With recent advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence, we are astounded by the immense value hidden within the vast volumes of business data that organizations accumulate over time. To unlock that potential, data and documents — typically scattered across devices, networks, PST files and enterprise systems — need to be cataloged and made available to BI or ML teams through common interfaces. This has prompted companies to look at data and document archiving as a way to provide that federation and organization.
As data emerges as a coveted resource akin to gold, organizations increasingly recognize the significance of strategic archiving. Archives typically fulfill three crucial roles — long-term retention, storage space management, and performance optimization of critical business systems. A discoverable archive system, securely accessed via modern APIs, can also act as a federation and classification layer for older enterprise data feeding downstream BI and ML systems. If such a system runs in continuous archive mode, it can serve current data too, eliminating the need for downstream systems to interface with multiple operational enterprise systems.
Data Archiving
Data archiving involves the transfer of older data, no longer actively utilized, to dedicated storage for long-term retention — preserving critical records and ensuring availability years after creation. While legal compliance was historically the primary driver, archiving has evolved into a strategic practice that captures and preserves a wealth of information that can provide insights, support decision-making and uncover valuable patterns.
How Does Data Archiving Work?
Administrators identify files and data that are no longer actively used and move them to archive storage. Lower-cost, slower storage is typically chosen — provided it offers adequate security and accessibility. Archived data is often stored read-only to preserve integrity and prevent tampering.
Storage media options vary based on needs: tape (cost-effective for large volumes), network-attached drives (faster, more expensive), and cloud storage (convenient and affordable, with the organization responsible for credential security). Automating the process with archiving software is a recommended best practice — administrators configure timing, location, and the data to archive, and the software handles execution. Retention policies determine how long archives remain available before disposal.
Importance of Data Archiving
Key benefits of a data archiving solution include:
- Discovery: Easy retrieval of files and data for administrators and end-users.
- Management: Identifying and eliminating redundant data and removing aging files from file servers.
- Visibility: Analyzing, classifying and indexing data before storage, enabling enhanced searchability.
- Compliance: Automatically generated responses to requests, streamlining audits, business inquiries and legal proceedings.
Difference Between Archiving and Backup
Backups exist to recover data after loss or corruption. Archiving exists for space management and long-term retention. Backup solutions duplicate data within the same storage system; archiving moves original data to secondary storage, optimizing primary storage and reducing cost.
Access: Backups are optimized for fast, large-scale recovery. Archives are optimized for targeted retrieval of individual objects with rich metadata — ideal for finding specific content years later.
Cost: Backups rely on high-performance storage and frequent cycles, making them more expensive. Archives leverage lower-cost storage tiers — tape, lower-tier disk, or cloud — for cost-effective long-term retention.
Steps for an Effective Archiving Strategy
Synchronize Data Archival for Optimal Efficiency. Determine the desired retention period for archived data and establish protocols for purging it when necessary.
Align Retention Schedules with Compliance Regulations. Industries handling sensitive client information must adhere to industry-specific retention rules — HIPAA for healthcare, financial regulations for transactions, and so on.
Keep It Safe from Tampering and Loss. Safeguard archived data with strong access controls and integrity protections. Penalties for non-compliance can be substantial, especially in regulated industries like healthcare.
Choose the Right Tool. Consider both dedicated archiving tools built into key enterprise systems like SAP and end-to-end data solutions with integrated archiving. Prioritize an efficient search engine so data can be located and retrieved quickly.
Develop a Policy for Data Archiving. A comprehensive policy should define:
- Criteria for data archiving
- Mechanisms for effective data archiving
- Selection of appropriate storage media
- Determination of data storage duration
- Guidelines for who can access archived data and under what conditions
Get in touch with us to learn more about Neev's Corestone Archive Service for SAP — the only true serverless archiving solution for SAP.