ADSM-L

Re: Long Term Archive for Databases

2001-04-06 13:44:54
Subject: Re: Long Term Archive for Databases
From: Richard Sims <rbs AT BU DOT EDU>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 13:45:26 -0400
>Here's an easy answer that'll work some of the time:
>If your organization already has in place a job that archives the necessary
>things to microfiche or local tape, etc, just modify that job to write the
>archive to TSM instead.

One thing to keep in mind:  TSM is a proprietary solution, meaning that
your data is locked into it and unaccessible by any other means.  And
there are no guarantees from Tivoli that I've ever seen that you can
absolutely and fully retrieve your data that has been sitting on a tape
for 10 years and many product revision levels.  You and I would *expect*
the data to be retrievable, but what do you think the probability is that
Tivoli is doing comprehensive testing of the retrievability of data that
was written by levels of the product going back to the initial release
level, as written by any kind of client?

This is why long-term archiving usually calls for storage to be in
"neutral" form, so that there is certainty of retrievability and
usability.

   Richard Sims, BU