A protected path is a path in the element store (file/object system) that is backed up at a defined frequency to local snapshots and/or an S3 replication peer. You can have multiple protected paths configured on a VAST Cluster at any given time. One path can perform backup to S3.
When you create a protection path, it is automatically activated, and can be deactivated and reactivated at any time. Before a protected path can be defined, a protection policy must be created.
Immediately after you create a protected path, if the path is configured to be backed up to S3, an initial copy of the data to the S3 replication peer is triggered. It continues copying until an initial state of sync between the VAST Cluster and the peer is reached. Following initial sync, replication is performed at the times configured in the protection policy. Due to the immediate initial sync, the start time in the policy is in fact the second time replication is done.
Replication on a path is done by taking a snapshot of the VAST Cluster's data at a point in time and then copying data to the peer until replication is complete. Only the changes between the data at the time of the snapshot and the data previously copied to the peer are copied. For each point in time, a restore point is created from which the data can be accessed.
Caution
If you create a protected path to replicate data to a target that you already replicated data to earlier by means of another protected path that was deleted earlier, the initial sync is performed again. In other words, the re-creation of a protected path triggers a new upload of the entire data set to the peer.
In the left navigation menu, select Data Protection and then Protected Paths.
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On the Replication Paths tab, click + Create Protected Path.
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In the Add Protected Path dialog, complete the fields:
Field
Description
Path Name
Enter a name for the protected path.
Choose a policy
Select a protection policy from the dropdown. The policy defines a schedule for taking snapshots and/or backing up data to a specific S3 replication peer.
To create a new policy, see Managing Protection Policies.
Path
Enter a path to a directory. A snapshot of this directory will be taken periodically according to the protection policy.
In case of S3 backup, the path must be the path to the root directory, "/". That is, if the specified protection policy is configured with an S3 replication peer.
Path on peer
Leave this field blank. It is reserved for future use.
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Click Create.
The protected path is created and listed in the Protected Paths tab.
To modify the configuration of a protected path, click 
to open the Actions menu for the stream and select Edit. Make your changes and then click Update.
Deactivating a protected path pauses replication for the path. Activating the protected path resumes replication.
Under the Actions column for the protected path you want to activate or deactivate, click () and select Activate or Deactivate as needed.
Removing a protected path prevents the ability to resume it. After removing a protected path, if you create a new protected path using the same policy, that new protected path triggers a new initial sync, copying over all of the VAST Cluster's data to the S3 replication peer (if a peer is specified in the policy).
Tip
If you only want to pause replication and you may want to resume later, don't remove the protected path; instead deactivate the stream.
Removing a protected path does not delete snapshots or restore points that were already backed up to an S3 replication peer.
To view analytics a protected path, click to open the Actions menu for the protected path and select Analytics view.
The Analytics page is displayed, showing you a predefined report called Protection Path info which gives you useful information about the protection path.
Note:
Backlog is the amount of data waiting to be replicated.
RPO (Restore Point Objective) is measured as the amount of time that passed since the last fully uploaded replication snapshot was taken.
To manage protection paths via the VAST CLI, use the following commands.
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