Reduce the cost of compliance: database archiving and Information Lifecycle Management - Storage Management

Computer Technology Review, Dec, 2003 by Jim Lee

For example, as shown in Figure 2, while storing the initial two years of current financial data in the production database, you can still provide optimal performance for financial processing and yearly comparison reporting. To maintain performance levels, data that is two to five years old can be moved into an archive database that provides full data access when needed.

Data that is five to seven years old can be saved to an Archive File to take advantage of more cost-effective storage options. If you need access to data stored in this online archive, you can still access the data directly, and/or selectively restore some of the data to the archive database. Finally, for the older financial data that must be saved for a decade or longer, the capability to store these Archive Files on an offline archive tape further reduces storage costs.

Of course, this entire information lifecycle approach could easily be adjusted to meet your company's unique requirements. It is important to remember that every company values information differently; make sure you understand how your information is valued and spend as much, and only as much, as necessary to provide the appropriate level of access.

Selecting Database Archiving Technology

If you decide to research vendor offerings to purchase archiving technology and software, knowing the appropriate questions to ask is critical to selecting the ideal archiving solution for your environment. The ideal database archiving solution must meet several critical requirements:

* Provide out-of-the-box archiving capabilities to ensure a fast and easy implementation

* Preserve the business context and referential integrity of the data

* Provide predefined archive templates that can be easily customized to meet your database archiving requirements

* Reduce downtime during application upgrades and ensure access to the archived data after the upgrade is completed

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* Allow business users to access archived data easily using standard forms and reports

* Offer intuitive or integrated functionality that is easy to learn and use without extensive training

* Address data retention regulations and audit requirements

* Support information lifecycle and storage management strategies

* Enable your company to defer or eliminate future hardware expenditures to accommodate data growth

* Provide proven technology that has been in operation at customer sites around the world for several years.

Putting Database Archiving Technology to the Test

In general, to obtain an accurate assessment in the shortest period of time, a Proof of Concept that focuses on a particular application can really put the database archiving solution to the test. For that reason, the Proof of Concept design should verify the application and database issues that are of greatest concern. The success criteria for the Proof of Concept must be thoughtfully defined to verify that specific capabilities satisfy the application archiving and retrieval requirements. Familiarity with the application functionality and the database architecture is critical for success. At a minimum, the Proof of Concept should demonstrate capabilities that: