click General in the Properties window and set the file to read-only by selecting
Read-only and clicking Apply.
3. Clear Read-only as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Setting an empty locked file to append-only
4. Click OK. Now you can append the file.

Transition files to
append-only

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To lock the file at a later stage:
Set a retention date by using the FLR Attributes tab on the files Properties page.
Figure 8 shows an example of locking an append-only file and setting a retention
date.

Figure 8. Lock an append-only file and set a retention date
You can manage expired files automatically through the Monitor Service. The
application provides users the ability to set a rule for a specified directory tree to
handle locked files as their retention period ends. Users can use the application to:
Delete expired files permanently
Move expired files to a specified location
Extend the retention period of expired files
To manage expired files:
1. Run the Monitor Service application. From the Start menu, select Program Files >
EMC > FLR Toolkit > FLR Monitor Service.
2. Click Expiration Rules and then click Add.
3. Use the Browse button to select the Retention Source to which the rule applies.
Apply the rule to all subdirectories by selecting the appropriate checkbox.
Manage expired
files

17 Managing an FLR-enabled NAS Environment with the
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4. Click Execution Schedule and then select the time frame (daily or weekly) the
application must monitor the specified directory tree with this expiration rule.
5. Click Actions and then select an appropriate action.
Note Figure 9 shows an example to extend the retention period on expired files by
30 days. The Advanced button enables the user to exclude certain file types
from this expiration rule.

Figure 9. Extend the retention period of expired files by 30 days
6. Click OK to save the settings.
7. Click Apply on the Monitor Service window to save the new expiration rule.
8. If the Monitor Service is not running, click Service Details on the Monitor
Service application and then click Start to begin the monitoring service.

Add the FLR Retention Date attribute column in Windows Explorer
You can monitor the retention date for each file from Windows Explorer. When the FLR
Toolkit is installed, the EMC FLR Date attribute column is available. Figure 10 shows
the EMC FLR Date column in the file browser window. The following steps describe the
procedure to add the column to the current files browser view.

Figure 10. File browser window with the EMC FLR Date column

Monitor and report

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To add the EMC FLR Date attribute column:
1. In Windows Explorer, right-click the attribute column heading as shown in
Figure 11. A list of options appears.

Figure 11. Adding a new attribute column to the file browser window
2. Select More.
3. Select EMC FLR Date.
4. Click OK.
Query for files with active retention periods
To run a query on files stored on CIFS shares of FLR-enabled file systems, users can
use the FLR Query CLI or the Query Interface found on FLR Explorer. This procedure
uses an example to show how to build a query from FLR Explorer. The example shows
how to build a query for files with active retention periods in \\48_S2\flr_e, except for
PowerPoint files with a .ppt file extension, which expire in one year.
To query for files with active retention periods:
1. Open FLR Explorer.
2. From the Start menu, select Program Files > EMC > FLR Toolkit > FLR Explorer.
3. Select Build a Query.
4. In the Query Builder:
a. In the Search For list box, select Files in Specific Retention State.
b. In the Search Path field, select \\48_S2\flr_e (which is locally called Y:\ in
this example.
c. Select Include sub-directories to query the entire directory tree.
d. In the Search Pattern list box, select Exclude and then type *.ppt in the field
adjacent to it.
e. In the Find Files That list box, select Will Expire Within and then type 1 year
in the Search Parameters area.

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f. Click Save and Execute.
g. Save the query as expire_one_year.xml. (You can set a default directory in
which custom queries are saved by going to FLR Explorer > Configuration.
Click Advanced to get to the Query Files area.)
Figure 12 shows the parameters entered for this example and the corresponding
results.

Figure 12. Query Builder panel
Run a report on FLR files by using a saved query builder
This scenario describes how to build a report by using the Reports option in FLR
Explorer. The following example runs a report on \\48_S2\flr-e by using the query
search parameters shown in Query for files with active retention periods on page 18.
The search parameters for the report builder are the same as for the query builder.
To run a report by using a saved query builder:
1. Open FLR Explorer.
2. From the Start menu, select Program Files > EMC > FLR Toolkit > FLR Explorer.
3. Select Reports.
4. In the Report Builder:
a. In the Report Type list box, select Detailed.
b. In the Query Options list box, select expire_one_year.
c. Click Generate Report.

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The detailed report provides an overview of the file results segregated by file type.
This report type also lists each reported file and its retention date. A file count is also
provided. Figure 13 shows the search parameters and the detailed results.

Figure 13. Report Builder in FLR Explorer


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Conclusion
The EMC FLR Toolkit is an important component to manage and monitor an FLR-
enabled file system in a CIFS environment. The FLR feature provides the software
infrastructure to protect and retain mission-critical files. The toolkit provides users
and administrators the ability to:
Set retention dates on each file manually
Set rules for the application to automatically set retention dates on multiple
files
Set policies for the application to automatically act on expiring locked files
Query files on CIFS shares of FLR-enabled file systems
Build reports on files stored on CIFS shares of FLR-enabled file systems
The FLR Toolkit is an essential part of applying the FLR feature at the user level. With
the Monitor Service feature, an administrator can easily set policies to enable the
system to automatically set retention dates and act on expiring files. Together, FLR
and FLR Toolkit provide administrators with ease of use and ease of manageability to
strengthen the business practices in the company as file retention becomes a more
important aspect of mission-critical operations.

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References

The following documents, located on the EMC online support website, provide
additional relevant information about FLR and FLR Toolkit. Access to these documents
is based on your login credentials. If you do not have access to the content listed
below, contact your EMC representative:
EMC File-Level Retention Toolkit 3.4.1 Read Me First
EMC File-Level Retention Toolkit 3.4.1 Release Notes
EMC File-Level Retention Toolkit 3.4 .1 Technical Note
The File-Level Retention Toolkit can be found on the EMC online support website.