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StorHouse Archiving for File System Applications - page 2

How StorHouse/RFS Works
The StorHouse/RFS file system interface presents itself to an application as a virtual drive (an NFS, NTFS, or CIFS mount or share point). Applications read and write files to the virtual drive just as they would to any mapped Windows drive or NFS mount point.

Collecting and writing files. When an application writes a file to the virtual drive, StorHouse/RFS writes that file to a temporary staging area. Then, it groups multiple files from the staging area into a container, or collection, thereby providing highly efficient storage for small application files. At the same time, StorHouse/RFS generates file locator information such as file path, name, retention period, and size for each application file in the collection.

When a collection reaches a pre-set (configurable) size or at user-specified intervals, StorHouse/RFS copies the collection to StorHouse/SM for permanent file storage. To StorHouse/SM, each collection is one file composed of many individual application files.

After creating a collection, StorHouse/RFS inserts the associated file locator information into a relational table. On retrieval, the file locator data enables StorHouse/RFS to quickly identify the StorHouse file containing the requested application file. Figure 2 shows how staging, collecting, and writing work.

Figure 2: Staging, Collecting, and Writing Data

Retrieving files. StorHouse/RFS uses block level retrieval to dramatically reduce network traffic and improve application throughput. An application opens a file from the virtual drive just as it opens a file from any NTFS, remotely mounted CIFS, or NFS drive. StorHouse/RFS intercepts the request, interrogates the locator data, and determines where the collection resides. Then, it returns only the requested data, which the application opens/reads using native NTFS, NFS, or CIFS I/O.

Summary
StorHouse Archiving for File System Applications is an easy-to-use, survivable, scalable, highly accessible, and cost-effective archiving solution for file system applications. It supports compliance requirements as well as ILM processes and procedures for storing data affordably according to its changing value over time. StorHouse/RFS provides the standard interface, while StorHouse/SM supplies the storage management features. For more information, visit www.filetek.com or contact your FileTek account representative.

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