About Remote Files Cold Storage

IntelligenceBank natively supports a Resource type of Remote Files, which allows files stored in an external S3 bucket, that is entirely separate from the main platform storage, to be surfaced in the platform for searchability and direct download access.

This feature can be leveraged to store archival content in a Glacier Instant Retrieval (GIR) enabled S3 bucket, with a reduced storage cost by up to 5x compared to the standard S3 storage that the platform uses, while providing the same performance.

While the storage is more affordable and performance the same, a premium cost applies however on the download data transfer of files out of that GIR S3 bucket.

To take advantage of a cheaper storage option for archival content, files are to be added to an IntelligenceBank provided Glacier enabled S3 bucket, and then surfaced in the front end as Remote File Resources, via a dedicated back-end implementation process. The files are to remain permanently store on the GIR S3 bucket.

With Remote Files, the Folder structure in IntelligenceBank will also mirror the Folder structure of the GIR S3 Bucket, which can be similar to the “Hot” content in IntelligenceBank, however, given the difference of data transfer costs and functionality, as well as the risk of the structure not remaining in sync in IntelligenceBank, which can impact any future ingestion requirements, it is expected for the Remote Files Structure and Files to remain in a dedicated destination Folder and area in IntelligenceBank.

Important notes about Remote Files feature limitations:

1. Metadata can be applied to Remote File Resource entries in IntelligenceBank as per other Resource entries. The metadata can be applied via a spreadsheet as part of the ingestion process, or directly in the front end. Note however that the Bulk Edit Resources feature is not currently supported for Remote File Resources.
2. The Remote File Resource information is indexed and searchable on the IntelligenceBank platform, as per any other Resource.
3. All Remote File Resources are located within a single destination folder area on the IntelligenceBank platform. Sub-Folders can exist within that destination Folder, which will host all the Remote Files, and ultimately mirror what is in the S3 Bucket.
4. Remote File Resources cannot be created through the front-end web interface, only as part of a back-end ingestion.
5. Thumbnails / previews, streaming, proofing, download transformations, auto-tagging, public sharing, embedded metadata mapping, or any other advanced DAM actions generally available for native Resource files uploaded to the IntelligenceBank platform are not available for Remote File Resources. 
6. Remote File Resources can only be directly downloaded individually (no bulk support) from the IntelligenceBank platform.
7. Bulk Editing of Remote File Resources is not currently supported.
8. Remote File Resource entries deleted in the front end will not be automatically deleted in the S3 bucket.
9. Standard Resource Files in IntelligenceBank cannot be moved to Cold Storage in the front end, and vice versa.
10. Dedicated professional services can be scoped out to accommodate some ongoing data management requirements.