Provider Sync and Cloud Refresh

Last updated Sep. 27, 2024

Access Anywhere indexes storage providers to provide a number of enhanced file services including fast browsing and search. Access Anywhere includes an indexing engine to provide these services.

Applications may update/upload/delete objects through Access Anywhere or directly through storage APIs such as SMB and S3. 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, manually, on demand and scheduled

When a provider is first added file and folder metadata is scanned and indexed. Users can access information and perform most actions through NAA as data indexed during this “Initial Sync”. Some functions such as enabling shared team folders must be performed after the sync is completed.

Organization administrators can start a new sync for a provider at any time. All file and folder metadata is scanned for changes. This sync be started from the provider dashboard by selecting “Synchronize files”. Users can access data and perform most functions during this “Provider Resync”.

During provider synchronization folder renames, file moves and deletes will be temporarily unavailable if the target folder, subfolder or immediate parent are being scanned.

As of release 2402 organization administrators can pause and resume provider syncs which is useful during support activities or scheduled maintenance.

Users can select Cloud Refresh for a folder when browsing via the web, mobile or desktop apps. This user driven action will re-sync the metadata for this folder with the storage.

The Cloud Refresh option is not available when real-time refresh is enabled.

A Deep Cloud Refresh can be selected when browsing via the web. It will also re-sync sub-folders. This operation runs as a background task.

The Deep Cloud Refresh option is not available when real-time refresh is enabled.

Real-time Refresh can be enabled on the provider which updates metadata automatically, as folders are browsed. Client apps a will show existing folder data first and refresh if it changed after the sync. For the Nasuni provider real-time refresh is enabled and cannot be disabled.

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

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.

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.