This is the second part in a series of 4 editorials that aims to look at the need to ensure the integrity and availability of data stored on tape within YOUR organisation. Each part will take an in-depth look at the products, processes and services that are available to you to help ensure data integrity, reduce risk, improve performance and ultimately, lower cost of ownership.

Whilst it is generally understood that investing in a resilient storage infrastructure is half of the battle, the way in which the information is then managed throughout its lifecycle remains a crucial factor if it is to ever be retrieved. The implementation of Corporate Governance policies and procedures requires organisations to look at the whole process – including data archived on tape. Tape issues range from the quality of the media in the first instance through to the conditions in which it is stored, the policies and processes set for backup and archive, through to the measures that are in place to ensure business continuity and third party neutrality should the data need to be extracted and presented in court.

The Proactive Approach to Media Management – Part 2

It is current practice for many organisations to continue to operate in the same way as they have for many years due to the perceived time and cost implications of changing. The IT department lives in the hope that a data restoration and recovery operation, either in-house or externally, will be enough to avoid any consequences associated with the inability to produce targeted data should it be required. This approach seems to have been sufficient to date – so why change it? With the exponential rise in the amount of information that needs to be stored and archived, in addition to the legislation that can bring an organisation under scrutiny, this approach can represent increased business risk. This is especially relevant when you consider that board room level employees could, in the worst case scenario, face imprisonment if the organisation was unable to meet regulatory requirements.

Whilst this can represent a significant challenge to the majority of IT departments, simple steps can be taken to help to ensure the integrity and availability of the data backed up and archived onto tape with the help of eMag. We strive to provide a supply relationship that brings all the disciplines of data storage, recovery and retrieval directly to your organisation by a process that ensures data integrity, reduces risk, improves performance and lowers cost which begins with the provision of the highest quality data storage media.

Data integrity testing and library auditing aims to identify any problems that may affect the future restoration of data, before they occur. The scope of these audits is negotiable with the client and will reflect the nature of the data stored and the requirements made by regulatory and/or internal compliance policy. Our environmental audits can help you to achieve best practice in the data centre environment via a thorough examination which includes particle counting, temperature humidity readings, tape care and handling procedures, storage recommendations (on site/off site) – typically this service is able to pinpoint risk areas before a significant loss in system efficiency, or even worse ? loss of corporate data.

A more recent addition to eMag?s portfolio involves LTO chip scanning; a service which of course is only relevant to users of LTO tape technology. This service enables predictive performance of tape pools and libraries to be trended by scanning the memory chip that holds key performance codes relating to the historical usage of the media and the drives within the library. The information gathered will indicate if the media and/or drives are performing within acceptable levels and specifications. The end result is a report that can clearly indicate where any problems are occurring, be it drives, application or media, therefore providing early warning of future problems, or problem determination when issues have been experienced.

Finally, a software tool (MM/TMS), that eMag has developed in-house to assist in the proactive management of physical tape storage, solves the problems associated with the movement of storage media to and from a secure location i.e. it ensures the physical volume is always located where it should be. It drives and enforces corporate vaulting policies to ensure that not only is data stored for the necessary timeframe, it is also deleted when that information is no longer required. In addition to all of the above, it enables you to ?freeze? media for data preservation which will be invaluable should the organisation or persons within it find themselves under investigation.

If you think your organisation could benefit from any of the products or services outlined above, why not contact us where we will be happy to discuss your requirements in more depth. Next month we will be covering the reactive approach to media management which will detail the way in which eMag can get your organisation out of a crisis.