Information Lifecycle Management
Motivation
Information Lifecycle Management has become a hot topic in the area of digital data archiving. This is unavoidable because of the ever-growing volumes of digitally archived data, the lack of availability of information and the strict legal requirements concerning the retention of documents and data. On the one hand, businesses benefit from the fact that their data are being managed and protected in line with the regulations, and, on the other, from the fact that storage and access standards are optimised at a reasonable cost.
Solution
DOXiS Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) is a concept consisting of processes and technologies in which an organisation’s information can be actively managed in line with its value throughout its lifecycle. Using rules that prioritise documents and business processes and take into account cost issues and legal requirements, information is automatically stored and held on the most suitable storage medium.
With ILM, information can be moved to different media throughout its lifecycle, as its value changes. On the basis of predefined criteria and threshold values, the ILM software recognises when data should be migrated and automatically moves them step by step from magnetic disk storage to cheaper tapes or more durable magneto-optical media, without any intervention on the part of the user. If people need to access information that has been moved in this way, the system automatically retrieves it from the correct medium.
Product features
The DOXiS Information Lifecycle Management system ensures correct long-term archiving of any number of structured and unstructured documents, including faxes, emails, and COLD (Computer Output to Laser Disc) data on different storage media over a period of 10 years or more. With DOXiS it is possible to set and monitor retention periods for archived data and documents.
- Storage options
The archive solution of the DOXiS iECM Suite provides users with a broad range of different storage technologies. A new technology recently integrated for use with DOXiS iECM is the hard-disk-based system SER ArchiveStore. DOXiS also supports Content Addressed Storage (CAS), e.g. EMC Centera, and TotalStorage systems from IBM and the DR550. In addition, SER jukeboxes are available with UDO (Ultra Density Optical), MO and PDD technology – the new generation of optical storage media. AIT magnetic tapes can be used as a low-cost backup system. These are managed in SER tape libraries. Which of the storage media is used depends on the organisation’s specific requirements and cost-effectiveness considerations. - Virtual media
With the virtual media concept in DOXiS Archive it is possible to achieve an optimum balance of performance and cost in every individual customer situation. From the point of view of the archive application, it is always a ‘virtual WORM’ that is accessed. Virtualisation of the storage units is always based on the capacity of the smallest storage unit used. If, for instance, 4.3 GB MOD media are to be used as secondary storage, the storage capacity on a primary RAID system will also be divided into 4.3 GB units. The data packages are sent to the physical medium in question by DOXiS Virtual Storage Manager, which runs transparently in the background. It controls the actual distribution of the data packages to the physical media.
The virtualisation concept makes data archiving independent of the storage medium actually used. If, in the course of time, the organisation decides to invest in a new technology with higher capacity, the data will not have to be migrated laboriously from the old medium to the new one – they will just be copied to the new medium. The indexes do not need to be revised. With ‘virtual WORMs’ it is possible to create a wide range of storage and backup scenarios. For instance, information that is not accessed frequently can be moved to a cheaper medium. In the same way, it is possible to move the whole of the information on the primary storage medium to a secondary storage medium, or to implement media-based HSM (Hierarchical Storage Management). - Cache management
Cache management ensures that, within ILM, individual documents or records that have already been moved to mass storage for long-term archiving can, where necessary, be copied to a fast temporary cache. This can occur automatically, e.g. if a former hospital patient is readmitted ten years later. Entering the patient number in the hospital information system triggers a search for the patient’s record in the long-term archive. It will then be ready for access on a fast storage medium. - Retention management
The retention management system in the DOXiS iECM Suite ensures that archived data and documents remain in the archive for the exact length of time prescribed by legal retention periods or by in-house regulations. Once they reach the end of their lifecycle they can be released for deletion. A separate retention rules repository is set up for each set of data and documents in DOXiS Archive to manage the retention periods.