Implementing deduplication for a file system

Last published : Jul 06, 2026
InfoScale Operations Manager lets you implement deduplication for a selected file system. You configure the deduplication database and optionally set up a schedule.
To perform this task, your user group must be assigned the Admin role on the host or the Server perspective. The permission on the host may be explicitly assigned or inherited from a parent Organization.
To implement deduplication for a file system
  1. In the Management Server console, go to the Server perspective and expand Manage in the left pane.
  2. Expand the Organization or Uncategorized Hosts to locate the host.
  3. Expand the host and select Volumes.
  4. Right-click the volume on which the file system is mounted and click Properties.
  5. Click the Deduplication tab. The tab includes the following:
    Configure Lets you configure the file system for deduplication. Configuration sets up a small database.
    The Configure Deduplication window includes several customizable parameters and also lets you set up a schedule for running deduplication.
    Unconfigure Lets you remove an existing configuration. If you want to disable deduplication temporarily but leave the configuration in place, you do so on the Configure Deduplication window.
    See Disabling or removing deduplication for a file system .
    Scan Now Lets you start the deduplication operation immediately if there is an existing configuration.
    Space Saved History Tracks the results of deduplication. To change the time period, select from the Duration drop-down list and click Apply .
  6. Click Configure.
  7. In the Configure Deduplication window, you can customize the following options:
    Enabled If you clear the checkbox, the deduplication operation is disabled. If you want to enable it later, return to this window.
    Data Usage Lets you optimize the database size according to the type of data and the amount of space available for the database. The smaller the chunk size selected for data, the more space is required for the database. Once configuration is complete, this parameter cannot be changed except by unconfiguring the database and reconfiguring it.
    For most data, InfoScale recommends the default, Other (16k) . Options include VMDK files (4k) and Home directories (8k) .
  8. To set up a schedule for deduplication, select from the following:
    Commit on run number The deduplication process scans and fingerprints the data before eliminating duplicates. You can schedule the deduplication process to eliminate the duplicates each time it runs (the default value of 1) or every specified number of times. During times that deduplication does not
    occur, the deduplication run only updates the fingerprints in the database.
    Weekday Schedule You can select one day of the week or schedule a run every day.
    InfoScale recommends that you schedule deduplication when the system activity
    is low so as not to interfere with the regular system workload.
    Hours Schedule the hour to begin a deduplication run.
  9. Click Finish. The deduplication configuration sets up the deduplication database. When a message shows the configuration is complete, click Close.
  10. If you want to run deduplication now, rather than wait for a scheduled time, click Scan Now. Click Yes to confirm that you want to begin the deduplication. Once it is begun, you can close the window. The operation runs in the background.
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Deduplicating file systems
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