FAQ

Diskover “connects” all your scattered digital files, no matter where they are located (on-premise, cloud, multi-geolocations, etc.)

We do not store your files; we simply index their metadata. Diskover uses that very powerful information to safely deliver global data findability and analysis.

Diskover is also designed to solve the growing data problem via data movement along the virtual conveyor belt; through workflows automation based on rules and rich metadata, you will be able to manage all your digital assets, as well as reuse your existing storage space.

Being open-source, Diskover allows for limitless expansion. While some plugins are designed for seamless integration with third-party platforms, Diskover includes various other integrated plugins, and embraces clients deploying their own plugins to automate their specific in-house workflows.

Diskover's ultimate goals are to empower organizations with a sustainable file management solution, increase productivity, and reduce operation costs.

Learn more about the software.
Learn more about the features and solutions.

A lot! Please refer to our Products page to read more about the software and industry specific editions that we offer...with more to come!

You can also consult our Solutions page for a list of major features per edition.

Yes we do! You can find a list of features on our Solutions page. Please schedule a demo so we can assist you with figuring out which solution is best suited for your needs.

Diskover is extremely scalable and can be used by an individual as well as by very large corporations with several locations.

For individual use, we recommend starting with the free open-source Community solution.

If you are part of a small or large organization, please contact us to schedule a demo to determine which solution is best suited for your needs.

Absolutely! Diskover doesn’t require any specific knowledge for its daily operation. We do recommend that you watch our basic training so you can get the maximum out of Diskover.

In addition, Diskover offers tools for all consumers of data, from end-users, managers to execs and system administrators.

Once installed, Diskover is accessible via any Web browser.

Yes! Diskover offers tools to assist you determining storage cost for your clients’ data, as well as detailed reporting to substantiate your invoices.

Diskover is leading the data management industry with its cost analysis tools and their degree of customization, therefore maximizing the ROI of your valuable assets.

No, Diskover indexes/collects/harvests the information “about” your files, like file name, creation date, modification date, owner, location of the file, etc. so you do not have to send Diskover any of your file, nor do we offer backup services.

Diskover is a read-only tool that allows you to find your files, analyze your data, assist with cleanup and curation, etc.

No, Diskover is a read-only tool; data integrity and protection being the ultimate objectives.

Yes, Diskover is a read-only tool, therefore very secure. Diskover doesn’t own your files and users cannot delete, modify or move your files within Diskover either.

That being said, Diskover allows for efficient data curation which can be configured by your system administrator, allowing for safe and controlled management based on each organization's rules.

Diskover offers tools for your System Administrator to analyze, make informed decisions, and take actions regarding the data that should be archived or deleted, based on your organizations’ guidelines and/or service agreement with your clients.

Diskover can also be configured by your System Administrator to securely and methodically run automated tasks to curate your data.

We have a limited public roadmap on Diskover’s Solutions page showing which features are in development. We have many other features planned and they will be announced on a regular basis.

The best way to stay informed is by subscribing to our newsletter.

First, data is valuable because someone took the time to create it. Some data is more valuable than others because of the many factors/costs associated with it, for example, a movie clip which required the participation of many expensive actors, props, etc.

Another valuable factor is the cost of storage space. More and more businesses are charging their clients for the space that their files are occupying on their storage system, therefore data and its storage space are assets.

Diskover assists you in managing, protecting and getting the most out of your assets.

Please visit our Requirements page for all the details.

Yes! You can access many resources, including interactive online documentation for end-users and system administrators.

Please refer to our Installation Guide for instructions. As of now, installing Diskover requires technical computer knowledge; we are currently working hard at simplifying the installation process.

Once installed, please refer to the Configuration and Administration Guide to set-up all desired parameters of Diskover.

Please refer to our Configuration and Administration Guide for instructions. As of now, configuring Diskover requires technical computer knowledge; we are currently working hard at simplifying this process.

Please visit our Support page for all details.

You are welcome to any resources that we offer via the Diskover website, as well as the free public Diskover Slack Workspace.

We do not offer training for the free open-source Community solution.

Limited or extensive training can be negotiated during the purchasing of your annual subscription process. Please contact us to discuss.

Also, many resources are available online to support your team.

Not at the moment, although the Diskover Slack channel provides community responses to questions.

Yes, you will need a GitHub account if you want to download the free open-source Community software. GitHub accounts are free and easy to create.

Please send your request to info@diskoverdata.com.

You can 1) email us at info@diskoverdata.com with your request, or 2) unsubscribe directly when receiving a communication from the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email.

Please email us at info@diskoverdata.com

So far, we have tested Kanji characters and it works perfectly.

Please email us at support@diskoverdata.com

Yes, please contact us with your request.

Please refer to the Uninstall Diskover section of the Installation Guide.

Data has become a very complex and expensive problem, which is impossible to manage efficiently without dedicated software. Companies without data management tools are now spending tremendous amounts of money in operating costs due to decreased production, as well as buying more storage space instead of curating/reusing the space they already have.

Diskover’s annual subscription cost is very minimal compared to the money you will save in person-hours and storage expenditures. In addition, Diskover offers tools to assist you with invoicing your clients accurately for storage costs.

Please refer to our Products page for more details.

Very much so, and pays for itself with all the money you will save in operating costs, for example:

• Make the right data decisions based on facts and analytics.
• Reuse storage space instead of buying additional space.
• Charge your clients accurately for storage space.
• Increased productivity due to automated workflows.
• Increased productivity due to findability of files.

Depending on the solution that is right for you and the size of your organization, the price of a subscription will vary. Please contact us for a quote.

There is no established formula, but Diskover pays for itself by reducing your operating costs significantly. A few examples:

• Make the right data decisions based on facts and analytics.
• Reuse storage space instead of buying additional space.
• Charge your clients accurately for storage space.
• Increased productivity due to automated workflows.
• Increased productivity due to findability of files.

Please contact us so we can guide you appropriately depending on your particular needs.

Meanwhile, please find below some information regarding nodes and clusters.

What is a node? A node is a running instance of Elasticsearch which belongs to a cluster. Multiple nodes can be started on a single server for testing purposes, but usually you should have one node per server. Nodes will look to discover an existing cluster by the same name when they start up and try to join that cluster.(Source: Elastic.co).

What is a cluster? A cluster is a scale out architecture where more nodes can be added for both redundancy, and scale out performance. Diskover can run on 1 node, but 3 is recommended for redundancy and stability.

How many files per node? Regarding performance guidelines, each node is capable of approximately 100 million files. Note that the size of the files is not relevant. Read more about Elasticsearch requirements information.

Please refer to the diagrams below for further information.



Full size view of the Architecture Overview diagram.


   

Full size view of the Elasticsearch Architecture and Terminilogy diagram.

Click here for a glossary of Elasticsearch terms.

A subscription comes with an unlimited number of users. Diskover can be accessed from anybody inside your organization via a Web browser.

Yes! Because we are using a subscription model, you will always have access to the latest version and features of Diskover.

Not at the moment, but we’re working on it.

Depending on the solution that is right for you and the size of your organization, the price of a subscription will vary. Please contact us for a quote.

Yes, it is possible to upgrade your subscription. Please contact us so we can start the process.

ACH, credit cards and checks.

At the moment, we are only accepting annual subscriptions.

A free trial lasts 30 days for the paid subscription editions. You can use the free Community Edition for an unlimited time, which you can easily deploy from the AWS Marketplace.

Any solution that is best suited for your organization’s needs.

We usually give a demo connecting to a lab environment.

You can get hands on experience with the Diskover platform with minimal to no deployment effort by leveraging the Diskover Community Edition within the AWS Marketplace. The Diskover Community Edition is free to use for an unlimited time, however applicable AWS EC2 instance resource charges apply.

If you have the free open-source Community solution you do not need a license and your software will be automatically activated upon installation.

If you purchased an annual subscription, you will receive a license key for your software activation, which will unlock the appropriate features included in your solution.

No you can't! Your license key is private to you. Please refer to the following license agreements binding to the usage of our products:

Community Solution

Annual paid subscriptions

A 30 day license will be issued upon quote agreement/invoice issuance. The balance of the one year license will be issued upon full payment.

We currently send license keys via email.

You need to place the license keys in the following locations:

/opt/diskover/diskover.lic

/var/www/diskover-web/src/diskover/diskover-web.lic

Please refer to our Installation Guide for more information.

A single license key is issued and is keyed to the number of Elasticsearch nodes.

The free open-source Community solution can be installed and used for an unlimited amount of time.

It’s basically data that is not connected together. All these terms describe data that “lives” in different places like on a server, a computer, internal cloud, external cloud, AWS, Microsoft Azure, external drive, removable drive, etc.

Having data in several different locations prohibits you to easily find files, as well as analyze and act on data, but then there’s Diskover to help you with that!

Open-source software is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open-source software may be developed in a collaborative public manner (Source: Wikipedia).

Diskover is an open-source software which also uses other open-source softwares like Elasticsearch. Diskover had its beginnings as an open-source project, benefiting from the collaboration of many ingenious people. Today, Diskover still offers a free open-source version of the software under the Community solution.

Elasticsearch is a distributed, RESTful search and analytics engine capable of addressing a growing number of use cases. As the heart of the Elastic Stack, it centrally stores your data for lightning fast search, fine-tuned relevancy, and powerful analytics that scale with ease (Source: Elastic.co)

Simply said, Elasticsearch is an open-source software used in the backend of Diskover allowing for lightning fast searches, as well as parallel indexing of your data repositories.

Data management is the practice of collecting, keeping, using, archiving, and cleaning/deleting data securely, efficiently, and cost-effectively. Managing digital data in an organization involves a broad range of tasks, policies, procedures, and practices (Source: Wikipedia).

Simply said, instead of just buying more storage space, data should be “managed”, in a clean-up effort and based on rules.

Data curation is the organization and integration of data collected from various sources. It involves annotation, publication and presentation of the data such that the value of the data is maintained over time, and the data remains available for reuse and preservation (Source: Wikipedia).

Simply said, data curation is data management on steroids. In addition to management, it treats data as a valuable asset, for example allowing for space and data to be analyzed, preserved, and reused.

A node is a running instance of Elasticsearch which belongs to a cluster. Multiple nodes can be started on a single server for testing purposes, but usually you should have one node per server. Nodes will look to discover an existing cluster by the same name when they start up and try to join that cluster.(Source: Elastic.co).

A cluster is a scale out architecture where more nodes can be added for both redundancy, and scale out performance. Diskover can run on 1 node, but 3 is recommended for redundancy and stability.

Regarding performance guidelines, each node is capable of approximately 100 million files. Note that the size of the files is not relevant. Click here for more Elasticsearch requirements information.

Please refer to the diagrams below for further information.



Full size view of the Architecture Overview diagram.


 

Full size view of the Elasticsearch Architecture and Terminilogy diagram.

Click here for a glossary of Elasticsearch terms.

Please contact us for more information.