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Protection Groups Configuration

Overview​

The Protection Groups tab defines the named collections of buckets that share a copy policy, schedule, and vault target. Every bucket that participates in vault copying must belong to a protection group. The group sets the destination vault device, the RPO target, and the schedule policy that governs when copy windows open in Vault Mode.

What a Protection Group Controls​

Group name — unique identifier referenced throughout the console (Changelist, Vault Data Sync Dashboard, Data Sync Reporting, vault configs).

Target device — the vault-side ObjectScale device that all copy jobs in this group write to. All buckets in a group share the same vault target.

RPO hours — the maximum acceptable age of the last successful copy window.

Schedule policy — links the group to a sync schedule that controls when copy windows open. The schedule is used in Vault Mode, where the vault agent syncs the group on it; in Preparation Mode there is no automatic schedule — syncs start from Sync Group Now / Sync All on the Vault Data Sync Dashboard.

Color — visual tag shown as a color dot in the Groups list and the Bucket Browser to quickly identify groups at a glance.

Group Lifecycle​

  1. Create — click New Group, fill in the form, and click Create Group. The group is immediately available for bucket assignment in the Bucket Browser tab.
  2. Assign buckets — switch to the Bucket Browser tab and use the Source Bucket Assign to Group mode to assign buckets to the new group.
  3. Provision — after bucket assignment, switch to the Provision Namespaces and Buckets to Vault mode to create the corresponding namespaces and buckets on the vault target.
  4. Schedule — attach a schedule policy; once the group is in Vault Mode, the vault agent syncs it in the policy's windows.
  5. Delete — only possible if no buckets are currently assigned to the group.

Distribution Planner​

Click Distribution Planner to open the automated group planning modal. The planner:

  • Analyses the unassigned bucket inventory — total count, Large-tagged, and High-Churn-tagged buckets.
  • Recommends a number of groups based on configurable max-buckets-per-group and max-tagged-per-group targets.
  • Staggers the schedule windows evenly across a 24-hour period from a configurable start hour.
  • Shows a live 24-hour visual timeline and a plan table (Total / Tagged / Large / Hi-Rate / Regular per group).
  • Downloads the plan as JSON for review.
  • Apply — creates the schedule policies and protection groups, and round-robin assigns tagged buckets automatically. Regular bucket assignment is left to you via the auto-select buttons in the Bucket Browser.

Workflows​

Creating a protection group manually​

  1. Click New Group.
  2. Enter a unique Name (e.g., finance-prod, archive-cold).
  3. Select the Target Vault Device this group copies to.
  4. Set RPO (hours) to match the data protection SLA.
  5. Optionally attach a Schedule Policy (or configure schedules later).
  6. Click Create Group.

Editing a group​

Click the pencil icon on a group row. All fields except the group ID can be changed. Changes take effect on the next copy job cycle — already-running jobs continue with the previous config.

Deleting a group​

Unassign all buckets from the group first (use the Bucket Browser), then click the delete icon. Deleting a group with assigned buckets is blocked.

Tips​

  • Descriptive group names make the Vault Data Sync Dashboard and Data Sync Reporting much easier to read — avoid generic names like group1.
  • Keep groups sized so each one fits comfortably in a single copy window. Very large groups (thousands of buckets with high change rates) may need their own schedule policy with a longer window duration.
  • Use the Distribution Planner for initial setup on a large source inventory — it handles the math for staggering windows and splitting tagged buckets.