Following on from our last post in which we demonstrated how CIFS Windows shares can be exposed outside of the corporate firewall this blog post will focus on how to Archive CIFS Windows shares to OpenStack Swift.
The SME Enterprise Cloud Appliance allows any primary cloud to be paired with a backup cloud for archive and business continuity purposes.
This is achieved from the Cloud DashBoard in which the first step is to choose a cloud storage provider to use as the Archive. In this case we will choose OpenStack but we could just as easily have chosen Amazon S3, Google Nearline etc.
Once this is done clicking the ‘Add Provider’ button invokes the OpenStack provider connection wizard.
After authentication credentials are added the next step of the wizard will enable a container to be chosen or created to be used for the Archive. We will create an OpenStack container called CIFSBackup.
Once this is done the pairing of the CIFS Cloud and OpenStack Cloud being used as an Archive backup will be complete and the settings screen will be displayed.
As a result of the pairing be completed a Cloud Sync task will be automatically created that will start to copy files from the CIFS share to the OpenStack Container. This can be checked using Cloud Tasks tab which will show the status of the files being copied.
Once completed, when any new files are added to the CIFS share a new cloud sync task will be created automatically to copy the file to the backup archive. Any file amendments or updates are handled the same way. Deletions are to processed as the Archive retains all files even deletions.
The Archive is also used from a business continuity perspective. IIf the CIFS share becomes unavailable then SME users accessing data from the SME Web File Manager or other client apps will automatically retrieve data from the Archive. This is seamless to the end user.
Almost any combination of storage clouds that Storage Made Easy supports can be paired in this way to create an instant Archive and business continuity DR.
by 
Latest posts by Storage Made Easy (see all)
- How to securely web enable access to CIFS / SMB File Shares - January 12, 2021
- How To Easily Create Private Password Protected Amazon S3 Links And Folders - March 12, 2019
