Snapshot Schedules and DiscoveryPoints

If a VM is associated with a virtualization manager, CloudAdvisor can request that the virtualization manager make a snapshot of the data on a regular schedule so that CloudAdvisor can use those snapshots to create DiscoveryPoints.

A DiscoveryPoint is CloudAdvisor's analysis of the content included in the snapshot. DiscoveryPoints contain information about: 

• File operations (such as read, write, and delete), along with the users that performed those operations.
• File system information such as file size and owner.

• File content, such as:

  • Words contained in the document.
  • Sensitive information such as social security numbers and credit card numbers.
  • Internal metadata such as bit rate and document title.

A Snapshot Schedule defines when CloudAdvisor requests a snapshot for each associated VM from the VM's virtualization manager. As soon as the snapshot is completed, CloudAdvisor creates a corresponding DiscoveryPoint from that snapshot. Snapshots are deleted as soon as DiscoveryPoint processing is complete. DiscoveryPoints are deleted after the retention period specified in the Insight Profile assigned to the VM.

When CloudAdvisor deletes a DiscoveryPoint, it merges the intelligence data forward into the next DiscoveryPoint.

Each VM associated with a virtualization manager must be assigned a Snapshot Schedule. CloudAdvisor provides out-of-the-box Snapshot Schedules, and you can create as many custom schedules as you need. Each VM can only have one Snapshot Schedule, but a Snapshot Schedule can be assigned to many different VMs.

Out-of-the-Box Snapshot Schedules

CloudAdvisor provides the following out-of-the-box Snapshot Schedules:

• Manual Only — CloudAdvisor does not automatically request any snapshots, and therefore it does not automatically create any DiscoveryPoints. Instead, when a CloudAdvisor admin wants CloudAdvisor to create a DiscoveryPoint, the admin must manually tell CloudAdvisor to request the snapshot that it can then use to create the DiscoveryPoint.

  The advantage of manual snapshots is that they can be locked. If you lock a snapshot, CloudAdvisor will never tell the VM's virtualization manager to delete the snapshot, and it will never delete the corresponding DiscoveryPoint. This means that files deleted in the snapshot can be restored until you manually unlock the snapshot and delete the DiscoveryPoint.

  For details, see Manually Creating a Snapshot for a VM.

• Default — This Snapshot Schedule is assigned to all VMs by default when they are added to the CloudAdvisor inventory. This schedule has the following settings:

  • Status — On.
  • Schedule — Daily at 1:00 am in the time zone configured for CloudAdvisor. If you want to verify or change the time zone, see Date and Time Tab.