Companies, large and small, have needs to archive data for a variety of purposes: industry regulations, legal stipulations, internal business requirements and more. Unlike typical backup that is carried out on a daily or weekly basis, data archives must withstand the test of time. Storage hardware and software bought today, must still be usable in 3-5 years for most organizations, longer for those with limited budget. Lets discuss some key points surrounding data archive components:
1) Decide on a storage medium that best fits your needs. Depending on organizational requirements and budget; tape, disk, virtualization or a combination may be appropriate for data archive needs. While tape is long lasting and inexpensive, it doesnt provide easy access to stored data. The more expensive alternative, disk is capable of rapid data return, but does not retain the same scalable properties as tape. Think about your organizational needs before exploring one type of storage medium.
2) Data usability is important to think about when choosing a medium that will need to endure several years. As technology rapidly changes, adopting appropriate systems and devices becomes vital. To eliminate the risk of vendor-obsoleteness, StrongBox from Crossroads uses LTFS, which ensures that the system tapes can be ready by any LTFS-enabled device, regardless of vendor.
3) Another consideration is whether to store archives online or offline (as removable media). To provide a persistent view of data, StrongBox transforms tape into an online medium through LTFS. This also allows multiple users to interact with the information while giving them real-time, online access.
4) Finally, data accessibility is key. To ensure data is readily accessible, StrongBox uses disk to hold portions of the files, then tape to store the bulk of the data. When called for, the tape data is metered back to the host quickly, but without overloading the network. This means it only takes minutes to retrieve archived data, rather than the traditional days or even weeks it would take to retrieve a physical tape from an offsite library.
There are many more factors to consider when looking for a data archive solution. For a large company with vast quantities of data and a need for rapid accessibility, StrongBox from Crossroads is worth exploring.
After reading about successful early adoption, this year, I'm excited to see the new data archive product form Crossroads Systems, StrongBox. The product was deployed in late 2011 as a new way for long-term, enterprise data archival. The system uses new LTFS technology to enable a file system view of data stored on tape. Essentially, it seems that StrongBox LTFS eliminates all the negative components of tape storage, while still keeping costs relatively low.
1) Decide on a storage medium that best fits your needs. Depending on organizational requirements and budget; tape, disk, virtualization or a combination may be appropriate for data archive needs. While tape is long lasting and inexpensive, it doesnt provide easy access to stored data. The more expensive alternative, disk is capable of rapid data return, but does not retain the same scalable properties as tape. Think about your organizational needs before exploring one type of storage medium.
2) Data usability is important to think about when choosing a medium that will need to endure several years. As technology rapidly changes, adopting appropriate systems and devices becomes vital. To eliminate the risk of vendor-obsoleteness, StrongBox from Crossroads uses LTFS, which ensures that the system tapes can be ready by any LTFS-enabled device, regardless of vendor.
3) Another consideration is whether to store archives online or offline (as removable media). To provide a persistent view of data, StrongBox transforms tape into an online medium through LTFS. This also allows multiple users to interact with the information while giving them real-time, online access.
4) Finally, data accessibility is key. To ensure data is readily accessible, StrongBox uses disk to hold portions of the files, then tape to store the bulk of the data. When called for, the tape data is metered back to the host quickly, but without overloading the network. This means it only takes minutes to retrieve archived data, rather than the traditional days or even weeks it would take to retrieve a physical tape from an offsite library.
There are many more factors to consider when looking for a data archive solution. For a large company with vast quantities of data and a need for rapid accessibility, StrongBox from Crossroads is worth exploring.
After reading about successful early adoption, this year, I'm excited to see the new data archive product form Crossroads Systems, StrongBox. The product was deployed in late 2011 as a new way for long-term, enterprise data archival. The system uses new LTFS technology to enable a file system view of data stored on tape. Essentially, it seems that StrongBox LTFS eliminates all the negative components of tape storage, while still keeping costs relatively low.
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