Does Peer Global File Service synchronize file attributes?
Question
Typical file attributes are Read-Only, Hidden, System and Archive and are maintained in the file system's directories. Does PeerGFS synchronize file attributes during replication or synchronization?
Answer
Yes and no.
PeerGFS synchronizes file attributes only when PeerGFS transfers the file, which happens the first time a file is added or when a file is modified. Subsequently, PeerGFS does not track only attributes changes, either offline or online (via scan or real-time), if no other file change is made along with the attributes change:
- Real-time attributes changes are not synchronized. For example, if you right-click a synchronized file, then change its attribute to be Hidden, this change will not be synchronized with other hosts.
- Offline attributes changes are not synchronized when the scan runs, as PeerGFS does not track only file attributes changes on files and/or folders on some host. For example, if there are two files that are already synchronized, the job is stopped, a file on any host is changed to Hidden, the next time the job is started and the initial scan is run, the change will not be detected and will not be synchronized.
Note that when a file is replicated, new changes are replicated to other hosts. In that case, PeerGFS also syncs file attributes to other hosts.
Note
At one point, PeerGFS offered an option to watch for attribute changes. However, because it was very easy to trigger large amounts of events very quickly via attribute changes, it caused a backlog in detecting actual file events. If you are interested in enabling this option, contact Peer Support.