Taking an integrated approach to data archiving and retrieval - Dell

Storage optimization

Taking an integrated approach to data archiving and retrieval By Kay Benaroch and Troy Lehman

Archiving is essential for growing organizations to comply with regulations and business requirements, but implementing a suitable platform can be tricky. Symantec and Dell offer an integrated approach designed to eliminate the guesswork.

Get the details Download a two-page flyer on Dell IT Consulting Services for data archiving. dell.com/downloads/global/ products/pvaul/en/dell-it -consulting-archiving -datasheet.pdf

O

rganizations today are faced with

operates within the context of government and

an explosion of data that can

industry regulations. For example, compliance

outstrip existing data management

requirements may include storing tax information

policies and storage capabilities.

for a specified amount of time. Many organizations

Challenges presented by this growth include

must meet industry-specific requirements, such

the need to retain and preserve digital content

as confidentiality of patient data in the health care

that is no longer needed for day-to-day business

field. Educational institutions must retain student

operations but is required for compliance with

files to comply with government regulations for

regulatory, legal, and business rules. To ensure

records retention.

they can support the mission-critical requirements

Meeting internal business requirements is

of data management and compliance, many

also a necessity for many organizations—for

organizations are taking a closer look at their

instance, organizations may have rules for

archiving capabilities.

how long an employee’s employment records

Symantec and Dell have developed an

must be retained even after that person has left

integrated, end-to-end approach to these

the organization. Many organizations archive

challenges. The process begins with a Dell Services

intellectual property and business records to

engagement to identify the organization’s goals

provide business intelligence about operations

and some of their current data management

and enable future management insights.

challenges, optimize the storage infrastructure,

An increasing number of legal actions such

and establish business-critical policies for

as antitrust or patent infringement lawsuits

data classification and management. The Dell

can be a reality, for many organizations today.

team can then design and size an archiving

Each lawsuit can require that the organization

infrastructure based on Symantec™ Enterprise

provide related documents and records known

Vault™ 9.0 integrated content archiving software

as electronically stored information (ESI), or

and the Dell™ DX Object Storage Platform or Dell

incur significant penalties. During this process an

EqualLogic™

organization must make an attempt to provide all

PS Series Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage

area network (SAN) arrays for storage.

relevant documents to their general counsel for e-discovery to satisfy internal or external requests.

The intensifying need for data preservation Archiving to preserve digital content can be a

Requirements for effective archiving

vital and growing part of running an organization

While preserving data is often important to

for several key reasons. Almost any organization

organizations, implementing effective archiving

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 1. Copyright © 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.

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Storage optimization

can be challenging. Today, organizations are

on the relative value of that data as it changes

deluged with unstructured files such as e-mail,

over time, from active data used in daily

slide presentations, videos, images, blogs, and

production to inactive data that is still relevant

text documents. Understanding the business

to the organization. Today, archiving platforms

context of unstructured data files and assessing

should also be able to manage policies related

the relative importance of those files to the

to retention, deletion, and preservation of

business can be difficult. To further complicate

unstructured content types such as e-mail,

this data deluge, internal departments within an

instant messages, and social networking.

enterprise usually have varying data classification needs they may have built up over time to meet their own requirements. Archiving should be considered as part

View the hardware See interactive, 360-degree views of the Dell DX Object Storage Platform, screen shots of its management console, and more. dell.com/us/en/healthcare/ Storage/dell-dx/pd.aspx ?refid=dell-dx&s=hea&cs= RC968571

Cost-effective hardware, intelligent software, and expert consulting Symantec and Dell have collaborated to

of a broader storage strategy. For example,

help deliver an approach that meets these

storage managers must understand their data

requirements. This approach begins with

classification needs holistically in consideration of

Dell Services as an essential first step. Dell

the overall IT strategy of their organizations and

has developed a set of consulting services

functionally for each of their internal customers.

based on its workshop, assessment, design,

Armed with this information, managers can

and implementation (WADI) model to help

decide how much of the budget to optimally

organizations develop a holistic, intelligent

invest in archiving as opposed to primary storage.

data management strategy, craft policies for

Archiving should be integrated into the overall

internal customer data sets, and create the

information infrastructure and used together with

appropriate archiving process for the specific

other data storage applications such as backup

business requirements. Dell consultants also help

and deduplication to optimize any investments in

each organization fit archiving into the overall

software and hardware.

information infrastructure (see Figure 1).

To address these challenges, a good

Dell and Symantec also offer a pre-integrated

archiving platform should work with a wide

architecture for storage and data archiving

range of storage options, fit a variety of

platforms consisting of Symantec Enterprise Vault

existing environments, and easily scale to

9.0 and the Dell DX Object Storage Platform or

meet the growing needs of an organization.

Dell EqualLogic PS Series SANs. Enterprise Vault

Tiered storage, including archive tiers, enables

software provides the mechanism to classify data

organizations to store each type of data based

into relevant categories, enforce retention periods

Preservation planning

Metadata

Figure 1. Integrating archiving into an information infrastructure

Producer

Data management

Ingest

Content

Queries and result set

Access Archival storage

Consumer

Content

Administration

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2011 Issue 01 | dell.com/powersolutions


6,000

for each category, and create an index of archived data. The Dell DX Object Storage

5,000

retrieve information quickly, manage data automatically, and create audit trails that record how data is accessed. Object-based and metadata-aware, the Dell DX Object Storage Platform is designed to optimize the management and preservation of unstructured files. A

Objects/sec

Platform provides the ability to identify and

4,000

4-node DX6012S cluster 8-node DX6012S cluster 16-node DX6012S cluster

3,000 2,000 1,000 0

Writes streams/sec

built-in data health processor continually checks and repairs data stores. Additional capabilities include maintaining local replicas, mirroring to a disaster recovery

Reads streams/sec

350 KB object size Figure 2. Scaling aggregate throughput on three Dell DX Object Storage Platform cluster sizes

site, and creating secure, immutable storage objects. Built on clusters of

enhancing manageability of the overall

storage nodes using four or twelve disks,

environment. Manual data clean-up and

in scalable storage with leading-

the platform can scale cost-effectively as

recovery can be avoided.

edge Symantec industry information

business needs

dictate.1

Organizations planning an archiving

The platform couples Dell expertise

management applications. Dell Services

deployment also benefit from Symantec

helps organizations develop processes

application deployed by thousands of

and Dell working together to provide

and policies and design a customized

organizations ranging from large global

tested reference architectures, software

approach to archiving. This combination

enterprises to local municipalities. Enterprise

integration, and technical support. As the

can provide organizations with simplicity

Vault 9.0 is designed to manage the retention

needs of an organization grow and nodes

of deployment and the confidence that

of data from a wide range of content sources

are added, performance of the integrated

information is stored, protected, and

including e-mail systems, file servers, instant

platform can scale proportionately—

available when needed.

messaging, and collaboration systems. The

regardless of data type—helping to

software includes task-specific applications

minimize latency and avoid the cost and

such as Symantec Discovery Accelerator,

complexity of comprehensive, major

which provides sophisticated e-discovery

upgrades (see Figure 2).

Enterprise Vault is an open archiving

searches, case management, legal hold, and chain-of-custody tracking.

Context-based archiving for data management optimization

Kay Benaroch is a senior marketing consultant at Dell focused on data protection, deduplication, and objectoriented storage, and has more than 30 years of experience in marketing technology products. Troy Lehman is technical strategist at Symantec focused on information management, and has more than 15 years of experience ranging from solution design in the field to product line management.

Combined benefits of an integrated approach

As unstructured information continues to

The combination of Symantec Enterprise

management that looks at data in context,

Vault 9 software and the Dell DX Object

treating retention and management from

Storage Platform can deliver important

a business standpoint. Not all unstructured

benefits. The platform helps reduce the

content is of the same value to the

cost of compliance and data management

business for long-term retention. Symantec

through automated, policy-based retention

Enterprise Vault 9.0 combined with the

Dell archiving solutions:

and deletion. Data no longer required for

Dell DX Object Storage Platform offers a

dell.com/archiving

immediate business operations can be

metadata-aware platform for intelligently

moved out of primary data storage and

and automatically archiving data based on

placed in cost-effective archival storage,

business value.

grow, organizations require enhanced data

Learn more

Symantec archiving solutions: symantec.com/business/ enterprise-vault

1 For

more information on managing unstructured data using the Dell DX Object Storage Platform see “Why data archives make sense for preserving e-mail,” by Kay Benaroch and Bob Ganley, in Dell Power Solutions, 2010 Issue 4, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps4q10-20110168-benaroch.pdf.aspx, and “Managing unstructured data in object-based storage,” by Derek Gascon and Greg White, in Dell Power Solutions, 2010 Issue 4, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps4q10-20100472-white.pdf.aspx.


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