_dirdesc files in the DS-System Online Storage
Summary
- NOTE: If the DS-System Advanced Configuration contains the "DirStoreSafeMode" parameter, it means _dirdesc files are no longer used as the primary source for backup set directory descriptor information. Instead, that information is being consolidated to one "_dir_store" file per backup set (to improve I/O performance). For more details, see the Knowledge Base article "_dir_store files in the DS-System Online Storage".
The "_dirdesc" files are created by the DS-System on the Online Storage. These files hold metadata for the backed up data in the corresponding folder where they appear.
Details
There are three levels of _dirdesc files for the DS-System:
- All activities running on the DS-System access the backup set level _dirdesc files.
- The "restore" and "validation restore" activities do not access the _dirdesc files at the directory level.
- All the other activities need all the _dirdesc files (at all levels) in order to complete.
DS-System verifies a _dirdesc file's validity every time it is accessed. Each _dirdesc file contains a file signature and when the file is opened, the DS-System calculates the file signature and compares it to the one that it is stored inside the file. If a _dirdesc file is found to be corrupted or missing entirely, the following actions are taken by the DS-System:
- when Autonomic Healing and System Admin detect a _dirdesc file corruption, an error is reported in the DS-System Event Log for that activity and that directory is skipped by the Autonomic Healing or System Admin process;
- when backup activities are running, the _dirdesc file is automatically overwritten without checking its validity;
- when synchronization activities are running, the corrupted or missing _dirdesc file is replaced with information received from the DS-Client. If DS-Client cannot provide this information to the DS-System, the DS-System will create a _dirdesc file with alternate file information in the form:
See Also
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