File IQ Sizing Tool - Estimate Appliance, Disk, and Backup Capacity

File IQ Version 10.3+ - Sizing UI

File IQ 10.3 introduces an enhanced sizing tool to simplify and streamline accurate sizing of File IQ appliances. Fully integrated into the File IQ UI, the tool automatically gathers and analyzes relevant data from the File IQ database and active appliance workloads to generate accurate sizing recommendations. Additionally, it offers a simulation mode that lets users model the impact of enabling specific File IQ features, enabling informed decision-making and optimized capacity planning.

Note: The File IQ appliance should be initially sized according to the guidelines provided in the File IQ Installation Guide. This tool can then be used on an ongoing basis to verify that the appliance remains appropriately sized.

Open the File IQ Sizing Tool

To access the File IQ Sizing UI, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Nasuni File IQ User Interface using https://FILE_IQ_FQDN:8443, and log in as an Administrator.

2. Click the Status tab, and select Nasuni File IQ Sizing.

   

Note: The File IQ Sizing page is dynamic. It automatically collects information from the File IQ database to estimate the required hardware specifications. Refreshing this page might lead to slightly different results.

Tip: The quality of the information displayed on this page depends on the data available in the database. It is recommended to wait one week after the system is provisioned and again after each large configuration change to ensure accurate results.

Choose Service Setting Mode or Simulation Mode

The File IQ sizing screen can be run in the following two modes:

• Service setting mode: In this mode, the page is read-only. All optional File IQ features that impact sizing are automatically selected or deselected based on actual usage.

• Simulation mode: In this mode, the top Nasuni File IQ Configuration section is editable. You can select and deselect various features and options to determine their impact on sizing.

To switch to simulation mode, click Edit these values to simulate a configuration change at the bottom of the Nasuni File IQ Configuration section.

To switch to service setting mode when in simulation mode, click Close simulation mode and return to service settings.

Understand the Sizing Tool Panels

Review File IQ Configuration Inputs

When the service setting mode is enabled, this panel displays a report of the currently enabled and used File IQ features. In simulation mode, various controls let you simulate the use of these features to gauge their impact on sizing.

Review Appliance CPU, Memory, and DB Disk Recommendations

The Nasuni File IQ Appliance Sizing panel provides an overview of currently provisioned and required CPU cores, system memory, and File IQ DB disk sizes.

Configured values that fall below the calculated sizing requirements are clearly highlighted in red to ensure immediate visibility. An optional warning or error section displayed beneath the table provides proactive notifications if the File IQ database disk is projected to reach capacity in the near term or has already exceeded 90% utilization.

Review Database Disk Size at Full Retention

The Database Disk Size at Full Retention panel provides a detailed breakdown of File IQ database disk utilization, outlining storage consumption across the various datasets retained by File IQ.

Use this table to investigate the following:

• If your File IQ database disk size is properly sized.

• The relative storage requirements of raw events, aggregated events, and filesystem metadata (usually the three largest consumers) in order to identify individual dataset requirements.

• The impact of enabling indexing on an existing system.

Project Future Database Disk Growth

The Database Disk Size Projection panel shows the File IQ database disk size utilization over the next few months.

Tip: Use this chart to estimate how long you have before you need to upgrade the File IQ database disk size.

Graph Components

• Blue Area of Graph: The blue area represents the projected database disk utilization over time. In most cases, three distinct phases can be observed:

1. Initial growth phase: A steep increase during the first 7 days (or the configured raw event retention period), as events continue to accumulate until full retention is reached for the current workload.

2. Intermediate growth phase: A more gradual increase that continues until the aggregated event retention period is reached (90 days by default).

3. Stabilization phase: A leveling off once full retention has been achieved for the current workload, with disk utilization stabilizing accordingly.

• Green Line: The green line at the top shows the current disk size of the File IQ database.

• Orange Line: The orange line indicates 90% of the currently allocated capacity on the File IQ database disk. Because File IQ stops loading data once disk utilization reaches 90%, it is critical that the projected utilization (blue area) remains below this threshold.

  In the example shown above, the projection indicates that the system is expected to stop loading a few days before March 20th, as the blue area approaches the 90% capacity line.

  Important: Increased usage might cause the disk to reach 90% capacity before this date.

  We recommend reviewing your configuration before reaching that point.

Estimate Backup Cloud Storage Requirements

If backup is enabled, this section displays the expected cloud storage required to back up the File IQ database.

Table Components

• Backup Size: The total size of all backups. This depends on the database size and the backup retention.

• WAL Size: The size used for write-ahead logs. This depends on database size, activity, retention, and granularity.

File IQ Version 10.2 and Earlier - Sizing Spreadsheet

The File IQ Sizing Tool for versions 10.2 and earlier is a spreadsheet that recommends the most appropriate instance type based on the inputs you provide. The Tool provides an approximate specification of the File IQ Appliance system that your organization requires. After running the File IQ Appliance for 2 weeks, compare the Tool results to the data presented in the File IQ dashboards, and adjust your configuration as necessary.

To download the CSV, click the icon above.

Inputs Required for the Sizing Spreadsheet

When sizing your File IQ setup, a few core inputs must be considered before selecting an appliance type and instance. Entering these specifications into the Sizing Spreadsheet yields the minimum hardware requirements.

These input considerations include the following:

• Number of Volumes: Number of volumes, with estimated number of files.

• Volume Change Rate: An estimate of how much the volume increases per month.

• Number of NEAs: The number of NEAs by size, by number of active users.

• Optional feature definition:

  • Backup Enabled: If using File IQ Database backups to Cloud Storage, select true from the drop-down menu.

  • Backup Period: Select how often the backup is run, from the drop-down menu.

  • Backups to Preserve: How many backups are kept in the Cloud Storage.

The above inputs can be approximations. You can run the Sizing Spreadsheet later against the data presented in the File IQ dashboards and make any adjustments necessary.

Using these inputs, the Sizing Spreadsheet provides the following minimum virtual machine requirements on the File IQ VM Sizing worksheet tab:

• Instance Type: Including the number of vCPUs and the amount of Memory required.

• Cache Disk Size

• CoW Disk Size

• File IQ Database Size

• Cloud Storage Size Estimation (on the File IQ Cloud Sizing worksheet tab): Estimated amount of Cloud Storage needed to support File IQ Database backups.

Note: File IQ does not support disk striping on cache or DB disks.

If you are licensed for File IQ Premium, there are additional inputs to consider that define the virtual machine requirements produced by the File IQ Sizing Spreadsheet:

• Premium Enabled: Select true from the drop-down menu.

• Aggregation Event Retention: Number of days to store aggregated NEA activity event data.

  Note: These values can be modified only in File IQ Premium. The supported range is from 32 to 365.

• Raw Event Retention: Number of days to store raw NEA activity event data.

  Note: These values can be modified only in File IQ Premium. The supported range is from 7 to 21.

• Indexing Enabled: Select true from the drop-down menu.

Using these additional inputs for File IQ Premium, the Sizing Spreadsheet updates the virtual machine requirements to match those above.

How to Use the Sizing Spreadsheet

Within the File IQ Sizing Input worksheet, the Sizing Spreadsheet includes the Volumes, NEAs, and Minimum Hardware Requirements tables. Values are entered into the Volumes and NEAs tables, and your minimum requirements are displayed on the File IQ VM Sizing worksheet in the Minimum VM Hardware Requirements table and Minimum Disk Requirements table.

If your organization is licensed for File IQ Premium, there is a flag to indicate this capability for sizing purposes, as well as sections for Retention Period and Backup Cloud Storage. An additional output to define Cloud Storage Size for File IQ Premium usage is located in the File IQ Cloud Sizing worksheet.

Note: Only enter table values in the light blue cells. Each table description specifies the specific table columns and rows that are light blue.

Note: Table values entered that are outside the confirmed operational capabilities are highlighted in yellow and red cells. The color definitions are as follows:

• Grey/green cells: Within operational capability. The system has been verified to work within this operational range.

• Yellow cell: Yet to be confirmed operational ranges. The system has yet to be verified to work with these operational values.

• Red cell: Beyond the operational capabilities of the system. Adjust the sizing spreadsheet input figures to bring the operational range back within operational capability.

Complete the Volumes Table

In the Volumes table, follow these steps:

1. For Small volumes (around 1,000,000 or fewer files and directories), enter your estimate of how many such volumes are expected to change by < 5 percent, < 10 percent, < 20 percent, and > 20 percent.

2. For Medium volumes (around 10,000,000 or fewer files and directories), enter your estimate of how many such volumes are expected to change by < 5 percent, < 10 percent, < 20 percent, and > 20 percent.

3. For Large volumes (around 50,000,000 or fewer files and directories), enter your estimate of how many such volumes are expected to change by < 5 percent, < 10 percent, < 20 percent, and > 20 percent.

4. For volumes with greater than 50,000,000 files and directories, enter the estimated size of the volume in the “Files + Dir / Volume” column, then enter your estimate of how many such volumes are expected to change by < 5 percent, < 10 percent, < 20 percent, and > 20 percent.

5. This table then automatically calculates the following results:

• Total estimated number of files and directories.

• Total number of volumes that are expected to change by < 5 percent, < 10 percent, < 20 percent, and > 20 percent.

• Total number of volumes.

Tip: Use the Summary page on the Nasuni Orchestration Center (NOC) Dashboard to help identify the total number of files across all volumes (Total Files). Since this value includes all data written, overwritten, and deleted from the cloud, you should reduce it slightly.

The following example shows 2 “Large” volumes, each containing 50,000,000 files, for a total of 100,000,000 files, with a <5% file change rate.

Note: Check for yellow and red cells in the table, because they highlight values entered that have yet to be confirmed as supported or are outside operational capabilities.

Complete the NEAs Table

The NEAs table provides an estimate of the number of events per second (abbreviated as “Ev/s”) per Edge Appliance.

In the NEAs table, follow these steps:

1. For Extra Small (< 50 users), enter how many such NEAs you have.

2. For Small (50-100 users), enter how many such NEAs you have.

3. For Medium (100-250 users), enter how many such NEAs you have.

4. For Large (250-500 users), enter how many such NEAs you have.

5. For Extra Large (500-1000 users), enter how many such NEAs you have.

6. For NEAs with greater than 1000 users, enter how many such NEAs you have.
   Then, in the Est Ev/s/NEA column, estimate how many events per second such an NEA generates.

7. This table then automatically calculates the following results:

• Total number of NEAs.

• Total estimated events per second.

In this example, there are 5 Edge Appliances with between 100 and 250 active users per Edge Appliance. Entering “5” in the NEA Count column for Medium (100-250) results in a total of 5 NEAs and a total of 250 events per second.

Tip: If you are unsure of the NEA size, start by configuring one or two of your NEAs and using the Event Dashboard to provide a better estimate.

Note: Check for yellow and red cells in the table, because they highlight values entered that are yet to be confirmed supported or outside operational capabilities.

Optional Features

The Optional Features table provides the capabilities to define inputs for backup of the File IQ Database to Cloud Storage. This definition could affect the values calculated in the VM Hardware Requirements table.

In the Optional Features table, follow these steps:

1. From the Backup Enabled drop-down menu, select either true (Backup of the File IQ Database is enabled) or false (there is no backup of the File IQ Database).

   1. If the value is false, the remainder of this section can be skipped.

2. From the Backup Period drop-down menu, select the backup frequency (Daily or Weekly).

3. For Backups to Preserve, enter the number of backups to maintain in Cloud Storage.

Cloud Sizing

When backup is enabled, there is a cloud storage sizing requirement to be fulfilled. An estimate of the Cloud Storage Size required for Backup Cloud Storage is presented in the File IQ Cloud Sizing worksheet.

Premium Features

The Premium Features table provides the capabilities to define inputs for premium features that could impact the values calculated in the VM Hardware Requirements table.

In the Premium Features table, follow these steps:

1. From the Premium Enabled drop-down menu, select either true (File IQ Premium license is enabled) or false (File IQ Basic license is enabled).

   1. If the value is false, the remainder of this section can be skipped.

2. From the Reporting Enabled drop-down menu, select either true (you plan on using File IQ Reporting) or false (there are no plans to use File IQ Reporting).

3. From the Indexing Enabled drop-down menu, select either true (you plan on using File IQ Advanced Filtering capabilities) or false (you do not plan to use File IQ Advanced Filtering capabilities).

4. For Aggregation Event Retention, enter the number of days to store aggregated NEA activity event data. The supported range is between 32 and 365.

5. For Raw Event Retention, enter the number of days to store raw NEA activity event data. The supported range is between 7 and 21.

Minimum VM Hardware Requirements Table

The Minimum VM Hardware Requirements details are located on the File IQ VM Sizing worksheet tab.

As you use the File IQ Sizing Inputs worksheet tab to enter values into the Premium Features table, Optional Features table, Volumes table, and NEAs table, the Minimum VM Hardware Requirements table updates to reflect the minimum number of vCPUs and the minimum amount of Memory necessary for the File IQ Appliance virtual machine. Finally, a recommended instance size is provided for various platforms.

Using the above example inputs from the Premium Features, Optional Features, Volumes, and NEAs tables, the Minimum VM Hardware Requirements table provides recommendations for the following hardware requirements and instance type.

Note: If the FIQ DB Disk size is outside operational capabilities, the FIQ DB Disk Size cell turns red.

Existing Hardware Check

The Existing Hardware Check worksheet tab provides a quick mechanism to check if the existing File IQ Hardware specification meets the Minimum VM Hardware Requirements and how much additional growth exists within the existing specification.

After the sizing exercise is complete, enter the values into the Existing Hardware Check table to check how they align to the Minimum VM Hardware Requirements.

In this example, the existing hardware aligns with the suggested requirements:

In this example, the existing hardware is below the suggested requirements:

In this example, the existing hardware is above the suggested requirements: