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Using FPolicy for file monitoring and management on SVMs

FPolicy is a file access notification framework that is used to monitor and manage file access events on storage virtual machines (SVMs).

The framework generates notifications that are sent to either external FPolicy servers or to ONTAP. FPolicy supports event notifications for files and directories that are accessed using NFS and SMB.

  • How FPolicy works
    Before you plan and create your FPolicy configuration, you should understand the basics of how FPolicy works.
  • FPolicy configuration types
    There are two basic FPolicy configuration types. One configuration uses external FPolicy servers to process and act upon notifications. The other configuration does not use external FPolicy servers; instead, it uses the ONTAP internal, native FPolicy server for simple file blocking based on extensions.
  • How FPolicy passthrough-read enhances usability for hierarchical storage management
    Passthrough-read enables the FPolicy server (functioning as the hierarchical storage management (HSM) server) to provide read access to offline files without having to recall the file from the secondary storage system to the primary storage system.
  • Requirements, considerations, and best practices for configuring FPolicy
    Before you create and configure FPolicy configurations on your storage virtual machines (SVMs), you need to be aware of certain requirements, considerations, and best practices for configuring FPolicy.
  • What the steps for setting up an FPolicy configuration are
    Before FPolicy can monitor file access, an FPolicy configuration must be created and enabled on the storage virtual machine (SVM) for which FPolicy services are required.
  • Planning the FPolicy configuration
    Before you create an FPolicy configuration, you must understand what is involved in each step of the configuration. You need to decide what settings you need to use when performing the configuration and record them in the planning worksheets.
  • Creating the FPolicy configuration
    There are several steps you must perform to creating an FPolicy configuration. First, you must plan your configuration. Then, you create an FPolicy external engine, an FPolicy event, and an FPolicy policy. You then create an FPolicy scope and attach it to the FPolicy policy, and then enable the FPolicy policy.
  • Modifying FPolicy configurations
    You can modify FPolicy configurations by modifying the elements that make up the configuration. You can modify external engines, FPolicy events, FPolicy scopes, and FPolicy policies. You can also enable or disable FPolicy policies. When you disable the FPolicy policy, file monitoring is discontinued for that policy.
  • Displaying information about FPolicy configurations
    You might want to display information about FPolicy configurations to determine whether the configuration for each storage virtual machine (SVM) is correct or to verify that an FPolicy policy configuration is enabled. You can display information about FPolicy external engines, FPolicy events, FPolicy scopes, and FPolicy policies.
  • Managing FPolicy server connections
    You can manage your FPolicy server connections by connecting to external FPolicy servers, disconnecting from external FPolicy servers, or displaying information about connections and connection status.