OpenVision HSM Extension

We only installed the HSM software and found that configuration was fairly simple, but we ran into a few snags. Our Exabyte 10e had a drive equipped with compression and we didn't compile that configuration into the kernel. After doing so, we had no difficulty adding tapes to our HSM pool.

Installing HSM software onto an existing Unix infrastructure can have some unexpected hurdles. For instance, some software packages alter configuration files during installation. But when you're running network information services (NIS), local files, such as /etc/services, aren't used. Instead, the NIS server's copy is used. HSM Extension was the only product that realized NIS was running and prompted us to update the server, rather than uselessly updating the local files.

Since OpenVision's is a client/server architecture, you can run the client software on any number of machines. The client software can request that data be migrated to the pools of media attached to the HSM server. Not only does this offer centrally managed media, but it also avoids the task of having to purchase multiple jukeboxes or auto-changers.

Configuring HSM-managed file systems is quite simple and thorough. You can set high and low watermarks, as well as many filters to exclude or include certain files or directories. Through the use of "stop files," even end users can prevent certain files from being migrated.

A quality graphical tool for managing these configurations would be a huge improvement, however. A graphical tool exists, but it's very minimal and not intuitive. We'd also like to see tools that can view the HSM file system status and graphically represent the information, such as those offered by Alphatronix and Hiarc.