WEXAC Archive Facility

WEXAC Archival on Linux

To store files and folders in the WEXAC archive on Linux:

1. Change the current directory to the archive folder (/home/labs/lab_name/archive).

[vitalyg@access archive]$ pwd  
/home/labs/training/archive

2. To archive files and directories, compress them first (for example, create a Gzipped archive as in the example below).

[vitalyg@access archive]$ tar cvfz archive-20180621.tar.gz -C
/home/labs/training/vitalyg/scripts scripts

3. Verify that the compressed file has been created and is ready to be archived, as shown below.

[vitalyg@access archive]$ ll
total 26664
-rwxrwx--- 1 vitalyg training-wx-grp 27271221 Jun 21 10:30 archive-20180621.tar.gz

4. To check the status of the files in the archive, run the mmlsattr command. Archived files are assigned the ARCHIVE OFFLINE status (indicated in the Misc attribute: field). The first file in the example below has not been archived yet, whereas the second one has.

[vitalyg@access archive]$ mmlsattr -L archive-20180621.tar.gz 
file name:            archive-20180621.tar.gz
metadata replication: 1 max 2
data replication:     1 max 2
immutable:            no
appendOnly:           no
flags:                
storage pool name:    system
fileset name:         training
snapshot name:        
creation time:        Thu Jun 21 10:30:07 2018
Misc attributes:      ARCHIVE 
Encrypted:            no

[vitalyg@access archive]$ mmlsattr -L scripts_new.zip 
file name:            scripts_new.zip
metadata replication: 1 max 2
data replication:     1 max 2
immutable:            no
appendOnly:           no
flags:                
storage pool name:    system
fileset name:         training
snapshot name:        
creation time:        Thu Jun 21 10:48:31 2018
Misc attributes:      ARCHIVE OFFLINE
Encrypted:            no
Note:
The files will take 7 days to be archived.

WEXAC Archival on Windows

To store files and folders in the WEXAC archive on Windows:

1. Map a network drive to \\data.wexac.weizmann.ac.il\lab_name-arc, and access the path where the compressed files to be archived are stored.
2. Once there, you may check the status of the files by adding the Attributes column to the Windows file explorer view (as shown in the Choose Details dialog below).

3. Once visible, check the relevant file’s Attributes column for the O attribute (the file in the example below has this attribute, meaning that it is offline and stored on tape).  

You may alternatively check for this attribute by right-clicking the file and clicking the Properties command to open its Properties dialog, which will display the file’s attributes, among other characteristics.

The following is a Properties dialog depicting the status of a file prior to archival. Note that checking the properties of a file that has yet to be archived will reset the one-week countdown, and will consequently delay that file's archival. 

Below is a Properties dialog displaying the status of a file following archival.

WEXAC Archival on Macintosh Computers

Do not attempt to check file archival status on Macintosh computers, as they do not recognize archived files, and will immediately recall them, even if only checking their properties.

Retrieving Files from the Archive

To extract an archive to the current directory:

1. Change the current directory to the folder to which you wish to extract archived files.
2. When in this folder, run the command shown in the example below to extract files from the compressed (gz) file specified.

[vitalyg@access fromArchive]$ tar xvfz /home/labs/training/archive/archive-20180621.tar.gz