1.3 Key Concepts of Archive and Version Services

The archive server runs Novell Archive and Version Services for OES 11 SP3, which includes the following services:

An archive server and the volumes resides in the same NetIQ eDirectory tree.

Novell Archive and Version Services supports several storage topologies, as shown in the following figure. Because file versions are transferred in decrypted format, the archive server should reside behind the corporate firewall. Any transfer of files during file versioning or restoration should occur over a secure connection such as a virtual private network (VPN). The volumes with files to be versioned can reside on local or remote servers and in single or clustered configurations.

For information, see Planning for Archive and Version Services.

Figure 1-1 Example of Storage Topologies Supported by Novell Archive and Version Services

Novell Archive and Version Services uses a PostgreSQL database. PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system (ORDBMS) based on POSTGRES package.

The Archive server stores the metadata information of the versions of the files in the PostgreSQL database. The database is known as the Archive database and resides on the Archive server.

A versioning job captures copies of eligible files on a specified source volume at specified intervals. Eligible files are those that exist in the source volume at the time the volume is versioned, meet the general versioning criteria, and pass any administrator-specified filtering criteria. You can define only one job for a given source volume.

Each job identifies the settings for the following properties. For details, see Section 3.4, Understanding Job Properties.

Archive Version Services is not supported on iFolder and Novell Distributed File Service.

You must establish a schedule for each versioning job that meets users’ requirements for file versioning, given limited storage and bandwidth resources. Versioning occurs for eligible files at scheduled intervals, called epochs. In NetIQ iManager, you can also manually pause versioning jobs and run jobs on demand, as needed.

A file’s lifetime must span the end of an epoch to be versioned. Only files that exist when the versioning occurs are eligible to be versioned. If a user creates and deletes a file within the epoch, it cannot be versioned.

For more information, see Section 3.4.3, Run Schedule.

File versions are actual copies of files taken at scheduled intervals, as determined by the administrator. No matter how many changes users makes to files during an epoch, only those eligible files that exist at the end of the epoch are saved.

Novell Archive and Version Services for OES 11 SP3 can use NSS pool snapshot technology to capture point-in-time copies of all files, even if the file is in use when the versioning process begins. If the snapshot option is not used, the versioning process captures only eligible files that are not deleted and not exclusively opened at the time.

User needs and limited storage and bandwidth resources are key considerations for setting the criteria to determine which files are eligible for versioning. Files can be filtered to include or exclude source files, according to their path, file extension, or filename patterns. If a user’s files meet the filtering criteria, they are eligible for versioning. For information, see Section 3.4.5, Filter.

Users do not have direct control over which of their files get versioned, when the versioning occurs, or the state of their files when the epoch ends and the copy is made. Users can access files natively with the NSS File Version Utility on a Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10 desktop, or they can access their file versions at any time and from anywhere using the NetStorage Archive function. For information, see the OES 11 SP3: Novell Archive and Version Services User Guide.

The Delete Policy determines when and which of a job’s file versions to automatically delete from the archive database. Versioned files can have a limited lifetime in the archive. You optionally configure a job’s Delete Policy to set the maximum keep time and the maximum number of versions to retain. The Delete Policy can allow indefinite retention of at least one most recent versioned file.

For more information, see Section 3.4.4, Delete Policy.

After you configure your archive server and its versioning jobs, you can use the Archive Versioning plug-in for iManager to manage those jobs. You can start and stop jobs, view a list of jobs, and view information about jobs, such as their current status, configuration details, and run schedules. You can also view the ArkManager log, which lists all normal, warning, and error messages for each job on the archive server.

For information, see Section 7.1, Accessing the Archive Versioning Plug-In in iManager.

The Versioning Policy determines the criteria to filter the type of files to be versioned, duration and number of versions retained for a given volume. To access this information, the user right-clicks the versioning icon in the system tray and selects View Versioning Policy.

The NSS File Version Utility provides convenient and direct access in a native Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10 environment to archived versions of user files. The utility integrates with your desktop to provide a Restored Archived Versions option, which allows users to view recent versions of their files and restore the desired file. Users select the desired version of the file, then click Restore to view the file locally or to restore the file version to a network storage location.

The NSS File Version Utility, is provided on the Welcome page. For information about using the utility, see the OES 11 SP3: Novell Archive and Version Services User Guide.

File versions reside in the archive database on the archive server. Users can restore file versions from the archive database at any time from anywhere using the Archive function in Novell NetStorage. Using the NetStorage interface in the enterprise portal, a user views a list of available versions of a file. The user simply selects the previous version of the file, then clicks Restore to download the file version to a specified location where the user has the necessary permissions.

If a user restores the file version to a OES 11 SP3 NSS storage location, the archive server recovers the file version and all the rights and metadata about the file. If a user opts to download the file version elsewhere, the file is saved as a new file, without the prior rights and associations.

For information, see the OES 11 SP3: Novell Archive and Version Services User Guide.