Setting Up Fusion Direct

You can add a folder in the cloud drive that unifies file and object storage: Fusion Direct. Data can be accessed as files through SMB or NFS and as objects through S3, allowing users, applications, and modern data processing environments to work with the same datasets. Fusion Direct simplifies infrastructure while enabling flexible access to data for collaboration, analytics, and data-driven workloads.

To add or edit a cloud folder:

1. Select Global File System > Cloud Drive Folders in the navigation pane.
   The Cloud Drive Folders page is displayed.
   

2. Click New.
   The New Cloud Drive Folders page is displayed.
   

3. Complete the fields as described in Adding or Editing Cloud Folders without saving the new cloud drive folder.

4. Select the Fusion Direct option for the Storage Type.

   The Fusion Direct option can only be defined when initially setting up the cloud drive folder.

5. Select the Fusion Direct tab.
   

6. Select the storage node in the Type field.
   Additional fields are displayed to define the storage type, dependent on the type selected.
   
   The following storage nodes are supporrted:

   • Amazon Web Services (S3)
   • Cloudian (S3)
   • Cohesity Data Platform (S3)
   • DataCore Swarm (S3)
   • Dell ObjectScale (S3)
   • Dell PowerScale (S3)
   • Everpure
   • Hitachi Vantara HCP (S3)
   • IBM Cloud Object Storage (S3)
   • IBM Storage Ceph (S3)
   • MinIO Object Storage (S3)
   • NetApp StorageGRID (S3)
   • Nutanix (S3)
   • Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (S3)
   • Quantum ActiveScale (S3)
   • Qumulo (S3)
   • S3-Compatible
   • Scality ARTESCA (S3)
   • VAST Data (S3)
   • VSP One Object (S3)
   • Wasabi Cloud Storage (S3)

7. Complete the storage bucket details:
   Bucket Name – A unique name for the bucket.
   Access Key ID – The bucket access key ID.
   Secret Access Key – The bucket secret access key.

   Note

   IAM role-based authentication to an Amazon Web Services (S3) bucket is not permitted, to prevent security risks.

   Use Path Style Addressing – The s3 endpoint requires path-style URLs. For example, http://endpoint/bucket/object
   Endpoint – The private endpoint of the service. The port for the endpoint can be customized by adding the port after the URL, using a colon (:) separator. The default port is 80.
   Region (Optional) – The cloud data bucket location.
   Use HTTPS – Use HTTPS to connect with the bucket.

   • Trust all certificates – Do not validate the certificate of the object storage. Normally this is unchecked.
     
     

   For Amazon Web Services (S3):
   Add Metadata Tags – Use metadata to support information lifecycle management rules (ILM) on the storage node to differentiate between backup and cloud drive blocks. Checking Add Metadata Tags implements the ILM, enabling storage tiering so that data can be routed across different object storages based on whether the data is backup or cloud drive related.

8. Specify the storage mode:
   Filesystem only – For workflows that only involves reading/analyzing data from the bucket. For example, training a model on a static dataset. Uploads and changes are synced to the bucket but changes are not pulled back.
   Bucket only – For workflows that require data‑lake driven updates in the bucket with safe, read‑only enterprise file access.accessing the bucket need to write data or metadata back, and have those changes reflect on the edge filers. For example, an AI process analyzes images and writes back metadata tags.

   Note

   Global File Locking and Archive and Compliance Vault options are only supported with the Filesystem only storage mode.

9. Click Save.

The cloud drive folder is created and The Fusion Direct value for the cloud drive folder is Yes..

Viewing the cloud drive folder also includes Yes for the Fusion Direct field.

Handling Deleted Files

Deleted files, set in the portal with Fusion Direct, can only be removed from the storage using the storage life-cycle management.