Data Archiving (IM Templates-Customization)

Business Scenario

Data archiving is the process of migrating inactive data to a separate and distinct storage device or area for long-term retention. Typically, a data archive is indexed and will include certain search capabilities to assist in locating and retrieving information.

Enterprises will generally archive older or obsolete data that might be needed for future reference, validation, logging or other compliance purposes.

Data Backup vs. Archiving Solutions

The choice of data backup and archiving solutions differ in how you scan, organize, and store data. You should choose a solution based on the use case for your data, which determines the storage duration and ease of access required.

Data Backup

The use of a data backup will employ copies of active operational data that we will need to access or modify on a regular basis. The generation of a backup doesn’t affect the original data, which remains in the same location or if consumed then we can retain a backup copy. One utilization is to use backup files to restore data files or data structures to previous points in the event of data loss or corruption.

Backups require a shorter storage duration than archive files, with the backup system updating the data frequently. Backup systems typically use a simple storage system, searching files by name, not content.

Data Archiving

The use of data archives may involve long-term data repositories for non-critical information, such as regulatory compliance data retained for legal purposes or simply to provide a recovery point. The use of an archived data file will typically be inactive and it will not require frequent access or modification. You don’t need to store archival files in regular storage to maintain normal operations, and it can be stored in an alternate location.

Individuals that are searching for archived files will typically search across multiple files, servers, and time frames, retrieving archive files based on content rather than location or name. Thus, our data searches involving archived data will be more complex compared to data backups.

The implementation of data archiving solutions also will require a high degree of long-term data integrity compared to data backup solution. The large scale of data will tend to increase the risk of certain data integrity issues such as data corruption over time. As a safeguard, we will need to implement guidelines to protect archival data against corruption and deletion.