Moving and deleting files automatically

This topic describes how to run a script that moves or deletes files based on file attributes, such as storage pool, fileset, file age, and size. These attributes are defined as a set of file management rules.

Prerequisites

You must have Administrator privileges to perform this task.

The client must have access to all LUNs in the source and target storage pool for the files that are being moved.

Context

The script, called sfslcm, is run on the master metadata server. You can run the script automatically at regularly scheduled intervals using a UNIX® cron job and control its priority with the UNIX nice command.

You can run the script in planning mode first to check the projected results, before running it directly. When you run the script directly, be aware that files that are open can still be moved or deleted.

Note:
  • When moving files, all the FlashCopy® images for the file are also moved.
  • When deleting files, only the primary image of the file is deleted; FlashCopy images are not deleted.

Steps

  1. If you are running the script in planning mode first and then direct mode, follow these steps:
    1. Using a text editor, create a rules file specifying your policy for moving and deleting files. See File management policy syntax for details.
    2. Run the sfslcm script in planning mode by entering ./sfslcm.pl -phase plan -rules rules_file_name -plan plan_file_name, where
      rules_file_name
      The fully qualified or relative path name of the rules file.
      plan_file_name
      The fully qualified or relative path name of the file to which the plan is written.
    3. Examine the resulting plan. The plan file contains a line of information for each file that would be affected by running the script. Each line includes the operation type (migrate or delete); the source storage pool name and, if applicable; the target storage pool name; the fileset name; the file creation time, change time, access time, modify time, and size; and the absolute file path name. The format of the time fields is YYYYMMDDHHMMSS. You can rerun the sfslcm script in planning mode until you receive the results you want. You can also edit the plan and input it to the sfslcm script when you run the script directly.
    4. Run the sfslcm script directly by entering ./sfslcm.pl -phase execute -rules rules_file_name -plan plan_file_name -verbose -log log_directory_name -client client_name, where
      rules_file_name
      The fully qualified or relative path name of the rules file.
      plan_file_name
      The fully qualified or relative path name of the plan file that was written when the script was run in planning mode.
      log_directory_name
      The name of the directory in which the log file is produced.
      client_name
      One or more names of clients to perform the move and delete operations.
      Note: When performing move and delete operations for multiple clients, you must specify each client as follows: -client client_name1 -client client_name2
  2. If you are running the script in direct mode follow these steps:
    1. Using a text editor, create a file specifying your policy for moving and deleting files. See File management policy syntax for details.
    2. Run the sfslcm script directly by entering ./sfslcm.pl -phase execute -rules rules_file_name -verbose -log log_directory_name -client client_name, where
      rules_file_name
      The fully qualified or relative path name of the rules file.
      log_directory_name
      The name of the directory in which the log file is produced.
      client_name
      One or more names of clients to perform the moves and delete operations.
      Note: When performing move and delete operations for multiple clients, you must specify each client as follows: -client client_name1 -client client_name2
    3. A return code of 0 from the sfslcm script indicates that all actions were performed successfully. With a non-zero return code, you should check the log file to see if the actions ran as expected.

Parent topic: Managing files

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