Data archiving suggestions

[SjrH]

As our shared storage area has grown to almost 2 Tb, i'm looking in to implementing a data archiving solution to offload some of the more aged files.

The data will need to be near line, so tape storage is not really practical. I have a spare disk array I can use, so any recommendations of data archiving software are greatly appreciated

Thanks

 

[mrdenny]

Check out a piece of software called DiskXtender. It was purchased recently by EMC, but does not require EMC storage to function.

The way it works, is when files haven't been used for a while (based on settings you give it), it moves the files to another drive (ie. cheeper storage), and leaves a small pointer file. When the file is next accessed the file is copied from the slow storage back to the fast storage and given to the user. If the file isn't used for a while it will age off again and be moved back to the slow storage.

It's pretty cool software, and works very well. It's also pretty easy to setup.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Configuration / Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Configuration)
MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005) / Database Developer (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[djtech2k]

If $$ is no object, then get a SAN. If you have a small budget, buy a NAS. You can get a couple TB RAID for under $2k with a NAS. Theres tons of them , but I read up on some from the company called LACIE. They got decent reviews.

Attached storage is a thing of the past. External SCSI chassis are considered ancient anymore by most enterprises.

 

[mrdenny]

Even on a SAN you have to look at data archiving eventually. Keeping unused files on top tier storage is a waste of top tier storage. Moving those files to second tier or third tier storage can have a great cost savings to the company when you look at how less frequently you have to purchase top tier storage.

The same goes for NAS as well.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Configuration / Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Configuration)
MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005) / Database Developer (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[djtech2k]

Agreed, but he spoke as if he was running out of room. So that would buy him time. An archiving solution for pruning all old files is necessary as well.

 

[SjrH]

Thanks guys, we do indeed already have a SAN, which is itself at 75% capacity. Rather than increase the capacity, i'd prefer to archive older files so DiskXtender sounds great. We have a NAS to, which is soon to be redundant, so sounds like we could use that as the secondary storage device.

Cheers