Bingo. We've been teaching this for years. And I don't think you need to go out much beyond five years to have a really big problem. Never mind 25.
I met an Admin once that was talking about their archive retention. And I asked her how she planned on reading her old round tapes. She said, "Kelly, they said I had to keep them. They didn't tell me I'd have to read them..." I think she may have missed the point, but at least had a leg to stand on. Kelly J. Lipp VP Manufacturing & CTO STORServer, Inc. 485-B Elkton Drive Colorado Springs, CO 80907 719-266-8777 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Nicholas Cassimatis Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 11:11 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ADSM-L] Fw: Database move "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <[email protected]> wrote on 11/08/2007 12:25:56 PM: > -----Paul Zarnowski wrote: ----- > > >Your avenue is export / import. Not pretty if you have a lot of data. > >And I'm talking about the data, not just the database. > >As I believe more people will be interested in switching server > >platforms as time goes by, I would really like to see IBM provide > >some better migration tools for helping sites transition from one > >server platform to another. TSM is a high-end solution, and needs > >better tools in this area (IMHO). > > I work for a hospital. We are required to retain some clinical records > for as long as 25 years (a former pediatric patient gets a seven year > window after his or her eighteenth birthday to decide whether to sue > the hospital). We are required to maintain information on employee > health for the lifetime of the employee. > We can't realistically commit to staying with our current server > platform for decades to come, and the prospect of exporting and > importing would get increasing daunting as long-lived archives > accumulated. We are currently looking at options for long-term > archiving of digital data, and the poor support for platform changes > is a major point against using TSM. You've got to ask if it's reasonable to expect to be able to be running the same system in 25 years as you are now. Consider this - many people aren't using the same tape technology they were 5 years ago! And there's more layers after that - should you be able to provide the data, will there be an application available to use it? And an OS that will run the application? And a machine that will run the OS? A 25 year (or lifetime - ouch!) retention requirement needs more than "keep the data in the backup system" as a solution. There needs to be an overall plan to be able to use the data, otherwise retaining tapes for decades on end is just an exercise in frustration. Try to find a 5.25" disk drive, some fanfold wide-format (green-bar) printer paper, and a ribbon for a Panasonic KX-P2124 printer. OK, now do it without going to eBay - is anyone comfortable with "buy it on eBay" as part of a legal discovery process? All of that was readily available 15-20 years ago, but today, well... If you, as the TSM Admin, are left responsible for the ability to retrieve data after the durations you're talking about, you need to raise the flag now that, at best, you can control your part of it, but there are a LOT of other ducks that need to be in that row. Nick Cassimatis
