Data Management

• Tape Audits: Requested to disclose information but are unsure where it is?
• Tape archive migration: Upgrading your tape backup technology?
• Data de-duplication: Trying to consolidate your years of stored information?
• Format conversion: Changing you backup regime and storage software?
• Volume stacking: Upgrading to higher capacity tape to reduce physical volume?

These are some of the typical reasons for requiring data management service. If you require assistance with your data management project call and speak with our technical advisors on our helpline number or send us your enquiry via our online form

Historically archives and vaults of backed up data were maintained in case they were required due to loss, damage or corruption of online systems. Occasionally one-off backups may have been taken without being properly tracked. Overtime the information stored on these tapes expire from online catalogues and is forgotten about. Until that is you are called upon to retrieve or disclose it.

Tape archive migration projects should be undertaken with all the facts about the data you are migrating. It may be possible to eliminate large quantities of tapes and data from the migration process if you know what is on the tape before hand, thus saving you time and money in the process.

Experience in tape audit tasks has been achieved by Altirium's technical engineers through years of performing such tasks. Scoping, planning and implementing systems tailored to the specific task.

Tape Archive Migration

Tape migration projects are generally those tape conversion exercises where large numbers, sometimes in the many thousands, of tapes from an archive or backup vault are to be consolidated and transferred to newer tape media. Sometimes there is a requirement to transfer the data to be dealt with by a more up-to-date system, bust most often the requirement is based upon a need to re-organise the data and to store it in a more compact manner.

Data De-duplication

Multiple copies of the same files will almost certainly exist across your archived data due to the very nature of what your backups are trying to archive. The restoration of data in as short amount of time as possible when data becomes lost, damaged or corrupt. If you maintain a historical archive or vault of your backups then it is likely that over 90% of the data you are holding is duplicated.

Archive migration projects are an ideal time to filter and consolidate the data you are holding, whether it be for legal or policy reasons. During the transition from one tape format to another Altirium can perform data de-duplication based on the criteria you require.

De-duplication criteria can be determined on many aspects of the information describing a file (the files 'meta-data'), whether it be by, content, timestamps, location etc. or combinations of these criteria. Altirium can tailor the solution to your requirements.

Reorganisation of files can also be performed on the resultant de-duplicated data set or single-instance store, so that you can gain access to the files you want in a more structure or logical manner, maybe by it's last modified time, so that information can be expired from the archive when it is no longer required.

Format Conversion

Format conversion is often triggered by the upgrading of systems to those more suited to the management of data in today’s corporate environment.

Recent examples of format conversion Altirium's engineers have performed include the transfer of data saved using Alexandria backup on DLT's being transferred to LTO Ultrium data cartridges for importation into a BackupExec environment. Even within the same storage framework it might be desirable to reorganise the manner in which data is stored. NDMP filer backups stored on tape using NetBackup could be converted to be simple file backups that can be restored without returning to the originating storage architecture.

Volume Stacking

Volume stacking or tape stacking is the process where data from multiple tapes, usually from the same group or family are migrated to newer high capacity media and concatenated together whilst still maintaining access to all of the available data.

The process of transferring the data from five AIT-1 tapes to a single SDLT data cartridge, for example, it not in itself complex. Where issues arise is in the need to be able to access the data afterwards. The majority of backup and archiving software maintain online catalogues of where data has been recorded or maintain meta-data within the backup to facilitate the data restoration procedure. The logical issues need to be addressed when considering volume stacking.

It is essential to maintain, or modify correctly, the information that the backup application encodes within the data to allow for re-integration into the backup archive regime. Understanding the internal structure of the data stored on a backup tape is vital for this purpose.