Unmanaged Snapshot

The slides include UX/UI short term and a long term proposals

Date:
12-1-2015

Project by:
Lucio Campanelli

Supervised by:
Tommy Li
Darren Wong
Michael Cytrynowicz

Problem:

snapshots become unmanaged under-certain conditions

they take up space that could be reclaimed for actual data
theres no way for admins to decide on whether or not to keep these things around

Goal:

Reduce or eventually eliminate the causes that create un-managed snapshots

Improving space economy
Help admins in the decision process to keep or not un-managed snapshots

Opportunities:
1.

Create a dashboard for capacity planning

Problem
Unmanaged snap are generated when:

Take a volume out from a

collection for re-allocation

Delete a volume
collection
( a bug that will
be fixed soon)

Delete a schedule

Deletion of
Replica Volcoll

Stopping
Replication on
Volcoll

Two short term solutions

1) Synchronous Solution
If the system verifies that the object is protected by an alternative protection plan, the system will erase automatically the
old snapshots (that will remain un-managed) The system will eventually keep the snapshots automatically for a default
period of time without asking - as backup till the user dont re-associate the volume to another collection or schedule. If
the object is not protected the user will be alerted with a message. If the object will not be protected or remain in an unmanaged status the system will prompt a pop up Warning message window and ask the user if he/she wants to pin (or
archive) the potentially un-snapshots and for how long ( An option could be to have a default period of retention).
2) Asynchronous solutions
When Users run out of space in their system they might have the option to explore the un-managed snapshots list to see if
there is anything they could delete to free up space. A easy to use side bar filter might help them identify, browse and filter
snapshots. The system could have a default option that erase all the unmanaged snapshots within a default period of time.
In case a volume is not protected a message will be displayed about the risk.

Warning Message
Explanation:
In case the volume will be taken out
from the volume collection without
re-allocating it to another collection,
a pop up window will display a
warning message including the
number of snapshot involved.

If you delete this schedule your volume LUX 1 will be unprotected, the only
back up you have are these 3 objects:

Pin them

Delete them

Proposal:
Since its wont be uncommon for a
list of snaps to be in the 10s easily
We added a simple count. One
opportunity on top of that is to
somehow allow users to choose to
keep some of the snaps (accessing
the list ?) (e.g. At least the latest
one) Eventually the user could
decide to Delete the objects , Pin
them or cancel the pop up.

Further considerations:
Facilitating the access to snapshots and create
a snapshot-centered facet/filter navigation tool
In the current dashboard snapshots are accessed from the volume
page. We proposed to access the snapshots directly from the
manage tab in the array dashboard include a list of snapshots for
the all array (Solution A). The benefit is to access all the snapshots at
once for all the volumes. The disadvantage will be to eventually
return a long list. We solve this potential disadvantage introducing a
snapshot filter through facets (Solution B).

Snapshot access
(Solution A)

Snapshot Access
(Solution A)
Explanation:
Users can access the list of
snapshots under the
protection item included in
the Manage drop down list.

Snapshots

This link will Take

users to the all array
snapshot list

Another option to access the

snapshot list would be to
click Snapshot usage under
the pie chart. For consistency
eventually all the other items
( volume usage, etc.) could
be clickable.

Snapshot filter
(Solution B - Version1)

Snapshot filter
(Solution B / Version 1) :

Snapshots Filter
By Type

In order to solve the problem of

a long list of snapshots ( when
users access the snapshots list
from the array page) we
decided to introduce a facet
filter column sliding in and out
from on the left side off the
page.

By Volumes

Pin

Active

Pin
Archived
Pinned

Select snapshots
Older than:

1 hour

1 day

1 Week

We added the 2 functions of Purge

and Archive, we decided to
eliminate the function of delete
as redundant.

We introduced also a new

terminology for snapshot (
archived-active) and a faceted
infrastructure as a right tab of
the Snapshot filter column (
Filter by Volume) explained in
the next page

Facet filter for the snapshot selection. After the meeting we introduced the term of Active
snapshot, that means that is part of a running schedule, and the PIN snapshots that is generated
by editing or deleting schedules. ( and potentially used for other cases, such deleting volumes
as an archived backup) , or when a user takes a volume out from a collection for re-allocation
One other proposed option would be to quickly swap from a filter that filters snapshots from
snapshots characteristics and one by volumes

Snapshot filter
by volume
(Solution B/ Version 1)

Snapshots Filter
By Type

By Volumes

ALL
Purge

quickly swap from a filter that filters snapshots from

snapshots characteristics and one by volumes

Snapshot filter
(Alternative look and feel)

Purge
Delete

Pin

The Snapshot filter consists

in a left sidebar that
contains 3 functions:
1) Search box
2) A sort-by button on the
left ( to refine the
search by type of
snapshots)
3) An advanced search
option placed on the right
side of the search box. to
access a set of facets to
refine in details the search.

Purge
Delete

PINNED

Pin

The Snapshots in the list

can be refined clicking By
type tab and select one of
the options. Once the user
select the option the bar
will change color from gray
to blue and
the text by type will
change according to the
selection performed by the
user . This can be useful to
remind the user that the
search will be performed
through that option.
( Exp: If the user select
Active from the menu the
selection will be displayed
on top of the search bar to
remind the user that the
snapshot search will be
automatically refined to
only active snapshots

Power user can use the advanced search

Purge
Purge

PINNED

Pin

Advanced search :
Selecting the advanced tab on the top right side
of the search bar the user will be prompt to all the
potential facets to filter their searches
The Facets Are: By Type, By Time and By object
Facet By Object :Results are live entered in a
specific By object search bar included in the by
object section. The results will be contextually
highlighted and displayed in a form of list .
Innovation Proposal: (This solution is only a
proposal that require further analysis):
In case the results have a sub-domain ( Ex.
Searching a particular snap related to a volume
into a particular pool ) the user could have the
opportunity to refine the search expanding the
higher in rank object list results. In this proposal
the filter by object facet works like an elastic list
that can be expanded and reduced according to
the use.