Data Management

The Abstracts

Solving the Coming Archive Crisis

Michael Peterson Download

The volume of digital information being kept online for long term is overwhelming and leading to a crisis of cost and complexity. New methods, practices, and standards are required to deal with the avalanch. This presentation will discuss the following:

• Best practices for long term digital information retention based on the work of the 100 Year Archive Task Force
• New technologies you can deploy that will help such as de-duplication and CAS
• Future technologies and solutions for physical and logical migration that we can expect

Disk and Tape Backup Mechanisms

Michael Fishman Download

Extending the enterprise backup paradigm with disk-based technologies allow users to significantly shrink or eliminate the backup time window. This tutorial focuses on various methodologies that can deliver an efficient and cost effective disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) solution. This includes approaches to storage pooling inside of modern backup applications, using disk and file systems within these pools, as well as how and when to utilize virtual tape libraries (VTL) within these infrastructures.

Learning Objectives

• Get a basic grounding in backup and restore technology including tape, disk, virtual tape and replication technologies
• Compare and contrast backup and restore alternatives to achieve data protection and data recovery
• Identify and define backup and restore operations and terms.

Trends in Data Protection and Restoration Technologies

Michael Rowan and Jason Iehl Download

Many disk technologies, both old and new, are being used to augment tried and true backup methodologies to deliver better information and application restoration performance. These technologies work in parallel to the existing backup paradigm, either synergistically or completely orthogonally.

This session will discuss many of these technologies in detail, including snapshot and mirroring technology, backup to disk and to virtual tape, and continuous data protection (CDP) in its various forms. Detail about how these technologies operate will be provided as well as best practices recommendations for deployment in today's heterogeneous data centers.

Learning Objectives

• Understand legacy and contemporary storage technologies that provide advanced data protection
• Compare and contrast advanced data protection alternatives
• Gain insights into emerging DP technologies.

Identifying and Eliminating Backup Bottlenecks: Taking Your Existing Backup System to the Next Level

Jacob Farmer Download

Identifying and Eliminating Backup System Bottlenecks: Taking Your Existing Tape Backup System to the Next Level -- This tutorial reveals the obvious and not-so-obvious bottlenecks found in enterprise backup systems and offers practical examples for applying the technologies described in the Data Protection tutorials to achieve one's performance objectives. The goal of this session is to illustrate how one can take an existing backup system to the next level by integrating a combination of modern backup techniques and low-cost disk. We start with the assumption that the end user has made a sizable investment in his/her enterprise backup system and is looking for a road map for affordable growth in both performance and capacity. We also assume that tape is here to stay (at least for now) and that the ultimate goal is to get data on tape for off-site removal. Topics include balancing the use of the LAN and SAN for backup traffic, ILM helping or hindering, achieving maximum performance from tape, disk staging with ordinary disk, de-duplication, block-level differencing, and virtual tape. The take home message is that you cannot simply buy your way out of backup system headaches, you must design your way out.

Learning Objectives

• To understand the underlying challenges to building a scalable backup system. Once you understand the root causes of poor backup performance, you have the means to set realistic goals and achieve them.
• To understand the various ways in which disk can be integrated into an existing backup system to deliver superior performance and reliability. A little disk can go a long way.
• To be able to compare and contrast the major architectural paradigms in enterprise backup and recovery.

Single Instance Strategies for Storage Using De-Duplication. Which Method is Best for You?

Michael Fahey Download

Single Instance Storage (duplicate elimination) has become a very popular topic in the industry because of the potentially large reduction in cost and increase in efficiency it offers. Various technologies are being promoted for different tasks including backup, archiving, and transactional storage. Each of these storage uses represents a unique set of challenges and the single instancing technology being implemented has major implications for scale, performance, and functionality.     Single Instance Storage also has long term legal and compliance implications for records management. This session will review various technologies available including object level de-duplication, fixed block de-duplication, and variable length block de-duplication and the implications of each for backup, archive, and transactional storage."

Learning Objectives

• Various Single Instance Storage strategies including object level de-duplication, fixed block de-duplication, and variable block de-duplication
• Where these technologies are being implemented today in backup, archive, and transactional storage
• Identifying risks and benefits for employing Single Instance Storage today

Information Classification: The Cornerstone to Information Management

Sheila Childs Download

Without a clear understanding of all the information under management in your environment, it is impossible to get a handle on information growth, compliance-related risk mitigation and information management costs. The practice of information classification is the cornerstone and fundamental to any ILM strategy. Information classification requires that I.T. administrators work with Line-of-Business and knowledge workers to gain an understanding of the data to be managed.

Learning Objectives

• This session will explore the different types of classification methodologies and techniques that are available today. Differentiation between file system metadata-based classification and content/context-based classification will be identified.
• Manual versus automated classification procedures (including taxonomy development), along with the pros and cons of each approach to implementation will be discussed.
• In addition, the difference between indexing and classification, and where each approach makes sense will be explored.

Information-centric Policy Management

Edgar St.Pierre Download

As enterprises deal with accelerating information growth rates and growing complexity in the data center, one strategy that has proven effective in addressing scalability and effectiveness is the use of IT Service Management – applied from any one of many different disciplines including ITIL, itSMF, CobiT, and others. This has been especially true as it relates to storage service management and its relation to tiers of storage. This tutorial will look at how this same framework can be used effectively for information management-related policies. Starting from the distinctions between storage, data, and information management, attendees will leave this tutorial with an understanding of the following:

• How multiple perspectives of data classification from multiple information stakeholders across an enterprise can be achieved
• How the use of Service Level Management can bridge the gap between IT, the lines of business, records information managers, legal, and security interests in the enterprise
• How this relates to security, eDiscovery, records retention, information rights management, business continuity, information lifecycles, and archiving policies

Implementation Practices for the Archiving and Compliance Infrastructure

Gary Zasman Download

The tutorial provides a view into the compelling events driving the implementation of archiving and compliance. It looks at the role of process in compliance, and introduces the concept and details of compliance archiving infrastructures.

Learning Objectives

The major learning objective is to develop an understanding of the broad landscape of compliance and archiving factors. This includes: Understanding the business motivations for compliance, Understanding a compliance infrastructure

Storage Considerations and Requirements for Database Archiving

Julie Lockner Download

The concept of maintaining a long-term archive is not new, but application data introduces many new challenges. According to the SNIA Archive Task Force 100 Year Archive Requirements Survey, over 81% of respondents feel database data is the most at risk. Database data is vulnerable to loss due to the decay and obsolescence of the media on which it is stored, and becomes inaccessible and unreadable when software needed to interpret it becomes obsolete and is lost. The way in which you might implement ILM or tiered storage is different when applied to application data. This tutorial will discuss archiving strategies and long term implications of how database data should be stored and accessed.

Learning Objectives

• Attendees will be provided with an overview of the options and common practices for tiering database data and the types of media that should be used based on the information being stored.
• Attendees will get an in-depth understand of archiving in the context of ERP applications. Participants will be provided with an overview of the standard archiving functions available in ERP applications and other database archiving technologies available in the marketplace.
• Finally, Lockner will discuss other architectural considerations when deploying database archiving and how it impacts other IT functions such as backup and recovery.

The Secret Sauce of ILM

Bob Rogers Download

Does Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) seem large and fuzzy with the promise of lots of work for little return? It may be a bunch of work, but the “little return” part is a fallacy that has been disproved in many large data centers. This session will focus on how you can “kick butt” with ILM, achieve expectations from your project, set reasonable objectives, and get cooperation and assistance along the way.

Sound too good to be true? This session was developed by SNIA's Professional Services ILM Task Group. There are plenty of “real-life” examples that have been gathered from among your peers.