Logical Volumes and Volume Rollover
Creating a logical volume
A logical volume is created in the same way as a physical volume. The only difference between the two procedures is whether the Physical Volume node or the Logical Volume node is selected in the New Volume dialog box. When setting either of these options, keep in mind that volume type is permanent. Once a volume has been created, there is no way to switch the status of a volume from physical to logical or vice-versa.
Note: Although you cannot toggle volume status, you can create another volume with the desired status and migrate the desired documents and/or electronic documents to the new volume.
Note: The physical volumes that will be associated with a logical volume do not need to be manually created. A physical volume will automatically be created and associated with a logical volume whenever the previous physical volume reaches the rollover size limit or whenever the volume's predetermined rollover date is reached. Rollover size limits and rollover dates can be set in the New Volume dialog box when creating your logical volume.
Administering logical volumes
Another distinction is that new physical volumes are assigned the settings configured for the logical volume. Although these settings are assigned to the physical volume by default, they can always be changed without having a direct effect on the logical volume. However, changing them can affect a user's ability to import to a logical volume. For example, if you restrict a user's rights to the current physical volume being used by a logical volume, that user will not be allowed to import to the logical volume until a new physical volume is created. Likewise, if the current physical volume is assigned read-only status, no users will be allowed to import to the logical volume.
Viewing a list of associated volumes
The physical volumes that have been created for a particular logical volume can be viewed from the Physical Volumes tab of the Volume Properties dialog box. This volume list is especially useful if the physical volumes that have been created for a particular logical volume do not share the same base name, which could happen if you manually rename either the logical or physical volume. In addition to being able to view all of the physical volumes associated with a logical volume, you can also view the total size for each physical volume, which allows you to quickly survey the amount by which each physical volume has exceeded the desired volume size. If necessary, you can use this information to migrate documents out of excessively large volumes.
Modifying logical volume settings
The settings assigned to a logical volume can be modified after it has been created. Modifying logical volume settings does not affect existing physical volumes, but may affect default names, paths, security, file size limits, rollover schedules, or rollover dates for all future physical volumes created for this logical volume.
The read-only option is a unique setting in that it prevents new physical volumes from being created. It is able to prevent volume creation by disallowing data from being assigned to the logical volume. When this option has been set, a user will not be allowed to add content to the logical volume. However, if a user has been granted the Create documents, Add files, or Modify/Delete files right on a physical volume associated with a read-only logical volume and the physical volume has not been specifically assigned read-only status, he or she can add data directly to the physical volume.
Deleting a logical volume
A logical volume and the physical volumes associated with it can be deleted. The deletion of a logical volume is performed in the same way as the deletion of any other volume, though you will also be prompted to confirm the deletion of the physical volumes.
Tip: It is not necessary to delete a logical volume to prevent users from importing to it. You can either assign read-only status to the logical volume or remove the appropriate access rights from the logical volume for all users and groups.
Volume rollover
The amount of information that a particular volume can store is typically limited by the media on which it is stored or to which it will be transferred or archived. Volume rollover addresses the latter concern by helping limit how large a volume can become, while still allowing users to import to that volume. It is able to do this by using two different types of volumes: logical and physical. A logical volume represents a series of physical volumes.
When a logical volume is first created, it will have no physical volumes associated with it. After a user associates a document with a logical volume, a physical volume will be created. The name of this physical volume will be the name of the logical volume followed by a sequential number. As users continue to associate content with the logical volume, volume rollover can take place in two different ways: Either based on a size limit, or based on time schedule. In the first case, the physical volume will reach a predetermined size limit, at which point no new entries can to be added to it. In the second case, the physical volume is capped after a predetermined period of time has elapsed. When either of these events occurs, another physical volume will be created and the next document to be associated with the logical volume will be assigned to the new physical volume. This is the cycle through which physical volumes will be created from a logical volume.
A series of physical volumes were created to store information that was assigned to the logical volume. Each of those physical volumes was named after the logical volume followed by a sequential number, padded by zeroes to prevent naming conflicts. Additionally, they are stored in similar locations. The term Path represents the fixed and/or removable path. In either case, the path(s) specified for each physical volume will be a sub-folder of the corresponding path specified for the logical volume. The sub-folder will be named after the logical volume followed by a sequential number.
How are users affected by volume rollover?
Typically, a user's ability to interact with a physical volume depends on the volume access rights that have been granted to him or her. This behavior is slightly altered for the creation and migration of documents on logical volumes. Users with appropriate permissions can create or migrate documents on the logical volume, and Laserfiche will associate the document with the appropriate physical volume. Typically, users do not directly interact with the physical volume. This means that if a user has been granted the Create Documents right on the logical volume and has not been denied this right on the physical volume to which data will be written, the user will be allowed to create or migrate documents to that volume.
By default, users with sufficient access rights will be allowed to create, migrate, append data, modify, and view documents associated with a particular logical volume. However, the default security configuration will not allow users to create or migrate documents directly to a particular physical volume associated with that logical volume. Like any other aspect of Laserfiche security, volume access rights may be altered to allow or deny users from performing certain actions. For more information on volume access rights, see Volume Access Rights.
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