Data archiving is an important aspect of data storage, and is an often-overlooked piece of organization and structure – not to mention it’s an important part of maintaining proper compliance. Today we’ll look at the basics of data archiving, what it is, and why it’s important to your organization.
Before we dive a little deeper, let’s define data archiving. Data archiving, as explained by SearchDataBackup, is the, “process of moving data that is no longer actively used to a separate data storage device for long-term retention. Data archives consist of older data that is still important and necessary for future reference, as well as data that must be retained for regulatory compliance. Data archives are indexed and have search capabilities so that files and parts of files can be easily located and retrieved.”
It may also be referred as the storage of electronic documents, data sets, multimedia files, and other related data, for a defined period of time. In simple terms, it sounds as if data archiving is as simple as finding a file cabinet somewhere and storing your old documents for use if needed. In very simple terms, this is correct in theory. However, in an increasingly digital environment, data archiving takes on more complex definition, and organizations needs are increasing as they store more and more virtual data.
Organizations that have complex data storage and archiving needs are generally those who store more sensitive data that will be viable long term, such as hospitals, telecommunications companies, and financial institutions among many others. Not only do these organizations need to archive the sensitive data they collect, they also need to be able to access the data quickly, often via search, and assure this data remains unchanged.
As we’ve talked about in many other posts, forums, and webinars the term “data” applies to many things, and in a world where more and more data is flowing in and out every day it’s hard to make sense of it all. Organizations need quality technology partners to be able to quickly and easily access the data, and understand how it translates to their everyday activities.
Now, data archiving is not to be confused with data backup. Archiving is a method of storing the data. Backing up your data is the process of creating an exact copy of data so it can be restored if lost. Without any doubt, both are extremely important. You need to be sure you have your data backed up and secured in case of disaster (often referred to as disaster recovery), and data archiving procedures are just as important.
Neovera recently hosted a webinar titled “Oracle 12c Data Archiving: Building a Data Time Machine”. This webinar explains how organizations can take advantage of the new data archiving features to manage historical data and provide a timeline of the data lifecycle. The webinar is hosted by Arman Rawls, a Senior Oracle Database Architect at Neovera. Take the time to watch the short webinar and learn more about data archiving techniques and compliance to ensure your organization uses cost effective methods to data storage, ultimately making your day to day activities more efficient and less costly.