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SmartLink files are the sole means to access file data stored in Microsoft Azure, so protecting them from accidental deletion is important.
This section discusses using PowerScale SyncIQ and NDMP to back up SmartLink files.
Note: SmartLink files cannot be backed up using a copy command, such as secure copy (scp).
SyncIQ is CloudPools-aware, but consider the snapshot-efficiency guidance in Sparse files handling, especially where snapshot retention periods on the target cluster will be long.
SyncIQ policies support two types of data replication for CloudPools:
For information about cross-version compatibility of CloudPools, see NDMP and SyncIQ support.
SyncIQ, SmartPools, and CloudPools licenses are required on both the source and target PowerScale cluster. It is highly recommended to setup a scheduled SyncIQ backup of the SmartLink files. For more information about PowerScale SyncIQ, see the Dell PowerScale SyncIQ: Architecture, Configuration, and Considerations white paper.
When SyncIQ replicates SmartLink files, it also replicates the local cache state and unsynchronized cache data from the source PowerScale cluster to the target PowerScale cluster. Figure 11 shows the SyncIQ replication when replicating directories including SmartLink files and unarchived normal files. Both unidirectional and bi-directional replication are supported. Appendix A: Step-by-step configuration example provides steps for failing over to a secondary PowerScale cluster and failing back to a primary PowerScale cluster.
Note: OneFS manages cloud access at the cluster level and does not support managing cloud access at the directory level. You need to remove cloud access on the source cluster and add cloud access on the target cluster when failing over a SyncIQ directory containing SmartLink files to a target cluster. If there are multiple CloudPools storage accounts, removing or adding cloud access affects all CloudPools storage accounts on the source or target cluster.
Note: If encryption is enabled in a file pool policy for CloudPools, SyncIQ also replicates all the relevant encryption keys to the secondary PowerScale cluster along with the SmartLink files.
NDMP is also CloudPools-aware and supports three backup and restore methods for CloudPools:
For information about cross-version compatibility of CloudPools, see NDMP and SyncIQ support.
It is possible to update the file data and send the updated data to the cloud storage. Multiple versions of SmartLink files can be backed up to tapes using NDMP, and multiple versions of CDOs are protected on Microsoft Azure under the data retention setting. You can restore a specific version of a SmartLink file from tapes to a PowerScale cluster and continue to access (read or update) the file like before.
Note: If encryption is enabled in the file pool policy for CloudPools, NDMP also backs up all the relevant encryption keys to tapes along with the SmartLink files.