The Cold Storage solution provides an easy setup and configuration process. In addition, it enables you to define an archiving policy that runs periodically, select artifacts or packages based on specific criteria, and then move the artifacts or packages to a Cold Artifactory instance. The artifacts or packages that are moved to a Cold instance are removed from the Live Artifactory instance. This helps to improve the usability, search capabilities, and performance of the Live instance, by reducing the number of artifacts and packages that require maintenance.
Artifacts and packages that have been archived in the Cold Artifactory instance can be searched for and restored at any point in time using either the UI or dedicated archive search-and-restore APIs. Archived artifacts and packages can be restored to their original location in the Live Artifactory instance or to a new destination. The restore mechanism runs as a background process and notifies you when completed. The metadata associated with archived artifacts or packages is not lost during the archiving period, and you can continue to consume this data after items are restored.
In the following sections, you will find information about how the Cold Storage is set up, as well as the features that are included in this solution.
Note
Currently there is a limitation when using Cold Storage with a Federated Repository. If a retention policy (used to archive artifacts or packages to a Cold Storage server) is configured to clear artifacts or packages from a Federated Repository, the archiving event and any restore event will not be synced with the Federation members. In addition, any deleted artifacts or packages will be recreated due to the Federation. Therefore, it is not recommended to use Cold Storage with Federated Repositories.
In a future Artifactory version, the sync with the Federation members will be enabled.