Managing Virtual Portal Folders and Folder Groups
Folders
The portal supports Cloud Drive folders and Backup folders.
Cloud Drive folders are folders created by the Cloud Drive service for personal and shared use. The portal automatically creates a personal folder for each user account's private files when the user account is created in the portal. The folder is displayed to the user as My Files and is the user's home folder. The folder contains files that can only be viewed and edited by the user. The home folder name and the automatic creation of the home folder can be changed in the General Settings of the Virtual Portal Settings, accessed via Settings > Virtual Portal Settings.
Note: You can migrate your Windows file system to a CTERA Gateway, maintaining the same file structure and ACLs after the migration. By connecting the gateway to a CTERA Portal, you can extend your file system capabilities to include file sharing and sync and mobile collaboration capabilities while still maintaining the same structure and ACLs of your original file system. Every share on the gateway, must be first created as a Cloud Folder in the portal.
Backup folders are part of the Cloud Backup service. When a user backs up a device, a backup folder is automatically created in the portal, to contain the device's backups.
By default, when folders are created in a portal, they are assigned a name based on the device's name. For example, if a device is named JohnS, then this device's files will be backed up to a folder called JohnS, and its cloud files will be stored in a folder called JohnS-CloudFiles followed by a number. You can add new folders manually and can edit their properties.
Folder Groups
CTERA Portal organizes cloud folders in folder groups. Each folder group acts as a deduplication realm. Deduplication means that when files are written to a folder in a folder group, the files' content is compared to data already stored in other files in the same folder group. Only the data that differs from existing data in the other files is stored in the folder group so that data is only stored once.
Folder groups are organized according to each user's deduplication level for Cloud Drive folders and for backup folders.
For Cloud Drive folders and for backup folders, you can set the deduplication level to any of the following:
User A single folder group is created for each user account, containing all of the user account's backup/cloud folders. Deduplication is performed for the user account's folder group. Therefore, if a user owns multiple devices, and the devices back up similar data, the similar data will only be stored once. See Configuring a User's Deduplication Settings. You can also change the default deduplication for all new users. For details, see Default Settings for New User.
FolderA folder group is created for each of a user account's devices, containing all of the device's backup/cloud folders. Deduplication is performed separately for each of the user account's folder groups.
Portal A single folder group is shared by all user accounts in the portal. The folder group acts as a deduplication realm that spans the entire portal. In other words, if different users' devices back up similar data, the similar data will only be stored once.
You can change the default deduplication levels for any user created in the portal, and you can change any user's deduplication levels. You can choose a different level for backup folders and for Cloud Drive folders.
Note: All folders in a folder group must use the same encryption key and passphrase.
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