Home > Storage > PowerScale (Isilon) > Industry Solutions and Verticals > Media and Entertainment > PowerScale OneFS: A Metadata Driven Approach to On Demand Tiering > DataIQ API
DataIQ has a Python API for external access to its file index database and data tagging infrastructure. The Dell DataIQ Developer Info Hub has up-to-date documents with examples of how to access and use the DataIQ API.
The DataIQ Python module is downloaded directly from the DataIQ VM itself for import into a Python development environment. Once imported, the DataIQ API documentation can be access directly from a Python development environment with the command: help(claritynowapi). The white paper Dell DataIQ API: Insights and Analysis is an excellent starting point for working with the DataIQ API.
Two API functions are leveraged for the metadata tiering functionality in this white paper. First, a tag <key>/<value> is passed to the DataIQ API and the API returns a list of all directories associated with that tag. Next, one of those directory paths is passed back to the API and DataIQ returns a list of items contained in that path.
The theory behind this technique would be to pick a particular tag, for instance, shotgun_status / dlivd. DataIQ would return a list of all directories that have that tag. Next, an administrator could pick one of those directories and get back a list of its contents (by pulling this information straight from the DataIQ index). Code to achieve this outcome is illustrated below.
DataIQ was derived from a product originally named ClarityNow. The API retains the name of this legacy product. As such, the term ClarityNow is used in calling the DataIQ API.