Unmanaged Snapshot

The slides include UX/UI short term and a long term proposals

Date:
11-24-2015

Project by:
Lucio Campanelli

Supervised by:
Tommy Li
Darren Wong
Michael Cytrynowicz

Problem:
Short term
How to solve the un-managed snapshot issue
Long Term
How Unmanaged snapshots fits in a broader problem of protection planning ( monitoring and management ) and space
allocation included in the agenda of SM and infosight

Goal:
Short term
Give the development team a solution to help the users for the immediate case scenarios
Long Term:
Provide solutions that can solve the problem from the back-end point of view and integrate these solutions into a broader
prospective for monitor and manage array/s

Opportunities:
1.
2.
3.

Solve the issue of un-manged snapshots ( for the immediate and for the long term)
Explore UX/UI design options to aggregate connected problems into a simple framework
for the users
Create a dashboard for capacity planning

Problem
Case scenarios ( when users actions create un-managed snapshots)

Take a volume out from a

collection for re-allocation

Delete a volume
collection
( a bug that will
be fixed soon)

Delete a schedule

Deletion of
Replica Volcoll

Stopping
Replication on
Volcoll

Two short term solutions

1) SOLUTION WITHOUT WARNING MESSAGE
If the system verifies that the object is protected, the system will erase automatically the old snapshots (that otherwise
will remain un-managed) The system will eventually keep the snapshots automatically without asking - as backup till the
user dont re-associate the volume to another collection or schedule
2) SOLUTION WITH WARNING MESSAGE
If the object will not be protected or remain in an un-managed status that can compromise protection or capacity usage. In
this case the system will prompt a pop up Warning message window and ask the user if he/she wants to archive these
old snapshots .

solution 2) version 1
Explanation:
In case the volume will be taken out
from the volume collection without
re-allocating it to another collection,
a pop up window will display a
warning message including a set of
links to facilitate the access to the
relevant objects.

If you delete this schedule your volume LUX 1 will be unprotected, the only
back up you have are these 3 objects:

LUX ! SNAPSHOT
LUX 2 SNAPSHOT
LUX 3 SNAPSHHOT

Archive them

Delete them

Eventually the user could decide to

Delete ( Purge) the objects , Archive
them ( for future actions) or cancel
the pop up.

Archived, unmanaged and active

snapshots can be managed through
the snapshot filter ( Check the
following long term proposal)

solution 2) version 1
Explanation:
In case the volume will be taken out
from the volume collection without
re-allocating it to another collection,
a pop up window will display a
warning message including the
number of snapshot involved.

If you delete this schedule your volume LUX 1 will be unprotected, the only
back up you have are these 3 objects:

Archive them

Delete them

Proposal:
(clicking on the text 3 objects user
will prompt the user to the
complete list )
Eventually the user could decide to
Delete ( Purge) the objects , Archive
them ( for future actions) or cancel
the pop up.

Archived, unmanaged and active

snapshots can be managed through
the snapshot filter ( Check the
following long term proposal)

Further considerations:
Facilitating the access to snapshots and create
a snapshot-centered facet/filter navigation tool
In the current dashboard snapshots are accessed from the volume
page. We proposed to access the snapshots directly from the
manage tab in the array dashboard include a list of snapshots for
the all array (Solution A). The benefit is to access all the snapshots at
once for all the volumes. The disadvantage will be to eventually
return a long list. We solve this potential disadvantage introducing a
snapshot filter through facets (Solution B).

Snapshot access
(Solution A)

Snapshot Access
(Solution A)
Explanation:
Users can access the list of
snapshots under the
protection item included in
the Manage drop down list.

Snapshots

This link will Take

users to the all array
snapshot list

Another option to access the

snapshot list would be to
click Snapshot usage under
the pie chart. For consistency
eventually all the other items
( volume usage, etc.) could
be clickable.

Snapshot filter
(Solution B - Version1)

Snapshot filter
(Solution B / Version 1) :

Snapshots Filter
By Type

In order to solve the problem of

a long list of snapshots ( when
users access the snapshots list
from the array page) we
decided to introduce a facet
filter column sliding in and out
from on the left side off the
page.

By Volumes

Purge
Purge

Archive

Active
Archived

Select snapshots
Older than:

1 hour

1 day

1 Week

We added the 2 functions of Purge

and Archive, we decided to
eliminate the function of delete
as redundant.

We introduced also a new

terminology for snapshot (
archived-active) and a faceted
infrastructure as a right tab of
the Snapshot filter column (
Filter by Volume) explained in
the next page

Facet filter for the snapshot selection. After the meeting we introduced the term of Active
snapshot, that means that is part of a running schedule, and the Archived snapshots that is
generated by editing or deleting schedules. ( and potentially used for other cases, such deleting
volumes as an archived backup) , or when a user takes a volume out from a collection for reallocation

One other proposed option would be to quickly swap from a filter that filters snapshots from
snapshots characteristics and one by volumes

Snapshot filter
by volume
(Solution B/ Version 1)

Snapshots Filter
By Type

By Volumes

ALL
Purge

quickly swap from a filter that filters snapshots from

snapshots characteristics and one by volumes

Snapshot filter
(Solution B- Version 2)

Snapshot filter
(Solution B / version 2)
Purge
Purge

Archive

The Snapshot filter consists

in a left sidebar that
contains 3 functions:
1) Search box
2) A sort-by button on the
left ( to refine the
search by type of
snapshots)
3) An advanced search
option placed on the right
side of the search box. to
access a set of facets to
refine in details the search.

Purge
Purge

Archive

The Snapshots in the list

can be refined clicking By
type tab and select one of
the options. Once the user
select the option the bar
will change color from gray
to blue and
the text by type will
change according to the
selection performed by the
user . This can be useful to
remind the user that the
search will be performed
through that option.
( Exp: If the user select
Active from the menu the
selection will be displayed
on top of the search bar to
remind the user that the
snapshot search will be
automatically refined to
only active snapshots

Power user can use the advanced search

Purge
Purge

Archive

Advanced search :
Selecting the advanced tab on the top right side
of the search bar the user will be prompt to all the
potential facets to filter their searches
The Facets Are: By Type, By Time and By object
Facet By Object :Results are live entered in a
specific By object search bar included in the by
object section. The results will be contextually
highlighted and displayed in a form of list .
Innovation Proposal: (This solution is only a
proposal that require further analysis):
In case the results have a sub-domain ( Ex.
Searching a particular snap related to a volume
into a particular pool ) the user could have the
opportunity to refine the search expanding the
higher in rank object list results. In this proposal
the filter by object facet works like an elastic list
that can be expanded and reduced according to
the use.

Long term opportunity (Originally proposed May 2015):

Create a dashboard for capacity planning

The idea is to create an integrated system with Infosight that might help users in the decision
making process of managing snapshots space.
The Goal:
The goal is to provide users a set of options and allow them to quickly browse, select and analyze
different plans to free space (from snapshots).
The Opportunity:
This solution is only the first step for a more holistic framework to manage space ( Capacity) within
the array as a whole.
How it works:
A set of questions will put in prospective users needs. An AI framework will display options to be
selected by users with an easy to use GUI dashboard. The design will take inspiration from cutting
edge UX/UI solutions in the market ( Including Partners, competitors and other industries with
similar user-ases)

Create a dashboard for capacity planning

UX proposal
Slides:
1, and 2 slides
Users will be asked to answer a set of questions to create a context of variables for the system
3, 4 , 5, and 6 slides
The system will display a set of space management option plan, users could browse options
detail for space recovery

Please answer a few questions to design your space

recovery plan.
I am creating this plan because:
o I want to prepare for emergencies
o I need space for a new project
o I am preparing for major upcoming growth of an existing project
o

Next

Lets see how we can help you recover space.

1) How much space do you need? (..)
2) What is the time frame? (...)
3) How would you aspect the usage of the space to fluctuate? ( )

From these questions the system will create a set of plans of action for capacity planning

B
C

All Unmanaged Snaps ->

RECOVER

30 GB

0
4/23/2015

4/23/2015

4/23/2015

4/23/2015

4/23/2015

9am

10am

11am

12pm

1pm

If you erase these 1000 snapshots you

will recover 30 Gb

Act

Plan A ->

RECOVER

15 GB

0
4/23/2015

4/23/2015

4/23/2015

4/23/2015

4/23/2015

9am

10am

11am

12pm

1pm

If you erase these 5 snapshots you will

recover 15 Gb

Act

Snap 2

( Snap 2) ->

RECOVER

1.5 GB

Confidential material

0
4/23/2015

4/23/2015

4/23/2015

4/23/2015

4/23/2015

9am

10am

11am

12pm

1pm

If you erase this snapshot you will

recover 1.5 Gb

Act

Thank you !
{Lucio Campanelli}