Archiware P5 and LucidLink

  • Updated

Archive, Backup, and Synchronize LucidLink Filespaces Using Archiware P5

Introduction to Archiware

Archiware specializes in data management solutions. Archiware P5 is a software suite that protects and manages critical data across various platforms and storage environments. Archiware P5 offers modules for backup, synchronization, and archiving, each catering to different aspects of data management.

Maximizing Data Security and File Preservation with Archiware P5 and LucidLink

Integrating Archiware P5 with LucidLink streamlines data management, enabling archive, backup, and synchronization processes. LucidLink’s technology offers real-time access to cloud-stored data, streaming files directly without downloads, and ensuring data access from anywhere for optimized productivity.

When combined with Archiware P5, benefits include data security, data preservation, scalability, synchronization for collaboration, and easy retrieval. P5’s versioning, retention policies, and metadata capabilities improve data organization and compliance.

This integration enhances data protection through redundancy and disaster recovery, enabling quick restoration in case of data loss. The flexible, cross-platform deployment supports hybrid cloud environments, merging on-premise and cloud storage for optimal scalability and efficiency. Together, Archiware P5 and LucidLink offer a robust, secure, and efficient production data management solution.

The Importance of Distinguishing Between Archive, Backup, and Synchronization

For efficient and optimized data management, the distinctions between archiving, backup, and synchronization are crucial for ensuring data security, accessibility for business continuity, and long-term preservation. Each process serves a unique purpose, and requirements, and is essential for a comprehensive data management strategy.

Archive:

  • Purpose: Long-term storage of inactive data like completed projects.
  • Characteristics: Data is moved to slower, cheaper storage tiers and indexed for future retrieval.
  • Use Case: Migrating completed projects or infrequently accessed data that need to be kept for reference, reuse, monetization, or compliance to the Archive.

Backup:

  • Purpose: Protect ongoing production data by creating restorable copies.
  • Characteristics: Data is copied to separate media to prevent loss, with strategies like full, incremental, or progressive backups.
  • Use Case: Creating a secondary copy of active files and projects to safeguard against accidental deletion, hardware failure, local incidents, or malware.

Synchronization:

  • Purpose: Keep data consistent across multiple locations or creating data availability for time-critical data (no restore necessary)
  • Characteristics: Continuous or periodic syncing between locations or storage devices.
  • Use Case: Ensuring remote sites have the latest data and maintaining redundancy or building a fail-over solution.

Using Archiware P5 with LucidLink

Setting Up Archiware P5 with LucidLink:

  1. Install and Configure LucidLink: Set up a LucidLink account and create a Filespace.
  2. Mount LucidLink Filespace: Use the LucidLink client to mount the Filespace on your system.
  3. Download and install Archiware P5: the installer includes all modules, licensing activates them.
  4. Decide what P5 module to start with: P5 Backup, P5 Archive, or P5 Synchronize.
  5. Follow the step-by-step instructions below
  6. Each module offers a Setup Assistant via “Getting Started” in the left column of the P5 interface.

Archive Workflow: LucidLink to S3 Bucket

Please note that an archive workflow from LucidLink is possible to any type of data storage, including another LucidLink volume

Steps:

The quickest way to configure an archive in P5 is to use the Setup Assistant via Getting Started in the left column. It guides you through the process. The settings can be tweaked later.

  1. Choose Archive in P5 at the top of the P5 interface 
  2. Choose Getting Started: Start the setup assistant and select target storage as Cloud object storage. Select and configure the desired Cloud service.
  3. Select Data to Archive: Choose the appropriate LucidLink Filespace.
  4. Start Archive: Start the archive process and monitor the progress via the P5 Job Monitor.

Restore Process:

Archiware P5 writes archived files into its own container format. This enhances the efficiency, security, and manageability of the archiving process, providing a robust solution for long-term data preservation on disk, LTO tape, and Cloud storage. To access the files the P5 catalog provides all filenames, proxies, and previews as well as metadata as configured.

  1. Restore Section: Select Restore in P5 and choose Archive.
  2. Restore: Browse or search the Archive Index to find files to restore. Select: “Restore to” and decide on target storage path for restore.

Archive Settings are available in the Archive Plan (left column):

Backup Workflow: LucidLink to AWS S3

Please note that a backup workflow from LucidLink is possible to any type of data storage, including another LucidLink volume

In this process, a LucidLink filespace is backed up to an AWS S3 object store to ensure data security and enable data restoration in the event of data loss or a disaster. Since P5 Backup data is written in a container format the access and restore works via the P5 Backup interface.

Steps:

  1. Choose Backup in P5 at the top of the P5 interface
  2. Choose Getting Started: Start the setup assistant and choose the LucidLink filespace as the data source.
  3. Specify Target Storage: Select AWS Object Store.
  4. Create New Service: Enter Amazon credentials.

  1. Set Up Local Storage: Use local storage for staging. Please note that keeping an additional local copy will require extra storage space on your local hard drive or SSD.
  2. Start Backup: Start the Backup process and use the P5  Job Monitor to view the progress.

Restore Process:

To browse or restore your backup, follow these steps:

  1. Select Restore followed by Backup in Archive P5.
  2. Navigate to your backup.
  3. To restore, select Restore to to choose the desired options and follow the on-screen instructions.

 

Backup Settings are available in the Backup Plan (left column):

Synchronize a LucidLink Filespace with a Network Volume or Local Storage with P5 Synchronize

Please note that a synchronization workflow from LucidLink is possible to any type of data storage, including another LucidLink volume

This process synchronizes a LucidLink filespace with a network volume or local storage to mitigate disaster scenarios or other disruptions. Archiware P5 Synchronize writes the exact files, not in a container format. Note that under Windows, a network volume must be mounted in a specific way.

Preparation for Windows systems:

  1. Download PsExec: Obtain from Microsoft.
  2. Mount Network Volume: Use PsExec to mount the volume to the local system account.
  3. Execute this command from the command line with administrative privileges:
    1. psexec -s -i net use X: \\XXX.XXX.XXX.XX\SHARENAME /persistent:yes

Steps:

  1. Select Synchronize in P5 at the top of the P5 interface
  2. Choose Getting Started: Start the setup assistant and choose the LucidLink filespace as the data source.
  3. Select Target Storage: Choose the mounted network volume.

  1. Set Interval: Define the synchronization interval.
  2. Start the Sync: start the sync process and monitor the progress via the P5 Job Monitor.

Sync Settings are available in the Synchronize Plan (left column):

These examples cover only the basic setups. There are many more options and settings available to cover almost any requirement. By understanding these basic processes and settings, you can effectively manage and safeguard your data using Archiware P5 and LucidLink.

Was this article helpful?

0 out of 0 found this helpful