Capacity Planning
Once the fire fighting is somewhat under control (Network Cleanup and Backup) you can start understanding how your
storage is really being used. Capacity Planning is the practice of analyzing trends in stored information using a
collection of statistical and modeling techniques to predict future capacity requirements. With storage hardware
costs constantly decreasing ($ per GB), determining when provisioning is actually required and postponing a hardware
purchase could provide a substantial cost savings.
Many of the basic reports can be used to highlight populations of files hidden deep within directory structures or
spread across many volumes. With FileCensus you can answer the questions quickly or test assumptions without wasting
time. Moreover, FileCensus is the first product that allows you to drilldown to track the data from every angle.
Resource images captured and analyzed by FileCensus provide an excellent platform to easily project and monitor capacity
needs on a daily basis. FileCensus Change Analysis options and Agent information provide critical tracking, reporting,
and analysis functions down to the file and ownership level for detailed trend and change analysis of your entire
storage network.
Determine Trends and Changes
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The detailed historical information collected by FileCensus provides an unprecedented level of detail to capacity
planners. Shown here is a capacity history with the right chart showing the total amount of available, used and
free space over time. If additional capacity is added, or removed then the black line will show a kink when the
change occurred. The chart on the left shows what types of files are consuming the storage and how they are changing
over time.
Details When You Need Them
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FileCensus is the only storage management solution that can provide both the "Big Picture" view of your network
and the intricate details necessary to drill-down into the unknown and unexpected. This screen shot shows a single
volume and the overall changes that have occurred over a 5 month period. You can quickly identify where growth
and shrinkage is occurring. By drilling into the paths you can test assumptions about growth patterns and fine-tune
your estimates based on actual data.
