CloudSoda Best Practices

This article provides best practices for storage file naming and policy configuration.

• File Naming Best Practices
• Policy Configuration Best Practices

File Naming Best Practices

When working with files over NFS or SMB protocols, it's important to follow naming conventions that avoid system limitations and compatibility issues. Below are key best practices to follow:

Character Limitations

To maintain compatibility across systems, file names should use only alphanumeric characters and a restricted set of special characters. Refer to the Amazon S3 Object Naming Guidelines for details on file names and object key names. 

Trailing Spaces

Linux systems without the mapchars mount option cannot access folders with trailing spaces. Always ensure folder names do not end with a space.

Carriage Returns

While Windows allows carriage returns in file names, these are not supported by CloudSoda and will cause scan failures. To avoid issues, remove any carriage returns from file names.

Length Limitations

File names should be no longer than 255 characters. In object storage environments, the full object key (which includes the file path and name) must not exceed 1024 characters. 

Policy Configuration Best Practices

CloudSoda supports highly flexible policy management, but misconfigurations or overlapping rules can lead to unintended issues. Follow these recommendations to optimize your policy setup: 

• Avoid overlapping policies targeting the same dataset.
• Schedule jobs carefully to prevent simultaneous execution conflicts.
• Use the Dry Run feature when creating filters to validate datasets before making changes. Filters can be complex and often require testing and adjustment. 

Windows Agent Best Practices

When using the CloudSoda Windows Agent to access SMB shares:

• Use the SMB accessor wherever possible.
• If accessing via a UNC path or mapped drive, update the Log On As account for the CloudSoda Agent service in Windows Services to a domain or local user with the necessary share permissions.
• In Active Directory environments, add this account to the Backup Operators group. This grants the Agent access to protected files without requiring full administrative rights. By default, the service runs under the Local System account, which typically lacks those credentials.