ArchiverFS - Archiving Files From A Web Server

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Using ArchiverFS to archive files on a web server.

A lot of us will have a webserver running an application that has a vast collection of documents sat behind it. These might be cached reports, uploaded files, log files and all sorts other items that have collected over time. It could even be running the front end of an in-house document management system.

Using a web server for these kinds of roles is tried and tested, and this approach can be leveraged to solve all manner of business issues. The tricky bit comes when you decide to have a tidy up and purge some of the files that have built up on the webserver.

Which files to you remove? What if someone needs them once they have been removed? Where do you set the cutoff date? What types of files do you remove? What happens if you have an in-house system that tracks these files in some kind of database so they can't just be deleted?

ArchiverFS was originally designed as an archiving solution for files in network shares, but it's simple design and its use of Symlinks makes it the perfect choice for archiving old files sat behind a web server to second tier storage. For a quick overview of how ArchiverFS works we recommend taking a look at the How It Works FAQ page.

Setting up web server archiving.

Most of the steps are the same as if you were setting up ArchiverFS to move old content from a normal file server, but there a couple of small differences:

- Install ArchiverFS and setup an account for the ArchiverFS service to use. Follow the steps as laid out in the Quick Setup Guide or the UserGuide.

- Enable Symlink support on your webserver (see the 'Configuring Your Machines' section in the UserGuide and apply the same registry settings to your web server).

- Setup an archive share on your network that you want to use to store the archived files.

- Create a Symlink (aka Hard Link) archiving job to move content from your websites file stores to the archive share created above.

Run the job and watch as the selected files will be moved on mass to your old file storage.

That's pretty much all there is to it. IIS will automatically follow the Symlinks and your users shouldn't ever know that the files have been moved.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us via Sales@MLtekSoftware.com, we would love to hear from you!