VUB/ULB Computing Centre
	NESTOR's archiving facility

Note: This document is obsolete, it's only here as a reference.

About diskspace

While NESTOR has a great amount of diskspace, it is not unlimited. One way of limiting the amount of files stored on NESTOR is using disk quotas. By default all users get 1 GB of diskspace for 25000 files.

However, some files are stored on NESTOR for occasional use later, as people rarely need to access these files. As such files nevertheless occupy online diskspace, a new procedure is available which allows persons to indicate that certain files can be archived to offline storage on DLT tape, where they can be retrieved later if necessary.

Archiving commands

At the present time, archiving can only be done from an ASTER account. Persons who do not have an ASTER account, currently cannot archive files. It is our intention to create an interface on the Web so that everyone with a NESTOR account can  archive files. May we also ask you NOT to request an ASTER account merely for archiving files. Thank you.

archive

Usage: archive filename | directory

This command allows you request the archival of a file or directory located on NESTOR. It is important to note that the file or directory MUST be present in your homedirectory on the NESTOR DISKS and that you must be the OWNER of the file or directory, or else the file or directory cannot be archived. Empty files or directories will (logically) not be archived.

The archiving will not be done immediately but it will be handled by the system once a day. Once the file has been archived, it will be removed from disk, and its name will be added to a file

$HOME/.list_archived_files_on_nestor

NOTE: once the file has been archived to tape, the name of the file will no longer be shown when issuing the 'ls' command

archive_reload

Usage: archive_reload

This procedure will ask a few of questions about the file you wish to reload. Make sure to read details about the files in the file $HOME/.list_archived_files_on_nestor

Once the file will be reloaded, you will be informed of this by email. The reload may take a while, and will only be done from 7:00 until 21:00 (opening hours of the Computer room).

IMPORTANT:  do note that this reload procedure will OVERWRITE the file with the same name in the same directory.

Note: do not confuse this command with the request_for_reload procedure which merely requests a version of a file stored on backup after having deleted/overwritten/... it.