Reduce Worry, Reuse Resources—Dell PowerStore Recycles
Tue, 06 Jun 2023 17:24:02 -0000
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When data loss occurs in an organization, it can be extremely devastating. Revenue loss, employee disruption, reputational damage, legal implications, and business closure are all potential ramifications.
Studies indicate that human error proves to be one of the most common causes of data loss today. With modern technology scaling in complexity and capacity, human error is bound to occur. Human error in an IT ecosystem can come in many forms, including accidental deletion of data, data sprawling (unorganized data), and administrative errors.
Data protection measures such as backups, snapshots, and replication may be used to rectify data loss from accidental deletion. In certain scenarios, using these measures may be time consuming and costly to a business. Users also might not have the resources to take backups or snapshots, or replicate data to another system.
Dell PowerStore Recycle Bin
In PowerStoreOS 3.5, we introduced the Recycle Bin—a guardrail that combats the accidental deletion of block storage resources. This feature is intended to mitigate human error in an IT environment.
For instance, a user might mistakenly delete a mission-critical volume on a PowerStore appliance. The user initially planned on remapping and re-protecting the volume but accidentally deleted it. With the Recycle Bin automatically enabled in PowerStoreOS 3.5, the deleted resource can now be easily retrieved seconds later. The prerequisites for deleting a block storage resource in PowerStoreOS 3.5 remain the same as with previous versions, which means a block storage resource must have no associated host mappings and no protection policies. Figure 1 displays the volume named “Marketing” that fits the criteria for deletion.
Figure 1 – Volumes page
When users delete a block storage resource, they are prompted with a delete resource confirmation window, as shown in Figure 2. Users can elect to skip the Recycle Bin when deleting the block storage resource by selecting the checkbox, causing immediate deletion. By default the checkbox is not selected, and proceeding without selecting this option places the block storage resource into the Recycle Bin.
Figure 2 – Delete Volume Window
The Recycle Bin can be accessed in the PowerStore Manager UI under the Storage tab.
Figure 3 – Storage > Recycle Bin
The Recycle Bin view has sections for Volumes and Volume Groups. Once a resource is placed into the Recycle Bin, a user has the option to Recover or Expire Now, as shown in Figure 4. The Recover option recovers the block storage resource back into the storage section for use, while the Expire Now option triggers expiration to permanently delete the resource.
Figure 4 – Recycle Bin view
Configuration of the Recycle Bin expiration duration applies throughout the whole PowerStore cluster. By default, the expiration duration value is set to 7 days, but it can be set to range anywhere from 0–30 days. Note that resources placed in the Recycle Bin consume storage capacity and count against the PowerStore appliance limits.
Figure 5 – Settings > Cluster > Recycle Bin
Conclusion
Data is the core component of your organization. It’s what makes your business operational, which is why it is imperative to protect it. We’ve all had those difficult days at work, and mistakes can happen. It’s great to have technology that is forgiving when those errors occur. I hope this blog gave you a quick glimpse of Dell PowerStore Recycle Bin’s resilience and how it can benefit your organization.
Resources
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Author: Louie Sasa, Senior Engineering Technologist