Placing Data on GIR — Configuring Share Archive Rules

Hammerspace will not place data on a GIR OSV automatically. Every share that should have data archived to GIR must have an explicit placement objective configured.

The most administrator-friendly way to set this up is through the Archive tab in the Edit Share workflow, which lets you define conditions that determine which files on the share are eligible for GIR archival.

Adding an Archive Rule Using the Web UI

Go to Data Shares and click the edit icon next to the share.
Select the Archive tab.
Click Add Archive Rule to build a rule from scratch, or Add Rule from Template to start from a predefined pattern.

Available templates include:
- File not accessible (Data only)
- File not accessible (Data and Snapshot)
- Has Label
- Has Tag
Set the archive condition. For time-based conditions (for example, files not accessed for more than 3 months), use the time and unit fields on the main tab. Set the rule’s time threshold using the Days, Months, or Years units. For more complex expressions, use the Advanced tab to compose a custom condition such as Last_use_age > 90 days.
In the rule’s placement dropdown, select the place-on or confine-to objective that was created for your GIR volume (for example, place-on-archive-object-volumes).
Click Save. The rule appears in the rules table on the Archive tab and is also visible as a placement objective on the share in both the UI and the CLI.

Rules added through the Archive tab in the GUI are also visible and manageable through the Admin CLI. To inspect the objectives on a share from the CLI, use share-list or objective-list.

Adding a Placement Objective Using the Admin CLI

You can also apply placement objectives to a share directly from the CLI without going through the Archive tab:

share-objective-add \
  --name <share-name> \
  --objective place-on-archive-object-volumes

To apply the objective only when a condition is met, add --applicability with an objective expression. For example, to place files on archive object volumes only after they have gone unused for 90 days:

share-objective-add \
  --name <share-name> \
  --objective place-on-archive-object-volumes \
  --applicability "LAST_USE_AGE>90*DAYS"

When --applicability is omitted, the objective always applies. For the expression syntax, see Common Functions for Advanced Expressions.

Placement Objective Reference

Objective Effect

Objective	Effect
`place-on-archive-object-volumes`	Directs Hammerspace to place a copy of the file on the GIR OSV. Without this or `confine-to`, Hammerspace will never upload to GIR — even if availability or durability objectives could otherwise be satisfied by doing so.
`confine-to-archive-object-volumes`	Forces GIR to be the only instance of the file. Triggers removal of all NAS and Standard OSV copies. Use with care: the data then exists only on GIR, and any subsequent read will incur GIR retrieval costs.
`exclude-from-archive-object-volumes`	Prevents new copies from being placed on GIR, and moves any existing GIR copies off. Applying this to data that is already on a GIR OSV triggers an egress read, so apply with awareness of the cost.
`keep-online`	Maintains a NAS copy alongside an existing GIR instance so data can be read from NAS without incurring GIR retrieval costs. `keep-online` by itself does not place a copy on GIR — to keep both a NAS copy and a GIR copy, apply `place-on-archive-object-volumes` together with `keep-online`.

place-on-archive-object-volumes

Directs Hammerspace to place a copy of the file on the GIR OSV. Without this or confine-to, Hammerspace will never upload to GIR — even if availability or durability objectives could otherwise be satisfied by doing so.

confine-to-archive-object-volumes

Forces GIR to be the only instance of the file. Triggers removal of all NAS and Standard OSV copies. Use with care: the data then exists only on GIR, and any subsequent read will incur GIR retrieval costs.

exclude-from-archive-object-volumes

Prevents new copies from being placed on GIR, and moves any existing GIR copies off. Applying this to data that is already on a GIR OSV triggers an egress read, so apply with awareness of the cost.

keep-online

Maintains a NAS copy alongside an existing GIR instance so data can be read from NAS without incurring GIR retrieval costs. keep-online by itself does not place a copy on GIR — to keep both a NAS copy and a GIR copy, apply place-on-archive-object-volumes together with keep-online.

Smart (attribute-based) place-on rules are supported. For example, you can archive any file with last_use_age > 3 months to the archive-object-volumes Volume Group, and Hammerspace will apply the rule only to files that meet the condition.