Managing WORM data

Transitioning data to WORM state and setting the retention date

After you place a file into a SnapLock volume, you must explicitly commit it to a WORM state before it becomes WORM data. The last accessed timestamp of the file at the time it is committed to WORM state becomes its retention date.

This operation can be done interactively or programmatically. The exact command or program required depends on the file access protocol (CIFS, NFS, etc.) and client operating system you are using. Here is an example of how you would perform these operations using a Unix shell:

Unix shell example

The following commands could be used to commit the document.txt file to WORM state, with a retention date of November 21, 2004, using a Unix shell.

touch -a -t 200411210600 document.txt

chmod -w document.txt

Note
In order for a file to be committed to WORM state, it must make the transition from writable to read-only in the SnapLock volume. If you place a file that is already read-only into a SnapLock volume, it will not be committed to WORM state.

If you do not set the retention date, the retention date is calculated from the default retention period for the volume that contains the file.

Extending the retention date of a WORM file

You can extend the retention date of an existing WORM file by updating its last accessed timestamp. This operation can be done interactively or programmatically.

Note
The retention date of a WORM file can never be changed to earlier than its current setting.

Determining whether a file is in a WORM state

To determine whether a file is in WORM state, it is not enough to determine whether the file is read-only. This is because to be committed to WORM state, files must transition from writable to read-only while in the SnapLock volume.

If you want to determine whether a file is in WORM state, you can attempt to change the last accessed timestamp of the file to a date earlier than its current setting. If the file is in WORM state, this operation fails.