Storage Networking Fundamentals: An Introduction to Storage Devices, Subsystems, Applications, Management, and File Systems (Vol 1)

Chapter 17. Data Management

Upon completing this chapter, you will be able to

• Participate in meetings and discussions with coworkers regarding data redundancy methods for your organization

• Discuss point-in-time solutions within your organization and with vendors

• Participate in meetings and discussions about regulatory compliance for data storage and ILM

In many respects, the most challenging aspect of managing any storage environment is managing the data stored in it. Companies are inundated with data from many different sources, including office applications, databases, financial and accounting applications, e-mail, the Internet, and custom applications that support specific business operations. Once data is generated or received, it can be stored in any number of storage facilities, including e-mail storage, databases and data warehouses, file servers, and backup systems. The problem is that once data is stored it can become practically invisible and very difficult to find.

Regardless of how or where data originates, the IT organization is responsible for taking care of it. In fact, it can be argued that data stewardship is the most important responsibility for systems administrators today. As system hardware becomes increasingly commoditized, the relative importance of data continues to increase. If data availability is expected to be "five-nines" to support the business mission, data must be preserved without corruption and maintained to provide efficient operations.

NOTE

I expect most readers have had the experience of looking for a data file and having trouble finding it. Heck, I had that happen more than a few times in the course of writing this book. Now that my laptop has a 40-GB disk drive, it is truly a cavernous hazard for my "no-nines" neuron-ball.

In the last several years governments around the world have created an astonishing number of regulations enforcing the long-term retention of data. This new legal environment has cast a confused light on the area of data management and inspired interest in the latest incarnation of corporate data management: Information Life Cycle Management (ILM).

This chapter takes a brief survey of data management technologies and practices used in storage networks today. Among the topics covered are point-in-time snapshots, historical versions of files and data archiving, regulations compliance, capacity management, and ILM.