Database archiving and data explosion

Database archiving solutions have a large task at hand. In the corporate world, unused data is continually eating up resources, and gobbling up the organization’s profits. Megabytes gave way to gigabytes, gigabytes have acceded to terabytes, and in the near future, terabytes is sure to escalate to petabytes. The data is growing relentlessly with organizations waking up to the reality of data explosion. The latest data retention clauses for pharmaceutical companies are at least 20 years while nuclear facilities will have to hoard data for 50 years.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, HIPAA and BASEL II are some of the laws and regulations related to data retention. It has been estimated that there are over 150 federal and state laws which elaborate extensively on retaining data in the US. Today, the retention period is basically determined by the government itself. Data which was to be retained in an organization for a period of about five to seven years is now crossing the barriers of 20 to 70 years.

Role of database archiving solutions

Database archiving solutions mostly concentrate on removing selected data records from transactional and operational databases especially which are rarely referenced, and storing them in an archive from where the records can be retrieved again, as necessary. Database archiving software is crucial for large enterprises to improve on system performance, meet compliance regulations, and indirectly save on time and money. The principles of database archiving are as under:

• Assess: Determine which applications and versions are most in need of archiving, grouping them into categories based on your business requirements.

• Classify: Document functional business rules and data retention policies to govern active, inactive and compliance-managed data.

• Archive: Segregate historical business objects or transaction records from current activity. Safely move them to a secure archive.

• Store: Store archived historical records securely and cost-effectively, according to the evolving business value.

• Access: Apply service levels that provide decision makers with access to the historical records they need, when and how they need them.

• Tune: Monitor operations to verify that archive operations continue to support desired service levels and access requirements.

• Dispose: Prevent information assets from becoming information liabilities by deleting historical records after they are no longer required for compliance or business purposes.