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Using Archive Explorer only for FSA data

Vikes_2
Level 6

Hello,

I have been thinking about the option of removing all placeholders and having users access archived content via Archive Explorer, if possible for a large number of users? We archive 60 file servers and filers for about 13,000 users, the data is not archived until it has not been modified for 6 months, so obviously the majority of the data is not accessed on a regular basis. I wanted to see if anyone else does this and also what potential concerns there would be? I am not sure if there is a limitation on concurrent connections via AE?


 

Thanks,
Travis 

 

3 ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS

Accepted Solutions

Rob_Wilcox1
Level 6
Partner

My personal opinion is that without placeholders it is messy to try to find a file.

 

For example say someone is searching for *myfile*.docx in a particular folder.  Not finding it might mean:

 

a/ It's not there, it's in a different folder

b/ It is there, but it's archived

 

How will a user know the difference?

Working for cloudficient.com

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AndrewB
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

hi vikes, there's a cool new "EV Search" coming out in EV 11. perhaps you can reevaluate your strategy at that time. from https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/enterprise-vault-11-beta-program

Enterprise Vault Search – is a new and much anticipated end-user search UI which will provide a rich & cross browser search experience. It is intended to enhance and unify the search options available to end-users and provide a slick & easy to use interface. It will allow users to access and search/navigate their archive folder hierarchy on any browser,  run and save search terms, export search results, utilize advanced search queries and much more.

View solution in original post

dascott
Level 4
Employee Accredited

There is definitely a case to be made for not using Placeholders now that the search interface has drastically improved. The search interface allows for searching based on content & metadata across all your repositories and you can also browse (similar to archive explorer) for a specific location.

The one scenario where you might want/need placeholders is if you have applications that need to access the archived files.   Otherwise, with a little end-user training you could teach them to look for archived content via search.

 

Dave

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8 REPLIES 8

Rob_Wilcox1
Level 6
Partner

My personal opinion is that without placeholders it is messy to try to find a file.

 

For example say someone is searching for *myfile*.docx in a particular folder.  Not finding it might mean:

 

a/ It's not there, it's in a different folder

b/ It is there, but it's archived

 

How will a user know the difference?

Working for cloudficient.com

Vikes_2
Level 6

Hi Rob,

I think that is actually the sticky point itself and why we choice to use PHs in the first place, and PHs are great until you start making changes to servers. We have had a large amount of migrations and hardware refreshes and with being the only one to work on it, I am always looking for good options to keep things "unbroken" :)

Thanks!

Travis
 

AndrewB
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

hi vikes, there's a cool new "EV Search" coming out in EV 11. perhaps you can reevaluate your strategy at that time. from https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/enterprise-vault-11-beta-program

Enterprise Vault Search – is a new and much anticipated end-user search UI which will provide a rich & cross browser search experience. It is intended to enhance and unify the search options available to end-users and provide a slick & easy to use interface. It will allow users to access and search/navigate their archive folder hierarchy on any browser,  run and save search terms, export search results, utilize advanced search queries and much more.

Vikes_2
Level 6

Thanks Andrew, I will definitely check that out. We are just getting ready to migrate to 10 but that option will help the push for 11 when out!  :) I think we will have to let the users decide if they can live without PHs and get the data via search, but since it has not been modified in 6 months I think it is definitely on the table.

 

Regards,

Travis
 

dascott
Level 4
Employee Accredited

There is definitely a case to be made for not using Placeholders now that the search interface has drastically improved. The search interface allows for searching based on content & metadata across all your repositories and you can also browse (similar to archive explorer) for a specific location.

The one scenario where you might want/need placeholders is if you have applications that need to access the archived files.   Otherwise, with a little end-user training you could teach them to look for archived content via search.

 

Dave

Rob_Wilcox1
Level 6
Partner

So the new search also searches non-archived content?

Working for cloudficient.com

AndrewB
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

doubt it. if it's not indexed i dont see how search would know about it. and since you can't index without archiving then...

Rob_Wilcox1
Level 6
Partner

Precisely AndrewB, and that's my point.

Yes Placeholders can be messy, but how do you explain to users that they have to search in two places to find what they want?

Working for cloudficient.com