NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: MIKE KARP ON STORAGE IN THE ENTERPRISE 11/11/04 Today's focus: The half-life of data
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * The changing value of data * Links related to Storage in the Enterprise * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Cisco Systems Special Report: Bridging the Gap; Enterprise ROI IT professionals today don't indulge in the latest-greatest technology for their own sake; instead they concentrate efforts on projects that are most likely to help achieve business goals. Read about the challenges and opportunities when IT starts 'bridging the gap' and directly contributes to enterprise ROI. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88019 _______________________________________________________________ WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE NEW DATA CENTER? Sign up for Network World's Data Center Newsletter in which Johna Till Johnson and the team at Nemertes Research will provide an ongoing assessment of current data center business drivers and future trends; concrete advice and guidance for IT executives seeking to consolidate data centers, improve disaster recovery, and deploy virtualization techniques. Click here to subscribe: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=87905 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: The half-life of data By Mike Karp It is often tempting to assign terms from physics to areas where they don't really belong. For example, occasionally we hear the term "data half life," which should indicate a predictable decay rate that goes on forever for the value of data. If the value of data truly had a half-life however, data would decrease in value at a steady rate until such point that it has no value at all (actually of course, like one of Xeno's paradoxes such constant "halving" can never reach a zero-point, but the principle works). With some data, particularly data that must conform to regulatory requirements, that just doesn't happen. Regulated data must often be capable of being recalled within a set amount of time, must be auditable, and so forth. Old data may never be accessed, but it must be capable (and provably so) of being accessed whenever the need arises. That being said, the value of most data changes over time, and despite the fact that not all data changes at the same rate we can make several useful generalizations about these changes. This occurs because the value attached to certain kinds - or classes - of data changes in predictable ways. Consider, for example, the case of a company's sales data. The current month's sales figures, because they define business success, merchandise ordering, commissions, accounts receivable and so forth, are always going to be high-value data by just about anybody's standards. As this data ages however, it typically diminishes in value. When this information becomes last month's sales figures, it may find use in month-over-month comparisons; it may feed into the general ledger and accounts payable, as merchandise has to be ordered to fulfill orders. As the quarters roll past, the value of a month's sales data typically diminishes further and users refer to it with lessening frequency. Beyond a year, it may be of interest only to internal accountants and outside auditors. A similar sort of pattern of changing data value can be identified for most data that lies outside a database (often referred to as "unstructured" data). Unfortunately, however, unstructured data by its very nature is often hard to manage because it is challenging to categorize. Most times it is simply tagged by file type, dealt with by file type, and there, essentially, is where management ends. Obviously if the value of data lessens over time, data that was once deserving of high priority services and the very best storage assets available logically becomes less deserving as the data ages. Any time budgets are constrained (and when are they not?) maximizing the use of what assets you do have becomes all the more important. This understanding of the changing state for data value is the fundamental reason many IT sites are going in the direction of information lifecycle management (ILM). ILM is still a developing concept, but there is already much to be said for it (and indeed, in this column much already has been said about it).Unfortunately, many people still assume that ILM is hierarchical storage management (HSM) warmed over for the new millennium. In this they are dead wrong. HSM works fine when the concept of data half-life is applicable. After all, its only concern is demoting data so that less valuable data doesn't overflow the capacity of our high-end storage systems. But HSM misses the boat when it comes to retrieving data quickly and efficiently. Be assured your auditors aren't going to be impressed that you have cost-effectively archived data to tape; what they will want is to see if you can retrieve and protect your data according to whichever laws or regulations apply. This calls for a far more complex management scheme than simply moving data down the storage food chain to cheaper devices. For compliance you will require some policy-driven mechanism that understands how the value of your data changes over time, that migrates the data to the appropriate storage device automatically, that keeps track of every transaction involving the data, and quite a bit more besides. If you are not already aware of how the data you manage changes in value, you might begin by checking the service-level agreements for which you are responsible. _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Mike Karp Mike Karp is senior analyst with Enterprise Management Associates, focusing on storage, storage management and the methodology that brings these issues into the marketplace. He has spent more than 20 years in storage, systems management and telecommunications. Mike can be reached via e-mail <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Cisco Systems Special Report: Bridging the Gap; Enterprise ROI IT professionals today don't indulge in the latest-greatest technology for their own sake; instead they concentrate efforts on projects that are most likely to help achieve business goals. Read about the challenges and opportunities when IT starts 'bridging the gap' and directly contributes to enterprise ROI. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88019 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Archive of the Storage newsletter: http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/stor/index.html Breaking storage news and analysis: http://www.nwfusion.com/topics/storage.html _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE NEW! Website dedicated to Networking for Small Business now available The editors of NW Fusion and PC World have combined all their expert advice, authority, and know-how into a powerful new tool for small businesses, the new Networking for Small Business website. Get news, how-to's, product reviews, and expert advice specifically tailored to your small business needs. 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