With IT governance featuring so highly on the storage agenda, it’s no wonder that the integrity and availability of all data held within the organisation is being called into question. And it doesn’t stop at the active data stored on desktops and servers. It doesn’t even stop at back-up disk-based and tape solutions. Data that may have been created many years ago on now redundant hardware and operating systems must be available for internal or regulatory compliance purposes – an ongoing headache for many IT departments!
Whilst the legacy data was intended to be available for future restore, as the age and importance of the data lessened so in turn did the integrity and availability of the information stored on the tape. Technological advancements have been significant in recent years and maintaining expensive back-up hardware and software has either not been a cost-effective option and so has been ignored, or else has been draining the funds available for future IT investments. And with a current regulatory landscape that looks set to continue for the foreseeable future, it is clear neither of these are/will be acceptable from this point forward.
So what are the options? Well it would seem that this may not be as difficult to resolve as was first expected. A number of options are available that should be used in accordance with the perceived value of the data stored on the tape. So firstly it is essential to determine what the data actually is.
It has become a regular occurrence in IT departments across the country to find a box of legacy tapes with no instruction to determine where they came from, what back-up software was used to create them and what data is held on them. This can then become a significant problem when an auditor asks for answers to these questions.
Without the original hardware and software that was used to create the tapes available, it is generally assumed that re-creating this original environment will be necessary to be able to read the data. This is a general misconception. With the help of a third-party specialist it is possible to auto-detect the format and then read the data non-natively which alleviates much of the cost burden that was first expected. It is now possible to determine the value of the information in accordance with regulatory and internal compliance requirements in addition to value to the organisation as a whole.
Once this task has been completed, a number of options are then available for the future of the data. These are:
An integrity check to satisfy audit requirements.
Conversion to a more appropriate platform, maybe to retire legacy hardware.
Migration to a different format to support different business applications.
Moving to a different media to reduce volumes and cut storage costs.
Retirement of legacy back-up systems and software.
Analysis to support e-discovery or litigation needs (should this be the reason that you need to determine the information content in the first place).
It may not be necessary to read all of the data on all of tapes to determine the content if the tapes are sequential. If the data is not particularly important but needs to be kept for future auditing purposes; planned, regular integrity checks may be all that is necessary to satisfy these requirements. It may also be the case that the content is already known, but has become unreadable for the reasons outlined above. Again, an integrity audit may satisfy requirements if the data has little on-going value to the organisation.
If the data proves to be more valuable, it may be worth considering conversion to a more appropriate platform – usually the one currently in operation for back-up and archive purposes.
The ability to retire legacy systems (hardware and software) can be useful if legacy data has been maintained in its original environment and expensive back-up software licences are necessary to maintain access to the tape catalogues. Specialist software is available that is able to catalogue the tapes along with the rest of the back-up software catalogues currently being used. This means that the legacy system can be retired and should access to the data stored on these tapes be required, non-native restoration saves time and money. Being in control of IT policies and procedures will be essential in the new, controlled business environment that is becoming standardised across the western world as the result of an abundance of legislation:
“Increased legislation means that data needs to be easily located, retained for longer and secured. Failure to do any of these could leave a company open to massive fines and potentially bankruptcy” (Enterprise Times).
With the help of a specialist however, it is relatively straightforward to gain accountability over all of the information stored within the organisation. For more information on any of the topics raised above, please contact us for more information.
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