Specialized Section
Archiving
01.03.2012, 12:33
Hitachi Content Archive platform (HCAP) is a new way of creating and working with long-standing data archives with solid contents. It is designed so it may be easily integrated into existing environment of advanced data storages.
Platform suits all firm standards of data storage including various regulations. Hitachi Content Archive Platform provides long-life and safe archive ensuring content authenticity and allows fast searching and disclosure of information at the same time.
General Archive Demands
These days there are two types of data – structured data and unstructured data in proportion ca. 10 % to 90 %. Structured data include databases, CRM systems, and applications and so on. Unstructured data mostly include data in shared or private folders such as emails, documents (Word, PDF), images (gif, jpg and other), video and audio files, and data for web/internet/portals and so on. Unstructured data usually increase 10 times faster than structured data.
Access to data content (of authorized users), content protection (for a certain time period), manipulation with the content (while using agreed rules and procedures) and its sharing (in order to reach the business goals) must be supported by the right methodology of long-term data storage and data archiving design.
While creating active archive solution most of organisations aim for one or more of these four key points:
- data administration
- storage and data protection
- data searching
- conformity with legal demands on data archiving
Hitachi Content Archive Platform
Hitachi Data Systems offers active archive solution called Hitachi Content Archive Platform (HCAP). HCAP is a highly scalable, open and reliable solution for active digital archive for data centres of all sizes. It is designed so it may be easily integrated into the current storage infrastructure.
Hitachi Content Archive Platform is a solution designed for long-time data archiving (WORM system) and it is a robust archiving solution, which allows storing and authentication of unchanging data through the use of digital signature and possibility of verification that the data have not been changed since storing for the whole duration of storage (so called retention time). Past this retention time it is possible to discard the data evidentially as defined by the rules of organisation.
HCAP system is intended for constantly rising data volume and it can be efficiently scaled. It is a centralized online digital archive, which enables to index, archive and search objects with unchanging content (data files and to them associated metadata) while using of retention and other rules for data protection.
HCAP system is an ideal final storage for transfer of older static (unchanging) data from expensive primary disk storages. It significantly lowers the costs of data backup and dramatically improves the time necessary for information search from archive.
Metadata
Metadata associated with archived content enabling to define rules for data managing. The archive automatically creates metadata for each inserted object, whereas it recognizes and is able to extract metadata from 370 types of data formats.
The room is also saved for users’ metadata, which can be inserted and modified through application interface.
Indexing
It provides full-text search function through all data, metadata and users’ metadata.
Policies
Objects administration is based on rules guaranteeing authenticity of archived data, availability and safety by using optional hash algorithms.
WORM format provides protection against data corruption or data falsification.
Levels of data protection (DPL = Data Protection Level) enables to store a certain number of object copies in archive and protection against potential breakdown.
Retention rules provide a defined time of data retention – protection against premature archived objects deleting on the level of setting of file parameters.
Encryption
Multiple levels of data encryption for transfer and data store.
Replication
Object-based replication enables to replicate archived objects among individual systems HCAP for off-site disaster recovery.
Deduplication
Elimination of duplications is based on replacing of already existing object with reference (link). Discovering of duplication is based on generated hash syndromes comparison and binary comparison of objects’ content.
Compression
It depresses the physical size of data stored in HCAP system, enables to reach higher efficiency while data storing, better scalability and lowers total TCO.