5.4 Creating Scan Policies

The specifications for a scan are established in a scan policy. The scan policy specifies the following parameters:

  • What type of scan to conduct (File System, Permissions, or Volume Free Space)

  • The scan targets

  • Scan retry settings

  • The scan schedule

IMPORTANT:The scan policy name must be unique. If you attempt to give the scan policy an existing name, File Reporter generates an error.

  1. Select File Systems > Scan Policies.

  2. Click Add.

  3. In the Scan Policy Name field, specify a name for the scan policy.

    You can provide a description of the policy in the next dialog box.

  4. Select the type of scan that File Reporter is to conduct.

    File System: Scans the files currently stored on the network share, the size of those files, when the files were last accessed, the locations of duplicate versions, and so forth.

    Permissions: Scans the permissions pertaining to the folders stored on the shares.

    Volume Free Space: Scans the availability of free space on the shares.

  5. Click OK.

    Name: Displays the name of the scan policy.

    Description: Specify a description of the scan policy in this field.

    Retry Count: Specify the number of times File Reporter attempts to scan the storage resource targets listed in the scan policy if there is a failure.

    Retry Interval: Specify the amount of time before File Reporter retries scanning the storage resource targets listed in the scan policy if there is a failure.

    Directory Quotas: By default, a scan does not include home folder quota information, because gathering this information on Windows shares can extend the scan time significantly. Unless you plan to generate a Directory Quota report, we recommend that you leave this option deselected.

    This option applies only to File System scans.

    Previous Scans: This option lets you specify whether to keep the previous version of a scan generated through this policy. This scan is known as the “Previous scan” which you can then use to generate a Historic Comparison report through a comparison with either a Baseline scan or a “Current scan.” For more information, see Section 6.8, Historic Comparison Reports.

    Previous scans are designated whenever a new scan is performed. The new scan is the Current scan and the earlier scan becomes the Previous scan. When the target paths are eventually scanned again, the new scan becomes the Current scan, the earlier Current scan becomes the Previous scan, and the former Previous scan is deleted.

    NOTE:If you want to maintain a scan indefinitely, you can do so by specifying it as a Baseline scan. For more information, see Section 5.5, Establishing a Baseline Scan.

    The management of Previous scan retention occurs when processing a new scan. This means that if you deselect Retain existing Previous scan, no existing Previous scan will be removed at that time, but it will be removed when a new scan is processed.

    Content Hash: Selecting this check box enables File Reporter to create a content-based hash for each file in the specified target path. These hashes can then be compared through a Custom Query report to find duplicate files based on hash comparisons.

    While File Reporter has always had a Duplicate File report option in its built-in reports, its reporting is based solely on metadata comparisons. Generating a duplicate file report through content has comparisons can be much more accurate.

    For more information on generating a duplicate file report through content-based hashes, see Section 6.11.1, Generating a Content Hashed Duplicate File Report.

    All Files: Selecting this check box creates a new individual hash for each file in the specified target path.

    Files updated since last scan: Selecting this check box creates an individual hash for each file that does not already have a previously created hash or for files updates since the hash was created.

    NOTE:Generating a content hash for each file will cause AgentFS to take longer to perform the scan. Generating hashes only for new or updated files can save a significant amount of time for subsequent scans.

    Add: Click this option to specify the scan targets for the scan policy.

    IMPORTANT:After a target has been added to a scan policy, the same target cannot be added to another scan policy of the same scan policy type.

    Clicking Add brings up a dialog box like the one below where you can select available storage resources.

  6. Click OK to save the scan policy.

    The scan policy is now displayed on the Scan Policies page.

    The scan policy still needs to be scheduled. For procedures on scheduling scans, go to Section 5.9, Scheduling Scans.