Provider Sync and Cloud Refresh

Last updated Oct. 11, 2023

Access Anywhere indexes storage providers to provide a number of enhanced file services including fast browsing and search. The Access Anywhere has its own indexing engine to provide these services.

Applications may update/upload/delete objects through Access Anywhere or in a bi-modal fashion directly through storage APIs such as S3 and SMB. When objects or files are updated directly using storage APIs Access Anywhere metadata must also be updated.

See also: Provider Real-Time Behavior.

There are a number of ways that the metadata can be updated, on demand, scheduled and on provider change.

There are several options for initiating a refresh both user-initiated and automatic:

• Provider Resync can be initiated from the Dashboard
• Cloud Refresh can be selected when browsing via the web, mobile or desktop apps. This user driven action will re-sync the folder as needed.
• Deep Cloud Refresh can be selected when browsing via the web will also re-sync sub-folders. This operation runs as a background task.
• Real-time refresh can be enabled on the provider which updates metadata automatically, as folders are browsed. Since the metadata is synchronized with the storage provider before information is shown to the user this may add a delay. The web app a will show existing folder data first and refresh if it changed after the sync.
• Folders auto-refresh is a provider setting similar to a real-time refresh but the folder refresh is started asynchronously. Results will be available when the user returns to the folder. This setting applies only to folders that are open in the File Manager.

More information on Cloud Refresh, Deep Cloud Refresh and Real-time refresh can be found here .

• Periodically – To update the metadata for an entire account (provider), a “Provider Re-sync” or “Folder refresh” can be initiated. Running as a background task Access Anywhere re-syncs metadata for ALL files/folders within the provider or just for the selected folder. Periodic re-syncs can be scheduled to run (daily, weekly, etc.) via the Dashboard.

Many providers are able to create events on object or file creation or deletion. These can be sent and processed by Access Anywhere. This is the approach Jibe uses.

The following operations are prevented when a provider is being sync'd (initial sync or re-sync):

• move file/folder
• copy file/folder
• rename file/folder
• delete file/folder
• cloud refresh
• deep cloud refresh

When Access Anywhere initially connects to your storage platform, it performs a full provider synchronization. In this process, Access Anywhere builds a metadata model for your storage platform, recording information such as the files and folders that are there. At this stage, Access Anywhere does not download or read any of the files, instead, it simply records the metatdata of the files.

Out of the box, Access Anywhere's synchronization process will be confined to a single system process. The performance speed of the initial synchronization process is configurable which will help you reduce the time it takes for initial synchronization.

To change the number of threads to be used for initial sync and re-syncs as ApplAdmin change this value under “Site Functionality”:

• Maximum count of parallel Cloud Sync tasks

The number set here will control the number of concurrent processes permitted to run for a single synchronization task running on your appliance.

You should take care when choosing an appropriate value, as high values could cause performance impacts to the overall platform.