Migrate a File Server to a CTERA Edge Filer

With CTERA Migrate, you can migrate a file server to the CTERA Edge Filer. After the migration has been completed, end users who are familiar with a given folder structure and shares, as well as a given permission scheme, continue to see the same folder structure, shares, and permission scheme. This enables the migration from a current file system to the CTERA Edge Filer without the need to apply any structural changes such as flattening the folder structure or simplifying the permission scheme.

You can migrate file servers from the following:

• Azure StorSimple
• HCP Gateway
• Hitachi Data Ingestor
• Isilon OneFS
• Microsoft Azure Files
• Nasuni Edge Appliance
• NetApp ONTAP
• NetAPP StorageGRID 9 (SMB)
• NetAPP StorageGRID 11 (SMB)
• Panzura Freedom Filer
• Windows Server

Another option, Other, is available to attempt to migrate from a file server that is not listed.

In addition you can discover all the shares on the current edge filer by specifying the source as This Edge Filer.

Access to files and folders after the migration is through SMB provided by the CTERA Edge Filer so that users continue to access the files and folders in the same way as with the old system. You can migrate more storage than is physically available on the CTERA Edge Filer, and the user has access to the global namespace, even when this is much larger than the storage available on the CTERA Edge Filer.

You can migrate files that are defined as WORM compliant. The files are migrated with the current source compliance settings including the time remaining that they are WORM compliant.

Migrating a file server to a CTERA Edge Filer can be performed while the current file server remains in production.

The flow when performing a migration is as follows:

Before migrating the file server to the CTERA Edge Filer, the CTERA Edge Filer must be connected to the CTERA Portal. After finishing the initial setup, make sure that syncing between the CTERA Edge Filer and CTERA Portal global file system is not suspended.

Migrating a single file server to the CTERA Edge Filer involves the following procedures:

• Discovering Shares – Optionally, survey the current file server to discover which shares to migrate.
• Migrating Shares – Migrate shares to the CTERA Edge Filer.

After the migration, the cloud folder will start with the C: path as it represents a single server with all the shares/nested shares as cloud folders under this root cloud folder. You can change the cloud folder under which all the shares are migrated as part of the migration job specification.

The shares are not created at the root cloud folder level but at the subfolder level because ACL permissions cannot be managed at the root cloud folder level, only at the subfolder level.