The Active Archive Alliance is a

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. An industry tra ...

that promotes a method of

tiered storage In computer architecture, the memory hierarchy separates computer storage into a hierarchy based on response time. Since response time, complexity, and capacity are related, the levels may also be distinguished by their performance and controlli ...

. This method provides users access to

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...

across a virtual file system that migrates data between multiple storage systems and media types including

solid-state drive A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically using flash memory, and functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. It is ...

/flash, hard disk drives,

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magne ...

, optical disk, and cloud. The result of an active archive implementation is that data can be stored on the most appropriate media type for the given retention and restoration requirements of that data. This allows less time sensitive or infrequently accessed data to be stored on less expensive media and eliminates the need for an administrator to manually migrate data between storage systems. Additionally, since storage systems such as

tape libraries In computer storage, a tape library, sometimes called a tape silo, tape robot or tape jukebox, is a storage device that contains one or more tape drives, a number of slots to hold tape cartridges, a barcode reader to identify tape cartridges a ...

have low

power consumption Electric energy consumption is the form of energy consumption that uses electrical energy. Electric energy consumption is the actual energy demand made on existing electricity supply for transportation, residential, industrial, commercial, and o ...

, the

operational expense An operating expense, operating expenditure, operational expense, operational expenditure or opex is an ongoing cost for running a product, business, or system . Its counterpart, a capital expenditure (capex), is the cost of developing or provid ...

of storing data in an active archive is significantly reduced. Active archives provide organizations with a persistent view of the data in their archives and make it easy to access files whenever needed. Active archives take advantage of

metadata Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...

to keep track of where primary, secondary, and tertiary copies of data reside within the system so as to maintain

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

accessibility to any given file in a file system, regardless of the storage medium being utilized. The impetus for active archive applications, or the

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

involved in an active archive, was the growing amount of unstructured data in the typical

data center A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunic ...

and the need to be able to manage and efficiently store that data. As a result, active archive applications tend to be focused on

file systems In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...

and

unstructured data Unstructured data (or unstructured information) is information that either does not have a pre-defined data model or is not organized in a pre-defined manner. Unstructured information is typically text-heavy, but may contain data such as dates, num ...

, rather than all collective data; however, many have features and functions that address traditional

backup In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is "back up", w ...

needs as well. Active archives provide online access, searchability and retrieval of long-term data and enable virtually unlimited scalability to accommodate future growth. In addition, active archives enhance the business value of the data by enabling users to directly access the data online, search it and use it for their business purposes.

Description

Since an active archive is built around a cost-performance ratio, the performance standards of these systems vary significantly based on each individual implementation. Within an active archive the quantities and types of media used are determined by the retention and access requirements of the varying types of data. This gives a company the flexibility to determine their own tolerance levels for accessing any given type of data. However, in general, active archive systems can recall data to a use ranging from milliseconds to 2 minutes, depending on what type of media the data is residing. Because an active archive is being used for storing both primary, secondary, and tertiary copies of data there are several factors that become necessary for the implementation of an active archive beyond simply the ability to move and access data:

data integrity Data integrity is the maintenance of, and the assurance of, data accuracy and consistency over its entire Information Lifecycle Management, life-cycle and is a critical aspect to the design, implementation, and usage of any system that stores, proc ...

, media monitoring, energy efficiency, and interoperability are all important components of an active archive. Many active archive components include features such as self-healing data within the software, versioning,

encryption In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...

, and media health monitoring. Since an active archive is also being used as an archive, features such as automatic migration between storage devices and technologies, vendor neutral formatting, and ILM management are all important components to an active archive as well. Many of these standards are driven due to specific industry compliance requirements such as

HIPAA The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA or the Kennedy– Kassebaum Act) is a United States Act of Congress enacted by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1 ...

SOX Sox most often refers to: * Boston Red Sox, an MLB team * Chicago White Sox, an MLB team * An alternate spelling of socks Sox may also refer to: Places * SOX, Sogamoso Airport's IATA airport code, an airport in Colombia Computing and technolo ...

, PCI Compliance, etc.

Comparison to hierarchical storage management

While active archiving is often compared to

hierarchical storage management Hierarchical storage management (HSM), also known as Tiered storage, is a data storage and Data management technique that automatically moves data between high-cost and low-cost storage media. HSM systems exist because high-speed storage devices, ...

(HSM), the two methods have very different implementations. Unlike an HSM, data in an active archive remains online regardless of the age or usage. The access pattern in an active archive is also different than a traditional HSM in that the data is not automatically restored to the "higher tier" storage system when requested, but rather is accessed directly from the storage device that the data is resting on. This makes every storage device in an active archive both primary storage and archival storage. An active archive is an archive in the sense that it manages the data within the active archive throughout the lifecycle of that data according to each company's particular Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) policies and procedures. This means that while the active archive serves as the primary storage pool, it is also the final storage location for a file at the same time.

The alliance

The Active Archive Alliance is a trade organization promoting active archives for simplified, online access to all data. It was formed in April 2010 by

Compellent Dell Compellent, formerly Compellent Technologies, Inc., was an American manufacturer of enterprise computer data storage systems that provided block-level storage resources to small and medium sized IT infrastructures. The company was founded in ...

(later acquired by

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

), FileTek, QStar Technologies, and

Spectra Logic Spectra Logic Corporation is a computer data storage company based in Boulder, Colorado in the United States. The company builds backup and archive technology for secondary storage to protect data after it migrates from primary disk. Spectra Logic's ...

. The alliance is open to providers of active archive technologies including file systems, active archive applications, cloud storage, and high-density tape and disk storage, as well as individuals and end-users. Current members/sponsors include

Fujifilm , trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals. The offerings from th ...

, IBM, Iron Mountain,

Quantum Corporation Quantum Corporation is a data storage, management, and protection company that provides technology to store, manage, archive, and protect video and unstructured data throughout the data lifecycle. Their products are used by enterprises, media and ...

Western Digital Western Digital Corporation (WDC, commonly known as Western Digital or WD) is an American computer drive manufacturer and data storage company, headquartered in San Jose, California. It designs, manufactures and sells data technology produc ...

, and some others.

References

{{Reflist Computer storage technologies Information technology organizations