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The OneFS CloudPools feature allows tiering cold or infrequently accessed data to lower-cost cloud storage. It is built on the Dell PowerScale SmartPools file pool policy framework, which provides granular control of file placement on a PowerScale cluster.
CloudPools extends the PowerScale namespace to the private cloud, Dell ECS, as illustrated in the following figure. It allows applications and users to retain access to data through the same network path and protocols regardless of where the file data physically resides.
Figure 1. CloudPools solution architecture
Note: A SmartPools license and a CloudPools license are required on each node of the PowerScale cluster. Dell Isilon OneFS version 8.0.0 or later is required for CloudPools 1.0. Dell Isilon OneFS version 8.2.0 or later is required for CloudPools 2.0.
Policies are defined on the PowerScale cluster and drive the tiering of data. Clients can access the archived data through various protocols including SMB, NFS, HDFS, and S3.