Does anyone know of any downside for a WORM setup on a Synology or TrueNAS?
Never used it, but it would make deleting or changing data in a file a pain.
Bob, we use the immutable folder feature on Synology, or WORM as you called it. Here are my observations and comments.
We use it mostly for archiving older files that we know will NOT need to be modified. We have an archive policy in place because we have regulatory compliance to adhere to, and it is nice to know that files we stuff in that archive folder can never be modified in their original form.
We also use this feature for protecting all our office template files. If we ever need to update or change those templates we just create new ones.
As Tom mentioned, changing those files is problematic once they are marked immutable and can create confusion with users who are not used to this sort of file protection. Not even root/administrator can change a file once it has been marked immutable. But this has never been a problem in our environment as a simple SAVE AS to a folder that is outside of that immutable folder structure and you now have a fully modifiable version of that file.
We set the immutability at the folder level and once a file is dragged/moved into that folder it adopts those file attributes. If you drag/move a file out of that folder, the immutable attributes persist. So you do have to set some guidelines or SOP on what and when a user is to archive files. We also ask users not to use that folder for graphics images, video files, etc as those types of files are subject to use in our organization for marketing purposes and are always in a state of modification. But contracts, sales orders, and similar files that are never changed once finalized are all added to that folder structure.
The only real downside we have experienced is the growth in “duplicate” files as users “save as” existing documents for the sake of making small changes. But that has been less than 5% of space for us and a strict archive policy should help to minimize that issue.
Hope this adds perspective. There are no wrong answers and each environment dictates what is needed.
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