Migrate Data off of the Isilon (General Data Storage)

Overview of Storage Portfolio Restructuring Initiative

The Office of Information Technology Storage and Hosting Services team is conducting phase 2 of the Storage Portfolio Restructuring Initiative. In this phase, the Storage and Hosting team is 

  • working with University units to migrate data from General Data Storage (also known as the Isilon) to the appropriate, modern storage service and 
  • promoting data stewardship practices. 

By February 2024, only departmental data will be stored on the Isilon, all other data types must be moved to the appropriate storage service. To select the best option, visit the Select Digital Storage Options tool. After you have selected your tool, please refer to the following recommended practices for migrating your data.

Note: Isilon data migrations should be completed by departmental system administrators or with assistance from local IT. If you have any questions about moving data off of the Isilon, please contact your local IT or Technology Help.

Network File System (NFS)

Host used for transfer

  • Should be a virtual machine in the data center
  • Uses a Linux/Unix server
  • Server should be in the access control list for both the source and destination exports
  • Should be dedicated to the copying and not a server used for production
  • More than one server could be used for migrations where there are many source directories, or one directory can be broken up into multiple locations 
  • Copy host should not be behind a departmental firewall
  • To potentially move data faster, use parallel jobs (i.e., Msrsync, parsyncfp, etc.) 
    • Rsync seems to be the standard

Mount options

Please note that mount options vary greatly depending on the vendor. Please refer to the vendor’s documentation for specifics. 

  • Verify using correct Isilon mounting options for source mount (i.e., vers=3)
  • NetApp
  • Qumulo

If you have questions about how to use Rsync, contact Technology Help for assistance

Server Message Block Protocol (SMB)

Host used for transfer

  • Should be a virtual machine in the data center
  • Use a newer Windows server 
  • Never use Windows Explorer to migrate data by dragging folders from one drive to another
  • Disable antivirus
  • The Active Directory User for transfer should be in the access control list for both the source and destination shares
  • Test syncs should be done to verify speeds
  • Ideally should be dedicated to the copying and not a server used for production
  • More than one server could be used for larger migrations 
  • Copy host should not be behind a departmental firewall

Mount options

Questions?

If you have any questions about how to migrate data from the Isilon, contact your local IT or Technology Help for assistance.