Introducing Vault Broom V2: A Smarter Approach to Storage Management

But what happens when someone moves to a plan with a smaller storage allowance while their existing files exceed the new limit?

That's the problem we're addressing with ReadyTools Vault Broom V2.

We've been rebuilding the system to introduce a more structured, automated, and reliable approach to storage quota management.

What Happens When Your Subscription Changes?

Imagine having a subscription that provides a large amount of storage, then switching to a smaller plan.

If your existing files exceed the storage allowance of your new subscription, the system needs a way to handle that situation.

Broom V2 introduces a structured process:

1. Detection

The system checks the current subscription, available storage quota, and actual storage usage.

2. Notification

The affected user receives an email explaining the situation and the available options.

3. Grace Period

A seven-day grace period gives the user time to resolve the issue.

4. Automated Cleanup

If the deadline passes and storage usage still exceeds the available quota, the system can begin removing the files necessary to bring usage back within the limit.

Intelligent File Selection

Broom doesn't randomly select files for removal.

The cleanup process prioritizes larger files first and continues until the storage usage fits within the new subscription's quota.

Users can avoid automated removal by downloading files, reducing their storage usage manually, or upgrading to a plan with a larger storage allowance.

Important: Files removed through this process are permanently deleted and cannot be restored.

Integrated With the Rest of Vault

Broom V2 isn't an isolated cleanup feature.

It integrates with the broader Vault infrastructure and takes the state of affected storage into account.

For example, while an affected Vault is frozen, certain write operations and new file references are restricted. Reading, downloading, and deleting files remain available so users can manage their existing content.

The system also tracks storage usage, case states, deadlines, and processing progress.

A More Reliable Background System

Behind the scenes, we've introduced a redesigned processing architecture.

It includes:

• Controlled background processing.

• Notification delivery tracking.

• Protection against duplicate processing.

• Handling for failed or bounced emails.

• Bounded file deletion operations.

• Storage quota revalidation.

• Dedicated health checks for the processing queue.

This is especially important because automated storage cleanup involves sensitive user data.

We want the process to be predictable, controlled, and auditable rather than simply running an unrestricted deletion task.

What's Next?

Broom V2 has entered its technical rollout preparation stage. Database migrations, operational checks, and production activation are separate steps before the system can be considered fully live.

Our goal is to make storage management more predictable while giving users a reasonable opportunity to manage their files when their subscription changes.

Smarter storage management. More controlled automation.