Long-term Inactive Data Retention through Tape Storage Technology

Long-term Inactive Data Retention through Tape Storage Technology Ivan Vican Metronet telecommunications d. d. , Croatia ivan. vican 1@zg. t-com. hr Ph. D. Hrvoje Stančić, assistant prof. Department of Information Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb hrvoje. stancic@zg. t-com. hr

Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. Expanding the volume of digital data Relevance of data over time Tape systems Tape standards: A. Linear Tape-Open technology B. Enterprise Tape technology 5. Archiving capabilities 2

1. Expanding the volume of digital data • Digital data long-term retention for legal, administrative, historical or cultural heritage purposes • Hyper production of digital data + digitization of conventional data • How to sustain growth and accumulation of retained digital data? • Tape storage technology as an adequate solution? 3

2. Relevance of data over time • Important variable that influences the choice of storage technology is frequency of reuse • Data lifecycle is providing insight in data value fluctuation, which is measured by frequency in given time (business approach) • Due to their nature and purpose, in institutions such as archives, museums and libraries data has a constant value 4

2. Relevance of data over time … Source: Horison Information Strategies 5

3. Tape systems • Devices that utilize tape medium • Three types of systems: 1. Tape drive - provides physical and logical structure for reading and writing processes. 2. Tape autoloader - tape drive and an automated tape cartridge exchange system with up to ten tape cartridges in the housing. 3. Tape library - two or more tape drives, depending on the quantity of tape cartridges which can rise up to a few thousand. Cartridges are exchanged with robotic mechanism. 6

4. Tape standards: LTO (Linear Tape. Open) technology • Developed at the end of 1990 s by LTO Consortium • First open format tape standard which features high capacity and performance for archiving purposes. • Most commonly used tape storage standard • Features data encryption and Write Once Read Many (WROM) capabilities at the device level 7

4. Tape standards: LTO technology … • Backward compatibility for two generations • Clearly defined Six generation roadmap 8

4. Tape standards: Enterprise tape technology • Primary developed for the needs of mainframe systems • Proprietary tape technologies • Used for transactional process with application such as LOB (Line-Of-Business), OLTP (On. Line Transaction Processing), CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and other high duty cycle applications • Enterprise tape technology is dominant in the Virtual Tape Libraries (VTL) • Faster transfer rate and higher capacity 9

5. Archiving capabilites • In the past, reliability was the weakest point of the tape storage technology • Drawbacks are solved with new technical features and fully automated systems • Archival life of tape is up to 30 years • High rate of load/unload cycles • Entry level LTO-4 libraries are scalable up to native capacity of 20 TB, 40 TB and 2 -4 tape drives 10

5. Archiving capabilites … • The tape libraries can be easily reconfigured and upgraded to the new tape technologies • Open format standard with generation roadmap -> easier planning of digital archives • Green technology • Most affordable storage technology 11

Conclusion • Archives, museums and libraries – should hold dual tape systems – virtualization of data at disk storage while it is being retrieved from tape storage – for users – secondary system (electronic vault) off site – not for users – disaster recovery – tape storage • How much? 1 TB = apx. 100. 000 books • Entry LTO-4 (2 drives, 20 tape cartridges) = apx. € 15, 000 for 16 TB system • Consider tape technology for large storage systems!!! 12

THANK YOU! Long-term Inactive Data Retention through Tape Storage Technology Ivan Vican, ivan. vican 1@zg. t-com. hr Ph. D. Hrvoje Stančić, assistant prof. hrvoje. stancic@zg. t-com. hr