New Features - SRM Windows File System Agent

New Features for SRM Windows File System Agent

Integrated SRM Add-On Functionality

SRM for Windows File System can now be used as an add-on feature for the Windows File System Agent. When SRM is enabled at the agent or subclient level of the Windows File System Agent, SRM reports can be generated for all backup data as soon as the first full backup job has completed.

Agentless SRM

Agentless SRM is a compact version of Storage Resource Management (SRM) where a SRM File System Agent collects data from remote computers (i.e., managed clients) and operates without having to install Agent software on the managed clients. From the SRM File System Agent, managed clients are configured either manually or automatically using an Agentless SRM Policy. For either method, you can import data from a flat file, Active Directory Server, OpenLDAP, and Network Information Service (NIS). A new Agentless Client Group is created when the Agentless SRM Policy is run. Summaries and reports are also provided for various entities (e.g., File Systems, Volume Groups, Shares) for the managed clients. It allows performing discovery level data collection without the need of installing an SRM agent thereby simplifying the use of deployment of SRM for monitoring storage and capacity utilization. For more information, see Agentless SRM.

Summary Enhancements

In this release, summaries have been cosmetically enhanced to render sharper charts and graphs for these SRM Agents:

  • SRM Windows
  • SRM Unix
  • SRM NAS

Real-time Monitoring

Critical information that rapidly changes is automatically collected and updated every 15 minutes by the Bull Calypso Communications Service. The information that is collected applies to summaries and a few select categories of a report for the SRM Windows and SRM Virtual Server Agents. For more information, see Real-time Monitoring.

New Enterprise Reports

Several new out-of-the box templates are now available to provide a big-picture snapshot of the computers, software, and the storage being used across your enterprise. They are as follows:

Computer Inventory Report

This report provides a view of the computers across your enterprise, such as its IP address, operating system, available and used memory, etc. For more information, see SRM Enterprise Reports.

Duplicate Files Report

This report provides a view of duplicate files that exist across your enterprise, such as file size, name, modification time, access time, etc. For more information, see SRM Enterprise Reports.

Server Capacity Report

This report provides a view of all disk drives across your enterprise, such as used space, free space, available space, total space, etc. per server. For more information, see SRM Enterprise Reports.

Software Inventory Report

This report provides a view on the type of software that is running on your computers across the enterprise, such as the name of the software package, vendor, the installed anti-virus, etc. For more information, see SRM Enterprise Reports.

Storage Aggregate Report

This report provides an inventory of entire storage across the CommCell in your enterprise, such as total used, free space, unallocated space, , etc. For more information, see SRM Enterprise Reports.

Storage Inventory Report

This report provides a view of the type and capacity of the storage being used across your enterprise, such as storage system type, disk name, total capacity, allocated space, etc. For more information, see SRM Enterprise Reports.

Scheduling Reports with Schedule Policies

In addition to scheduling only one report, you can schedule several reports with Schedule Policy. In this release, you need to save a report to a template first before adding it to a schedule with Schedule Policy. For more information, see Scheduling Reports with Schedule Policy.

General Report Enhancements

SRM Reports and Summaries now use a sleek, versatile, and easy-to-use reporting framework that enables you to easily view and analyze vital data. Enterprise and Application based reports can now be rapidly generated and customized. The following new features are available in this release:

  • Reports can be filtered using filter criteria, such as client, client group, the columns to display in the report, etc. Report options to control how reports are displayed are also provided to control data size units, the number of rows to display, and sorting order.
  • Templates of predefined columns are provided so that a report can be generated quickly. The columns are preselected but can be adjusted as needed.
  • Filters can be applied to further refine and retrieve SRM information from the clients and client groups in your CommCell. These SQL based queries are useful if the provided report options (clients, columns) do not provide the necessary data required for your environment. Any SQL query that is supported by a SQL Server can be used in filters for SRM reporting. Additionally, you can retrieve the full SQL query for use in third-party applications once the conditions have been defined in the query. See Filters for SRM Reports for more information.
  • Reports can now be saved and shared in various formats, such as HTML, Excel, and PDF.
  • Ability to generate notifications from scheduled reports. Notifications can be sent to an email, pager, SNMP Trap, and RSS feed. Notifications replaces Thresholds and Actions that were supported in the previous release.
  • Copy Chart is a report option that allows you to copy any chart in BMP format and use it in other applications like Microsoft Word.
  • SRM reports no longer require Microsoft Reporting Services.

SRM Views

SRM Views allow you to query information on the SRM Server directly from the SQL database in the same manner as CommServe Views and CommNet Views. These new views provide enterprise-wide information for file system utilization, inactive data via last access time distributions, etc. For more information, see SRM Views.

Express Software Support

In addition to CommServe, CommCell Console, MediaAgent, etc., the SRM Server is a supported component for installation in the Express version of Calypso software. For more information, see Express Software Version Support in Express Quick Start Guide.

Hierarchical Folder Views

A graphical representation of the space being used by data per folder at the subclient level is now viewable in a chart. This view (View Folder Size) is available at the subclient level for the SRM NAS, SRM Windows File System, and SRM Unix File System Agents. For more information, see Folder Size.

File and Time Categories

For easy identification, System Files, Web page files, Temporary files are now classified as file categories by default. A user can now also define their own file categories.  Clicking on these distribution charts from summaries and reports will give file level detail including exact location, size etc. For more information on File and Time Categories see File Categories.

Folders and Shares Supported as Billable Entities

The SRM Server now supports folders and shares as billable entities. This facilitates calculating the cost of storage at the folder or share level. Folders are supported for SRM NAS, SRM Windows File System, and SRM Unix File System Agents. In addition to folders and shares, other objects that can be associated with billable entities are databases, subclients, instances, etc. For more information, see Billable Entities.

New CommCell Features supported for windows file system

Deployment

Custom Package

The Custom Package feature is now extended to almost all products in the Calypso suite. Using Custom Packages, you no longer have to push the entire software DVD through a network, which is especially useful for reducing WAN/LAN payload while installing remote clients.

It is also possible to create Custom Packages using a customized .xml file.

When used in conjunction with the Install Software from the CommCell Console and Automatic Updates features, WAN bandwidth can be drastically reduced during remote site installations. Learn more...

Install from the CommCell Console

The software installation for this component can be initiated and managed from the CommCell Console, which facilitates the building of your CommCell and eliminates the need to manually install the software. Additionally, the installation of this component can be scheduled to occur at a time suitable for your environment. For more information, see Install Software from the CommCell Console.

Uninstall from the CommCell Console

This component can be uninstalled using the CommCell Console. The Uninstall Software utility allows you to quickly see a list of the software packages installed on the selected computer, from which you can then select the components to uninstall. With this, you can easily manage removing software components from client computers and MediaAgents in your CommCell without having to directly access each computer. For more information, see Uninstall Components using the CommCell Console.

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