Open and close partition?

[doctortt]

I'm new to EV. Within a vault data store, why do you need to close a partition and create a new one? Can't one partition get the jobs done?

[Liam_Finn1]

Doctortt,

Yes one partition can get the job done but just think of how hard it is to search all of one big vault for years of data.

If you rollover the vault partition into smaller groups (i suggest monthly or quartly depending on the size of your environment) then searching is much faster, it is much easier for you as the admin to manage and track data.

Liam

[doctortt]

Ohhh I see. Thanks a lot.

[sym_se_support0]

Hello, just to make clear here.  The partition is not searched it is the index.  The partition size should be determined by backup time/window and not for search results.

Whether there are 1 or 1000 vault store partitions the search is determined by the index regardless of the partition.

Close a partition when the size is un-manageable for backups or when for managerial purposes.  As Liam was saying possibly by date, creating a new partition each year maybe the way you want to manage your archived data.

Liam, maybe I misunderstood your reply but I believe you may be speaking of index rollovers and not partition closes.  Please explain further why you think creating multiple partitions would have any effect on searches.

[doctortt]

Just want to get this clear - if you close a partition, new data cannot be written, right? What is the purpose of the partition? Just to make backup more managable?

[Grog]

There is also one other "gotcha", if you are archiving to a Centera, then you would only have one partition and would have no need to change, unless you are migrating to a new Centera.

[sym_se_support0]

Hello, you asked:

"Just want to get this clear - if you close a partition, new data cannot be written, right? What is the purpose of the partition? Just to make backup more manageable?"

Correct, when you close a partition new data is not written to that closed partition.  It can still change though; collections, manual deletions, and storage expiry require that the closed partition still be backed up since it can change.

The "purpose" of a closed partition is primarily for "management".  Either for backup management or just to distinguish one partition by "date" from another.  If you begin to create new Open partitions each month or quarter or yearly this can help you manage the data better.  If you have an "older" closed partition then you may be more inclined to start collections and/or migrations of just that partition.


As for the Centera partition the poster was correct.  Creating a new Open partition on Centera does not allow a new "space" to be created as the data is still stored "on the Centera".  I can think of several reasons though to create new partitions on Centera:
- Maybe you want to change the PEA file that you are using
- Maybe you want to disable the collections, opening a new partition would have this ability not selected by default
- Maybe you want to test collections so you create a new Open partition and enable collections just for that partition
- Maybe you want to migrate your NTFS to Centera and want to put the data, for "management purposes", in a new partition (maybe you want it to use collections but do not want collections enabled on other partitions)

[doctortt]

Thanks dude.

[doctortt]

Once you close a partition, you cannot reopen it right?

[MichelZ]

Yes, you can.

But you only can have one open Partition, so you need to close the other one first.

Cheers

Michel

[MarkOlsen]

In our environment, we decided to have just one huge partition as it seemed like additional complexity to have multiple partitions.   Here's the thinking: as pointed out earlier, items are being deleted even from a closed partition.  If you want to maintain system integrity, then you would need to continue backing up that closed partition, so what's the benefit?

Now some customers will say you don't really need to backup the closed partition: who cares if the backup has more data than the current Production environment?  My answer would be: if an item has been expired but still exists in the partition, that means you are not technically compliant with subpeonas because you haven't searched the raw data store for items that are no longer in the index.  That's why in my opinion it is better to just have either one large partition or multiple partitions that are still backed up every night.

Food for thought ... Mark

[Mnereng]

Does management of disk sizes factor into this?  My current partitions are 1TB.  When those are close to full, I can expand them to 2TB, or add a new 1TB LUN, and create new paritions there.  Isn't there a point when additional disks/LUNs are preferrable over having 1 massive disk/LUN?  Disks in the multi-TB range are uncharted territory for me.  Maybe there is nothing to worry about?

[MichelZ]

Do you need any more info here?
Please mark a post as a solution if it fits your needs.

Cheers