# File Lifecycle

<br/>

## Understanding File Lifecycle Management Analytics

Zadara VPSA provides the ability to collect data over the lifetime of files
and report analytics by various parameters and perspectives.
File lifecycle management analytics provide visibility into customer NAS
environments, by delivering utilization and trend reporting capabilities,
allowing insights into current usage of an environment’s resources and
supporting future optimization.
When File Lifecycle Index Management is enabled on a specific NAS share
volume, the VPSA performs a single full scan of NAS share files.
Subsequent filesystem changes are detected and updated in periodic indexing.

The available file lifecycle analytics reports:

| **File Lifecycle Analytics Report**   | **Report by**                                                                                            |
|---------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Growth trends                         | - All files<br/>- File type                                                                              |
| Capacity utilization                  | - File size<br/>- Age<br/>- Access<br/>- File type<br/>- Owner, by:<br/>  - Top users<br/>  - Top groups |

The VPSA is preconfigured with file types, grouped into categories and
identified by their filename extensions. Categories and recognized filename
extensions can be customized. See [Managing File Categories](file-categories.md#managing-file-categories).

To enable the analytics reporting, the VPSA is configured to index
file lifecycle data.

File lifecycle management can be enabled on creation of a VPSA, or enabled
later or disabled on existing VPSAs, via the Zadara Provisioning Portal.
See [Creating a VPSA](first-steps.md#creating-vpsa) for more details.

On VPSAs that are enabled for file lifecycle management, it is possible to
pause or resume file lifecycle management globally, using the toggle in the
[File Lifecycle Management](settings.md#file-lifecycle-management-setting) tab
in the Settings page.

On VPSAs that are configured with file lifecycle management enabled,
individual NAS share volumes can be created with file lifecycle indexing as
enabled or disabled.
At any time, a NAS share volume’s file lifecycle indexing can be enabled,
paused, resumed or disabled. See [Creating and Deleting a Volume](volumes.md#creating-and-deleting-a-volume) and
[Volume File Lifecycle Management](volumes.md#volume-file-lifecycle-management) for more details.

<a id="reporting-file-lifecycle-analytics"></a>

## Reporting File Lifecycle Analytics

The VPSA can display a large single report chart filling the full screen,
or a user-selectable number of charts, up to three rows down by three
across.

![file-analytics-report](media/file-analytics-report.png)

To report analytics of file lifecycles according to one or more of the
available perspectives:

1. To choose the number of report panes on the screen, in the Analytics
   page under File Lifecycle Management, open the **Layout** combobox at
   the lower left.
2. At the top left of the report pane, select a specific volume or all
   volumes from the **Report Scope** combobox.
3. Click the **File Analytics Report** folder icon to expand and display
   available analytic reports. The most recent date and time that data
   collection (indexing) took place is displayed as **Last update** in the
   report header. Updates occur once every 24 hours.
4. Click and drag the selected report to the desired panel. From the
   **Report Scope** combobox on individual report panes, you can change
   the display to report analytics for a different volume or all volumes.
5. To switch between graphic and tabular report styles, at the top right
   of the report pane, click the **Display** combobox to choose one of
   the styles.
6. On graphic reports, mouse-over points of interest or shaded areas to
   display details of specific metrics.