LAN Storage Discovery best practices
The LAN Storage Discovery process can be resource intensive because DS-Client must connect to each target share, read the files in the share, and prepare a signature for each file to report on common files, largest file sizes, file types, etc. Consider the following when using the LAN Storage Discovery Tool:
• Use a Windows DS-Client to scan a Windows network and a Linux client to scan a Linux network.
• Schedule the LAN Discovery process to run after business hours and set an end time so that it does not interfere with your network or users.
Shares that have been recently scanned will not be in priority sequence. Only shares that have not been scanned will receive priority for the scanning process when the schedule is triggered again.
• Create a special Domain Administrator account that can access all the shares that must be scanned. This will simplify the credentials configuration required on the DS-Client and reduce the potential for connection errors during the LAN Discovery process.
If using a Domain Administrator account is not an option, you can create the same local Administrator account on each server that will be scanned.
• After the share discovery process completes, a share list is displayed that can contain duplicate shares, which are shares that are included in other shares. Disable the duplicate shares because you do not need to scan the files twice.
• Ignoring small files can reduce the network load and the total time required for the scan process.
• Adjust the number of threads used to scan shares. If the number is high, the network will be busier. However, the total time for the scan process will be less than if the number of threads is smaller.
NOTE: During a scan process, the network and I/O of the scanned machines and the DS-Client database server will normally remain under a constant heavy load.