dpReaperCleanupMode

[bmorse]

If I remove a member of a dataset, will the previous versions of the data be automatically removed when if I set the dpReaperCleanupMode to automatic?

Thanks,

-Brian

[smoot]

Are you asking about the backup versions (and the snapshot copies in the volumes)?  If so, then no.  dpReaperCleanupMode only controls whether we delete SnapVault or SnapMirror relationships we don't think we need any more.  The snapshot copies are deleted when they are older than their retention setting.

[adaikkap]

hi pete,

              when we remove a member from a dataset (say secondary volume) using the edit wizard of NMC.

Conformance say removing all unneeded relationships.

Now this volume doesnt belong to the dataset anymore right ?

So will the retentinon time for the snapshots of this volume still apply even though these volumes are out of the dataset ?

Regards

adai

[smoot]

I'll have to look at the code to say how things actually work today.

Our original intent was that once a backup is created, it's independent of the dataset membership.  We still refer to the dataset and its protection policy to compute whether the backup has expired or not.  Other than that, it's real data and at the time we captured it, the user intended us to hang on to it.  Thus, the backup will continue to exist even if the dataset membership is subsequently changed.

By similar logic, we don't delete a backup version just because the primary data is destroyed or removed from the dataset.  The whole point is to hang on to that backup so you can recover the primary.

[bmorse]

If the option is set to Orphan, then the following is true - During the relationship cleanup process, the Orphan setting allows deletion of orphan relationships only from nonimported relationships that are no longer in a dataset.  So, if the member is removed from the dataset, then all data/retentions should be removed?

[adaikkap]

At any point we dont destroy the volume or data in the volume.

We only remove the relationship. viz SV/QSM/VSM

Regards

adai

[bmorse]

Thanks for the info.  FWIW, this feature is available in Microsoft DPM.

[adaikkap]

we are playing safe. we dont want to destroy users data.

we leave it to the user.

Regards

adai

[bmorse]

To provide some background - I was setting up OM/PM with a customer who has MS DPM.  The environment is space constrained.  The customer mentioned he would like to have the ability to remove/delete relationships that no longer needed to be kept online (for whatever reason).  I wasn't sure if we supported that option and told customer the same.  In researching, I found the dpReaperCleanupMode option and wanted to verify before presenting to customer.

Thanks

[smoot]

The thing is, a relationship doesn't use up space -- it's just entries on a configuration database somewhere.

If you're short space, you need to delete snapshots or entire volumes (or run dedupe, etc.).  That's a horse of a different color.  As Adai said, we're quite reluctant to delete user data, especially in ways that violates the protection policy.  That being said, we do have workflows for resizing volumes, deleting unneeded snapshots and destroying volumes.  In the shipping code, you need a provisioning license to enable those features and they only work on primary volumes.  In our next release, we've added a new space management workflow that (IMHO) improves the experience a great deal.