Cold Storage has a number of features that enable you to archive, search, restore and monitor the archiving process. In the following section, you will find a detailed overview of the Cold Storage features as well as information about the logs that are created for some of these functions.
Archive Policy
Cold Storage enables admins to create archiving policies, which are used to decide which artifacts or packages need to be archived. When the archiving policy is executed, artifacts or packages are moved from the Live Artifactory instance to the Cold Artifactory instance, while the corresponding binaries are stored in the storage connected to the Cold Artifactory.
The archiving policies can be configured using the following options:
Scheduled Execution: Scheduling enables you to configure the periodic execution of a policy that can be set to a daily, weekly, or monthly frequency. You can also define when (or after what period) the policy execution will be stopped, which enables you to perform archiving execution during weekends or maintenance windows.
Note
If required, the archiving policy can also be executed manually.
AQL-based Selection Criteria: When archiving artifacts (not for package archiving), you can define an AQL query that is executed to collect artifacts targeted for archival. The selection criteria can include:
Folders and Repositories: Select artifacts or packages located in specific folders within specific repositories.
Properties: Select artifacts based on specific properties, such as application versioning
Age: Select artifacts based on usage and age by defining 'Last Downloaded before' and 'Deployed before'
After artifacts or packages are successfully archived in the Cold instance, the archived items and corresponding metadata are deleted from the original repository in the Live instance. If the archive process fails, items and the corresponding metadata are not removed, and the incident is logged with an appropriate error message.
As the archive process progresses, the system generates detailed logs in the Artifactory service logs in the Live Artifactory instance. If an email server has been configured, the system sends notifications to the admin after the archiving policy execution is completed.
Admins can create, view, edit, and delete archiving policies as the need arises using the UI or APIs. For more information, see Working with Cold Storage.
Note
Only Artifactory admins can create and run archiving policies.
Cold Storage Archive Search
The search functionality enables admins to perform a dedicated archive search from the Live Artifactory for artifacts or packages that can later be restored. For information about performing search operations, see Search and Restore Archived Artifacts or Packages or to search using the REST APIs see Work with Cold Storage Using REST APIs.
Restoring Archived Items
After performing a search for archived artifacts or packages, admins can trigger the restoration of artifacts or packages from the Cold instance to the Live instance. Restoration is a non-destructive process and none of the restored artifacts or packages are deleted from the Cold instance.
When creating a request for restoration, the admin can choose one of the following destinations:
Restore items to their original repository and provide a fallback repository (if the original repository was deprecated)
Restore all the items to a new repository
The system performs the restore operation in the background and updates the Artifactory service logs in the Cold Artifactory instance. After the restore operation is complete, the admin is notified by an email about the completion. This email provides a summary of the operation.
For more information about restoring artifacts, see Restore Archived Artifacts and Packages or Work with Cold Storage Using REST APIs.
Note
The admin must have an email server configured to receive email notifications.
Depending on the number of items being restored, the restore process can take a few minutes to a few hours.
If the restore process encounters an error, the process fails and corresponding error messages are logged.